"Piggy Project" Gives Widows in Malawi a Chance to Provide for Their Children
POSTED ON Nov 04, 2011
8-year-old Aggie used to spend most of her time alone because her grandmother worked far away.
Aggie's grandmother got to meet Gabrielle, who designed a program to help her provide for her grandchildren.
The new widows group is now being trained by the original group, and the women are learning to sew, bake and knit.
Agness Frank lives with her elderly grandmother, who struggles to provide for Agness and her brother. A woman living in Mgwayi, Malawi, can do one of two things for a living: brew beer or rent a patch of land to farm. Farmland is scarce in the village, so renting means a long commute, on foot. Agness' grandmother walks five miles to reach the patch of land that feeds her grandchildren, often spending several days near the farm before hauling back the harvest.
When her grandmother is away, 8-year-old Aggie is responsible for cooking and caring for the home. But luckily she doesn't have to spend all day alone. Aggie is part of the Children of the Nations (COTN) Village Partnership Program, and her sponsors make it possible for her to spend her days at school, where she also receives a warm meal.
This past summer, COTN partners helped Aggie and her family in a deeper way. A Venture Team of three young New Yorkers raised money and traveled to Malawi with the goal of providing women like Aggie's grandma with a new means of income, so they, in turn, could support their children and grandchildren. Out of this goal, the Mgwayi Pig Project, a part of the Kamalathu Women's Project, was born.
The Kamalathu Women's Project is modeled after the Widows Program in nearby Mtsiliza, which began in 2006 when Global Intern Monica Marek taught a group of mothers to knit. The women soon began knitting sweaters for their children, then knitting, sewing, and baking enough to sell and use the profits to provide better food and care for their children. Since the Mtsiliza Widows Program began, the women have been dreaming of expanding the program to new communities, so that other women might share in the joy of providing for their loved ones.
The pig project was a part of this expansion. Liz Feree, Carissa Matthews, and Gabrielle Romano raised enough money to buy three sows and one boar that they gave to twenty-two widows in Mgwayi, all of whom have children in COTN's Village Partnership Program. The women will share in the work of tending the pigs, and split the profits from selling their offspring, making the project sustainable.
When Aggie met Gabrielle, she took an instant liking to her. Soon, everyone was calling Aggie "Gabrielle's little shadow." So Gabrielle was thrilled when she found out that Aggie's grandmother was one of the women that Pike Kaminyogh, COTN–Malawi's Village Partnership Program Coordinator, selected for the widows group. "We got to go to her home, and see what she was dealing with," explains Gabrielle. "She's taken in Aggie and her brother, but she can't provide for them. She tried to start a business before, but she had no skills." Gabrielle says she hopes that through the "piggy project," as she calls it, grandmothers like Aggie's "will be able to get their children clothes, provide them with a better home life, and give them extra food."
The widows of Mgwayi were a little reluctant at first to try a new thing. But the team spent time with them, studying strong women of the Bible like Naomi, who was a widow like them, and Ruth, who didn't know how she would get food, but used her courage and creativity to provide. Soon the widows agreed to take a leap of faith and try raising pigs. Today the piggy project is thriving: the women bred two of the sows and are hoping for piglets. In addition, the widows of Mtsiliza have visited three times to train the Mgwayi widows in knitting, sewing, and baking. In September, Pike reported from Mgwayi: "Several women have already learned how to knit. One grandmother has never knitted before but has been able to produce sweaters for her little ones." That grandmother was Aggie's, and today Aggie has a warm, beautiful sweater that brings her grandmother pride every time she wears it.
You can change the lives of children in need like Aggie. Sponsor a child in Africa or the Caribbean today!