Chiladzulu residents in self-help maternal cause
Chiradzulu West Constituency communities have raised funds for the construction of a maternity and under-five clinic after decades of witnessing pregnant women from neighbouring mountainous villages giving birth on their way to the health facility
On Wednesday, members of self-help groups, spearheaded by Churches Action in Relief and Development (Card), hosted a fundraising rally at Matowe in aid of the three-roomed health facility to ensure safe motherhood in the area where women travel about 20km to get to Mbulumbuzi Health Centre in Traditional Authority Mpama’s in the area.
During the open-day, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Blue Patriots chairperson Steven Singano, who is aspiring for a parliamentary seat in the constituency, pledged to donate iron sheets.
The project will ease the plight of women and children from Masaka, Mbenjere, Edward, Zalengera and other isolated localities in Blantyre Rural East Constituency.
“After deliberations, the self-help groups identified lack of a health facility as our major challenge. We are convinced that sights of women delivering and dying on the way will not end unless we start playing our part to ensure that every child is born in a safe place and at the hands of skilled attendants,” said the group’s resource mobiliser Mercy Luhanga.
The community raised K58 000 in cash and K45 000 in pledges. According to Card project officer Brian Muyaya, the initiative shows how the self-groups’ empowers rural communities to embrace a culture of saving and small-scale business as well as taking part in public life by exploring their challenges, solutions and roles in national development.
