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NAME: Dreams and Discoveries
SIAS: William goes to the TED talk and gains more popularity.
QUOTE: "If you want to make it, all you have to do it try." PG 281

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the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise

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A venture capitalist is an investor who either provides capital to startup ventures or supports small companies that wish to expand but do not have access to equities markets.

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Silicon Valley located around Santa Clara and San Jose, California, is the home of many key U.S. corporations that specialize in advanced electronic and information technologies.

The name came to symbolize a type of high-risk business characterized by rapid success or failure, extensive job mobility, and informal behavior, traits thought by some to be the wave of the future.

If there was a single founder of Silicon Valley it was William Shockley, an English-born physicist who worked on early concepts of the transistor at Bell Laboratories before World War II and who went on to become the director of Bell's Transistor Physics Research Group.

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PG 267
"Where the world see junk, Africa sees rebirth."

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-Determined
-Generous
-Motivated

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NAME: Recognition
SIAS: Willia is recognized for his creation (windmill) and optimism.
QUOTE: PG 260 "... but my God, what a pleasure it was to be learning in a real school."

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Technology (T), Entertainment (E) and Design (D)
TED represents the unity between great minds and inventors through conferences.

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Come and See why Windsor Chico Care Center has become the choice for skilled nursing and rehab services in the area. Our team of professionals understand the importance of creating a warm, comfortable environment for all residents. Let us show you how we help people recover from surgery, injury and serious illness.

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Define: recognition or affirmation that a person or their feelings or opinions are valid or worthwhile
On PG 255 William is backed up when Mchazime says he is limited without education.

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1.Affable
2.Persistence
3.Sincerity

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NAME: Wiped and Recovered
SIAS:

His mother is infected with malaria

Chief Wimbe dies

HIV/AIDS awareness from William

They blame him for the drought

William gets beat up while getting maize

QUOTE: (pg. 249) “In science, we invent and create,’ I said. ‘We make new things that can benefit our situation. If we can all invent something and put it to work, we can change Malawi.”

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Williams Effort to End the AIDS/HIV Stigma With Art(s)

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Williams Effort to End the AIDS/HIV Stigma With Art(s)

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William organized a play based on HIV/AIDS to educate the public and spread awareness.

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AIDS: a disease in which there is a severe loss of the body's cellular immunity, greatly lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy
HIV: interferes with your body's ability to fight the organisms that cause disease ; HIV is a sexually transmitted infection

Only 11 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women in sub-Saharan Africa receive treatment to prevent spreading the virus to their child.

HIV/AIDS is the cause of about 1 million deaths in Africa every year.

71% of the HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2011 were people living in Africa.

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11 Facts about HIV in Africa | DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change

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There are roughly 23.8 million infected persons in all of Africa.

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1. The Creature
2. The Windmill and the Rain
The people in Malawi look around and see what? The Windmill!!! So they blame to person behind the invention. They are so superstitious that they HAVE NO ONE ELSE to blame!!!!

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DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Two former students from Burkina Faso have designed a mosquito-repellent soap, which they hope could be a simple and affordable solution in the fight to end malaria, but more funds are needed to test the idea, according to the startup behind it.

Moctar Dembélé and Gérard Niyondiko, the brains behind Faso Soap, were awarded a $25,000 prize for their invention in 2013 when they became the first African winners of the Global Social Venture Competition at the University of California Berkeley.

Yet Faso Soap must be tested to ensure it is safe for human use and effective at preventing malaria before it can be mass produced by soap manufacturers in Africa, said Franck Langevin, campaigns director for the Ouagadougou-based startup.

The soap, created from natural oils and plants, could prove successful in preventing malaria as it would be cheap and rely on existing habits of African households, Langevin said.

"People in Africa are very reluctant to change their habits, but soap is present in most homes, and is used for bathing, cleaning the house and washing clothes," he said.

The soap is designed to repel mosquitoes up to six hours after being applied, and once soapy water is thrown away on the street, hinder the insects from breeding in stagnant water.

"It is a simple and affordable weapon in the fight against malaria," Langevin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last month, Faso Soap launched a crowd funding appeal for $113,000 to finalize the development of the soap with the aim of distributing it in six African countries hardest-hit by malaria by 2018, working with soap manufacturers and aid agencies.

Last year, there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide with the mosquito-borne disease killing 438,000 people, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jo Lines, reader of malaria control and vector biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, praised the idea behind the soap, but said it would be dangerous to rely on an untested product to protect against malaria.

As a social startup, Langevin said Faso Soap has struggled to attract funding from donors, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations children's agency (UNICEF), prompting the inventors to turn to crowd funding.

World leaders committed to ending malaria by 2030 when they adopted the Sustainable Development Goals last year.

Europe last month became the first region to be declared malaria-free after reporting no indigenous cases in 2015, and a former WHO official said the world can eliminate the disease soon, but only with more investment to end and keep it at bay.

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Mosquito-repellent soap invention seeks to wash away Africa malaria threat

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Two former students from Burkina Faso have designed a mosquito-repellent soap, which they hope could be a simple and affordable solution in the fight to end malaria, but more funds are needed to test the idea, according to the startup behind it.

