One works to prevent cervical cancer in Malawi. Another tries to make peace between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. A third advocates for Peruvians in an environmentally ravaged city.
They're fanning out across the country in the coming weeks in the most comprehensive effort in decades to build support for the missionary program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The denomination, which has cut missionary and other posts because of declining financial support, will be sending 48 mission workers out to tell their stories in the coming weeks in Presbyterian churches, colleges and other settings.
"Over the last 20 years or so, there has been nothing like this done," said Bruce Whearty, an organizer of the Mission Challenge '07 conference. The missionaries attended the conference last week at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary before starting their speaking tours.
"It's an effort to reconnect the local congregations with missionaries and to raise support for missions -- by that we mean prayer support, and letters and awareness, as well as financial support," Whearty said.
Lora Whearty, his wife and a missionary-in-residence at the Presbyterian headquarters in Louisville, said that many congregations are interested in missions, "but it tends to be short-term mission trips of their own, forgetting that the national church sends missionaries out to 60 different countries.
"The funding has dropped off," she added. "The number of positions that missionaries can fill are dropping dramatically."
The denomination has about 230 full-time career missionaries.
Last year, because of budget cuts, the denomination eliminated 40 vacant missionary jobs, and further cuts were expected until the church received a $10 million bequest from a deceased member.
At the conference, the missionaries will be getting training in making presentations as they prepare to preach in churches and speak before Sunday school classes and church governing boards.
The Wheartys -- who are on leave from their mission work in the South Pacific -- said they hope congregations will get to know missionaries, putting their pictures on bulletin boards and their names on prayer lists, and also hold them as examples for children who might consider a career in the mission field.
Among those visiting is Dr. Sue Makin, an obstetrician and gynecologist who trains nurse-midwives at a hospital in the impoverished African nation of Malawi. She's also working to introduce affordable ways to treat and diagnose cervical cancer.
"My job is to train (health-care workers) rather than me being a practicing doctor," said Makin, who has worked 17 years in Africa. "We're supposed to be training ourselves out of a job, but we're far from it in a country like Malawi."
Doug Baker, who has worked for 28 years on peace efforts in Northern Ireland, said he's encouraged to see the process finally take hold.
"There have been plenty of times when it's been discouraging, but at the moment it's rewarding," he said.
Jacob Goad, 24, began working in January in the Peruvian city of La Oroya, advocating for children and others exposed to lead and other pollution from an industrial plant. He also helped with relief efforts after Peru's massive earthquake this year.
While such efforts are different from the direct preaching and evangelism associated with traditional missions, Goad noted that Jesus proclaimed early in his ministry that he had "come to preach good news to the poor."
"He was addressing a context of complete inequality in his time," Goad said. "Jesus' message is as radical and real in our world today where inequality continues to exist."
Monday, 8 October 2007
Aid agency worker returns from a year in Malawi
A MERSEYSIDE woman has returned from Malawi after a year working on education and water sanitation projects.
Debbie Ball, 29, from Birkenhead, worked as the assistant country director for international humanitarian charity Goal.
During her time there, she helped build 10 schools, 11 teacher’s homes and hundreds of wells and household latrines. Now Ms Ball wants to encourage other professionals to take up similar work.
“The major challenge in Malawi is HIV or Aids. The prevalence is exceptionally high, with the national average at 14.2%, reaching 25 to 30% in places,” she said. “So many are dying that when you’re driving along, it’s quite normal to see funerals taking place at the side of the road.”
With a degree in business from Nottingham Trent University, Ms Ball has worked in the charity sector for the last five years, including 14 months with UK charity Merlin, in Aceh, Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami. She has also spent time working in the Congo and Bosnia.
She said: “Working in the charity sector definitely changes your perspective on life.”
GOAL UK is holding an information evening in Liverpool on October 9 from 6.30 to 8pm in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
The charity is looking for professionals who are willing to devote at least a year to working in one of 11 countries in the developing world. To register, e-mail makeadifference@goal-uk.org or visit www.goal-uk.org
Debbie Ball, 29, from Birkenhead, worked as the assistant country director for international humanitarian charity Goal.
During her time there, she helped build 10 schools, 11 teacher’s homes and hundreds of wells and household latrines. Now Ms Ball wants to encourage other professionals to take up similar work.
“The major challenge in Malawi is HIV or Aids. The prevalence is exceptionally high, with the national average at 14.2%, reaching 25 to 30% in places,” she said. “So many are dying that when you’re driving along, it’s quite normal to see funerals taking place at the side of the road.”
With a degree in business from Nottingham Trent University, Ms Ball has worked in the charity sector for the last five years, including 14 months with UK charity Merlin, in Aceh, Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami. She has also spent time working in the Congo and Bosnia.
She said: “Working in the charity sector definitely changes your perspective on life.”
GOAL UK is holding an information evening in Liverpool on October 9 from 6.30 to 8pm in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
The charity is looking for professionals who are willing to devote at least a year to working in one of 11 countries in the developing world. To register, e-mail makeadifference@goal-uk.org or visit www.goal-uk.org
Madonna's second adoption in doubt
Madonna's attempt to adopt a second Malawian child has been thrown into doubt after the child's outraged uncle voiced his opposition to the move.
The pop superstar, 49, and film director husband Guy Richie are expecting 13-month-old orphan Mercy James to be the latest addition to their family following the successful adoption of David Banda from Malawi last year.
However, Mercy's uncle, John Ngalande, insists he does not want the child to be adopted by a white person.
He tells British newspaper The People, he says: "We were told when Mercy went into the orphanage that we would be in constant contact with her and that she would come back to us after six years. I would like to stick to that. Whether it be Madonna or any other white person, I'm against our child being taken away."
He adds: "I would rather we be poor and struggling with Mercy, than for her to go and live with a big white star far away."
Sunday, 7 October 2007
Malawi health service ailing from brain drain
For Malawian nurse Hilda Maganga, the financial pull of a spell in a ward in Britain is close to overwhelming her desire to tend to patients in her Aids-stricken and impoverished homeland.
"I would like to do a two-year stint in the United Kingdom, make my money and come back to retire for good," says the 54-year-old as she contemplates joining the brain drain of Malawian health professionals.
Official figures show about 120 registered nurses have migrated to Britain and the United States alone every year in the last decade, with the Health Ministry unable to even begin to match the wages on offer abroad.
With 14% of the country's 12-million population infected with HIV, the demands on the health service are as great as at any stage in the former British colony's history since independence in 1964.
While the World Health Organisation recommends health services should employ a minimum of 100 nurses and 20 doctors per 100 000 people, Malawi currently has only 56,4 nurses and two doctors for every 100 000 potential patients.
The figure is in sharp contrast, not just to the West, but to other countries in the region as well. Wealthier South Africa, for example, has 393 nurses and 74,3 doctors for every 100 000 people.
Dorothy Ng'oma, executive director of National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi, said there was no hiding from the impact of the shortages.
"The situation is very bad, it's a crisis," she said. "The shortage of nurses in particular is very acute, with one nurse handling over 100 very sick patients in most hospital wards."
"We have only 3 000 nurses on register for a population of 12-million ... It's a heavy burden on them when they have to deal with various infectious diseases like HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and malaria."
Officials say half of 70 doctors sent abroad for specialist training have not returned home after completing their studies in the last five years, often lured by better salaries.
The vacancy rate for nurses in rural areas -- where the majority of people live -- is 60%, according to a 2006 survey by the Ministry of Health.
According to the volunteer group Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), staff shortages are most severe in the southern districts of Thyolo and Chiradzulu, where the number of nurses working at the main hospital has fallen from 50 to 28 in the last year alone.
"The situation is dramatic and constitutes in our eyes an acute emergency that is still widely underestimated," Ulrike von Pilar, MSF's head of mission in Malawi, wrote in a recent activity report.
Health workers are "overwhelmed, overworked and exhausted", the report added, citing a single medical assistant in Thyolo who sees 200 patients a day.
In a bid to counter the shortages, Malawi launched an emergency plan three years ago, which saw health workers receive an average 52% pay rise thanks to a $236-million fund bankrolled by donors such as Britain.
A junior doctor now earns $450, while a senior nurse goes home with $300.
The plan also aims to strengthen training capacity, repatriate professionals that left the country and fund recruitment of foreigners.
However, the sums on offer are still a fraction of the cash available in places such as Britain and also fail to address complaints about pensions.
Maganga, who works at the children's wing of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, was recently lured back into nursing as a result of the increased salary but she still feels "short-changed" after pocketing a one-off payment of $1 000 as her pension three years ago.
"It was peanuts when you consider 25 years of service. This is one of the reasons why Malawian nurses have abandoned their posts and flocked to Britain."
She said the impact of the brain drain could be clearly felt during her shifts at Queen Elizabeth, where she attends to 75 children in one ward.
"We are only two nurses in the ward at a time. Sometimes you are all alone when in the past there could be six of you," she said.
Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje acknowledged the health service was struggling at a time when the population was rapidly growing.
"Yes, there are serious problems, but Malawi needs to train 1 000 nurses annually if we want to arrest the situation," she said.
"The number of nurses we train every year is small. We need to increase intake at our colleges."
MSF warned that failure to address the situation rapidly could undermine Malawi's ambitions plans to provide free anti-Aids drugs to 150 000 HIV sufferers by the end of 2008.
"It is evident that the rapid scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy aimed at urgently serving 180 000 Malawians will be limited by non-availability of adequately trained nurses, clinical officers and doctors," it said.
"I would like to do a two-year stint in the United Kingdom, make my money and come back to retire for good," says the 54-year-old as she contemplates joining the brain drain of Malawian health professionals.
Official figures show about 120 registered nurses have migrated to Britain and the United States alone every year in the last decade, with the Health Ministry unable to even begin to match the wages on offer abroad.
