It’s a regular warm Thursday morning in Lwezga village with birds chirping in the trees, women carrying babies on their backs going to fetch water and children with gleaming faces running on their way to school. Life is going on as normal on this remote corner of Karonga District in Malawi. The people here are oblivious to the fact that out in the United Kingdom, thousands of kilometers across seas, an international news outlet is carrying a headline story that hits closer to home. “UK-supplied ambulances sold off to fund officials’ cars” screams a headline in the The Telegraph newspaper written by Henry Mhango.
While residents of Lwezga are not aware of this trending news item, this story is about their home, Karonga. In it Mhango reports that local officials at Karonga District Council auctioned off a vehicle ambulance and six tricycles donated to the district by the British Government with funding from Department for International Development (DFID) to help prevent women of Karonga dying during childbirth. This sparked outrage among the locals and civil society groups in the district as they saw the move as detrimental to the goals of reducing maternal mortality.
However, that is not all there is to this story. Missing is the fact that among those vocal local voices is Luwezga Youth Club. When this grouping of enthusiastic youths learnt of the intentions of the officials to dispose of the tricycle at their Lwezga Health Centre, they jumped into action. Knowing that this is the only means to ferry expectant mothers referred to the distant Karonga District Hospital, the youths confronted the officials demanding a stop to the intended sale of the tricycle. The youths raised concerns over the decision-making process, demanding transparency and proper procedures to safeguard their precious community resources. Owing to this intervention, the tricycle for Lwezga Health Centre was not among those auctioned off.
The brave actions of the members of Lweza Youth Club are a testament to the impact of the “Children, Youths and Communities for Change (CYCC)” Project that the Church and Society Programme of the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia (CSP) is implementing in the districts of Karonga and Rumphi with funding from Transform Aid International. The project aims at creating an enabling environment where children and youths are able, free and safeguarded to effectively participate in public life, development, survival and protection initiatives.Members of the youth club are beneficiaries to CSPs initiatives that empower youths and communities with advocacy skills to strengthen civic engagement and hold duty bearers accountable.
