Matt's Malawi visit excerpt

In October last year (2007) I had the priveledge to go to the village of Mchinji in Malawi to work with children who had rescued from trafficking. Below is some further information about the area and the project.

(image courtesy of G. Hodge (SAID))


Mchinji is a rural town in Malawi, 100kms from the capital Lilongwe and a short drive from the border with Zambia. Malawi has a beautiful landscape, mainly agricultural, with 85% of the population living on the land.

It is in this stark environment that families are preyed upon by human traffickers. Many of them probably don’t see themselves as that, but that is what they are. They see others, especially children, as a means to an end. They place little value on human life. Many of the children trafficked to this area are trafficked to work as herd boys or on the tobacco farms. They are lured with the promise of pay to their families after one year. A deposit is usually paid to the family to convince them of the promise – the average can be as little as 10 pence. It seems impossible to us to understand how families can be tricked in this way, but often they have never heard of trafficking, their poverty makes them vulnerable and therefore the offers they receive seem like a good opportunity.

The Salvation Army in Mchinji became aware of the problem of trafficking and of the urgent need to help affected children and, with the support of a local businessman, set up a centre to be a safe house for trafficked children. The project has been open for just over a year and provides counseling and support to help the children deal with the trauma of their circumstances, the eventual aim being that they can be reintegrated back into their own community.

For the full write up please click here.