The Mawa community continues to struggle with the fallout from the African Swine Virus that swept through the area, eliminating their primary source of income. The Transformational Community Development (TCD) training team has been walking alongside the community during this hard time as they look for solutions. It has also been a time when key figures in the community have risen up to meet the challenge, encouraging others in the community to come together and search for solutions. They are working on a plan to safely restart their pig-raising activities while adjusting their processes to increase resilience against future pandemics. The GHNI team is helping them in this process by providing knowledge regarding the shortcomings of their previous system, which left pigs vulnerable to disease.

In addition, the Mawa TCD committee and GHNI are in discussions about structuring a subsidized program that would result in Mawa residents owning their own pigs as opposed to just taking care of pigs for wealthy landowners. Subsidy is not the norm within TCD programs, generally preferring to identify available local resources, but due to a lack of capital and the severe impact on the community in this situation, emergency aid may be warranted, especially since the Mawa community has proven that they have taken well to TCD principles, having a transformed mindset over the last couple of years of partnership with the GHNI program.

Hopefully, this misfortune can become an opportunity for the people of Mawa to improve their livelihoods towards a better future.