Children fight to halt family's deportation

Schoolchildren have written to the Home Secretary to beg him to stop the deportation of a Leyland family.
The youngsters, along with religious leaders and churchgoers, have been battling to save Melchior Singo, 39, wife Ethel, 34, daughter Olga, nine, and seven-year-old niece Renee.

Campaigners fear they will be persecuted for being Christians if they are returned to their home country of Malawi.

The family were taken from their Argyle Road home by immigration officials and have been kept at a succession of detention centres across the country – often apart.

Mrs Singo and the children were finally allowed to return to Leyland last week, but her husband remains locked up while the family's request to stay in the UK is dealt with.

In a desperate bid to reverse the decision, Leyland schoolchildren have started a petition and have even written heartfelt pleas to new Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

Mrs Singo, her husband and their daughter came to the UK on legitimate visitor visas in 2003. She exchanged it for a student visa while she was at college in London.Their niece joined them in 2006 and Mr Singo applied for asylum in 2008.

His wife said: "We've always been very open. We both got jobs and then the first time we knew something was wrong was when the authorities knocked on our door in May."

The family say they left Malawi because they feared for their safety.
The two children attend Leyland St Mary's Primary School and their classmates have joined pupils at Leyland St Mary's Catholic Technology College to launch a petition appealing for them to stay.

Head of RE at the college, Brendan Gardner, said: "The family are part of the parish and this is a show of solidarity against Christians getting persecuted in Malawi."

Meanwhile, there are 161 members signed up to the 'Bring the Singo family home' group on the social networking site Facebook.

Mrs Singo and the children were released from Tinsley House detention centre, near Gatwick Airport, on July 2, but her husband remains in the centre after a court rejected an application to be released.

She said: "I have found the people here very welcoming. As a family we just want to try to get on with our lives in Leyland."

The family's fate will be decided at a judicial review in the high courts in Manchester on August 13.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We will always endeavour to keep families together but there will inevitably be occasions where this is not possible."

Malawi: Mothers Tune-In to Healthier Lives

In a country where maternal and child mortality rates are among the highest in the world, a weekly radio program is turning up the volume on health awareness. Phukusi la Moyo, or Bag of Life, took to the airways in March of 2009 to educate new mothers and improve the survival rate of newborns.

Broadcast by Mudzi Wathu Community Radio in Malawi’s Mchinji District, a region particularly fraught with maternal and child health problems, the program uses interactive methods to encourage discussion and bring health education to light.

Currently, only half of Malawian women deliver their children in a health facility; prenatal care is equally underused, and just 31 percent of new mothers and children receive postnatal care.

Phukusi la Moyo has already proved worth a listen; women’s groups in Malawi are using the broadcasts to facilitate programs and develop skills among local women. Groups like MaiMwana Project (a local NGO dedicated to maternal and child health), the Story Workshop and the Commonwealth of Learning have joined the cause, encouraging women to tune in and take charge of their health. That’s news worth hearing.

ESTABLISHMENT OF MALAWI’S WHO IS WHO PUBLICATION

In reply please quote Nor.
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (O.P.C.)
P.O. BOX 30227
LILONGWE 3
MALAWI
Telegrams: Human Resource, Lilongwe
Telephone: 01 789 522
Facsimile: +265 789 006
E-mail: dhrnd@malawi.gov.mw


Ref. No. DHRMD/MSD/ADM/053 8th July, 2009


PRESS RELEASE

ESTABLISHMENT OF MALAWI’S WHO IS WHO PUBLICATION

The Malawi Government would like to come up with a list of professionally qualified Malawians who are based abroad to comprise a Malawi Government Publication to be known as Malawi’s “WHO IS WHO”.

The Malawi’s “WHO is WHO” Publication will serve as a reference document for Government in search of expertise that is not readily available in Malawi, to be engaged on specialised assignments on mutually agreed terms.

The Government of Malawi therefore wishes to invite all professionally qualified Malawians who are resident outside Malawi to enlist themselves in the “WHO is WHO” publication by submitting personal particulars to the Department of Human Resource Management and Development using the following email address: dhrmd@malawi.gov.mw. The personal particulars should be submitted in the format as outlined below:-
MALAWIAN PROFESSIONALS IN DIASPORA DATA FORM


1. PERSONAL DETAILS

FULL NAME :………………………………………………………………………………………………

SEX :………………………………………………………………………………………………

DATE OF BIRTH:…………………………………………………………………………………………..

VILLAGE :………………………………………………………………………………………………

TRADITION AUTHORITY……………………………………………………………………………….

DISTRICT :………………………………………………………………………………………………


2. TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS



INSTITUTE NAME
DESCRIPTION
OBTAINED DATE

3. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (Give a brief description of your professional experience highlighting key responsibilities and competencies. beginning with current occupation )

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. CONTACTS


Physical Address: ……………………………………………………………………………………..

Telephone : …………………………………………………………………………………….

Cellphone : ……………………………………………………………………………………..

Email : ……………………………………………………………………………………..


Information submitted will be handled in the strictest confidence, and will only be utilised by Government for the purpose specified above.


CONTANCTS:

The Secretary for Human Resource Management and Development
P.O Box 30227
Lilongwe 3

Tel: 265 1 789 522
Fax: 265 1 789 006
Email: dhmd@malawi.gov.mw

Isaac Zimba Bondo
Email : Isaac.Zimba@opc.gov.mw
: issacbondo@yahoo.co.uk
Cell : 265 8 88 865192

Rudo Mwadiwa
Email : rudo.mwadiwa@opc.gov.mw
: rudo_mwadiwa@yahoo.co.uk
Cell : 265 9 99 071770

Allan Chirwa
Email : Allan.Chirwa@opc.gov.mw
: chirwa_allan@yahoo.com
Cell : 265 995617049

S.T.K. Madula
SECRETARY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT