Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2015
I was in Malawi with my colleagues Liam McArthur and James Dornan earlier this year, on a visit by the Scotland branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The visit was motivated, in part, by the 10th anniversary of the agreement between our countries. I found Malawi to be a country of contradictions. It is beautiful in parts but grim in others; it is uplifting but also depressing. Many people are desperately poor economically but inspiringly rich spiritually.
The delegation was there primarily to interact with Malawian MPs and to deliver workshops to strengthen relations between MSPs and members of the National Assembly of Malawi. However, we also visited projects that have links to Scotland, including St Michael and All Angels church in Blantyre, which was built by Scottish missionaries. In the church, there is a memorial plaque to the Rev Robert Clelland, a Coatbridge-born engineer who founded the Mulanje mission, which had a school and a hospital, and who, like David Livingstone, stood up against the slave trade. He died of blackwater fever in 1890, at the age of 33, but modern-day connections mean that his legacy lives on in Coatbridge, with Coatbridge high school, St Ambrose high school, St Andrew’s high school and many local primary schools having partnerships in the Mulanje area through the healthy lifestyle project that is run by Charles Fawcett. There is also an opportunity, every year, for schoolchildren to raise funds and visit Malawi, which is a real life-changing experience.
I was able to visit Mulanje and visit the sterling work of the healthy lifestyle project’s aiming higher in Malawi project. It includes the very successful girls go for health team, which is based in Mendulo parish, and a disability project that cares for about 400 disabled children from poor rural backgrounds. That work is carried out mainly with local fundraising in my constituency, and I am sure that the minister will not be surprised to hear me make a plea for more assistance for those projects.
Not all our visits were pleasant experiences. Malawi had been devastated by flooding, and the disabled children’s project had several children living in even more dire circumstances than usual. I visited one family with a disabled child who were living in a tiny temporary shelter. The conditions were appalling, and the ground that the family had to lie down on to sleep was still sodden from the floods.
Overall, disabled children in Malawi face many challenges, for example in accessing school and healthcare, or in relation to cultural acceptance, discrimination and superstition. They are also often hidden away. The healthy lifestyle project provides aid such as wheelchairs, and supports disabled children in school and with meeting their health needs.
Another difficult visit that we made was to Bvunmbwe young offenders institution, where the young men are supported by Sister Anna Tommasi. It was an experience that was humbling and appalling in equal measure. It was humbling because of the work that Sister Anna does to educate the boys, as well as the fantastic welcome and entertainment that were put on for us, but it was appalling because of the living conditions and the boys’ personal plight.
The prison holds 270 young offenders aged 14 to 20, both convicted and remanded, with more than 200 children sharing a cell the size of a classroom. There is one shower for everyone. Boys are imprisoned for what people here might consider to be very minor offences or crimes of extreme poverty. Some boys are put in prison without sentence; others stay longer than they should because no one delivers the paperwork to release them. The education programme that Sister Anna provides is remarkable. It relies on contributions from outside Malawi, not least those from the healthy lifestyle project and St Margaret’s high school in Airdrie.
The report of our Malawi visit, which includes details of the workshops that we delivered to members of the Malawian Parliament, is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. It is highly recommended reading, Presiding Officer. I take the opportunity to commend Margaret Neal for her work in supporting the delegation.
Malawi is a beautiful country, with a wealth of natural resources. It could easily become a more popular tourist destination. Its people are friendly, warm and welcoming, as well as resilient—that is why it is known as the warm heart of Africa. However, the challenges that the country faces are immense, with hunger, poverty and illness blighting so many people’s lives. Therefore, a visit there is uplifting and humbling but also disturbing.
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