WATCH: How Climate Change Will Affect Malawi, With SCIAF
Students from Lanark Grammar School and St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School conducted an interview with representatives from Malawi to discuss their thoughts on COP26. We spoke with Aaron Kandiwo Mtaya and Tapiwa Machinjir, who are both SCIAF partners. SCIAF is the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, a charity set up to support people in countries such as Malawi. Aaron is a programmes coordinator and Tapiwa is a monitoring and evaluation officer.
We really enjoyed our time with Aaron and Tapiwa: they were incredibly engaging and clearly outlined their concerns and hopes for the future. Thank also to SCIAF, who welcomed us to their offices and made us feel so comfortable.
We asked them both: “What do you think of the historic relationship between Malawi and Scotland?”
Tapiwa answered by saying, “it is a great relationship that started way back” and then went on to inform us that the Scottish Government has been giving funding to aid Malawi in many ways including helping them tackle the issues occurring from climate change. Aaron agrees that it is a positive relationship thanks to Scotland’s continued support. He stated that “we see a bright future together”.
Our next question was: “What is your relationship with SCIAF?”
Aaron explained to us that SCIAF has been around for quite a long time and have been giving support by introducing projects such as the Climate Challenge Programme Malawi (CCPM) and another one that encourages empowerment among the youth. Tapiwa went into further detail on the CCPM by sharing that many people have benefited from this project, as well as letting us know some things that the project is doing, such as implementing solar powered irrigation schemes to help more people have access to enough healthy food. He appreciates all the work SCIAF does greatly.
We inquired: “What are your thoughts on what is currently happening at COP26?”
Aaron answered by saying, “we are tired of the discussions” as he hopes that we will see more action. He also hopes to see more money being given to the areas that need them most. Tapiwa declared, “I am hopeful” towards COP26 as the voices they have brought from vulnerable communities should have the chance to be heard. However, she agreed that we need more immediate action to happen.
Finally, we asked them: “What is the overall message you are trying to convey?”
Aaron said that the key message is to “just do what you promised to do” in reference to COP26. Tapiwa stated, “My message to all COP delegates and the world leaders is that they should put at their heart the voices of the most vulnerable.”
