‘Thandizo’ in the Chichewa language of Malawi means ‘help’. Thandizo is a small UK charity dedicated to help the most vulnerable in Malawi. Malawi is a small, very poor, landlocked country in Southern Africa. Specifically, we concentrate on the Lower Shire Valley in the very South which is the poorest and most deprived region of Malawi.
The geograhy and geology of the Lower Shire Valley mean that at any given time it is likely to be suffering from either floods or drought
The vulnerable in the Lower Shire include those groups lacking extended family support. State assistance is minimal. The groups include: the elderly, the disabled, orphans and people with albinism.
Those with albinism are special group in that they suffer from the heat and high levels of UV light. They are particularly prone to skin cancers and eye disease. In Eastern Africa they are especially vulnerable to attack by those seeking to use their body parts in traditional medicine.
The poverty in the Lower Shire is such than even those who can usually just about manage in a good year become vulnerable in the event of floods or drought and sometimes both!