Poverty in Malawi has worn many faces, manifesting itself in such things as hunger, poor housing, limited schooling and cycles of vulnerability intensified by economic volatility and climate shocks.
In rural districts such as Kasungu, these issues have been more pronounced, with families relying heavily on seasonal farming and irregular piecework to survive.
A case in point is that of 35-year-old Estere Zimba of Ndeule Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Chisikwa, who has lived a life defined by hardships.
As the second wife in a polygamous family, she bore much of the responsibility of raising her five children. Her husband and the family’s breadwinner lived elsewhere, leaving Zimba and her children in a makeshift house barely strong enough to withstand a normal rainy season.
“When the rains came, I would spend the whole night moving my children from one corner of the house to another.
“Nothing was safe; from our clothes, our food to everything, got wet,” she says.
Her struggle for shelter mirrored her daily struggle for food. To feed her children, she relied on piecework, making ridges, weeding gardens, or fetching firewood for others and on a bad day, she returned home empty-handed.
Victor Manda, 29, from Group Village Head Jakapo, under the same T/A, narrates a similar story of his life, which has been generally a struggle for survival.
For years, Manda and his family of four lived from hand-to-mouth, relying on piecework that offered neither predictability nor hope.
“There were days I wanted to start something, maybe farming or trading, but I had no capital. Every tambala I earned went to food,” he says.
These stories were only a glimpse into a much larger reality whereby across the district, poverty was widespread and deeply entrenched, affecting thousands of families in similar ways.
As the cost of living kept rising and food insecurity tightened its grip, households faced the same pattern of hardship like leaking grass-thatched homes, chronic food shortages, limited access to education, malnutrition and a reliance on unpredictable piecework for survival and thus, many struggled to meet even their most basic needs.
Equally, the households lacked a reliable source of loans that could afford them capital to start businesses and drive out poverty once and for all.
Luckily, Manda, Zimba and 19 407 others, were identified as candidates for the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) which became their first step out of desperation as it brought regular monthly stipends to ease their financial pressures.
Implemented by the Government of Malawi through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare with support from the World Bank, the programme targets ultra-poor households that are labour-constrained and cannot adequately support themselves.
