| Irish journalist chronicles work of GOAL in Malawi
The African country of Malawi doesn’t command a great deal of media time and space. It is a peaceful country, with some beautiful natural features including the majestic Lake Malawi. But it is also one of the least developed countries in the world.
Over 900,000 people live with HIV/AIDS – that’s about 14 per cent of the population. Many people struggle to get enough to eat. Drought can add further layers of difficulty to life. Schools are strapped for cash, jobs are virtually non-existent in rural areas, children suffer chronic malnutrition, roads and other infrastructure are woefully inadequate.
Irish aid agency GOAL are working to bring about badly-needed improvements in the lives of Malawians. Freelance Reporter Liam Horan has just returned from a seven-day visit to view GOAL’s operations.
Here he depicts seven days in a tough environment.
Day One
It’s only a bicycle – but it’s much more than a bicycle. This bicycle was given to a sprawling, rural community 35 miles from the city of Blantyre. There are no cars in the village. The bicycle is used to transport medical supplies. It also allows this voluntary community health worker to get around and visit people living with HIV/AIDS. Soon this community health worker will be given an ‘ambulance’ – it will be hitched onto the back of the bike, and he will be able to ferry sick people to the nearest health centre. This community is lucky. Many others don’t even have a bicycle like this, let alone a bicycle with an ambulance hitched onto the back.
Day Two
She carries a clay stove – and this is her lifeline. Women come together to manufacture these clay stoves, under the supervision of GOAL. Giving people the confidence, and the financial kickstart, to set up little businesses is a key micro aspect of GOAL’s work. These clay stoves are sold locally and the money generated helps to buy food. In time, this kind of development can be sustained by the local people, and they can also look to expanding their range of products.
Day Three
I met this mother with her chronically malnourished son in the hospital in Nsanje, down south. Here GOAL worker Phyllis Oyugi – from Kenya – checks on the child’s wellbeing. He’s in hospital, but he can’t shake off a fever and he vomits up nearly all the food he eats. The day I visited, there were some signs of improvement. The picture leaves you in no doubt you about how far he has to go.
Day Four
This boy was brought by his mother to the GOAL nutrition clinic in Blantyre. There, staff check his health, measure his upper arm, and see if he’s making progress. He is. He has got much stronger since he first presented with chronic malnutrition. Mother and child come to the clinic once a week for full health checks. They make sure he gets the food earmarked for him. In some families, the mother would try to share the GOAL food out among the other children. This boy is well on the road to recovery, but he will probably go through life without ever knowing what it’s like to have a plentiful supply of food.
Day Five
 When I was in school, a bad day of snow, or a burst pipe, might give you a rare – and welcome – day off school. This time last year, these children were going to school under a tree. When it rained, there was no school. They’d cheer “We’re redeemed, we’re redeemed” – children everywhere like a day off school. Problem is, it could rain for 80 days of the schoolyear. GOAL provided the funds, and the expertise, to build a whole new wing of thi school. Rains don’t stop school anymore. In developing countries, education is crucial.
Day Six
 Almost every year, the Shire river bursts its banks on the Malawi-Mozambique border. Thousands are left homeless. This winter, the floods came almost without notice. People fled leaving almost everything behind. They made their way up to higher ground near the town of Nsanje, and that’s where GOAL intervened to distribute food, oil, pots, and pans. This year, there’s talk the displaced people won’t go back to their homesteads because they know it will flood again. They are hoping the Government will give them land on higher ground. I met these two men on the road, cycling back to their temporary homes, with a bag containing pots and pans given to them by GOAL. They smiled without prompting. Pots and pans can make a big difference when you’ve got nothing.
Day Seven
 HIV/AIDS has caused huge problems in Malawi. Children become orphaned from a young age. They are then taken under the wing of an aunt or uncle. This frequently means a family of, say, five suddenly swells up to nine or ten. GOAL is building 100 houses in the Nsanje region so that guardians of orphaned children have enough room for their newly-enlarged family. When I visited this village, local women danced and sang to celebrate GOAL’s work. This house will be built inside the new few months. It will bring some comfort to a family.
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