Thyolo Hospital Receives Maize Donation From Satemwa Fairtrade Workers Joint Body

Today, Thyolo District Hospital took delivery of 57 bags of Maize donated by the Satemwa Tea Estates' Fairtrade Workers Joint Body.   The bags were part of the this years Maize Distribution following the success of the Joint Body Maize Distribution programme in 2009 to alleviate hunger due to the Maize shortage experienced last year.

Mr Rabson Kalowa, Joint Body Chairman said "At the time, 2,500 bags (approximately 125,000kg) of Maize were purchased by the JB and sold to workers at a heavily subsidised price (about 50% of the purchase price) - 1 bag of maize for each of the 2443 workers and their families.



"It was suggested by some of the workers that the remaining 57 bags should be donated to the local, Thyolo District hospital.  This suggestion was unanimously agreed by the Joint Body committee and we are pleased that we can help the wider community in this small way."

The presentation was attended by Thyolo District Commissioner, Mr Mandere, Mr Tindwa of the Tea Association of Malawi and Thyolo District Medical Officer, Dr Jame, who said "The hospital faces many challenges in supporting the Thyolo community and the support provided through these Fairtrade initiatives is greatly appreciated.  We are very grateful to the Satemwa Fairtrade Workers Joint Body for this donation"


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New Water Supply for Chizinja Village

Work is underway to provide a new water supply to Chizinja village on Satemwa Tea Estate. A new borehole has been dug, with a pump house and storage tank to follow soon. The works have been financed by the Satemwa Workers Committee Joint Body, through Fairtrade Premium funds. This work represents the culmination of a larger project to build improved Teachers housing in the village.

The borehole will supply clean water to Satemwa School and the new Teacher's housing in Chizinja village. The Joint Body have employed local contractors based in Blantyre to oversee the works and look forward to the completion of this project.

Satemwa Fairtrade Joint Body Distributes Mosquito nets

This week saw the Satemwa Workers Committee Joint Body distribute the first instalment of mosquito nets to workers. The Thyolo District has a high prevalence of Malaria all year round and the project aims to help reduce the burden on both the Privately-funded Satemwa Clinic and Thyolo District Hospital. With many worker's families affected by malaria, this was a very popular project to undertake.

All members of the Satemwa workforce were entitled to receive mosquito nets and the joint body has arranged for each worker to receive two nets, which have been purchased through money generated by the fairtrade premium. In addition to the borehole projects and education initiatives, the Satemwa joint Body is actively playing its part in improving the community's general health.

Satemwa Fairtrade Joint Body Bus Arrives!

Satema Fair Trade Workers Joint Body Bus










The Satemwa Fair Trade Joint Body are the proud recipients of the new Workers' Fair Trade Bus, which will be put to work ferrying workers up and down the Estate's 7km Dirt Road.




 
Up until now, workers have had to walk or cycle the undulating estate road on the side of Thyolo Mountain. The bus will be available to all workers on the estate for a nominal fee, which will be used to support the maintenance and running costs of the bus.



 



Satemwa Fairtrade Joint Body Chairman, Rabson Kalowa said "The bus is great news for all of the workers as it will help everyone get to and from the factory and fields more easily and safely.

The bus will also be used to help transport the sports teams that the Joint Body supports"

THYOLO DISTRICT HOSPITAL NEEDS A GUARDIAN SHELTER

"It does not rain it pours". This is the state of affairs at the magnificent Thyolo Government Hospital located in a Tea growing district of Thyolo.
Rainy days are regarded as hell to those patient guardians as there is nowhere to prepare meals and sleep hence guardians are forced to sleep in wards. Imagine if a guardian has a baby and what that means to such babies.
The community saw this as a great need requiring cooperation in order to be addressed.
Having heard news about the Satemwa Fairtrade Joint Body's potential to assist with community based projects they approached us with their proposal for the construction of the Guardian Shelter and a kitchen. Currently discussions are underway to see how best this can be put into reality. We have attended one meeting which was also attended by local chiefs and the Parliamentarian for the area




Photo: A Guardian Shelter and Kitchen currently in use at Thyolo Hospital

For more visit: http://www.satemwa.com/

MSUWADZI ASSOCIATION GETS A VSO VOLUNTEER

Finally Smallholder Tea growers have been given permission to engage a VSO Volunteer thanks to the hard-working spirit of Mr. Kasitomu - Association President. It took him courage and time to travel up and down to Lilongwe trying to convince those concerned.

