SPECIAL REPORTS (47)
Watching Children Work the Fields; Out of School
In our special report, Luka Beston, finds that the irrigation schemes which were meant to be a source of livelihood for the communities in the area of Senior chief Mphuka in Thyolo, a district in Malawi bordering Chikwawa, have turned into a ground for disturbing child labor.
Luka has discovered startling evidence of the malpractice in this Southern region district where boys and girls, as young as 11, are being used tending bean fields in the irrigation schemes.
Young and Endangered: School Girls Growing Up in Local Distillery Villages
Growing up a girl in Malawi has its own challenges. Especially growing up in rural Malawi areas. It is even more challenging for a girl growing up in a rural setting in this country and from a home where brewing beer and distilling alcohol, for imbibers, is the sole means of survival.
In this special report, Chikondi Mphande, takes us to some villages in this country where girls, as young as ten, brew beer and distill local gin in their homes. The majority of these girls are turned into sex toys for the imbibers. Some have ended up becoming teen-mothers.
While most of the girls just have no time for school, the few who still do are traumatized. Their class performance is negatively affected. Some of the girls end-up becoming teen-mothers.
The Dilemma of Treating Dialysis Patients in Malawi
Scientists, health professionals and traditional medicine advocates in Malawi are not agreed on the way forward with regards to administration of herbs and other traditional medicines on dialysis-patients.
While some medical experts think the proliferation of herbals is a setback on the fight against the disease, some oppose the thought. Elsewhere, local scientists think it’s time traditional medicines were brought in for scientific trials.
Meanwhile, herbalists argue that growing resistance to traditional medicines is but hangover of imperialism aimed at painting black anything originating from black people, especially Malawi and Africans.
In our special report this week, Western Guta, tells the story of the management of kidney-patients in Malawi public hospitals, a good number of whom are also using traditional medicines.
SPECIAL REPORT: The Plight of Teachers for the Majority Illiterate of Malawi
In our special report this week, Winstone Kaimira, brings to light challenges rocking the adult literacy program in Malawi at a time illiteracy is high and, elsewhere, negatively affecting desired progress.
This is a story in which adult literacy instructors as well as supervisors, are openly expressing frustration as they receive as little as K15,000.00 in honoraria per month but through the government salaries account.
The instructors and supervisors are puzzled that the processing of these payments is also done through the government salaries account, while governments’ own minimum wage, stands at K50,000.00 per month.
SPECIAL REPORT: The Dilemma of Suicide in Malawi: Any Quick-fix Solutions?
Between January and August this year, 208 people took their own lives in Malawi. That is an average of 26 people committing suicide each passing month.
The majority of the suicide cases are by men. In fact only 40 of the 208 cases were women. This is almost like carnage in most war situations on the African continent at the moment.
In our special report this week, Chikondi Mphande, finds that in majority of the cases, suicide followed emotional torture bordering marital disagreements and financial challenges.
