Now here is a great idea! Clubs devoted to Microcredit are springing up on college campuses. And what better place to have such a club than in a higher learning institution, much better than a rugby club if you ask me. All kidding aside, the newspaper for Northwestern University profiled the campus Microfinance club. Emily Wray detailed the club's goals.Traveling to rural areas of Africa and India. Starting banks in small villages. Finding ways to fund local education and health care.These are just a few of the goals of Northwestern's Microfinance Club.Microfinance provides small loans for low-income people in underdeveloped countries so that they can work their way out of poverty, said Jesse Wiener, a member of the club's executive board.The Microfinance Club hopes to increase student...
from IPS By Pilirani Semu-BandaLILONGWE, - Wyson Chandanga, a small-holder Malawian farmer from the northern district of Mzimba, does not care if the country receives enough rain this year. He is also not concerned on whether the rains come on time or not.Chandanga’s attitude is at first surprising, since Malawi is an agricultural economy which greatly depends on rain-fed farming. The country derives up to 70 percent of its foreign exchange revenue from agricultural production and 85 percent of the country’s population depend on the same sector for their livelihood.However, Chandanga says adverse weather, including erratic rains, experienced in the country in recent years, has persuaded him to find ways to reduce his dependence on rainfall.Malawi has recently experienced three major...
from the Independent On Line Blantyre - Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika on Saturday said that Africa was able to feed itself, suggesting other African nations should learn farming lessons from his country."We believe in Malawi that Africa can feed itself," Mutharika told reporters before he departed for Japan to attend a meeting of African leaders."Malawians have been able to feed themselves. There are a lot of countries that want to see me to ask me 'how did you Malawians do this?' ... 'how did you turn things and be able to feed yourself?'."Mutharika did not say what has led to Malawi's success, although the country, where food security is a pressing issue, is set for a second back-to-back bumper maize harvest due to subsidised fertiliser.Up to five million people were in need of...
from Voice of America An update on the experimental Millennium villages Project. While this profiles Malawi there also such villages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. - Kale By Lameck MasinaIn Malawi, two villages with about 40,000 people have begun reaping the fruits of the United Nations initiative known as the Millennium Villages project. The goal is to reverse the poverty, hunger and disease affecting millions of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Voice of America English to Africa Service's Lameck Masina in Blantyre reports that there are two Millennium Villages in Malawi – one in the southern district of Zomba, the other in the central district of Mchinji.UN specialists have been helping the villagers improve education, health care...
from the BBC The leader of one of Britain's biggest insurance companies is now back now urging government to do more. - Kale By Gareth JonesThe former head of one of the world's biggest insurance companies has just come to the end of a year working for charity in Africa.Richard Harvey, who as chief executive of Aviva ran a global operation employing 60,000 people, has been casting a critical business eye over the aid industry.This time last year Richard Harvey was still enjoying the perks of office.His chauffeur-driven limo had dropped him off at Aviva Tower, an executive lift had whisked him non-stop to the luxurious 23rd floor where he was greeted by his top team.High above the City of London Mr Harvey spoke to his staff, gathered for his leaving do, about his impending departure."I...
from the Allentown Examiner Community encouraged to support Allentown Lake events June 26-29BY JANE MEGGITT Staff WriterALLENTOWN - Not many rafts float on Allentown Lake, which makes the one that will be launched on Thursday evening even more special.Four team members planning a mission to the African nation of Malawi in August will launch the raft to raise awareness about their trip. They plan to spend 72 hours on the lake from June 26-29.Those interested in learning more about the mission of the Allentown Presbyterian Church can visit the information table that will be set up near the lake. The rafters have also planned a variety of other events to spark community interest and participation, including a wine and cheese tasting at a lake house, music at Pete Sensi Park, a water...
from IRIN NewsMore than a million Malawian children are still being used as labourers, according to the latest available estimates, but legislation compelling birth registrations has been delayed by government infighting and the resultant political turmoil.A senior official of the national registration bureau in the president's office, Lawrence Hussein, told local media in March 2008 that "Malawian children have no document to show when they were born. We can hardly tell who is a child."The colonial-era 1904 Birth and Deaths Act, which does not require citizens to be registered at birth, nor deaths to be reported to the authorities, is still in force.Consequently, even though Malawi is a signatory to numerous conventions against child labour, including the 1989 UN Convention on the...