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Biogas: gaseous fuel, especially methane, produced by the fermentation of organic matter
Connection: Motto is supposed to save trees and women!!!!! It's so sad that Will and his family can't get them :(

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On PG 230-231 William tried to create biogas to make cooking easier. He tried to boil goat poop and it blew up in his face.

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On PG 224, "grooving through life" means these people have no real plan and are living off of small ganyu. Ganyu is a crucial poverty issue in Malawi because: After own-farm production,ganyu is the most important source of livelihood for most poor households - for some it is becoming even more important than own-farm production.

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NAME: Before the Fall
QUOTE: PG 215 "The broken beam had also dumped hundreds of squirming termites onto the floor and across my bed."
SIAS: Willams roof in his room caves twice, and he improves the windmill with a transformer and circuit breaker.

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William is able to read after dark and even stay up later with his windmill.
Mister Godsten now views William as a go-getter and achiever (from what I understand).

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1. Added a setup transformer
2. Improved the pulley system

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Definition: a device that shuts the circuit off if too much power if being cycled through

A circuit breaker is designed to "trip" so that the electrical flow is shut down when a fault is detected. On a small scale, this prevents a surge of electricity from damaging electrical appliances.

First, you may find that your circuit breaker trips when you turn on a certain electrical appliance in your house. In addition, large appliances, such as air conditioners, can also trip circuit breakers.

When your circuit breaker trips, you will be able to reset the switch on your own.

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Definition: increases voltage from primary to secondary (more secondary winding turns than primary winding turns)

We can make electrical energy pass more efficiently from one coil to the other by wrapping them around a soft iron bar (sometimes called a core)

Transformers do not work with direct current (DC)

The current in the first coil is usually called the primary current and the current in the second wire is (surprise, surprise) the secondary current.

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday FRS was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

Famous Michael Faraday quotes include: “But still try, for who knows what is possible.”

Faraday had only a basic education in a family that was not well off. He had only a minimal understanding of technical mathematical concepts but was still able to produce some of the most important scientific concepts in history and did so in a language that was clear and easily understood.

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SIAS: William finally finishes(d) his windmill and puts a small lightbulb in his room.
QUOTE: PG 209 "One day, windmills would be our shield against hunger."

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NAME: Fetch and Return
QUOTE: PG 187 "Just building something. You'll see."
SIAS: William goes into detail about his adventure for windmill parts.

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Windmill Design and Definition of Gratitude

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Windmill Design and Definition of Gratitude

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Design includes:

shock absorber

tractor fan

bearings

PVC pipes

Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

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When the older boys yelled at him in the market

His Mother yelling at him to clean up

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Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel

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1. Education is a basic right. Section 29 (1) (a) of the South African Constitution states that "everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education". Through the South African Schools Act of 1996, the national Department of Education has made educational attendance compulsory for all children aged seven to 15 (or the completion of Grade 9).
2. No-fee schools were introduced in 2007 and are being expanded over the next few years to include the poorest 60% of schools.

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NAME: Wind and Will
QUOTE: PG 169 "After looking at it that way, I felt confident I could build one, too."
SIAS: William tells us about how he began his own studies and used Geoffrey's notes to educate himself ; also talks about the end of the famine and its effects

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Kinetic Energy: energy of motion
Diode: a semiconductor device with two terminals, typically allowing the flow of current in one direction only
Electroscope: an instrument for detecting and measuring electricity, especially as an indication of the ionization of air by radioactivity
Electromagnetic Energy:  a form of energy that can be reflected or emitted from objects through electrical or magnetic waves traveling through space

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This video relates to Williams school because the content he is "learning" isn't quality nor sufficient to meet standards of employers and other peers.

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NAME: Old Friends and New Hope
QUOTE: "No magic could save us now." PG 151
SIAS: Williams kills Khamba to end his misery, Mayless contracts malaria,  maize is eaten and famine "ends."

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Cholera: A bacterial disease causing severe diarrhea and dehydration, usually spread in water.
Epidemic: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

The disease is mostly spread through contaminated water and food supplies.

People who have HIV or are malnourished have a greater risk of dying from cholera than others.

A total of 236 896 cases were reported in 2006, an overall increase of 79% compared with the number of cases reported in 2005

Seventy-five percent of people infected with cholera do not exhibit any symptoms.

If untreated, as many as one in two people may die.

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First I cried then I thought, "If that was my dog, and I knew what starvation felt like, I'd do the same. No animal should suffer such hell. Just release his poor heart before he suffers another second." Then I cried about that too.

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PG 150 - "His legs became horribly swollen, and if you touched his feet, your finger left an impression in his bubbled skin, as if his legs were filled with clay."

PG 153 - "When Mayless finally recovered, she was so this she was like a ghost walking among us."

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"I was flattened like a tube." (Simile)

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NAME: Skin and Bones
QUOTE: "-you'd never guess that eleven million people lived there, and at that very moment, most of them were slowly starving." P 131
SIAS: We learn about Williams grades on the finals and how me got into the crappiest secondary school in Malawi and how the famine "works" and takes full, extreme effect as people begin to die.

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Is society obligated to take care of the weak/sick?

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Is society obligated to take care of the weak/sick?

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No. Society as a whole is not obligated to care for the weak/sick. You don't have to give anyone, anything. But in William's case yes.

