Malawi 2007

Rotary Cafe

Malawi 2007

Malawi is a small African country that borders Tanzania, another country CAFÉ has served. In 2007 CAFÉ sent to Malawi, 20 computers in a container containing medical supplies as well.

Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost 5 million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid.

But in 2007 Malawi, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world, this nation is now able to meet its hungry needs.

So, why would CAFÉ wish to send computers to a nation that is noticeably improving its ability to sustain its own economy? Malawi is now helping feed its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the U.N. World Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.

The computers that CAFÉ provides will help educate the peoples so eager to learn and thrive. In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October of 2007, the U.N. Children's Fund sent 3 tons of powdered milk, stockpiled to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. "We will not be able to use it!" Juan Ortiz-Iruri, UNICEF's deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly.

The PC’s will be dispersed primarily to assist medical facilities throughout the country. Some PC’s will be used at training centers located in Madisi and Lilongwe.