Malawi: The Warm Heart of Africa

How a Blue Frog is helping Malawi's vulnerable children to live safe, healthy and happy lives By Faiz Kermani, author of the children's book The Frog Who Was Blue

Malawi is a small, but beautiful country in south-eastern Africa. It's known as the Warm Heart of Africa for the friendliness and kindness of its people and this reputation is encouraging ever growing numbers of tourists to visit. 

Despite Malawi’s wonders, the country still suffers from being one of the least developed in the region - and sadly, some of those most affected by poverty and inequality are its children. Children living in rural areas are effectively denied access to medical care, simply because they live in remote villages, which are often too far away from the nearest road. They suffer and die unnecessarily, often from diseases that are easily and cheaply treatable if only the appropriate medical care could be provided. Many of these children are hugely ambitious, and they are even doing well in education, but their dreams will ultimately go nowhere without help to keep them healthy.

Every child has a right to medical care. The World Medical Fund (WMF) is a small children's medical charity that offers practical life-saving solutions to vulnerable children living in remote areas of Malawi. Since 2003, WMF's mobile health clinics have treated over 280,000 sick children. WMF staff passionately believe that every child has a right to healthcare and its small “hands on, dust on the boots” team work closely with the local community. 

WMF is entirely reliant on donations for its life-saving work, but in today's fast-moving world it can be difficult to attract people's attention for ongoing support. As a small charity, WMF has had to think of new ideas to encourage funding. Ironically, it was some of WMF’s wonderful success stories that inspired me to develop a children's book with the help of the rest of the team.

Published in 2017, The Frog Who Was Blue relates the tale of how Biriwita the blue frog achieves unlikely success at Croak College, the most famous school for frogs in Malawi. This simple child-friendly story has enabled us to develop different ways to discuss WMF’s work in the country and has attracted a new generation of supporters. The book is available on sites like amazon and through the publisher www.troubador.co.uk (links to the different language versions are available below). 

All the profits from The Frog Who Was Blue go toward ongoing projects. However, the book also serves an educational role and WMF has had enthusiastic feedback from children in different countries – including those being supported by other children's charities.

Through translations into French (La grenouille qui était bleue) and German (Der Frosch, der blau war), the book has also been making its mark locally in Alsace and Basel. Over the past two years, we have run book-themed events at local schools and libraries and are looking forward to planning more - including in Germany. The events have proved very popular with young readers, who are very curious to find out more about the lives of children in Malawi.

We expect to have other translations in the future and hope that Biriwita the blue frog can continue to help Malawi's children to live safer, healthier and happier lives. 

Please do visit the WMF website (www.worldmedicalfund.org) to find out how you can support our work and follow us on social media (Instagram: @worldmedicalfund; twitter: @ukwmf). you can buy the book (paper version and ebook available) in either languages online at troubador.co.uk: French, English, German

If you are interested in hearing more about Biriwita the blue frog at your school, please do get in touch!  faizkermani@gmail.com