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PRESBYTERIAN
SUMMER 2024
presbyterian.ca
Connection
PRESBYTERIAN WORLD SERVICE & DEVELOPMENT
Improving Livelihoods for People with Disabilities
A final part of the program is Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs). These groups engage in advocacy against negative so- cial attitudes, thus promoting the rights of people with disabilities. They also mobilize resources by making connection with other organizations (like District As- semblies or civil society organiza- tions, etc.) to support their mem- bers’ economic production.
The project though, makes a real difference for participants. Abdul Razak Ayawin, one of the young participants in the project, points out: “I am so happy that PWS&D and CBR came to my aid. At first, I didn’t have any work to do and could not earn money to meet my needs. I am now self- employed in my tailoring job after going through training through the kind courtesy of the PWS&D and CBR partnership. I sew dresses to earn money and it is so lucra- tive. Now, I have enough for my basic needs.”
Mrs. Mpamba watering her bed of eggplant seedlings
in people like you, people who help them in their hour of need.
PWS&D is continuing to re- spond to the food security needs of people in Malawi, supported by the generosity of Presbyterians in Canada. Thank you for your com- mitment to this important work.
By Isaac Tiiga, Project Coordinator, Presbyterian Community Based Rehabilitation Centre in Garu, Ghana
The partnership work of PWS&D in Northern Ghana has contrib- uted tremendously to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, their families and their communities, amidst daunting challenges of climate change and high poverty rates.
The Community Based Reha- bilitation (CBR) program provides training for people with disabilities in improved agricultural practices. This enables them to increase food production despite the ef- fects of climate change. Improved techniques include producing and applying compost/organic
fertilizer to increase soil fertility, applying mulch to maintain soil moisture during times of drought, practicing early planting, and cul- tivating drought tolerant and early maturing varieties of crops, as well as dry season gardening.
Since 2021, a total of 2,015 farmers with disabilities have been trained in climate-resilient techniques and new methods of cereal, legume and vegeta- ble farming, while a total of 794 farmers with disabilities have im- proved their livestock production skills to enhance their livelihoods.
Santos Amali, a project partici- pant of the agricultural interven- tion has this to say: “In the past, I could not produce enough food to feed my family. The yields were poor due to poor rainfall patterns,
high temperatures and droughts. It was becoming increasingly difficult for us to survive. I am grateful to PWS&D and the CBR programme for coming to our aid with new farming methods and techniques that have been helpful in stemming the tide. I have been practicing the new methods of farming taught, such as organic fertilizer production and applica- tion and mulching. Now my farm yields have increased. I can pro- duce enough for my family and to sell for income.”
Beyond agricultural training, the program works to build the ca- pacity of persons with disabilities to earn an income. Participants are equipped to engage in value addition/agro-processing, petty trading and vocational skills, and
Abdul Razak Ayawin received liveli- hoods training through the PWS&D- supported CBR program in Garu and is now a self-employed tailor.
together mobilize their resources through Community Savings and Loans Associations. Since 2021, a total of 979 persons with dis- abilities have been trained to engage in myriad economic ac- tivities like shea butter production and groundnut oil extraction, as well as weaving, dressmaking, hairdressing, and soap and po- made production.
Just “Peckish” or Truly Hungry?
By Nora Martin, member of Knox PC in Woodstock, Ont.
What is it like to be hungry? Not just peckish, as we often feel just before we eat our next meal, but truly hungry? Around the world, 783 million people are hun- gry, according to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Such numbers are too big for most of us to com- prehend.
In November 2023, I had the privilege of going on a Food Se- curity Learning Tour with Cana- dian Foodgrains Bank to Malawi, where The Presbyterian Church in Canada and PWS&D have worked for years. Gradually during this
tour, I experienced the numbers beginning to represent real people like me.
The highlight of the tour for me was spending the night with a family in a village in Mulanje district. Our overnight stay was arranged by CARD (Churches Ac- tion in Relief and Development), a partner of PWS&D, who were also in charge of a food assis- tance project that provided cash distributions for families affected by Cyclone Freddy.
From the moment I was wel- comed by Mrs. Mpamba, until the moment she hugged me goodbye at the bus the next day, I was her honoured guest, a member of her
family. She graciously allowed me to help with some tasks, such as preparing the eggplant for cook- ing, and the following morning, heaping up the ridges in the field with a hoe, digging holes for the seeds of corn they hoped to plant when the rains came, and water- ing their eggplant seedlings.
Mrs. Mpamba, her husband and I spent the evening talking about our families and what it’s like to live in Malawi and in Cana- da. They were as interested in me as I was in them!
The following day, I accompa- nied Mrs. Mpamba to the cash distribution point, where she was to collect the next instalment of cash. I did not know until then that her household was one of the 2,500 served by the project. It was an eye-opener for me; here was Mrs. Mpamba, chief of her village, a respected member of her community, with her hus- band, owner of a substantial brick house and some land, but be- cause of one missed harvest, she was food insecure and in need of help. That’s living on the edge! And 70 percent of Malawians are living at or below the poverty line.
It was humbling to realize how fortunate I’ve been all my life despite having grown up poor. This is true poverty, food insecu- rity—not knowing if the harvest will come, or how good it will be,
and asking, “What if it fails alto- gether?”
When Mrs. Mpamba sat down with me shortly before I left, she told me how honoured she was by my staying with them and “helping” with the work. I was al- most speechless, but I managed to express how honoured I felt by her generous hospitality, and the way she had made me feel part of her family.
Mrs. Mpamba is just one of many people who are being helped by the Foodgrains Bank, PWS&D and its other partner organizations. I was moved over and over again by the hopefulness of the people we met, and by their faith in God. If you ever wonder about the importance of the work of PWS&D or the Foodgrains Bank, just think of Mrs. Mpamba and others like her. They see God
COMING THIS FALL:
PWS&D Champions Retreat
Join other PWS&D Champions at Camp Kintail (Goderich, Ont.) from October 4–5, 2024
to gather and learn about the work of PWS&D
Find out more and register at
WeRespond.ca/Champions-retreat-2024
The author with a group of children from the village she stayed at in Malawi.