With 14% of the country's 12-million population infected with HIV, the demands on the health service are as great as at any stage in the former British colony's history since independence in 1964.
While the World Health Organisation recommends health services should employ a minimum of 100 nurses and 20 doctors per 100 000 people, Malawi currently has only 56,4 nurses and two doctors for every 100 000 potential patients.
The figure is in sharp contrast, not just to the West, but to other countries in the region as well. Wealthier South Africa, for example, has 393 nurses and 74,3 doctors for every 100 000 people.
Dorothy Ng'oma, executive director of National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi, said there was no hiding from the impact of the shortages.
"The situation is very bad, it's a crisis," she said. "The shortage of nurses in particular is very acute, with one nurse handling over 100 very sick patients in most hospital wards."
"We have only 3 000 nurses on register for a population of 12-million ... It's a heavy burden on them when they have to deal with various infectious diseases like HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and malaria."
Officials say half of 70 doctors sent abroad for specialist training have not returned home after completing their studies in the last five years, often lured by better salaries.
The vacancy rate for nurses in rural areas -- where the majority of people live -- is 60%, according to a 2006 survey by the Ministry of Health.
According to the volunteer group Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), staff shortages are most severe in the southern districts of Thyolo and Chiradzulu, where the number of nurses working at the main hospital has fallen from 50 to 28 in the last year alone.
"The situation is dramatic and constitutes in our eyes an acute emergency that is still widely underestimated," Ulrike von Pilar, MSF's head of mission in Malawi, wrote in a recent activity report.
Health workers are "overwhelmed, overworked and exhausted", the report added, citing a single medical assistant in Thyolo who sees 200 patients a day.
In a bid to counter the shortages, Malawi launched an emergency plan three years ago, which saw health workers receive an average 52% pay rise thanks to a $236-million fund bankrolled by donors such as Britain.
A junior doctor now earns $450, while a senior nurse goes home with $300.
The plan also aims to strengthen training capacity, repatriate professionals that left the country and fund recruitment of foreigners.
However, the sums on offer are still a fraction of the cash available in places such as Britain and also fail to address complaints about pensions.
Maganga, who works at the children's wing of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, was recently lured back into nursing as a result of the increased salary but she still feels "short-changed" after pocketing a one-off payment of $1 000 as her pension three years ago.
"It was peanuts when you consider 25 years of service. This is one of the reasons why Malawian nurses have abandoned their posts and flocked to Britain."
She said the impact of the brain drain could be clearly felt during her shifts at Queen Elizabeth, where she attends to 75 children in one ward.
"We are only two nurses in the ward at a time. Sometimes you are all alone when in the past there could be six of you," she said.
Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje acknowledged the health service was struggling at a time when the population was rapidly growing.
"Yes, there are serious problems, but Malawi needs to train 1 000 nurses annually if we want to arrest the situation," she said.
"The number of nurses we train every year is small. We need to increase intake at our colleges."
MSF warned that failure to address the situation rapidly could undermine Malawi's ambitions plans to provide free anti-Aids drugs to 150 000 HIV sufferers by the end of 2008.
"It is evident that the rapid scaling-up of antiretroviral therapy aimed at urgently serving 180 000 Malawians will be limited by non-availability of adequately trained nurses, clinical officers and doctors," it said.
YOU'LL NEVER TAKE MY GIRL, MADONNA
EXCLUSIVE HUGE BLOW TO MADGE'S NEW AFRICAN BABY DREAM Mercy's uncle insists she's staying Tot 'does not belong with a star' Wrangle on David is more agony
Pop queen Madonna is devastated after the uncle of the second baby she is desperate to adopt vowed not to let the tot go.
The superstar longs to make little Mercy James a sister to David Banda, the boy she and hubby Guy Ritchie plucked from poverty-stricken Malawi last year.
But in a devastating blow to Madonna's dream, Mercy's defiant uncle John Ngalande insisted that the 20-month-old girl will live with him.
Speaking from Malawi, John told The People: "I would rather we be poor and struggling with Mercy, than for her to go and live with a big white star far away."
Mercy was put in an orphanage when her 18-year-old mother Mwandida Maunde died. Her father was a schoolboy and has played little part in her life.
John, 36, revealed that he always expected the tot would eventually live with him and is outraged at the thought of her being taken away by 49-year-old Madonna.
John said: "We were told when Mercy went into the orphanage that we would be in constant contact with her and that she would come back to us after six years. I would like to stick to that.
"Whether it be Madonna or any other white person, I'm against our child being taken away."
It is another serious setback for the American singer, who has lawyers working for her in Malawi. She hoped to collect Mercy - who she dubbed her "smiling angel" - from her orphanage next April.
But Madonna still faces problems over her adoption of David, two.
Her London home was inspected by Malawi's chief social welfare officer Simon Chisale last month but The People has learned that the process is far from complete.
Madonna and Brit film maker Guy, 39, face two further inspections from Malawi officials, who will come to Britain in November and December.
The case will go before a Malawi court next April before the adoption can be finalised.
A friend of the star revealed: "It is a very stressful time for Madonna and Guy. "They really wanted to adopt Mercy as they fell in love with her on first meeting. They thought she would be a great sister for David.
"The couple had hoped that by now everything about David would have been finalised.
"As far as they are concerned they are offering two parent-less children the chance of a happy, loving home and a better future.
Yet they are facing problems at every turn."
A Malawi source said: "There is a sense of resentment in this country over rich western couples coming over and whisking away children.
"While it is clear that the children are being offered better opportunities, there is a still unrest among the locals. There is a general movement against it."
Madonna already has a 10-year-old daughter Lourdes from a previous relationship, and son Rocco, seven, by Guy.
Pop queen Madonna is devastated after the uncle of the second baby she is desperate to adopt vowed not to let the tot go.
The superstar longs to make little Mercy James a sister to David Banda, the boy she and hubby Guy Ritchie plucked from poverty-stricken Malawi last year.
But in a devastating blow to Madonna's dream, Mercy's defiant uncle John Ngalande insisted that the 20-month-old girl will live with him.
Speaking from Malawi, John told The People: "I would rather we be poor and struggling with Mercy, than for her to go and live with a big white star far away."
Mercy was put in an orphanage when her 18-year-old mother Mwandida Maunde died. Her father was a schoolboy and has played little part in her life.
John, 36, revealed that he always expected the tot would eventually live with him and is outraged at the thought of her being taken away by 49-year-old Madonna.
John said: "We were told when Mercy went into the orphanage that we would be in constant contact with her and that she would come back to us after six years. I would like to stick to that.
"Whether it be Madonna or any other white person, I'm against our child being taken away."
It is another serious setback for the American singer, who has lawyers working for her in Malawi. She hoped to collect Mercy - who she dubbed her "smiling angel" - from her orphanage next April.
But Madonna still faces problems over her adoption of David, two.
Her London home was inspected by Malawi's chief social welfare officer Simon Chisale last month but The People has learned that the process is far from complete.
Madonna and Brit film maker Guy, 39, face two further inspections from Malawi officials, who will come to Britain in November and December.
The case will go before a Malawi court next April before the adoption can be finalised.
A friend of the star revealed: "It is a very stressful time for Madonna and Guy. "They really wanted to adopt Mercy as they fell in love with her on first meeting. They thought she would be a great sister for David.
"The couple had hoped that by now everything about David would have been finalised.
"As far as they are concerned they are offering two parent-less children the chance of a happy, loving home and a better future.
Yet they are facing problems at every turn."
A Malawi source said: "There is a sense of resentment in this country over rich western couples coming over and whisking away children.
"While it is clear that the children are being offered better opportunities, there is a still unrest among the locals. There is a general movement against it."
Madonna already has a 10-year-old daughter Lourdes from a previous relationship, and son Rocco, seven, by Guy.
Identical twins from Lorain serve in Africa
LORAIN -- When Lorain natives Rebecca and Allison Goldberg went to Africa this summer to help others live a better life, they were following a public-spirited family tradition.
Rebecca spent five weeks in Uganda offering free dental services and doing research after her first year at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry. Allison spent three weeks in Malawi studying the success of that country's HIV/AIDS testing program.
The sisters, 24-year-old identical twins who graduated from Lorain Admiral King High School in 2001, said they learned about social responsibility from their older brother Jeremy, their parents, Sherwin and Sandy Goldberg, and grandparents, Hyman and Frances Goldberg.
The life lesson is rooted in the ancient Jewish concept of Tzedakah, which roughly translates in English to charity, Rebecca said. The training started young, she said, at the Agudath B'Nai Israel synagogue on Meister Road. When the twins were grade-school age, the synagogue took them on visits to nursing homes. The pair and their brother also belonged to Young Judea, a youth group that emphasizes Jewish traditions and developing leadership.
''Money comes and goes,'' Rebecca said. ''But helping people will last longer than making money.''
Rebecca took that attitude to Kampala, Uganda, from June 11 to July 20. She worked at two dental clinics, the Makerere University Hospital Clinic and the Mulago Clinic, which is a public hospital, she said. With her friend and fellow dental student Charu Gupta, Rebecca planned the trip, made contacts in Uganda, got approvals from ethics boards in Uganda and Ohio and had to earn approval from OSU, since they went abroad without faculty members.
The two saw hundreds of patients at the two clinics, Rebecca said.
''We did oral exams, noting how many cavities were present, how many teeth had been extracted, and so forth,'' she said. ''We also provided 200 fluoride varnish treatments to children. It's a syringe application to reinforce the enamel of their teeth, to help them grow.'' In addition, hundreds of toothbrush and floss kits were given away, with instructions on its use.
She and her friend surveyed their patients to learn about their educational and economic backgrounds, how often they brushed, their general health knowledge and the difference between their concept of good oral health and the reality of good oral health.
''We learned that money is a huge issue,'' Rebecca said. ''A lot of people weren't even aware of floss, what it was or how to get it. We found that even when they knew about toothbrushes, they needed urgent dental care. They thought they knew what they were doing, but we found a big discrepancy.''
