Where do I come from? Malawi!

I have so many friends (some we just met online) who always ask me of my home country. So I decided to come up with this post.

I come from Malawi, a relatively small country in Southern Africa. Lonelyplanet.com describes Malawi in the following way:

"Tourist brochures bill Malawi as 'the warm heart of Africa', and for once the hype is true. Malawi's scenery is gorgeous and varied and Malawians tend to be extremely friendly toward travellers. Nature lovers will adore the national parks and game reserves, mountain hiking and plateau trekking."

There are also other websites which talk more about Malawi. Here is just a sample of them:

• Malawi in Pictures by Anouk Zijlma from About.com
  
• Lake of Stars Festival website
  
• The Government of Malawi website
  
• The Malawi Nation Newspaper
  
• The Malawi Daily Times Newspaper
  

Here are a few photos from Malawi:

Sunset over Lake Malawi. Image copyright: Wisdoc

Tea plantations on the foot of Mount Mulanje in Malawi. Image Copyright: Bennett Kankuzi

Lakeshore road connecting Salima and Balaka in Malawi. Image Copyright: Bennett Kankuzi

Malawian women carrying baskets on their heads (the balancing act??). Image copyright: Wisdoc

Part of the city centre in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Image copyright: Victor Kaonga

An aerial view of part of the northern city of Mzuzu in Malawi. Image copyright: Khumbo Kalua

A farmer and his wife in a maize garden in Malawi. Image copyright: khym45

Lilongwe International Airport, Malawi. Image copyright: khyme45

Despite the fact that Malawi is endowed with a lot of natural resources such as fresh water bodies, land suitable for farming, minerals, great tourist attractions and many others, Malawi is still in the class of "least developed countries". It pains me a lot that while I live a descent life (at least I can afford daily basic necessities), a lot of Malawians languish in poverty.

The blame partly goes on our political leaders who are usually just interested in enriching themselves at the expense of the poor masses. An example would be the economic "misgovernance" of Malawi that occurred from 1994 to 2004. Luckily, the new government of the new president, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, which was ushered in 2004 seems to want to turn the situation around. Mind you, am not saying that Bingu wa Mutharika's government is perfect. No? But it has managed to make a remarkable turnaround to the poor economy. Time and space does not allow me to list its achievements...

By the way, it seems that Africa needs to have educated presidents who can be able to express themselves in international fora as well as have a sense of direction so that they do not just blindly follow misguided economic policies.

Check out an online article by Dr Bingu wa Mutharika on poverty in Africa in Business Daily Africa (a Kenyan paper).

God bless Malawi! God bless Africa!