Larne community helps Malawi farmers 'give peas a chance' as part of Christian Aid efforts

To coincide with Christian Aid Week (May 14-20), Elaine Lee, the charity’s volunteer organiser in Larne, shared a photo with a pea pod in place of her normal smile to demonstrate her happiness for farmers who have received a higher income for their drought-resistant harvest since joining a Christian Aid-supported pigeon pea cooperative.

As coordinator of the Larne Christian Aid group, Elaine supports the charity with the gift of her time.

This year, she has recruited around 70 volunteers, drawn from five local churches, to deliver 9,000 Christian Aid Week envelopes to houses in the Larne area in the hope of collecting vital funds to support the charity’s aid effort.

Pigeon peas thrive in drought-prone southern Malawi. They’re cheap to grow from recycled seed and require only minimal amounts of fertiliser and pesticides, making them an ideal crop to grow in a region where over 60 percent of families live in poverty.

Esther Saizi, a 54-year-old widowed grandmother, is one of more than 3,300 farmers helped by Christian Aid’s local partner, the Nandolo Farmers’ Association, which runs the pigeon pea cooperative.

With the improved profits from her harvest, Esther began buying goats, which provide milk and meat for her family as well as manure for her crops, saving on expensive fertiliser.

Esther even used her income to buy a sewing machine and now she makes clothes for her family.

The extra income also enabled Esther to support her elder daughter’s carpentry business and her younger daughter’s dream of going to college and qualifying as a nurse. She is also paying school fees for her four-year-old grandson.

Christian Aid Ireland Chief Executive, Rosamond Bennett, praised the impact of the charity’s supporters. “The transformation in Esther’s fortunes in Malawi is only made possible by our incredible supporters who generously give each Christian Aid Week to fund our work to help tackle the root causes of poverty around the world,” she said.

Christian Aid Week has been running in Northern Ireland since 1957, making it the region’s longest running fundraising campaign.

Each year, thousands of people donate to Christian Aid during the week to support people living in some of the poorest countries in the world as well as countries coping with conflict, drought, risk of famine and the impacts of climate change.

By donating to the Christian Aid Week appeal, supporters can help more farmers like Esther secure a fair price for their crops and make their children’s dreams come true.

For more information and to donate, please visit caweek.ie/Donate or call 028 9064 8133 to make a telephone donation.

Christian Aid’s ground-breaking work began in 1945, when the charity was founded by British and Irish churches to help refugees following WWII.

For more than 75 years, it has provided humanitarian relief and long-term development support for poor communities across the world, while working to highlight suffering, tackle injustice and champion people’s rights.