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-Is a TV show
-Is referring to technology and computer companies
-Located In California

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The Theme About African Inventors Is that they reuse everything they have and see rebirth in trash when other people see trash.

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-Understanding
-Patient
-Respectful
-Laid back

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TED stands for (Technology, Entertainment, Design). TED is an organization that gets people with innovative ideas and has them talk here to share ideas about ways to improve lifestyles.

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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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William got validation from the people about his windmill when people began to understand how it works and all the positive things it does for the community.

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-Kind
-Supportive
-Resilient
-Giving
-Sketchy

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William made a play and informed people about AIDS and what they were and how they work. People now look at William and realize he saved them.

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-It can be hard treat because people think it is not real
-91% of children with AIDS live in Africa
-70% of people dying from AIDS was in Africa

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People began to blame William for the stuff the "is" happening to their village. People said there were witches that would cut off people's heads in the night and not return them, they said it was "a serious problem." People also saw a storm coming but did not rain near them because of the new windmill William made was a fan blowing the clouds away.

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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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William tried making a way to end the long dangerous trips to the woods for firewood. William had his own idea to make a flammable gas from biogas.

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William's Failed "What's Next?" (Pg 227)

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William's Failed "What's Next?" (Pg 227)

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"Let them come arrest me," I'd say. "It would be an honor."

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What Does "Grooving Through Life" Mean (Pg 224)

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What Does "Grooving Through Life" Mean (Pg 224)

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It means the people do not care about their lives or what they are doing and are just flying through their lives with no real meaning.

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Reflect On William When Having A Windmill

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Reflect On William When Having A Windmill

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William use to have hard times in life and a rough way of life. William now has a windmill which gives his family power. William made a huge difference and made life better. The welder views William as a great man for what William did along with what he as the welder did for him.

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- Adds safety break
- Adds circuit breaker

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- Stops circuit if too much current
- Can prevent fires
- Are used in many homes

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- Studied electromagnetics
- Is brittish
- Born 1791
- Scientist

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- Increases voltage
- Has many coils wrapped
- Is good in places where supplied voltage is smaller than needed

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-PVC blades
-Bicycle to spin
-Tall tower
-Dynamo for power
-Wires for stuff

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Where Did William Show Perseverance In The Chapter?

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Where Did William Show Perseverance In The Chapter?

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William showed this when he did not give up making the windmill in the junkyard. There he got teased and called the madman for doing what he is doing. William's windmill was having problems working, so he had to persevere through it.

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Inventions That Were Made Fun Of By Society

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Inventions That Were Made Fun Of By Society

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-The plow
-Lightbulb

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- Can be hard to afford for some people
- Many people can't afford these due to poverty and low wages
- School is important and many people depend on it

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How Did This Video Relate To William's Situation?

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How Did This Video Relate To William's Situation?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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What Was Hopeful About The Ending Of Chapter 8?

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What Was Hopeful About The Ending Of Chapter 8?

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The ending of chapter 8 was very hopeful about getting out of hunger. William and the rest of Malawi are starving and close to death. At the end of chapter 8 they had crops growing and plenty to eat. Slowly Malawi will recover and everyone will be back to normal.

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Cholera-A disease where bacteria infects the intestines and causes vomiting and diarrhea. This is usually a fatal disease.

Epidemic-A disease in a community that is spreading at a certain time.

Five Facts About Cholera
-Can be killed within hours if untreated
-21,000 to 143,000 deaths every year
-Can cause vomiting and diarrhea
-Drinking contaminated water can give you this disease
-Is treatable by an oral medicine

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UNICEF is committed to doing all it can to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in partnership with governments, civil society, business, academia and the United Nations family - and especially children and young people.

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Reflection On William's Decision To Kill His Dog

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Reflection On William's Decision To Kill His Dog

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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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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Is Society Obligated To Take Care Of The Weak/Sick?

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- Malaria is very rare
- Transmitted through infected mosquito bites
- is treatable and curable
- causes sweating, chills, and a fever
- symptoms can occur weeks after a bite

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Based on the people around you, that will affect the way you act in certain scenarios. If there is less food in an area people will kill each other for it.

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East African Relief Efforts | CharityWatch

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CharityWatch announces its top-rated list of charities involved in efforts to provide relief to victims of the famine in the Horn of Africa.

