PayPal

Those who want to make a donation for Africa Outreach Malawi can do so using PAYPAL: africaoutreach@gmail.com

Sevana and Shingayi in Malawi

Dear reader,

Kindly allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Shingayi and Sevana Munjanja from Zimbabwe. Shingayi comes from a Bible believing Christian family while Sevana is the eldest daughter of evangelical missionary parents. We married in 2010 and in 2012 we decided to get full-time involved in Christian mission work. At present we reside and work in Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest and most needy countries.

Probably you have never heard about us before, we are not well-known TV evangelists or pastors of a well-know mega church. We have simply decided to obey the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 and put our talents and resources in service of world mission. We are working under the flag of the Netherlands based Afrika Zending, a small interdenominational Evangelical Christian mission. However, the mission does not employ any missionaries all workers have to raise up their own support and build a network of Christian friends and churches who will contribute to their upkeep.

Presently we are responsible for a safe house for girls who have been accused of witchcraft by the community. Witchcraft allegations are common in Malawi and often lead to mistreatment and banishment of the accused and sometimes even murder. We are also involved in a campaign to make people aware that misfortune, illness and death are not caused by witchcraft but normally have other causes (save some cases of deliberate poisoning in the name of witchcraft).

Although we have put our trust in God to provide for our needs we are aware of the fact that while we pray for our daily bread God also requires action on our part. Also we realise that involvement in God’s saving mission to the world is the responsibility of every Christian, the whole body of Christ. Scripture teaches that within the body of Christ we all have different functions but we need one another. We may be the hands that reach out to the needy in Malawi but we can do nothing if not supported, carried and fed by the arm and the rest of the body. With this in mind we ask you to partner with us in mission and help support us so we can carry out the work effectively.

If God puts it on your heart to partner with us in mission then you can do so by committing yourself to a monthly donation (nothing is too small). Of course we are also grateful for just a single or occasional donation.
We also appeal for those who may feel compelled to support the mission projects we carry out, and not our upkeep, to go ahead and do this as it furthers our purpose of being here. Please do so by specifying the intention of how the donation is to be used.

Donations can be made in the name of ‘Shingayi and Sevana in Malawi’ via the Afrika Zending account in The Netherlands:

Account number: 5795209.
Account name: Stichting Afrika Zending.
Address: 2701AB, 21, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Bank name: ING Bank
Bank address: FINANCIAL PLAZA BIJLMERDREEF 109, AMSTERDAM, ZIP Code: 1102 BW, Country: NETHERLANDS
IBAN: NL15INGB0005795209
SWIFT/BIC: INGBNL2A

Subscribe to our quarterly email-newsletter by sending a request to: africaoutreach@gmail.com

A New Start

Dear Friends in Christ,

Greetings to you all!!

We would like to firstly thank our parents, Erwin and Laura van der Meer, for all the hard work they have done and the good foundation they have laid here in Malawi for the work of Afrika Zending. It is very sad that they are unable to carry on with the work because of the breakdown of their relationship. Nevertheless, they have done a great job here in Malawi and they have touched and changed the lives of many people, us include. We believe in the work that was started here and we believe that it needs to carry on. We have been involved in the past from time to time and we have learnt a lot about the people and the running of the projects. Our prayers are with Erwin, Laura and with Emma and Sophie. We hope to see them again and wish them all the best in the meantime. May God bless them and guide them in their lives.


Some of you may not know who we are so we’d like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves:

Shingayi Isheunesu Munjanja

Born on the 28th of January 1981 in Harare Zimbabwe, I grew up in Harare and went to school there. Born in a family of three, I am the eldest and have two sisters. I did my primary and secondary education in Harare and Mutare. After completing my A’levels I began to study theology and then later Law. I studied at Harare theological College where I met Erwin who was one of my lecturers and my Dean. I then began to study law with the University of South Africa which I have almost completed now. I began dating Sevana in 2007 when she had returned to Harare for her studies.

We have since gotten married and have a beautiful two year old son, Ethan.
While I was dating Sevana, I got involved with what Erwin was doing in terms of preaching and pastoral outreach and it was always my wish that I get involved at some point in my life in this type of work. Coming from a Christian family and having been a leader for a youth group for many years, you could say that I had the calling for a very long time. I’m looking forward to us working together to keep the good work started by Laura and Erwin going!

