The team are getting ready............................

..............to fly out to Malawi to complete the third and final year of our project with Habitat for Humanity.  They will fly out on Friday 1st June 2018 and return on Tuesday 12th June 2018. 


Touchstone are funding the construction of 24, fully-subsidised decent and permanent homes for 96 orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC’s). Each family will also receive a ventilated and improved pit-latrine to improve sanitation and hygiene. Each house will meet Malawi Government housing quality standards in terms of ventilation, space, and other features. Target beneficiaries will be OVC’s from families that have lost one or both parents, and have no permanent place to live, and little or no income.


The project will also include;

• incorporate HIV prevention training for the 24 OVC beneficiary families;
• Provide 3 insecticide-treated mosquito-nets per family (on average) and also provide the 24 OVC families with malaria prevention training. Training will also cover better hygiene practices around the homes to eliminate mosquito breeding places, signs of malaria and when to seek medical help.
• Provide property-rights and wills and inheritance training to safeguard the lives of the OVC from property-grabbing. In many communities in Malawi, when the breadwinner dies, children are subjected to property-grabbing and are often left destitute. The training will be offered not only to the OVC care-givers, but also to traditional leaders (village headmen), child protection workers, CBO representatives and other influential people (gate-keepers) in the villages.

The project has provided an opportunity for Touchstone colleagues to visit Malawi and participate in the construction of the houses. This has enabled the team members to have an opportunity to interact with the homeowners and the wider community. Through the global village visit the Touchstone team get to see first-hand the need these vulnerable families have for shelter and the impact that this project has on the targeted families and wider community.


The team will be led by John Midgley who has attended both previous years as a Director of Touchstone but this year we see him wearing his Habitat for Humanity Team Leader hat. 


The team are really excited and can’t wait to get building