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Introduction
to Malawi |
Malawi is part of East Africa and lies on the Rift Valley system, boasting one of the world’s largest fresh water lakes that Dr Livingstone, the legendary explorer, named ‘the Lake of Stars’. Lake Malawi is also affectionately known as ‘The Calendar’ because it is 365 miles long and 52 miles wide. Malawi is a former British protectorate and was given independence in 1964 and adopted multi-party democracy in 1999. Under the colonial system Malawi developed a strong agricultural base, majoring on tea and tobacco as export crops. Malawi
found economic issues increasingly difficult throughout the
oil price shocks of the 1980s and suffered from poor advice
from the World Bank and others to attempt to recover from this
and thus restore her fortunes. Lacking the mineral resources
of many of her neighbouring countries Malawi has floundered,
sending her to the bottom twelve poorest countries in the world.
The average annual income is just £57 per person*. Malawi
has a population of 14 million, a total area of 118,000 sq km
of which 24,000 is fresh water. We have been delighted to work
in Malawi, finding the Malawi people and institutions industrious
and welcoming, keen to find a solution to their economic plight. | ||
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