Living Together in Our Community
What the domain tests
The exam checks whether you can explain how families and communities are organised in Malawi, how people cooperate, and how leaders resolve problems. Questions often use everyday situations: a village meeting, a funeral, a water point, or a dispute over land.
Core ideas
- A nuclear family is parents and their children; an extended family includes grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. In Malawi, extended families are common and provide support in farming, childcare and funerals.
- Umunthu (ubuntu) means seeing a person as a person through others: hospitality, sharing, respect and compassion.
- Community members have roles: children help at home; parents provide food and school needs; elders advise; chiefs settle disputes; teachers and health workers provide services.
- Traditional leadership usually runs from village headperson to group village headperson to Traditional Authority, then senior chiefs where they exist. These leaders work with elected councillors and MPs but do not replace them.
- Cooperation happens through village savings groups, funeral societies, church and mosque groups, and communal work such as moulding bricks for a school.
Worked example
A village borehole breaks down. One family says the repair is the chief's job. Another says only the council should pay. A good answer notes that the community can form a water committee, collect small contributions, ask the chief to call a meeting, and request technical help from the district water officer. Reasoning: the problem needs shared responsibility, not blame.
Traps that cost marks
Do not confuse an extended family with a clan. Do not say chiefs make national laws. Do not assume all communities have the same leadership titles. Avoid answers that list only rights and ignore duties.