Saltspring Seeds for Malawi Newsletter

What's happening with Seeds for Malawi?

This group passes its funds on to African AIDS Angels for Malawi agricultural projects. Check out the October newsletter from Saltspring Island.

Malawi Report

Malawi News

Delirah Phiri has just sent a report of last years progress.

Here are some highlights:

45 orphans were supported with school and uniform fees and kerosene for light to study by.

28 youth have been trained in market gardening skills:
“Some people have established their gardens next to our trainees to have access to equipment and the advice of the extension workers. Some ...trainees are taking vegetable gardens as their main source of generating income.”

80 family fragments (mostly AIDS widows and seniors) have been supplied with enough seed and fertilizer to feed themselves for a year.


20 HIV positive persons on ARV’s (antiretorvirals keep the AIDS virus at bay) are supported with food items and farming inputs. No one in the program has died. It is important for people on ARV’s to have enough food. “This intervention is prolonging people’s lives and as a result it reduces the number of orphaned children.”

In total 173 people are supported directly by African Aids Angels at the cost of $108 per person in 2007/08. Each of these in turn supports other individuals in a variety of ways.

The volunteers in Malawi took 50 trips last year delivering food, fertilizer, school fees, and visiting the people who are receiving assistance to monitor their progress. When Stan Shannon, our volunteer from Pender Island, visited Malawi this spring he said he could see there was a very strong personal relationship between the African Angels volunteers in Malawi and the people they serve.

The biggest challenge for next year is the rising cost of fertilizer and gas world wide.