Sending aid to Malawi can make a difference.

One of the main strands of what the Bananabox Trust does is send out containers of goods to Malawi.
We’ve been conducting a review of what we send and why we send it. Here are some of the
results. Northern Malawi has between 3 and 4 million people. Have a guess how many containers it would
take to give everyone a box – answer at the bottom of this post (no, don’t cheat!). About half of them are under 20
and that proportion is rising rapidly. Somehow we have to choose which ones to help. Somehow! Just how do you choose
fairly? Our new strategy will be to build small businesses. This way, people can help themselves out of
poverty. And make no mistake, poverty is the enemy there. Other things – hunger, poor education, sub-standard housing,
unemployment and the rest – are merely symptoms of poverty, which is the real disease. So, if we can attack poverty,
then the people can solve the other issues. The two best ways out of poverty are employment (including
self-employment) and education. Our strategy will be to assist in these areas. We will continue to work
with the 3 mission hospitals – David Gordon Memorial, Ekwendeni and Embangweni – as they know their people and
know where the real needs are in their areas.And we will be delighted to continue to carry goods for other
charities. Keep an eye on Container Corner on this website – posts will appear from time to time of the
things we are targeting. Wen intend to have a number of campaigns running all the time – and we will turn the
spotlight on these on a loose rota basis.
Answer to poser – we would need to send 10
containers. Every day. For a year! And this just alleviates
things for a short while.