from Inside Bay AreaSouthern California doctor sets up HIV/AIDS facility to help MalawiansBy Kyveli Diener, REDWOOD CITY — There's far more happening in Malawi than Madonna's high-profile adoption scandal.In this relatively small country in southeastern Africa, approximately 80,000 out of 12 million Malawian citizens die of AIDS every year, according to the World Health Organization.As many turn their back on this beautiful yet seemingly hopeless country, where a high mortality rate means children are often raised by other children, one man has been working for nearly eight years to make a difference.Dr. Perry Jansen, 46, moved to Malawi in late 2000 and founded the nonprofit Partners in Hope Medical Center in the country's capital, Lilongwe. His free clinic provides treatment,...
from the Nyasa TimesCharles Kufa Malawi's level of poverty continues to rise under the administration of President Bingu Mutharika, sparking an increase in incidents of crime, a police crime analysis report says.Presenting the report of the last quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008 to the Court Users Committee (CUC) in Dedza, the district Police Station Officer Charles Chabvuta disclosed that offences such as unlawful wounding, burglary and theft were very high."The station registered 368 cases in the last quarter of 2007, showing that on average 122 cases were being committed per month and four cases per day while in the first quarter of 2008, 403 cases were registered," he said.He said crime was increasing at the rate of 8.7 percent, and attributed this to poverty and abuse of...
from Western News By Becky BlueProfile of an intern in MalawiStudents often arrive at school with the notion that a good post-secondary education will broaden their horizons and open their minds to new ideas and opportunities. Still, much of the growth and learning at university happens within the sheltered confines of the lecture hall and the boundaries of the campus. Less common is the opportunity for students to take their learning off-site, where they could stretch their limits even further, and gain a whole new perspective on the world. Some students at The University of Western Ontario take it upon themselves to include these kinds of experiences in their formal education, through internships, co-ops and other ventures. Western Engineering is home to one student group, known as...
from the Daily TimesBY DEBORAH NYANGULU-CHIPOFYAGovernment through Ministry of Youth Development and Sports last Thursday launched a National Plan of Action for Young People in Lilongwe.The document is aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health and prevention of new HIV infections among people aged between 10 and 24.The 67 page action plan has six main strategic objectives, which it would address in order to meet its main goal.The objectives include improving policy environment and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV programmes for young people, enhancing skills for adoption of safer sexual practices among young people and increasing utilisation of youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services.The last three objectives include increasing accessibility of...
from the Guardian By Frank PhiriBLANTYRE, Malawi's real economic growth will remain above seven percent in 2008, boosted by high tobacco prices, aid inflows and fiscal discipline, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast on Sunday.In a statement released at the end of a final review of a so-called Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), the IMF said Malawi's economic performance had encouraged it to discuss a new programme for the southern African country."Helped by sound policies, including better management of public spending, another good harvest, high aid inflows and high tobacco prices, real GDP growth is estimated to have been almost eight percent in 2007," IMF resident representative Maitland McFarlan in a statement."And it is estimated to stay above seven percent in...
from Malawi's Daily TimesBY JOEL PHIRICOTTON growers in Chikwawa stand a chance of making huge returns from their cotton farming as a chance has unveiled itself for the farmers to have their cooperatives linked to Fair Trade.Fair Trade is an international organization that fights for trade opportunities for products originating from developing countries on the international market.The deal, sealed through a Malawian student, Andy Chamthunya of Nottingham Trent University‘s (NTU) Students in Free Enterprise (Sife), would open doors for the growers.Speaking on Thursday in Chikwawa, when he consulted the farmers, Chamthunya said his desire was to link local farmers to Fair Trade.He said the move came out of his realisation that local cotton growers have for a long time been exploited by...
from the Nyasa Times By Nyasa Times Reporter on 11 February, 2008 06:29:00Executive Director for Women and Law for Southern Africa (Wilsa) Malawi Chapter say the fight against the HIV Aids pandemic in Malawi will remain a pipe dream unless stakeholders and policy makers start addressing the problem as a gender and human rights issue.Wilsa Executive Director, Seode White said this in Blantyre during a media breakfast briefing on the findings of a research conducted by her organisation.According to White, the research findings yet to be formally published has revealed that extreme poverty drives women to engage in high risk behaviour that result into them catching HIV Aids.''Poverty has a female face and the perception that men are a source of economic support is one of the main...
from The Daily TimesBY JACOB NANKHONYATwenty nine percent of children in the country are engaged in child labour, Unicef’s child protection specialist Seamus Mac Roibin has disclosed.Roibin was speaking during official handover of 150 bicycles to Ministry of Labour at Trade Testing Centre in Lilongwe on Wednesday.The bicycles are meant to help in fight against child abuse.“Economically, we are stopping a generation of children to go to school thereby failing to invest in human capital,” said Roibin.Minister of Labour Anna Kachikho said at the function that as most developments were now being channeled within the context of various frameworks such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Education for All initiatives (EFA), amongst others, was paramount.“Ladies and gentlemen, such...
