Bridges [IMG_0819.JPEG]

Donors are like bridges. They are some kind of structures who can fill the gap. Donors have given funds to support the victimized, like on gender based violence, for people to know their rights. All those are being funded by the projects.

So in terms of our social enterprise, once it makes enough profits, it will give it to our organisation and they will help the marginalised. So soon our social enteprise will become the bridge, with offering school fees and books and the like. So it's like changing to a new bridge. From donors to our social enteprise.

But they are actually different bridges – the first the bridge may have metal reinforcements, which are very heavy. We cannot compare the bridge that the funds from our social enterprise can make with compared with the ones given by the donors. The ones produced by our social enterprise won’t be as huge as the ones by the donors, they will be a smaller. But they can at least make a difference. The ones by our social enterprise are made with local materials, so it is easier to manage and make repairs. For example, if there is a river over there and you want to construct a bridge, we can start with a simple one. It may not be as strong as the donor one, but as time goes by we might say 'ah this one has outlived it’s time, let’s build another one which is bigger and stronger'. So we get those and bring in the reinforcements and make it heavier, more or less like the ones by the donors.

This object is part of the Metaphors for Un/Making CSC Collection.

Created in Zomba, Malawi, 2023