Young Malawian group of Landrover cars enthusiasts donate face masks in Thyolo

A group of young Malawians — who passionately own Landrover Defender cars — have formed a club with an aim of promoting tourism and charitable activities in remote and deserted areas of Malawi where only cars such as Landrovers can reach.

In celebrating Martyrs Day on Wednesday, the Malawi Landrover Defenders Club members visited Zoa community in Thyolo, which is one of the most deserted but having potential for tourism as it boasts of  Zoa Falls — which is potential to attract foreign or local tourists.

The group did their charitable work by donating face masks, clothes and food to less privileged people of Chipangula Village, which is closer to Zoa Falls.

The Club’s spokesperson Ted Dizzo Mhango said they decided to include the COVID-19 personal protective equipment as one way of sensitising the community they visited to adhere to the pandemic’s preventive measures that are in place.

“Since we were visiting their community and taking cognizance that we are their visitors, we needed to have them protected as well even though we ourselves would be wearing masks,” he said.

“So when we visit places that we want to market them as potential tourism destination, we will always add a charity donation to such a community.

“While at Zoa, we sensitised the locals to adhere to the COVID-19 preventive measures as well as encouraging them that we will market out Zoa Falls for tourists so that one day the communities around Zoa Falls benefit from the proceeds.”

Mhango said to join the group one needs to have a Landrover Defender and currently the Club, which was formed in January this year, has 30 members and this was their first charitable activity.

“Going forward, we would like to go out and discover more deserted and hard to reach places in Malawi that can be patronised by tourists and we are geared for more charitable activities.”

He added that the money used to buy the face masks, clothes and food was sourced through contributions from each group member and subscription fees.

“I must say we were so pleased to see the beaming faces of the beneficiaries and they told us that it was the first time to receive such donations.

“Zoa is very deserted and normal cars can’t reach out because the road is very bad shape and for us it was even a bigger challenge because it had just rained and the road was very muddy.

“But it was a worthwhile activity to do because we came back having known how tough life can be for some Malawians out in the remote places like Zoa,” Mhango said.