There are an estimated 15,000 children living on the streets in Malawi. They do so for a variety of reasons, such as poverty at home, family breakdown or the death of parents, and with poverty increasing across the country this number could rise in the coming years. Life on the streets impacts these children, and society more widely, in myriad ways. It is obviously very difficult on the children themselves, but also is sometimes seen as preferable to life in poverty-stricken villages with very limited opportunities to earn a living. As a recent Guardian report revealed, cities provide more opportunities to find food and money, but those opportunities are often risky and dangerous themselves, causing harm both to the children and to the wider community:
““Surviving as a masikini [street
child] is not easy,” says a boy named Chisomo. “We mostly depend on handouts
from kind people, and we can at times scavenge dumped food from restaurants or
hotels.” He admits that many children end up in gangs, attacking people and
property to survive. “We get the money we use for drugs and food,” he says.”
Muggings, violence, and drug use, are an
unfortunate fact of life for street children in the cities of Malawi. With
poverty increasing around the country, especially following the devastating
impact of Cyclone Freddy in the southern region, street
crime is also rising as desperate children look for ways to feed themselves
on the streets. Of course, children living on the street also meet significant
barriers to their own personal development. Many are out of school, and the
longer children find themselves on the street the harder it can be to return to
education.
This challenge was a foundational one for the founders of The Butterfly
Foundation for Peace, an NGO with a mission “to improve the education,
health, and social welfare of the children of Malawi”. Currently, The Butterfly
Foundation operates in Blantyre, the economic capital in Malawi’s southern
region, and the second largest city in the country. During my time in Blantyre
for my PhD research, I was fortunate to be introduced to the founders of The
Butterfly Foundation, Andrew Raphael and
David Arond, in a chance meeting that would dramatically change my
perception of what was possible in terms of supporting the children I saw
asking for change around the town centre.
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| Andrew chatting with some of the street children in Blantyre over lunch. Credit: Butterfly Foundation for Peace. |
Andrew, board member and director, explains on their website why he decided to work with David to set up the Butterfly Foundation:
“"I used to be one of the
'street children.' Growing up on the streets is hard: besides the daily
struggle simply to survive, I was a victim of physical and emotional bullying.
"But I was so lucky to have
been plucked from those circumstances by an incredibly loving family. They
treated me as their own and enrolled me in a good school where I was able to
advance my English language skills.
"Why did I choose to help
set up Butterfly Foundation for Peace? To give hope to people who have
literally lost hope…”
David, founder and CEO, met Andrew and was immediately
impressed by his ability to speak to the street children, find out what they
needed, and find ways to make it happen for them. In fact, in our first meeting, David revealed how
Andrew’s effectiveness at interacting with the other street children had
resulted in an unexpected problem for the finances of the fledgeling NGO: “Andrew
was too good at finding the street kids and engaging with them. I only had the
money for about 20 kids for all this, and now we’re supporting 47 every day!
Andrew is brilliant, and he works with the kids very well because they
understand each other.”
I acknowledged that this must be a sign that the Butterfly
Foundation must be doing something right, if so many of the children want to
engage with the programme, but such a “good problem” to have is causing issues
with funding for the project, which wants to grow further but is limited by its
current financial situation. The fact that so many children are involved already
also demonstrates the sheer level of need in Blantyre alone. Butterfly
Foundation for Peace has only been active since December 2021, and yet it has
achieved so much already.
Based in a small site in Blantyre’s Sunnyside neighbourhood,
the Butterfly Foundation Centre boasts a space for children to come to before
or after school every day, to eat a nutritious meal (for some, the only guaranteed
meal they will have), and to engage in extracurricular activities to support
their educational development. Teachers give them extra lessons in things they’re
struggling with at school, and occasionally get them connected to other
students from around the world through the classroom’s projector. In chatting
to students from as far away as Canada and the UK, they can practice their English
and learn more about other cultures far away. Through my links with The Kanji Project, I’m hoping to set
up a call between the students at St Antony’s and those at Butterfly, but
already the international group of trustees and supporters have enabled the
Butterfly Foundation students to connect with others from around the world. They are looking to expand on this initiative, bringing in connections with schools in Colombia, China, and Israel, showcasing a school that teaches Jewish Israeli and Palestinian children together to highlight Butterfly's dedication to peace in its programming.
