Back to school: Mother Group helps children get an education

_MG_3213 — Potato seller Rosie is a member of the Kampini School Mother Group
© UNICEF Malawi/2018/Eldson Chagara

An unusual sight greets visitors to Headmaster Emmanuel Mabwera’s house at Kampini Primary School, Dedza. The front room has been converted into a workshop for the Mother Group, which coordinates between the school and local community. Old fashioned sewing machines sit on desks, surrounded by old clothes and materials. The mothers are hard at work sewing sanitary pads for adolescent girls, to prevent them missing school during their periods.

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City under siege: preventing cholera in Lilongwe

_DSC0368-edit — Nazia Chimbenenga with her children Vanessa and Precious, who both had cholera
© UNICEF Malawi/2018/Andrew Brown

On Sunday 20 May 2018, Lilongwe became cholera free, following an outbreak that lasted four months, affected 388 people, and claimed 18 lives. Nationally, over 900 people were affected with 30 deaths. The outbreak was caused by unsafe water consumption and poor hygiene and sanitation practices. Unless these underlying issues are addressed, cholera is likely to return.

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Youth Out Loud: child journalism gives Rehema a voice

Rehema1 — Rehema (right) and her friend Rita record a radio interview at Radio Maria broadcasting station in Mangochi
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

The town of Mangochi sits at the southern tip of Lake Malawi. A bridge arches over the wide river that runs south from the lake. On the Mangochi side is a roundabout that circles a square brick clock tower from the colonial era, next to the white walls and colourful garden of the former governor’s mansion, now a hotel.

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Green day: visiting South Luangwa in the rainy season

_DSC0519-edit — A herd of elephants move in a line across a green landscape in South Luangwa, in January
© Andy Brown/Zambia/2018

After a year in Malawi, I’ve settled into three favourite places to go for my occasional bachelor weekends: west to the backpacker beach town of Cape Maclear on the shores of Lake Malawi, south to the cool mountain town of Dedza, where you can hike up to the peak for stunning 360 degree views, or east to the wildlife-rich national park of South Luangwa in Zambia.

In this part of Africa, there are really only two seasons: wet and dry. I’d already been to South Luangwa in the dry season and was curious to see it in the rainy season. I expected to see less wildlife – in the dry season, there’s less cover and animals are forced out into the open in search of water – but I was looking forward to seeing full rivers and a landscape transformed from brown to green.

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Reverend Banda preaches God’s plan for marriage

Reverend-1 — “I use verses from the Bible to teach people about the problems caused by child marriages”
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

On a bright Sunday morning in Dedza district, Reverend Fastele Banda takes to the podium of a large church. The aisles are full of people from surrounding villages, dressed in their finest clothes. A group of gospel singers in shiny shirts get everyone singing to build their enthusiasm. Then Reverend Banda starts talking, his voice becoming more animated as he holds forth on a subject that he is passionate about: ending child marriage.

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Chief Kapoloma fights to end child marriage in Machinga

Chief-1 — Chief Kapoloma wants young people in his area to benefit from education
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

It’s a hot and sunny afternoon when Chief Kapoloma visits the home of teenage Fatima and her mother in Aisa village, Machinga district. He strides across the baked earth of a dried-out river bed, wearing a traditional robe and circular hat over smart shirt and trousers. The area is predominantly Muslim and there is a small brick mosque among the houses, adorned with a white star and crescent on the minaret. A cockerel calls out from a straw enclosure behind one of the mud brick houses.

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Malawi: one year living in the warm heart of Africa

1-IeMjQZOnQifAQBUWqoXIOA — Children watch the UNICEF team at work in a fishing village on Lake Chilwa © Andrew Brown/2017/Malawi

At 5am in the morning, the surface of Lake Malawi is still and blue. The air is cool with a light breeze replacing the storm that raged the night before. On the far side of the lake, to the south, the mountains of Mozambique slip in and out of a cloud bank. To the north, the water stretches past small islands all the way to the horizon – a sharp line dividing dark water from pale blue sky.

The sand crunches underfoot as I run along the beach. Looking at the water, sand and palm trees, it’s hard to believe this is not the ocean. One small giveaway is the fresh water snail shells scattered along the waterline, where you would normally expect sea shells to be. Another is the fresh air, which lacks the salt tang of the seaside.

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Zambia: exploring South Luangwa national park

_DSC0199-edit-2 — Elephants cross the Luangwa river bed, seen with the benefit of a 200mm zoom lens
© Andrew Brown/2017/Zambia

As the sun set behind the trees of the bank of the Luangwa River in Zambia, a line of elephants began crossing the mostly parched riverbed, their distinctive trunked shapes visible in the far distance beneath blue outlined hills. In the foreground, twisted branches cast twisted reflections in the remaining water – barely a trickle compared to its rainy season extent. A hippo lifted his head out of the water and bellowed at the setting sun. I stood on a high bank above this scene, with an old-fashioned Land Rover parked behind me and a cold local Zambian beer in my hand. It was a classic African scene and an adventure I’d dreamed of since reading tales of the continent as a teenager. Continue reading “Zambia: exploring South Luangwa national park” →

Granny Maulana brews the best beer in Balaka

1-hU2cAhrMTV6SyIgijgJWQQ — Meria Maulana with her grandchildren Estere and Francis outside the house they share
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

Meria Maulana is a small, shrunken old lady sitting on a mat outside a mudbrick house. Behind her, a makeshift football field has been set up on a cleared square of bare earth, with goal posts made from bamboo poles. A group of small children kick around a homemade football, ingeniously made from plastic bags wrapped in elastic bands.

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Solar power keeps the water flowing for school, villages

1-F6W6V32ZIxkInUz59v_79g — Lucy collects water from a tap at her school, connected to a solar powered water pump
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

It is early morning at Namera Primary School, in the countryside outside Blantyre. The school perches on an outcrop part way down a steep hillside between a mountain ridge and the plain below. The school yard is lit up in splashes of yellow sunlight. Some children are already gathered noisily here, while others make their way carefully up or down the hillside from nearby villages. This morning is special — every child carries with them a bundle of long grass stems, creating a moving sea of grass that sways above the heads of its small bearers.

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