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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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In the history of marriage customs in Africa, the institution has taken on at least three (3) principal forms:

Marriage by capture

Marriage by purchase

Marriage by choice

Interestingly, research shows that marriage customs in other parts of world have patterns that are (or were) very similar to the history of marriage customs in Africa. Perhaps this is even more proof that we probably all do share the same roots... but I digress...

Marriage By Capture

The bride-to-be may be either kidnapped or captured prior to the official wedding ceremony or at some point during. During the wedding festivities, friends of the couple may kidnap the bride and will release her only after the groom negotiates for, and pays, her ransom. The kidnapping can be done multiple times throughout the wedding ceremony and it is up to the groom to notice when his bride goes missing.

In the other type of marriage by capture, the groom's family and friends abduct the bride. When the abduction comes to light, the groom's "posse" and the bride's "posse" meet halfway between their villages (or halfway between their family compounds if they are from the same village), where they will either engage in a mock battle OR exchange gifts and/or payment for the bride.

Such practices are seen among the Ganda/Bantu tribes of Uganda and the people of Nyanza in Kenya.

Marriage By Purchase

The theory behind this is basically self-explanatory, however there are subtle differences form tribe to tribe in Africa when it comes to the actual execution.

In Zaire, the groom brings two copper rings or an arrow to the bride and her family. Upon acceptance of the gifts the couple becomes officially betrothed. More gifts are exchanged during the actual wedding ceremony, one of which is a knife given by the groom to the bride's father. The knife signifies that the new husband is now responsible for the wife's safety and well-being.

Among the Zulu, the groom gives cattle to the bride's family and father. The theory behind the cattle is that if for any reason the marriage doesn't work out and the bride has to return to her family, the cattle serve as insurance for her so that she will be able to support herself.

The Nyakysus people of Malawi consider a marriage legitimate only after the bride's representative has received cattle from the groom. The groom still has to work on his bride's father's land for some time. If the marriage doesn't work out then the cattle can be returned and the marriage will be dissolved.

Marriage By Choice

Also known as a "love match", this one of course requires very little to no explanation.

Okay, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Get more African marriage trivia and learn about african wedding rituals too!

Now that you've learned about the history of marriage in Africa, learn how you can incorporate many of these wonderful, colorful, and very festive African wedding traditions and customs into your wedding as well. You don't have to limit the African American traditions you use in your wedding to just jumping the broom.

Love is a fever which marriage puts to bed and cures.
- Richard J. Needham
Return from African History of Marriage to African Wedding Home Page

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In the history of marriage customs in Africa, the institution has taken on at least three (3) principal forms: Marriage by capture Marriage by purchase Marriage by choice Interestingly, research shows that marriage customs in other parts of world have patterns that are (or were) very similar to the history of marriage customs in Africa.

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- Killed hundreds of thousands of people
- Many Tutsi were targeted
- People of the genocide wanted weapons and power

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Three Examples Of Corrupt Politicians In Chapter Five

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Three Examples Of Corrupt Politicians In Chapter Five

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- Government did not help starving people in Malawi
- Government sent out thugs to hurt people
-Government is selling off food for money rather than giving it to the people of Malawi

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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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Image On Direct And Alternating Circuits

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Image On Direct And Alternating Circuits

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Info About Alternating And Direct Currents 

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Info About Alternating And Direct Currents 

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Alternating Current (AC) vs. Direct Current (DC) - learn.sparkfun.com

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Where did the Australian rock band AC/DC get their name from? Why, Alternating Current and Direct Current, of course! Both AC and DC describe types of current flow in a circuit. In direct current (DC), the electric charge (current) only flows in one direction.

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Dynamo (Generator) Lights: Fact vs Fiction

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Dynamos (aka generators) are really looked down on by almost all Americans, and many Brits as well. To the uninitiated, a dynamo sounds unappealing because it slows you down, makes alot of noise, slips in the wet, wears out your tires, and the lights aren't very bright and they go out as soon as you stop moving.

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Bullet vs Prince Rupert's Drop at 150,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 165

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When we talk about curiosity and learning, we tend to talk about it from an engagement perspective. If students remain interested in and curious about a topic, they will pay more attention and, ultimately, learn more. But this isn't the whole story, and we're doing ourselves a disservice by cutting it short.

