By Golden Kang'oma

Salima, July 14, Mana: Chief Community Development Officer responsible for Adult Literacy in the Ministry of Gender and Community Development, Samuel Ziba, has said high illiteracy levels in rural areas significantly affect the progress and implementation of development projects.

Speaking at a preparatory meeting for World Literacy Day in Salima on Saturday, Ziba emphasized the critical impact of illiteracy on various development interventions.

He said: “There is a huge knowledge gap in the communities, development projects fail to progress as some communities do not understand initiatives due to high illiteracy levels."

Ziba highlighted that illiteracy is also one of the major factors that is contributing to persistent poverty in rural areas saying it has the potential to derail progress if not taken care of.

“Most people remain trapped in poverty because they are illiterate. They struggle to adopt new farming technologies and fail to run businesses effectively because they cannot participate in the digital world,” he said.

He however called for increased collaboration between the government and stakeholders to address the issue at hand.

“There is a need for stakeholders to partner with the government in reducing illiteracy, especially by providing resources, as it seems to be a significant setback,” he added.

Chairperson of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Salima, Paul Duncan said tackling illiteracy issues will help to enhance project implementation in different communities.

“Reducing illiteracy levels will help make project implementation a success and will lead to significant improvements in many communities. As CSOs, we are committed to working with the government and ensure that our initiatives focus on reducing illiteracy levels,” he said.

On her part, District Coordinator for Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE), Aggie Chang said reducing illiteracy in communities can help children to stay in school and their rights protected since education empowers people.

By Tione Andsen

Lilongwe, July 14, Mana: Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Isaac has hinted that the Ministry was intending to revive Presidential Initiative on Sports.

He disclosed his Saturday during the launch of K 40 million Gateway Central Region Netball League at Gateway Netball Court in Area 47, Lilongwe.

Katopola pointed out that the initiative was suspended some four years ago and many stakeholders have been with the Ministry to re-consider reviving for the development of sports in the country.

“We have not barred the ideas of the Presidential initiative on Sports and we are still working to see how we can bring back the tournament. The initiative was beneficial and was reaching out to many particularly in the rural areas,” he recalled.

Katopola said there was need to concentrate in grass root development of every sports code if the country was to be successful in national, regional and international competitions.

 The Principal Secretary said that for this to be achieved there was need to invest more in the development of the sports code hence the call for more financial support and investments.

He thanked Mpico for showing interest to face-lift the Gateway netball court saying a proper playing surface would inspire more netball players.

“We need to have reliable courts so that our netball teams should be kept busy always. We are just hoping that the face-lifting will start soon,” Katopola added.

National Association of Malawi (NAM) Treasurer, Cecilia Mtukule Bondwe said the Presidential initiative on sports has been on break for four years and if the Ministry was considering reviving it would be a welcomed idea.

She said the initiative was providing netball space to all netball players and grass root netball was taking shape with such tournament in place.

“This would help to accelerate the rebuilding process of the national netball team; the Queens whose performance leaves much to be desired. Our standards have drastically done down in the past year taking into account that we dropped from position six to seven on world ranking and from second position from third of Africa region due to dismal performance,” Bondwe viewed. 

By Hope Mwandenga

Lilongwe, July 14, Mana: Fortune Milanzi, a 20-year-old student at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) has been temporarily withdrawn from the university on medical grounds. Milanzi studying Biomedical engineering (Honours) has been suffering from aplastic anaemia a serious blood disorder since 2023.

Milanzi requires frequent blood transfusions or either a bone marrow transplant or ATG + cyclosporine   treatment which can be done in India or South Africa. A cost of close to 30 million Malawian kwacha is required for the treatment. His family is unable to bear the expenses alone such making an appeal to individuals and organizations for support.

Milanzi who is from Nkhotakota was enrolled at MUBAS in 2022, after passing his MSCE exams with 10 points in 2021 at Bishop Mtekateka secondary school and was in his second year at the university.  A medical report by Dr. Faith Ellah Nyirongo, a senior media officer for hospital director at Kamuzu Central Hospital recommends that Fortune Milanzi need frequent medical checkups.

“Despite my best efforts, this has led to my temporally withdrawal from the university, as my health has taken a turn for the worse recently which has been challenging to keep up with my coursework and attend classes regularly,” said Milanzi.

However, Milanzi is still determined to continue his education and complete his degree. He believes that with the right support, he will overcome the standing obstacle as such reaching out for help.

Fortune’s family, friends and community are the ones currently supporting him and they are asking for help and prayers for his recovery.

For anyone willing to assist contact Fortune's father, Mr. Francis Milanzi, on +265 881 143 035.

