Inside the Happiest Slum in Malawi (Documentary)

For the last 66 years since the decolonization of Africa, the West have portrayed the image of deep sadness in countries like Malawi. For anyone who hasn't visited themselves, the idea of happiness in these economically poor areas is inconceivable. So tell me why Joseph has a smile that lights up a room. In this documentary, I accompany a millionaire into the heart of a refugee camp, delivering aid to hundreds of families. We meet educated refugees who are trapped by unfair policies. I have a diploma, I have a degree, but I can't find a dignified work. But it's not just about the camp. We explore schools and health clinics that Samir has funded. Today is a very special day. Feed hundreds of children and dive into Malawi's bright culture. This is not just another sob story of Africa. This is an on-ground human exploration of life here. A journey that proved to us all happiness was never solely created by wealth. Are you nervous to meet Samir for the first time? No, I'm not nervous. I am very excited, very happy and humbled to meet Samir at the airport. So Joseph, why do we have the flowers? It's part of welcoming him. It's traditional. Yes, it's cultural and traditional that he is welcome. This is what you guys are going to see. Yeah, yeah. It's an Uber share. Name is Samir Muthwani and my role or job is e-com. We start e-com businesses. So you're a serial entrepreneur? I would say so. Yeah, I would say so. Except everything I do exists in e-com, right? So we only do Shopify. We only do Facebook ads. I try and exist in what I know, right? Because growing up, I used to watch other people who would make money online and then kind of teach it. And then I became one of those people. And I'm like, wow, now I actually have a say. You know, people can actually listen to me. It's surreal. It's completely surreal. I never thought that I would get to the position that I am at right now. But I'm happy I'm here. Today you're going to put on two t-shirts. Okay, cool. Here we go, wear the t-shirts today. Thank you, I appreciate it. Why are you here? It is pretty unnormal. Well, to give people at home context, I've been building schools around the world for the last couple of years, honestly. Charity has been a huge part of my life. It's probably one of the top things I spend money on. All my life, I've never actually visited the places where we've helped. I want to see the people, the kids, the staff, everyone we've helped. I mean, that's why we're here. This is awesome, bro. My name is Joseph Farrington Kiri. I was born and raised in this village, Tongozala. I am part of this just because the foundation is in my village. I am proud to have this foundation. Being a member in the village, I need to take part and contribute. At first, it felt completely surreal. Because a lot of people at home don't realize I'm a high school dropout. And I'm 21. I just turned 21 a couple months ago. I'm a kid myself. These kids are not much younger than me. So it's completely surreal to sit here and see all these adults, all these elderly people, all these kids, all these parents. And I'm like, I'm a dropout. And I've just funded and created this whole community of people and teachers and everything. It's just, yeah, I really couldn't conceptualize it. And I'm still processing it. It's been days after. I'm still processing. Today is a very special day. It is a day of joy, celebration, and new beginnings. As we witness the graduation of our Early Childhood Development Center. Let me begin by giving our warmest and most heartfelt welcome to our special guest, Mr. Samir, one of our biggest and most precious donors. We are deeply honored that you are here in Malawi with us. Your presence here today is a powerful reminder that compassion has no borders and that when we work together, we can transform lives. Joseph explained it really well to where I remember we were at one of the charity sites and he picked up a rock and he was like, OK, this is what you've been doing. He's like, this is you and your money. And he just threw the rock over. And he says, that's us, wherever the rock landed. He's like, you've been throwing money across the world. You don't know where your money slash the rock has been ended up. And now you've come to the rock and you see all the stuff that you've built and all the stuff you've done. And you can see that it's actually worked. It's like you're actually helping people. Awesome. Feel amazing. And I can't really put into words how happy I've been these last three days. Seeing all the kids smiling, seeing the staff, seeing Joseph, for example. It's been surreal. It really has been surreal. And yeah, it's definitely pushed me to do more charity. I think I knew all like my whole personal brand career. I wanted to push charity as much as possible. I wanted to be known as the guy who gives because I can motivate more people to do that. But after this trip, it's just like time to double down because this genuinely is, and I can speak for everyone here, one of the best experiences I think we've ever had. So you feel like you have a sort of responsibility to the people that are looking up to you to show them a better way to spend the wealth that they're inevitably going to be building if they see you as a role model. 100%. I just know for a fact that people that watch us and they do the same business as us, they learn from us, they're going to make money. That's going to happen. And if I can influence the way they spend that money for the greater good, to me, that's the biggest win possible. Look how big this is. How much work it deals. Then I do 10. Make it rich. A biohack. Imagine being pregnant doing that. You guys are going to feed a whole village. Okay, this is my grandmum. So how old is she? It's over 90. 90 years old. Yes, yes. Does she know that we're coming? Yeah, she knows. I'm Sami. Sami. Yeah. How is it possible for her to shake your hand? Yes, of course, of course. Of course. