LILONGWE — Malawi Muslims are disappointed by their poor representation in the new cabinet, saying this undermines religious balance in the southern African country while experts see this as a wake up call for Muslims.
"There is a total under-representation of Muslims," Alhaj Yusuf Kanyamula, Chairman of the umbrella Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), told IslamOnline.net on Thursday, June 18.
President Bingu wa Mutharika unveiled on Wednesday, June 17, his new 43-member cabinet featuring only two Muslims from his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The rest of the ministers are Christians from various denominations.
Mutharika, a devout Catholic who won a second five-year term last month, dropped several Muslim ministers from the new lineup.
During his first term, he had six Muslim ministers in addition to then Vice President Cassim Chilumpha.
The umbrella MAM described Muslims’ representation in the new government as the lowest since the introduction of pluralistic politics in the country in 1994.
But one of the two Muslim ministers maintained that appointments to the cabinet were based on qualifications no religion.
"I am a Malawian, just like all my Christian counterparts," Sidik Mia, who has been moved from the Irrigation and Water Development Ministry to the National Defense Ministry, told IOL.
"The president has appointed me due to my capability. My religion has not influenced the president to hire my services."
"While we appreciate that ministers are not appointed based on religious considerations, but the aspect of balance based on religion cannot be completely undermined," insisted Kanyamula, the MAM leader.
In Malawi, officially a secular state, Islam is the second largest faith after Christianity.
According to state figures, Muslims constitute 12 percent of the population, though Muslim organizations put the figure at nearly 40 percent.
Wake Up
Rafique Hajat, executive director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), was not surprised with the appointment of only two Muslims to the new cabinet.
He believes this makes a natural outcome of the low engagement of Muslims in the political sphere.
"It is now becoming a norm in Malawi that if one is not a Member of Parliament, it is not possible to be appointed a minister," explained Hajat, a Muslim.
"Therefore, if we had a good number of Muslims in parliament, the number of Muslims could probably have been more than this."
During the May 19 general elections,
Only 16 Muslims made it to the country’s National Assembly during the May's general elections.
Hajat believes the new cabinet should serve as a wakeup call to Muslims in the country.
"We need to take part in politics if we are to be fully represented at cabinet level," said head of the human rights and good governance think tank.
"We can’t be appointed ministers while we are seated in our homes."
Thursday, 18 June 2009
The high cost of living in Malawi
There was an article recently about the high cost of poverty in the US. While I thought the author for that article could have come up with better examples, it was interesting and reframed some random thoughts I’ve been having about Malawi. It’s really expensive to have anything here. For one thing, Malawi (the country itself, not the people) hates technology. Some of that is because of lack of knowledge—like failure to use virus scans and the like—but some of it is beyond the control of the end user.
We start with the fact that technology is very expensive here. On average, new tech, whether that be computers or cars, costs about two times what it costs in America. And yet the average annual salary in Malawi is about $200 per year. One of the new Toyotas, the Prado, costs $40,000. Country directors of NGOs drive them, but that’s about it. If technology doesn’t decide to randomly implode just because it knows there’s nowhere around to get it repaired, the heat and dust and moisture will get to it eventually.
The cars that the middle class can afford have gone through numerous hands, and tend to be worse for the wear. Roads here are amazingly bumpy—even the tarmacked roads are too bumpy to be able to text easily. Even in the cities, some of the roads, like mine, are dirt. It costs more to live on tarmacked roads. Cars parts get worn out by heat and humidity and rough roads and sudden stops and drained tanks . . .and . . . and . . . . I have only rarely seen a minibus with a sliding door that did not need to be wrestled into place, with exposed metal bits that peek through the padding and fractured vinyl. Parts are difficult to get and expensive when you can get them, so things don’t get repaired, they get worked around or tied together with twine or muscled back on track.
It even extends to houses. I am beginning to believe that while land (if you can get permanent rights from your chief) is a good value, houses are not. The bones of the house I live in have existed for a while. In September of last year, my landlord finished a remodel that stripped the house down to almost nothing, and replaced almost all of the wood because of termite damage. He even had someone kill the damn termite mound along with the queen or super-giganto-termite in charge or whatever.
Apparently the super-giganto-termite in charge didn’t realize it had been killed and also evicted, because a few months later the little brown appendages were growing out of my door jambs. Mr. Makato, my landlord, was on those mini horizontal termite projections like Malawian children on a new white person walking by. Whatever poison he used worked, because those termites ran and hid.
Holes for killing termitesInto my walls. A few months later they decided to come out and play again. And again. Every time, the time between poisoning the voracious eaters and them coming back for another meal got shorter and shorter. Mr. Makato has spent the last couple months saving up to treat the termites properly.
Last week, Mr. Makato spent a whole lot of money on a brand new poison. Then he paid some other guy to borrow his drill to make holes into the foundation outside and inside around all the doorways, dug up all the flowers that were fertilized by the termite refuse.
At the same time, I’ve replaced the lightplates on 5 switches, some of them twice, and learned to live with broken switches when I can’t be bothered replacing them again. The rubber on my cold water tap in the kitchen needs to be replaced for the third time in the last so that I can actually turn it off. The wiring on my geyser was just repaired because something happened to it after the heating element was replaced for the third or fourth time 2 months ago. I’ve had to have people climb up into my crawlspace and strip out wiring shorted by faulty electrical devices.
One of the bases in my hotplate has rusted through, and while it still works, everything has to be cooked slantwise on that side. To be fair, the hotplate belonged to two other volunteers before it belonged to me, but one of them never used it, and it still isn’t more than 4 years old.
