According to the World Bank, Malawi is the fourth poorest country in the World. It is a small landlocked nation in Africa whose main source of income is agriculture. Unfortunately their number one crop is tobacco and as you might expect there is a dwindling demand for that product. With over half of the population living in poverty they truly do rely on foreign aid and help from people like Madonna. Many of the farms are now producing corn but this is not meeting the basic needs of most of their inhabitants. Education, health services, safe drinking water and basic sanitation are not provided throughout the country. USAID was one of the benefactors helping with the Aids epidemic and financial support to many University students. Needless to say, Malawi has felt the blow of the freeze of aid from the USA.

In spite of their plight Malawians are known to be some of the friendliest people in the world. Today both China and India have seized the opportunity to “help”. China has built roads and other infrastructure, at first believed to be a gift, but now known to be a loan. They have given up their rights for some of their valuable minerals to China. Many emigrants from India have moved to Malawi and have built factories and other industrial buildings.

There are still NGO’s helping out in Malawi. Organizations currently assisting include CARE, The Hunger Project, OXFAM and GoodVision. Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC also works with UNICEF and K.I.N.D. (kids in need of desks).

In addition to their problems Malawi has also taken in thousands of refugees from neighboring Mozambique due to civil unrest and a festering jihadist insurgency. However, they are now in the process of repatriating them.

On my plane trip from Malawi to Johannesburg there were many followers of the Prophet Sheperd Bushiri who left South Africa due to charges of criminal behavior and he is now the richest pastor in Malawi with an estimated worth of $150 million. He promises to save his followers in the next life but hasn’t done much for them now.

While I had an interesting time there and loved talking with the locals, I can’t recommend it as a tourist destination. Lake Malawi is probably the biggest tour attraction and what I saw of it was amazing and the lodge I stayed in while in Lilongwe was wonderful but I not planning a return trip.