In addition to treating and surveying patients, Rebecca said she hoped to foster a relationship between the Ugandan clinics and the OSU dental school.
''It made sense to develop a dental outreach and research effort that could be long-term,'' she said. ''It's important to continue showing up in the community and teaching to improve oral health. Now, when other dental students go there, they can give the people what they really need.''
Allison also hopes her work in Africa this year is the beginning of a long learning process. She went to Malawi from July 10 to July 27 for her employer, Abt Associates, to observe and document an HIV-AIDS counseling and testing event. For the second year, the Malawian government promoted a one-week drive to test as many citizens as possible across the country, she said.
As an associate analyst for Abt Associates, Allison does research, develops surveys and writes case studies.
''This is my first job out of college,'' she said. ''It gives me a broad perspective on health issues, both domestic and international. It's a very enriching experience.''
Abt Associates was contracted for the project by the United States government through the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, she said. The results of the Malawi study will be co-published with United States Agency for International Development and the World Health Organization in November, she said.
''The Malawi government was hoping to test 130,000 people in one week, but they actually tested almost 190,000,'' she said. Allison traveled across the country to interview those who provided testing and patients who were getting tested.
''I learned that the country is incredibly mobilized,'' she said. ''There's a strong sense of leadership from local levels to the national level.'' Allison traveled from cities to rural areas, sometimes crossing deserts in four-wheel-drive vehicles to observe the testing and conduct surveys.
About 8.4 percent of the tests came back positive for HIV/AIDS, many times the infection rate in the United States.
''When you go to a country like this, with a public health crisis, you can't ignore it,'' Allison said. ''You see the poverty and you feel the need to make a difference.'' But the people of Malawi were an inspiration for her, she said.
''Malawi is called the warm heart of Africa,'' she said. ''The people are incredibly friendly and open. When you met people they wanted to hug you. And when I returned to communities, they gave me gifts. They're incredibly poor, but they were giving gifts to me.''
Allison credits her brother Jeremy, who founded the Global Youth Partnership for Africa to encourage understanding and promote cultural exchanges and development projects between Americans and Africans, as a big influence on her life.
Like Allison and Rebecca, Jeremy, 27, said he follows the teachings he absorbed from his Jewish faith and his family. In addition to Tzedakah, he cited Tikkun olam as an important concept.
''Tikkun olam is defined as mending the world or repairing the broken world,'' he said. His father, Sherwin Goldberg, displayed the concept while coaching Jeremy's sports teams in junior high school.
''Some of the other kids' parents never showed up to support them,'' he said. ''Many times the kids didn't have rides to practice or games. My dad offered to be their biggest fan, to give them support and be a mentor and friend. You always had the sense that he wanted to give back.''
Sherwin Goldberg, 53, is a case manager and job developer for Goodwill Industries of Lorain County.
''Tzedakah is a fundamental part of the Jewish way of life,'' he said. ''It's the important obligation to give what you can. When children see parents do something, it is maintained through the generations.''
Sherwin's father, Hyman Goldberg, agreed. At age 86, he still practices law part time, offering free services to clients who are having trouble making ends meet. He said he learned about working to help others from his own parents.
''My parents were always interested in helping those in need, regardless of race or color,'' he said.
Hyman Goldberg's parents came from Lithuania with five young children in 1921, he said.
''They didn't know English and had to start from scratch,'' he said. ''In the Depression, my mother worked for Jewish Emergency Relief. When people were on the road, looking for work, she arranged for them to get a meal and a roof over their head.''
Sandy Goldberg, the mother of Allison, Rebecca and Jeremy, said she and her husband encouraged their children to give back to their community, but also to be extraordinary.
''We always told them to reach for their hopes and their dreams,'' she said. ''They all have passion for what they do. And all three of them have great things coming in their future.''
Rebecca spent five weeks in Uganda offering free dental services and doing research after her first year at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry. Allison spent three weeks in Malawi studying the success of that country's HIV/AIDS testing program.
The sisters, 24-year-old identical twins who graduated from Lorain Admiral King High School in 2001, said they learned about social responsibility from their older brother Jeremy, their parents, Sherwin and Sandy Goldberg, and grandparents, Hyman and Frances Goldberg.
The life lesson is rooted in the ancient Jewish concept of Tzedakah, which roughly translates in English to charity, Rebecca said. The training started young, she said, at the Agudath B'Nai Israel synagogue on Meister Road. When the twins were grade-school age, the synagogue took them on visits to nursing homes. The pair and their brother also belonged to Young Judea, a youth group that emphasizes Jewish traditions and developing leadership.
''Money comes and goes,'' Rebecca said. ''But helping people will last longer than making money.''
Rebecca took that attitude to Kampala, Uganda, from June 11 to July 20. She worked at two dental clinics, the Makerere University Hospital Clinic and the Mulago Clinic, which is a public hospital, she said. With her friend and fellow dental student Charu Gupta, Rebecca planned the trip, made contacts in Uganda, got approvals from ethics boards in Uganda and Ohio and had to earn approval from OSU, since they went abroad without faculty members.
The two saw hundreds of patients at the two clinics, Rebecca said.
''We did oral exams, noting how many cavities were present, how many teeth had been extracted, and so forth,'' she said. ''We also provided 200 fluoride varnish treatments to children. It's a syringe application to reinforce the enamel of their teeth, to help them grow.'' In addition, hundreds of toothbrush and floss kits were given away, with instructions on its use.
She and her friend surveyed their patients to learn about their educational and economic backgrounds, how often they brushed, their general health knowledge and the difference between their concept of good oral health and the reality of good oral health.
''We learned that money is a huge issue,'' Rebecca said. ''A lot of people weren't even aware of floss, what it was or how to get it. We found that even when they knew about toothbrushes, they needed urgent dental care. They thought they knew what they were doing, but we found a big discrepancy.''
In addition to treating and surveying patients, Rebecca said she hoped to foster a relationship between the Ugandan clinics and the OSU dental school.
''It made sense to develop a dental outreach and research effort that could be long-term,'' she said. ''It's important to continue showing up in the community and teaching to improve oral health. Now, when other dental students go there, they can give the people what they really need.''
Allison also hopes her work in Africa this year is the beginning of a long learning process. She went to Malawi from July 10 to July 27 for her employer, Abt Associates, to observe and document an HIV-AIDS counseling and testing event. For the second year, the Malawian government promoted a one-week drive to test as many citizens as possible across the country, she said.
As an associate analyst for Abt Associates, Allison does research, develops surveys and writes case studies.
''This is my first job out of college,'' she said. ''It gives me a broad perspective on health issues, both domestic and international. It's a very enriching experience.''
Abt Associates was contracted for the project by the United States government through the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, she said. The results of the Malawi study will be co-published with United States Agency for International Development and the World Health Organization in November, she said.
''The Malawi government was hoping to test 130,000 people in one week, but they actually tested almost 190,000,'' she said. Allison traveled across the country to interview those who provided testing and patients who were getting tested.
''I learned that the country is incredibly mobilized,'' she said. ''There's a strong sense of leadership from local levels to the national level.'' Allison traveled from cities to rural areas, sometimes crossing deserts in four-wheel-drive vehicles to observe the testing and conduct surveys.
About 8.4 percent of the tests came back positive for HIV/AIDS, many times the infection rate in the United States.
''When you go to a country like this, with a public health crisis, you can't ignore it,'' Allison said. ''You see the poverty and you feel the need to make a difference.'' But the people of Malawi were an inspiration for her, she said.
''Malawi is called the warm heart of Africa,'' she said. ''The people are incredibly friendly and open. When you met people they wanted to hug you. And when I returned to communities, they gave me gifts. They're incredibly poor, but they were giving gifts to me.''
Allison credits her brother Jeremy, who founded the Global Youth Partnership for Africa to encourage understanding and promote cultural exchanges and development projects between Americans and Africans, as a big influence on her life.
Like Allison and Rebecca, Jeremy, 27, said he follows the teachings he absorbed from his Jewish faith and his family. In addition to Tzedakah, he cited Tikkun olam as an important concept.
''Tikkun olam is defined as mending the world or repairing the broken world,'' he said. His father, Sherwin Goldberg, displayed the concept while coaching Jeremy's sports teams in junior high school.
''Some of the other kids' parents never showed up to support them,'' he said. ''Many times the kids didn't have rides to practice or games. My dad offered to be their biggest fan, to give them support and be a mentor and friend. You always had the sense that he wanted to give back.''
Sherwin Goldberg, 53, is a case manager and job developer for Goodwill Industries of Lorain County.
''Tzedakah is a fundamental part of the Jewish way of life,'' he said. ''It's the important obligation to give what you can. When children see parents do something, it is maintained through the generations.''
Sherwin's father, Hyman Goldberg, agreed. At age 86, he still practices law part time, offering free services to clients who are having trouble making ends meet. He said he learned about working to help others from his own parents.
''My parents were always interested in helping those in need, regardless of race or color,'' he said.
Hyman Goldberg's parents came from Lithuania with five young children in 1921, he said.
''They didn't know English and had to start from scratch,'' he said. ''In the Depression, my mother worked for Jewish Emergency Relief. When people were on the road, looking for work, she arranged for them to get a meal and a roof over their head.''
Sandy Goldberg, the mother of Allison, Rebecca and Jeremy, said she and her husband encouraged their children to give back to their community, but also to be extraordinary.
''We always told them to reach for their hopes and their dreams,'' she said. ''They all have passion for what they do. And all three of them have great things coming in their future.''
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Simple as that, child mortality is at a record low
The first page of Alfred Malunga's fat village register is taken up by a single family. Mother, father, five children, the last a baby girl named Molly. A red cross has been inked in beside her name.
“I use that sign when someone passes away,” explained Mr. Malunga, the village health worker who maintains the register, two volumes long and 12 centimetres high. “That child died of malaria.”