When the first volunteer couple (Mike and Penny) left without prospects for their replacement, life became uncertain as to how the Smallholder Tea Farmers were going to manage the Fairtrade Premium and their projects.

Matthew Strickland (VSO) is now settling in and we strongly hope the Msuwadzi Association will now have the capacity to manage its projects as well as having the ability to link up with other agents in order to leverage their financial base.

In addition, he will also be assisting the Satemwa Joint Body in areas of project identification and management as this happens to be his area of specialisation.

For more log onto: www.satemwa.com

FAIRTRADE MEDIA PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR VISITS SATEMWA ESTATE

On Wenesday 27th January 2010, we received visitors from the Fairtrade Foundation who were on a fact finding mission with regards to the Fairtrade Media Project.

Annette Muller (Video and Digital Project Co-ordinator and team leader) was accompanied by Richard.

They met with Smallholder Tea growers and Joint Body members.

Among other issues, they advised us of the objective behind the project - To do stories and or capture clips that will give fairtrade consumers out there a true picture of the impact fairtrde is making towards changing people's lives.

Annette and Richard were stunned to note that Satemwa Joint Body is a step ahead in terms of communicating with the customers and other interested parties - by way of a blog onto which stories are posted.

They promised to link this blog with the Fairtrade facebook .

Photo: Annete Muller demonstrating to JB women members

on how to take video clips using a cellphone

For more info, visitthe website: www.satemwa.com

Major water project underway

A major project has started to pipe clean water from the mountain down to various areas of Chizinja village, bordering Satemwa Estates.

Chizinja has approximately 4000 members.  At present they have boreholes fro drinking water in some areas (2 supplied by the Fairtarde Joint Body) but many people are still taking water from the streams and other unprotected water sources.

The JB - in partnership with village Headwoman, Mai Chizinja, village committees, Thyolo Ministry of Irrigation Department and Irrigation Officers – have already started the preliminary stages of feasibility studies and topographic surveys.  The team have found a water source high up close to the peak of the mountain.  It is a natural spring producing significant enough quantities of water.

Earlier attempts to find water failed because the river banks are too eroded and the water is not clean due to people excreting in it further upstream.  Natural springs and sources further down the mountain were also discounted because they are already a source of water supplies for other villages and farmers.

A major concern with drawing water from so high up the mountain is the tragic deforestation that has taken part over the last 10 years.  What was a huge rainforest is now gone, replaced by smallholders growing Maize and bananas.  This means that various streams and water sources are drying up in dry months and flooding in the rain seasons.  Part of the water project will, therefore, require working very closely with the villagers to sensitise them to the importance of reforestation in the area above the spring.  The area is, in part, already protected because there are 2 very large snakes living above the spring, preventing encroachers from other villagers planting that high.

Connex Banda and Rose Singhano, JB water project committee members, remarked “we walked all around the area and thought ‘ this is good because there are more trees and we have found water’ but that was because nobody had told us then about the huge snakes!  We were lucky, but we also think these snakes could protect our water!”

Secondary School Bursaries

Satemwa JB have expanded their school bursary program from 50 to 117 students this term. 

Students are accepted on a needs basis through the Joint Body Education sub-committee.

The project is managed by Rabson Kalowa, JB Chairman, personally to ensure the necessary administration is undertaken in time.  Coordinating wit the schools and parents over such a large area, especially with poor communication channels available, has been very challenging.

The bursaries project, although successful and popular in the main, has not been without its challenges this year.  Unfortunately, one headmaster has been found to have misappropriated the bursary funds for his own use.  Issues around power and social standing make these kinds of activities very difficult for JB members to stand up to.

No more VSO on Thyolo mountain

The government Department for Human Resources and Management Development have written to Satemwa and Msuwadzi Smallholders tea growers advising them they cannot ‘employ’ a VSO volunteer to help them with capacity building and project co-ordination for their Fairtrade projects.

The government have explained that this job should be done by a local Malawian employee.

The current VSO volunteers working with the two organisations, Michael Shaw & Penny Hayler, are due to finish in October, in line with original contracts. They will not be replaced.

