I first met James in 2016 when doing my volunteering project in Mzuzu with Anno's Africa. He was the leader of the local group of teachers we were training. Thanks to his commitment and a huge heart we were able to set up an ongoing arts education project in small villages and towns in Northern Malawi. It was a great success and thanks to the local team, the project ran smoothly through the next 5 years. Over 120 children had a chance to regularly participate in circus, drama, dance, and art classes. Here is a glimpse of what we were doing.

Then came Covid and all the programmes had to stop. Malawi, although quite isolated, was also struck by the pandemic: schools were closed, teachers didn't work and were not paid, and the economy suffered a lot.

Recovery was slow, but James didn't give up. On top of his work for Anno's Africa, he set up Save The Generations to support the local community of Mzuzu and gather resources to run other programs. Then in 2023, Malawi was hit hard by Cyclone Freddy and here I will give voice to James.

My name is James Mhango and I am a community worker in Mzuzu, Malawi. I have devoted my whole adult life to supporting our local community by taking part in and leading projects about education, creativity, women empowerment, child protection, and AIDS prevention. 

I have been working as a regional chair of the National Theatre Association of Malawi, and chair for Mzuzu District Youth Network. I am also the country director of Anno's Africa and a founder of Save the Generations. 

I started Save the Generation as a response to the devastation of our country by Cyclone Freddy in March 2023. As we struggled with the aftermath of the destruction, supporting farmers and local communities, I understood that we needed to focus more on the future. And this is when the Community Farm Project appeared in my head.

We would like to start small and first set up a small-scale chicken farm. This will generate our financial base which we can use to expand the project and use it to educate young people about agriculture and running a profitable business. In the next stage, we would like to set up a commercial vegetable garden - selling vegetables, feeding the leftovers to chickens, and using chicken manure to fertilize the ground. During this stage, we are aiming to create a sustainable farm, with a closed loop agriculture.

I am setting up this crowdfunding on behalf of James, because, believe it or not, if you are a Malawian, there is no way you can officially organize a crowdfunding campaign through the most popular platforms. We contacted over 10 different organizations and none of them allow Malawians to officially start a crowdfunding.

It's a small-scale project with a budget of €1500. Below you can see the plot that has already been donated to Save The Generations. Thank you for your support and if you're ever planning to visit Malawi, please reach out to me and James, and you will be amazed by the beauty of this country and the warmth of the Malawian people. You will understand that Malawi has rightfully earned its nickname as the "Warm Heart of Africa."