ABOUT US

Background

Malawi is located in East-Central Africa and in size comparable to England. It has a population of about 12 million people. This makes Malawi not only one of the poorest but also one of the most populated countries in Africa. Malawi was a British protectorate named Nyasaland till 1964. During colonial rule the existence of a notable African history before the arrival of Livingstone was denied. Regrettably, this notion has subsequently spread into all layers of Malawi society. The current poverty hampers correction of this historical error. In view of the precarious financial situation, cultural heritage conservation and education, no matter how important for matters of identity and development, has low priority for national government, let alone for the average Malawian family that has to live on a dollar a day. As a result large groups of people have been disconnected from their past. This might well become an irrevocable process as, with the current scarcity of arable land, archaeological sites are continuously being destroyed. Intangible cultural heritage, such as masked dances, story telling and spirit possession rites, is being lost in the face of Christianization, democratization, and modernization. In light of this, the Mlambe Foundation was established to increase awareness of a Malawian past that is worth being proud of and the remaining vestiges of which need protection in order to keep the memory of it alive. This heritage can further be an inspiration for income generating activities that could contribute to wide-spread poverty reduction efforts in the country. In many respects, the past can be a resource for the present and the future.

Name and logo

The Foundation is named after the Baobab tree. Malmbe is the Chewa –the national language of Malawi- designation of this tree. A foundation of cultural heritage identifying with a natural icon calls for explanation. The Mlambe Foundation explicitly deals with Malawi’s entire cultural heritage, not excluding, nor emphasizing any ethnic group or historical period. In this respect there is no better suited symbol for the Foundation than the baobab that has a lifespan of thousands of years and can be found almost throughout Malawi. The baobab is not only a salient and long-lived feature in the Malawi landscape, she also has a long history of economic and cultural significance. It provides food substances (the fruits and leafs, and the honey from the bees in its cavity), and clothing and string (bark). Moreover, this big tree is often associated with ancestral spirits and it can often be found as the central village tree in the shade of which social life takes its course. The baobab thus is a living symbol of variety of age-old traditions and meanings.