Sevana Antonio Munjanja

Many of you know me and I might have even had the pleasure of meeting you when I visited Holland with my parents at the end of 2008. I was born in Harare on the 6th of October 1988. I lived with my mother and sister until my mother passed away in 2001 when my sister Samatha and I moved in with Erwin and Laura. I went to school in Zimbabwe until 2004 when we moved to Malawi and I continued with school in Malawi. After my O’levels I went back to Harare for my A’levels. I met Shingayi in Harare and we began dating in 2007. I knew him from church and he had also been a student of dad when we lived in Zimbabwe. I finished my A’levels and went on to study ambulance medicine and emergency care. Unfortunately due to the serious health problems that I faced I was unable to continue on the ambulance but then I started giving trainings in first aid and safety and fell in love with it. Now I train first aid in Malawi to individuals, schools, and other organizations. Being involved with the work that my parents were doing here in Malawi really shaped my beliefs and focus in life. Having Shingayi for a partner also made me realise a lot of things about life and what we need to do on an individual level to make a difference in this world for God’s glory. I am really looking forward to helping Shingayi with this outreach work and to make a difference where it is really needed!

We need your help to continue the Mission to Malawi

Just like any other form of Christian ministry missionary work is not done in isolation from the rest of the body of Christ. For us to be able to help the most needy in Malawi and to share the gospel in this needy and poor country we need your support. This support can be in the form of giving encouragement, prayer and assistance, but we also need your financial support. Some of the churches and individuals who supported the important work pioneered by Erwin and Laura in Malawi have put their support on hold as they were unsure how things would develop. This has led to a great decline in financial support for the work in Malawi.

It is unfortunate that Erwin and Laura have become casualties of a spiritual war and they have paid a heavy price for all the sacrifices they have made. We pray that God will provide the healing they need for the wounds they are suffering in this war.

We appeal to you as supporters and ask you to help us avoid the continuing decline of the care needed by the children in the projects in this time of crisis and change. Your financial support is needed now more than ever.

In service of Christ,

Shingayi & Sevana Munjanja

Evil thrives when 'good' people do nothing

Evil thrives when ‘good’ people choose to be quiet

I was recently confronted by the plight of a young Iranian Christian woman who was refused permission to stay in the Netherlands by the Netherlands Immigration authorities. Having been a victim of oppression and a refugee myself I reflected on what this means for me as someone with a Netherlands nationality.

We live a world marked by serious economic inequalities, ruthless and irresponsible pursuit of personal gain, sexual abuse, political oppression, armed conflict, psychological abuse, violence, pollution, ecological disasters and so on. In such an unsafe world we seek to protect our fragile cultural and national identities in our collective pursuit for peace, harmony and happiness. Unfortunately we often do so to the exclusion of others who have a different cultural, social or national background. Many rich European nations therefore make it very hard for poor citizens of other nations to settle in Europe.

The legitimate desire to protect our collective interest often results in human rights abuses. Of course when we send oppressed minorities back to their home countries such as Christian Iranians back to the religiously oppressive Islamist context of Iran, or Zimbabwean democrats back to the politically oppressive context of Zimbabwe we do so in agreement with the national, international laws we largely designed ourselves. However, we must be aware that there is a world of difference between morality and legality. Not every law we have designed is morally just and not every application of the law is morally justifiable in the light of the moral values and ethical assumptions behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.(1)

We have a moral obligation in our collective pursuit of happiness not to inflict harm on those coming from a different culture and national background. After all as a society we have agreed to ratify this declaration which includes:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.”

And

“Everyone is entitled to a social and international order which protects the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration.” (2)

This is not just a matter of refraining from unjust exploitation of the natural resources, and the siphoning of the wealth of economically and politically weaker nations as is currently done by many powerful nations.(3)Though we certainly bear a collective responsibility to protest against, and stop this injustice inflicted by our societies and companies on weaker nations as they are actively and wrongly harmed by a system of global political and economic arrangements that is disproportionately shaped by and for the benefit of wealthy Western societies. (4)

