Nthanda Times Reporter

Speaking in an interview, one of the initiative’s founders who is also MUBAS student representative Council President Wyson  Vinthenga said they did this after noticing that many female students do not afford to buy sanitary pads due to financial problems and hence miss classes during their menstrual period.

Said Vinthenga: “We noticed that sometimes many female students are missing classes as they are in their menstrual period. That is why we thought it wise to freely distribute these sanitary pads to them so that they cannot miss classes during this period.”

Vinthenga said the initiative also distributed over 400 sanitary pads last year at the university and that their future plan is to reach out to as many students as possible in tertiary, secondary, and primary schools.

”We have started this here at MUBAS and we will extend to secondary and primary schools when enough funding is available,” he said.

He then called on the government and well-wishers to consider and play their much-needed role in relieving female menstrual problems by distributing sanitary pads to needy and deserving female students so as one way of encouraging them to remain in school and increase their performances.

One of the beneficiaries Sonia Kachale thanked the Girlsa initiative for the timely intervention towards their menstrual challenges.

“Honestly speaking this is a very great move for us girls. Most of us do not t have anybody financing our school resources, so once the loan money is finished, finances become critical.

“Sanitary is a basic need that is not talked about publicly but a very crucial thing that every female needs every month and receiving a free sanitary is a life-saving solution for a female student,” Vanessa.

Girlsa Initiative, spearheaded by three fifth-year physical planning students, aims to reach out to female needy students and relieve them of menstrual problems.

They have started at MUBAS and plan to extend to secondary and primary schools when enough funding is available.

SDA Church president in Malawi PastorTony Nyirenda made the advice on Sabbath Day on February 25, 2023, when Chakwera attended a service of prayers at Nkhoronga SDA Church in the outskirts of Mzuzu City.

Nyirenda said the church is happy because President Chakwera recognizes the capabilities of SDA Christians to serve in different positions in government. He also advised the church’s flock to serve Malawians with dignity and love.

The outspoken man of God said it is time for the church to partner with the Malawi leader on his journey of rebuilding Malawi.

In his speech, Chakwera commended the SDA Church for the historical role it has played in the social and economic development of the country, especially in areas of health, education, water, and sanitation, among others.

The President said the services offered by the church through health care, education and economic activities, among other various projects, have helped transform lives of people.

He further said the church has a great role to play in steering the country to achieve Malawi 2063.

“Let me thank the SDA Church on behalf of government. Malawi 2063 cannot be achieved without the involvement of the faith community. It is the faith community which can provide wisdom for people’s mindset change. We welcome your advice at any time,” Chakwera said.

He called for faithfulness and unity amongst Malawians and promotion of the conservation of God given resources amidst global climate change challenges.

“Let us be faithful and honest in whatever we do. We cannot build the country on lies,” said Chakwera as he thanked the church for conferring on him an honorary citizen status of the church.

But Chakwera condemned people who have been attacking health workers, citing incidents of violence at Mgona and Balaka where communities attacked health workers over cholera myths.

Speaking at his Chidzenje Headquarters during a tree planting exercise organized by Tobacco Commission, Lukwa said it is worrying that millions of trees are planted each year but they do not grow to full life because they are not taken care of. 

Said Lukwa: “We must take environmental conservation seriously. There is no way we can plant trees and leave them like that hoping they will grow on their own in the wild. After planting, we must come back and tend to them. Otherwise, our efforts will be in vain.

“For my area, I want every child, every household, every school, everyone to plant trees and take care of them. We must contribute to efforts meant to mitigate the effects of climate change. It starts with planting a tree.”

Lukwa who is also the chairperson for Traditional Leaders on Wildlife and Conservation in Africa also donated 3000 tree seedlings to be planted in schools within his jurisdiction. 

He said Kasungu as a district has experienced massive deforestation due to tobacco farming activities hence the need to plant more trees to replenish the destroyed environment.

Commissioner for Tobacco Commission Christiana Kawala said tobacco buyers will only buy the leaf from countries that are serious about the environmental conversation.

“Tobacco remains a top earner of foreign currency for our country but it is the same crop that also leads to the cutting down of trees. So we must go flat out planting trees. On our part as Tobacco Commission, we intend to plant 40 000 trees across the country during this planting season,” she said. 

Over 3000 trees were planted during the exercise which was attended by school-going children, teachers, district council officials, chiefs, and members of the community.

The 2019 Tobacco Act prescribes the growing of trees on at least one-tenth of the tobacco farmland. 