But turn the page. And the next. There are no more red crosses for 10 pages. Molly is the only child in her village to have died in the past six months.
This is a startling thing in Malawi, one of the poorest nations in the world, chronically short of food and with less than $10 a person spent on health care each year.
And it is part of an equally startling trend: Deaths of children under the age of 5 declined 29 per cent between 2000 and 2004 in Malawi. This country is one laboratory in a health-care revolution that is quietly yielding spectacular results across the developing world: The application of a handful of simple, low-cost measures, from giving families $2 mosquito nets to encouraging breastfeeding, is spurring a sharp decline in child deaths around the world.
For the first time since the United Nations began to keep records in 1960, the number of child deaths fell below the 10-million mark, down to 9.7 million in 2006, the last year for which there is data.
“This really is a historic moment,” said Peter Salama, Unicef's chief medical officer, although he was quick to note that those 9.7 million deaths, almost all of them from preventable or easily treatable causes, are “in no way acceptable.”
Nevertheless, this is undeniable good news from developing countries, made even brighter by the fact that the biggest drops in child deaths have come in some of the poorest places: 20 per cent in Niger, 23 per cent in Mozambique, a stunning 41 per cent in Madagascar. (Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 50 per cent of all child mortality, even though the region's total population is only half that of India. In West and Central Africa, more than 150 of every 1,000 children born die before the age of 5, compared with fewer than six in Canada.)
Mr. Malunga knows what's responsible for the drop in his area: The biggest reason is that all pregnant women are now given a free insecticide-treated mosquito net for themselves and their children to sleep under. The new access to bed nets – which, even at a heavily subsidized price, are too costly for people here to buy, he said – has cut malaria deaths by about a third in the past few years. “It is malaria that kills most of the children,” he said.
But he is going after more than malaria: He has vaccinated nearly every single child in his 16-village territory – measles used to be a big killer here too, but there hasn't been a case in seven years, he said. No polio since 1990. He gives most children a capsule of vitamin A at least once a year, sometimes twice, if he can get it – and that is enough to boost their immune systems so that if they do get diarrhea or malaria, they are much less likely to die.
He weighs the children every time he sees them, and plots their growth on a chart – in Malawi, 46 per cent of all children show signs of stunting, the result of chronic malnutrition – and refers any who aren't growing well to the emergency nutrition rehabilitation centre. He has persuaded more and more women to breastfeed their babies and delay any introduction of solid food until the age of six months. Traditionally women here give babies maize porridge from the age of one week.
Mr. Malunga has supervised the installation of cement-covered pit latrines and protected water sources in many of the villages, leading to a drop in water-borne illness. He has persuaded many women to take contraceptive pills or get the Depo-Provera injections he does in the clinic – because, he explained, children spaced at least two years apart have much higher chances of survival. He travels village to village talking to groups about HIV (with which 14 per cent of Malawi's adults are infected) and he offers them condoms.
As proof of how well all this is working, he stops on a tour of the village outside the one-room mud-brick house of Ruth Mtalika, where she sits nursing her three-month-old son Skevas, a child so enormously fat that he resembles a miniature Sumo wrestler, and blissfully cheerful. Mr. Malunga helped her get a bed net, and told her about nutrition when she was pregnant, Ms. Mtalika said; now he frequently reminds her about breastfeeding and he gave Skevas his first vaccinations. “He is a very healthy child, and that makes me glad,” she said, tickling the mountain of baby in her lap.
The main package of interventions Mr. Malunga offers (vaccinations, vitamin A, antenatal care, breastfeeding promotion and bed nets) was tested in a Canadian-funded pilot in 11 countries in West Africa and in 2003 was shown to reduce mortality by 20 per cent. Canada is the largest funder, globally, of both vaccinations against the killer childhood illnesses (at a cost of about $10 a child) and of vitamin A supplementation, which typically costs less than five cents a child but cuts mortality by 23 per cent.
Indeed, the most striking thing about these interventions, beyond how well they work, is that they are not, as the saying goes, brain surgery. They are ludicrously cheap and easy to deliver. Kenya, for example, cut child deaths from malaria by 44 per cent in the past four years simply by giving out for free bed nets that cost about $2.
“Really, it makes you sorry that it has not happened earlier,” sighed Habib Somanje, the director of preventive health services for the government of Malawi. One obstacle, he said, is that unlike curative health measures, such as building new clinics, preventive health care is not considered exciting either by donor nations, on whom Malawi is hugely dependent, or the voting public.
So he has battled to get the resources to fund initiatives such as the bed net distributions – currently just half of children sleep beneath nets, but his ministry will give out two million more this year, aiming for total coverage in a couple of years. Through simple education programs (sitting women down beneath the biggest tree in a village for a lecture), Malawi raised exclusive breastfeeding from 7 per cent of women to 63 per cent, between 2000 and 2004. But tree-shade lectures aren't as flashy as new wells or blood pressure machines.
The early-childhood package is good, but when Mr. Malunga tallied what has worked in his 16 villages, he left one critical factor off the list: himself. The child-survival interventions have been introduced across sub-Saharan Africa but not every country has posted the gains Malawi has. What Malawi has that no one else does is Mr. Malunga, and 3,500 other community health workers.
For the 1,740 people in his registry book, he is the primary source of contact with Malawi's chronically understaffed and under funded health system. “I serve the people much better because I am here and they can come to my house at any time,” he explained.
Mr. Malunga, 31, has only a Grade 10 education and received just eight weeks of training when he began this job more than a decade ago. Often his small clinic lacks even Aspirin. But he is enough to guarantee good vaccination coverage, early diagnosis of respiratory infections and malnutrition – enough, in short, to cut child deaths by nearly a third.
Many developing countries have recognized that they need a way to get preventive health care and information out from district centres to rural and poorly educated populations, and there have been all manner of schemes to train community health volunteers. But very few countries have been willing to do what Malawi does: pay them. It's only $36 a month – not even enough, Mr. Malunga lamented, to buy a bicycle – but in a desperately poor country, it is enough to keep him showing up in a crisp blue polyester uniform to weigh and vaccinate babies each day.
“Nowhere has had success with this except Malawi,” said Juan Ortiz, the deputy head of Unicef's mission here. “And it works in Malawi because they pay them.”
Now this message, too, is spreading. Ethiopia, for example, is finalizing training for 30,000 community health workers who will be paid (if minimally) as civil servants and who will supervise the key early-childhood interventions. They are trained to spot respiratory infections and pneumonia, and refer to clinics; they can treat diarrhea with oral rehydration salts. Dr. Somanje said that Malawi is convinced of the value of its community health workers and is training and recruiting 6,500 more.
There are larger factors at work in Malawi and beyond, of course: In India and China, the major drops in child mortality have much to do with the fact that as economies boom, more kids have access to adequate nutrition and health care; girls get married later and have fewer children, both of which are key indicators for better child survival. Dr. Somanje said that this is even happening in Malawi (where there is nothing that could be construed as a booming economy) because primary education was made free in 1994. As a result, there is a new generation of young women with primary education, and they are delaying marriage and childbirth.
Unicef's Dr. Salama predicted that child mortality rates will continue to fall, at an even higher pace, in Malawi and across the developing world over the next few years, as these cheap and easy interventions are adopted more and more widely. In addition, these data cover only up to 2005, and so do not reflect much of the impact of the massive injection of cash into areas such as vaccination and malaria control that have come from agencies such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
But within a couple of years, the low-hanging fruit, as Dr. Ortiz described it, will be picked, and then saving children gets more complicated. The children for whom Mr. Malunga can do little are those whose mothers bring them to him when they have severe diarrhea or complicated pneumonia, which kill quickly. It's been more than a year since he had even the simplest antibiotics in his small medicine chest. The process of drug procurement in Malawi is a national disaster, beset by corruption, mismanagement and theft, and basic drugs rarely make it to the village level. Last year, only 5 per cent of pregnant women with HIV had access to the drug that would prevent them from infecting their babies.
Mr. Malunga can refer children to hospital, but Malawi's health system is horribly short staffed (health-care workers die of AIDS at higher levels than the population at large, and desert the under funded system in droves for better jobs abroad; two-thirds of the country's nursing jobs are vacant, and there are just 100 doctors in the entire public health system) and often not much better than the village clinic.
“We need to scale up treatment; this is the next critical phrase,” Dr. Salama said. “But the services that demand a 24-hour treatment response from the health worker are more complicated than the simple outreach services that can be delivered by a very basically trained health worker and that don't rely on someone to be there all the time. The basic first-level health system has to be functional and so also has the basic supply and procurement system – if not, we're simply not going to make big gains.”
There are two other major obstacles in Africa: Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo involved in continuing conflicts show little progress in lowering child mortality; and in southern Africa, the ravages of the AIDS pandemic are undermining and even reversing gains, as in Zimbabwe, that had been seen until recent years.
But Dr. Ortiz said that the lesson from Malawi is that with real commitment from government and financial help from rich nations, any country can bring down child deaths.
“People are always looking for silver bullets – a new technology, a new intervention, a new discovery,” Dr. Salama said. “What we've learned is that the focus in child health needs to be less on finding a new silver bullet, particularly a technological one, and much more on delivering at scale these things that we know work.”
Friday, 5 October 2007
Defining Chipata-Mchinji Rail
TRANSPORT infrastructure plays an important role as a catalyst in regional economic development because it helps trade among the neighboring countries.
Zambia, just like many other countries in the region boasts of rich and abundant natural resources.
These large deposits of mineral wealth are of no economical value if they cannot be transported to the market just like huge agricultural potential areas cannot be exploited if they are inaccessible.
It is a well known fact that trade enhances development and fosters economic growth for many developing countries.
Adverse transport cost can have an impact on trade efficiency and it is for this reason that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) are promoting infrastructure development as the only means of cementing regional integrations.
