Lilongwe

Lilongwe is the capital city of Malawi. It is split into different areas called.....areas! Some areas are more wealthy than others. In the same way, some areas are very poor.

Area 23

This is Area 23 from space! There is no tarmac on this photograph, every road or path that you see is dirt or mud and when it rains, each most paths turns into a fast flowing stream (Have a look on the aerial photograph on the Yankho page & see if you can find the school on this photo)

Yankho Elementary School is in Area 23 which is a very poor area of the city. Many people in this area are unemployed and some scratch a living by selling maize or charcoal at the side of the road or path. Area 23 is near the end of a tarmac road and the last 200 metres of the minibus journey that takes you to the area is on a mud road which, when it rains, gets very very muddy. The path to the school takes about 10 minutes to walk from the road and is all dirt or, when it rains, mud.

City Centre

Lilongwe city centre is known as the 'Garden City' because it is so green. There are large areas of open grass between buildings and roads and these have many worn paths across them which have been made by people taking short cuts from place to place. The city centre is the home to many banks and offices as well as headquarters of different organisations including development groups like Plan International and DFID, the British government's Department For International Development.

Old Town

Old Town from space. You can see the minibus meeting place slightly left of centre about 2cm from the bottom. Most minibuses start of end their journey here and it is very busy and chaotic.

Old Town is a busy bustling market area where every day hundreds of people come to trade, buy things in the market place and also change from one minibus to another. You can buy fruit and vegetables in the market next to the river as well as second hand clothes which have been sent over from western countries like Britain. You see many people wearing football shirts as well as other clothes that you wouldn't expect. Yesterday I saw two David Beckhams and I was sat behind a man whose T-Shirt said "Colorado Ski Instructor"!