This has been a hard year for the Mawa community. Thousands of pigs, the villagers’ primary income source, were wiped out by the African Swine Flu. 60% of village men are now separated from their families because they needed to go find work elsewhere. Those remaining in Mawa have begun raising ducks and are seeing the opportunity for this to help boost their income while awaiting the time when it is safe to return to pig-raising.

The community was excited to welcome trainers from GHNI this past month to hold a 4-day training on biosecurity for livestock, duck raising, and water filtration. The village Transformational Community Development (TCD) committee members remain in high spirits and are looking forward to adding to their knowledge and continuing step by step to lift themselves out of poverty.