By Samuel Malasa Banda
As a local non-profit organization, Cornerstone Ministries Malawi strives to find a sustainable venture where the investments can, in turn, help the needs of the ministry. As a step towards this objective, Cornerstone currently has 23 goats that are part of a program meant to kick start a goat farming business.
The 23 goats are being kept at a rented place since the Cornerstone campus does not have a permanent structure to keep the animals. The ministry, however, has acquired a larger plot about 40 kilometers from the Salima town where there are plans to turn it into a farm.
According to Danneck, the establishment of the Cornerstone farming project will help waive school fees and also help meet operating costs for the ministry.
Cornerstone Christian High School charges school fees as low as $50 per term or $150 annually for students. However, the revenue that the school brings in is not even enough to pay for teachers’ salaries and operations.
“It is possible to have the fees at Cornerstone Christian High School raised to meet the standard of the school, but we realize that as Cornerstone, we exist to help the community. We are the hands and feet of Christ in Salima,” assures Danneck.
Therefore, a business venture like the goat farming project will help the ministry generate income to enable more students to attend school at a lower cost and be given a chance for a brighter future.
But for this sustainability dream to actualize, Cornerstone needs funds to develop the land it has acquired so that the goats can be housed at an appropriate place safe for production and growth. Further, the ministry wishes to have more goats and other animals like chickens and pigs to diversify the business and avert the risk of some diseases which wipe out livestock.
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