Help me. Help them.

mordecai chiwaula Start Date: Jul 4, 2017 - End Date: Oct 1, 2017
  • Illinois, United States of America

My Travel Story

by: mordecai chiwaula Start Date: Jul 4, 2017 - End Date: Oct 1, 2017
Greetings from Malawi, nicknamed “the Warm Heart of Africa the warm heart of Africa”. My name is Mordecai Chiwaula and I pursued a BSc in Economics Honors degree. My greatest desire is to work and support poor countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals that were set by the United Nations.

More specifically, my home country, Malawi, suffers from food insecurity, a challenge to attaining the first, Millennium Development Goal that was supposed to be met in 2015. This has also hindered the country to reach the first Sustainable Development Goal. This problem is mainly linked to the lack of effective economic policies, which enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate variability that is characterized by droughts and floods amongst others. Additonally, the challenges are brought about due to unscientific approach and knowledge towards development, as the level of innovation is drastically low due to weak agricultural research and extension systems. Furthermore, through my career, I learned that the world’s poorest individuals live in rural areas, and they engage primarily in subsistence farming. However, the rate of agricultural productivity in these areas is stagnant due to high illiteracy rates that limit the adoption of new agrarian skills among residents.

I was recently awarded with a scholarship to Master in Agricultural and Rural Development Economics at the Western Illinois University in USA, for 12months.  My goal is that by studying global food systems, rural development and natural resource management, I will be enabled to empirically assess, the relationship between economic and ecological factors such as climate change and food insecurity in marginalized communities: The case of Lake Chilwa and other semi-arid areas in Malawi. I will then be able to answer questions and draw patterns on the nexus among food security, water use, and energy security, as well as determine how these factors relate to climate change and rural development.

The tuition and book fees of this wonderful opportunity will be covered. However, I will need to raise $12000 USD to cover for my Accommodation, Food, Air ticket plus other miscellaneous costs for the duration of my program. I have already started saving for the program and have made good strides so far in that regard, but I still have some ways to go. As a big dreamer, I believe in utilization of all opportunities that come my way.

I know that all of my goals will not be valid if I do not take the necessary steps to accomplish them. In that regard, I would like request for your assistance so that I may be able to partake in this sublime experience which would be beneficial to my pathway and others. Thank you very much.
  • Illinois, United States of America