President Lazarus Chakwera launched the 2022/23 tree planting season on 23 December last year under the theme ‘restore degraded forest landscapes for livelihood security’.

Speaking during a tree-planting exercise organized by the Mponela Youth Network in Kasalika Village, Traditional Authority Mponela, Dowa District Youth Network Chairperson, Sankhulani M’mbanga, appealed to young people to embrace initiatives that will help curb climate change.

“I urge my fellow youths to not only act on the climate change but also innovate in some other aspects of social life such as the economic circle,” said M’mbanga.

The exercise, which took place on Saturday, was an eye-opener for other youth networks in the district, according to Happy Mtambo, the spokesperson for the Mponela Youth Network.

“This initiative has demonstrated that Malawian youths can play a vital role in mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change,” said Mtambo.

The Kasalika Village Head also commended the youths for their efforts and encouraged them to continue embracing initiatives that will protect the environment for future generations.

The Mponela Youth Network, established in 2022, has 89 active members from different youth clubs. Through initiatives such as tree planting exercises, these young people are proving that they are committed to making a positive impact in their communities and the country at large.

Among the recipients is Joyful Kachimanda, a Standard 7 pupil who had been attending school without a uniform for four years.

This donation has changed her school experience, which had previously been marked by low self-confidence and poor academic performance.

Joyful, a 14-year-old student, had not worn a uniform since 2019, when her previous uniform no longer fitted her. She and her four siblings are taken care of by their grandmother, who could not afford to buy her another uniform.

“Attending school without a school uniform lowered my self-confidence in class and among my peers. Academically, I couldn’t concentrate on my studies and my performance was affected,” said Joyful.

The organization’s Chairperson, Alinafe Mbonongo, said that the donation was a way of promoting education among vulnerable students.

Mbonongo urged well-wishers to support needy students in various ways, including paying for their fees, textbooks, and uniforms. The donation of school uniforms is worth K400,000 and was raised through individual contributions from members of the grouping. 

The charity organization made the plea during a recent tree planting exercise organized through the Titukulane and Social Support for Resilient Program (Sosure), with support from Villages in Partnership, at One Heart Day Secondary School in TA Mkagula.

According to Save the Children Executive Director for Villages in Partnership, Wellings Mwalabu, a total of 500 trees were planted at the school.

“We have planted 500 hundred trees of different kinds as one way to cover the school from winds and also to act as an example to the students on how important it is to plant the trees,” said Mwalabu.

Mwalabu went on to explain that One Heart Day Secondary School is a newly built school and requires trees to protect it from strong winds. Traditional Authority Mkagula also encouraged fellow chiefs to promote the protection of trees, emphasizing that if trees are protected, they will enjoy the fruits in the future.

“We have bylaws in our areas, so I am just encouraging my fellow chiefs to foster the laws to those found destroying the trees,” said Mkagula. He also urged the youth to cultivate the habit of tree planting, even in their homes.

The Assistant District Forestry Officer, Alepha Kayiyasa, also called for concerted efforts from government and non-governmental agencies to tackle environmental degradation, stressing that everyone has a role to play in tree planting.

“We plan to plant 250,000 trees at the TA level, but I can assure you that so far, we are progressing because over 100,000 plus trees have been planted. What I can say is that let’s join hands to achieve the intended goal,” said Kayiyasa.

The 500 trees have been planted at One Heart Day Secondary School in the village of Group Phetembe in Traditional Authority Mkagula in Zomba District. 

Speaking in an interview after the donation, Programs Manager for the organization, Gomezgani Mhango said the organization thought of making the donation after having observed that there are some students that are financially challenged to manage menstrual hygiene.

“Chisenga CDSS is amongst the schools we are working with in wanangwa wane project, so because it is located away from town, it is tough for students to easily access sanitary pads, so we thought it wise to render help with reusable sanitary pads.

“These reusable sanitary pads will help the students to save money as well as the environment because other sanitary pads are being poorly disposed of thereby affecting the environment,” She said.

On her part, one of the beneficiaries, Elisa Mtambo thanked the organization for the gesture describing it as a timely donation.

“I am very thankful for this donation, it has come at in good time because I have been facing challenges to access these pads so now I will be able to manage my situations well while conserving the environment,” she said.

On her part, the matron for wanangwa wane project who is also a teacher at the school hailed the organization saying the donation will lessen the menstrual challenges that financially challenged female students were facing.

The organization also held a session where female students were taught on menstrual hygiene as they continue with education.

