I am new on this Malawiana site. What can I say about this place...kumeko ndiye kubwera!!! Most of you guys on this site are "Malawians in Diaspora". I come across passage in one of the documents of the agency of the government addressed to "Malawians in Diaspora" The following is the passage
Malawians in Diaspora
There is an increase brain drain of Malawian potential investors and academics that have left the country to stay abroad. The spread of Malawians all over the world denies the country of skills and resources that can be invested into development.
The department will undertake to conduct a study to learn how other countries have managed to turn around the situation e.g. Republic of China, and make recommendations on what should be done.
For the information of the the forum, in the 1960 up to 1990 a lot of Chinese from Taiwan went to the USA for studies and ofcourse few were returning. But what the government of Taiwan did was to come up with policy to encourage these people to come back to Taiwan as they had acquired specialised skills and expereinces in the USA. Now a lot of Taiwanese based in the US are return home to step up business, esepecially in the high tech industry. The high tech industry is Taiwan is dominated by returnees form US and other western countries.
My question to the forum is this: "Do you guys ...Malawians in Diaspora ... think that is possible for Malawi if Malawi's economic conditions were to improve. Is it something that you guys could consider? I just wanted to hear the views of this forum.
first and foremost thumbs up for such interesting topic,to begin with malawi will always be a developing country no matter how much investiments we put into gear,not because malawians are inept,but because of our location and natural resources which are always a financial backbone to every country in Africa,Taiwan's neuclear program was set up by Taiwan citizens who learned their trade in taiwan,because of the availability of resources not because they studied in America or Britain,they cant speak a single word of english but they drive their countries expatriate power to match with the world's super powers.
if we had resources in Malawi and our leaders were not corrupt our country would have developed rapidly because malawians are hard working people.
this is only one man's opinion,and i welcome any criticism.
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all i have is my word,and i dont break it for nobody.
I applaude you for starting this topic. it is indeed a sad case, apparently this is one of the contributing fact to the AIDS epidemic in malawi. aparrently healthcare workers are living malawi at an alarming rate for greener pastures in other countries, living the sick in malawi very little chance of surving due to the lack of medical care, and then the little manpower that is left is usually wiped out due to AIDS! what a mess. but then even if malawians who are abroad were to return, nothing would change. Not that many malawians are abroad are in school or "qualified"!! as sad as it may be most pple especially those in the US are living for the moment. working hard to shop hard, forgetiing tomorrow is another day. be educated and atleast you will have a fighting chance if all goes array. honestly can u imagine 10 or 20 years down the line where some of us will be? exactly where we are today. So my dear friend I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel if malawi is banking on those abroad to rescue it. unless malawi needs lessons in fashion (sean john, roccawear) then the future is secure!
The facts brought forth by Nyamzumara on the link below may help shade more light on the issues you raised. I thought this was an interesting read. Also see the comments made by Ayatollah.
NyaMzumara et al had hard hitting words indeed. But considering we are all Malawians what are we doing for the country ?
Have we opted to stay in the Diaspora and 'safely' point at all the 'ills' from a distance ? Are we back home and trying to influence policy in whatever 'small' way we can ?
There are well meaning and intelligent technocrats in Malawi; and we would do a lot of good if we know we are talented to make a difference to the Motherland to pick up a gun and join the battle in the trenches.
There is an increase brain drain of Malawian potential investors and academics that have left the country to stay abroad. The spread of Malawians all over the world denies the country of skills and resources that can be invested into development.
Not all Malawians in diaspora are intellectuals...zinazi ndi mbuzi heavy.