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Def: A disease caused by a plasmodium parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes.
Facts:

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female mosquitoes

Sub-Saharan Africa carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 90% of malaria cases and 92% of malaria deaths.

P. vivax is the dominant malaria parasite in most countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

Symptoms appear 7 days or more (usually 10–15 days) after the infective mosquito bite.

There were 212 million cases of malaria in 2015 and 429 000 deaths.

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NAME: Famine and My Fear
SIAS: William tells about Malawi's extreme famine.
QUOTE: "People were becoming desperate." (P113).

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Physiological: relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of living organisms and their parts
Mob Mentality: Group violence is most likely to occur when the group is large, people are able to remain anonymous, and people experience a diffusion of responsibility. Certain situations also play a role, such as when resources are scarce, we are surrounded by like-minded people, and/or when emotions are aroused.

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At the age of 74, Mahatma Gandhi lived for 21 days without eating food during a hunger strike. In spite of his old age and already gaunt demeanor, the civil rights activist was able to survive starvation.

According to some reports, certain people have managed alive for 70 days without eating food. What's fascinating about the human body is that even though we would die within days of not drinking any water, it's able to develop defense mechanisms that help us truck on without eating, for quite some time.

How does the body do it? Firstly, whether you are hydrated during your time of starvation makes a big difference. "The duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration," Dr. Alan Lieberson writes on Scientific American. Though numerous factors are present in determining how long we can live without eating, our bodies go through specific metabolic processes that help us to conserve energy when food isn't present, essentially buying us time to search for nutrition.

6 Hours After Eating

After we eat, our bodies digest food and break down glycogen, which are the molecules that store energy. This process produces glucose - a molecule that is used as a major source of energy and absorbed into the bloodstream.

Glucose is used as our primary energy source if we're on a normal eating schedule. This keeps us feeling well-fed and happy, because glucose goes to our liver and muscles, and fatty acids get stored for later use. Glucose fuels us for about six hours, and once it runs out, we begin to feel that "hangry" state when we're hungry and grouchy.

Starvation Mode: 3 Days of No Food

Your glucose stores may last you for up to 24 or 48 hours, though they will mostly be depleted after six hours. Then, not only will you be hangry, but your body will be entering a state of ketosis, which involves elevated levels of ketone bodies in your system. Ketone bodies are produced from fatty acids when liver glycogen is entirely depleted, and are used for energy. Typically, if you're fasting or starting a keto diet (a low-carb diet), your body enters ketosis. Sometimes this diet is used as a medical intervention to treat intractable epilepsy.

However, your brain can't be fueled by fatty acids as its only source of energy, so it will continue to use the last remaining glucose stores in your body. Your brain actually uses 120 grams of glucose every day, which is a significant amount - so when glucose is depleted, your body has to figure out a back-up plan for the brain.

On day three, your brain will turn to the energy from ketone bodies - getting about 30 percent of its energy from them. By the time it's day four, however, your brain will be getting nearly 70 percent of its energy from ketone bodies.

Eating Nothing for Over 72 Hours

The rough part happens after 72 hours of no eating - this is the stage of autophagy. Once the fats are broken down, your body turns to breaking down protein in muscles, essentially wasting away your muscles. At this point, your brain's requirement for glucose will have dropped from 120 grams per day to only 30 grams. But your brain will need to start getting energy from protein next. Breaking down protein and releasing amino acids into the bloodstream will produce more glucose; this transformation takes place in the liver, and your brain will be fueled by its much-needed glucose once again. Regardless, though your brain will be able to survive from protein, your muscles will slowly disappear.

Interestingly, the greatest amount of protein loss occurs during the first 72 hours. Afterward, the body adapts to conserve protein. Essentially, your metabolism slows down so much to the point that your body uses the smallest amount of energy as possible.

Your body may be able to survive for up to three weeks or even up to 70 days, depending on whether you're also hydrated or have plenty of fat reserves to use up for energy. However, at a certain point, your immune system will be weakened due to lack of vitamins and minerals. Typically, two diseases can occur in end-stage starvation: marasmus and kwashiorkor. Marasmus is a form of severe malnutrition and energy deficiency, characterized by loss of muscle mass and edema, or stomach bloating. Kwashiorkor is the most common form of malnutrition in developing countries, caused by not getting enough protein and also characterized by fatigue, edema, and decreased muscle mass.

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Now Entering Starvation Mode: What Happens To Your Metabolic Processes When You Stop Feeding Your Body

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At the age of 74, Mahatma Gandhi lived for 21 days without eating food during a hunger strike. In spite of his old age and already gaunt demeanor, the civil rights activist was able to survive starvation. According to some reports, certain people have managed alive for 70 days without eating food.

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UNICEF

Emergency Nutrition Network

Red Cross

Mercy Corps.

Overseas Development Institute

Oxfam

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A Global Response to Save Children from Hunger

Following one of the worst droughts in recent memory, an unprecedented humanitarian aid operation unfolded in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, UNICEF and its partners helped save the lives of countless children suffering from hunger, malnutrition and disease in the region and reverse the famine in Somalia.

As encouraging as these results are, the humanitarian crisis is far from over.

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A Global Response to Save Children from Hunger Following one of the worst droughts in recent memory, an unprecedented humanitarian aid operation unfolded in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Thanks to the generosity of donors, UNICEF and its partners helped save the lives of countless children suffering from hunger, malnutrition and disease in the region and reverse the famine in Somalia.

