Support reaches a household of five siblings orphaned by AIDS in Malawi

LILONGWE, Malawi, 30 April May 2008 – At just 13 years of age, Tiyamike was already a veteran caregiver responsible looking after four younger siblings. Tiyamike’s father had died the year before, due to complications from AIDS, and soon after, when his HIV-infected mother took ill, Tiyamike left school and started working.

Now 15, Tiyamike struggles every month to find work in a poor area. Sometimes he makes bricks for modern houses. Other times he works in the field, working nine-hour days for $5 a month. When he comes home in the evening, he takes care of the little ones. There is no time for him to play with his friends.

In addition to these burdens, Tiyamike’s brother Blessings, 5, is also living with HIV. But even with his heavy responsibilities, Tiyamike says he never thought about giving away his brothers and sisters after his parents died.

“I am used to being like a father to the kids. They respect me for it,” Tiyamike said, while holding his brother Blessings. “It was clear I had to be the breadwinner in the family. I had to be strong for the kids, because it is important for them to grow up well.”

Help from community organizations

The number of child-headed homes like Tiyamike’s is on the rise in Malawi. The country has 1 million orphans, about half of whom have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

“UNICEF makes sure the Malawian Government provides support, through community-based organizations, to the child-headed families,” said UNICEF Early Childhood Development Officer Chalizamudzi Matola. Without this support, orphaned children face discrimination, economic and sexual abuse, hunger, homelessness and poverty.

A year and a half ago, the Tiwasamale Community-Based Child Care Centre identified Tiyamike’s family as a child-headed household in need of urgent assistance. Since then, the UNICEF-supported centre has provided them with supplies of Soya flour, rice, soap, sugar, Vaseline, beans and cooking oil. The local organization also gives the two younger siblings a plate of nutritious porridge on a daily basis.

“The food programme really helps us out,” said Tiyamike. “Even if it is not a lot of food, at least my family can eat once a day.”

K’millian to perform live in Malawi

Celebrated Zambian music sensation K’millian is this weekend expected in Blantyre, Malawi where he will join the crème of top African musicians, 2 Face of Nigeria, Nameless of Kenya and Jozi of South Africa at the Ethel Mutharika Memorial Music Festival.

K’millian who arrives in Malawi on Thursday night is expected to perform live alongside the three other
international artists, 2 Face, Nameless and Jozi at the memorial service of president Bingu wa Mutharika’s
late wife, Ethel, who died last year.

K’millian whose music enjoys massive airplay in night clubs, public and private radio stations in Malawi has
won the hearts of several fans who confirmed in separate interviews that they could not wait to see
him perform live.

The show that is slated for Saturday, May 3rd at Limbe Country Club starting at 10 hours to 18 hours will be
hosted by Channel O and Big Brother Africa 2 presenter Kabelo.

The much publicised event that has been pegged at MK 500 approximately ZK 20,000 )will also accommodate the launch of Malawi’s music hip-hop icon Tay Grin’s album ‘Proudly African.’

Confirming the development in an interview with ZANIS , show organiser Tay Grin disclosed that K’millian is together with other musicians expected to sign autographs at an upmarket joint in Blantyre, Kaya Lodge, starting from 20:00 hours to 22: 00 hours
before proceeding to newly opened exclusive Club Mustang Sally for an after party show.

And Esther Mwase, a DJ at privately owned Capital FM said the going of K’millian to Malawi is a blessing to the majority of fans that love his music.

Mwase disclosed that fans love listening to tracks from K’millian’s Sun Shine album especially those songs that contain some Nyanja lyrics as most Malawians understand the language.

” I receive a lot of requests from fans whenever am on the radio demanding me to play songs done by K’millian. His songs are so nice especially that they contain some bit of Nyanja which is not different from the Chewa that we speak here,” Mwase revealed.

She added that besides K’millian music, fanatics in Malawi have continued to get mesmerised by music done by The Third, Danny, as well as Jimmy’s Its Over Over song which she described as the hottest as the moment.