It might seem obvious that curiosity and learning go hand-in-hand, but the scientific community sees it differently. Until very recently, there hasn't been much published researched on how curiosity works in the brain. It's a difficult phenomenon to describe, let alone study. But the latest neuroscience tells us that one mental process in particular benefits from curiosity, a process crucial to learning and education in general, and it just so happens to be the missing part of the conversation: memory.

Curiosity, Uncertainty, & Memory

Earlier this year, researchers at Lake Forest College conducted an extensive literature review on the topic of curiosity and its impact on memory. A systematic literature search was executed using a database that contains an extensive amount of academic journals, including empirical articles, chapters of from textbooks, literature reviews, and peer-reviewed journals. The articles covered a 55 year span of research and the participants ranged from 5 - 40 years old, with the majority being undergraduate students. Most studies found that curiosity does indeed enhance memory, and a number of studies which examined different levels of curiosity found that what one knows or desires to know impacts memory as well.

Bull and Dizney (1973) focused on the differences among retention scores between high-curiosity groups and low-curiosity groups, which were each presented with different pre-questions intended to interest the participants in an essay. What they found was a significant difference between retaining relevant and incidental information for low curiosity pre-questions and high curiosity pre-questions.

In 1976, Kintz and Lippman highlighted an important point about curiosity and memory. Creating and recalling memories, they argued, were different processes: "Creating memories has to do with curiosity and exploration, whereas recalling memories is not closely related to curiosity." But in 2005, Litman offered the opposite argument, claiming that we are "most curious when we feel the need to recall something that we are close to remembering," which is commonly known as the "tip of the tongue" phenomenon. We are least curious, he said, when we feel that we already know something. "When we know nothing, we aren't curious at all. We have nowhere to begin, and therefore no curiosity to drive us to acquire the knowledge."

Research on visual curiosity confirms these patterns of behaviour. Butler (1955) used rhesus monkeys to study how visual stimulus deprivation impacts visual curiosity. Monkeys deprived from a particular visual stimulus for a long period of time tend to be more curious about the stimulus when they are reintroduced to it. In their own work, Kintz and Lippman (1976) found that "free visual looking time" is a "specific function of curiosity itself and is aroused within the observer through the perception of a particular stimulus." But not necessarily because curiosity aids recollection. In fact, the researchers noted that curiosity is important in the formation of a memory but not in the recollection once a memory has already been formed.

Boykin and Harackiewicz (1981) found that high levels of uncertainty lead to greater curiosity, which in turn is important for recognition and recall. In their research, subjects who were least certain in their answers were the ones who had the greatest curiosity with the correct answers. On the other hand, those who felt most certain about their answers were least eager to uncover the answers.

A number of articles analysed the neural underpinnings of curiosity and found that satisfying one's curiosity activated the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory. One study conducted by Kang et al. suggested that curiosity "increases memory through striatal activation because of increased attention and incentive to learn (2009)." Jepma et al. hypothesised that "relief of curiosity is rewarding and enhances learning; this process is mediated by a neural basis for curiosity." The same concept is discussed by Connolly et. al. (1971).

In 2001, Alberti and Witryol found a positive correlation between curiosity and intellectual performance among third and fifth grade students completing a laboratory task. They also found that intellectual performance was not only linked with student curiosity but also with the teacher ratings of curiosity.

"The research done on curiosity and memory can be further extended by analysing brain activity. Most articles did not look at brain activity but doing so may be a better indicator of curiosity than a survey which could suffer from demand characteristics," writes Sarah Goldberg, who led the literature review.

On the educational potential of this type of research, Goldberg says: "This topic is important to study because characterising the factors that mediate memory can help in making the educational system better by engaging students more in their classes and therefore raising grades. This can help students if they are able to learn more while studying something they are curious about."

She adds: "Knowledge of how curiosity and memory interact can aid students in the classroom, leading to an increase in interest and higher levels of learning in schools. Therefore, the knowledge that we attain from these studies can help us shape the curriculum of students in order to maximize their learning potential."