By Innocent Chamtulo

Mulanje, July 13, Mana: Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture, Vera Kamtukule Saturday urged community members and other stakeholders surrounding Mulanje Mountain to conserve the environment in the mountain for it to maintain its magnificent beauty and as one way of promoting tourism in the district. 

She said this in Mulanje when she graced the 2024 Mount Mulanje porters race.

Kamtukule said the Ministry would continue selling the beauty of Malawi abroad for the benefit of this country’s economy, adding that she has for the first time appreciated the beauty of the mountain during the porter’s race.

“Government is committed to supporting the tourism sector through such events like this one in Mulanje. We will bring more tourists through our marketing strategies as a ministry. I am urging all community members in the district surrounding the mountain to conserve the environment for it to continue attracting more tourists domestically and abroad," the Minister said.

On the other hand, one of the main sponsors, Malawi Gaming Lotteries Authority, through the Director of Finance and Administration, Dumbo Muwalo said in progressing with the Mount Mulanje porter’s race, they would build a sports complex at Likhubula where all the activities involving porter’s race would be held after the completion of the arena.

“As one of the stakeholders, we believe that we have sponsored the event for quite a number of times. However, looking at the area where all the activities are being held is not impressive, so as a board we thought it wise to build a structure here where all the activities will be held after the race and this is one of the our corporate social responsibility. We want to make the event more visible abroad,” he said.

In the lady’s category, Gloria Adam, 18 carried the day after covering 25 kilometres in two hours and 40 minutes 18 seconds while Jafali Jossam, 27 came out on top in the male category after covering 25 kilometres in two hours and nine minutes 11 seconds.

Both winners received K1, 000,000 each.

Adam expressed joy after being declared the winner of the female category, saying the prize would be used towards supporting and managing her school expenses.

“It has taken a year for me to prepare for this event and being declared the winner has always been my dream. I should say my dream has come true. The prize that I’ve received will be used to settle other necessities at home and school as well,” she added.

Runners up and third positions in both categories went away with K800, 000 and K600, 000, respectively.

Communications Officer for the 2024 Mount Mulanje porters race, Jimmy Maloya said organisers of the event were satisfied with how the outcome of the event in terms of patronage and other things.

By Mary Makhiringa

Balaka, July 13, Mana: At least 1, 000 families from the area of Sub Traditional Authority (STA) Nyanyala in Balaka can afford a smile and rest assured that they have a week of three meals per day all thanks to Design OutReach, a local Christian organization.

In their lamentations, the people indicated that they are surviving on sweet potatoes, some on seasonal fruits like Masau, which they buy after enduring hard labour in other people’s irrigation fields.

Before presenting the food relief, beneficiaries were taken through prayers where messages of hope and repentance were given, with each getting a book with stories from the Holy Bible to remind them that they are not forsaken but that God is in control regardless of their situations.

Regional Director for Design OutReach, Dr. Beatrice Chisinga said the organization’s core duty is technology innovation for developing countries whereby their main focus is in an ultra-deep hand pump which extracts water at a very deep depth.

However, Chisinga said due to the dry spells that have hit most parts of Malawi, they thought of reaching out to their donors in the United States of America (USA) to intervene and donate food to some of the affected households.

“We are providing 20 tonnes of maize flour, five tonnes of soya flour, two tonnes of beans, one tonne of cooking oil and one tonne of salt, with bails of soya pieces and these will be distributed to 1, 000 beneficiaries where each person will get a 20 kgs of maize white flour, two kgs of soya flour, a one litre bottle of cooking oil, one kg of salt and 10 packets of soya pieces,” Chisinga said.

“We hope that in October, we might come back as our donors are very positive that we should give at least twice during this dry spell,” she added.

Sub Traditional Authority Nyanyala advised his subjects to prudently use the food items, reminding them of how tough the situation has been in the area.

“I have never witnessed this kind of a donation in my area, let all the food be utilized within our households. I know we will rest for a few days as most of us are relying on doing some piece works for money to buy food,” he said.

“Let these days remind us of the word of the Lord we have heard here. We all have been told messages of hope and repentance,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries, Bephia Samson, 43, could not hide her happiness. She said the food will serve her and her six children from starving.

“I literally harvested a half 50 kg bag this year. From the harvesting month to date, I have been surviving on grace, these days we could sleep on Masau, sometimes on an empty stomach; to see all the food today and especially that we will prepare with cooking oil is a blessing to me and my family,” Samson said.

Earlier this year, President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera declared state of disaster in 23 districts in the county of which Balaka is included, calling upon local and international development partners to come forward and assist the Malawi nation during this period.