The official launch of the Chipata-Mchinji rail line by the Zambian Republican President Levy Mwanawasa together with his Malawian Counterpart Bingu Wa Mutharika on August 24, 2007 was a new dawn for regional economic integration for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
Initially, the Chipata-Mchinji rail line was suppose to have been officially launched by the three head of states from Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique who were also invited to grace the Kulamba ceremony of the Chewa speaking people from the three countries in Katete.
But, the Mozambique leader Armando Emilio Guebuza could not be present at the ceremony as he only managed to fly direct to Katete the following day for the traditional ceremony.
However, the Mozambique officials including the Zambian High Commissioner to that country George Chulumanda were present to witness the colorful official launch of the Mult Million US dollar project that had been turned into a white elephant for 25 years.
The officials from the three neigbouring countries were happy with the official launch of the rail line because it brought great hope to the growth of trade in the region.
Once completed, the three neigbouring countries are expected to further explore their abundant natural resources and compete favorably on the international trade market
HISTORY OF THE CHIPATA-MCHINJI RAIL LINE
The Chipata-Mchinji rail line was conceived in 1982 as a bilateral project between Zambia and Malawi.
The purpose of the project was to connect Zambia via Malawi to the port of Nacala in Mozambique.
The Government of Malawi with the assistance of the Canadian Government completed their portion of the rail line in 1984, which was within the earlier stipulated agreement by the two governments that the project be completed within the time frame of two years.
However, the Zambian government was not able to complete the construction of the rail line on time due to inadequate resources.
Only a stretch of 3.5 from Chipata towards the Mchinji border post was laid on the Zambian side.
But by the time the project was revitalize in 2006 it was discovered that the quality and size of the rail line that was erected on the Zambian side when the project had first started in 1982 was not compatible with the modern standards and it was removed.
Speaking during the official launch of the Chipata-Mchinji rail line, President Mwanawasa apologised to both the Governments of Malawi and Mozambique for any inconveniences delay on the Zambian part may have caused on the project.
"In an effort to complete the railway line, my administration has decided to construct the railway line on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. To this end the government signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the private sectors to construct the railway line on BOT basis." President Mwanawasa explained.
The President said unfortunately all the studies which were carried out by the private sectors indicated that the project was not viable unless the Zambian Government contributed funds and material towards the project.
In Some cases the private investors requested the government to contribute almost 80 percent of the project cost.
It was against this background that the present Government in 2006 decided to have the railway line constructed using its own resources because the private sector could not raise the necessary capital required to complete the railway line.
Zambia, just like many other countries in the region boasts of rich and abundant natural resources.
These large deposits of mineral wealth are of no economical value if they cannot be transported to the market just like huge agricultural potential areas cannot be exploited if they are inaccessible.
It is a well known fact that trade enhances development and fosters economic growth for many developing countries.
Adverse transport cost can have an impact on trade efficiency and it is for this reason that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) are promoting infrastructure development as the only means of cementing regional integrations.
The official launch of the Chipata-Mchinji rail line by the Zambian Republican President Levy Mwanawasa together with his Malawian Counterpart Bingu Wa Mutharika on August 24, 2007 was a new dawn for regional economic integration for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
Initially, the Chipata-Mchinji rail line was suppose to have been officially launched by the three head of states from Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique who were also invited to grace the Kulamba ceremony of the Chewa speaking people from the three countries in Katete.
But, the Mozambique leader Armando Emilio Guebuza could not be present at the ceremony as he only managed to fly direct to Katete the following day for the traditional ceremony.
However, the Mozambique officials including the Zambian High Commissioner to that country George Chulumanda were present to witness the colorful official launch of the Mult Million US dollar project that had been turned into a white elephant for 25 years.
The officials from the three neigbouring countries were happy with the official launch of the rail line because it brought great hope to the growth of trade in the region.
Once completed, the three neigbouring countries are expected to further explore their abundant natural resources and compete favorably on the international trade market
HISTORY OF THE CHIPATA-MCHINJI RAIL LINE
The Chipata-Mchinji rail line was conceived in 1982 as a bilateral project between Zambia and Malawi.
The purpose of the project was to connect Zambia via Malawi to the port of Nacala in Mozambique.
The Government of Malawi with the assistance of the Canadian Government completed their portion of the rail line in 1984, which was within the earlier stipulated agreement by the two governments that the project be completed within the time frame of two years.
However, the Zambian government was not able to complete the construction of the rail line on time due to inadequate resources.
Only a stretch of 3.5 from Chipata towards the Mchinji border post was laid on the Zambian side.
But by the time the project was revitalize in 2006 it was discovered that the quality and size of the rail line that was erected on the Zambian side when the project had first started in 1982 was not compatible with the modern standards and it was removed.
Speaking during the official launch of the Chipata-Mchinji rail line, President Mwanawasa apologised to both the Governments of Malawi and Mozambique for any inconveniences delay on the Zambian part may have caused on the project.
"In an effort to complete the railway line, my administration has decided to construct the railway line on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. To this end the government signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the private sectors to construct the railway line on BOT basis." President Mwanawasa explained.
The President said unfortunately all the studies which were carried out by the private sectors indicated that the project was not viable unless the Zambian Government contributed funds and material towards the project.
In Some cases the private investors requested the government to contribute almost 80 percent of the project cost.
It was against this background that the present Government in 2006 decided to have the railway line constructed using its own resources because the private sector could not raise the necessary capital required to complete the railway line.
Malawi to double free AIDS drugs coverage by 2010
AIDS-blighted Malawi wants to more than double the number of people receiving free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to 245,000 by 2010, Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje said on Friday.
"With currently 115,000 people on ARVs, the government aims at increasing this number to 245,000 by the year 2010," Ngaunje told a conference of donors and health experts.
Though it is still a taboo subject in the conservative landlocked country, some 930,000 Malawians are living with HIV or AIDS where the prevalence rate is 14 percent, according to UNAIDS and official figures.
The conference, organised by international medical and humanitarian aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), is to discuss how to deal with acute shortages of health workers.
Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, the main sponsors of the country's economic reforms, are also attending the one-day meeting.
Saying HIV and AIDS were a major public health problem in the southern African nation, Ngaunje said: "approximately 170,000 Malawians are believed to be in urgent need of ARVs today."
She said the scale-up programme had been hit by "a persistent crisis over the past decade which is largely caused by acute shortage of professional health workers in the public health sector."
Ngaunje said the poor southern African country, with funding from the Global Fund against AIDS, malaria and tuberclosis, had recruited 5,000 health surveillance health assistants to increae access to treatment and to compensate for professional health workers.
Malawi, with a population of 12 million, has 150 doctors on the state payroll, according to a recent figure by the health ministry.
La Niña puts country on flood alert
Malawi's Department of Meteorological Services predicts that the development of a weak La Niña phenomenon in the eastern Pacific Ocean could lead to flooding across the greater part of the country.
Donald Kamdonyo, director of Meteorological Services, said the appearance of La Niña, which occurs when cooler water wells up to the surface of the eastern central Pacific Ocean, was associated with above normal rainfall over southern Africa. There "is a chance of weak La Niña episode developing over the Pacific Ocean during the 2007/ 2008 rainfall season".
Climate models indicate that in the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, Malawi has a 35 percent chance of above average rainfall, a 40 percent chance of normal rainfall and a 25 percent chance of receiving below average rainfall.
Kamdonyo told IRIN the forecast was based on statistical models using scientifically established relationships between rainfall over southern Africa and sea surface temperatures of the world's oceans.
He said: "We cannot directly attribute this to global warming or climate change because we are... in a situation where we have already experienced changes in climate."
Disaster preparedness
Lilian Ng'oma, Malawi's commissioner for relief and disaster preparedness, a government department mandated to oversee humanitarian aid to the victims of natural disasters, said flood-prone areas of the country would be visited and people advised about what actions to take in the event of flooding, such as evacuating their homes and moving to higher ground.
"We are targeting pupils in different schools in this campaign, who will in turn pass on the message to their parents on the effects and dangers of floods," she said.
Farmers in flood-prone areas have resisted moving to higher ground on previous occasions because the land is not as fertile. "We will ask them to move temporarily and not permanently," said Ng'oma.
The relief and disaster department was also coordinating its work with other government departments to achieve a more effective, nationwide response. The principal secretary in the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation, Andrina Mchiela, said plans were already being made "for the provision of clean water and sinking of boreholes in affected areas", should flooding occur.
Geoffrey Luhanga, controller of agriculture services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said farmers in flood-prone areas would have to replant seeds if there was flooding, and they were already being advised to do so. Southern Malawi is prone to annual flooding during the rainy season, especially along the River Shire, which flows from Malawi into Mozambique and is a tributary of the River Zambezi.
In January 2007 about 8,000 families in the Chikwawa District were displaced after around 400 villages were flooded along the upper reaches of the River Shire. A further 116 villages were flooded, destroying about 2,600 houses in nearby Nsanje District, through which the River Shire also flows.
Bobbies who rode to Paris set for well earned arrest
PARISIANS could be forgiven for stopping and staring as a troop of Scottish police cycled through the city to the sound of drums.
The Lothians officers received a heroes' welcome when they arrived in the French capital after an epic 220-mile charity bike ride. They made the journey to raise £14,000 to help a hospital in Malawi and build a home for Aids orphans in Kenya.
Organisers said the Auld Alliance Cycle ride was so successful they now hope to make it an annual event.
They have persuaded dozens of French and Belgian police to take part next year, and hope as many as 200 cyclists could take to the roads in future.
Allan Prentice, the Lothian and Borders force's head of finance, came up with the idea to raise funds for Malawi Ekendeni Hospital and Nyambani Aids Orphans in Kenya.
Their arrival attracted international attention and was broadcast on Australian radio.
Mr Prentice said: "We were treated like royalty when we arrived on the Champs Elysees.
