Remember how in the Ghana episode, I told you that Ghana was like the perfect starting point for beginners interested in visiting Sub-Saharan Africa?
Well, Malawi is like the advanced level 10 version.
Let's just say: If you come, you might be better off with a shovel and copper wire than a credit card.
Everyone I'm your host Barb's. Alright today, we're venturing into uncharted territory.
Most of you only know Malawi from being that country that
Madonna adopted those kids from? And literally like nothing else.
What if I told you Malawi was a place of inventors, innovators, people who take nothing and make something?
Now that's quite a prelude, isn't it? First the location. Let's begin...
From Malawi, water is actually sometimes more important than land.
And here's Why. First of all,
Malawi is a narrow landlocked nation located in Southeast Africa surrounded by three other countries
as well as Lake Malawi to the northeast. The country is divided into 28 districts
which are categorized into three regions: North, Central where the capital Lilongwe resides
and Southern. The largest cities after the capital are Blantyre which has an interesting Scottish backstory and Mzuzu.
And the country actually has two international airports: Lilongwe International and Chileka International located in Blantyre.
Then we get to the famous Lake Malawi. Malawi takes this aptly named Lake very seriously
as in, they believe most of it should belong to them as they kind of treat it as such. See these two islands
right next to Mozambique: Likomo and Chizu-mulu? Yep, they belong to Malawi even though they lie in Mozambique waters.
See the coastline touching Tanzania?
Nope! Claimed entirely by Malawi. (lol)
It all had to do with the Heligoland treaty in 1890 back in the British Nyasaland days.
They assumed ownership of the entire lake after victory against the Germans from occupied Tanzania at the time.
A while ago, they issued a license for an oil company in what was Tanzanian claimed waters.
Tanzania: Dude, Malawi. Just chill. All right, it's just a lake
I think you're being a little over it...
Malawi: Oh, yeah yeah, oh okay!
YEAH! You have Kilimanjaro, you have Lake Victoria, both you and Mozambique have access to the ocean a stable tourism industry.
This Lake is literally named after me, "Lake Malawi". Okay, it should belong to me!
LET ME JUST HAVE THIS ONE!!!
Otherwise despite the low GDP, surprising Malawi has some decent avenues of land transport.
Like the M1 highway that traverses the entire length of the country north to south and most exports go through the
Central African railway network that passes through Malawi connecting through Zambia and Mozambique
offering them access to the Indian Ocean via the port city of Nacala in Mozambique. Otherwise some places of interest might include:
St. Michael and All Angels Church, the Chongoni rock art area, the Lilongwe wildlife trust,
the La Cavema art gallery, St. Peter's Cathedral, the way of the Cross Pilgrimage trail,
the Kumbali culture village, the Kungoni Centre for culture and art, the Parliament building, the culture and museum center of Karonga,
This former Scottish motor ship; Annnd,
maybe one of the most iconic and kind of creepy landmarks: The leper tree which has a very dark story behind it as in
they would put lepers inside the tree and... yeah just look it up.
Sweet and uhh well, hopefully that didn't set the tone for the rest of the video because we got a lot of beautiful things to
cover in this next section. Transition slide.
In Malawi, it all goes back to that one
powerhouse lake that takes up about a quarter of their entire territory.
First of all, the country lies almost completely within the Great Rift Valley that we've already studied many times
which was formed by the massive tectonic plates grinding against each other, allowing the huge chasm for the lake to be formed.
From there the longest river the Shire River flows south to Mozambique and connects to the greater
Zambezi, which is like a big deal for trade and export. From there about 75% of land lies on the Central African plateau
punctuated with hills and forests and grasslands. In the North you have the Nyika plateau and the rainiest part of Malawi.
To the south, you reach the Mulanje Massif and the Zomba plateaus, where you can find the tallest peak Mount Mulanje.
Now let's go back to Lake Malawi though.
This place is very important to the country as it's not only the third largest lake and second deepest lake in Africa
but it holds more species of fish than any other lake in the world. Including over seven hundred species of cichlids.
The Chambo fish is usually seen as the most important one though as it's like the main fish used for food amongst the populace,
usually eaten with Nsima porridge or Kondowe as staples. Speaking of animals, the national animal is a Thompson's gazelle.
You can find nearly every species of endemic sub-saharan mammal species like The Big Five.
What are the Big Five?
Noah, explain!
You got it, buddy!
The term Big Five refers to the five species of African animals that are the most sought-after in Safaris for tourists.
They are: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and African buffalo.
Thanks Noah!
Yeah no problem, man!
You know what? Actually just finish it off, take the rest of the teleprompter. I'm out of here!
You got it, dude! (again!)
In addition to fishing, Malawi was one of the first countries in Africa to commercially grow tea and tobacco on a large scale.
To this day, they're the largest producer of Burley leaf tobacco, which is lower grade, but high nicotine content tobacco.
They're also the only country outside of Denmark to have a brewery for the national beer of Denmark, Carlsberg.
It was all because of a foreign minister that visit in 1966 who was like:
Foreign minister of Denmark: Happy Independence Day, Malawi!
Malawi: Thanks man! Great to have you here.
Foreign minister of Denmark: Alright, so what kind of beer do you guys have here?
Malawi: We had this Thobwa stuff mixed with fermented maize and millet. Check it out, man. You're gonna love it. You're gonna like it.
Foreign minister of Denmark: Oh, wow! (drinking)
Malawi: Got a kick, huh?
Foreign minister of Denmark: Yeah, no ummm, yeah, I'm gonna show you the good stuff!
