Villagers in Malawi End Land Dispute Over New Girls' School

Madonna, shown here with her adopted son David Banda in Malawi last year, is building a school for girls in the village of Blantyre, just outside Malawi’s capital. (Associated Press) Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/02/12/madonna-school-malawi.html#ixzz0fx1ospbdAbout 200 villagers in Malawi have ended their protests, agreeing to leave government-owned land, so that building can begin on the $15 million Raising Malawi Girls Academy outside the capital, Lilongwe.

Raising Malawi is building the school for girls on approximately a 117-acre plot of government land near the capital, Lilongwe. The land had been used by villagers for farming when it was not utilized by the government, but Malawi reclaimed the land when the educational project emerged. via AP

Villagers have agreed to accept compensation of $105,000 to replace their mud huts, gardens and trees on new government land.

Phillip Van den Bosche, who runs the Raising Malawi foundation has expressed frustration over media reports that thrive on creating gossip-column news over an alleged land-grab conflict.

“If you visited the land prior to this allocation, you would have found that there were at the most one or two small huts” on the land, he said. “The people who were on the land now have an equivalent plot of agricultural land where they can continue their farming … The community will be enhanced by this.”

CBC News reports that today village leader Binson Chinkhota addressed a crowd of 200 protesters, insisting they make way for the school. “We have been compensated,” he said, “and this school is a pride for us as it is the future of our children.”

Read on: Madonna’s charity head blasts land dispute reports. AP