In the same way we have a moral obligation to ensure that the same human rights are accorded to refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants who have come to us for help. Not only if we have a historical responsibility due to our colonial past, or because we have contributed to their current woes by means of neo-colonial exploitation. Regardless of what our historical or contemporary involvement has been in exploiting weaker nations, it is also morally unjustifiable to send back Iranian Christians to an oppressive Islamist context, or Zimbabwean democrats to an oppressive political context, or a Saudi Arabian feminist activist back to an oppressive sexist context. We must not allow our governments to hide behind terms of ‘illegal’ migrants because in a democracy we collectively are the law-makers and if the law is unjust, or its application is unjust and violates the moral principles behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we must hold government and all those involved accountable lest we become ‘not so innocent’ bystanders and condemn others to a live of oppression and abuse if not death. Or we can say as many Germans did after the horrors of the NAZI death camps ‘we didnt’ know’ but the indifferent masses cannot claim innocence as their silence perpetuates the context in which the abuse can happen.(5)

(1) Thomas Pogge 2007. Recognized and Violated by International Law: The Human Rights of the Global Poor: p. 2. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/expert/docs/Thomas_Pogge_new.pdf (Revised version of article originally published in Leiden Journal of International Law 18/4 (2005), 717–745).

(2) Thomas Pogge 2012. Poverty, Human Rights and the Global Order: Framing the Post-2015 agenda. CROP.

(3) Project at Yale Led by Professor Thomas Pogge, the Global Justice Program at Yale is an interdisciplinary group that works on the assessment and reform of global institutional arrangements. http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/globaljustice/DirtyMoney.html

(4) Thomas Pogge: World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity
Press, 2002.

(5) Hannah Arendt, The origins of totalitarianism (San Diego: Harcourt, 1951), 305-307.

Presentation at Maastricht University in the Course Global justice and Human Rights

Are Pogge’s and Singer’s approaches to Global Justice and Human Rights mutually exclusive?

1. Introduction

1.1 Problem statement

In this presentation I am looking at whether Pogge’s and Singer’s approaches to Global Justice and Human Rights should be understood as mutually exclusive or whether some form of integrated approach is possible drawing on the work of both scholars.

1.2 Limitations

At the onset I must state that this presentation reflects a very limited study of the literature by Pogge and Singer and therefore my evaluation and conclusion are preliminary and incomplete and only provide an indication of what could be possible.
In discussing Singer and Pogge I mainly refer to the issue of world poverty and hunger but this is simply to illustrate the differences between the two approaches and not because I consider other issues in Global Justice and Human Rights as less important.

1.3 Disclosure of personal bias

Let me also indicate what my biases are in as far as I am aware of them. First of all I am committed to a Christian worldview which for me is not so much a matter of organised religion but a matter of adopting a lifestyle and approaching all issues in life from the perspective of love for oneself and one’s fellowman.
Love in this sense does not refer to a feeling but to a way of life whereby you try treat others in the way you would like to be treated. Practically this means to pursue personal happiness and what is good for myself while at the same time seeking to contribute to what is good for other people and to their happiness. I realise that in praxis this brings me close to the utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill although my underlying faith in the existence of God as the source for my moral beliefs brings me closer to Emmanuel Kant.


2. A brief overview of Pogge’s and Singer’s approaches to Global Justice and Human rights

I now would like to describe briefly the two approaches of Singer and Pogge to the issue of Global Justice and Human Rights.

2.1 A brief overview of Singer’s approach to Global Justice and Human Rights

2.1.1 Peter Singer’s utilitarian ethic

Peter Singer is an Australian Jewish philosopher and a utilitarian ethicist who is currently professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Utilitarianism in this sense being the proper course of action is the one that maximizes overall "happiness". It is a form of consequentialism whereby something is morally right if it will produce a good outcome, or consequence, if it does not then it is morally wrong . The preferred outcome or consequence in theory being happiness for all, but in praxis it means for as many human beings as possible.
In his essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality", Singer applies his utilitarian ethic to the question of world hunger and poverty and concludes that “suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.” They are bad because they cause unhappiness on a gigantic scale. It follows therefore, that if some people living in abundance while many others starve this is morally indefensible from a utilitarian point of view.

It then follows logically that anyone who had the resources to help the poor has the moral responsibility, the duty, to donate at least part of their income to aid poverty relief and similar efforts.
It is from this perspective that Singer states that it is morally imperative for citizens of developed countries to give more to charitable causes that help the poor. The fact that we live near or far from people does not change our moral obligation nor does the fact that our own individual impact on world poverty in any way diminish our obligation to do about it what is in our power to do.
In discussing starvation Peter Singer builds his conclusion on the following premises:

P1. If we can prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, then we ought to do so.

