Greetings to All Friends of Malawi
Celebrating Malawi’s Independence Day
Friends of Malawi would like to offer a happy Independence Day to everyone who
has a place in their heart for the warm heart of Africa! July 6th 1964 was the date that Malawi gained its independence – and changed its name from Nyasaland (as
named by the British in 1907) to Malawi. We’ll give some bonus independence day points to any former Peace Corps volunteers who can remember the origin of the name “Malawi” (read all the way through for the answer)…
Though Friends of Malawi is still experimenting with better ways of communicating, we are continuing to engage with our mission of connecting members with Malawi and providing small grants for projects in the spirit of grass roots development. We did send a prior newsletter back at the end of April, but with a new distribution system it seems that we didn’t get through many email spam filters. So we appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue to find the best ways to keep everyone informed and have some additional updates below.
Grants
Supporting Grassroots Impact
News from Peace Corps, Malawi
Peace Corps Malawi Welcomes New Volunteers in June 2025
New PCVs 2025
We’re thrilled to share that on June 3, Peace Corps Malawi welcomed a new cohort of Trainees who have begun their Pre-Service Training (PST). It’s always inspiring to see new volunteers step into service, especially during a time of global uncertainty. We wish them all the best as they embark on their journey to support Malawian communities.
Environment Sustainability Now Core to Peace Corps Volunteer Training
PCV environmental training
Another exciting new development: Environmental education is now fully integrated into pre-service training for education and health Volunteers. Trainees are learning biointensive gardening, composting, and sustainability practices. This ensures their work will have a lasting, earth-friendly impact on the communities they serve.
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.
And for the bonus points about the origins of the name Malawi, according to the CIA factbook: “Malawi shares its name with the Chewa word for flames and is linked to the Maravi people from whom the Chewa language originated.”
Tiyeni patsogolo—let’s keep moving forward.
Zikomo,
The Friends of Malawi Board
We’ve been having some issues with making sure our Friends of Malawi e-newsletters get out to our members, so are trying a new and more direct approach. This may mean we’ve included some people who previously asked to be unsubscribed or have missed some people who’d hoped to be updated. In either case, please feel free to send along requests to unsubscribe or be added to: [email protected]. And thanks for your patience with our all volunteer efforts!
Friends of Malawi, is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) (EIN# 52-1557532), and a qualified organization under 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Find us at https://friendsofmalawi.org/ or https://www.instagram.com/friendsofmalawi/