As well as creating products in our workshop in Kasungu, we also work with people in the more remote villages surrounding the town that are part of MicroEnterprise Africa’s seed planting project. The people in these villages find it harder to get into town to seek work, and we learned that the months leading up to harvest time are the hardest for these communities and grows harder if the harvest is low.

Crochet is a common skill in Malawi, and we have put together a group of women highly skilled at this to create some of our products. This work complements MEA’s programme, which sees the charity provide training to the farmers, as well as seed, fertiliser and support with the marketing of their crops.

MEA’s farming field officers also deliver crochet hooks and cotton rope to the villages by motorbike for us. There is no electricity, or running water, in these villages, so a simple crochet hook is the perfect tool with which to earn extra income in these areas before crops are ready to sell.