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. I would be happy. We're only going to keep helping. We're going to make sure that it gets better. Yeah, of course. God bless you guys. Can you tell your grandmothers that they raised a good grandson? Extremely friendly to us and we're very thankful. Thank you so much. Why do you believe primary education is important in rural areas? You have a good foundation. You have a bright future. See, it has changed. It has changed everything in my community. The kids were happy, smiling to go to school. They are able to eat. They're able to dress and to have a school uniform. So it was beautiful. How does it feel for you personally to see your village have the school and the food and the community that you dreamed of when you were a child? To be honest, very, very happy with the foundation. And I'm always proud of this foundation because that tells me that kindness, generosity has no borders. I want to take my house in. All of it? Yeah. No, just give them all. Bye! See you later brother. Austin, make sure you organize. By 7 o'clock I'm about to leave. Yeah. I learned many languages in my lifetime. One of those languages being cow. Moo. I don't speak cow. I actually speak cow, bro. I know cat, bro. Do you think this mindset has come from your upbringing, your parents, or the environment that you've been in the last few years and how you've seen stuff like that? Taking a little detour. As boys, when we see fire, we must run towards it. It's our natural instinct. So, Joseph is taking us into the fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's just always been, and this is a great question, it's always been common sense to me about like, okay, why do I need another supercar when there's kids starving? Or like, why do I need another nice watch when there's kids starving? And don't get me wrong, I want the people at home to know I do still have nice things. I'm not one of those completely, I don't have anything, I just give it all. I'm not one of those people. I still have nice things, but I still think it's important to be balanced, right? If you're going to have nice things, you should definitely help a lot of people. I think a lot of people at home are going to realize how inexpensive it actually is. I would say in the online money space, it's kind of normal to aspire to have like the luxury trips. And how does a luxury trip that I'm sure you've been on before compare to something like this? Where are we today, Joseph? We are at Nafuse now. And what is this? The villagers welcome Sami. Sami is one of the donors who has helped people in this community. So do they do this every time a guest comes? Yes, yes. We do that. It's very warm. Yes, it's very warm. It is the warm heart of Africa. Honestly, I would say this is much better. From just a standpoint of joy, you feel more warm in your heart. You feel more fulfilled. And you can look back at this and be like, wow, we did something good. I love the dancing. And I'm so grateful for everybody here. I love each and every one of you. Woo! That was... That was heavy, I'll tell you that. When we got to the medical clinic, obviously we saw how they set up everything, all the medicines. And I saw a mother holding her child. And we obviously walked over to where the doctors were and I saw the same mother holding her child and the doctor was like, we actually just tested this child for malaria because he's been sick and we just got the results and it came out positive. Family planning register. Oh, okay. Do they give birth here? No, not their birth. But some contraceptive metal plants I think he went for malaria check-up. What are the results? Positive. He prescribed the tablets, yeah. And you have the medication to help. It's very, very important, the medications there. And if anyone doesn't know this at home, malaria is fatal for anybody who's under 5. So all these kids that get it, basically their faith is dead. Thank God the tablets were there, we had all the medication there and again, $1 tablets, they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the donations we've made. And that surreal feeling of this child I'm looking at would have died if it wasn't for this tablet, I don't know how to put it into words. I don't know how to open the door. Today is not just about food, it is about love, about kindness and about future. To our dear guest, Angel Osamia, on behalf of all the children, teachers and families in this community, I say thank you from the deepest place in our hearts. Today over 300 children are not going home hungry, they are going home smiling because someone far from here, someone very far from Malawi chose to care. This meal you have given us again, this meal you have given us is more than food, it is dignity, it is hope, it is a reminder that our children are not forgotten. How does it feel when you see the children that you fed? It feels so good, man. That's probably the best feeling on the planet. Just knowing that all these kids are going to go home with a full stomach. And that's not normal out here. As weird as that sounds, it's a rarity to sleep with a full stomach out here and the fact that we can provide that for these kids today, that's just, that means the world to me, it really does. And you told me you were close to tears when the child came up to you. Yeah, I was very close to crying. When the two children came up and they gave me a performance in English telling me that something along the lines that because of you our bellies are full and something about how they can dream now and they can actually be educated because their bellies are full, because think about it if your belly isn't full, you can't learn you can't do anything, you're just hungry. And I was this close to crying. I mean, when you just see a kid telling you because of you I'm fed, there's something that happens in your body that's just I don't know how to describe it, I really don't. But I hope this video portrays it, the way we put it together. Chicken skewers this one you said was good? Spiced the spiced desserts as well. Yeah, so we're going to go to the camps tomorrow, but we're trying to feed as many people as we can, because it's hard to get food and cash out here, but yeah, I think we're going to do it, we're going to do it. Around there? To feed 100 families so we need, I think there's our 5,000 USD, 10 million, and then we're going to take the, go to the grocery store tomorrow, the supplier and give them the money and they'll help us take everything to the refugee camp. Alright, looks like we're good. Over there is where we eat. About half of the camp? This is half of the