About Malawi
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Malawi is situated in Central Africa and is a land of great beauty without conflict, yet life expectancy is just 35 years with many suffering from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS, with nearly 12% of the adult population being infected with HIV alone. In fact, the death rate is so severe that nearly half of the population (45.8%) is under the age of 14.
Malawi was a former British colony called Nyasaland. It was established in 1891 and became independent as the nation of Malawi in 1964. It is now a democratic country with its first ever free elections in May 1994, although that and subsequent election results have been deemed 'irregular'.
Despite being a former British protectorate, Malawi is one of the ten poorest countries on the planet with 85% of its population living in rural areas. The country is often afflicted by severe famines with the famine of 2005 affecting over four million of the country's inhabitants, leaving them without proper food supplies. The United Nations declared the situation in Malawi "as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises".
As ever, education is the key to change, however poverty is so rife, many Malawi children spurn school in order to beg for food for themselves and their families. Child sponsorship programmes are beginning to turn this around by attracting children into the classroom in exchange for at least one square meal a day. Those Malawi children benefit from learning in general but specifically regarding how to develop the agricultural base of Malawi and how to prevent the spread of AIDS.
All this costs money of course and without international aid, these much needed programmes for change would falter. There are many charities you can contact to help Malawi children, click here to review them. For all the latest news from Malawi click here for our news service.
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