Have you ever heard of the country nicknamed “The warm heart of Africa”?
Malawi, or officially ‘The Republic of Malawi’, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, has acquired the nickname solely due to the friendliness of its people.
Despite boasting beautiful wildlife renaissance and tourism potential, Malawi remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, and with a mostly rural population that has been growing at a rapid rate, the Malawian government faces significant challenges in healthcare and development.
Amid COVID-19, both the wealth of the country and the health of its people have experienced a steep decline. One of the major growing concerns in the country is that there has been a recent spike in the number of children moving onto the streets. These children are at exceptionally high risk during the current pandemic, having no access to face masks or proper sanitization. Severe drought conditions, rampant poverty, and high incidence of HIV/AIDS are noted as the primary causes of this pattern, with conditions at home proving too difficult or impossible to stay.
Approximately 80% of Malawi children are orphaned by HIV/AIDS. These children live in extremely dangerous conditions with a constant threat from sexual predators, traffickers, and older street children. Most of them are at a high risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Many girls end up getting pregnant, and given the poor conditions and lack of proper support and care, their children end up on the streets too. This cycle of poverty is prolific.
Around 4,000 children roam in the streets to beg, out of which around 500 are entirely homeless. These children manage to survive day by day, facing dangerous threats in every step of the way. Being very vulnerable, they are the primary targets for gang leaders who turn them into criminals for drug supply, stealing, and committing petty crimes for money, which ends up being the lifestyle of many of these children. Crimes committed by street children have victimised many. However, the main victims are these children themselves.
Many people think that they are helping these children by giving them money, but this is far from the right way to reintegrate these children back into society.
Reasons why children end up on the streets:
- Children are forced by their families to beg on the streets for money so that they can provide food for the whole family
- Children are used by gangs of thieves as a tool for begging and earning money
- Children are hired by handicapped beggars to guide them on the streets
- 60% of Malawians live below the poverty line, and 22% percent of them are impoverished, which leaves no choice for the families to send those children onto the streets.
Government Response
‘A Home For Every Child’ is an excellent initiative taken by the Malawian government. Through this initiative, there are countrywide campaigns with the goal of moving children off the streets and into a good home. With the spike in the number of children coming onto the streets every day, they decided to launch this campaign to get to know why they are on the streets and tackle these problems once and for all.
There have been many challenges faced by the authorities to move the children, as many of them are resistant to go back home. Furthermore, for children who have committed crimes, they may face legal charges or even juvenile prison. This deters the children from seeking help from authorities.
There are more steps that can be taken in order to successfully integrate these children back into social life and help make them productive citizens. These may include:
- Providing counselling not only to children but also to the parents and guardians
- Establishment of affordable child care centres
- Enforcement of sanctions for parents and guardians who send children to the streets
- Providing employment opportunities to families and education on birth control
- Supporting and donating to NGOs who work hard to provide for, and protect these children
- Promoting children’s rights in underprivileged communities
- Reintegrating children into other existing communities
Non-profit organizations like Evie Grace Foundation are working hard during this pandemic to provide for street children not just in Malawi but also in other countries in East Africa.
Please show your support by clicking the Donate button below and contributing to our cause. We need your help now more than ever. Together we can eradicate child trafficking and make a significant positive change in these children’s lives because every child has the right to have a safe home.
Please check out our other blogs on street children in different countries in East Africa: Street Children in Tanzania, Challenges of Street Children in Kenya, and Street Children in Uganda.
References
https://kulinji.com/article/news/2020/children-chasing-covid-19-malawi-streets
https://www.voanews.com/africa/malawi-aims-rid-cities-street-children
https://times.mw/street-children-terrorise-cities/#:~:text=School%2Dage%20of%20nine%20to,recent%20government%20study%20found%20out
https://www.nyasatimes.com/transforming-street-children-into-productive-citizens/
http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Malawi.htm#:~:text=More%20street%20children%20as%20Malawi%20food%20crisis%20deepens&text=Grinding%20poverty%2C%20family%20breakdown%20and,are%20orphaned%20by%20HIV%2FAIDS
https://web.archive.org/web/20110727131527/http://www.novocmalawi.org/index.php/about/malawi-the-warm-heart-of-africa/
Written by: Chandini Balla