camp. The other camp is on the half of the road. So when you fly a drone, you should be able to see the other half. You can see the density is different, the local communities are more spaced, the refugee camps are just cramped into one small space. And you were saying that the only water they have is this? This is the only water for 60,000 people. Probably more, 100,000. So what is the big challenge here? So the water goes down to the boreholes, we'll have a look when we go down, but there's a borehole down here, there's another one over there, so they have to queue and when the water runs out, they probably wait into the night. Into the night? No, it's a school, this is a school. You can see it. Let's have a look. Thank you brother. You touched upon how important it is to have people on the ground that know what they're doing and kind of blindly giving because you think it's right isn't enough. And how important do you think it is to connect with the locals that your work is going to? It's everything. It's definitely everything. Just coming out here, seeing Joseph, seeing all the other people that we've helped, it's been a game changer. This is going to sound kind of contradicting, but knowing that now that they've seen me and they know I'm going to keep supporting them, it's kind of put more weight on my back. It's kind of motivated me more in a weird way. We want to start this building to these people. So as you can see, some are in and some people are outside. So once we are done, we will start this mission. I just want to say thank you guys for being so kind and letting us in your home. Me and my friends travel around the world to come here and just help you guys out. I know these people need more help. We've helped them, but we need to keep helping them. I know I'm going to keep helping them. The fact is that if I can wake up every day and think, okay, I have all these kids and all these people that are reliant on me to help them, that to me is such a positive fuel. Now I can take it to my business, into my life and just go for it. Hey Samir, how are you feeling? I feel great. This is awesome. It made me cry. This is so good. We completed the mission. Are you happy? I feel so happy. It doesn't get better than this. A lot of people will go on these extravagant vacations and come home and be like, I'm recharged. I'm ready to get back to work. I've never felt that way until today. After this whole entire trip, I'm like, now I have this other family on the other side of the world that I have to help. It's just super motivating. That's a really impactful way to see it. My name is Muriel Ilunga. Where are you from originally? I'm from Congo, DRC. How long have you been in the camp? I've been here for let's say 24 years now. 24 years. What is the biggest challenge for you at the moment in life? There's an encampment policy. By law, refugees are not allowed to stay out of the camp. And there's also restriction to work. By law, refugees are not allowed to work and get a salary. So it's really hard. The encampment policy, it's, well, it messes in my own life. It messes with my mental health. In the restriction of work, I have studied, I have a diploma, I have a degree, but I can't find a dignified work where I can get a good salary so that I can fend for my children and my parents and siblings. So it's really frustrating. How important is something like this for your day-to-day life? Well, at least someone remembered us. Creepy. So now we're actually going to deliver one of the bags of food to a lady that's actually paralyzed. She's not able to come to the ceremony thing that we set up, so we're going to deliver it to her directly. That's fine, yeah. Thank you for letting us in the home. Thank you too for making time to come Of course, of course. I love it, I love it. She's so cute. Give me some. Thank you for letting us in the home. It's very beautiful. How are you guys doing today? Good? Give us a recap of today. How are you feeling? Today's been amazing. We're wrapping it up now. We're going back to the hotel but it has been one hell of a day. We got to come here. I was kind of worried we weren't going to be able to feed everybody but we came here and we gave food to as many people as we could and God is great. I'm glad I'm able to do this. It's a blessing. Honestly, it's a blessing. They got toys. Ready? You're going to pull it. They made the toys. If you have one message to share to the rest of the world, it can be people in America, in Europe, in China. If you have something you want to say or share, it's your opportunity to do so. Well, for me, I'm grateful that people around the world remember vulnerable individuals living in various communities in the world. For those people that give out, it reaches people like me. It gives hope to people like me. It never goes unnoticed. It is noticed. We know the world has remembered us. We know someone has remembered us. Whenever there's a call for help or they're visiting countries, let them know that their presence itself, and even their gifts, goes a very long way. Yes, we're grateful. That was beautiful. Thank you so much. I want to make it very clear that there's nothing special about me or what I do. Giving to other humans and helping people out, that's one of the most natural things that you can do. Ever since we were cavemen, we're helping people out. Helping our neighbors, giving sugar to our neighbors. It's a very common thing that's been in human nature since we were born. I want people to lean into that more. I really think that if more people leaned into normal human nature, just helping other people out, you'd just live happier lives. I've never been happier in my life, seeing the kids, being able to help these people, and knowing that I can keep helping them as well. I think the people at home, if you really lean into helping people and doing amazing charity work, or even something as simple as helping your neighbor, you'll live a happier life. A way happier life. I can put it on this. I found more happiness coming here, seeing some of the schools that we've helped build, seeing the people, than I think anything else I've spent money on. This has topped it by 3x if I had to quantify it. If I could leave the people at home with one message, it's help others. Amazing. Awesome. That was good.