The year 2020 has brought great change around the world. Malawi has seen its share of floods, elections, and regulation changes due to COVID-19. If you haven’t had the chance to keep track of it all (who does?), Story Time has put together a brief rundown of what has happened in Malawi this year, and where things stand now.
The empty Nsondole CDSS school grounds.
New Bathrooms Helped Women in Need During Floods near Nsondole
Mid-November through April brings the rainy season to Malawi for about an hour day at varying intensities. This year, in March, the villagers around Nsondole experienced some more intense rainfall than usual.
Families who lived near Lake Chilwa were flooded out of their homes for weeks as they waited for emergency aid. The new female restrooms constructed at Nsondole provided mothers and daughters a refuge away from their homes to stay healthy.
Shifting Presidential Power Lead to Local COVID-19 Responses
Last year, “massive, serious, and widespread irregularities” violating election laws during the 2019 election, caused both the high and low courts to nullify the June 2019 election results. A new vote took place country-wide in June 2020.
Newly elected President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera was sworn into office on June 28, 2020. He won on a platform promoting Servant Leadership, Uniting Malawi, Prospering Together, Ending Corruption, and Rule of Law. Due to the shifting leadership in Malawi, COVID-19 responses were dealt with on a village and district level, very similar to county and state level responses in the United States.
Government Response to COVID-19 Developed Over Months
Quarantining was not enforced in Malawi. By June, busses and planes had stopped, and remained stopped the rest of the year. In July, after the new president was sworn in, the government finally said people in public offices must wear masks. A new task force was formed to address COVID-19, which focused its efforts on shifting Universities to online learning.
A push for encouraging people to wear masks, to social distance and to wash one’s hands for 20 seconds had started after the election. In October, the government purchased handwashing pails to be distributed to Nsondole, but only two pails for the entire school, where over 300 students attend and no running water is available.
Hurdles to Education: Closures, Exam Leak, and Scarce Masks
Schools were closed in March by the Malawi government. The 4th year exams, the MSCE, were leaked causing the students to retake them at a later date in 2021, meaning that Seniors in high school have not been able to graduate.
Once schools slowly opened in October, lack of masks caused students to attend in the back of the classroom, or outside.
“In a class some students don't have masks. At first they were sending people back, but now they sit outside the window or at the back.”
-Dr. Zikani Kaunda
With all of the changes in Malawi - and all over the world - this year, students and their families acutely felt the uncertainty of their futures.
To address these uncertainties, Story Time focused on the one thing we could: making school a safe place to go. In the era of COVID-19, that meant students needed masks, sanitizing supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. in addition to everyday needs like soap, notebooks, and uniforms.
We were able to raise funds to address these specific needs, and raise awareness about the realities of life in Malawi. While it’s been a roller coaster of a year for everyone, we look forward to delivering these supplies of safety and wellbeing to students and their families.