Children in Malawi: Information about children living in poverty in Malawi and the sponsorship of children in Malawi, one of the planet's ten poorest countries. To understand more about the country of Malawi, click here for
a selection of video images.
Malawi is situated in Central Africa and is a land of great beauty without
conflict,
yet life expectancy is just 35 years with many suffering from malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS, with nearly 12% of the adult population being infected
with HIV alone.
In fact, the death rate is so severe that nearly half of the population (45.8%) is under
the age of 14.
Malawi was a former British colony called Nyasaland. It was established in 1891
and became independent as the nation of Malawi in 1964. It is now a democratic
country with its first ever free elections in May 1994, although that and
subsequent election results have been deemed 'irregular'.
Despite being a former British protectorate, Malawi
is one of the ten poorest countries on the planet with 85% of its population
living in rural areas. The country is often
afflicted by severe famines with the famine of 2005 affecting over four million
of the country's inhabitants, leaving them without proper food supplies. The
United Nations declared the situation in Malawi "as one of the world's worst
humanitarian crises".
As ever, education is the key to change, however poverty is so rife, many
young people spurn school in order to beg for food for themselves and their
families. Child sponsorship programmes are beginning to turn this around by
attracting children into the classroom in exchange for at least one square meal
a day. Those children benefit from learning in general but specifically
regarding how to develop the agricultural base of Malawi and how to prevent the
spread of AIDS.
All this costs money of course and without international aid, these much
needed programmes for change would falter. There are many charities you can
contact to help the children of Malawi, below are listed a few of them.
