TAWONGA FROM MALAWI

Tawonga is a 10-year-old girl, living with a disability. She lives in a village in northern Malawi in a region plagued by food insecurity and poverty. For most of her life, her parents have struggled to put meals on the table. Tawonga often had to miss school because she was too sick from hunger. The family also faced discrimination in their community due to her disability. 

Since participating in a Caritas Australia supported program, Tawonga’s life has transformed. Her family now grows enough food to provide three meals a day, ending the struggle of malnutrition, and helping her thrive at school. 

Tawonga, whose name means ‘thank you’, says her community is blessed with many resources, like rivers, fertile soil and hills. However, with dry spells followed by floods, armyworm infestations and crop failures, her parents struggled to make a living. 

In 2016, Tawonga’s parents heard about the A+ program run by Caritas Australia’s partner, CADECOM (Catholic Development Commission in Malawi). They learned irrigation farming and were given fertiliser and high-yield seeds. With these new techniques, their production of crops almost tripled. 

With your help, this transformational program can continue to empower vulnerable women, men and children, and strengthen the communities around them. Let’s Go Further, Together.

“It gives me hope that I will finish my education,” Tawonga says. “My community now understands that my living with a disability is not inability. Although I sometimes face discrimination, most of the community has realised my value as a person.”