It is 7 o'clock in the morning in the hard-to-reach hills of Traditional Authority Mbawera, more than 50 kilometres south of Thyolo Boma.
Beneath sagging, leaking grass-thatched shelters, cold winds sweep through. Nearly 300 children in torn and dusty uniforms sit shoulder to shoulder on the bare ground. Their desks are stones. Their classrooms are trees and an unfinished brick structure.
This is Nyenyedi Community-Led Primary School.
Mphuka Village in Thyolo fell silent on the morning four girls aged between 11 and 16 left home to collect firewood. When they returned, their lives had changed forever.
As the worries of El-Nino weather conditions continue to grow, Rainwater Harvesting Association of Malawi (RHAM) says Malawi has the capacity to harvest more than 90 billion cubic metres of rainwater, which could assist to improve farmers’ livelihoods.
After harvesting a poor maize crop from a one-hectare field in April 2026, Harry Thuwera aged 61, of Nang’ombe Village, Senior Chief Boyidi in Thyolo district, planted NUA 45, a fast-maturing, bio-fortified bean variety, hoping to harvest at least five 50-kilogram bags from the same field during the winter cropping season.
Every day, Mount Mulanje loses a little more of the forest that earned it global recognition. As illegal cultivation spreads deeper into protected areas and trees continue disappearing, conservationists warn that Malawi's iconic mountain is approaching a tipping point unless communities, especially young people, become part of the solution.
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