Greetings to All Friends of Malawi
Notes from FOM President Andrew Guest: This is the first Friends of Malawi newsletter for 2026 (sent to our members in February, but not posted to the website until May!), and I find myself cautiously hoping this year may bring greater stability—for our world and for anyone interested in international work such as that done by Peace Corps Malawi. For Friends of Malawi as an organization, we do seem to have achieved some stability: I’m pleased to report that at the end of 2025 all my fellow board officers were willing to renew their terms of service. That includes Bright Vandervoet (RPCV 2008-2010) as Vice President, Catherine Pargeter (RPCV 2006-2008, Volunteer Leader 2008-2009) as Treasurer, and Eugene Caruso (RPCV 1990-1992) as Secretary. We’ll hear a bit more from Eugene below, as he shares some Malawi stories as part of our quasi-regular newsletter feature.
I also have the sense from recent conversations with Peace Corps Malawi that they have found much more stable footing after the long disruption after the COVID-19 pandemic. They are hoping to welcome several dozen new volunteers in June, likely including a mix of the more traditional two years volunteers and the newer Peace Corps Response volunteer model. Many of you may have heard, however, that it is harder these days to find willing volunteers for many kinds of global volunteering – including for Peace Corps. Apparently in 1966 there were more than 15,000 Peace Corps volunteers in active service around the world, in 1985 Peace Corps set a statuatory goal of 10,000 volunteers globally (which it never met), between 2013 and 2020 volunteer numbers were consistently around 7,000, while the most recent numbers suggest there are only around 3,000 volunteers in service.
So for now it seems as though Peace Corps Malawi is likely to be somewhat smaller than when many Friends of Malawi served (though it is worth noting that there are now groups like our partner CorpsAfrica generating more service opportunities for Malawians themselves). And I suppose this makes it all the more important that we all stay involved and continue to do what we can to continue the cultural exchange. So read on for some further updates on Friends of Malawi activities and stories from our members.
Grants Update: Supporting Grassroots Impact
Apiaries from the Chaphuka Youth Beekeeping Project funded by Friends of Malawi through CorpsAfrica in 2025
Friends of Malawi is very grateful to many of you for generous donations last year that will allow us to renew our granting efforts to community-based projects that fit our grassroots exchange mission. After a down year in 2024, we had a (recent) record year for donations in 2025 – which has allowed us to re-stock the Peace Corps Malawi micro-grants fund that provides support to volunteer projects that require small funding outside regular volunteer resources.
These funds will also allow us to continue working with partners such as Mudzi Connect and CorpsAfrica for collaborative projects that are volunteer and community driven in areas including education, small enterprises, community infrastructure, and other efforts in the spirit of grassroots development. We are usually able to aggregate donations to provide small grants in the $2000 to $5000 range, and welcome suggestions for partners who have a connection to our miss
ion (usually
including some Peace Corps Malawi connections).
Stories of Malawi: Then and Now
As noted above, FOM Board Secretary Eugene Caruso has been spending some good time writing up old stories from his days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mangochi (between 1990 and 1992 – when Kamuzu was still serving as President despite likely being in his own 90’s!). Here he shares one very short remembering that mixes the physical and the cultural, and one more recent update from his continuing work to support the
Maziko Preschool project (which was initiated with help from Friends of Malawi small grant funds).
Eugene writes: While working in the hot tropical town of Mangochi, I needed to purchase wood timbers for a project I was working on. I was recommended by locals to speak to this older boy who represented men in the bush who cut timbers. We walked down a narrow path for a while and he told me the men were “Pafupi” or very near. Well as a usual Malawian we continued to walk and walk and walk deeper into the bush. We finally reached the men and the older boy said he would carry the planks on his head for me back to the street. As we were walking back with 3 huge timber boards on his head. We finally got to the street, sweat pouring down his face, I asked him if he really thought the timber cutters were – Pafupi, and he emphatically replied a number times, Iyi, Iyi, Kutali, Kutali Kwambiri – or NO NO VERY VERY FAR.
And Eugene reports: The funding from FOM initiated the Maziko Preschool in 2022 and continues to thrive with many preschool children attending. The campus of the school playground area and enclosed brick fencing demonstrates the interest by the local villages to send their children to Maziko.
Maziko continues to be a beacon of education for the children from the surrounding villages and they graduate into Standard One. We would like to further expand the school to include Standard One and plans are in the discussion stages to determine the requirements.
As a foot note, the Director of the school’s wife has received an acceptance letter to attend Nkhoma University to study for a Bachelor of Education in Social and Environmental studies.
Thank You for Being Part of This Community
Founded in 1987 by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, FOM remains a nonprofit rooted in friendship, solidarity, and grassroots partnership. We’re proud to be affiliated with the National Peace Corps Association and grateful to each of you for your continued support.
Do you have a memorable story about your time or work in Malawi? We’d love to post it and share it with our members! Please send your stories to us at [email protected].
Please look forward to ongoing updates—and we invite you to stay engaged as we continue supporting projects and volunteers in Malawi.
As always, we are unable to support projects or continue our work without the generous donations of our members. If you would like to give, you can do so through friendsofmalawi.org.
Tiyeni patsogolo—let’s keep moving forward.
Zikomo,
The Friends of Malawi Board