Oh, and clothes. Handwashing is labour intensive and hard on clothes. Scrubbing to remove the dirt eventually puts holes in the clothes; the soap needed to really get those clothes clean takes away all the dirt and half the dye, too. So clothes fade and look old, fast. Also, the powder detergent we can use doesn’t always completely dissolve in water–and then it bleaches little spots into the nice trousers or blouses.
I could keep going, but it’s getting boring. One thing though, is that I don’t believe in saving money in the short-term and I don’t buy the cheapest option. Neither does Mr. Makato. But we are limited by our possible budgets.
Everything breaks all the time. After two years here. I practically need to start over.
We start with the fact that technology is very expensive here. On average, new tech, whether that be computers or cars, costs about two times what it costs in America. And yet the average annual salary in Malawi is about $200 per year. One of the new Toyotas, the Prado, costs $40,000. Country directors of NGOs drive them, but that’s about it. If technology doesn’t decide to randomly implode just because it knows there’s nowhere around to get it repaired, the heat and dust and moisture will get to it eventually.
The cars that the middle class can afford have gone through numerous hands, and tend to be worse for the wear. Roads here are amazingly bumpy—even the tarmacked roads are too bumpy to be able to text easily. Even in the cities, some of the roads, like mine, are dirt. It costs more to live on tarmacked roads. Cars parts get worn out by heat and humidity and rough roads and sudden stops and drained tanks . . .and . . . and . . . . I have only rarely seen a minibus with a sliding door that did not need to be wrestled into place, with exposed metal bits that peek through the padding and fractured vinyl. Parts are difficult to get and expensive when you can get them, so things don’t get repaired, they get worked around or tied together with twine or muscled back on track.
It even extends to houses. I am beginning to believe that while land (if you can get permanent rights from your chief) is a good value, houses are not. The bones of the house I live in have existed for a while. In September of last year, my landlord finished a remodel that stripped the house down to almost nothing, and replaced almost all of the wood because of termite damage. He even had someone kill the damn termite mound along with the queen or super-giganto-termite in charge or whatever.
Apparently the super-giganto-termite in charge didn’t realize it had been killed and also evicted, because a few months later the little brown appendages were growing out of my door jambs. Mr. Makato, my landlord, was on those mini horizontal termite projections like Malawian children on a new white person walking by. Whatever poison he used worked, because those termites ran and hid.
Holes for killing termitesInto my walls. A few months later they decided to come out and play again. And again. Every time, the time between poisoning the voracious eaters and them coming back for another meal got shorter and shorter. Mr. Makato has spent the last couple months saving up to treat the termites properly.
Last week, Mr. Makato spent a whole lot of money on a brand new poison. Then he paid some other guy to borrow his drill to make holes into the foundation outside and inside around all the doorways, dug up all the flowers that were fertilized by the termite refuse.
At the same time, I’ve replaced the lightplates on 5 switches, some of them twice, and learned to live with broken switches when I can’t be bothered replacing them again. The rubber on my cold water tap in the kitchen needs to be replaced for the third time in the last so that I can actually turn it off. The wiring on my geyser was just repaired because something happened to it after the heating element was replaced for the third or fourth time 2 months ago. I’ve had to have people climb up into my crawlspace and strip out wiring shorted by faulty electrical devices.
One of the bases in my hotplate has rusted through, and while it still works, everything has to be cooked slantwise on that side. To be fair, the hotplate belonged to two other volunteers before it belonged to me, but one of them never used it, and it still isn’t more than 4 years old.
Oh, and clothes. Handwashing is labour intensive and hard on clothes. Scrubbing to remove the dirt eventually puts holes in the clothes; the soap needed to really get those clothes clean takes away all the dirt and half the dye, too. So clothes fade and look old, fast. Also, the powder detergent we can use doesn’t always completely dissolve in water–and then it bleaches little spots into the nice trousers or blouses.
I could keep going, but it’s getting boring. One thing though, is that I don’t believe in saving money in the short-term and I don’t buy the cheapest option. Neither does Mr. Makato. But we are limited by our possible budgets.
Everything breaks all the time. After two years here. I practically need to start over.
Relocation of elephants in Malawi resumes
JOHANNESBURG: A Malawi court has dismissed a legal challenge to the relocation of more than 60 elephants from a rural area where they were
getting into deadly battles with villagers.
A court last week temporarily halted the relocation after a local organization objected that the removal would interfere with tourism efforts.
Nine elephants had been moved from the Phirilongwe village area to the Majete Wildlife Reserve.
Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said nine elephants including one baby were relocated Thursday.
The court order was overturned Wednesday, she said. Local farmers are often forced to use violence to protect fields from raids by elephants. At least 10 people and a number of elephants have died in such confrontations.
getting into deadly battles with villagers.
A court last week temporarily halted the relocation after a local organization objected that the removal would interfere with tourism efforts.
Nine elephants had been moved from the Phirilongwe village area to the Majete Wildlife Reserve.
Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said nine elephants including one baby were relocated Thursday.
The court order was overturned Wednesday, she said. Local farmers are often forced to use violence to protect fields from raids by elephants. At least 10 people and a number of elephants have died in such confrontations.
Climate change 'causing disease and poverty in Malawi'
Africans Climate change is causing people in Malawi to fall further into poverty, a charity reports.
According to Oxfam International, changes in atmospheric conditions in the African nation have caused droughts and floods, which in turn have led to shorter crop growing seasons, hunger and disease.
Some 29 per cent of Malawi already lives in extreme poverty.