P. 2 Death by starvation is bad.

P. 3 We can prevent many people from dying of starvation by sacrificing our luxuries, which are not as important.

His conclusion:

C1: We ought to prevent people from dying of starvation by sacrificing our luxuries.

2.1.2 Other considerations concerning Singer’s approach

Some people have pointed out that Singer’s reasoning while very logical at the same time comes across as too demanding. But we must not misunderstand or misrepresent him: He actually does not ask us to sacrifice so much of our comforts that we become unhappy ourselves. He does not mean that the poor should become happy at the expense of our happiness. Singer simply wants to us to give more so that more people enjoy happiness in the world. He also points at various studies which have demonstrated that when people give to others they experience more happiness. In order words we do not just give to make others happy, it also makes us more happy.
It can be easily understood how this must appeal to the utilitarian: Happiness galore!!!

Singer does admit that this principle entails radical conclusions—for example, that affluent people are very immoral if they do not give up some luxury goods to donate the money for famine relief. In line with his ethic Singer says that we ought to give where our money does the most good, in other words where our donation contributes to the most happiness. Finally, Singer himself does not only theorise about this but puts his belief into practice by donating 25 percent of his salary to international relief agencies such as Oxfam.

2.2 A brief overview of Pogge’s approach to Global Justice and Human Rights
Thomas Pogge is a German philosopher and is currently Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs as well as Adjunct Professor of Law at Yale University. Thomas Pogge stands in the tradition of Emmanuel Kant, John Rawls and others who believe that there are guiding universal principles, pre-existing moral principles many of which are reflected in the universal declaration of Human Rights. Where Singer starts with morality and ethics from the perspective that whether something is moral depends on its consequences whether it contributes to the greater good of maximizing happiness for as many people as possible, Pogge takes the position that moral principles already pre-exist.

2.2.1 Thomas Pogge and Global Justice

When it comes to the issue of Global Justice and Human Rights, Pogge takes a human rights approach and focuses in particular on Articles 25 and 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which state:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.”

And

“Everyone is entitled to a social and international order which protects the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration.”

However, his concern is not so much international law but rather the assumed universal morality which inspired the UDHR. Pogge’s approach is therefore not so a legal approach as that it is a moral approach. He stresses the widespread recognition of moral human rights is important as it forms the basis from which an independent critical assessment is possible of existing international law.

Interpreting article 28 in the light of article 25 of the UDHR Pogge concludes that any institutional design is to be assessed and reformed principally by reference to its relative impact on the realization of the human rights of those on whom it is imposed as compared to conceivable alternative designs.

From this in the follows that an institutional order and its imposition are human-rights-violating if and insofar as this order foresee-ably gives rise to a substantial and avoidable human rights deficit.

2.2.2 Evaluating current global institutional world order

Pogge has evaluated the current global institutional world order represented by agencies such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO and has come to the conclusion that the current order is actually violating the human rights of the poor as in they are becoming poorer and more marginalised.

He argues that it is probably the largest human rights violation ever committed in human history. He admits that those who commit it do not intend the death and suffering they inflict either as an end or as a means but their wilful indifference to the enormous harms they cause in the course of advancing their own ends while going to great lengths to deceive the world (and sometimes themselves) about the impact of their conduct.

2.2.3 Examples of how the current global institutional world order is flawed

2.2.3.1 Misrepresentation of figures and interpretation by the World Bank

Pogge in a book which is about to be published this year demonstrates how the world bank has been shifting goalposts, and has been playing around with numbers in creative accounting, so that it looks like global poverty is decreasing when in fact it is not. In the media they portray as if the millennium goals are being met while in fact inequality and the plight of the worlds poorest is worsening.

2.2.3.2 Two additional illustrations

Besides the dissemination of misinformation and falsehood at a global level Pogge gives various other examples how the current institutional world order harms the poor of which I just want to highlight two:

2.2.3.2.1 Local corruption is facilitated and exacerbated by global institutions

The world’s global institutions facilitate and exacerbate corruption perpetuated by national institutions. Pogge is especially critical of the “resource” and “borrowing” privileges which allow illegitimate political leaders to sell natural resources and to borrow money in the name of the country and its people. In the long term the ordinary citizens suffer as their governments sooner or later have to pay back these debts with interest on top which means less funds are available for education, health and development.

