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MALAWI
UTTERLY DEGRADED ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE Free Documentary video: Deadliest Roads | Malawi: The Spirits of the Mist Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4EmCPa4euY Burgess COMMENTARY In the late 1980s ... 1989 ... I was the team leader for a UNDP/UNHCR team tasked with helping to plan for an anticipated influx of refugees being displaced by a civil war in Mozambique. The initial thinking was that there would be about 300,000 refugees coming into Malawi over a period of about three months and UNHCR was planning accordingly. Our team travelled everywhere in Malawi south of Lilongwe, the capital. It became clear very quickly that the refugee flows were much higher than intially anticipated, and we revised our plans accordingly. In a period of less than three months more than 1 million refugees came to Malawi. I had some experience of working with communities in Africa over a period of around 15 years. I was not popular in a lot of development circles because I always tried to do as much as possible within the understanding and competence of local people many of whom had little or no formal education. While many of these people were illiterate where were far from incompetent ... and in very low resource settings could do far more than experts from London, or Washington or Paris !!!!!!! At a critical time when the refugee population was rapidly expanding, a refugee camp for 50,000 persons burnt down. The UNHCR team organized the refugees to rebuild the camp in days not months mainly by making available critical tools and essential materials. It was a great example of abundant human energy being applied well in a resource poor situation to get a good result quickly. One of the more difficult issues to address was that the situation of refugee affected area became better than in areas of the country where there were no refugees. The support being made available to refugees through UNHCR and other international programs was more and better than anything that the Government of Malawi was able to provide to the general population. Strictly applying the rules often had refugees living better next door to locals and even sharing accommodation ... a situation that would have had potentially bad consequences. From time to time a little laxity in rule application can be justified. The UN has many strengths ... but flexibility is not one of them. I will have a lot more to say on this subject elsewhere (TO COME) Peter Burgess | ||
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Deadliest Roads | Malawi: The Spirits of the Mist | Free Documentary Feb 13, 2022 Free Documentary 3.63M subscribers ... 1,160,905 views World's Most Dangerous Roads: Deadliest Journeys in Malawi (2018) The end of November in Malawi means the abrupt arrival of the rainy season. This does not bode well for Gray, a ‘bush taxi’ driver in this poverty-stricken country, where public transport is already practically nonexistent. Gray knows the rain will cause great trouble and isolation for the remote provinces, so he does what he can to help with his small truck. Throughout the journey, his passengers are faced with an array of obstacles. Enduring the bumpy ride in the back of Gray’s truck and sleeping in a game reserve surrounded by lions and elephants are just some of the challenges they will face. Meanwhile, when a child falls ill in Malawi, a choice must be made between walking 40km to the nearest free health clinic (which often lacks even the most basic resources), or handing their child over to the spirit of ‘Vimbuzu’…
Free Documentary is dedicated to bringing high-class documentaries to you on YouTube for free. With the latest camera equipment used by well-known filmmakers working for famous production studios. You will see fascinating shots from the deep seas and up in the air, capturing great stories and pictures from everything our beautiful and interesting planet has to offer. Enjoy stories about nature, wildlife, culture, people, history and more to come. MORE The end of November in Malawi means the abrupt arrival of the rainy season. This does not bode well for Gray, a ‘bush taxi’ driver in this poverty-stricken country, where public transport is already practically nonexistent. Gray knows the rain will cause great trouble and isolation for the remote provinces, so he does what he can to help with his small truck. Throughout the journey, his passengers are faced with an array of obstacles. Enduring the bumpy ride in the back of Gray’s truck and sleeping in a game reserve surrounded by lions and elephants are just some of the challenges they will face. Meanwhile, when a child falls ill in Malawi, a choice must be made between walking 40km to the nearest free health clinic (which often lacks even the most basic resources), or handing their child over to the spirit of ‘Vimbuzu’… 
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