Oxfam Malawi country director Sanjay Awasthi said: "Climate change is hitting poor countries like Malawi first and worst and people are suffering, especially women.
"Climate change is exacerbating the inequalities that already exist for women in Malawi."
Women in Malawi hold a weak position in society and are expected to fetch food, water and firewood daily, according to the charity.
The Oxfam report calls for the world's wealthy countries, which are responsible for three quarters of global climate change, to slash emissions and provide food aid to Malawi.
Infant mortality stands at 13.4 per cent, while as many as a million individuals are living with HIV/AIDS in the country.
According to Oxfam International, changes in atmospheric conditions in the African nation have caused droughts and floods, which in turn have led to shorter crop growing seasons, hunger and disease.
Some 29 per cent of Malawi already lives in extreme poverty.
Oxfam Malawi country director Sanjay Awasthi said: "Climate change is hitting poor countries like Malawi first and worst and people are suffering, especially women.
"Climate change is exacerbating the inequalities that already exist for women in Malawi."
Women in Malawi hold a weak position in society and are expected to fetch food, water and firewood daily, according to the charity.
The Oxfam report calls for the world's wealthy countries, which are responsible for three quarters of global climate change, to slash emissions and provide food aid to Malawi.
Infant mortality stands at 13.4 per cent, while as many as a million individuals are living with HIV/AIDS in the country.
Malawi football is up in flames
Money problems have hit the Malawi government so hard so that they national team had to threaten to withdraw from the joint World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations 2010 qualifying games before the Sport Council lent them money.
The Flames are travelling to Guinea where they will be playing their third game in the qualifying round after losing 5-0 to Ivory Coast and 1-0 at home to Burkina Faso.
The head coach Kinnah Phiri said it was disturbing for everyone in the team because they are working very hard for the country.
"Last week we almost withdrew from the competition after government put its foot down on funding. When we win everyone is happy but when we just lose a bit they tend to turn their backs on us. This is not good," the former Free State Stars coach lamented when interviewed by Football365.co.za.
However, things changed for the better when the National Sports Council loaned the Football Association K15 million (R1million) for the remaining four games that the team is still to play.
The Sports Council's intervention allowed FAM to get air tickets on credit, while the remaining amount will be used for accommodation and external allowances for the squad.
Due to these problems the squad has been chopped from 28 members to 25 and the Flames will spend six days in camp instead of the proposed ten days that FAM had initially planned. The squad has 10 South Africa based players.
The full squad:
Goalkeepers - Swadick Sanudi and Simplex Nthara
Defenders - Peter Mponda, Elvis Kafoteka, Moses Chavula, Wisdom Ndhlovu, Allan Kamanga, James Sangala.
Midfielders - Fischer Kondowe, Robert Ng'ambi, Joseph Kamwendo, Davie Banda, Hellings Mwakasungura and Tawonga Chimodzi
Strikers - Esau Kanyenda, Chiukepo Msowoya, Atusaye Nyondo and Jimmy Zakazaka.
The Flames are travelling to Guinea where they will be playing their third game in the qualifying round after losing 5-0 to Ivory Coast and 1-0 at home to Burkina Faso.
The head coach Kinnah Phiri said it was disturbing for everyone in the team because they are working very hard for the country.
"Last week we almost withdrew from the competition after government put its foot down on funding. When we win everyone is happy but when we just lose a bit they tend to turn their backs on us. This is not good," the former Free State Stars coach lamented when interviewed by Football365.co.za.
However, things changed for the better when the National Sports Council loaned the Football Association K15 million (R1million) for the remaining four games that the team is still to play.
The Sports Council's intervention allowed FAM to get air tickets on credit, while the remaining amount will be used for accommodation and external allowances for the squad.
Due to these problems the squad has been chopped from 28 members to 25 and the Flames will spend six days in camp instead of the proposed ten days that FAM had initially planned. The squad has 10 South Africa based players.
The full squad:
Goalkeepers - Swadick Sanudi and Simplex Nthara
Defenders - Peter Mponda, Elvis Kafoteka, Moses Chavula, Wisdom Ndhlovu, Allan Kamanga, James Sangala.
Midfielders - Fischer Kondowe, Robert Ng'ambi, Joseph Kamwendo, Davie Banda, Hellings Mwakasungura and Tawonga Chimodzi
Strikers - Esau Kanyenda, Chiukepo Msowoya, Atusaye Nyondo and Jimmy Zakazaka.
Civic send off for Holyrood pupils on Malawi mission
BRAVE humanitarian workers heading for Malawi were given a civic send off by Glasgow Lord Provost Bob Winter.
He welcomed 25 pupils from Holyrood Secondary school to the City Chambers on Monday before they travelled to Malawi.
It is the second trip to the Zingwangwa district by pupils from the school following their highly successful visit last year.
Then they built three new classrooms, one specifically for pupils with special needs at the Catholic Institute Primary - one of Holyrood's partner schools.
The school has matched the £70,000 it raised last year to fund the new projects.
Now the pupils will work with local communities at their partner schools, which include Zinwangwa Primary and the Stella Maris Girls' Secondary School.
They will build a two-classroom block for pupils with special needs and renovate a classroom block.
Pupils will be accompanied by Holyrood head teacher Tom McDonald and Tony Begley, depute head teacher.
Councillor Winter said: "It is tremendous that our young people are prepared to raise such significant sums of money and give up their summer holidays to help children from one of the poorest countries in the world.
"I have been told it is humbling to go out there and experience the extreme poverty and hardship the Malawians endure.
