Founders & Leadership

Ida Puliwa is the founder of Othakarhaka Foundation. She was born and raised in a village called Nakhonyo in Mulanje, Malawi. She became the first female from her village to graduate from college after a professor from Virginia Tech, Marquita Hill visited Malawi and sponsored her college education 11 years ago.

Marquita’s kindness inspired Ida to start Othakarhaka which means passing on the kindness to empower and uplift the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in her community. However, she could not do this huge assignment on her own and needed support of others to execute the vision of Othakarhaka into reality. Ted Mwango, (now Ida’s husband and co-director) and some other few community members stood with her vision when majority of the people rejected her ability to lead the organization that has now become the most impactful grassroots organization in Malawi.

Through her work at the Othakarhaka, Ida has won several awards for her outstanding community social service delivery through her charismatic leadership that is transforming poor struggling villages into self-reliant, sustainable communities through quality education, accessible public health care, economic empowerment and food security.