Reporters

What's in store for Raymond Tebulo?

Reporters
Little Raymond is fortunate to have come into this world with wonderful parents in a country known as the Warm Heart of Africa. It's a country that's blessed with near-perfect weather, an enormous water supply, rich soil and a plethora of international organizations that are more than willing help out with some of the country's problems.
But in spite of the billions of Kwacha that are pouring in - earmarked to improve the lives of most every resident of Malawi - the Raymond's odds of a healthy, prosperous life are not good.

His life expectancy is slightly more than half of what it would be in most other countries. He runs a very high risk of contracting AIDS or malaria. If he does get sick, he's not likely to receive all of the free, government-provided medical services his government has promised him.

When it's time for him to receive the free education the government has promised him, he or his family will have to cough up money for the school supplies he'll need. There may not be enough, however, to pay for an actual classroom. He may have to sit outside under a tree while he listens to his teacher's lecture.

There's abundant water to drink, but his family is already paying about ten times what they're supposed to pay. He should be receiving enough nutritional supplements from the government to ensure he isn't malnourished, but he may not get it.

When it comes time for him to start a business, he may take out a loan and sign documents that are riddled with hard-to-understand clauses that will require him to pay outrageous interest rates. If he doesn't repay it on time, he may wake up to find his neighbors rifling through his things in an effort to secure the loan.

If he needs prescription medicine, he may not be able to get it for free at the government clinics or hospitals. Instead, he may have to buy it on the streets on the Black Market.

If Raymond is lucky enough to survive to become an adult, he may have difficulty becoming a father. That's because the hospital or clinic where his wife goes for the delivery will tell her that she has to provide her own surgical supplies and sanitary protection - or else she could die. The chance of his wife and his child surviving the delivery is lower than in most every country in the world.
The common thread in this bleak prognosis of life is corruption. Because of corruption, Raymond Tebula is sure to face a most difficult life.

A team of reporters from television, radio, newspapers and news services came together to learn just how ugly the monster of corruption is in Malawi. They embraced the challenge of reporting on corruption from the bottom up instead of from the top down.

They were participants in a month-long program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, a part of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's plan to assist Malawi in reducing corruption at all levels of society. They training came together through to efforts of Casals and Associates and career journalist from Malawi and the United States.

MalawiObserver.com is where the reporters are publishing their stories. When their training period came to an end, they had uncovered a disturbing trend. They found that the people who were most feeling the crunch of corruption are the poor.

Indeed, the reporters could have continued their investigations for many more weeks or months and they still would not have been able to write the complete story of corruption in Malawi.

These stories are a beginning. The participants of this team investigation have returned to their respective news rooms and are working to apply the skills they have learned. It will be difficult to measure the success of this brief project, but the reporters all hope that the citizens of Malawi will begin to see a difference in the way journalists report the news.

They have all vowed to continue reporting on corruption and to continue to turn their journalistic eyes in the direction of the poor and the unfortunate.

They're doing this for Raymond Tebulo and all of his fellow Malawians.
Angela Mkandawire
Arnold Mnelemba
Kazembe Kayira
Maston Kaiya
Chaliwa Truth Katola
Deogratias Mmana
Montgomarly Phimba
Mundango Myirenda
Ed Grant Ndoza
Dorothy Kachitsa
Noel Mkubwi
Penelope P. Kamanga
Casals & Associates
Staff & Consultants
Emmanuel Luciano
Edith Mkwalla
Able Mwanyungwe
Amanda Willett
Jayne Kaonga
George Mhango
Lumumba Kachina
Jacqueline Chipembere
Pilirani Tambala
Rex Chikoko
Mary Likupha
Don Ray
Theresa Kasawala
Rebbecca Chimjeka
Phillip Nankhauali
Pilirani Semu Bandi