[nearbuy]

As the article states, that Malawi hasn't developed much industry or exports is more of a description of poverty than an explanation. Malawi can grow coffee, but mostly doesn't. They have rare earth element deposits, but little mining. Why haven't they developed more?

[autoexec]

> They have rare earth element deposits, but little mining.

When it comes to mining it looks like china has been screwing them over https://adf-magazine.com/2026/02/chinese-mines-openly-break-...

[red-iron-pine]

"belt and road" in action

[asdff]

When you consider places that do have significant mining, it isn't like that investment is exclusively home grown. Often what happens is it comes from external capital seeking permissive governments willing to give claims to these natural resources to these external companies to make a profit off of.

The fact that there is little mining of the natural resources in Malawi paints a picture of a government that might be less influenced by foreign money than others in the global south, moreso than any statement on poverty.

[nearbuy]

Are you suggesting that the lack of development and poverty is caused by good government?

[elmomle]

Could it be that they haven't been so infected by the money bug that for now they still have a society oriented around happiness and maintaining traditional ways of life rather than economic attainment?

[jonathanlydall]

I live in South Africa and my gardener happens to be Malawian, as was a gardener my parents had when I was growing up.

They’re both good people with pride in their work, but they are from poverty and have little in the way of skills except for manual labour jobs.

They came to South Africa, like so many from nearby countries, as our significantly more developed economy offers far better earning opportunity.

Not relevant to your comment, but want to also mention this creates xenophobic tension with the section of the local population which is in poverty as they feel their jobs are stolen. While there are certainly cases where people illegally employ immigrants to pay them less than locals, in cases where pay is at least equal, Zimbabweans and Malawians tend to have reputation of being more honest and hard working than the indigenous population.

We have Nigerians come here too and by contrast they tend to be super scetchy.

[doodlebugging]

I don't know why Malawi is poor but I was struck by how easily this comment can be paraphrased to describe somewhere thousands of miles distant.

*********

I live in North Texas and my gardener happens to be Mexican, as was a gardener my parents had when I was growing up.

They’re both good people with pride in their work, but they are from poverty and have little in the way of skills except for manual labor jobs.

They came to North Texas, like so many from nearby countries, as our significantly more developed economy offers far better earning opportunity.

Not relevant to your comment, but want to also mention this creates xenophobic tension with the section of the local population which is in poverty as they feel their jobs are stolen. While there are certainly cases where people illegally employ immigrants to pay them less than locals, in cases where pay is at least equal, Hondurans and Mexicans tend to have reputation of being more honest and hard working than the indigenous population.

We have Floridians come here too and by contrast they tend to be super sketchy.

********

I read your original comment and was struck by how well it fits the situation here in Texas. You could've made the same comment about South Africa 40 years ago and it would still translate to the situation in Texas.

I don't know how you feel about people coming to South Africa for a shot at a better life but have to say that I have the highest respect for those men and women who have left their homes and families across the border for an uncertain future here in the US despite knowing that it is quite true that in many jobs they will be paid less than locals who do less actual work. All of this while being gamed by employers who know that they are illegally in the country and who work closely with Immigration Officials to identify people who can be quickly rounded up and sent south to pad some politician's resume or to distract the public from some other more significant issue. The employers never suffer consequences though they are the ones who created the opportunity and actively assisted in concealing immigration status for many of the workers.

It is a complex issue that should be solvable but as long as there are powerless people to heap the blame on we will probably see this continue.

[jonathanlydall]

Yes, I was thinking as I wrote it that there are likely parallels to places in US.

And yes, it’s a complex issue for sure.

I’m convinced that the way out of poverty here is through education and sadly there is just a huge amount of apathy (when not corruption) at all levels here by the people who are supposed to be making it happen, from pupils, their parents, teachers, etc, all the way to the minister of education.

Meanwhile people like me pay huge amounts of tax and still need to pay for private schooling for my kids, private security and medical aid.

Essentially, most of the money I pay for tax is a charity intended for the poor, but due to apathy/incompetence/corruption, not nearly enough of it gets used effectively.

[doodlebugging]

Parallels.

The wrong people capturing the resources that were earmarked for useful purposes and using them to enrich themselves.

[jonathanlydall]

Corruption is a big problem for sure, but so is apathy and incompetence.

When my mother was doing community service at a clinic some years back (required by law for people who get medical degrees before being allowed to practice privately), the clinic failed to spend their allocated budget.

The money was made available, it just wasn’t used, this despite people like the speech and hearing therapists applying for things like hearing aids for patients from week 1 of the annual budget period.

I suppose it’s a product of corruption/nepotism, people get into positions of power and focus their time on “stealing” and perks rather than the job they are being paid for and supposed to be doing.

[aaronbrethorst]

They're fourth from the bottom on the happiness index. https://mwnation.com/malawi-named-the-4th-least-happiest-cou...

[abigail95]

Would you want to live there?

[cylemons]

As a non Malawian no, but I do think its important to ask what the local sentiment of their country is.

[dash2]

If you are very poor, material income is very important to your well-being. About one Malawian infant in thirty dies during infancy. This is not “the good life”.