Malawi has a population of 18.1 million. Over 70% of these people are subsistence farmers who rely on their crops for survival. Over the last decade, Malawi has been witnessing more extreme weather events due to climate change, which doesn’t make it easy to grow crops.

Last year, Cyclone Idai caused widespread flooding in Malawi. It was one of the worst tropical cyclones in Africa on record. Today 1.4 million people there are in need of food security. These aren’t pretty facts. 

Angela, Olivia and I learnt about the situation in Malawi when we attended the World Vision Youth Conference last term (thank you to Dr Macleod for this opportunity). However, we also learnt about just how connected we all are - that even in New Zealand we can help. 

Our hosts, Matt and Rachel, taught us about the Maori word ngahere which means ‘forest’. In a forest, the trees are all connected, they are a community (nga means ‘plural’, here means ‘connections’). New Zealand is one of those trees in the forest and Malawi is another. One of the ways we can help sustain that connection is by participating in this year’s 40 Hour Famine together in June. Ways to get involved may be a little different from other years due to our current situation, so there’ll be more information coming soon!