NGO bails out food-insecure families
Save Orphans Ministries has donated assorted food items to people affected by hunger in Traditional Authority Ntonda in Mangochi.
The donation follows reports that people in the area are surviving on tubers known as mpama.
Speaking on Sunday during the distribution of maize flour, Likuni Phala and beans, the organisation’s executive director Justin Majawa said they only reached out to 150 families.
“However, there are still many people in need of humanitarian support,” he said.
Majawa appealed to other well-wishers to support the people during the lean season.
One of the community members, Aida John from Songa III Village described the situation as horrible.
“Our fear is that we no longer fetch enough mpama as the whole area is scrambling for the same. We don’t know what will happen if this food gets finished,” she said.
Mustafa Amani, another community member from Namisi Village, said they were also eating buffalo beans (chitedze) to survive.
T/A Ntonda said his subjects have been surviving on mpama since April this year.
“The situation is becoming unbearable. We are just surviving by God’s grace. If well-wishers do not swiftly reach out to us, we will die of hunger,” he said.
Mangochi District Council spokesperson Bishop Witmos acknowledged the hunger situation, saying they are currently making an assessment to ascertain the number of households in need of support.
“We are making an assessment to come up with the figure of people affected by the hunger situation before the Department of Disaster Management Affairs moves in,” he said.