from The Voice of AmericaBy Lameck MasinaBlantyre, Malawi Report on legislation combating hunger in Malawi, mp3 - download audio clipListen to Report on legislation combating hunger in Malawi, mp3 audio clipIn Malawi, the government, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders have introduced a new initiative to combat hunger. The move – called Hunger Free – is part of a worldwide campaign to eliminate hunger in poor countries. The campaign in Malawi aims to introduce laws that guarantee the right to food for all so hunger can be cut in half by the year 2015. Voice of America English to Africa Service reporter Lameck Masina in Blantyre says for the past two years, Malawi has been making progress in efforts to grow enough food to feed the country.Statistics from agriculture...
from The Daily TimesBY CHARLES MPAKAIt is around 6:30 am. It’s a cold January morning. It has been raining so hard in the past night. Elias and his brother had to move to the corner of their house to avoid getting wet.Elias (14) wakes up his brother, Harry (7).If statistics accounted for everyone, Elias and Harry would have been among the estimated 1 billion children worldwide deprived of normal childhood and condemned to face poverty.They could have been among the 4 million children in Malawi deprived of at least one of the seven basic rights.According to United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), these essentials are water, schooling, information, health care, food and proper shelter.Elias and Harry stay in Mgangala. This is a slum reportedly relocated from another slum called Mtopwa,...
This is what I remember:
Riding up the escarpment from Nkhata Bay in the back of a pickup with 13 other people, a few sacks of maize and a stack of jerry cans; eating corn bread and chili for Christmas dinner; reciting the prologue to Shakespeare’s Henry V while waiting for a hitch; seeking shelter from a rainstorm in the Chikangawa Forest fire tower hut only to find a very surprised Malawian staring down four white girls.
It was the middle of my first full year in Africa and I’d gone to spend the holidays (and the rainy season) with a friend just beginning her Peace Corps stint in northern Malawi. Next week, I will land in Lilongwe, 1400 miles from my last residence in Kinshasa, DR Congo, to stay for awhile.
A country of nearly 13 million, Malawi is about 5% the size of my...
The air is dry here. So dry that the hairs in my nose stand at attention when I inhale. So dry that the skin on my cheeks feels taut a few minutes after putting on lotion. Still two months left before the rains. I remember Kinshasa, where my skin, my bathtowel, the air couldn’t absorb a drop more. Each breath was dense and weighty and thick with the constant perspiration of the jungle.
I met up with a group at a bar the other night. I chatted with a woman who’s ‘yaah’ slid as no one’s but a South African’s does. She’s been in Malawi most of her life. Her daughter’s going into secondary school this year. She doesn’t look much older than I am; I realise she’s probably not.
The roads here are narrow and unlit, the drivers slow and...
While it’s a beautiful clear Sunday in Lilongwe, things back in Congo aren’t quite as sunny. What was initially reported as an unidentified disease outbreak in my old home province of Kasai Occidental is now confirmed to be Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. Friends in the province report 170 confirmed deaths and about twice as many infections. Realistically speaking from my former life in hemorrhagic fever health communications, Ebola is a self-limiting bug, striking in remote places and killing most of its victims before they have a chance to pass it on to too many others. That being said, it still leaves a morbid wake in its path.
On the political side, Fred reports that Laurent Nkunda in eastern Congo is still standing strong against integrating his private militia into the...
When you live abroad, you find yourself noticing parallels between the world you’ve come from and the one you live in. The longer you are abroad, the more tenuous the parallels become. But there more far-fetched the parallel, the more glee is taken in the connection.
Case and point: the search for a plastic bucket yesterday brought me to what is affectionately know by the Peace Corps volunteers around here as the Malawi Container Store.
(Three quarters of the shop is visible in this photo)
While the modest size of the shop occupies about the same size area as the hanger display of the last Container Store I was in, the selection of various colour- and sized-receptacles is certainly impressive. The space is actually so well arranged, it makes the closet-organising section of The...
from The PeninsulaDOHA • Mohammed Sidik Mia, Minister of Irrigation and Water Development of Malawi is currently here seeking support from Qatar for development of the Southern African country, especially its poverty-stricken Muslim community.During his week-long stay in Qatar, Mohammed Sidik is expected to meet the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and officials from various chartable organisations in the country.His visit is hosted by the Venessia Petroleum company, chaired by Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Mohammed Bin Jabor Al Thani.Talking to The Peninsula yesterday, Mohammed Sidiq said, Qatar, with its enormous economic resources, can offer a lot towards the development of Malawi. "Malawi is rich with natural resources but they are not...