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arvest should be the time for celebrations, weddings and full bellies in southern Malawi. But Christopher Witimani, Lilian Matafle and their seven children and four grandchildren had nothing to celebrate last week as they picked their meagre maize crop.

Last year's drought, followed by erratic rains, hit the village of Nkhotakota hard. But this year the rains never came and, for a second year running, the family grain store is empty. If they manage their savings carefully and eat just one small meal a day, they may just have enough food for two more months.

By August, said Irish charity Concern Worldwide, they and tens of thousands of other small farmers in southern Malawi will have completely run out of food, with no prospect of another harvest for at least seven months. With nothing to sell and no chance of earning money, Witimani, Matafle and family will starve.

"I am worried the children will starve to death. I don't know what to do," said Matafle.

"We need food. We are in a desperate situation," her husband added.

Countries are just waking up to the most serious global food crisis of the last 25 years. Caused by the strongest El Niño weather event since 1982, droughts and heatwaves have ravaged much of India, Latin America and parts of south-east Asia. But the worst effects of this natural phenomenon, which begins with waters warming in the equatorial Pacific, are to be found in southern Africa. A second consecutive year without rain now threatens catastrophe for some of the poorest people in the world.

The scale of the crisis unfolding in 10 or more southern African countries has shocked the United Nations. Lulled into thinking that Ethiopia in 1985 was the last of the large-scale famines affecting many millions, donor countries have been slow to pledge funds or support. More than $650m and 7.9m tonnes of food are needed immediately, says the UN. By Christmas, the situation will have become severe.

Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Madagascar, Angola and Swaziland have already declared national emergencies or disasters, as have seven of South Africa's nine provinces. Other countries, including Botswana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have also been badly hit. President Robert Mugabe has appealed for $1.5bn to buy food for Zimbabwe and Malawi is expected to declare that more than 8 million people, or half the country, will need food aid by November.

Serena Gadinala, from the in Neno district of Malawi, has tried different planting techniques but nothing worked and her crops continue to wilt. Photograph: Tamara van Vliet/OCHA

More than 31 million people in the region are said by the UN to need food now, but this number is expected to rise to at least 49 million across almost all of southern Africa by Christmas. With 12 million more hungry people in Ethiopia, 7 million in Yemen, 6 million in Southern Sudan and more in the Central African Republic and Chad, a continent-scale food crisis is unfolding.

"Food security across southern Africa will start deteriorating by July, reaching its peak between December 2016 and April 2017," says the UN's office for humanitarian affairs. The regional cereal deficit already stands at 7.9m tonnes and continues to put upward pressure on market prices, which are already showing unprecedented increases, diminishing purchasing power and thereby reducing food access. As food insecurity tightens and water scarcity increases due to the drought, there are early signs of acute malnutrition in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabawe.

For Coco Ushiyama, head of the UN's World Food Programme in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, just working out how to import a million tonnes of food, needed to support between five million and eight million people in Malawi over the next 12 months, is proving nightmarishly difficult. With no guarantees of money from donors, she cannot buy the food on the open market, or book ships and transport.

"We are very concerned. Last year, like many other countries in the region, Malawi had a double disaster with erratic rains and then floods which led into droughts," said Ushiyama. "Last year, 2.8 million people were affected. Then we had a deficit of 220,000 tonnes of food. This year, we are anticipating it will be four times as bad. The maize price is already exceptionally high.

"We are monitoring 50 markets throughout the country and already they are seeing abnormally high prices. We have very worryingly high admission rates for childhood malnutrition in health clinics. In some areas it is very serious already and it is likely to get much more serious. It will be a regional issue," she said.

The government has declared a disaster and will publish a new assessment of its needs in the next few weeks. The vice-president, Saulos Chilima, has said that about 1.3m tonnes of maize will be needed.

Politicians may talk of going on to the world market to buy a million tonnes of maize, but Ushiyama is unsure where it will come from. There is usually enough food in the region, but South Africa, which usually exports a million tonnes of food a year, will need to import 3.5m tonnes this year. Only Zambia may have enough food to export and it has imposed restrictions, she said.

"South Africa is in trouble. Nearby Zambia has had a better harvest than most countries but it has put export restrictions on its food. If we import it [from outside Africa], the food will take four to six months [to arrive]. We have learned from experience that the rains start in November so the roads will be terrible when the food is most needed and some lorry drivers will refuse to come. By November, we will need to have pre-positioned food in key areas. But to get it there by then means ordering the food right now," she said.

People are divide pulses among themselves at a United Nations World Food Programme food distribution centre in Chikwawa district, Malawi. Photograph: Tamara van Vliet/OCHA

Finding the cash to feed possibly 50 million people for eight or more months is the biggest problem of all, says the UN, because Africa's slow-burn crisis must compete with Middle East wars, refugees and natural disasters for attention. According to the UN, which is holding an unprecedented humanitarian summit this week in Istanbul, 125 million people worldwide need long-term assistance and a further 60 million have been forced from their homes by war, violence and disaster.

More than $1.5bn has been requested by southern African governments, says Ocha, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but less than a quarter of this has been pledged. Officially, the deficit is $677 million (87%) but this will grow when countries complete their assessments of the harvests in the next few weeks.

