Research on the Condition of Family in Malawi
Conducted July 08 by Pastor Frank Michael Tweheyo for Empower International.

Preamble
Malawi is a country in southern Africa region. It is largely surrounded by Mozambique to the east, south and part of west and Zambia and Tanzania to the north. It has a population of about 13 million from the 1998 census. Over 80% of the general population are nominal Christians with Islam taking over 10% and the rest is for other religions and the non-religious.

Background
80% of the families in Malawi are under privileged there is not enough food, the main staple food being Siima (cornmeal). The land is bare and with little water because of the lack of catchment areas.

Land and Water
The land in not fertile and they use a lot of fertilizers if they want to yield anything. Many people are going to South Africa to look for employment and economic empowerment. An interview with Labana Chris who is a church worker in Mpunda-Zomba in southern Malawi said this year, 2008, he yield only 8 bags of maize (corn) as compared to 80 bags last year. He has more than 20 dependants and he doesn’t know how to feed them. The government is trying to subsidize the prize of fertilizers but the problem remains. 50% of the population have no access to safe drinking water so there are many diseases related to poor drinking water. Corruption in the government in the past has hampered delivery of water into the communities, however the present government under president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika is rectifying the problem delivering water and developing infrastructure.

 

HIV/AIDS
In interview with Dr. Robert Ayella, A Ugandan expatriate doctor with Zomba Hospital, South Malawi. He says 80% of the deaths in the hospital are due to HIV/AIDS and people think it is witch craft. This kind of ignorance has hit the family hard. It is mainly due to poor standards of education and therefore a high level of illiteracy in the country. Poverty has contributed to this phenomenon of low level education.

Family Situation
While in Jali-Zomba, Southern Malawi, “this” researcher met a lady Oliver Beleki, 29, with a son of 17 years. They looked like brother and sister or more so husband and wife! She produced the boy at the age of 12 while in school. The above phenomenon is very common whereby there are a great percentage of pregnancies and marriages. Shockingly a policeman, Benedicto Kalikonya, says: many times girls marry from their own parent’s home. Men find them there at their parent’s home, marry them from there and divorce them from there. “This” researcher met many young girls with children at their parent’s home, many of them as young as 15 but having 1 or 2 children already. Labana Chris thinks the divorce rate is over 50%, or 1 in every 2 marriages is likely to divorce. The sufferer is the lady, as the children are left to her to look after. Because she can’t look after them she will sell her body to earn a living and so it is a vicious cycle. In the central region where there is no bride-price required there is little commitment in marriage, the divorce rate is highest so is the rate of poverty contributing to various marital problems. Labana himself says he has 14 grandchildren that are on his shoulders which is a direct result of him producing 10 children whom he could not look after and educate. Because family planning is foreign there is a lot of undesired children and grandchildren. Labana’s example is classic of family situation in Malawi. In the north of the country around the city of Mzuzu divorce rate is low because people are more educated and a bit well off economically. Bride-price is determined by ones education or social status and bride’s appearance (funny as it may seem).

Conclusion
Another classic prevalent situation this researcher met with is the fact that many small children are already orphans while both their parents are alive. Brenda Bosco, a very beautiful girl of 15, states that: ‘I am an orphan.’ On further enquiry she stated that her mother is married to another man (who is not her father) and she doesn’t know her father because he left long ago, so she belongs nowhere. There are so many children that do not have proper brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers, this creates poor self image, frustration etc. With brings about the vicious cycle of problems mentioned above. So there is a great need to empower the church in Malawi to reach the family because it is at a state of disintegration.

                             OVER TO YOU, EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL!