The cry for water in Lilongwe

Lilongwe's water woes have recently pushed urban slum dwellers to unclean sources of water. These women were captured  queuing for water at a broken pipe at Tsabango Community Day Secondary School ground in Area 22 Township. 



Compounding the problem is that these women have to travel some kilometers for this little artificial spring of dirty water which is their only source of water during periods when the community water kiosk taps go for days without dripping a single drop of water.

Social life in Malawi: To tip or not to tip

While offering a tip is the norm in most Western cultures and in some African Countries like South Africa, in Malawi things are a little different. Hardly will people give tips for services such as being waited on at a restaurant.

It is simply not part of the culture.

In the advent of global media, technology such as social media and movies, Malawians have adopted many aspects of western culture such as dress and fast foods.

Tipping however is one of those things that are slipping into Malawian social life more slowly. A few people in Cities such as Lilongwe, the Capital and Blantyre will give a tip of say K50 an equivalent of a few cents for having their trolley pushed to the car park from inside a shopping complex.

However, most people don’t tip.

Some people, I talked to, feel that they do not have enough money to go around dishing for services they have already paid for.

Others feel tipping would be perceived as trying to bribe the service provider.

Rarely a waiter at a fast food joint will be told to “keep the change” of more than K350 the equivalent of one US dollar.

Simply put, in Malawi, you can tip whatever amount whenever you feel like it. If the service impresses you, go on and tip. It is not the norm but it is also not unacceptable. A tip, whatever the magnitude will always be highly appreciated.

Malawi loves President Obama: Obama victory frenzy jam Malawi social media

           

                           

Internet services briefly jammed Wednesday morning as Malawians raced to post their congratulatory messages and express their happiness over Barack Obama’s re-election on social media networks.

The mood was not as electric as it was when Obama took up the office as America’s first black President in 2008. The 2008 US election saw people taking the celebrations to the streets even in the remotest parts of Malawi, a small country in Central Africa that has greatly benefited from US aid in the areas of education and health among other sectors.

 However, it seems President Obama is still very much  a favourite among many Malawians as seen by the numerous Facebook posts on his victory. Little mention was made of his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, its like he never even took part in the same elections as President Obama.

The name Obama has now become synonymous with winning, success and everything that seemed impossible! From naming business to babies;both girls  and boys, Malawi simply loves the name Barack Obama and the President.

President Obama became America’s 44th President on Wednesday after winning a clear victory of 275 electoral votes against Romney’s 203 in the state-by-state US voting system.

Lilongwe facing the brunt of climate change

 

Malawi is a small country in Central Africa that is endowed with lavish natural resources. Among the resources is abundant fresh water from sources like Lake Malawi, Africa’s third largest fresh water lake.

However, for Lilongwe, Malawi’s Capital City, the only source of water for its bursting population of  over 600, 000 is the 200 KM long Lilongwe River. At the moment, the River’s waters are almost completely depleted. This is two months before it can be replenished by rains which normally start in December.

Meanwhile, the rains are nowhere in sight. According to the country’s Metrological experts, Malawi is now experiencing a shift in seasons from onset to cessation of rains; this is one of the major effects of climate change that Malawians have to face.

Dwindling water levels in Lilongwe River are direct effects of  climate change.Picture taken by Patricia Mtungila at Lilongwe Bridge

Vendors back on Lilongwe's streets?

                         

 

Believe it or not! Vendors are slowing creeping back onto the infamous Malangalanga Road near Lilongwe’s main bus station barely two months after they were driven out by Police in partnership with the Lilongwe City Assembly and relocated to designated trading spots in and around Tsoka Flea market. www.facebook.com

Wash day blues to get even bluer without OmO and Sunlight in Malawi

Malawi’s big retailers Shoprite, PTC, and Sana have finally run out of favourite household washing powder and bar Sunlight and OMO produced by Unilever.

 Unilever Malawi stopped producing Sunlight bar  and distributing the other brands in May this year when they announced, in the media, that the company was temporarily closing  production.

But with the shops well stocked with the life-saving and tested washing products consumers had little to worry about until now.

Thankfully,  for those already branded  by OMO or Sunlight, the commodities are still available in hawkers in the various locations in Lilongwe although they will have to dig deeper into their pockets with 1 kg of OMO selling at K1180 as compared to below K1000 in big shops.

Substitutes presently on the market are Boom paste produced by Trade Kings Zambia Limited and Foma an uncertified washing powder which is also sold in markets at K150 and sometimes K200. More options include the many bar soaps hitting the stores nowadays.

Are Malawi’s second-hand clothes wholesalers hoarding stock?

Barely a week after the Malawi government threatened to close the shops of second-hand wholesale traders failing to comply with the new tax exemption measures, business has tremendously slowed in the capital city of  Lilongwe with all but two shops, Nefss Worldwide and Arex Enterprises, completely empty by the morning of Saturday, July 29, 2012.

The situation is highly unusual as these wholesale shops are normally bursting with business this time of the month.  

This caused panic and violence later erupted among vendors who travelled from as far Southern Malawi and even neighbouring Zambia scrambled to buy the bales from the two shops.

The Vendors were further angered when, after hours of waiting and shoving,  one of the wholesalers, Arex, attempted to sell the remaining 300 bales to one ‘big buyer’ forcing  all vendors out of the shop.

The irate vendors hurled insults and manhandled the store attendants. It took the intervention of three Malawi  Police officers to re-establish peace, calm and business.

Monday, July 30, 2012. There were no signs of improvement as the “stock drought”, continued contrary to wholesaler’s promises over the weekend to start re-stocking on Monday for selling on Tuesday this week.

However, inside sources at the wholesales reveal that most of the Asian wholesalers have container loads of stock of second-hand clothes populary known as Kaunjika kept at their Kanengo warehouses away from the eye of the estranged vendors.

One is left to wonder whether this could be a ploy by the wholesalers to inject panic in the poor Malawian vendor and of course retaliate against government for cracking down on those traders evading different taxes.

So, have Kaunjika wholesalers conspired to hoard stock?

Well, only time will tell but all the facts seem to suggest so.

To begin with, there are a total of about 14 wholesalers that actively trade in Kaunjika at Bwalo, la Njobvu in Lilongwe some them include; Shama, Nefss Trading [1], Brothers [1], Alimik [1], Saya Investments, Alimik [2], Shateeta, Nafss worldwide, Brothers [2], Nefss [2], Arax Enterprises

On average, these stores re-stock and sell bales at least once a week, especially Saturdays, according to vendors and my personal observation. This was the trend even in the toughest of  times during the Fuel and FOREX shortages of earlier this year.

In recent weeks, government through the Ministry of Trade and industry has come down tough on Kaunjika wholesalers who were hesitating to reduce prices since the implementation of the new excise tax exemption on Kaunjika.

The crackdown has also exposed thick goo of other unscrupulous activities in the  sector like trading with expired wholesaler’s licenses in other cases traders do not even have licenses and of course VAT evasion.

My maiden blog post

Today, I left my home with very little information on how in my world I would ever be able to make my own blog where I can share with the world the so so much information happening every day in my beautiful country Malawi. As we speak, my handicap has been removed, thanks to the US Embassy Public Affairs Department which, today, provided a free seminar on blogging. I have a blog and am good to go!!!