Madalitso Chiluba

Madalitso Chiluba is a thirty years old young man. He lives in Mganja village in the area of Traditional Authority Njolomole in Ntchue district. He was born with a weak right hand. He is married and has one child.

Madalitso lost his father while young. So he was raised by his mother, who is a subsistence farmer. She could not manage to pay school fees for Madalitso, so he left school at an early age. As a boy, he helped his mother with farm work. Whenever possible he also did piece work in neighbouring farms to supplement the family income. When he married, he continued with piece work to support his wife and child. Piece work earned him Mk 10, 000.00 per month on average. It was hard for the family to meet their daily needs.

But early in 2019, Madalitso was visited by a field worker for Malawi Council for the Handicapped Ntcheu Office. He informed him about training opportunities which are being offered by the GCT Tools and Training for Livelihood Project in Ntcheu. Madalitso chose to do carpentry training. After assessment Madalitso was given the chance to do carpentry training. He started the training on 8th April 2019. Madalitso liked the training and worked very hard. Apart from carpentry skills he also learned about HIV and AIDS, manure production, gender awareness, reproductive health and basic business management. He completed his training on 4th April 2020.

Unfortunately Madalitso’s graduation coincided with travel restrictions due to the Corona virus pandemic. So resettlement tools were delayed. But Madalitso did not want to just sit and wait for his resettlement tools to come, so he devised an interim plan. Using part of Covid 19 cushioning funds he had received from GCT, he rented some tools with which to start his carpentry business, which he started in August 2019. A lot of people from his community have been giving him work to do. He has been making doors, door and window frames, beds, tables, chairs etc. On average Madalitso has been earning Mk 30,000. 00 per month, which translates to an increase of 200% in his income.

The increased income has enabled Madalitso to support his family better. In addition he has been able to buy farm inputs for food production and added another sash clamp to his tool kit. He has also trained one boy from his village and his future plan is to build a brick house thatched with corrugated iron roofing sheets for his family.

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