"I have also been told that the pride and joyful demeanour of the Malawian people who receive aid is a privilege to witness and life-changing for everyone who encounters them.
"I am delighted to welcome our young people to the City Chambers and look forward to hearing about their forthcoming trip."
The Lord Provost's International Office has strong links with Malawi, regularly sending out humanitarian teams.
Last year it co-ordinated the building of an orthotics and prosthetics workshop and clinic in Malawi in partnership with former Scotswoman of the Year and meningitis survivor Olivia Giles.
He welcomed 25 pupils from Holyrood Secondary school to the City Chambers on Monday before they travelled to Malawi.
It is the second trip to the Zingwangwa district by pupils from the school following their highly successful visit last year.
Then they built three new classrooms, one specifically for pupils with special needs at the Catholic Institute Primary - one of Holyrood's partner schools.
The school has matched the £70,000 it raised last year to fund the new projects.
Now the pupils will work with local communities at their partner schools, which include Zinwangwa Primary and the Stella Maris Girls' Secondary School.
They will build a two-classroom block for pupils with special needs and renovate a classroom block.
Pupils will be accompanied by Holyrood head teacher Tom McDonald and Tony Begley, depute head teacher.
Councillor Winter said: "It is tremendous that our young people are prepared to raise such significant sums of money and give up their summer holidays to help children from one of the poorest countries in the world.
"I have been told it is humbling to go out there and experience the extreme poverty and hardship the Malawians endure.
"I have also been told that the pride and joyful demeanour of the Malawian people who receive aid is a privilege to witness and life-changing for everyone who encounters them.
"I am delighted to welcome our young people to the City Chambers and look forward to hearing about their forthcoming trip."
The Lord Provost's International Office has strong links with Malawi, regularly sending out humanitarian teams.
Last year it co-ordinated the building of an orthotics and prosthetics workshop and clinic in Malawi in partnership with former Scotswoman of the Year and meningitis survivor Olivia Giles.
Misguided Madonna's just helping the baby traffickers
So Madonna is to acquire a second Malawian 'orphan' after all. A previous court ruling that had refused the singer permission, it seems, has now been swept aside.
We're told that Madonna's commitment to helping the disadvantaged children of this poor African country finally helped her case. Soon four-year-old Mercy James will swap a life of abject poverty for one of spectacular wealth and unimaginable luxury.
'I'm ecstatic,' said the singer on hearing the news.
I wish I could share her unqualified delight. But sadly I don't. In fact, I have huge misgivings about this high-profile international adoption by one of the world's richest - and by implication most powerful - celebrities.
madonna
Material Girl: Madonna holds her new addition, Mercy James
Mercy may have gained the ultimate Material Girl as her new mum, but I fear she might have lost far more.
The equation, on the surface, seems a simple one: motherless infant with absentee father consigned to life of Third World deprivation gains passionately committed and stupendously rich celebrity mum. A fairy tale ending? We can but hope.
Yet my 20 years' experience of working with children in poverty, not just in Africa but throughout the world, has taught me that there are more viable and beneficial - although far less glamorous - ways of helping such children to thrive.
There are one million orphans in Malawi and most have lost parents to HIV and Aids. However, many have supportive extended families - grandparents, aunts and uncles, even elder siblings - to whom they are linked by kinship and the inalienable bond of familial love.
Mercy James
New life ahead: A beaming Mercy James at her nursery school in Lilongwe, Malawi. She will soon fly to New York to be with Madonna
One such child is Mercy. Her mother died of a haemorrhage a month after giving birth and her father left before she was born. But she has a grandmother who loves her and was, indeed, caring for her.
It may well be the case that like many others, she entrusted Mercy to the temporary care of an orphanage when times got particularly tough. It is common practice in Malawi to use such institutions as respite care during family crises.
But they send their children away as a last resort, secure in the knowledge that they will return when circumstances improve. They have no thought that they will be whisked away to the other side of the world.
Yet this is what happened to Mercy. She will join Madonna's own children Lourdes, 12, and Rocco, eight, and her adopted Malawian son David, who was also consigned temporarily to an orphanage in similar circumstances to Mercy when he was given his charismatic new mum.
I have no wish to vilify Madonna. Indeed, I have huge sympathy with her desire to help the orphans of Malawi. However, I think she is misguided. I believe international adoption should be used only as a last resort. It is not a sustainable solution.
But the real reason I oppose her illconceived actions is simple: children prosper best within their own families and communities, however poor they are. Research and years of experience has taught us this.
And it has been the quiet work of my charity, EveryChild, to help families stay together. We advise on parenting skills. We try to nurture in relatives charged with caring for their families the self-belief in their capacity to be good parents.
Grinding poverty does not deprive them of the right to raise their children. Madonna seems to be making a simple yet pernicious equation: 'If you are poor, you cannot look after your kids.'
madonna
Madonna and daughter Lourdes with adopted Malawian son David, who was also consigned temporarily to an orphanage in similar circumstances to Mercy when he was given his charismatic new mum
As a mum myself - of two strapping teenage boys - I know nothing would ever have induced me to relinquish them. Why should African families be any less committed to their kids' care?
I can give you an instance of one Malawian granny's unwavering devotion to her grandchildren. Costas Bota had four sons who have died of HIV and Aids during the past five years. In the midst of this dreadful loss, she took solace from the fact that she could care for her 13 grandchildren.
She was not expecting, at the age of 60, to be entrusted with their upbringing, but it was a duty she took on with joy.
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We were able to help Costas: she attended parenting classes which helped to buoy her confidence. We bought seeds and tools for her older grandchildren, so they could produce a crop from which to live. The young ones were given help to get to school.
