I was able to visit with Nasoweka Thungo and her children recently, and I wanted to share an update with you about how they are doing. As the Free A Family® representatives for Southern Africa, their reality can give you a glimpse of what life is like for many families in this area of the world.
I was able to visit with Nasoweka Thungo and her children recently, and I wanted to share an update with you about how they are doing. As the Free A Family® representatives for Southern Africa, their reality can give you a glimpse of what life is like for many families in this area of the world.
The Thungo family lives in M’nchere village in central Malawi. Nasoweka, the mother, moved to her brother’s abandoned house last year. However, now the thatched grass on the roof needs to be replaced. As it is now, it leaks whenever it rains and threatens to cave in. She doesn’t have the materials or energy to make the repairs needed so she moved to a smaller thatched hut that she used previously as a kitchen.
Nasoweka mentioned that Kingsley, the youngest, has been suffering from diarrhea. I noticed that his hair was a light straw color and his eyes were a bit puffy. She took him to see the village health worker and received some oral rehydration salts. When she started to breastfeed him, he seemed to perk up a bit and even managed to wander away.
Through the support she received from World Renew, Nasoweka was able to produce her largest harvest ever this year; however, the harvest was consumed months ago. Now, she depends on the charity of her neighbors and family. When she is able to get a job working in a neighbor’s field, the people who hire her may give her a plate or two of maize as payment, but that is barely enough food for the day. She used to walk to the forest to collect wood to sell as firewood, but the village leader has banned going to the forest to cut down trees.
Sick children, insufficient food, uninhabitable house, no income—Nasoweka is frequently overwhelmed with decisions and responsibilities.
What problem does she try to tackle first? How does she tackle it when she, herself, is malnourished? Please pray for her and us as we try to find long-lasting solutions for her. Pray that she will be able to maintain a vegetable garden so that she can grow and harvest food year round. Please pray that she will plant her maize and beans in the recommended way so that she will be able to harvest more staple foods and at the same time rehabilitate her poor soil. Please pray for her children, that they will be able to go to school and learn, so that they do not have to continue to live in poverty. Thank you for helping families like Nasoweka’s find long-term solutions to poverty by supporting Free a Family®.
March 8 is International Women's Day. I would love to see 100 more mothers like Nasoweka change their stories. Would you help World Renew's programs reach them? The commitment is less than a dollar day!
Join Change 100 today!
With sincere gratitude,
Faye Yu
Program Consultant
World Renew Malawi
