NGOs

Joining a village savings and loans group called “Buyu” has made Malawian women achieve things they had never even dreamed of. Their lives have improved significantly and they are now positive about the future for themselves and their families.

Since she was a little girl Elizabeth Lughali, 32, dreamed of sleeping in a real bed with a mattress. Today her dream has come true; she has managed to save enough money to buy a bed, a mattress and some nice linen through a DanChurchAid supported village savings and loans project.

“I joined Buyu savings club last year and saved enough to buy the bed and a plot of land. In total,…

This past week marked the final training sessions for a whole new group of Peace Corps volunteers coming to Malawi.  They will begin their two year stint working in either health or environment jobs.

Some of us were…

Construction of a multi-million dollar secondary school in Kasungu with funding from the Royal Jesuits of the Roman Catholic Church is progressing well, to the satisfaction of the church.

Loyola Jesuit Secondary School which will cost the Jesuits US$9 million is expected to enroll 500 students once completed in 2016.

The first phase of its construction is due to finish in 2014 and will be ready for its first intake of form 1 students.

Roman Catholic Church Jesuits Superior General Father Aldofo Nicholas expressed the sentiments…

My father once told me when I was a young girl that I was destined to do great things. His belief in my abilities and ambition is rooted deeply in the spirit of Malawians; resilient and determined for a better Malawi and a better Africa. Today we’re at a crossroads to test this spirit. For far too long, the scourge of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria has devastated families and communities and slowed the economic growth of Africa. However, significant scientific advances and years of intervention experience have given us the tools we need to defeat these diseases. I…

Africa has left itself wide open with glaring sores to the eyes, for celebrities to bandage. When one is drowning in poverty and gross mismanagement, any extended hand of support provided is better than nothing at all! It is not the African elite who suffer due to lack of an elite girl’s school or a functional maternity ward- their own children are whisked away to the best schools and hospitals money can buy to give birth! There are many African nations – who are truly appreciative of such celebrity meddling in their dysfunctional service delivery to the poor, indeed the poor among Africans welcome these super stars who make personal…

Project by A.J. Walkley Background

Vuto is my third book and the premise was inspired by my experience as a health volunteer in the Peace Corps, stationed in Malawi, Africa. As a member of the Peace Corps, I was exposed to many cultural traditions I had never even heard of before, like the prospect of puberty rites and wife inheritance (when a husband dies and leaves behind his wife, she is usually “inherited” by his brother or another male family member).

A.J. Walkley with her…

The skirmish between Madonna and the Malawian government has taken yet another turn with the country’s President reportedly “incandescent with anger” over a statement released by her own office harshly criticising the American singer.

Sources described as “well-placed” told the BBC that President Joyce Banda was unaware of the statement released on Wednesday which accused Madonna of “bullying state officials” and chaining Malawi to “an obligation of gratitude”.

Madonna, who visited the country last week with her children, including her two  adopted Malawian-born kids David and Mercy James, both 8, to see schools built by her charitable donations, hit back at the criticisms calling them “lies”.

President Banda was reportedly in the…

The Malawi government issued an angry attack on the pop diva Madonna Wednesday, alleging expected to be granted VIP treatment during her controversial tour to this southern African country last week.

A strongly-worded statement issued Wednesday by the president’s office, State House, in the capital, Lilongwe, accused Madonna of using her fame and money to press the government of Malawi to give her VIP treatment.

“Granted, Madonna is a famed international musician. But that does not impose an injunction of obligation on any government under whose territory Madonna finds…

U.S. agencies that work to fight HIV this week began a five-year effort with Malawi’s government to improve health care for Malawians infected with the virus.  The program – targeting seven districts across Malawi – aims to build on the country’s success in combating HIV/AIDS.  The United Nations says that from 2001 to 2011, Malawi reduced infections by 72 percent, more than any other country in Africa.

Spearheading the new program is a non-governmental organization, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Malawi is touted as the first…

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved, on March 25, 2013, a grant amounting to US $3.04 million to finance the Kholombidzo Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) Feasibility Studies in Malawi. The Government of Malawi will contribute US $0.23 million (7%) of the total study cost of US $3.27 million.

The grant aims to produce a full bankable feasibility study for the future development of a power generation project to contribute to the expansion of electricity generating capacity in Malawi, which would ultimately help to address electricity shortages and enable the delivery of reliable energy and electricity access expansion in…