First Lady donates K3.5mil to Anglican: Beautify Malawi sourced money from Dubai ‘well-wishers’

Beautify Malawi (BEAM) Trust has donated K3.5 million to the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Shire to carry out various environmental management activities in its establishments.

BEAM Trust Founder and Patron, First Lady Gertrude Mutharika made the donation on Friday when she joined the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Shire in a tree planting exercise at Samama Primary School in the area of T/A Mponda in Mangochi.

Mutharika disclosed that the cash donation sourced from well – wishers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates was meant to solidify the long standing partnership dating back to 2014 between BEAM and the Anglican Church in complementing each other to conserve the environment.

“The money is available and all that is remaining is to transfer the cash from BEAM to management of the Anglican Church to use it in their different environmental management programmes,” she disclosed.

Mutharika called on people in the country to emulate the example set by the Anglican Church of the Diocese of Upper Shire in particular to establish some backyard woodlots to make Malawi green and a source of environmental pride.

“We should all plant trees and take care of them to maturity for the benefit of future generations,” she advised.

The First Lady said the connection between the environment and human survival could not be over-emphasised, urging people young and old to plant trees to mitigate the effects of climate change.

On beautifying Malawi, she appealed to people to take all the necessary precautionary measures by among others disposing of waste in designated places and digging rubbish pits.

“How does it feel to go to the market and see waste littered all over the place, let alone find food infested with flies? It doesn’t look good, it should therefore start with us to make sure the surroundings are clean and tidy,” she emphasised.

On this note, Mutharika commended the Anglican Church for supporting the education of the girl child, saying it was also in line with the goals of BEAM which has some programmes in the same area like bursaries and construction of girls’ hostels in CDSSs.

Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire, Rev. Brighton Malasa said the church was following the footsteps of the country’s leadership which had shown determination that it was possible to restore the country’s environmental status by engaging communities in tree planting.

“We have deliberately partnered with BEAM to unite for one common purpose which is to ensure the efforts of conserving the country’s natural resources are sustained,” Malasa said.

Malasa disclosed that the Diocese under its Samama integrated programme which attempts to plant trees and caring for the same besides adding value to existing forests expects to plant over 16,000 trees this year alone.

Speaking earlier, BEAM Trust Chairperson Mayamiko Mwinjiro said the trust which has had a cordial relationship with the Diocese of Upper Shire with most activities undertaken in Domasi, Zomba decided to extend its footprints to Mangochi to ensure meaningful and sustainable environmental interventions.

Mwinjiro pointed out that the partnership between the Diocese and BEAM was two – fold in the sense that on one hand it was meant to complement each other in efforts of beautifying the country and on the other arrest the rate of deforestation.

“All these efforts are a result of effects of climate change which have about because of careless cutting down of trees which in return has also affected the country’s agricultural production which is heavily rain – fed dependent,” Mwinjiro observed.

He also said the partnership was meant to promote household hygiene by ensuring that people have toilets and rubbish pits to dispose of their waste.

The tree planting exercise was conducted under the theme: ‘Love Malawi, plant a tree initiative.’

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