"When we arrived in Paris we were met by the director of the police and two motorcyclists. We started in a procession and were joined by 30 more officers. They even had a police band playing for us.
"We were handing out gifts of shortbread and cases of Scottish & Newcastle beer to people along the way.
"Next year we want to bring the gendarmes over to Scotland, and they can cycle back with us. We'll also be bringing our own Lothian and Borders pipe band."
They were greeted on their arrival in the French capital by the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë and the French police, after attending several civic receptions in France and Belgium along the way.
Twenty officers and staff from the force, as well as colleagues from Fife and Strathclyde, completed the 220-mile journey.
The cyclists made their journey from the Scottish Parliament to Paris via Belgium - using the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry - in four days.
The group were seen off on September 25 by dignitaries including former Lothian and Borders Chief Constable Paddy Tomkins. Andy Kerr MSP joined them on the first leg of the trip to Dunfermline.
Mr Prentice added: "I had been given a brochure for a London to Paris cycle ride, and I thought, why not go from Scotland instead? I thought we should support Malawi, since it's a charity which is being promoted by the Scottish Executive.
"There's always been a very strong relationship between Scotland and France, so it seemed an appropriate thing to do. It was at quite short notice, but there was a very enthusiastic response. I hadn't done much cycling before, but we had two training weekends to prepare for it."
The Lothians officers received a heroes' welcome when they arrived in the French capital after an epic 220-mile charity bike ride. They made the journey to raise £14,000 to help a hospital in Malawi and build a home for Aids orphans in Kenya.
Organisers said the Auld Alliance Cycle ride was so successful they now hope to make it an annual event.
They have persuaded dozens of French and Belgian police to take part next year, and hope as many as 200 cyclists could take to the roads in future.
Allan Prentice, the Lothian and Borders force's head of finance, came up with the idea to raise funds for Malawi Ekendeni Hospital and Nyambani Aids Orphans in Kenya.
Their arrival attracted international attention and was broadcast on Australian radio.
Mr Prentice said: "We were treated like royalty when we arrived on the Champs Elysees.
"When we arrived in Paris we were met by the director of the police and two motorcyclists. We started in a procession and were joined by 30 more officers. They even had a police band playing for us.
"We were handing out gifts of shortbread and cases of Scottish & Newcastle beer to people along the way.
"Next year we want to bring the gendarmes over to Scotland, and they can cycle back with us. We'll also be bringing our own Lothian and Borders pipe band."
They were greeted on their arrival in the French capital by the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë and the French police, after attending several civic receptions in France and Belgium along the way.
Twenty officers and staff from the force, as well as colleagues from Fife and Strathclyde, completed the 220-mile journey.
The cyclists made their journey from the Scottish Parliament to Paris via Belgium - using the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry - in four days.
The group were seen off on September 25 by dignitaries including former Lothian and Borders Chief Constable Paddy Tomkins. Andy Kerr MSP joined them on the first leg of the trip to Dunfermline.
Mr Prentice added: "I had been given a brochure for a London to Paris cycle ride, and I thought, why not go from Scotland instead? I thought we should support Malawi, since it's a charity which is being promoted by the Scottish Executive.
"There's always been a very strong relationship between Scotland and France, so it seemed an appropriate thing to do. It was at quite short notice, but there was a very enthusiastic response. I hadn't done much cycling before, but we had two training weekends to prepare for it."
Save the (Celebrity) Children! African family adopts Britney's kids.
LOS ANGELES—A Malawi couple has completed adoption paperwork for Sean Preston Federline, 2, and Jayden James Federline, 1, after their mother, Britney Spears, lost custody of the children Monday.
It was Ms. Spears' inability to provide car seats that initially brought the plight of her children to the attention of the Malawi couple, who wish to remain anonymous, and who will be referred to here as Mr. and Mrs. M. But it was the widely circulated photograph of Ms. Spears' vagina that really drew their concern. "In our country, a good mother does not show her business to the press," Mrs. M said. "It is very bad luck." After Spears' "performance" at MTV's Video Music Awards, the adoptive couple knew they had to do something. "We could not allow innocent children to live under such horrific conditions anymore," they explained. "The Third World can no longer turn a blind eye to the tragedy affecting so many U.S. celebrity children."
Los Angeles, where the Federline children have been living, is one of the richest cities in the world, trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of depravity, narcissism, and veganism. Nearly 27 percent of the children in Los Angeles suffer the misfortune of having celebrity parents. Mr. and Mrs. M were stunned by the deplorable conditions these victims live in. Children are subject to verbal abuse via cell phone, and babies are dangled over balcony railings. "Fathers kill mothers, and then put out badly written books about it," Mr. M said. "And the names these children must bear," said Mrs. M. "Apple, Fifi Trixibell, Fuchsia, Moxie CrimeFighter, Pilot Inspektor, Sage Moonblood—what kind of future can these poor children have?"
And so they have circumvented the North American nation's adoption laws, which impose strict restrictions—including a law forbidding foreigners to remove from the country babies who have at least one legal parent.
The children's father, Kevin Federline, said, "I am the father of Sean Preston and Jayden James, who have been adopted. I am very happy because, as you can see, there is spiritual poverty in this village, and I know they will be very well looked after in Malawi. Peace out!"
But Mr. and Mrs. M are not content to save just two children. "After learning that there are thousands of biological celebrity 'orphans' in Hollywood, it is our wish to open up our hut and help them escape a life of extreme affluence, hardship, and in many cases, Scientology." And so they will set up a center in Los Angeles to facilitate the adoption of other celebrity children. Numerous couples have already come forward from Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, and other countries that can offer children a better life.
The response has been overwhelming. So far, couples have put in requests to adopt the offspring of O.J. Simpson, Anna Nicole Smith, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Michael Jackson, George and Laura Bush, and Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Inquiries have also been made about the Culkin kids, as well as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and the Olsen twins, who clearly suffer from severe cases of malnutrition.
Floating pumps solve water-level fluctuation problems in Malawi
Local pump manufacturer Denorco has developed a pump application designed to overcome the problem of fluctuating water levels in Lake Malawi.
“We have installed and commissioned a number of our Tsunami axial flow pumps at the Illovo Dwangwa sugar mill, in Malawi. “These pumps are specifically engineered to lift large volumes of water from rivers and irrigation channels,” says Denorco export manager Richard Rudling.
The company had installed its Tsunami axial flow pump at the Illovo sugar mill in Dwangwa, Malawi, where fluctuating water levels had an adverse affect on the operation of the axial pump.
“At Dwangwa, water is sourced from Lake Malawi which has seasonal fluctuating water levels. “This was proving to be a problem as our pumps need to have a reasonably high net positive suction head (NPSH) available to operate effectively,” explains Rudling.
Kwembi Consulting’s Barado Farfan conceptualised the idea of floating the pumps on a barge on top of the lake’s surface to overcome the obstacle of fluctuating water levels that hamper the effective operation of the axial pump.
Farfan had followed the same procedure and work model at a previous sugar operation project, in Mozambique.
“With the pump moving up and down with the barge, it means that the available NPSH is always ideal for our pumps to operate,” says Rudling.
“In fact, the application has been so successful that we have used it at various other sites in Africa,” adds Rudling.
“Over 40 of the Tsunami axial pumps have been sold to the Sugar Company of Malawi, which is owned by Illovo Sugar.
Says Illovo Sugar’s Andy Stew-art, says, “We have commissioned the new system, but not really run it for an extended period. “We have had excellent cooperation from both Denorco and its distributors here in Malawi, Stewarts & Lloyds.”
Tsunami axial flow pumps are commonly used in aquaculture and sport, backwash water from filters, water transfer from rivers, effluent recycling within sewage works and water harvesting. The axial pump is popular for its ability to move large volumes of water at relatively low heads and requires no major civil construction work for installation.
Axial flow pumps are manufactured with a flow rate of up to 2,6 m3/s. The head capabilities of the pump range from 100 m for the smaller pumps through to 40 m for the 600-mm pumps and 25 m for the 900-mm-diameter model.
SUNY Potsdam students to host toothbrush drive to help curb HIV in Malawi
The country of Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa is engulfed in an HIV crisis that is being worsened by the lack of proper dental care. To help combat this problem, the Potsdam AIDS Education Group (PAEG) will be holding three toothbrush drives for the citizens of Malawi on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the SUNY Potsdam Barrington Student Union; Saturday, Oct. 27, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Potsdam Public Library and Saturday, Nov. 3, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside Giant Tiger on Outer Market Street.
SUNY Potsdam Peer AIDS Educators will staff these drives and there will be boxes to drop off toothbrushes. Toothbrushes must be individually contained and wrapped. Donors are asked to provide manual toothbrushes only. There is a need for both adult and child toothbrushes, and softer bristles would be better suited for those persons with sensitive gums.
Infected persons in sub-Saharan Africa currently account for 70 percent of the world’s AIDS cases, and in Malawi, the prevalence ranges between 13 and 30 percent of the population.
With more than 60 percent of Malawians living below the poverty line, the country’s health indicators are among the worst in the world. Its 10 to 14 million citizens have access to only between six and 10 practicing dentists, and poor dental hygiene is known to increase the risk of contracting HIV.
“Poor dental care, combined with malnutrition or other diseases can suppress the immune system and make a person more susceptible to HIV,” said Dr. Patricia Whelehan, professor of anthropology at SUNY Potsdam.
Dr. Whelehan, who initiated and heads PAEG, said inadequate dental care often leads to mouth sores, abscesses and caries, which can serve as gateways for HIV.
“If a mother is HIV-positive and is nursing a child who has mouth sores or infections, HIV can be transmitted to that child,” she pointed out. “In situations where people are poor and resources are scarce, toothbrushes may be shared, and if they are shared immediately after use and contain HIV-infected blood, that can be a source of transmission.”
