Malawi is one of the most deeply impoverished countries on earth. The problems the people of Malawi face are complex, multi-faceted and inter-connected. The statistics are staggering and difficult for those of us who live in countries from the other end of the spectrum to even fathom:
- A population of 18.5 million people
- 1 million orphans
- Annual gross national income of $650 per person
- Almost 50% of the population moderately or severely underweight
- Mother’s mean age at first birth: 18
- 85% live as subsistence farmers
- Average life expectancy is 61
- 10% of the adult population living with HIV/AIDS
But these numbers can obscure as much as they reveal. Behind these statistics are real people, suffering from the effects of extreme poverty. There are many formulas that seek to define extreme poverty, some through average income, others by identifying deprivations across multiple dimensions including education, health and standard of living. But extreme poverty is not something that can be explained with numbers, it is far more visceral than that. Extreme poverty is hopelessness and despair. It is living on a knife’s edge, with one bad harvest, one illness, one accident the difference between life and death. It is a billion dreams destroyed, not deferred. It is a mother helplessly watching her child die of a disease that was eradicated in wealthier countries centuries ago. It is a father having to decide between sending his children to school or giving them dinner. It is being confronted day after day by choice-less choices.