And when I asked Costas if she would have wanted to send her grandchildren to an orphanage, her reply was emphatic. She could not bear the thought of them being brought up by strangers.
I do not wish to decry Madonna's efforts, but she should have spoken to those of us who have worked for years within these stricken communities. Instead, she set up her own charity to help children in Malawian orphanages.
lourdes
Earth mother: Madonna with her Lourdes, son Rocco, and adopted David Banda
And controversial as the idea might seem, I believe the country needs fewer institutions, not more. There is much evidence to show that children in care are more likely to fall prey to dangerous sexual practices than those brought up in their own families.
I have known chilling instances in Eastern Europe of children who have been spirited from orphanages and sold, not only for adoption, but also into forced labour or prostitution.
Madonna's victory in the Malawian court may further endanger the vulnerable children she purports, so vociferously, to want to help.
Consider the legal system that has endorsed the U-turn in the country's adoption policy. And I have no doubt that corrupt adoption agencies and child traffickers, newly alerted to the ease with which Malawian laws can be circumvented, are even now planning to target the country.
We are also witnessing the rise of a distressing new phenomenon dubbed the Madonna Effect, in which destitute mothers abandon their babies in the hope that they will be adopted by wealthy foreign mothers.
It is a tragic corollary of Madonna's personal triumph that such abuses are now flourishing.
It is one of the abiding cliche that money can't buy happiness. I saw this when I met an extraordinary Malawian boy called Felix. He lived with his family and worked long hours herding cattle.
He cherished the few hours allocated for his schooling. Yet when I asked what he did when he wasn't working, his eyes lit up and he produced an ingenious little car he had built out of scraps of wire. This wonderful model gave this tenyearold more pleasure than the most extravagant toy money could have bought.
Madonna could have helped a million children like Felix in a multitude of unassuming ways. It might not have elicited headlines. But she could have given them the inestimably precious gifts of hope, stability - and a future among the families that love them.
Anna Feutchtwang is chief executive of the charity EveryChild. To donate or for more information, visit www.everychild.org.uk
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
Madonna has bought two exceptionally good-looking and healthy children from the millions on the African shelves, as if she was shopping. Everything she does in life she obviously does just for herself.
- john, london, 18/6/2009 09:31
I'm so disgusted with these celebrity international adopters. I'm an international adoptee and I don't think they've got their heads or hearts in the right place. Nor do the majority of people who adopt from abroad. Most are certainly very naive. What government and adoption agencies don't want you to know is that the number of people wanting to adopt outnumber the children that are available for adoption. They also don't want you to know of the statistics of dysfunctional, socially malapted international adoptees either. Various governments and adoption agencies have managed to keep research results on the subject done by international adoptees in Sweden from reaching the wider public. It's politics and some have the better lobbyist and campaign money.
- P.A., Stockton, 18/6/2009 09:10
It is surely naive to make a comparison between the attitude of families in third world countries and those in the west. We have the wherewithal to make our children central to our lives. Vast numbers of babies and children in the third world will have a short and wretched life and many western adopters are people who actually want to save a child. The perception is that adopters are largely those who can't have children of their own which won't necessarily be the case. I admire very much people like Madonna who make a lifetime commitment to give a child a chance in life.
- Max Davies, Aberdeen, 18/6/2009 08:56
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That woman is mentally ill, if she cared about those children she would just improve their environment, that way several children would benefit. The adopted child is paraded like a fashion item, It's sickening to see. Money should not enable this to happen.
- Steve, Milton Keynes, UK, 18/6/2009 08:48
What an insightful article. I think you are spot on in what you are saying. Whilst I have no doubt that Madonna has the childrens best interests at heart there are so many other things that she could have done to help. Glamorising adoptions from abroad is not one of them.
- Anon, London, 18/6/2009 08:34
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Yes I agree and in a secret UK family courts with often arrogant and financially better off social workers and solicitors, being poor also makes you in their eyes unfit to rear children. Had these people been concerned for the children they would join the fight to open the courts, re-structure our social services and assist birth families for the children.
Madonna was very distressed when it seemed she could not adopt Mercy yet that feeling of despair, great though it may have been, is nothing compared to losing your own child.
In a family court it is often said to mothers, I have no doubt that you love your children but maternal instincts are not enough. How cruel then is it that a court in the UK and in other countries can then give in to a foster/adopting mother.
That only leaves the answer that money is considered to be all a child needs and maternal love is nothing. No wonder society is breaking down, our goals have changed in life from being happy and content to financial gain
- sheila oneill, Chichester West Sussex, 18/6/2009 08:05
We're told that Madonna's commitment to helping the disadvantaged children of this poor African country finally helped her case. Soon four-year-old Mercy James will swap a life of abject poverty for one of spectacular wealth and unimaginable luxury.
'I'm ecstatic,' said the singer on hearing the news.
I wish I could share her unqualified delight. But sadly I don't. In fact, I have huge misgivings about this high-profile international adoption by one of the world's richest - and by implication most powerful - celebrities.
madonna
Material Girl: Madonna holds her new addition, Mercy James
Mercy may have gained the ultimate Material Girl as her new mum, but I fear she might have lost far more.
The equation, on the surface, seems a simple one: motherless infant with absentee father consigned to life of Third World deprivation gains passionately committed and stupendously rich celebrity mum. A fairy tale ending? We can but hope.
Yet my 20 years' experience of working with children in poverty, not just in Africa but throughout the world, has taught me that there are more viable and beneficial - although far less glamorous - ways of helping such children to thrive.