Dr. Whelehan stresses, however, that this means of transmission is only a risk for people with existing dental problems. “The concern is with infected blood, not saliva,” she noted.
The toothbrush drive is an offshoot of the UNC Malawi Dental Project, the brainchild of Dr. Ronald Strauss, chair of the dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2004, Dr. Strauss initiated a program to send between four and six dental students to Malawi in the summer and during the summer of 2007, was able to have dental students do a residency rotation in Malawi. Dr. Strauss would like to establish a dental clinic in Malawi that is affiliated with UNC Dental School.
According to the project’s Web site, the UNC Malawi Dental Project educates Malawian school aged children about oral health and the HIV/AIDS epidemic and provides emergency, preventive and restorative care to infected persons. The team conducts screenings, provides fluoride treatment and distributes oral hygiene products such as toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes. All expenses for the project have been met through contributions and gifts of dental supplies.
Dr. Strauss said a lack of education is one of the chief reasons for the spread of disease within a population. “In dentistry, many teeth may be lost due to lack of knowledge about oral health and the process of decay. In the AIDS epidemic, many people are unaware of the risks for transmission and infection,” he said.
For more information about Dr. Strauss's project, please visit www.dent.unc.edu/student/orgs/Malawi/Info_files/malawiprojectproposal.doc. For more information about the PAEG Toothbrush Drive, please contact Dr. Whelehan at (315) 267-2048 or whelehpe@potsdam.edu.
SUNY Potsdam Peer AIDS Educators will staff these drives and there will be boxes to drop off toothbrushes. Toothbrushes must be individually contained and wrapped. Donors are asked to provide manual toothbrushes only. There is a need for both adult and child toothbrushes, and softer bristles would be better suited for those persons with sensitive gums.
Infected persons in sub-Saharan Africa currently account for 70 percent of the world’s AIDS cases, and in Malawi, the prevalence ranges between 13 and 30 percent of the population.
With more than 60 percent of Malawians living below the poverty line, the country’s health indicators are among the worst in the world. Its 10 to 14 million citizens have access to only between six and 10 practicing dentists, and poor dental hygiene is known to increase the risk of contracting HIV.
“Poor dental care, combined with malnutrition or other diseases can suppress the immune system and make a person more susceptible to HIV,” said Dr. Patricia Whelehan, professor of anthropology at SUNY Potsdam.
Dr. Whelehan, who initiated and heads PAEG, said inadequate dental care often leads to mouth sores, abscesses and caries, which can serve as gateways for HIV.
“If a mother is HIV-positive and is nursing a child who has mouth sores or infections, HIV can be transmitted to that child,” she pointed out. “In situations where people are poor and resources are scarce, toothbrushes may be shared, and if they are shared immediately after use and contain HIV-infected blood, that can be a source of transmission.”
Dr. Whelehan stresses, however, that this means of transmission is only a risk for people with existing dental problems. “The concern is with infected blood, not saliva,” she noted.
The toothbrush drive is an offshoot of the UNC Malawi Dental Project, the brainchild of Dr. Ronald Strauss, chair of the dental school at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2004, Dr. Strauss initiated a program to send between four and six dental students to Malawi in the summer and during the summer of 2007, was able to have dental students do a residency rotation in Malawi. Dr. Strauss would like to establish a dental clinic in Malawi that is affiliated with UNC Dental School.
According to the project’s Web site, the UNC Malawi Dental Project educates Malawian school aged children about oral health and the HIV/AIDS epidemic and provides emergency, preventive and restorative care to infected persons. The team conducts screenings, provides fluoride treatment and distributes oral hygiene products such as toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes. All expenses for the project have been met through contributions and gifts of dental supplies.
Dr. Strauss said a lack of education is one of the chief reasons for the spread of disease within a population. “In dentistry, many teeth may be lost due to lack of knowledge about oral health and the process of decay. In the AIDS epidemic, many people are unaware of the risks for transmission and infection,” he said.
For more information about Dr. Strauss's project, please visit www.dent.unc.edu/student/orgs/Malawi/Info_files/malawiprojectproposal.doc. For more information about the PAEG Toothbrush Drive, please contact Dr. Whelehan at (315) 267-2048 or whelehpe@potsdam.edu.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Malawi Plans To Launch Pilot Project That Will Provide Individual Household HIV/AIDS Testing, Official Says
Malawi's National AIDS Commission in November or December is planning to launch a pilot project in Zomba, Malawi, that will provide HIV/AIDS testing to individual households, Bizwick Mwale, executive director of NAC, said on Friday, Malawi's Nation reports. According to Mwale, the initiative aims to resolve the inadequate access to HIV testing centers in most rural communities.
Mwale said that NAC "will be sending health officials to individual villages and probably even individual households and institutions." Mwale did not indicate how much NAC expected to spend on the project. The agency also has been determining how much money will be allocated to current HIV/AIDS testing sites, Mwale said (Nation, 10/1).
According to health officials, statistics indicate that 15% of the country's six million sexually active residents have received HIV tests and know their status. The statistics suggest that the majority of HIV-positive Malawians do not know their status. Official figures place the country's HIV prevalence at 14% (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/16).
NAC, as well as various stakeholders, met Monday through Wednesday for the joint Annual Review Conference of Malawi's response to HIV/AIDS for the period between June 2006 and July 2007. The goal of the conference is to examine the achievements made in the fight against HIV/AIDS and allow delegates to interact and learn from each other, according to Mwale
Mwale said that NAC "will be sending health officials to individual villages and probably even individual households and institutions." Mwale did not indicate how much NAC expected to spend on the project. The agency also has been determining how much money will be allocated to current HIV/AIDS testing sites, Mwale said (Nation, 10/1).
According to health officials, statistics indicate that 15% of the country's six million sexually active residents have received HIV tests and know their status. The statistics suggest that the majority of HIV-positive Malawians do not know their status. Official figures place the country's HIV prevalence at 14% (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/16).
NAC, as well as various stakeholders, met Monday through Wednesday for the joint Annual Review Conference of Malawi's response to HIV/AIDS for the period between June 2006 and July 2007. The goal of the conference is to examine the achievements made in the fight against HIV/AIDS and allow delegates to interact and learn from each other, according to Mwale
18 allies support Taiwan's bid at U.N. sessions: MOFA
Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Eighteen of Taiwan's diplomatic allies voiced support for Taiwan's membership bid at the 62nd U.N. General Assembly session held Sept. 25 to Oct. 3, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said Thursday.
Top leaders of 17 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies -- namely Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe, Nauru, Palau, Gambia, the Marshall Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Belize, and Kiribati -- spoke in support of Taiwan's U.N. membership bid during the session, the officials said.
Speaking on the first day of the debate session on Sept.25, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos expressed concerns about the tension in the Taiwan Strait, urging countries in areas that face security threats to take steps to alleviate tensions and resolve disputes by peaceful means, according to the officials.
In their speeches delivered during the debate sessions, representatives of the 17 countries, including several heads of state, all pointed out that Taiwan, as an independent and peace-loving sovereign state, is qualified to become a U.N. member.
They cried foul at the United Nations' exclusion of Taiwan, saying such unfair treatment and discrimination should come to an end.
Moreover, they criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for failing to impartially handle Taiwan's membership application in line with the U.N. Charter and relevant meeting regulations. They also demanded that the United Nations respond to the 23 million Taiwan people's aspiration and embrace Taiwan as a new member.
The leaders of Gambia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Solomon Islands further urged the United Nations to take active steps to alleviate cross-strait tensions and help hammer out a peaceful solution to the disputes between the two sides.
Among Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies, only five -- Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Malawi -- didn't speak up for Taiwan at this year's U.N. General Assembly session. Taiwan's one other ally -- the Vatican -- is not a U.N. member.
The MOFA expressed its gratitude in a news release for the diplomatic allies' generosity in lending faithful support to Taiwan's national cause and U.N. membership bid.
The ministry also reaffirmed the government's stance on the U.N. membership issues, saying the quest for U.N. representation under the name Taiwan is an established policy and urging the international community to resist China's pressure and make a just and sensible response to Taiwan's appeal.
Meanwhile, the U.N. representative of Malawi wrote letters to U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Srgjan Kerim, president of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, and Leslie Christian, Ghana's permanent representative to the U.N. who is serving as the president of the U.N. Security Council this month, urging the world body to deal with Taiwan's membership application "properly and seriously."
Top leaders of 17 of Taiwan's diplomatic allies -- namely Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe, Nauru, Palau, Gambia, the Marshall Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Belize, and Kiribati -- spoke in support of Taiwan's U.N. membership bid during the session, the officials said.
Speaking on the first day of the debate session on Sept.25, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos expressed concerns about the tension in the Taiwan Strait, urging countries in areas that face security threats to take steps to alleviate tensions and resolve disputes by peaceful means, according to the officials.
In their speeches delivered during the debate sessions, representatives of the 17 countries, including several heads of state, all pointed out that Taiwan, as an independent and peace-loving sovereign state, is qualified to become a U.N. member.
They cried foul at the United Nations' exclusion of Taiwan, saying such unfair treatment and discrimination should come to an end.
Moreover, they criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for failing to impartially handle Taiwan's membership application in line with the U.N. Charter and relevant meeting regulations. They also demanded that the United Nations respond to the 23 million Taiwan people's aspiration and embrace Taiwan as a new member.
The leaders of Gambia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Solomon Islands further urged the United Nations to take active steps to alleviate cross-strait tensions and help hammer out a peaceful solution to the disputes between the two sides.
Among Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies, only five -- Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Malawi -- didn't speak up for Taiwan at this year's U.N. General Assembly session. Taiwan's one other ally -- the Vatican -- is not a U.N. member.
The MOFA expressed its gratitude in a news release for the diplomatic allies' generosity in lending faithful support to Taiwan's national cause and U.N. membership bid.