"The window for responding in a meaningful manner is closing rapidly," said Shadrack Omol, senior adviser to the UN children's fund, Unicef. "The concern is that slow-onset emergencies, like the one we are dealing with in southern Africa, do not get enough attention because they creep up on us."

John Makina, Oxfam country director in Malawi, said: "The donors just do not have the money; there is donor fatigue. Malawi has been hit by drought, then floods, then drought. The donors are getting tired of it. In 2015, Malawi alone needed $170m. In 2016-17, it will be far more.

"The full impact will be felt from October to March 2017. It's looking really bad. The most affected will be the poorest and jobless. They will end up selling what little they possess. The price of maize flour has already gone to 9,000 kwachas (£8.70) for 50kg. It will double again for sure," he said.

International development minister Nick Hurd, who has visited Mozambique, wants Britain to lead the humanitarian effort. But money cannot be given directly to the country following a corruption scandal, and the government must work through a consortium of NGOs, providing food vouchers, medical aid and food-for-work schemes.

"We cannot and will not stand idly by while millions suffer. Britain is playing a leading role in helping countries across Africa to cope with the impact of El Niño. Support for people affected by El Niño is important to Africa and also firmly in Britain's national interest," says Hurd.

In villages across southern Africa, people are fearful, unsure how they will survive. In Mozambique, where Britain is contributing £11.8m over three years, some food aid has arrived in the village of Mblalava.

A farmer tries to grow crops with the help of a United Nations supported irrigation scheme in the Neno district of Malawi. Photograph: Tamara van Vliet/OCHA

The women are ecstatic: "It's been two and a half years since we had good rain," said Rosita Chauque, a mother of three. "When the drought started we used to be able to find vegetables in the bush, but even these have gone now. We used to make and sell charcoal, but there are so many other people doing that now it's not possible. We have thought of leaving, but where to? We have no crops in the fields, no food for the cattle and nothing for ourselves. There is no water, no grass. People are selling their animals. They have no other resources. There is a lot of suffering."

"The situation is critical," said Abdoulaye Balde, the World Food Programme country director in Mozambique's capital, Maputo. "We are at the point of no return."

Droughts and "hungry seasons" are common throughout southern Africa, but the breadth of this year's crisis is very unusual, says Caoimhe de Barra, Malawi country director of Concern Worldwide. Her frontline workers see rural people already employing traditional coping strategies, including eating wild foods, taking children out of school, selling their animals and assets.

"Early action is key. If we can start supporting people now, we can save lives and prevent an even worse situation later this year. People are not currently dying of hunger but the overall health of the population will be severely affected by hunger-related illnesses. Malnutrition will blight the life chances of countless more Malawian children," she said.

The secretary general of the International Red Cross, Elhadj As Sy, who visited Malawi and Zimbabwe last week, said: "Much more needs to be done to support communities to survive and strive over the coming months. We met families who have received no external support and who are simply desperate. We need to urgently scale up our interventions to prevent this situation from becoming a catastrophe," he said.

Relief from Africa's long drought may finally be coming, says the World Meteorological Organisation, which is monitoring the temperature of waters in the Pacific. These are said to be cooling rapidly and are expected to be "neutral" by mid-June. That, says the UN, signals the coming end of the El Niño, the droughts and the worldwide heatwaves.

The effects, however, will not be felt in southern Africa until April 2017 when the next main harvest should be in. But, says the WMO, there may be a sting in the tale. There is a 50:50 chance that the continent will be hit from September by El Niño's climatic "twin", known as La Niña, which develops as the Pacific Ocean equatorial waters cool after an El Niño.

Instead of droughts, La Niña usually brings heavier monsoon rains in south-east Asia and much cooler and wetter conditions in southern Africa.

"We pray hard for rain and then we must pray harder that it stops. Is there no end of extreme weather?" said Malawian villager Richard Kapenda.

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Across Africa, the worst food crisis since 1985 looms for 50 million

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A second year without rain threatens to bring catastrophe for some of the poorest people in the world. Donor countries, in the grip of wars and refugee crises, have been slow to pledge funds. But by the time they do, it could be too late

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https://cstiegler12.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/family-life-in-malawi/

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Name: Corrupt and Crumbling
Quote: "He didn't look up. "I'll think about it," he said, gasping. "But it sounds like the same deal as yesterday." (P.91)
SIAS: William tells us about the corrupt politicians in his country, the extreme hunger and famine, bicycle dynamos and his curiosity once more.

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Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation

The Rwandan genocide took place over a period of 100 days, from April 6th, 1994 to July 16th, 1994

By members of the Hutu majority government

An estimated 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the genocide.

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beating someone for righteous views and vital necessity preaching

cutting down trees to fund unneeded things, making a village poorer by the minute

remodeling buildings that are rarely used instead of feeding the deathly starved people in Malawi

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A condition in which the blood doesn't have enough healthy red blood cells

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poor crops

death of children who starved

scorching hot sun

illness spread

eating scraps to survive

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Because outside peoples keep cutting down trees, which Malawians sell for wood among many other things, they are becoming poorer by the day.

