To what extent are you allowed to arm yourself as far as defensive (non-lethal) weapons go? I've heard different things varying from zero tolerance to encouraged.
All weapons are illegal, but I'll probably take a knife with me after what happened last time.
I was walking home from the bar late at night, when a black mini-van (pretty rare in malawi) started following me. As I sped up, the mini-van sped up. I decided after turning the next street corner I would sprint to my apartment gate which was about 40 meters away. As I turned the corner, I sprinted. All I heard behind me was the mini-van open up its side door and accelerate hard. As I sprinted across the road, the van almost hit me, I started shouting for them to open the gate as the guards stormed out and the van drove off as the people in there were shouting.
Needless to say it scared the loving stuff out of me.