6 New Teachers Houses get green light

Long term plans to build 6 new teachers houses for Satemwa school, a government primary school bordering Chizinja village, were given the final green light today by the JB board.

Under this ambitious project, the JB trust have taken out a long term lease for ‘peppercorn’ rent from Satemwa Ltd of 0.25 hectares of land in a central location bordering the shops and the school.  The JB commissioned a land survey to demarcate the plot using GPS marker beacons.  Following this the JB entered into a tender process with local and national contractors to find the optimum designs and best way of implementing such a large-scale project.

Pabe Civil Engineering and Building Contractors, from Blantyre, provided the winning bid.  The project is planned to take 3 months and cost MK11.9million ($86,000) over 3 staged payments.  The JB also negotiated penalty clauses with the technical assistance from Satemwa’s General Manager, Robert Emmott, to ensure the building works were completed in a timely manner.

The project has been in the pipeline for some years since members of Chizinja village started their own savings fund to build teachers houses.  They have been concerned about losing some of their best teachers in the past into the cities due to lack of good teachers housing in the area.  Parents are concerned that their children receive good tuition in English and have the best chance of winning places at secondary schools.

The school has benefitted from new teaching blocks , provided through Satemwa Tea Estate and the Tea Association, new desks, improved lighting and electrics and ecodome toilets (from the JB).  In addition, higher teacher earnings from salaries through the adult literacy programme and the prospect of new housing is helping motivate teachers and keep the good ones in the area. 

Satemwa school achieved record Standard 8 exam results and places for students into premium secondary schools this year.

Compost making and water conservation projects

The initial JB project for training local farmers in compost making, soil & water preservation has been completed.

The DAO visited 14 villages to carry our sensitisation meetings and training to those farmers who requested it.

The JB have experienced some frustration with the project because the local government officers from the DAO have not accounted for their spending properly and seem to have used all the money for fuel benefits, contrary to the agreed budget and contract with the JB.

The JB have agreed to postpone any further projects with the help of this department and are trying to find ways of finding honest technical support within the local community.

Adult Literary Schools – update

Satemwa JB adult literary schools have now entered their second term.  Registered students have stabilised at 550, although during the harvest period and post growing season when seasonal workers leave the estate, the numbers dropped by around 100.  However, the numbers have picked back up into this new term.

Satemwa’s headmaster noted this pattern is normal and the same is seen in the primary school.

School operates from 4.30pm to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.  Students can attend any of the four learning centres around the estate so long as they are a Satemwa worker or their spouse.  Due to space restrictions and limited number of local teachers, the JB cannot open the schools up to the whole community of 36,000 people, although judging by the 30% take-up amongst Satemwa staff, there is a clear hunger for more learning.

There are now 21 teachers across the scheme and students ages range from 18 to 70 years old.  However, some of the oldest lady students do not know their exact age.

Satemwa managers have noted that not only are the students hapy to be learning new skills like literacy, numeracy, English and life skills classes, but they are also more motivated at work.  Mr Gomani, manager in STE coffee division suggested “some of my staff are starting to show more confidence now with writing, keeping records and reading English, but it is early days.  I will make a study after one year”

Kautuka CBO for People Living with HIV & AIDS

Satemwa JB have entered into a partnership with Kautuka CBO for supporting People Living with HIV & AIDS.

Kautuka is a village close to the road and around Thyolo No. 1 trading centre.  The CBO is well organised with a drug dispensary, advisors and a support group.  They receive technical assistance from time to time from Medicines Sans Frontier and government health officials, but resources remain very stretched.

Kautuka approached Satemwa’s General Assembly and Joint Body to ask if they could receive any assistance through the Fairtrade premium fund.  Following 2 meetings, the JB have agreed to fund a 2 day training session for the Kautuka, by specialists on ‘Positive Living’ for people with HIV.  The training included tuition on nutrition, growing vegetables, healthcare and community homecare support and other social elements. 

The JB have also funded goats for the groups members which are being operated using a goat pass-on scheme, whereby each member must pass on the first Kid that is born from their goat to another member.  The goats can be used for milk as well as meat to help with nutrition and income.

Finally the JB are funding the purchase of 3 bicycle ambulances with trailers and mattresses that have been made by a specialist company in Blantyre.