KOCHI: Far away from God’s Own Country, in a South-Central African nation called Malawi, which ranks among the world’s least developed and poorest countries, a young Malayali couple is helping villagers deprived of facilities like proper school buildings and wells for drinking water.
Arun C Ashokan, who hails from Nilambur in Malappuram, came to Malawi in 2019. His journey as a philanthropist began two years later. “And it continues,” says Arun, who now has his wife Sumi supporting him in his cause. Until now, the couple has dug up seven wells in various villages in Malawi where harsh summer conditions made life difficult and brought agricultural activities to a halt.
But what made Arun take this path? “Everything happened by chance. My maternal uncle brought me to Malawi and I joined a company as a warehouse manager. It was in the city and everything was perfect. However, it was my present job with a construction company that made me face the harsh reality of life in Africa,” says the 33-year-old.
He recalls: “As part of my job with the construction company, I have to visit remote villages as we are mostly into building dams and other big projects. During one such visit to the village, Chisasila, I came across children sitting under a dilapidated structure.
When I enquired, the villagers told me it was a school. Four poles with a grass roof made up the structure. The villagers told me that when it rained, a holiday is declared for the school.”
After getting more information from the villagers, Arun decided to get the children studying in classes I to IV a new building. “My first thought was to build a shed with tarpaulin sheet for the roof. But when the teachers and villagers urged me to get them a permanent building, I decided to do so. I talked to my colleague Kenneth, an engineer, to draw a blueprint.
Upon learning about the project, he joined the endeavour. The villagers agreed to make bricks. They were so enthusiastic that within two weeks they made 20,000 bricks, more than enough for a building that could house all the classes,” he says.
Arun also roped in another of his friends, Ashique, who worked in Dubai. “I told Ashique about the project and that I would require some financial help. He readily agreed. It took us one-and-a-half years to build the school. We never opted for crowdfunding. All the required funds were sourced from a portion of our salaries that we had set aside for the purpose,” he says.
Couple goes Kerala way to dig wells in Malawi
The school building grew in size after a UN team visiting the village saw Arun and Sumi working with the villagers in constructing it and decided to fund two more rooms.
“My company also chipped in and built an office room. Today the school has been taken over by the government and has classes from I to VII,” he adds.
That was the first initiative. “After Sumi joined me, we began visiting other villages and interacting with the people. We taught them different cooking styles, including making snacks from their staples – tapioca and banana. We also helped them set up small shops and sell their wares. Another problem the villagers faced was the drought. No agriculture happened during summer season.
So, we taught them to make small dams using sacks and use the stored water to cultivate crops,” he says. It was during such visits the couple noticed an anomaly. “We saw only hand pumps. And each village had just one to cater to around 50 families. When we asked, the villagers said the soil was not firm enough for an open well. We tried digging one. It wasn’t,” Arun says.
The couple then decided to go the Kerala way and use brick and cement to line the inside of the well to keep the soil from collapsing.
“We dug seven such wells. Now we are implementing a project to get water to villages facing acute water shortage, by digging wells where we can detect water and then pump it to the beneficiaries using a solar pump,” he says.
Arun says the funds are sourced from the revenue of the couple’s YouTube channel, Malawi Diaries, their own pockets or from friends. The couple is now engaged in constructing a higher secondary school at Ponela village.