- In Malawi, children’s rights are a matter of cultural discrepancy. While the government tries to push laws closer to international standards, which consider anyone under the age of 18 to be protected, the traditions of various groups around the country have other ideas of when a child becomes able to start a family. A recent report from the Centre for Youth and Children Affairs (CEYCA) denounced early marriage of young girls to be a rampart problem around the country. Representatives of the centre said they receive calls through a free telephone counseling service. Less than a month ago they had a visit from a 14 year-old girl who revealed her father forced her to marry in order…

- There is a sense that both the people organizing and attending the annual music festival Lake of Stars on the shore of Lake Malawi are limited to a certain well-to-do group of young Britons who are less interested in Malawian music than the kind of gigs they can attend back home. At least that seemed to be the attitude at the beginning of the three-day festival that is on its seventh year running. Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ken Lipenga, parachuted into Sunbird Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi, giving a dramatic official kickoff to the festival on Friday night. A couple of hours after Lipenga spoke of promoting Malawian culture through events like Lake of Stars, a Malawian musician stood…