And that's how that got started.
Now here's where things get a little hard to address but still remain factual:
Malawi usually ranks in the top five poorest nations in the world by nominal GDP.
This year, they just beat out the DRC and the Central African Republic.
Less than 20% of rural inhabitants have access to electricity and properly purified drinking water. That however in return has caused Malawi to become a
nation of pure innovators that take whatever they can and their surroundings to build off of it.
In many schools, they use clay to teach children how to mold shapes.
They use grass reeds as brushes to paint with a mixture of sugar and coloured dirt for art class.
You got guys like this guy, William Kamkwamba. His family couldn't afford to send him to school
so one day, he decided he wanted electricity for his village.
He went to the library every day and taught himself how to construct a wind turbine in 2007. Since then,
he's become a celebrity, wrote a book and was featured on TED Talks
and he's also built more turbines and water pumps for his village and other communities in Malawi.
And that my good friends is what an Malawian is like.
Let's meet them now, shall we?
Malawi is nicknamed "the Warm Heart of Africa" and for a number of reasons
but mostly because the people and their hearts. There's just something about them.
First of all,
The country has about 18 million people that has a third lowest GDP per capita as of 2018.
The country is made up of nine main ethnic groups and tribes, the largest being the Chewa, the Yao and the Lomwe.
Other groups make up the rest of the population
whereas 4% of the population make up other groups and non Africans like Whites and Asians.
They use the Malawian Kwacha as their currency,
They use a type G British style plug outlet and they drive on the left side of the road.
The country has two official languages: English and Chewa or "Chichewa" (also Nyanja).
However, English is primarily used as a lingua franca to inter communicate between ethnic groups across the country.
Culture wise, as mentioned, there are nine main ethnic groups each bring their own unique flair to the table
For example:
The largest group, the Chewa have a matrilineal society
where inheritance is passed by the mother's line and they have a costume called the Gulewankulu.
The Yao people have a unique initiation rite in which the boys participate wearing these weaved head pieces and grass capes.
The Ngoni people are related to the Zulus of South Africa,
they have a strong warrior past and culture.
The Tumbuka people are known for their healing dances or the Tchopa sacrifice dance with three big drums and up to 30 dancers.
Each of these are UNESCO heritage recognized and so on...
One controversy though would be the fact that for a while,
Malawi has been dealing with the problem of child marriage. For a long time the Constitution
didn't put an age limit on marriage. In 2017, the president passed an amendment that banned marriage for anyone under 18
which is a step forward but only time will tell. Malawi has a high uptake ratio
which means that even though about 75% of children get into primary school,
only about 10% of those children make it into secondary school and move forward into academic fields.
This has forced many Communities to open up childcare centers that kind of act as cheap educational daycares
with meal programs and also it helps save off child labor. Nonetheless,
They move forward in accomplishing whatever means of progress that they can. For example:
Malawi today has the fifth best netball team in the world.
They even have a national dance group subsidised by the government the Kwacha cultural group.
Every year, they host the lake of stars music festival for three days in September, showcasing various artists
Both domestic and international. You know stuff like that. Anyway, history time!
We don't have too much time to get into it. But in the quickest way, I can put it:
Various Bantu tribes, Maravi Empire, Arabs trade with them, Portuguese come in,
Maravi Kingdom falls apart, Slave trade wars, 1824 the Omani Sultanate comes in,
They subjugate the people to slavery, the Yao and Ngoni fight a war against each other,
David Livingstone comes in and brings Christianity,
Reports of how bad the slave trade is and they end it but the British still colonized in 1907, call it Nyasaland,
This guy starts a peaceful protest, Malawi becomes independent, This (same) dude becomes president,
Everyone likes him so much that in 1971, He becomes president for life then it kind of gets to his head...,
1993, they vote to change their government, a few more presidents even a female one,
and here we are today. Some notable people might include:
Theresa Kachindamoto, Tony Bird, Issac Chilemba, Malia, Tamika Mkandiawire,
Lucinda Fredericks, Jack Mapanje, David Rubadiri, Malcolm Ross and Tsar Leo.
Wow, yeah! So much going on and we haven't even finished. Let's move on to the...
Malawi is kind of like Southern Africa's coolest little link.
They have some kind of relation to everyone that keeps the bond strong.
For one, outside of Africa, India was always a close friend immediately after independence.
Many government officials have gotten their degrees from India
and today, they make the third largest trading partner. The UK of course still keeps close ties even after independence.
Interestingly enough, Scotland specifically has a closed place in their hearts, especially due to the whole David Livingstone thing.
He played an important role in their history. Blantyre was named after his birthplace
and to this day, many Malawians live in Scotland. Back inside of Africa,
Mozambique is close. They took in lots of Mozambique refugees during the war
and they share some same tribes like the Yao and Ngoni. South Africa and Tanzania are also close
(despite dispute over the lake with Tanzania).
Both share history as being former British colonies and many Malawians in the North
speak Swahili and trade well with Tanzania,
Whereas South Africa has a sizable Malawian community and works well in giving aid. When it comes to their best friends
however, most Malawians I talked to have said Zambia. They share the closest relatives to the Chewa people and speak a similar language.
They love visiting, intermarrying and the former Zambian President, Rupiah Banda was of Malawian descent as well.
In conclusion: Malawi is a country that has what I like to call: Beautiful challenges.
The land forces them to think and create and that seems to be the Malawian way.
A way that makes "a way".
Stay tuned. Malaysia, is coming up next...