The organization is implementing wanangwa wane project with funding from Breuckmann Foundation and the German Government Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation Development.

Apostle Ziba made the call on Friday when he donated various items to Zingwangwa Community Hospital in Blantyre to celebrate his birthday.

Ziba said he decided to make the donation to complement government efforts in improving health sector, and celebrate with other people on his special day..

“We must understand that the government cannot do everything for us, but we can do something with the little we have to help it fulfill its healthcare agenda. This is a day for reflection on the love and grace of God, and we celebrate it together,” said Ziba.

He explained that they decided to donate to the hospital because members of his church come from the same area.

Maureen Mpanje, the Nurse-in-Charge at the hospital, expressed her gratitude to Apostle Ziba and called on other religious organizations to help.

“I wish other sectors could also help us because as I am talking, when it’s raining, the ART department floods because the drainage isn’t well constructed,” she said.

The donated items included wheelchairs, a sterilizer machine, and BP caps, among others.

 

She made the remarks in Mangochi on Thursday during Institutional Integrity Committees (IICs) 7^th forum for ministries, departments, agencies and local authorities under the theme “IICs re-engineered for Anti-corruption fight’.

“We are engaging the Treasury to make sure that there is one  percent allocation to IICs to allow them to intensify fight against corruption in their respective institutions,” said Banda.

Banda observed that fight against corruption in most public institutions is not satisfactory.“We are not where we supposed to be and nothing much has been achieved in fighting corruption in public institutions but we are still hopeful that we can still do something about it,” she said.

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General, Martha Chizuma has since called on IICs to mainstream anti-corruption fight in the public institutions in the best interest of the country.

“We are in the process of building a new Malawi free from corruption and we cannot achieve this if IICs are not directly involved,” she added.

Chizuma further called on the IICs to take the fight against corruption seriously by ensuring integrity in public institutions as mandated by National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

The ACB in collaboration with other stakeholders is developing a lifestyle audit manual to ensure transparent and accountable personnel in the public sector.

 “We are developing a lifestyle manual which is a powerful instrument to ensure greater transparency in the public sector,” she said, adding that the life style audit will be one of effective tools to check corruption among public officials.

The meeting in Mangochi drawn representatives of IICs from ministries, departments, agencies and all district councils in the country whose main role under the National Anti-Corruption Strategy is to mainstream ant-corruption fight in public institutions apart from ensuring integrity in the public sector.  

In the recent Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Malawi has been ranked on position 110 out of 180 countries.

The 36 male and 24 females underwent training in carpentry, bricklaying, auto mobile mechanics, electrical installation, tailoring as well as welding and fabrication through the Mangochi Basic Service Programme financially supported by Embassy of Iceland.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony held in Mangochi a representative of Mangochi District Council, Vinace Malema Juma, urged the newly graduated youths to make use of the acquired vocational skills to improve their livelihoods and make a positive contribution in their respective communities.

Juma encouraged the youths to form groups and start small-scale businesses saying this will be easy for them to access loans.

“I believe that the skills you have acquired will help you to be self-reliant and at the same time create job opportunities for others and if you put much effort, the vocation skills will assist you to be economically independent,” said Juma.

She further hailed the Embassy of Iceland for supporting Mangochi District Council in empowering the youths economically.

Juma therefore warned the youths against selling the equipment they received upon graduation.

Embassy of Iceland representative, Sigurdur Geirson expressed commitment in empowering youths of Mangochi through vocational, technical and entrepreneurial skill trainings.

“The Embassy wants to see large numbers of youths becoming economically independent and this is the reason we supported this second cohort,” he said, adding that the Embassy of Iceland also gave them start-up equipment for a good beginning.

Member of Parliament for Mangochi North Constituency Benedicto Chambo has since asked Mangochi District Council to create job opportunities and assist the youths with loans so that they should utilise the newly acquired skills to improve their living standards.

He has since expressed commitment to assist the youths to advance their ambitions in the newly acquired skills through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) saying he will ensure that the youths are given opportunity to be engaged in every developmental project taking place in Mangochi North East.

Jane Ngoma, from T/A Makanjira who graduated in electrical installation said the skills will enable her to venture into electrical installation which will eventually empower her economically.

“I am grateful that the council has made this initiative. Mangochi has many youths that are not employed due to poor education levels and these are the youth that need technical and vocational skills,” said Ngoma.

So far 120 youths have been trained in vocation and technical skills through the programme.

Mangochi District Council is implementing the Programme phase II through the District Youth Office.