• Bamboo Lota spent some time in Govala, Zomba district, teaching 2-4 year old children English songs, dances, letters and numbers.

  • Two little girls in ripped dresses, faded and tattered, walked past us carrying bound firewood on top of their heads which they cut and gathered themselves; they couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

  • Children at Govala’s Orphan Care are congratulated with waving “gold star” hands; the future of Malawi rests on the tiny shoulders of these children.

  • Pushing their overflowing bicycles topped with heavy burlap sacks, charcoal traders drag and shove their teetering bikes all over the roads of Malawi, distributing their product to over 11 million charcoal consumers.

  • In Malawi, Bamboo Lota interviewed a community dependent on the illegal practices of the “macala” (charcoal) trade to survive. Pictured here are a few men involved in the charcoal production, who voiced their concerns about the depleting amount of trees, dangerous collecting processes, and legal enforcement of forest protection.

Bamboo Lota hopes to bring environmental, health, and economic improvements to poverty-stricken Malawians through the establishment of a diverse bamboo company. “Lota” means “to dream” in Chichewa and our dream is to bring real, positive change to the lives of impoverished Malawians through the use of bamboo products.