The Malawi Relief Fund-UK (MRF) charity has provided 38 young people with starter packs to support the vocational skills they have acquired through their training at the Maone Vocational Training Centre.
This is in line with MRF-UK’s aim to support government efforts to equip young people with job skills that will enable them to make a sustainable living and support themselves and their families.
Valli speaks at the graduation ceremony
At the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of students at the Maone Vocational Training Centre, MRF-UK Country Coordinator Yakub Valli announced that they are supporting graduates with complete starter pack tool kits for anyone who has completed courses in carpentry and carpentry; Masonry and plumbing work.
Valli said this was done in partnership with the Issa Foundation (UK) to help young people gain job skills, empower individuals and tackle the root causes of poverty.
“We have invested 600 million kronor to train young people for free, create self-employment opportunities and help individuals break the cycle of dependency,” Valli said, adding that they are identifying rural communities where they are setting up vocational training centres can .
He stressed that their focus is on improving access to education and health, providing safe water and sanitation, and alleviating poverty through capacity building through livelihood empowerment programs.
“The last three years have been extremely challenging due to the difficult economic conditions in the country following the CoVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes, the aftermath of which has increased costs and hampered our efforts to improve support areas.
Wheelchair donation at Chiradzulu District Hospital in May
“However, our focus is on doing meaningful project delivery, which includes providing vocational training centers in rural areas,” he said.
Just last month, MRF-UK provided wheelchairs at Chiradzulu District Hospital after it was discovered that patients were being carried on a guardian’s back due to a lack of mobility equipment for medical treatments.
Vialli said they became aware of this worrying challenge when two officers from MRF-UK, project manager Munira Abdullah and administrator Aisha Missi, visited the hospital to check on one of their patients. They were being carried on the back of a guardian and on demand they were told that there were no wheelchairs in the entire hospital.
This deeply moved Munira and Aisha and they immediately contacted the hospital management to ask if MRF-UK could provide them with any of this, to which they immediately agreed.
Chiradzulu is one of MRF-UK’s service areas, supporting vulnerable people through the construction of inexpensive homes and providing food aid in times of disaster.
In 2021, the charity donated an 8.0 kg washing capacity washing machine for the county hospital’s laundry room, whose five machines and one dryer were down, relieving laundry staff who had to manually wash bedding and other necessary medical cloths.
MRF-UK also repaired the hospital morgue cold room by replacing a compressor and its accessories to power six of the twelve mortuary drawers.
The charity also donated 30 wheelchairs to six hospitals in the eastern region of the country. Zomba Central Hospital received 10 respectively, and four for Mulanje, Phalombe, Machinga, Balaka and Mangochi District Hospitals.
In March this year, MRF-UK – also in partnership with the Issa Foundation (UK) – officially handed over 200 climate resilient homes built to benefit vulnerable older women in Traditional Authority (T/A) areas. Maganga in Salima district.
The homes were complemented by boreholes drilled and committed around the communities where they were built as the two charities reviewed their annual home project assessment.
So far between 2022 and 2023 MRF-UK has drilled over 80 boreholes in different areas of Malawi in the different catchment areas supporting vulnerable people, especially elderly women supporting orphans.
Also in cooperation with the Issa Foundation (UK), over 1,957 low-cost but climate-resilient houses were built and handed over – that’s over 3,800 in different regions of the country.
As well as providing homes and clean water, MRF-UK has built a faith and learning center for the Salima community with funds from the Issa Foundation.
In November last year, MRF-UK donated 142 decent houses in Mchiliko and Malowa villages in Namwera, Mangochi district, as part of the initiative launched in 2015.
MRF-UK began building low-cost homes in Chiradzulu, Mangochi, Ntaja, Nselema, Namwera, Zomba, Phalombe and Salima since the 2015 floods, which became the charity’s catchment areas for aid.
The homes are equipped with latrines and beneficiaries in such communities also provide a starter pack of items including mattresses, blankets and kitchen utensils, as well as drilling boreholes.
Providing clean and safe water is one of MRF-UK’s aims in supporting the humanitarian needs of vulnerable people, as well as in food distribution and gift of sight, among many other projects.
The charity also administers a Talha Scholarship that reaches more than 240 students at various universities and colleges, where over 100 women participate in apprenticeship programs.
Although its catchment areas are Zomba, Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Mangochi, MRF-UK quickly stepped in to help flood victims of Cyclone Ana in 2022 with relief supplies including food, clothing, blankets, clean water and shelter in the Lower Shire.
The charity also helped when the southern region was devastated by flooding from Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
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