2.2.3.2.2 Global institutions allow the unrestricted flow of illegal money

According to Pogge Global institutions are turning a blind eye, if not facilitating the unrestricted flow of illegal money from the developing world to the developed nations of the world.

The figures are staggering:

Every year, $1 trillion is spirited out of developing countries through corruption, smuggling, money laundering, and corporate tax evasion. These illicit financial flows out of developing countries dwarf the flow of development assistance going in. Illicit financial flows removed $10 for every dollar spent on overall development aid, and $80 for every dollar spent on basic social services.

Multi-national corporations

This flow of money does not just refer to funds transferred by corrupt dictators into bank accounts in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands but also refers to profits illegally transferred by multi-national companies so that they avoid paying revenues and taxes in the developing countries where they operate.

The current global economic and financial system allows these injustices to happen and actually maintains an unequal and unjust global environment where such things can happen. The world’s poor are not merely suffering because we are doing too little to help. They are being actively and wrongly harmed by a system of global political and economic arrangements that is disproportionately shaped by and for the benefit of wealthy Western societies.

2.3 Pogge and other forms of interventions on behalf of the poor
Pogge is not opposed to individual or collective action to alleviate the burden of the poor by means of charity and relief work. His point is that this may have little effect in the long-term if the global institutional side of things is not addressed:

It makes little sense to pour in development dollars and lots of energy into charity and relief work if the global system is so flawed that for every dollar given in development, 10 dollars disappear.

The long-term solution according to Pogge is to call for institutional reform of the global institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO and the like so that they will no longer foster inequality and the trampling of the rights of the poor but can be harnassed to promote pro-poor policies, genuine equality and address global human rights violations instead of facilitating them.

HOW CAN THI BE ACHIEVED?

How this can be achieved practically is best expressed in Pogge’s words:

This will require international collaboration among experts, practitioners and the media. Academics can foster such collaboration by working together across academic disciplines toward building a common understanding of the world poverty problem and a common methodology for tracking its dimensions and for assessing the prospects and actual results of new policies and reforms.

Pogge himself takes a leading role in promoting institutional reform as heads of the Global Justice Program at Yale University; an interdisciplinary group that works on the assessment and reform of global institutional arrangements.

3. Evaluation

3.1 Discussion of agreements and disagreements between Pogge and Singer’s approach

From my brief descriptions of the approaches to global justice by both Singer and Pogge I think it may have become clear that both are very concerned about world hunger and poverty in the world but have very different starting points. For Singer morality is closely related to happiness and avoiding harm while for Pogge morality is a matter of conformity with pre-existing universal moral values such as the concept of human dignity. Also Singer emphasizes the duty of the individual to give more and do more to alleviate human poverty and suffering while Pogge emphasizes the need for global institutional reform to address these issues.

3.1.1 Criticism levelled at Singer

Critics of Singer have pointed out that his approach appears too demanding to the individual and as such may have little impact in encouraging them to give. Other’s suggest that Singer's “solution” to world poverty is simply a means whereby an individual can pay for the privilege of having a clear conscience, rather than a meaningful strategem for relieving poverty, and that those who follow Singer's arguments are simply adopting the ethic of anyone who believes that they can buy, with a mixture of guilt and cash, an exemption from the responsibility to focus their intellect and effort to more effective and lasting solutions.” In other words it provides an easy and lazy way out put does not provide lasting solutions.
However, Singer nowhere says that individual action is the only way to address the issue of world poverty and hunger, he would probably agree that collective action is also very important as well as global institutional reform are equally morally important if this will bring the greatest amount of happiness.

3.1.2 Criticism levelled at Pogge

When it comes to Thomas Pogge, several critics point out that institutional reform is a good long-term strategy but should not be the only strategy. Even if the WB, IMF, WTO are reformed, even if the ICC and similar institutions are democratized and harnassed in the fight against world poverty and hunger, we still have the problem of the elite’s in developing countries whose interests are so entrenched locally, even within their legal systems, that they will continue to get the lion share of available resources.