Different Levels of Curiosity

Some cognitive psychologists harbour the belief that there is more than one type of curiosity. For instance, Jepma, Verdonschot, van Steenbergen, Rombouts and Nieuwenhuis (2012) have identified two different types of curiosity, perceptual and epistemic, which can be classified as either be "specific" or "diversive." They explain:

"Perceptual curiosity is aroused by sensory factors that are novel, while epistemic curiosity is driven by the desire to learn and acquire information. Therefore, epistemic curiosity leads to intentional learning and perceptual curiosity leads an unintentional way of acquiring information. Furthermore, specific curiosity involves seeking information about a particular topic, and diversive curiosity involves the desire to learn about general information."

It turns out that different types of curiosity may have different uses when it comes to learning.

Kang et al. (2009) found that people's ability to recall answers to questions is influenced in part by their ranked curiosity level. The accuracy rates were significantly different between high and middle curiosity items, in which there was greater recall accuracy among high curiosity items than middle curiosity items. Further, middle curiosity items were recalled with greater accuracy than low curiosity items and the results were significantly different. Thus, higher curiosity levels lead to better recollection.

Though it may seem obvious, the literature also confirms that we are more curious about things we don't already know. Litman, Hutchins, and Russon (2005) found correlations between epistemic curiosity and the various feeling-of-knowing states. When subjects felt they knew something, they were less curious. When they experienced the tip of the tongue phenomenon, they were most curious.

Collins, Litman and Spielberger (2004) explore the idea of curiosity as a personality trait: "Curiosity is present in all humans, but at different levels. Due to the fact that curiosity is present at different levels, it is reasonable to conclude that higher levels of curiosity result in higher levels of learning."

How to Use Curiosity to Your Advantage

1. Use what interests you to retain what doesn't.

When you're curious about something, your brain is primed to absorb all information presented around that topic. That's why you should pair information that is less interesting to you with information that is more interesting. You will naturally remember the more interesting information, but your brain will also associate the less interesting information with it so you recall that better too.

Boykin (1981) discovered that being asked unusual and interesting questions before exposure to material enabled participants to retain the material that followed the questions because the questions pique interest in the material, and therefore stimulate curiosity.

2. Be okay with expressing uncertainty.

When we're afraid to admit we don't know something, we tend to gravitate toward an explanation-any explanation-so that we don't look bad. But if we convince ourselves we know the answer when we don't, we limit our ability to learn new things. Don't be afraid of your own curiosity-it will only enrich your knowledge and broaden your perspective in the long run.

3. Remain aware of what interests you and what doesn't.

Meta-awareness enhances learning because it allows you to understand your own learning process. Make a list not only of which subjects interest you and which ones don't but also which topics within those subjects as well as the instructional methods used to present them. Doing so will help you better direct your own curiosity.

4. Learn more, study less.

It sounds like a gimmick, but it's really just the way the brain works: If you learn something well in the first place, you won't have to study it as hard later because you will easily remember it. So spend more time becoming curious, pinpointing aspects of a topic that spark your interest, and going into depth in the beginning so you don't have to pull all-nighters later on down the road.

5. Limit unnecessary learning.

"Some other further studies that would be helpful in filling the gap of knowledge as to how curiosity affects memory are studies that look at how students do in electives versus those that are required," writes Goldberg. "Having required classes may actually be negative because the grades of students may be lowered and they would not end up remembering as much information from those classes either way."

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How Curiosity Enhances Learning - InformED

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When we talk about curiosity and learning, we tend to talk about it from an engagement perspective. If students remain interested in and curious about a topic, they will pay more attention and, ultimately, learn more. But this isn't the whole story, and we're doing ourselves a disservice by cutting it short.

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Nestled between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, Malawi has earned it's nickname as 'the warm heart of Africa'. And 'warm' is precisely the adjective I would use to describe Malawian music. There is a sunny optimism in much of the Malawian music I've heard, and after a grim weekend of cold, rain, and snow, here in Washington D.C., I figured I'd warm myself up with a few Malawian recordings from our collection.

One of the most popular styles of music in Malawi, in the late 1960s was South African Kwela; a driving dance music, powered by virtuoso penny whistle players. Migrant workers returning from South Africa and Zimbabwe brought kwela music to Malawi, and it was in Salisbury, the capital of the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (which is now Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe), that Daniel and Donald Kachamba discovered Kwela music. When the brothers returned, in 1961, to Nyasaland (which became Malawi in 1964), they started to perform Kwela music on the streets, at markets, and in nightclubs. Daniel played the guitar, and his younger brother Donald was a penny whistle virtuoso; he had been playing the instrument since the age of six.

