Moyo Wanga
My Life

Moyo Wanga, meaning My Life in Chichewa, is a participatory creative storytelling project in Malawi that supports people whose voices are often unheard to tell their own stories through their own lens.

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Using photography and other visual storytelling methods, participants from different marginalised communities, such as young people, people living with disabilities, caregivers, people living with HIV, and other underrepresented groups, are invited into a creative process where they document their everyday realities, dreams, challenges, and hopes for the future.

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These personal visual narratives are shared through community exhibitions and dialogue spaces that encourage reflection, empathy, and new ways of seeing each other.

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Why this matters​​

In many communities in Malawi, certain groups are systematically underrepresented in public narratives. Their experiences are often spoken about, rather than spoken by them. This includes people living with disabilities, caregivers, people living with HIV, young people in underserved areas, and others whose perspectives are rarely included in decision-making or public imagination.

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Moyo Wanga creates space to shift this dynamic.

 

Through a participatory artistic process, participants explore identity, agency, and lived experience. Photography becomes a tool for reflection and dialogue to reimagine it. The process opens conversations on issues that matter to participants, from stigma and exclusion to belonging, care, resilience, and the future.

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“Through these sessions, we discovered that this girl was being bullied. We now have sessions with the community to talk about how to deal with bullying.”
Lyn Munthali, Peer Suporter at iMind

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Goals​

• Enable people from marginalised communities in Malawi to express themselves through photography and creative storytelling

• Support identity-building, reflection, and social connection through artistic practice

• Create space for dialogue around lived experiences of exclusion and inequality

• Strengthen relationships between participants, their communities, and local stakeholders through public exhibitions and conversations

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Who it's for

Moyo Wanga works with people from a range of marginalised and underrepresented communities in Malawi, including but not limited to:

• Young people in rural and underserved areas

• People living with disabilities (including deaf and disabled children and youth)

• Caregivers of children with disabilities

• People living with HIV

• Women and men in vulnerable social or economic positions

• Other groups whose stories are rarely represented in public spaces

 

The project is always adapted to the context and needs of each group we work with, in close collaboration with local partners.

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Local communities

We work in partnership with schools, community organisations, care centres, health initiatives, and grassroots networks across Malawi. Each programme is embedded in trusted local structures to ensure accessibility, cultural relevance, and psychosocial safety.

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This collaborative approach ensures that Moyo Wanga is not a one-off intervention, but part of an ongoing local ecosystem of care, creativity, and dialogue.

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Why participatory photography?

Participatory photography is an artistic and social practice that uses image-making as a tool for reflection, expression, and dialogue. It allows people to document their own realities and to question dominant narratives about their lives.

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In Moyo Wanga, photography is a process of seeing differently. Both for participants and for the communities around them. Through this process, new perspectives emerge on identity, dignity, and belonging, opening up space for more inclusive ways of understanding and representing society.