There are one million orphans in Malawi and most have lost parents to HIV and Aids. However, many have supportive extended families - grandparents, aunts and uncles, even elder siblings - to whom they are linked by kinship and the inalienable bond of familial love.
Mercy James
New life ahead: A beaming Mercy James at her nursery school in Lilongwe, Malawi. She will soon fly to New York to be with Madonna
One such child is Mercy. Her mother died of a haemorrhage a month after giving birth and her father left before she was born. But she has a grandmother who loves her and was, indeed, caring for her.
It may well be the case that like many others, she entrusted Mercy to the temporary care of an orphanage when times got particularly tough. It is common practice in Malawi to use such institutions as respite care during family crises.
But they send their children away as a last resort, secure in the knowledge that they will return when circumstances improve. They have no thought that they will be whisked away to the other side of the world.
Yet this is what happened to Mercy. She will join Madonna's own children Lourdes, 12, and Rocco, eight, and her adopted Malawian son David, who was also consigned temporarily to an orphanage in similar circumstances to Mercy when he was given his charismatic new mum.
I have no wish to vilify Madonna. Indeed, I have huge sympathy with her desire to help the orphans of Malawi. However, I think she is misguided. I believe international adoption should be used only as a last resort. It is not a sustainable solution.
But the real reason I oppose her illconceived actions is simple: children prosper best within their own families and communities, however poor they are. Research and years of experience has taught us this.
And it has been the quiet work of my charity, EveryChild, to help families stay together. We advise on parenting skills. We try to nurture in relatives charged with caring for their families the self-belief in their capacity to be good parents.
Grinding poverty does not deprive them of the right to raise their children. Madonna seems to be making a simple yet pernicious equation: 'If you are poor, you cannot look after your kids.'
madonna
Madonna and daughter Lourdes with adopted Malawian son David, who was also consigned temporarily to an orphanage in similar circumstances to Mercy when he was given his charismatic new mum
As a mum myself - of two strapping teenage boys - I know nothing would ever have induced me to relinquish them. Why should African families be any less committed to their kids' care?
I can give you an instance of one Malawian granny's unwavering devotion to her grandchildren. Costas Bota had four sons who have died of HIV and Aids during the past five years. In the midst of this dreadful loss, she took solace from the fact that she could care for her 13 grandchildren.
She was not expecting, at the age of 60, to be entrusted with their upbringing, but it was a duty she took on with joy.
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We were able to help Costas: she attended parenting classes which helped to buoy her confidence. We bought seeds and tools for her older grandchildren, so they could produce a crop from which to live. The young ones were given help to get to school.
And when I asked Costas if she would have wanted to send her grandchildren to an orphanage, her reply was emphatic. She could not bear the thought of them being brought up by strangers.
I do not wish to decry Madonna's efforts, but she should have spoken to those of us who have worked for years within these stricken communities. Instead, she set up her own charity to help children in Malawian orphanages.
lourdes
Earth mother: Madonna with her Lourdes, son Rocco, and adopted David Banda
And controversial as the idea might seem, I believe the country needs fewer institutions, not more. There is much evidence to show that children in care are more likely to fall prey to dangerous sexual practices than those brought up in their own families.
I have known chilling instances in Eastern Europe of children who have been spirited from orphanages and sold, not only for adoption, but also into forced labour or prostitution.
Madonna's victory in the Malawian court may further endanger the vulnerable children she purports, so vociferously, to want to help.
Consider the legal system that has endorsed the U-turn in the country's adoption policy. And I have no doubt that corrupt adoption agencies and child traffickers, newly alerted to the ease with which Malawian laws can be circumvented, are even now planning to target the country.
We are also witnessing the rise of a distressing new phenomenon dubbed the Madonna Effect, in which destitute mothers abandon their babies in the hope that they will be adopted by wealthy foreign mothers.
It is a tragic corollary of Madonna's personal triumph that such abuses are now flourishing.
It is one of the abiding cliche that money can't buy happiness. I saw this when I met an extraordinary Malawian boy called Felix. He lived with his family and worked long hours herding cattle.
He cherished the few hours allocated for his schooling. Yet when I asked what he did when he wasn't working, his eyes lit up and he produced an ingenious little car he had built out of scraps of wire. This wonderful model gave this tenyearold more pleasure than the most extravagant toy money could have bought.
Madonna could have helped a million children like Felix in a multitude of unassuming ways. It might not have elicited headlines. But she could have given them the inestimably precious gifts of hope, stability - and a future among the families that love them.
Anna Feutchtwang is chief executive of the charity EveryChild. To donate or for more information, visit www.everychild.org.uk
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
Madonna has bought two exceptionally good-looking and healthy children from the millions on the African shelves, as if she was shopping. Everything she does in life she obviously does just for herself.
- john, london, 18/6/2009 09:31
I'm so disgusted with these celebrity international adopters. I'm an international adoptee and I don't think they've got their heads or hearts in the right place. Nor do the majority of people who adopt from abroad. Most are certainly very naive. What government and adoption agencies don't want you to know is that the number of people wanting to adopt outnumber the children that are available for adoption. They also don't want you to know of the statistics of dysfunctional, socially malapted international adoptees either. Various governments and adoption agencies have managed to keep research results on the subject done by international adoptees in Sweden from reaching the wider public. It's politics and some have the better lobbyist and campaign money.
