There is no gold in Lake Malawi

Youth in Nkhotakota have been urged to focus on school and stop relying on fishing because the number of fish has drastically dwindled in Lake Malawi.

Chiefs in the district encouraged the youth during a campaign aimed to convince youths to stop paying much attention on fishing and to continue with their education.

Speaking with Malawi24 after the meeting, Group Village Headman Saidi said most youth in the district drop out of school thinking that fishing will help them to earn a living when they will grow up.

“I want to urge all youth in this district that substituting school with fishing is a big mistLake ake. The past times were better because our gold was fish and we were really making a lot of money from fishing. Let me remind them that number of fish has dwindled in Lake Malawi. I can just say that there is no gold in the lake at the moment,” Chief Saidi told Malawi.

The chief further said education is the only weapon young people can use if they want to make a living.

“Note that in the past everyone who was living in the lakeshore was regarded rich if that person owned a canoe, hook and fishing nets. Things have changed because you can never have food on the table using such equipment. This is a new era. Current powerful weapon is education, invest in it to be successful,” he told Malawi24.

Chief Saidi also warned parents who marry off their girls while young saying that they must stop the malpractice and help the girls to go further with their education.

One youth who attended the meeting, Raphael Banda, said it is really worrisome because many youths in the lakeshore districts and Nkhotakota in particular neglect education thinking that fishing will help them in the future.

Banda said most youth need to accept that in modern world education is the most trusted way of making it in life.

The meeting drilled youth from Saidi, Thandaza, Nkhandwe, Chiziri and Mtwana villages, all in Traditional Authority Malengachanzi in the Nkhotakota district.