Food is an essential part of human life sustainability. Human being cannot live without food .In our Malawian culture, a visitor feel very welcome when he is offered food to eat. It is therefore essential that a household should have enough food all year round.
In order to empower women both spiritually and physically Marie Louise community embarked on a project of food security and sustainability. The project targeted widows because they are bread winners of their families having lost their spouses. The aim was to help a group of widows secure enough food that can keep them going for a good number of months.
A total of about 90 widows were each given a bag of fertilizer and seeds to use in their gardens last year .They prepared their gardens in time and planted with the first rains. Knowing that hard work pays and also that God helps those who help themselves, the women worked tirelessly in their gardens. The women were visited regularly to monitor their progress and give them a little encouragement.
One bag of fertilizer and a bag of seed was given to each woman as farm input.
With the one bag of fertilizer and seeds the woman have managed to harvest food that will keep them going for some few months. This has been possible because of the fertilizer and seeds given to the women. The hard working spirit of the women has also paid off. Previously this was not possible because the women could not manage to buy fertilizer to apply to their fields and this resulted to poor yields. Fertilizer is expensive as a result most of the women could not afford to buy.
As in Psalm’s 126, these women indeed went out weeping carrying their seeds for sowing and they come back singing bringing in their sheaves. They kept on saying:
“What great deed Yahweh has done for them.””
With happiness the women came back with a bag of maize each to contribute to their group. Despite the challenges of convid19, the project was a success as all the women managed to contribute a bag of maize each to their grouping. They also had enough to eat for the some months.
The bags of maize which they have contributed to their group will be sold to find money to support their group and also help the needy especially the elderly and the vulnerable.
Wisdom is indeed at work calling us to go beyond our borders and bringing the kingdom of God to all.
Sr Catherine Khoko D.W
