News stories by Charity Chimungu Phiri

BLANTYRE, Malawi, May 13 (IPS) - Malawi is a source, destination and transit country for human and sex trafficking. But the poverty-stricken nation, where almost 80 precent of its population is employed by the agriculture sector, doesn't have the funds to combat the crime.Malawi is not doing enough to enforce its laws on human trafficking, resulting in a number of cases against perpetrators being dismissed by the courts, according to a local rights group. But local officials say that this Southern African nation — one of the poorest countries in the world — just doesn't have the financial resources to do so.

BLANTYRE, Malawi, Mar 29 (IPS) - When building a house, it's critical to lay a strong foundation. The same applies to education, with studies showing that children who attend early learning centers perform better in school than those who do not.

BLANTYRE, Nov 01 (IPS) - This month, many Malawians, especially those in rural areas, will be able to start accessing the as internet easily as opening a tap to get water.

BLANTYRE, May 27 (IPS) - It's Saturday, market day at the popular Bvumbwe market in Thyolo district. About 40 kilometers away in Chiradzulu district, a vegetable vendor and mother of five, Esnart Nthawa, 35, has woken up at three a.m. to prepare for the journey to the market.

BLANTYRE, Malawi, Apr 27 (IPS) - Malawi considers itself ‘a god fearing nation' so much that any act ‘out of the ordinary' is said to be either satanic, a sin or demonic. Even a drink or a walk could be satanic in the country if you are not careful!

LILONGWE, Malawi, Mar 28 (IPS) - The first successful test-flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone was an unhindered 10 km journey from a community health centre to the Kamuzu central hospital laboratory in the capital Lilongwe. Local community members watched with excitement as the drone rose into the sky, after being launched by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and government of Malawi at the area 25 health centre.

BLANTYRE, Malawi, Feb 25 (IPS) - Imagine fleeing from your home because you feel unprotected by the people who are required to so by law. And when you get to where you feel safer, the very same people come to persuade your keepers to let you come back with them, claiming you are running away from nothing! Well, this is the situation some 5,800 Mozambican nationals have found themselves in. Hundreds of them, including unaccompanied children, have been fleeing from Tete Province, near the Malawi border, since late last year following renewed fighting between government forces and opposition Renamo fighters.

BLANTYRE, Jan 18 (IPS) - It is 9 am in the morning but the scorching sun makes it feel like mid-afternoon. This type of weather is what experts are calling El Nino; a heat wave that is affecting countries in southern and eastern Africa.

BLANTYRE, Jan 15 (IPS) - Being a single mother at the age of 19 is not what most teenage girls want for themselves. But this is the life Esther Mkwakwasa is living in Namphungo village in Mulanje District. Orphaned at the age of 14, Esther saw herself being moved from one foster home to another until she got pregnant.

BLANTYRE, Oct 16 (IPS) - Patrick Martin, 14, and his brother Mayeso, 15, are safely home for the moment with their mother and other siblings in Kasonya village, Phalombe District in southern Malawi, after they and 12 other children were rescued from being trafficked to neighbouring Mozambique last month by their father.