Maize mills proposed to make feeding centers self-sufficient, provide community service

By Brooke Hoffman
The Ministry of Hope, Inc. team in Malawi has proposed building three maize mills in villages where feeding centers are established—a Malawian solution to a Malawian problem. The ministry would own the mills and receive the monthly profits, money that would go directly into the ministry’s programs to support the crisis feeding centers, nursery and scholarship programs.

There would be other benefits to owning maize mills as well:

Job training. A maize mill could provide jobs to older orphans and help them develop practical skills. Thus MoH would be taking steps to not only help orphans in their present need, but also provide them a chance at a better future.

Food source. Owning the mills would offer an inexpensive source of ground maize flour, the feeding program’s main source of food. Maize accounts for the majority of each center’s monthly food costs. Currently, the ministry is paying other mills to grind its maize. The proposed project will reduce the cost of flour for the feeding centers by charging them a lower price, thus making the ministry even more self-sufficient.

Community benefit. These mills will benefit the community as a whole since the villages being considered have no maize mill. Women often must walk many miles to a mill in another village and pay to have their maize ground. The opening of these three mills will offer the villages better access to a place to grind their maize and assure that the money they spend will go right back into their own communities. Because the mills will be located in villages that already have an established relationship with MoH, the acceptance of the mills among the chiefs and the villagers is assured.

The total cost of a complete maize mill is $11,500. The villagers will provide the bricks for this building, the mill machine is $7,000, the building to house it $2,000, and start-up expenses for the first eight months are estimated at $2,500.

If you or your church is interested in funding a maize mill please contact Rex Hoffman, executive director of Ministry of Hope at P.O. Box 1462, Black Mountain, N.C. 28771 or call 828.298.9739 or e-mail rexhoffman@hotmail.com.