Geographical location
Gusu village is located in the district of Dowa in the central region of Malawi. The district is surrounded by Lilongwe (the capital city) in the south and west, Kasungu in the north, Ntchisi in the north-east, and Salima in the east.
Area History
This friendly community is made up of a tribe known as Chewa. The tribe migrated from Egypt centuries ago, crossed the Nile river, then settled in Democratic Republic of Congo before moving on towards Zambia, crossed into Malawi before going south to Zambezi river, but failed to cross and came back up, camped in Salima (along the lake) before finally settling in Dowa. They chased the earlier occupants in the area, pigmies, who run off to Congo where they are still found up to today. The Ngoni’s, descendants of the Zulu’s from South Africa are also found in the area and they live peacefully.
Place and People
People in the area are hardworking. Farming is the major economic activity. People grow corn, ground nuts (peanuts) soy beans, beans, potatoes, and vegetables. Despite having a variety of crops to grow, people do not fully utilize the land to maximize produce. They use old methods of farming (hoes and machetes). Even with the availability of rivers and streams, people are unable to do irrigation because of high cost of irrigation equipment and farm inputs. As a result, there is hunger every year, leading to extreme poverty, high mortality rate, dropping out of school, early marriages and other poverty related problems. Very few people are involved in small economic activities, like small grocery shops and a maize mill but not enough to take them out of poverty line.
Education
Many children don't go to school because of poverty. They don't have enough food to eat before school, they cant buy uniforms and school material as their parents are focus daily survival. For the fortunate few, they start school at a later age (some as late as 8 years old). Accessibility of schools is also difficult. The closest schools are 3 miles away. The school doesn't have adequate teaching and learning material. There is also a shortage of teachers. However, a new school is under construction which will make accessibility to education a bit easier, but it will need teachers.
Health
There isn't a health facility in the community. People who are sick have to walk 10 miles to the nearest hospital and 8 miles to a private clinic. Even when they go to the hospitals, drugs are usually not available and doctors and nurses are also very few. They are told to go and buy drugs in shops elsewhere, which is expensive. As a result. Many people just stay with the disease as they cant afford the medication. There aren't any health workers in the community. This leads to many people contract and die of preventable diseases because of lack of education about these diseases.
E-3 International Development Projects
We have been in this community since October 2008. we work with parents and community leaders in identifying their needs and how to address them.
Gusu Community has a lot of resources and manpower (including enthusiasm of the families). If we can put our resources together, we can transform this community by addressing the above mentioned needs. The hard working spirit of the people makes it easy to be partners with them in development projects.
We hope you join us in partnering with them to make a difference in their lives. Thank you for taking time to read this.
