Our story

I had been to Africa several times, and each time I was touched by the genuine friendliness and cheerfulness of the people I met - despite living on so much less than we do. My last trip was an almost two-month journey through East Africa in an overland truck.

But it was in Malawi that this feeling hit me most deeply. At Kande Beach, halfway down the west side of Lake Malawi, cheerful children waved everywhere - not to beg, but purely out of curiosity. I asked if someone could paint a photo of my son. That is how Rodger joined us, a painter of about forty.

The next morning Rodger turned up not with a painting, but with an idea. He had asked the medicine man whether he could help my sick son Ivar. So began an unforgettable seventeen-hour journey, over washed-away roads and by boat, to collect the ingredients for the medicine. I will never forget that day.

And that is how Stichting 100% Malawi was born. When I asked what I could do, they only asked for the basics: maize, soap and sugar. With a first donation of a thousand euros we bought a thousand kilos of maize, plus soap and sugar. Because overhead at large charities adds up, I decided that here 100% of donations go to Malawi - donors only pay €0.30 in transaction costs. The knife cuts both ways, how cool is that!