Leading role: Head Teachers Association improves schools

_MG_5150-edit — Headmaster Pemba (left) with members of Kwiputi Primary School’s Learners Council
© UNICEF Malawi/2018/Eldson Chagara

In the packed earth yard at the centre of Kwiputi Primary School, a group of girls gather to practice netball, ahead of a district competition. The pitch is rudimentary, with goal posts made from wooden poles with scrap motorbike wheel rims attached to the top. The girls shout out to each other, with team coach Samayat, 14, giving directions. Rain clouds gather ominously overhead, but the girls keep on playing. Suddenly Samayat gets a clear shot at the goal ring, throws the ball, and scores.

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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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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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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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Drones, through the eyes of a village health worker

1-2vmh9OzR84sV3tBslyN7mg — Amidu holds a consultation at his village health clinic in Kasungu District
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Andrew Brown

Thipa village in Kasungu Province is typical of rural Malawi. It’s a group of small mud brick houses nestled in the shade beneath tall trees and surrounded by maize and tobacco fields. The village is 6km from the nearest road down narrow, bumpy earth tracks. Long brown tobacco leaves hang in drying sheds, waiting collection by the tobacco companies based in this area. Chickens and goats wander through the central clearing, located around the dead trunk of a once large Baobab tree, a traditional meeting point for the community.

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Little by little: Malawian school girl follows her dreams

1-mtFcBcENBG81hBGiLfMboA — Joyce Chisale in class at St Michael’s Girls Secondary School, after receiving her scholarship
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Eldson Chagara

St Michael’s Girls School in Mangochi is one of the better secondary schools in Malawi, although by international standards it doesn’t look like much. The buildings are run down with broken windows here and there. Goats from the local village roam freely across the campus, butting heads or lying on stone benches in the shade. But the students are smartly dressed, happy, and keen to learn. The teachers are skilled and motivated.

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