The ministry also reaffirmed the government's stance on the U.N. membership issues, saying the quest for U.N. representation under the name Taiwan is an established policy and urging the international community to resist China's pressure and make a just and sensible response to Taiwan's appeal.
Meanwhile, the U.N. representative of Malawi wrote letters to U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Srgjan Kerim, president of the 62nd session of the General Assembly, and Leslie Christian, Ghana's permanent representative to the U.N. who is serving as the president of the U.N. Security Council this month, urging the world body to deal with Taiwan's membership application "properly and seriously."
Malawi’s music festival ready to expose culture
Lilongwe (Malawi) Malawi’s fourth international cultural function, The Lake of Stars Music Festival, an event which combines the best of local talent working with top international acts, will be held from 5 to 7 October in the northern resort district of Nkhata Bay, a senior tourism official told APA.
According to the Director of Tourism, Isaac Msiska, the festival is expected to raise awareness of Malawi as a developing country and promote it as an extraordinary tourist and cultural destination.
The event will also expose local culture to the world through traditional music and dances that will be performed at the event, he said.
\”The festival acts as a focal point of travelling around our beautiful country and appreciate what Malawi has in terms of its high plateaux and mountains down to the sandy beaches of Nkhata Bay,\” he said.
In addition, Msiska said the event will open a window to foreign investors to come and start their business in the country, thereby contributing to the economy of the country.
The event has attracted world renowned talents from the USA, South Africa, Britain and Africa.
The Lake of Stars Music Festival was inaugurated in 2004 by a British national, Will Jamieson, and it has grown bigger over the years.
According to the Director of Tourism, Isaac Msiska, the festival is expected to raise awareness of Malawi as a developing country and promote it as an extraordinary tourist and cultural destination.
The event will also expose local culture to the world through traditional music and dances that will be performed at the event, he said.
\”The festival acts as a focal point of travelling around our beautiful country and appreciate what Malawi has in terms of its high plateaux and mountains down to the sandy beaches of Nkhata Bay,\” he said.
In addition, Msiska said the event will open a window to foreign investors to come and start their business in the country, thereby contributing to the economy of the country.
The event has attracted world renowned talents from the USA, South Africa, Britain and Africa.
The Lake of Stars Music Festival was inaugurated in 2004 by a British national, Will Jamieson, and it has grown bigger over the years.
Missing Malawi soldier alive
BLANTYRE - A Malawian soldier, one of the three who went missing in Sudan’s Darfur region after a weekend attack on African Union peacekeepers by suspected rebels, is alive, the government said on Thursday.
"I am very happy to report that Captain (Fransisco) Medi is alive," Defence Minister Bob Khamisa told AFP.
He said Medi had "fled to another camp", 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, after their camp was attacked by the rebels. He refused to comment further on the attack.
Khamisa said Malawi, which deployed a battalion of 800 troops to Darfur in August, was "still analysing the situation", adding that it was too early to make a decision on whether to withdraw the troops.
The attack late on Saturday, which left 10 peacekeepers dead, was carried out by a group of heavily armed men in 30 vehicles on an AU military base at Haskanita in south Darfur.
It was the worst assault on the AU force since its deployment in 2004.
The under-equipped force of around 7,000 troops from 26 countries patrolling Darfur, a region the size of France, is due to begin being replaced later this year by a 26,000-strong joint
Malawi seeks aid from Qatar
DOHA • Mohammed Sidik Mia, Minister of Irrigation and Water Development of Malawi is currently here seeking support from Qatar for development of the Southern African country, especially its poverty-stricken Muslim community.
During his week-long stay in Qatar, Mohammed Sidik is expected to meet the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and officials from various chartable organisations in the country.
His visit is hosted by the Venessia Petroleum company, chaired by Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Mohammed Bin Jabor Al Thani.
Talking to The Peninsula yesterday, Mohammed Sidiq said, Qatar, with its enormous economic resources, can offer a lot towards the development of Malawi. "Malawi is rich with natural resources but they are not explored properly. We have to go a long way to take the country out of underdevelopment. We have great hopes from Qatar, being a prominent nation in the Middle East, especially for the uplift of the poor Muslim community in Malawi," said Sidik.
Sidik represents the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Malawi. Malawi has a secular democratic system of government, based on free elections, said Sidik. Muslims constitute 20 to 25 per cent of the total population and a majority of them are supporters of the ruling party. Christians are the dominant religious community in the country.
Poverty, unemployment, shortage of educational and professional training facilities are some of the major problems facing the Malawian community in general, and the Muslims in particular.
The spread of HIV/Aids is another major challenge facing the country, as in the case of several other African countries. Poverty and unemployment are the main reasons behind this phenomenon, since they are forcing women to illegitimate sexual relationships, just for the sake of survival, he noted.
"International aid is flowing to Malawi thanks to the economic policies of the present government. But aid comes with tags attached to it," commented Sidiki
" Being a representative of the Muslim community in Malawi, I am appealing for help from our Muslim brethren here. Unfortunately we have been excluded from the generous assistance being provided by the Gulf countries," he said.
He said the Muslim community in Malawi has been struggling hard to preserve its religious and cultural identity under the dominance of the majority community. Due to the lack of educational facilities, Muslim children have been forced to study in institutions run by the other community which in most cases ends up in losing their Islamic identity.
Sidik invited the Qatari investors to explore the rich investment potential of Malawi, in areas like tourism and agriculture. "I am happy to come here as a guest of a leading company in Qatar," he said. During the visit, Sidik is being accompanied by his wife Aabidah
Malawi’s President Asks Speaker of Parliament to Resign
Malawi’s President Bingu Wa Mutharika is calling for the speaker of the national assembly to resign immediately for misleading him into assenting to a bill that had not been debated in Parliament. Mutharika said Loius Chimango submitted a World Bank funded power interconnection bill for his approval, before it had not been debated and passed, as the law requires. However, some political analysts believe the president’s move could further worsen the brewing political tension between President Mutharika’s government and opposition parties in the country.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Human Rights Consultative Committee has reportedly instituted an investigation into the testy relationship between President Mutharika and Speaker Chimango.
University of Malawi Chancellor College political science Professor Blessing Chisinga tells reporter Peter Clottey from the capital, Lilongwe, he thinks that the president’s action is a face saving move.
“I think there is more than meets the eye. Yes, I think the speaker has erred in forwarding to the president a bill that has not been debated in parliament. But I think one needs to go a step further, especially, in the context of the president’s tendencies to bulldoze his way, even if it means violating the constitution,” Chisinga noted.
He said Speaker Chimango might have acted under duress.
“My own reading of the situation is that the speaker might not have acted on his own. He might have been under pressure to push through the bill for assent to the president. But now that this has happened, I think this has been exposed, what the office of the president is trying to do is to save their face,” he explained.
Chisinga said President Mutharika has had a longstanding insipid relationship with Speaker Chimango.
“I think there are a number of things that might have forced the president to go for his resignation. And I think one of those contentious things is I think Section 65. You see Section 65 is going to affect proportions of the government side, so the way the speaker has been acting of late has really showed that he is determined to move on. And I think the president has taken this as an opportunity to get rid of the speaker in order to have a new beginning or in a way to delay the implementation of Section 65,” Chisinga suggested.
He said a Human Rights Commission’s inquiry could possibly unearth the president’s flagrant violation of the constitution.
“I think the findings would clearly show that the president has violated the constitution a number of times. And I think this is reflective of the culture of Malawians in so far as the respect for constitutionalism is concerned. As a country, we have been taken up by the economic achievement that the current government has done at the expense of the rule of law. The president has violated the constitution a number of times with a sense of impunity,” he said.
Chisinga said President Mutharika’s options are very limited since he runs a minority government.
“Of course, it has been inevitable for the president to do that (violate the constitution) because he is running a minority government, and for him to push forward his legislative agenda, I think it is becoming inevitable for him to violate the constitution. But I think it does not warrant him to go that route,” Chisinga pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Human Rights Consultative Committee has reportedly instituted an investigation into the testy relationship between President Mutharika and Speaker Chimango.
University of Malawi Chancellor College political science Professor Blessing Chisinga tells reporter Peter Clottey from the capital, Lilongwe, he thinks that the president’s action is a face saving move.
“I think there is more than meets the eye. Yes, I think the speaker has erred in forwarding to the president a bill that has not been debated in parliament. But I think one needs to go a step further, especially, in the context of the president’s tendencies to bulldoze his way, even if it means violating the constitution,” Chisinga noted.
He said Speaker Chimango might have acted under duress.
“My own reading of the situation is that the speaker might not have acted on his own. He might have been under pressure to push through the bill for assent to the president. But now that this has happened, I think this has been exposed, what the office of the president is trying to do is to save their face,” he explained.
Chisinga said President Mutharika has had a longstanding insipid relationship with Speaker Chimango.
“I think there are a number of things that might have forced the president to go for his resignation. And I think one of those contentious things is I think Section 65. You see Section 65 is going to affect proportions of the government side, so the way the speaker has been acting of late has really showed that he is determined to move on. And I think the president has taken this as an opportunity to get rid of the speaker in order to have a new beginning or in a way to delay the implementation of Section 65,” Chisinga suggested.
He said a Human Rights Commission’s inquiry could possibly unearth the president’s flagrant violation of the constitution.
“I think the findings would clearly show that the president has violated the constitution a number of times. And I think this is reflective of the culture of Malawians in so far as the respect for constitutionalism is concerned. As a country, we have been taken up by the economic achievement that the current government has done at the expense of the rule of law. The president has violated the constitution a number of times with a sense of impunity,” he said.
Chisinga said President Mutharika’s options are very limited since he runs a minority government.
“Of course, it has been inevitable for the president to do that (violate the constitution) because he is running a minority government, and for him to push forward his legislative agenda, I think it is becoming inevitable for him to violate the constitution. But I think it does not warrant him to go that route,” Chisinga pointed out.
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