Photos: People of Malawi

Chanthunthu village Kasungu edit v2 — The Headmaster of a school in Kasungu, where UNICEF launched a drone testing corridor
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Andrew Brown

While most of my photography for UNICEF focuses on children, I’ve also taken portraits of the adults who work with and care for them in schools, health centres and elsewhere. Malawians are generally friendly and welcoming and make good subjects for photos. Older people in particular have faces full of character, although unlike children they take photos very seriously and have to be coaxed into providing a smile. People dress very smartly, like the headmaster above, even if they live in remote rural areas without water or electricity. Continue reading “Photos: People of Malawi” →

Photos: Children of Malawi

_DSC0083 (3) — Children laugh at a fishing village beside Lake Chilwa, where I was writing a story
© UNICEF Malawi/2017/Andrew Brown

One of the pleasures of working for UNICEF is travelling to remote parts of Malawi to write stories about children and their families. Sometimes I’m accompanied by a professional photographer but other times I go on my own. This gives me some great opportunities to photograph children. Some of these children are the subjects of stories I wrote, while others are just curious kids from the neighbourhood who came to see what was going on. Like most places in the world, children in Malawi love having their photo taken, But here they see cameras much less often, so are that much more excited. Continue reading “Photos: Children of Malawi” →

Photos: Lake Malawi

42472995_10156728997972774_6535193225089515520_o — A fisherman on a wooden canoe, made from a single hollowed-out true trunk © Andrew Brown/2019/Malawi

Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa and forms almost the entire western border of Malawi. The country’s colonial-era name was Nyasaland, literally ‘Lake Land’, and much of its tourism is focused around the lake. It has a unique ecosystem, including the world’s only freshwater cichlids. Standing on the shore at the widest point of the lake, you cannot see the other side. Looking at the sandy beaches, palm trees and small islands, it’s hard to believe that it’s not the ocean. One small giveaway is the fresh water snail shells scattered along the waterline. And the smell of salt is absent from the air.

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Higher ground: climbing the mountains of Malawi

47689615_10156908322622774_5583932843190386688_o — Matthias and other hiking friends ascending the rocky slopes of Big Mouth Mountain
© Andrew Brown/2018/Malawi

On a crisp, clear and unusually cloudless day during the rainy season, I made the peak of Dedza mountain with my friend Matthias and local guide James. The mountain rises to almost 2,200 metres above sea level. It towers over the nearby town of Dedza, which at 1,600 metres is already the highest town in Malawi. After a tough ascent to two radio towers at the near end of the mountain, we made our way along an indistinct path through scrubland and rocks, climbing a gently sloping plateau to the peak at the far end. Here, we were rewarded with a clear 360-degree view across central Malawi. Continue reading “Higher ground: climbing the mountains of Malawi” →

On the move: mobile clinic helps malnourished children

_DSC0116-edit — Health worker Chimwemwe Kamvetse checks Alick for malnutrition at Kathebwe evacuation camp
© UNICEF Malawi/2019/Andrew Brown

The sound of a bell rings out to announce that the school day has just finished at Kathebwe Primary School. It’s a hot, sunny day. Children run outside and start to disperse. Some go home to nearby villages, while others start kicking a ball around on the school field. A third group joins their mothers and younger siblings, who are sitting with a hundred or more flood victims in the shade of a large tree. Since the heavy rains and floods of early March, this school has doubled as an evacuation centre. Continue reading “On the move: mobile clinic helps malnourished children” →

Water of life: helping two-week-old Ndaziona survive

HF8T8509 — UNICEF WASH Officer Alan Kumwenda shows Annie how to use water guard
© UNICEF Malawi/2019/Amos Gumulira

It was the middle of the night on 7 March when Annie decided to flee her home with her children, including baby Ndaziona, who had been born just two days before. It had been raining for four days, the nearby Shire river was rising, and the family’s mud brick and straw house was becoming precarious. Annie woke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. “I looked outside and saw lots of water coming,” she recalls. “I took the children and ran. We got maybe 10 or 20 metres before the house collapsed behind us.” Continue reading “Water of life: helping two-week-old Ndaziona survive” →

Photos: African wildlife

_DSC0384-edit2 — Vultures fight over the remains of a buffalo, caught by lions the previous day
© Andrew Brown/2017/Zambia

This is a selection of my best wildlife photography, mostly taken in South Luangwa national park, Zambia. The park is around four hours’ drive from Lilongwe and has a huge abundance of wildlife. In the dry season, large animals are forced into the open in search of water. In the rainy season, the lush green landscapes challenge stereotypes of Africa, while migratory birds arrive for mating and nest building. Continue reading “Photos: African wildlife” →

Superstar DJ: Praise finds a new home with his uncle

_DSC0452-edit — Praisewell at home with his uncle Chikumbutso, a DJ and record producer
© UNICEF Malawi/2019/Andrew Brown

Praisewell Ayishoshe, 9, sits outside the home he shares with his uncle, Chikumbutso Jamu, and his new wife in an urban township on the edge of Lilongwe. Chikumbutso is a DJ who makes music and video CDs for a living, which he sells at the local market. In the lounge is a sound system and laptop that he uses to make the discs. A compilation of Nigerian and South African hip-hop music is in progress. Praisewell, or Praise for short, has his own bedroom and goes to a local school. Continue reading “Superstar DJ: Praise finds a new home with his uncle” →

Donuts to dissertations: UNICEF scholars make it to university

Tiffany Kapanda, 18, is studying arts and humanities at Chancellor College in Zomba
© UNICEF Malawi/2018/Andrew Brown

The sprawling campus of Chancellor College is on the edge of Malawi’s former capital city, Zomba, with the dramatic profile of Zomba Plateau behind it. It is only 120 kms from the dirt tracks, maize fields, and mud-brick villages of student Tiffany’s home in Mangochi, but it feels like a world away. Fashionably dressed students sit in groups chatting on manicured lawns in front of the modern library building and lecture halls. A young man in a Che Guevara t-shirt walks past two women in colourful Muslim head scarfs. Flyers on the noticeboard outside the library advertise everything from music concerts to a study tour of the Ministry of Finance. It could be a university campus anywhere in the world.

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Physical graffiti: Photos from Bangkok’s khlongs

Two young volleyball players pose in front of a graffiti mural beside the canal
© Andrew Brown/2015/Thailand

Another photo project from my time in Thailand (following Ghost Tower). Bangkok used to be known as the ‘Venice of the East’ with canals – or khlongs – providing the main routes through the city. In the Nineteenth Century, wealthy citizens built houses fronting on to the canals, a few of which like Jim Thompson’s House are still there. Times have changed and many of the canals have since been filled in. A few remain and narrow khlong boats provide a faster alternative to congested streets. The only problem is that the khlongs now weave their way through slum districts with poor sanitation, and the waterways double as rubbish dumps and sewers. The smell was unpleasant, to put it mildly. I used to sometimes take the canal boat on my way home from work but I always had to have a scarf handy in case a boat came the other way and I got splashed with a faceful of fetid water.

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