The warm heart of Africa

People always want to know, why Malawi? They've stopped asking where it is, thanks to the Material Girl, Madonna. For starters, we decided to work in Malawi because it has a lot of need. It is also a very peaceful nation, and according to its people, has never experienced a war. A Malawian friend of ours jokes that it's only peaceful because there are no natural resources to fight over.  It is a densely crowded nation of nearly 13 million people with a predominantly Christian population, and it is quite easy for English speakers to traverse as it is a former British colony.

Malawi is widely known as the "Warm Heart of Africa" because its people are uncommonly friendly in this day and age.  It is a small, landlocked country, bordered by Africa's third largest lake—beautiful Lake Malawi—home to one of the largest number of freshwater fish species in the world.  The country's main export is tobacco, which has received increasingly low returns on the world market due to the decreasing demand for tobacco products.  

The average yearly income in Malawi (per family) is approximately $170 - that amounts to less than 50 cents per day.