8. In genreal, people in
Malawi lack all kinds of
hygene practices, like
taking showers, and they
walk barefoot. This makes
them more vulnerable to
get infected by diseases
Hello everyone! Please pay attention to all we´re saying in this ppt because, later on, during the gymkhana, there is going to be a quiz about Malawi.
Do you know where Malawi is?
Does anyone know which is this continent?
Malawi is located in the southeast of Africa and the countries surrounding it are: Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. Look closely at this huge lake in here; it is called Lake Malawi.
The name of Malawi is supposed to mean “the country of the reflected light” an it refers probably to the sunrays reverberating over the waters of the lake. This lake has an unparallel biodiversity, one of the biggest in the world, containing a great varity of species of fish with many colours called cyclide fish.
Lake Malawi is also very important for the people living in its surroundings. Why do you think this is so? The lake is used as a mean of transportation, also to provide food, to drink water, or to wash the clothes. Look at this picture here, it shows some canoes used by local people to move around the lake.
Where is our project taking place? Our project will be carried out in here, in the district of Nkhotakota.
Our project consists of helping a doctor and her assistant, who are going to Malawi, to an area where no doctor has ever been before. They´re going there in order to investigate what skin diseases affect the local population, and they´ll try to find a way to treat them.
But they´re going to Malawi not only to heal diseases, but also to teach local people how to prevent them.
In this regard, what do you think is better : to give someone who´s hungry a fish or to teach him how to fish? Exactly. It is more important to teach him how to fish because, this way, you make sure that he´s learning new skills and will be autonomous in the future. If you just give him a fish, you´re only providing a short-term aid.
There are two things which are very important when dealing with cooperation abroad:
1- To have money to fulfil the project,
2- To have people willing to travel to far away countries in order to help.
Normally, people with money don´t want to go so far way, and those willing to go, don´t have the money. So this situation requires a team work, in where each part will contribute equally.
Generally, people from Malawi show a total lack of hygiene because they don´t normally take showers like we do, they also walk barefoot, etc. This makes them more vulnerable to diseases.
One of the main problems in Malawi is the lack of drinkable water. Malawi is a country with plenty of fresh water, but they just don´t know how to store it. Therefore, much of the help they receive from humanitarian projects will aim at providing the technology needed to canalise the water and store it.
To have access to water is very important also to keep healthy sanitary habits.
This girl is washing her hands before entering school.
And this also explains why education becomes a key factor. In Malawi there are no schools with a roof like this one. In Malawi people study in the open –air. So, when the rainy season starts, classes will be interrupted for 6 months.
Moreover, in Malawi there is only 1 teacher for every 80 students, Do you imagine a class crammed with 80 students like you?!
Children have to learn English just like you do. The language in Malawi is the chichewa, but very few people in the world speak this language. Therefore, if they want to have more job opportunities, they also need to learn English.
Look at this picture here. It shows women preparing the food for the kids attending school. Women are the ones always looking after the children. Look attentively at the structure of the house where she´s cooking. It shows just few beams holding a roof of straw.
Generally, people just eat once a day, except children lucky enough to attend a misionary school who eat three times a day.
Once the food is prepared, children sit on the floor and eat with their hands. The typical food is a dough made of maize which resembles bread, but it´s not baked.
They use the same room as school or church... Kids lay on the floor and sleep there. They never complain if the floor is hard, they just feel lucky because someone cares for them.
Malawi is a very poor country; in fact, is one of the poorest countries in the world. Many children die before the first year of life. An important issue in Malawi is the lack of food which causes a high percentage of kids with underweight problems.
Also VIH becomes a severe social concern, for Malawi is the first country in world with the highest VIH/AIDS prevalence rate.
Many parents die due to this disease, leaving a lot of orphans at the care of relatives or humanitarian organizations.
Most of the populaton live of agriculture. But, contrary to Spain for example, there are barely any tractor or powerful machines to work the land. Most families just cultivate enough to feed themselves. That´s why any weather setback, such as a drought or severe rainfalls, becomes a real catastrophe, causing famine among the population.
Another problem in Malawi is the lack of a developed medical system as the one we have in Spain. Clinical specialties do not exist. Plus, there is only one doctor for every 65.000 patients, and one hospital bed for every 9.000 persons. It is just not enough!!
The same room is used as a drugstore and a laboratory and, as you can see in the pictures, they lack all resources to assist patients or carry out any medical research or even produce their own medicines.
This room here is a local healthcare centre. As you can imagine, very little can be done for the sick people approaching the centre. Also there aren´t real doctors in a place like this, only people with some skills that ennable them to identify some of the diseases.
But, you know what? People in Malawi feel happy. They appreciate whatever little they have and they know how to get the most out of it.
In Malawi, having a bycicle is a luxury that only few can afford. And they are very careful with the use they make of the environment.
If they need wood to make a fire, they fetch only the exact amount of wood they are going to need. They don´t waste anything.
We have so much to learn from them. Above all, never to lose our smile and joy.