Several visits to Malawi’s hot night spots namely The Elephant night club, Chez Ntemba and Blue Diamond have revealed that a number of Zambian songs get played on a regular basis with so much appreciation shown among Malawi music lovers.

Perhaps the first Zambian musician to make a mark on Malawi’s scene was Danny a few years ago with his hit
Yakumbuyo, which was later banned by Malawi’s Censorship Board, which deemed his lyrics offensive.

However, some nightclubs and individuals continued to play the song, in defiance of the ban, in a clear testimony that the music was popular with many Malawians across the country.

Constantine Joins Malawi To Serve Notice Period

Former Indian national team coach Stephen Constantine has returned to Malawi yesterday to serve out his two months of notice period following a shock resignation almost a fortnight back.

Speaking to Goal.com, Constantine said, “As a professional I have to serve out my notice period. In the next two months we do have some important game coming up.”

Malawi plays five games in the next 60 days against Djibouti and twice against Congo and Egypt respectively. The Malawian players plying their trade outside their country shall return only 17th of next month while the match against Djibouti is scheduled on the 31st.

“I shall sit with the President of the board and discuss things. I may have a camp for the players available before the 17th May and then the others can join in,” said the FIFA instructor.

Malawi: Fighting back against malaria

Four-year-old Griverson sits outside his grandparents’ mud-brick house, scuffing the dirt with his bare feet. He’s wearing a dirty pair of Stars & Stripes shorts and, like many of his little friends in this isolated village in rural Malawi, his nose is running and smeared across his face.

Griverson has lost both his parents. His mother died when he was just two, and his father disappeared. ‘No one knows where he is, or what happened to him,’ the boy’s grandmother says. Griverson looks down at his feet, tears welling in his eyes.

His grandmother explains that Griverson is often sick, usually with a bad cough and severe stomach pains. He also fights bouts of malaria. When malaria grips, Griverson lies on his bed – a bamboo mat on the dirt floor – covered by a single blanket. His grandmother watches over him anxiously, waiting for the fever to break.

Malaria haunts nearly half of the world’s population, infecting more than 500 million people every year and claiming more than one million lives annually. Children like Griverson in sub-Saharan Africa are especially vulnerable to the mosquito-borne disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in Africa one in every five childhood deaths is caused by malaria. On average, a child in Africa has between 1.6 and 5.4 bouts of malaria fever per year. Every 30 seconds, a child dies from malaria. Malaria is also prevalent in South Asia and Latin America.

A Health Crisis That Demands Our Response

In regions where malaria is one of the leading causes of sickness and death, World Relief works to combat the disease and educate parents and grandparents about malaria prevention.

Mosquito-repelling bed nets are one of the most effective ways to prevent the disease. In areas where bed nets are widely used and children consistently sleep under insecticide-treated netting, the incidence of malaria has been greatly reduced.

World Relief works alongside local churches in several of the world’s malaria hotspots, including Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, Cambodia and Haiti. Through a vast network of trained community health volunteers, hundreds of thousands of parents are equipped to better protect their children.

Independent evaluators say World Relief’s Care Group model is one of the most effective ways to combat diseases such as malaria.

Malawi Warns Investors Against Employing Foreign Nationals

Malawi Labour Minister Davis Katsonga on Tuesday warned that his government would deport any foreign nationals found working in positions that Malawians could easily and ably fill with no problems.

The minister told a news conference in Lilongwe that he was disappointed with some companies who are employing foreign nationals in jobs that Malawians could easily perform like accountants, shopkeepers, clerks and secretaries, among others.

“This should be stopped immediately and if found these people will be deported back to their countries,” he said.

Katsonga said President Bingu wa Mutharika was not happy with the state of affairs, where investors instead of fulfilling their promise of employing Malawians, they are giving the jobs away to their relatives and friends.

If this malpractice continued, he added, government would find a way of dealing with the investors’ temporary employment permits (TEPs) that enabled them to set up their operations in the first place.