- P.A., Stockton, 18/6/2009 09:10
It is surely naive to make a comparison between the attitude of families in third world countries and those in the west. We have the wherewithal to make our children central to our lives. Vast numbers of babies and children in the third world will have a short and wretched life and many western adopters are people who actually want to save a child. The perception is that adopters are largely those who can't have children of their own which won't necessarily be the case. I admire very much people like Madonna who make a lifetime commitment to give a child a chance in life.
- Max Davies, Aberdeen, 18/6/2009 08:56
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That woman is mentally ill, if she cared about those children she would just improve their environment, that way several children would benefit. The adopted child is paraded like a fashion item, It's sickening to see. Money should not enable this to happen.
- Steve, Milton Keynes, UK, 18/6/2009 08:48
What an insightful article. I think you are spot on in what you are saying. Whilst I have no doubt that Madonna has the childrens best interests at heart there are so many other things that she could have done to help. Glamorising adoptions from abroad is not one of them.
- Anon, London, 18/6/2009 08:34
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Yes I agree and in a secret UK family courts with often arrogant and financially better off social workers and solicitors, being poor also makes you in their eyes unfit to rear children. Had these people been concerned for the children they would join the fight to open the courts, re-structure our social services and assist birth families for the children.
Madonna was very distressed when it seemed she could not adopt Mercy yet that feeling of despair, great though it may have been, is nothing compared to losing your own child.
In a family court it is often said to mothers, I have no doubt that you love your children but maternal instincts are not enough. How cruel then is it that a court in the UK and in other countries can then give in to a foster/adopting mother.
That only leaves the answer that money is considered to be all a child needs and maternal love is nothing. No wonder society is breaking down, our goals have changed in life from being happy and content to financial gain
- sheila oneill, Chichester West Sussex, 18/6/2009 08:05
Top Malawi Olympic officials in Zimbabwe
TWO top Malawi National Olympic Committee officials arrived in Harare last Saturday for an eight-day fact-finding mission in Zimbabwe.
Mark Tembo, the chairman of the national course directors’ commission of the Malawian National Olympic Committee, and the committee’s executive board member Charles Nyirenda.
Nyirenda is the secretary-general of the Football Association of Malawi.
They were sent to Harare by the Malawian National Olympic Committee and will be attached to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee during their eight-day visit, which ends on Monday next week.
Tembo and Nyirenda said their fact-finding mission was instigated by their national association who would like to see how other National Olympic Committees in the East and Southern African Regions are running their own bodies.
Apart from Zimbabwe, the Malawians have also targeted Kenya and Ethiopia for their project.
Tembo and Nyirenda said they were in Harare to — among other duties, look at the ZOC structures "and how they operate."
"ZOC are one of the better-run and well organised National Olympic Committees, not only here in the Southern African Region, but also in the African continent as a whole.
"And we are here to look at their structures and the facilities that they are using. We are also going to look at the strategic partnership that they currently have in this country because this is a very critical area.
"It is a very critical area because no association can run efficiently without any strategic partnerships in place and we would like to see how ZOC are operating in this respect."
The two officials said their visit would give them an opportunity to share ideas, experiences and strategies with the local Olympic organisation.
ZOC chief executive, Robert Mutsauki, said they have put in place a full programme for Tembo and Nyirenda "and they will be no breathing space for them" during their eight-day stay in Zimbabwe.
"Apart from looking at our structures and how we operate at ZOC, they will also be holding a series of meetings with a number of our key stakeholders.
"They will meet representatives of the National Association of Primary School Heads, National Association of Secondary School Heads and the Zimbabwe Tertiary Institutions Sports Union.
"They will also meet the director-general of the Sports Commission and the secretary for the Ministry of Education, Sport, and Culture," Mutsauki said.
Tembo and Nyirenda are scheduled to meet the selected chairpersons of various ZOC commissions and will spend the greater part of their stay working at the organisation’s headquarters in Belvedere.
They will also visit sports facilities in Harare.
Mark Tembo, the chairman of the national course directors’ commission of the Malawian National Olympic Committee, and the committee’s executive board member Charles Nyirenda.
Nyirenda is the secretary-general of the Football Association of Malawi.
They were sent to Harare by the Malawian National Olympic Committee and will be attached to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee during their eight-day visit, which ends on Monday next week.
Tembo and Nyirenda said their fact-finding mission was instigated by their national association who would like to see how other National Olympic Committees in the East and Southern African Regions are running their own bodies.
Apart from Zimbabwe, the Malawians have also targeted Kenya and Ethiopia for their project.
Tembo and Nyirenda said they were in Harare to — among other duties, look at the ZOC structures "and how they operate."
"ZOC are one of the better-run and well organised National Olympic Committees, not only here in the Southern African Region, but also in the African continent as a whole.
"And we are here to look at their structures and the facilities that they are using. We are also going to look at the strategic partnership that they currently have in this country because this is a very critical area.
"It is a very critical area because no association can run efficiently without any strategic partnerships in place and we would like to see how ZOC are operating in this respect."
The two officials said their visit would give them an opportunity to share ideas, experiences and strategies with the local Olympic organisation.
ZOC chief executive, Robert Mutsauki, said they have put in place a full programme for Tembo and Nyirenda "and they will be no breathing space for them" during their eight-day stay in Zimbabwe.
"Apart from looking at our structures and how we operate at ZOC, they will also be holding a series of meetings with a number of our key stakeholders.
"They will meet representatives of the National Association of Primary School Heads, National Association of Secondary School Heads and the Zimbabwe Tertiary Institutions Sports Union.
"They will also meet the director-general of the Sports Commission and the secretary for the Ministry of Education, Sport, and Culture," Mutsauki said.