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Deforestation: the action of clearing a wide area of trees

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RIPPLE Africa receives many general enquiries asking about the natural environment in Malawi, Africa, and particularly about deforestation in Africa. To help people wishing to gain a better understanding of some of the complex environmental issues Malawi is facing, we have provided a page about the environment and deforestation in Malawi and, most specifically, the Nkhata Bay District where RIPPLE Africa is based.

The environment is one of RIPPLE Africa's three main pillars of activity. It is also the charity's only area of focus which goes beyond our own local community: RIPPLE Africa's environmental projects span the entire Nkhata Bay District, an area of just over 4,000km². RIPPLE Africa's environmental projects include tree planting, fruit tree projects, fuel-efficient cookstoves, forest conservation, and more.

Environmental Overview

Malawi is a landlocked country in south-eastern Africa, bordered by Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. Malawi is 118,000km², but one fifth of the country is made up of Lake Malawi, so actual land area is 94,080km², roughly the size of Scotland and Wales combined. The Great Rift Valley runs through the country from north to south, and Lake Malawi lies to the east. Land is made up of mountains, plateaux, hills, valleys, flatlands, and lakeshore. Malawi has a sub-tropical climate, and experiences a rainy season from December to March, a cold dry season from April to August, and a hot dry season from September to November.

Malawi was previously heavily forested. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), forest cover is now just 34.4% of the total land area of Malawi (UN data 2010) (fallen from 41.4% in 1990). The Northern Region, where RIPPLE Africa is based, has more forested areas than the heavily populated Southern and Central Regions combined.

The challenge for Malawi for the future, with its rapidly growing population, is to help communities to develop a more sustainable approach to the environment.

Deforestation for Farming

Most of Malawi was originally covered by forest but, over the years, people have been cutting down the trees and burning them where they fall to open up areas for farming - this is commonly known as "slash and burn" agriculture. In the past, these areas were farmed for one to three years, and then the farmer would move on, cut down some more forest, and start all over again. Whilst the population of Malawi was small, the environment was able to recover as the trees would regenerate but now, with the population doubling every 25 years (in July 2011, the population of Malawi is estimated to be 17.2 million (2015 Source World Bank) - see Malawi Facts and Figures), there is increased pressure on available land. Today, more than 80% of Malawians live in the rural areas and are subsistence farmers.

During President Hastings (Kamuzu) Banda's time in office following Malawi's independence from Britain in 1964 until 1994, the forests in Malawi were protected. However, with the arrival of multi-party politics and democracy in 1994, the people believed that they had the freedom to do what they liked, and huge areas of forest have been cut down in the past 17 years to provide more farmland to produce food. The result is that much of the country has very few forests left and, in fact, it is not possible to see a large tree in many places in south and central Malawi.

In Nkhata Bay District, the area in which RIPPLE Africa is working, there are still large areas of forested hills, but these are disappearing very quickly because people from other areas of Malawi are now moving into the District and cutting down the trees illegally. The deforestation in the hills is causing a major change to the landscape and to the climate. As soon as the trees are cut down, the soil is exposed to the rain and, in many places, most of the top soil is washed away into the rivers and eventually into Lake Malawi. This is leaving the hills infertile so that trees and crops do not grow well, and the soil that is being deposited in the lake is affecting fish stocks which, together with over-fishing, is causing a dramatic reduction in the number of fish that are being caught in the lake.

Other Reasons Why Trees Are Cut Down

The main reasons why the trees in Malawi are cut down are as follows.

Wood is the main fuel in Malawi, and 95% of homes still use wood or charcoal for cooking. Nearly everybody uses three-stone fires for cooking, and each fire consumes about three large bundles (weighing about 30kg each) of wood per week. In many areas, wood is now becoming very scarce. Although the government has a number of laws to restrict the sale of wood and charcoal without a licence, the practice is very common throughout the country. The use of charcoal for cooking is more common in the major towns, but charcoal production and the sale of charcoal is illegal. However, despite this, the people in rural areas produce many bags of charcoal which are transported to the towns. This fuel is incredibly wasteful as it uses a considerable number of trees to produce one bag of charcoal.

Most houses in Malawi are made from bricks, and these are commonly made by putting clay soil into moulds and then drying them in the sun. These sun-dried bricks are then built into a large kiln and vast amounts of wood are used to fire them. In October/November, it is normal to see people burning their bricks all over the country, but there is no restriction on this activity at the moment. To make enough bricks for a small family house would require three large mango trees or the equivalent.

There is now very little hardwood available in Malawi for timber production. Sawyers walk up into the hills and cut down the best hardwood trees to make planks for building and for furniture.

Although wood is such an important resource in Malawi, the Malawians have been very poor at managing their woodland and replanting their trees.

Agriculture

Malawians used to farm the old traditional crops of millet and sorghum which are disease and drought resistant but, as with most of the other countries in Africa, maize was introduced by the World Bank in the 1950s and is now the most popular crop as the staple food in Malawi. Ideally, maize needs good soil and nutrients, and sufficient water, but it is susceptible to disease and drought. Maize is commonly grown in the rainy season from seed which farmers have to buy, and it is planted in December. Unfortunately, Malawians rarely rotate their crops and often, at the end of the season, the fields are burnt to clear them so that the nutrients are destroyed and there is very little organic matter in the soil. Hence, increasingly, farmers rely on expensive, chemical fertilisers to increase their crop yields.

