Today Mette-Marit starts her five day visit to Malawi. Its her 2. trip abroad alone
Information from the embassy in Malawi: www.norway.mw
HRH the Crown Princess of Norway will visit Malawi on a work visit on 23-27 January 2005. She will be accompanied with the Norwegian Development Minister, Ms Hilde F. Johnson
The main objective of the visit is to focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and to study the response to this from Malawian authorities in cooperation with Norway and International Organisations.
In addition to arrangements in the capital Lilongwe, the Crown Princess will undertake a three days field visit in Malawi. During her stay, the HRH will visit both public and private hospitals as well as NGOs fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Crown Princess will also officially open a partly Norwegian funded conference centre at Mua Mission.
She's not a patron of such an organization, but the project she is due to visit, is one of the projects she worked with last autumn when she was stationed as a sort of trainee, if you can recall it. I think it was NORAD.
She is patron of FOKUS, Forum for Women and Development ,which also works with HIV/AIDS questions. FOKUS has gotten the 2005 National Fundraiser on TV which will collect money for "violence against women" I seem to recal that some where it was written that FOKUS was involved in this trip but I cant find it now.
She is the first forreign royal ever to visit Malawi, she was met by the Malawian Vice President Dr. Cassim Chilumpa, the minister of health, Dr. H. Ntaba and the Norwegian ambassador, Gunnar Føreland. There is only a reception on the hotel today, the program starts tomorrow.
Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit is on a 5-day visit in Malawi. The main focus of her visit is the prevention of HIV/Aids in the country and the medical treatment of HIV-/Aids-patients. Pictured here: The Crown Princess' arrival to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi
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Great photos. I love the one with the flags. I doubt that Malawi schoolchildren have flags of Norway though. Maybe. They probably would love Norway. So exotic to them. Something else for them to think about. Malawi, unfortunately, is one of the hardest hit countries from the Aids crisis. Let´s hope the Crown Princess´s visit will encourage more people to help to stop the suffering in this country.
It says that yesterday was the "easy" day with only official representation. The Palace, NORAD and the ministry of forreign affairs has done their best to prepare Mette-Marit for the things she will see to day and in the comming days. The ambassador in Malawi says it can almost look like a battlefield on some of the hospital there are people lienig every where, at the floors on the veranda outside. Many which are very thin and with big open wounds that are infected.
Scanpix pictures from Aftenposten
1 Arriving
2 She is accompanied by the press secretary (with glasses), a protocoll secretary, Anders Flågen former Aide de Camp to Haakon, and a personal assistant. She is from Denmark and her name is Torbjørg Hjøvarsdottir
3 With norwegian children
4 Two local children looking at the arrival
5-7 From the reception
Great photos. I love the one with the flags. I doubt that Malawi schoolchildren have flags of Norway though.
The children with the Norwegian flags are the Norwegian children who live in Malawi. They had apparently been looking forward to her visit for a long time, according to VG.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norwegianne
The children with the Norwegian flags are the Norwegian children who live in Malawi. They had apparently been looking forward to her visit for a long time, according to VG.
Yes, they probably have especially since this is the first foreign royal to go to Malawi and it´s a Norwegian princess.
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Posts: 6,408
Quote:
Originally Posted by norwegianne
The children with the Norwegian flags are the Norwegian children who live in Malawi. They had apparently been looking forward to her visit for a long time, according to VG.
Omelette on my face. Of course, those children would have Norwegian flags. I just thought I saw some more Malawian looking children with flags in some photos.(Foregoing the fact that Malawi is a melting pot of course). I shouldn´t joke at this time. The children of the country have suffered and continue to suffer enough. They continute to be in the middle of a horrible famine.
"A child in Malawi has a 25% chance of dying before reaching 5 years of age. A cholera outbreak orphaned 400,000 children. "
Let´s hope the Crown Princess´s presence and warm smile will bring joy to all of the children of Malawi. Mulungu Dalitsani Malawi.
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