wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Malawians face starvation, church leader says

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8857 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05432
August 22, 2005

Malawians face starvation, church leader says

Presbyterian cites drought, flooding as causes of famine in his homeland

by Toya Richards Hill

LOUISVILLE - If food isn't sent to the southern African nation of Malawi very
soon, many people are sure to die, said the Rev. Winston Kawale, a leader of
the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).

	"Please, send food to Malawi," Kawale, the general secretary of the
CCAP's Nkhoma Synod, said during a visit to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
main office on Aug. 22. People already are dying, he said, but hunger will
reach a crisis level if food doesn't arrive by November.

	Kawale visited Louisville during his first-ever trip to the United
States. Last week he was the featured speaker at a meeting in Chicago of the
Malawi Mission Network, a PC(USA)-related organization for people involved in
mission work in Malawi.

	Kawale also spent time in South Bend, IN, where a growing number of
Malawians live and attend the city's First Presbyterian Church, which has a
partnership with a congregation in Kawale's synod.

	During an interview with the Presbyterian News Service, Kawale talked
about hunger in his country - which is landlocked and bordered by Zambia,
Mozambique and Tanzania - and its need for help from the United States.

	Malawi, whose main food crop is maize, has been hit hard by droughts
this year. What rain has fallen there has caused flooding, washing away vital
crops, according to Kawale, who said: "We need the help as soon as possible."

	The food-supply crisis will last "all the months up to June," when
the harvest begins, Kawale said. He predicted devastation like that of three
years ago, when millions of Malawians needed humanitarian assistance because
of drought and food shortages.

	At the height of the late-2002 drought, the PC(USA)'s Presbyterian
Disaster Assistance (PDA) program fed about 500,000 people a day for a year,
according to PDA Coordinator Susan Ryan. Since then, she said, PDA has
supported rehabilitation and development in the country.

	Now, she added, "We are looking at a limited emergency response" to
the food shortage, while "trying not to lose momentum" in the development
area.

	PDA's work in Malawi, principally in the CCAP's Blantyre and
Livingstonia synods, includes crop diversification, irrigation with treadle
pumps, and livestock replenishment. For more information, visit
www.pcusa.org/pda/response/africa/malawi081905.htm.

	Community-based child care, adult literacy efforts and youth
recreation programs also are components of PDA's work in Malawi.

	Efforts to teach Malawians to use their own natural resources to keep
food on their tables are keys to a long-term solution, Kawale said.

	"It's a pity, and I feel ashamed that we have hunger in Malawi," he
said. "We have land, we have soil, we have water."

	The problem, he said, is a lack of expertise, especially in
irrigation and water-resource management, which prevents year-round
production. The country has no shortage of water - one of its greatest
resources is Lake Malawi, the third-largest body of water in Africa, which
covers almost one-fifth of the country. 

	However, "At the moment, we only depend on the rains," Kawale said.
With greater knowledge, he said, "hunger will no longer be there" and
"poverty will be addressed." 

	"Then we can see prosperity," he said.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org