Blantyre

Hanover's Twin City in Malawi

Blantyre was founded in 1876 and declared a city in 1895. It is thus the oldest city in South-East-and Central Africa with a long history and a rich cultural heritage.

Blantyre, in southern Malawi, is situated in the mountains of the Shire Highlands at about 1,600 m altitude. With approx. 700,000 inhabitants it is the second largest city in Malawi. Blantyre and its neighboring town, Limbe, have a common parliament. The surface of both towns covers 215 km².

The two are considered the commercial center of Malawi and home of numerous national and international companies. Three of the five colleges of the University of Malawi are also situated here.

How it began:The partnership between Blantyre and Hanover

Historische Backsteinkirche in Blantyre — St. Michael and All Angels Church

The friendship between Hanover and Blantyre started when a delegation of young Malawians visited Hanover as a part of their fact-finding tour through Germany. At the suggestion of Dr. Lore Henkel, member of the City Council and founder of "Friends of Central and East Africa Association", the visitors took home an invitation for ten young women to be trained as nurses in the “Oststadtkrankenhaus” hospital in Hanover. Thanks to the commitment of Mr. and Mrs. Henkel, the twinning with Blantyre was unanimously agreed upon by Hanover’s City Council on December 13, 1967. Until today, this city twinning is a motivation for personal exchange and for numerous municipal, cooperative projects dealing with development work. Both the Agenda 21 office and the Cultural Office of the City of Hanover have been working together with the cities of Blantyre and Poznań in the EU project "aware&fair" since 2011. Together, they work for the dissemination of the fair trade idea and the Millennium Development Goals and encourage the cultural exchange in the field of theater and music.

Further information

Malawi-Stiftung für AIDS-Waisen

http://www.malawi-stiftung.de

Deutsch Malawische Gesellschaft e. V.

http://www.d-ma-g.de/

The Warehouse Cultural Center in Blantyre

http://thewarehouse-malawi.net

Malawi Government Official Site

http://www.malawi.gov.mw/

Projects with Blantyre 2020-2024

28. May – 01. June 2024 The theatre group Youth Development Collaboration from Blantyre visits Hanover for the COMMON GROUND – Jugend spielt für Jugend international festival, meeting other youth theatre groups from Ghana, the Czech Republik, Turkey and from the region and city of Hannover (more in German)

22. – 24. March 2024 The cultural office of Hannover supports the Solomonic Peacocks from Blantyre with their Easter Theatre Festival

January – March 2024 Emergency aid programme of 150,000 euros for effective reconstruction aid after Cyclone Freddy (infrastructure at primary schools, e.g. school roofs, property fencing and sanitary facilities) (more in German)

24. January 2024 Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi) sends a fifth container of donations to Blantyre, full with medicinal equipment, sewing machines, musical instruments, and more

2024 Volunteers in the "Weltwärts"-Programme support the Solomonic Peacocks Theatre in Blantyre

2024 Construction of the carpentry workshop at Jacaranda Vocational School on behalf of Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi)

30. September – 10. October 2023 Project monitoring trip for the NAKOPA tree planting and well construction project

July – August 2023 Apprentices from the Music Centre and the Pavillon Cultural Centre assist the Jacaranda Cultural Centre and the Jacaranda School for Orphans in Blantyre in setting up a recording studio and provide expertise in hosting events (more in German)

17. – 25. June 2023 Hannover 96 donates tracksuits for Karen Chaula's girls' football team

31. May – 07. June 2023 School exchange between the Leonore-Goldschmidt-Schule in Hannover and the Chimwankhunda Secondary School Blantyre

12. – 14. March 2023 Appeal for donations to help with disaster relief after exceptionally strong cyclone "Freddy" in Malawi (more in German)

08. – 09. October 2022 Blantyre Arts Festival with the Temp Trio

October 2022 Four musicians and media designers from Hanover set up a sound and video studio at the Jacaranda School together with teachers from Blantyre

23. September – 01. October 2022 A delegation from Blantyre visits Hanover in time for the "5th Partnership Conference between German and African Municipalities" organised by the SKEW in Dresden

August 2022 Hanover-based Christopher Schmidpeter's master's thesis analyses the Blantyre market and outlines the redesign of the market square in terms of sustainable urban development

24. May 2022 The Ambassador of Malawi visits the state capital Hanover

End of 2021 The dancer Joshua Bhima from Blantyre visits Hanover and offers workshops in cooperation with the Monica Garcia Vicente Dance Project and Tanzpunkt Hannover e.V.

24. September 2021 Malawian vegan video cooking workshop followed by an online dinner: cooperation between the Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi) and the interactive online cooking workshop "Olze kocht" - a project of the Umweltzentrum Hannover e.V., with support from Blantyre

July 2021 BAF-Fights-Covid-Project 2021: With the support of the Cultural Office Hanover, the Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi) and others, the Blantyre Art Festival is rededicating its work in the wake of rising Covid cases - from festival preparations to fighting the virus

July 2021 Successful well construction on the grounds of Chimwankhunda Primary School

30. June 2021 Online exchange of expertise between experts from Hanover and Blantyre on various topics related to the Covid-19 pandemic (more in German)

29. June 2021 "One World Day" with Minister of Culture Tonne and Mayor Hermann at Limmer Grammar School. Musician and actor TJ Bless from Blantyre conducts a workshop on the topic of the global sustainability goals with the support of the Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi)

April 2021 The tree planting project in Blantyre, which began in 2018, is continued with funding from Engagement Europe

Beginning of 2021 To alleviate pandemic-related emergencies, Hanover is forwarding €50,000 from the "Municipal Corona Solidarity Package" to Blantyre (for training, medical protective equipment and face masks)

24. March 2021 Zoom conference on the situation of women and girls in Malawi with Gertrude Chirambo, Member of Parliament for the City of Blantyre, and Lydia Deborah Banda from the aware&fair club Blantyre, as well as representatives of the counselling centres Violetta Hannover e. V. and Baobab - zusammen sein e. V.

7. November 2020 Online workshop on consumer behaviour in Germany, Malawi and Togo to raise awareness about responsible consumer behaviour and promote sustainable development

Autumn 2020 Fundraising campaign for the Jacaranda Cultural Centre and container shipping

Summer 2020 Cooperation between the Hanover Cultural Office and the Jacaranda Cultural Centre is renewed

July 2020 Freundeskreis Malawi e. V. (Friends of Malawi) plans to ship containers to equip the new vocational school at Jacaranda Primary and Secondary School in Blantyre

Spring 2020 Opening of repaired wells in two primary schools, Mayera Primary School and South Lunzu Primary School in Blantyre. The project is financed by the Global Nature Fund (GNF) from donations raised by the Hanover project "Drinking Cups for Drinking Water"