Other objections raised include that Thomas Pogge’s long-term strategy could actually take a very long time as it needs extensive international support and political willingness which is not easy to achieve.

Others argue that Pogge’s approach needs to be complemented with other approaches. Instead of just looking at the negative duty of global institutions to refrain from global injustice and human rights violations these must be complemented with positive duties such as fostering global solidarity as in the world social forum as well as individual and collective action for immediate relief and mitigation.

However, in none of his writings does Pogge object to complementary approaches, he simply points at the global economic and social world order and the major role of global institutions and says that change at that level is essential for a long term solution. It does not necessarily follow that Pogge is at the same time opposed to short-term interventions.

3.2 Pogge meets Singer

It is in short-term intervention that Pogge and Singer stand side by side. Both are both prominent members of the “Giving what you can” society who have pledged to contribute at least 10% of their income to charitable organizations such as Oxfam to where they think it will do the most to eliminate poverty in the developing world.
However, even when it comes to global institutional reform Singer would probably agree that global institutional reform is necessary if this has the potential to bring long term happiness for many more people in the world than is the case in the present world order.

4. Conclusion

Now at the end of this presentation I want to come back to my opening question:
Are Pogge’s and Singer’s approaches to Global Justice and Human Rights mutually exclusive?

My answer is no, they are not mutually exclusive. It is not a matter of ‘either-or’, but a matter of ‘both-and’, they complement each other.

Let end with illustrating this from a more personal angle:

Imagine a woman with a starving baby on her back knocks at my door in Malawi asking for some food so she can feed her child. I cannot send her away empty-handed and tell her: “don’t worry my dear, we are busy campaigning for global institutional reform so that in the future you will no longer have to face this problem.” Such an answer would not only be ridiculous and totally incomprehensible for the woman, it would actually be immoral. I therefore would stress that we have an individual duty to alleviate human suffering as well as a collective and global responsibility.
Thank you.


-------------------------
Sources used (not all):

Singer, Peter. "Famine, Affluence, and Morality." Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1972: 229-243.
Thomas Pogge. “Poverty, Human Rights and the Global Order: Framing the Post-2015 Agenda,” forthcoming in Malcolm Langford, Andy Sumner and Alice Yamin, eds.: MDGs and Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012).
Thomas Pogge. Recognized and Violated by International Law:
The Human Rights of the Global Poor
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/expert/docs/Thomas_Pogge_new.pdf is revised version of article originally published in Leiden Journal of International Law 18/4 (2005), 717–745
Thomas Pogge, Poverty and Human Rights “Poverty and Human Rights” (2007), Expert Comment for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; reprinted in Manoj Kumar Pattanaik, ed.: Human Rights and Intellectual Property (Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press 2008), 95–102. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/expert/docs/Thomas_Pogge_Summary.pdf
Thomas Pogge: World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity
Press, 2002.
Thomas Pogge 2012. Global Justice Program. Yale University: http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/globaljustice/index.html

The Daily Times of Malawi published a full page report of the work we are doing among the witch children of Malawi. It is our hope and prayer that others will be inspired by our initiatives and encouraged to take positive action.

Anonymous: Thank you for your efforts to educate us Malawians on the dangers of accusing each other of witchcraft specially our children. In our village several children were burned so they would confess that they were practicing witchcraft. After confession they were taken to the chief and beaten up badly. Afterwards they were 'healed' by the witchdoctor and their families were made to pay his fees. These were the lucky ones, others have been chased away and have become streetkids or prostitutes and those who were very young died of exposure and hardship. Some have been killed by the community through hanging on a tree and it was reported as suicide.

These and other harrowing stories were told as our researchers interviewed people all over Malawi's Southern Region concerning witchcraft related beliefs and practices which affect children. Of the respondents 80% firmly believed in witchcraft and 74% believed even young children can be witches. While most of them suggested counseling and exorcism for these children a small but vocal group calls for stiff punishments, beatings and even death. For the elderly who are accused of having instructed the children in witchcraft there is far less sympathy with 18% of the respondents calling for banishment and 15% preferring execution.
As witchcraft accusations against children and the elderly are on the rise there is need to promote a change of mindset in Malawi and consequently we have agreed to extend the nation wide media campaign until the end of 2012 and continue to teach church and community leaders about constructively addressing these issues in regional seminars in Southern Malawi.