The warm heart of Africa
Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries and Neno is reputedly one of Malawi's poorest Districts. 85% of the population lives in rural areas and 90% directly rely on agriculture for their livelihood.


Malawi is an elongated landlocked country in eastern Africa just over 1000km south of the equator. It is bordered by Mozambique which runs along the south eastern, south and south western edges.
Zambia is to the north east and Tanzania is to the north and west. With its approximate 220,000 square km it is smaller than England and about 20 per cent of the country is Lake Malawi, Africa's third largest lake.
Most of Malawi lies in the great Rift Valley of eastern Africa.
Lilongwe, in the central region, is the capital. However, Blantyre/Limbe, in the south, is the largest town and is the commercial 'capital'. Until recently the parliament seat was situated in Zomba.


Malawi has a population of about 12 million. Most descendants are thought to have come from the Bantu tribes who occupied most of sub-equatorial Africa. Recent history has been significantly influenced by the arrival of Dr Livingstone in the mid nineteenth century. He witness the brutal slave trade and, from a sense of altruism, believed Christian mission to the country would be its only saviour.
British influence began and has continued ever since.
Independence came after WWII and in 1963 Dr Hastings Banda became the first independent Prime Minister.
A multi-party democracy has since seen Dr Bakili Muluzi as leader and in 2004 Bingu Matharika was elected President.

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