In Nkhata Bay District, the most common crop is cassava from which a flour similar to maize flour is produced, and this is used as the staple food in the area. Cassava is reasonably easy to grow - a short piece of stem is planted in the ground, and this will grow throughout the rainy and dry seasons. As with maize, this crop is regularly planted without rotation. In the dry season, October/November, many farmers burn the bush as a quick way to clear their land, and children set fire to the dry vegetation for fun, with devastating results. All of the organic matter is destroyed, and homes, trees, and seeds are also burnt, often leaving the soil sterile.

Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi, which is the ninth largest lake in the world, is a major part of life in Malawi. It covers one fifth of the country and, traditionally, people who live along the lakeshore are fishermen. As a result of large-scale soil erosion due to deforestation, the lake is suffering from siltation which, together with over-fishing, has caused the fish stocks to reduce. In the 1970s, the average consumption of fish was 14kg per person per year, but it has now fallen to about 4kg per person per year because of the reduction of fish stocks in the lake and the growth in population.

Videos

Forest Conservation: Signing of Bylaws (9:08)

Deforestation, Bush Burning and Forest Conservation (2:51)

Fish Conservation: Fish for Tomorrow (6:41)

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RIPPLE Africa receives many general enquiries asking about the natural environment in Malawi, Africa, and particularly about deforestation in Africa. To help people wishing to gain a better understanding of some of the complex environmental issues Malawi is facing, we have provided a page about the environment and deforestation in Malawi and, most specifically, the Nkhata Bay District where RIPPLE Africa is based.

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Alternating: bidirectional current; can change directions
Direct: unidirectional; can only flow one way
Facts:

~older Christmas lights are direct current

-homes are made with alternating currents

-the first lightbulb was a direct pathway

phones contain alternating currents

large wires are often direct pathways

alternating currents are in water heaters

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1. They contain magnets with a N and S pole.
2. You can use a crank instead of a pedal.
3. Dynamo is actually another word for generator.
4. Dynamo's are powered by electromagnets.
5. Can sometimes assist car startups during a breakdown.

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Poop Splash Elimination - Smarter Every Day 22

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Tell Your Friends. Click This: http://on.fb.me/POOPSPLASH I'm being told OB/GYN Doctors are playing this video on their iPads to help describe why some patients have problems with reoccurring UTIs. I was reading a pretty intense paper on Worthington Jets and thought about how awesome it would be to create a video with a Fecal Simulant to relate this scientific phenomenon to every man's problems. I find Worthington jets fascinating.

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Name: Hardships
Quote: "If solving mysteries was the job of a scientist, then a scientist is exactly what I wanted to become." P71
SIAS:  Will tells us about the extreme poverty in his village as well as how farming typically works/goes, and how he fixed radios for a living.
-fixed radios
-naturally curious
-only 2 radio stations
-Malawians were sustenance farmers

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"That year the drought would be felt for several more seasons."

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"By February the stalks were wilted and hunched toward the ground like an old woman sweeping the dirt,"

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1. They have 20 grams of protein.
2. They can lower cholesterol.
3. Can help treat kidney disease.
4. They can treat gastrointestinal diseases.
5. They have low fat.

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Sustainable: pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by using techniques that allow for continual reuse OR capable of being supported or upheld, as by having its weight borne from below
Ethical: pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality
Feasible: capable of being done, effected, or accomplished

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Name: Exhale
Quote: "Banda agreed to leave quietly and not start a war."
SIAS: William tells us about the time his Uncle John died of tuberculosis, and the impacts death in general has on families. Meanwhile, Williams tells about his life hunting, befriending a dog, the presidency of Malawi.

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Name: Booze and Bar Fights
Quote:  "You've heard about the conditions there. Chances are you won't make it out alive."
SIAS: We are told about William's Father's alcohol problem as well as how he met Will's mother

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To be brief, he basically learned not to screw with magic or else he'll put himself in a dire situation.

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Will wanted to be stronger so he could beat up the bullies that tormented him daily. He didn't follow the directions given to him and it ended up not working and he was beaten up by a bully instead.

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form of magic that delivered superhuman strength

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[LILONGWE] Incorporating crop rotations, whether in conventional or conservation agriculture tillage systems, could help boost maize yields, according to a study in Malawi.

Researchers from the United States and Zimbabwe say that in Malawian smallholders' farms maize yields are low, resulting in low food production in the country.

The researchers compared three farming systems: no-till maize or continuous maize farming with the soil left relatively undisturbed from harvest to planting, growing maize with crops such as cassava and cowpea on soils that had previous season's residues, and planting crops such as sweet potatoes and beans on soils that had most crop residues cleared or burned.

"Incorporating crop rotations had the greatest impact on maize yields with yield increases ranging from 11 to 58 percent greater than continuous no-till maize."

Dan TerAvest, Washington State University

According to the study published last month (20 December) in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, the crop rotations were implemented in two agro-ecological zones in Malawi: Nkhotakota and Dowa districts from 2011 to 2014. The researchers assessed the effect of the three farming systems on outcomes such as soil moisture content, earthworm abundance and crop production.