In 1967, the Austrian ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik heard the Kachamba brothers playing for a large crowd near the main market in Blantyre, Malawi's largest city. And at some point that same year, he brought the Kachamba brothers band to the United States Cultural Center in Blantyre. In February of 1968, the United States Information Service office in Blantyre, sent a four-song tape to the Voice of America, with the following description: 'enclosed is [a recording, made on December 4, 1967 of] an African combo consisting of four boys aged 7-16. They were recently discovered by a German musicologist who was researching African music in Malawi.'

In fact, at the time of these recordings Daniel was 20 years old (he was born in 1947, and passed away in 1987), and Donald was 14 (he was born in 1953, and passed away in 2001); two younger boys accompanied them, one playing the string bass, and the other the rattle. Donald's penny whistle playing on these two tracks is fantastic.

Let's jump ahead a couple of decades, with one of Malawi's most popular bandleaders of the late 1980s and 1990s, Robert Fumulani (he is the man crouching in the picture above). He was born, in 1948, in the city of Zomba (which is 40 miles northeast of Blantyre), and first started to draw the attention of Malawian audiences in the 1970s. During the 1980s, Fumulani won the Malawian 'Entertainer of the Year' award three times. And by the time he passed away, in 1998, his musical earnings had allowed him to open several businesses, including the Likhubula Entertainment Centre, his nightclub in Chileka (a suburb of Blantyre), and a cargo services company at Chileka airport. His musical legacy is kept alive by three of his seven sons; Anjiri, Musandide, and Chizondi- who are the core of the Black Missionaries, currently one of Malawi's most popular groups.

This track gives you a good idea of Fumulani's relaxed Afroma (a contraction of Afro-Malawian) groove. In this one Fumulani pleads with 'Patricia', he sings, 'don't leave us, stay with us, don't break up your family.'

One of the key ingredients of the Likhubula River Dance Band's sound was the guitar playing of Ernest Mapemba. Near the end of 'Mwana Wanga', or 'My Child', Mapemba breaks things down with some wonderfully relaxed playing.

This last track has got a nice reggae beat. Fumulani asks for guidance and advice.

Let's keep the reggae beat going with Evison Matafale, who before he passed away in 2001, was one of Malawi's most loved artists. In 2000, he surprised music fans with his debut release 'Kuyimba I', which became one of the year's best-selling releases. Matafale recorded the album with Robert Fumulani's three aforementioned sons, who after Evison passed away, renamed themselves the Black Missionaries.

In 2001, after a long battle with tuberculosis, Matafale released 'Kuyimba II'. He passed away several months later, however, dying suddenly while in police custody. He was only 32 years old. According to an article published by the BBC, Matafale's brother Elton believes Evison was killed, because of letters he had written to then-president Bakilu Muluzi, denouncing his government's policies. In 'Yang'ana Nkhope', Evison sings 'Look at my face, look at your face, we are all God's Children.'

Next up is Joseph Tembo, a great guitar player, from southern Malawi. He was born in 1997, in southern Malawi, and is a member of the Sena ethnic group, who are related to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. This relationship helps explain the similarities between Tembo's music and the Shona melodies and rhythms of Zimbabwean Chimurenga music.

This last song is by Coss Chiwalo, who for many years was (and may still be) the bandleader of the 'Alleluya Band', a Malawian musical institution. He was born in 1974 and has released three solo albums. 'Wakwatiwa', one of his biggest hits, is a song that is usually played at weddings. He sings of the joy of the bride and groom.

I hope the music hit the spot. I would like to thank Dr. John Lwanda of Pamtondo records for his help with research and song translations.

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Nestled between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, Malawi has earned it's nickname as 'the warm heart of Africa'. And 'warm' is precisely the adjective I would use to describe Malawian music. There is a sunny optimism in much of the Malawian music I've heard, and after a grim weekend of cold, rain, and snow, here in [...]

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Read more  at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oXUe2NS1bUNzCkgm9kwTTM8haEAon40kj8Q24X_IjAg/edit

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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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Chapters Of "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind"

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*This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information.

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What are Text Features?

