Forgotten Children

The Malawi notebook was compelling.  For me it was like the wreck on the side of the road that you can’t help but slow down to stare at. I read it, and then read it again and felt ashamed that it was so easy for me to sit here in a country rich with doctors and hospitals and a legal system to protect our children and wonder why things are so difficult in Malawi. The entire writing was a beautiful and telling tribute to a desperate culture.


Mia Kirshner’s I Live Here project is amazing. She is raising awareness about the conditions of this destitute country through activism and art. While the entire notebook was fascinating, the pieces about the Kachere Juvenile Prison really stuck in my mind. Many of these boys are in prison for menial crimes because they have no family to support them. But there they are, caged in conditions that we wouldn’t even let our animals live in. They live with constant fear, hunger, illness, pain and sadness. These kids are starved for any sort of attention and Kirshner attempts to address this need through art.  It wasn’t until I had read this a second time that I thought wow, this is a great thing to do and it makes a fabulous story but it’s kind of like window dressing. These kids eat one time a day and we’re handing them water colors and showing them painting techniques. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s fabulous that Kirshner is doing it. Most of these kids have no family and no education. This is probably the only time many of them will ever get to do anything like this. Every minute, every penny, every thought for these forgotten children counts.

I went online to read more about her project and found that she felt the same way. She notes in Lessons in Falling: Growing Up in Malawi Prison, “This approach, I realize, comes from a place of privilege and freedom. I confused art as being a basic need” (Huffington Post, 10-12-09). After coming to the realization that this program is not meeting the actual basic needs of the inmates, Kirshner steered the project in another direction. The program now focuses on education and a healthier, cleaner environment. The Ministry of Environmental Health gets involved and the building and inhabitants alike are “scrubbed down”. She hires a teacher from Chancellor College and the Ministry of Education provides books and materials. Even the guards are being educated. Kirshner also finds a woman who teaches them about permaculture. This allows them to be more self-sustaining so they can grow their own food and it gives them the knowledge to carry it forward when they are released from Kachere. She also partnered with PASI, a non-profit para-legal organization that is focusing on the rights of the children that have been imprisoned. Kirshner’s project is now giving some dignity to those who have had none and giving these people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and move forward, as she did.