Tembo and Nyirenda are scheduled to meet the selected chairpersons of various ZOC commissions and will spend the greater part of their stay working at the organisation’s headquarters in Belvedere.
They will also visit sports facilities in Harare.
Malawi President Mutharika to Swear-in New Cabinet
In Malawi, President Bingu Wa Mutharika is expected to swear in his new cabinet Thursday. The swearing in comes a day after Mutharika named ministers to help run his second five-year term.
Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika takes oath of office in Blantyre, 22 May 2009
Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika takes oath of office in Blantyre, 22 May 2009
But a change in the portfolio of the finance minister is generating controversy. Ex-finance Minister Goodall Gondwe is replaced by Ken Kandodoon who was formally in charge of the Food Reserve Agency.
Gondwe, who now heads the ministry of local government, is often credited for Malawi's recently strong economic resurgence.
But in an interview with VOA, presidential press secretary Chikumbutsu Mtumodzi, said it is President Mutharika's right to decide ministerial portfolios.
"Anything relating to the appointment or organizing of the cabinet is the sole prerogative of the president," Mtumodzi said.
He said the cabinet ministers would be first to be sworn in.
"From 9'Oclock, the cabinet ministers will be sworn in, and their deputies would be sworn in at 3'Oclock in the afternoon," he said.
Mtumodzi said the new ministers are required to begin working as soon as possible.
"The appointments are with immediate effect. They are supposed to take the oath of office and the oath of allegiance," Mtumodzi said.
Some political observers say there was a mix reaction particularly to the change at the finance ministry.
Noel Mbowela, political science professor at Malawi's University of Zomba Chancellor College said the new cabinet is generating increasing debate.
"It is a mixed reaction. Some people are happy, but some people are not very happy with the cabinet," Mbowela said.
He said President Mutharika didn't keep his promise of a lean government.
"We were told during the campaign period that the cabinet was going to be lean. But I think what has happened is the exact opposite," he said.
But Mbowela said some Malawians hailed the balance in the new cabinet.
"Those who are happy are looking at the proportion of men, women and where someone is coming from. It looks like people from all the regions have been put into the cabinet. So it is quiet representative of the Malawian population," Mbowela said.
[insert caption here]
Malawi's economy has reportedly performed better under Mutharika's leadership.
He said some Malawians are questioning the rationale behind the change at the finance ministry.
"I think one would really not understand what the president is trying to achieve…the shifting has really raised a lot of suspicion from people to say there is no continuity anymore. And after all one would simply say maybe there is something very strange that is happening behind the scene," he said.
Mbowela said Malawians had confidence in the performance of former finance minister Gondwe.
"The former finance minister we are talking about here, it was very evident I think to all Malawians that he did a very good job. So much as the president has that prerogative, I don't think it goes with moving people anyhow," Mbowela said
Meanwhile, Goodall Gondwe, a veteran economist served as director of the Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Vice President of the African Development Bank.
President Bingu Wa Mutharika appointed Gondwe as finance minister in 2004, a task some political observers believe he performed creditably.
Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika takes oath of office in Blantyre, 22 May 2009
Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika takes oath of office in Blantyre, 22 May 2009
But a change in the portfolio of the finance minister is generating controversy. Ex-finance Minister Goodall Gondwe is replaced by Ken Kandodoon who was formally in charge of the Food Reserve Agency.
Gondwe, who now heads the ministry of local government, is often credited for Malawi's recently strong economic resurgence.
But in an interview with VOA, presidential press secretary Chikumbutsu Mtumodzi, said it is President Mutharika's right to decide ministerial portfolios.
"Anything relating to the appointment or organizing of the cabinet is the sole prerogative of the president," Mtumodzi said.
He said the cabinet ministers would be first to be sworn in.
"From 9'Oclock, the cabinet ministers will be sworn in, and their deputies would be sworn in at 3'Oclock in the afternoon," he said.
Mtumodzi said the new ministers are required to begin working as soon as possible.
"The appointments are with immediate effect. They are supposed to take the oath of office and the oath of allegiance," Mtumodzi said.
Some political observers say there was a mix reaction particularly to the change at the finance ministry.
Noel Mbowela, political science professor at Malawi's University of Zomba Chancellor College said the new cabinet is generating increasing debate.
"It is a mixed reaction. Some people are happy, but some people are not very happy with the cabinet," Mbowela said.
He said President Mutharika didn't keep his promise of a lean government.
"We were told during the campaign period that the cabinet was going to be lean. But I think what has happened is the exact opposite," he said.
But Mbowela said some Malawians hailed the balance in the new cabinet.
"Those who are happy are looking at the proportion of men, women and where someone is coming from. It looks like people from all the regions have been put into the cabinet. So it is quiet representative of the Malawian population," Mbowela said.
[insert caption here]
Malawi's economy has reportedly performed better under Mutharika's leadership.
He said some Malawians are questioning the rationale behind the change at the finance ministry.
"I think one would really not understand what the president is trying to achieve…the shifting has really raised a lot of suspicion from people to say there is no continuity anymore. And after all one would simply say maybe there is something very strange that is happening behind the scene," he said.
Mbowela said Malawians had confidence in the performance of former finance minister Gondwe.
"The former finance minister we are talking about here, it was very evident I think to all Malawians that he did a very good job. So much as the president has that prerogative, I don't think it goes with moving people anyhow," Mbowela said
Meanwhile, Goodall Gondwe, a veteran economist served as director of the Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Vice President of the African Development Bank.
President Bingu Wa Mutharika appointed Gondwe as finance minister in 2004, a task some political observers believe he performed creditably.
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