Been a while

But I thought I would share some thoughts.

Working with other groups I've learned some stuff about the ground work in Malawi. Its been really strange because I thought that our units would have a lot of difficulty on the ground but the only thing that has been the big set back is: fuel. Our teams are waiting in line all of the time to gather get fuel just to make it out to rural areas to train and take equipment out there.

Although the issues with the current Malawian president are ever escalating, it really has not been too bad there and I look forward to hearing more reports.

Malawi will never cease to Amaze me

So, I was reading the news on Malawi, and apparently there was a special report: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=28881

The article is about the food, bread buns, known as "Osama Bin Laden." It is suppose to be a very hardy bun and filling. Interesting perspective to name a food after the guy but apparently it has been named this for years.

On a seriously positive note, it seems a recent earth metal check has found the potential of alot of rare earth metals. http://www.azomining.com/Details.asp?newsID=4050

Something like this could really bolster the economy of Malawi and provide quite a bit of revenue. Malawi is not know for its abundant resources, other than agricultural ones, however this could lead to great things if handled appropriately.

Malawi and Freedom of Speech

Phew,

alot of stuff has been happening in malawi and I wonder how much of it is being really true about life there.

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/malawi-president-angry-with-rights-groups-for-reporting-him-to-un-201103205684.html

the president is pretty upset that his seemingly anti-freedom regulations have been reported to the UN, but then again, this is something we have been watching for quite some time now. there is nothing new here but possibly more fuel for people to want to revolt as Libya has. In regards to charities and NGOs on the ground though I'm curious on how thats going to impact them. Potentially with a lack of funding

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Donors-slam-Malawi-over-media-laws-20110323

but at least the ghost workers are taken care of :

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-22/malawi-state-loses-13-2-million-a-year-through-ghost-workers-.html

Some reports say its upto about 15million that was being lost by the state.

I seems interesting that things have a slow response time, especially for a country not that big, but I wonder how much could be better if there was a bigger internet infrastructure so that the rural areas would be able to process and handle information needs.

IFC Phone Program

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/ifc-village-phone-program-empowers-women-in-africa/

Bout time. this is pretty awesome stuff and its not as big as it should be but I definitely think this is awesome.

Nurses, Spokespeople, and life

http://www.theboot.com/2011/03/08/lee-ann-womack-join-my-village-malawi/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/08/international-womens-day-malawi-missing-midwives

http://www.africanews.com/site/MALAWI_Freedom_for_sale/list_messages/37640

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=92136

So Lee Ann Womack joins the fight for growth in Malawi, we have some farmers having trouble and other things.

I guess one thing I think is really cool is the fact that people are finally realizing what is going on in Malawi and of all the really kind of cool people that you almost never hear from, Lee Ann Womack.

Its interesting to see that Malawi also has a shortage of mid-wifes but has more modern amenities in the city. Even though I've heard reports these amenities really are not much to speak of, it boggles me that they would have these kinds of issues. Then again as per girleffect.org in some countries there are expectations for girls at age 14 to be married and at age 15 be pregnant and there is a lot of potential for issues on generations created by these kinds numerically low-aged parents. not saying they are not capable, but that there is an impracticality towards the matter.

This comes with reports of a government having issues and not being "media" friendly with some media fighting back and that farming is an issue.

I know a country is pretty big, but I definitely think there needs to be a more focused aim to fixing problems instead of scattering resources in the way that has occurred. but then again, who am i, ya know?

Economy at large

Been cruising through the web and crawling the news coming from malawi. Its tuff because since I'm not actually there, its hard to determine what the actual effects are. I believe in government to do its provided job and work hard. Its hard to know when their telling the truth. Same with communities who may say its difficult but then its really not as bad and they blame government. People tend to do what is most favored to them so there is automatically an imbalance to what is being said. Just a few links:

http://www.africanews.com/site/MALAWI_Power_cuts_threaten_lives/list_messages/37602

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/129/15/57279.html

http://www.build.co.uk/construction_news.asp?newsid=123590

When NPOs and others step in, funded by businesses, in my mind that is the best path that we can have. When we have the invisible hand to provide for the needs and interests of a people, then Government can do its job for protecting against external forces, and against monopolizations, etc.

Conservation

Malawi is once again running through trying to find the best solutions again.

http://www.africanews.com/site/MALAWI_Villagers_heal_sick_environment/list_messages/37518

For a country that is mostly Christian its interesting to see how the influence of witchcraft still exists though too. Makes me wonder how real either of them are believed.

RippleEffect.wsu.edu actually works pretty hard to implement the wood lot kits and bee keeping kits to improve the conservation and pollenation of the area while showing the people how to properly care for the land. Definitely worth checking out.

Its cool that the GDP is expected to be up more than previously thought

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-21/malawi-s-2010-11-domestic-revenue-revised-upwards-by-5-5-nation-reports.html

Which is always a good thing. This may account for the increased spending that was noticed a bit before.

I didt know they really had that much uranium either.

http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE71K0FQ20110221

Its cool to see them doing more with their natural resources that they do have and having the production lines already setup. Its lame that the diesel shortage has been a pain but oh well.