This April sees the 1^st anniversary of our trip to Malawi. In 2023, Jonathan Buick and I, Lana Moore from Action Renewables travelled to Malawi for a 10-day site visit. Action Renewables has provided funding to 2 charities in Malawi, Children of the Nations and Mulanje Mission Hospital. This funding has been utilised to provide the 2 charities with much needed renewable technologies that will assist them at times of power cuts, something that is a frequent occurrence in Malawi.

Action Renewables provided funding to Children of the Nations to support the installation of a battery system that charges from the grid and subsequently used at times when there are power outages. This stored energy helps the children being taught to continue with their learning during periods when there is no electricity available. The 2^nd charity visited and supported is Mulanje Mission hospital. We funded a much-needed solar photovoltaics system. Power outages are a common occurrence in Malawi and the generation produced by the solar panels is stored in batteries on site and used at times of need to keep the hospital running and allows the continued usage of lifesaving equipment. Action Renewables felt it was essential that representatives visit the 2 charities, to see first hand how the money donated is having an impact on the people of Malawi.   

We continue to support the people of Malawi and this month Mulanje Mission hospital has helped construct its 6500^th cookstove in the surrounding area of the hospital, with support once again provided by Action Renewables. Cookstoves in Malawi are called Changu Changu Moto which means Fast Fast Fire. The people of Malawi traditionally cook on traditional 3 stone open fires that are inefficient and extremely dangerous. Cookstoves are a safer way of cooking with a reduced risk of injury, quicker cooking times and are more efficient as they use less wood to cook with. This in turn will reduce green-house gas emissions from the inefficient old 3 stone fires. Every household that has a Changu Changu Moto cookstove has committed to planting no less that 10 trees around their home during each tree planting season. 40,000 trees in total have been planted up until December 2023. All of the new stoves that have been built have been tagged and kept up to date on a GPS database for tracking. The people of Malawi’s daily staple diet of Nsima (a traditional staple Malawian dish made from maize flour and water) can now be cooked using the safer Changu Changu Moto stoves. Feedback from the families using the new stoves has been well received and the funding provided by Action Renewables has been life changing to the people in Mulanje and the surrounding area.

You can read more about our site visit to Malawi in 2023 here