Text features are to non-fiction what story elements are to fiction. Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and are the building blocks for text structure (see below). So what exactly are non-fiction text features?

Text Features and Comprehension

Text features go hand-in-hand with comprehension. If the author wants a reader to understand where a country is in the world, then providing a map helps the reader visualize and understand the importance of that country's location. If the anatomy of an animal is vitally important to understanding a text, a detailed photograph with labels gives the reader the support he needs to comprehend the text.

Text features also help readers determine what is important to the text and to them. Without a table of contents or an index, readers can spend wasted time flipping through the book to find the information they need. Special print helps draw the attention of the reader to important or key words and phrases.

In my experience, readers of all ages, especially struggling readers tend to skip over many of the text features provided within a text. To help readers understand their importance, take some time before reading to look through the photographs/illustrations, charts, graphs, or maps and talk about what you notice. Make some predictions about what they'll learn or start a list of questions they have based off of the text features.

Sometimes, it's even fun to make a point to those readers who like to skip over the text features by retyping the text with no features and asking them to read the text without them first. Once they do that, discuss how difficult comprehension was. Then, give them the original text and help them to see the difference it makes in understanding.

Find our free Nonfiction Text Features Chart!

Some Common Text Features within Non-Fiction

Captions: Help you better understand a picture or photograph

Comparisons: These sentences help you to picture something {Example: A whale shark is a little bit bigger than a school bus.}

Glossary: Helps you define words that are in the book

Graphics: Charts, graphs, or cutaways are used to help you understand what the author is trying to tell you

Illustrations/Photographs: Help you to know exactly what something looks like

Index: This is an alphabetical list of ideas that are in the book. It tells you what page the idea is on.

Labels: These help you identify a picture or a photograph and its parts

Maps: help you to understand where places are in the world

Special Print: When a word is bold, in italics, or underlined, it is an word for you to know

Subtitles: These headings help you to know what the next section will be about

Table of Contents: Helps you identify key topics in the book in the order they are presented

What is Text Structure?

Simply put, text structure is how the author organizes the information within the text.

Why do text structures matter to readers?

When readers what kind of structure to expect, it helps them connect to and remember what they've read better.

It gives readers clues as to what is most important in the text.

It helps readers summarize the text. For example, if we're summarizing a text that has a sequence/time order structure, we want to make sure we summarize in the same structure. (It wouldn't make sense to tell an autobiography out of order.)

Examples of Non-Fiction Text Structure

While there are differences of opinion on the exact amount and names of different kinds of text structure, these are the 5 main ones I teach.

You can read more about each one on day 3 and day 4 of our Teaching Text Structure to Readers series.
1. Problem/Solution
The author will introduce a problem and tell us how the problem could be fixed. There may be one solution to fix the problem or several different solutions mentioned. Real life example: Advertisements in magazines for products (problem-pain; solution-Tylenol)
2. Cause and Effect
The author describes something that has happened which has had an effect on or caused something else to happen. It could be a good effect or a bad effect. There may be more than one cause and there may also be more than one effect. (Many times, problem/solution and cause and effect seem like "cousins" because they can be together.) Real life example: A newspaper article about a volcano eruption which had an effect on tourism
3. Compare/Contrast
The author's purpose is to tell you how two things are the same and how they are different by comparing them.Real life example: A bargain hunter writing on her blog about buying store-brand items and how it compares with buying name-brand items.
4. Description/List
Although this is a very common text structure, I think it's one of the trickiest because the author throws a lot of information at the reader (or lists facts) about a certain subject. It's up to the reader to determine what he thinks is important and sometimes even interesting enough to remember.Real life example: A soccer coach's letter describing to parents exactly what kind of cleats to buy for their kids.
5. Time Order/Sequence
Texts are written in an order or timeline format. Real life examples: recipes, directions, events in history

Note: Sometimes the text structure isn't so easy to distinguish. For example, the structure of the text as a whole may be Description/List (maybe about Crocodilians), but the author may devote a chapter to Compare/Contrast (Alligators vs. Crocodiles). We must be explicit about this with students.

More Text Structure Resources:

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky

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Non-Fiction Text Features and Text Structure

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This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information. Amazon.com Widgets What are Text Features? Text features are to non-fiction what story elements are to fiction. Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and are the building blocks for text structure (see ...