WHO CARES?

To them that’s how life is like. There is nothing they can do to change their present situation. Life to them means struggling to find basic needs. They just came to accept this fact. Every five years they vote for people who they hope will bring change, but nothing changes. Who cares?



Every morning they wake up from their sleeping mats to be greeted by the sight of their poorly dressed and hunger stricken children. At times one meal per day strategically prepared to cover all the three meals does the trick. Not that they are too busy to eat but availability of food to be prepared thrice.

Farming, yes, the God given talent is all there is to give them the much needed food. But with the prices of fertilizer that they cannot afford, they harvest very little from a large piece of land. Subsidies are there but they target a few people who have connections.

Who cares what they dress? As long as they cover their nakedness, fashion to them means nothing. There is no money to buy the latest Pierre Cardin suit. Freely they walk in tatters and some second hand clothes sold cheaply at various trading centres.



Education, yes their kids need to be educated. Thank God primary school is free, but that’s where it ends. Secondary schools have become very expensive for them. To buy uniform, pay fees, and buy other needed resources for learning is a big burden to them. Even those that are lucky to have finished their secondary school are still expecting to be fed by them. Who is going to give them a job? Forget about college. It’s a luxury very few can afford.


This is what life means to them. Days turn to months and months to years with little changes. Only governments change but sufferring remains. Young men turn to fathers at a tender age catching the virus in the process. Girls as young as 15 become wives and mothers. Children suffer from malnutrition and other related diseases.



On paper, policies, strategies and goals are made but very little impacts the poor masses. They continue suffering every day of their lives. There is no better explanation to this kind of life. Who is wrong or what should be done to change this? Poverty is here to stay if nobody cares for these fellow country men.

Pictures taken by Caitriona Rogerson and Natasha Fitzpatrick in Blantyre, Malawi

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IF I HAD TIME…

I could have written of the by-elections that the ruling party in Malawi lost. Yes I could have said of how a seat previously held by the Veep of the country was lost to an independent candidate. I mean if I came close to this blog, I could not have resisted the temptation of informing you how a party which won the elections with an overwhelming majority a few months ago failed to convince people from two important constituencies.

Only that I was busy doing some other things. This also prevented me of telling the end of the ‘resurrected man’ saga. I wanted to write of how the Police ended up arresting the witch doctor and the ‘resurrected man’s mother. People of a village in Nsanje identified Moses Levison as a madman from their village and not the ‘resurrected person” as we were made to believe. Since I was busy,I failed to tell you that he has since been sent to the Mental hospital in Zomba.

IF I HAD TIME…..

I could have written of an incident in Bangwe which prompted residents to turn violent for the second time in less than a month. I could have said of the Mozambican who made a mistake of performing a ritual at the same place another person was beaten by angry residents. His car and that of a sympathiser were smashed to pieces by these people believing that he is behind the various road accidents.

I really wanted to write of the recent bill that the Malawi Parliament passed and has prompted debate and accusations from various quarters. The Marriage bill which was passed in two hours has ‘improved’ the recommended age for girls to be married from 15 yrs to 16 yrs and with consent from parents. Of the over 190 Parliamentarians only one had the guts to vote against the bill.

I was very busy in the past week that I failed to write of the reactions from the civil society organisations, chiefs and many other NGO’s on this bill dubbed, Chidyamakanda bill. The last time we had this kind of reaction was when Madonna wanted to adopt Mercy James. Every NGO, registered or not, active or passive, issued a press release, statement or wrote a petition against Madonna.

Time prevented me from telling you of the Chiefs who are granted interviews by various radio stations and newspapers to speak against the marriage bill when they have lots of girls in their villages who are married and are as young as 15 years.

IF I HAD TIME…..

I could have informed you that there is still no progress in cotton prices saga. It seems farmers should forget of selling their cotton at the government set price. Time is running out and buyers are not relenting and some are buying cotton at a very cheap price. And nobody seems to care whether the farmers are benefitting or not.

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COTTON PRICES SAGA – PERSONALLY AFFECTED

After I had wrote my secondary school examinations I worked on part time basis with several cotton buying companies. In Bangula Ginnery I worked with Great Lakes Company as a Tally Clerk and later with Iponga Cotton Company at Zalewa and Salima Ginneries.

I happen to have lots of friends who are still working in the cotton sector, from buying supervisors to the cotton farmers themselves. The fact that this year’s cotton buying season is faced with a lot of problems due to the disagreements between the Malawi government and the Cotton buyers over price means that a lot of people are suffering. This includes my best friends in all the places I worked no wonder am taking it personal.

The season was supposed to officially start the end of March but up to now it is yet to start. Already reports indicate that one of the buyers, Cargill Malawi has issued a press release that it will not buy cotton this year unless government allows it to buy at MK42 instead of the MK75 that the government set. This means that a lot of people who worked for Cargill Malawi will be left in the cold including farmers who were given loans.

In Balaka, angry farmers petitioned the District Commissioner to intervene in the situation that some companies are buying cotton at night and at very cheap prices. This just shows how serious the issue of this cotton season is. Farmers all over the country are frustrated at the turn of events when they expected to benefit from their hard work.

A friend in Bangula told me how they are fairing without Great Lakes and Cargill buying cotton. Every one in the Lower Shire relies on cotton to some extent and this has left them in an awkward position. Most of the people grow cotton instead of maize and buys the staple food after selling their cotton. Young people were supposed to be in the field buying cotton while some were supposed to be at the ginnery tallying some figures. Others work as machine operators, ginners and mechanics in the ginnery and got used to life in this way.

Cotton is one of the major foreign earners in Malawi apart from tobacco and tea. But unlike tobacco, cotton is very delicate and cannot stay for a long time without losing quality and weight. Therefore even if they start buying now at whatever price they will agree a lot has already been lost and the spirit of the farmers has been bruised no wonder very few will grow cotton next season. I feel sorry for my friends in Nsanje, Chikwawa, Zalewa, Balaka and Salima.

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