from The Mail and GuardianMalawi, one of Africa's poorest nations, said on Monday that despite recent efforts to grow the economy, it would be unable to meet the United Nations target date of halving poverty by 2015.A welfare-monitoring survey conducted by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development indicated that poverty dropped to 45% in Malawi in 2006, from 53,9% in 1998, Ben Botolo, a director in the ministry, said.But despite this drop, "poverty levels still remain very high".Malawi will not meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target of "halving the proportion of people living below the poverty line by 2015", he said in an interview."There has not been a significant economic growth over the years to help eradicate extreme poverty and hunger," Botolo said.He said...
from The Daily TimesBY HENRY MCHAZIMEEntrepreneurship, establishment and promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) is the only way through which the majority of the population could be lifted from the jaws of poverty, delegates at the just ended annual conference for Society of Accountants in Malawi (Socam) held in Mangochi said.In his presentation entitled ‘Saving for investment: Strategies for wealth creation’, market analyst and Chief Executive of Alliance Capital Limited Godfrey Jowah said although it was always difficult to get into business, SME’s growth should be encouraged.“Internationally, 90 percent of businesses that start fail but there are ways of enhancing chances of success by working with a proven idea that could be replicated by finding demand and supply...
from The Nyasa TimesJosh AshazMalawi President Bingu wa Mutharika will deliver a keynote address at the Columbia University World Leaders Forum in New York, United States of America (USA) co-sponsored by the Earth Institute, on Monday at 10 am. Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Joyce Banda disclosed that many leaders would like Mutharika to speak on reduction of poverty in Africa, a function to be moderated by Jeffrey D Sach, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. “They want him [Mutharika] to speak on reduction of poverty, HIV and AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and improvement of aid for Africa,” she said. Mutharika who is accompanied by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Henry Phoya and Minister for Presidential and Parliamentary...
from The Sydney Morning Herald For the AIDS orphans of a Malawi border town, local clay and sand are the building blocks of a sustainable future, Steve Meacham writes.Construction workers in southern Malawi have a traditional way of building homes. They'll dig a big pit, shape bricks by hand, cover them with wood - and set fire to the primitive kiln.It's simple and it works but unfortunately, says a Sydney architect, Sam Crawford, it's also environmentally unsound."The kilns use a huge amount of timber, so they have to cut a lot of trees down. And it is really unnecessary," he says. "Timber and firewood are scarce resources in Malawi. Deforestation and soil are major problems throughout the region."That's why Crawford, a board member of the Australian volunteer group Architects Without...
from The Financial Express Pilirani Semu-Banda from BangkokGrace Kafere is tired. She has been on her feet for close to five hours, bending over as she moves up and down in a forest gathering twigs and branches to sell as firewood. The 45-year-old single mother of five children lost her job as an administrative assistant three years ago. The firm where she was working went through a restructuring process. She has been unable to secure another job since then.To survive she has had to sell most of her household goods, including a small electrical stove, to raise money for school fees. Her eldest child is 16 years old and in secondary school.''I have sold all the valuables I have ever owned and am trying small-scale business in order to keep my children in school. I sell everything I can lay...
from The Nyasa Timesby David MkwambisiWhile most of development aid in Malawi is directed to the Central Government, aid received by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) has been increasing over the part decades. This increase has not only expanded the activities of existing international NGOs, but has also allowed several new NGOs to undertake their work in Malawi with the aim of reducing poverty. However, as a nation and development experts we have a question to respond; does the growth of development aid and the NGO sector a good sign for development?Answering this question requires balanced views and important concepts to avoid biting the hand that has been feeding the Malawi nation. We don’t need statistical proof that international NGOs have and are still playing an important role...
from Reuters Alert Net By Mabvuto BandaLILONGWE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Britain has pledged 280 million pounds ($547.8 million) in aid to Malawi over four years and praised the impoverished southern African country for tackling corruption.Hilary Benn, Britain's international development minister, pledged the funds at a news conference in Malawi late on Tuesday, applauding the country's economic management and efforts to fight HIV/AIDS."As Britain we congratulate Malawi for attaining debt relief, for its incredible achievements in having over 80,000 people on HIV treatment within a short period of time and for good economic management," Benn said.The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to cancel most of Malawi's external debt of about $2.97 billion in September after it...
Continuing the postcard series, here’s a little something I found in the garden in Zomba. Lichen is a sign of good clean air, I think....