"Incorporating crop rotations-whether in conventional or conservation agriculture tillage systems-had the greatest impact on maize yields with yield increases ranging from 11 to 58 percent greater than continuous no-till maize," says Dan TerAvest, a co-author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in soil science at the Washington State University in the United States."This is most likely due to a combination of factors such as improved soil fertility and quality, and reduced pest and disease pressure following rotation."

TerAvest adds that conservation agriculture could offer significant benefits to farmers in Malawi and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, but more effort is needed to determine what conditions are best suited to it, instead of promoting it to every farmer everywhere.

The study, he notes, also highlights the need to diversify conservation agriculture systems and incorporate crop rotations to maximise benefits, adding that the findings should help formulate interventions that are based on site-specific conditions instead of using blanket policy recommendations that may benefit only a portion of smallholders.

Francis Chilenga, a principal agricultural extension officer at the Karonga Agricultural Development Division, Malawi, agrees with the findings, stressing that different crops have different rooting depths, resulting in differences in how they draw nutrients and moisture from different layers.

"If [maize is] alternated with legumes, soil fertility is improved because legumes fix nitrogen in the soil," says Chilenga. "This calls for farmers to adopt conservation agriculture because, among others, it improves soil structure, water retention, organic matter content and fertility. All these lead to higher and more stable yields."

Elias Tambalale, a subsistence maize farmer from Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa district, Malawi, tells SciDev.Net: "We have experienced before that when we change the crops we grow on our pieces of land, we get better yields than when we grow the same crop continuously."

Tambalale adds that agricultural extension officers have introduced conservation agriculture approaches such as minimum soil disturbance and total soil cover to smallholders.

"The findings give us more reason to believe what we are doing and that should help us boost yields," he says.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.

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Crop rotation increases maize yields in Malawi

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LILONGWE] Incorporating crop rotations, whether in conventional or conservation agriculture tillage systems, could help boost maize yields, according to a study in Malawi. Researchers from the United States and Zimbabwe say that in Malawian smallholders' farms maize yields are low, resulting in low food production in the country.

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Personality Cult: excessive public admiration for or devotion to a famous person, especially a political leader.

How it Applied to Banda: after he came back to Malawi there was an uproar of support for him as he lead Malawi

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Hastings Kamuzu Banda | president of Malawi

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Hastings Kamuzu Banda: Hastings Kamuzu Banda, first president of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) and the principal leader of the Malawi nationalist movement. He governed Malawi from 1963 to 1994, combining totalitarian political controls with conservative economic policies. Banda's birthday was officially given as May 14,

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Yao, various Bantu-speaking peoples inhabiting southernmost Tanzania, the region between the Rovuma and Lugenda rivers in Mozambique, and the southern part of Malaŵi.

By 1800 the Yao had become known as traders plying between the inland tribes and the Arabs on the east coast. Much of this trade was in slaves, which led eventually to clashes with European powers who were establishing control over former Yao territory in the 19th century. The Yao were never united but lived as small groups ruled by chiefs who were predominantly military and commercial leaders; by 1900 all Yao chiefdoms had come under German, Portuguese, or British rule.

The Yao are an agricultural people using slash-and-burn techniques to cultivate their staples, corn (maize) and sorghum. Fish provide protein in areas near lakes or larger rivers. In Malaŵi they cultivate tobacco as an important cash crop.

The Yao live in compact villages of 75 to 100 persons under traditional headmen. These headmen, like the chiefs, succeed matrilineally, the office usually going to the eldest sister's firstborn son. On marriage the man leaves his village to live in that of his wife, so that villages are composed basically of groups of women related through the female line, together with their spouses. Yao social life features annual initiation ceremonies involving circumcision for boys. Originally, these ceremonies were closely connected with the worship of ancestor spirits, but through Arab contact most Yao are Muslims, and the rites incorporate Islamic elements.

Elizabeth Prine Pauls.

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Yao, various Bantu-speaking peoples inhabiting southernmost Tanzania, the region between the Rovuma and Lugenda rivers in Mozambique, and the southern part of Malaŵi. By 1800 the Yao had become known as traders plying between the inland tribes and the Arabs on the east coast. Much of this trade was

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Name of Chapter: Gumdrops and Gule's
Quote: "Before I discovered the miracles of science, magic ruled the world."
SIAS: The readers are introduced to William Kankwamba and his living situation(s) as well as threats, playtime and friendship in the village.
-Gule Wamkulu
-Snakes in the forest
-Dangerous rhino was killed (story father told)
-Magic/Juju is prevalent
-Kids are creative with playtime
-Can't watch the nighttime films that are shown

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Juju:  is a spiritual belief system incorporating objects, such as amulets, and spells used in religious practice, as part of witchcraft
Magic: having or apparently having supernatural powers

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Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

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UNESCO: Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - 2008 URL: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/RL/00054 Description: Gule Wamkulu was a secret cult, involving a ritual dance practiced among the Chewa in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique.

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Prologue: a separate introductory section of a literary or musical work
Memoir: a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources
Theme: the message the author conveys
Universal Theme: universal themes in literature are common ideas that appear in plays, poems and stories
Figurative Language:   metaphors, similes, allusions go beyond the literal meanings of the words to give the readers new insights
Epilouge: a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened
Allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

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By Janette Snelson on Haikudeck.

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From SlideShare.net

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What to look for when reading a story.

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Quick review of book/text setup and form.

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A guide to annotation.