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| The wall of the classroom at the Butterfly Foundation's site in Sunnyside |
One particularly interesting part of the programming of the Butterfly Foundation is its focus on mindfulness. Founder and CEO David is a mindfulness practitioner and Zen teacher. As he explained to me at the Centre, meditation has helped him in his own life, and he sees the power in teaching what he has learned to children who have already been through so much. Many street children have suffered trauma, including many of those who now come to Butterfly, and mindfulness and meditation is a step towards supporting resilience and recovery from the things they have dealt with. The Comprehensive Mindfulness Programme the Butterfly Foundation offers is based on four guiding principles and goals through which we seek to inspire children:
- Creativity
- Responsibility
- Critical Thinking
- Social Relationships
The program plans to address these goals specifically
through teaching Music, Art, Drumming (local arts), Yoga, Meditation, Critical
Thinking Exercises, and Social or Community Responsibility. All of this is
focused on building the self-esteem of the young people in the programme, and
showing them what they are capable of. Andrew himself acts as a model for
children, who can see how he overcame the odds to fill his role as Director of
the project.
I visited the centre with David on his first time returning since
his arrival back in Malawi, and his enthusiasm for seeing the children engaging
in the meditation practice was palpable.
“You can feel the difference in the kids meditation between
then and now.” He said to me. “It’s like they really take it seriously now.
These kids have gone through hell, you know, and some of our classes with them
and the work we try to do to support them in their lives can be very stressful
and triggering for them, so it’s great that they seem to be so much calmer now
than before.”
Andrew, who has been managing the school since it opened,
nodded his agreement. “I’ve had some of the kids tell me they meditate
themselves in the morning now, before coming here, and others have taught their
parents to meditate.”
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| David leads the children in meditation on his first day back at the school. |
You can feel it when you visit the centre. The kids are not just happy and enjoying themselves, they’re not just getting a nice warm meal for lunchtime, or getting support in classes they may be struggling with. They’re growing more confident in themselves. I only got to visit the site once, and the programme has not been around for long, but its unique approach feels incredibly powerful. I was quite moved by my experience speaking with Andrew and David and seeing how they operate. I see a great value in their programming, which not only teaches skills and provides the basic necessities to children in great need, but also takes steps to build their emotional and social strength in a way I’ve not seen in other charity programmes I’ve interacted with in the past.
The Butterfly Foundation offers something new for the street
children of Blantyre. Their goals are to reach more children, to run more
programmes, to grow and help to reduce the number of children on the streets
across the whole country. It is a difficult task that will require a huge
amount of dedication and support from those of us who want to see a change in
the lives of these kids. In my short time with Andrew and David, I have great faith
in their ability to continue to impact more children in Blantyre and,
hopefully, across Malawi, in the future.
In my research diary I kept in Malawi, I found this quote I
had written down from David, which sums up his vision for the Butterfly
Foundation for Peace:
“We want to help give these kids
the skills to feel like they are valued in the world. Rebuild social
connections with their families and with each other. Make them feel confident
they can achieve what they want to. So many of the street kids you see develop
drug problems or get into crime because they think that’s all they have. Andrew
is evidence that that is not the case. It just takes the right support. We need
to figure out what the right support looks like.”
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| Andrew, David, and I enjoying a drink in Blantyre. Just two of the amazingly inspirational people I was lucky enough to meet in my time in Malawi, and certainly two that are having the biggest impact with their work. |
Figuring out what that support looks like is a difficult challenge. But meeting passionate people like Andrew and David has inspired me to try to think differently about how I can more effectively achieve social resilience in myself and in the projects I support. If you can, please do take the time to learn more about The Butterfly Foundation for Peace, and support them.
There are an estimated 2,000 street children in Blantyre alone. Reducing that number to zero is a monumental challenge, but it is one we should all be striving to achieve. Real change is needed to improve the family and housing situation for vulnerable young people in Malawi. Real structural change is needed to reduce the number of families in Malawi impacted by poverty. I spent my time in Malawi working with NGOs building shelters and houses for people impacted by disasters, and developing long-term livelihood and resilience-building projects for people recovering their lives in the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy. It is hard work, but real change is possible. I was constantly inspired by the people I met in Malawi working on making these changes across the country, but Andrew and David at the Butterfly Foundation approached these challenges with a uniquely powerful insight. They were making changes in the material realities of these children, but they were also helping to build their self-esteem and emotional understanding.
And, as mindfulness experts will tell you, real change comes
from the inside.
“Street children” is a term used by journalists, NGOs,
policymakers and others to describe those young people living on or taking to
the streets in cities to attempt to earn a living, but it is also inherently
problematic. Due to ease of understanding, I also use it here. For a detailed
discussion of the term and its use, see Hendriks’
(2017) discussion on “Street Youth and Home” (p42 – 45) for more on this.
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| Andrew and David with the flag of Malawi. Credit: Butterfly Foundation for Peace. |
