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Quote: "I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart," (Kamkwamba 280).
SIAS: Despite past struggles, life in Malawi is greatly improving because of William's communication, sponsors, helpers, inventions, and ideas.

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Infrastructure: 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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Allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
Epilogue: 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.

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What is a 'Venture Capitalist'

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. Venture capitalists are willing to invest in such companies because they can earn a massive return on their investments if these companies are a success.

Venture capitalists also experience major losses when their picks fail, but these investors are typically wealthy enough that they can afford to take the risks associated with funding young, unproven companies that appear to have a great idea and a great management team.

BREAKING DOWN 'Venture Capitalist'

Well-known venture capitalists include Jim Breyer, an early Facebook ( FB) investor, Peter Fenton, an investor in Twitter ( TWTR), Peter Theil, the co-founder of PayPal ( PYPL) and Facebook's first investor, Jeremy Levine, the largest investor in Pinterest, and Chris Sacca, early investor in Twitter and ride-share company Uber.

Venture capitalists look for a strong management team, a large potential market and a unique product or service with a strong competitive advantage. They also look for opportunities in industries that they are familiar with, and the chance to own a large percentage of the company so that they can influence its direction.

Brief History of Venture Capital in the U.S.

Some of the first venture capital firms in the U.S. started in the mid to early 1900s, around the time of the second World War. Georges Doriot, a Frenchman who moved to the U.S. to get a business degree and ended up staying to teach at Harvard's business school and work at an investment bank would go on to found what would be the first publicly owned venture capital firm, American Research and Development Corporation, or ARDC. What made ARDC remarkable was that for the first time, it was a firm that raised money from sources other than exclusively wealthy family's. For a long time in the U.S., wealthy family's like the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts were the ones to fund start-ups or provide capital for growth. ARDC's had millions in it's account from educational institutions and insurers.

Firms like Morgan Holland Ventures, and Greylock Ventures were founded by ARDC alums, and still other firms like J.H. Whitney & Company popped up around the mid 20th century. Venture Capital began to resemble the industry it's known as today after the Investment Act of 1958 was passed. The act made it so small business investment companies could be licensed by the Small Business Association that had been established five years earlier by then President Eisenhower. Those licenses "qualified private equity fund managers and provide(d)s them with access to low-cost, government-guaranteed capital to make investments in U.S. small businesses."

Venture capital, by it's nature invests in new businesses with high potential for growth but also an amount of risk substantial enough to scare off banks. So it's not too surprising that Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS), one of the first and most successful semiconductor companies, was the first venture-capital backed startup, setting a pattern for venture capital's close relationship with emerging technologies in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Private equity firms in that region and time also set the standards of practiced used today, setting up limited partnerships to hold investments where professionals would act as general partners and those supplying the capital would serve as passive partners with more limited control. Numbers of independent venture capital firms increased throughout the 1960s and 1970s, prompting the founding of the National Venture Capital Association in the early 1970s.

Dot-Com Bust

Venture capital firms began posting some of their first losses in the mid 1980s after the industry had become flush with competition from firms both in and outside the U.S. looking for the next Apple (AAPL) or Genentech. As IPO's from VC backed companies were looking increasingly unremarkable, venture capital funding of companies slowed. It wasn't until about mid 1990s that venture capital investments started back with any real vigor only to take a hit in the early 2000s when so many tech companies fell apart prompting venture capital investors to sell off what investments they had at a substantial loss. Since then, venture capital has made a substantial comeback, with $47 billion dollars invested into startups as of 2014.

Structure

A Venture capital firm, along wealthy individuals, insurance companies, pension funds, foundations, and corporate pension funds among others pool money together into a fund to be controlled by a VC firm. All partners have part ownership over the fund, but it is the VC firm that controls where the fund is invested, usually into businesses or ventures that most banks or capital markets would consider too risky for investment. The Venture capital firm is the general partner, while the pension funds, insurance companies, etc. are limited partners.

Compensation

Payment is made to the venture capital fund managers in the form of management fees and carried interest. Depending on the firm, roughly 20% of the profits are paid to the company managing the private equity fund while the rest goes to the limited partners who invested into the fund. General partners are usually also due an additional 2% fee.

Positions Within a VC Firm

The general structure of the roles within Venture Capital firm vary from firm to firm, but they can be broken down to roughly three position.

Associates usually come into VC firms with experience in either business consulting or finance, and sometimes a degree in business. They tend to more analytical work, analyzing business models, industry trends and subsections, while also working with companies in a firm's portfolio. Those who work as 'junior associate' and can move to 'senior associate' after a consistent couple of years.

Principal is a mid level professional, usually serving on the board of portfolio companies and in charge of making sure they're operating without any big hiccups. They're also in charge of identifying investment opportunities for the firm to invest in, and negotiating terms for both acquisition and exit.

Principals are on a 'partner track', and depending on the returns they can generate from the deals they make. Partners are primarily focused on identifying areas or specific businesses to invest in, approving deals whether they be investments or exits, occasionally sitting on the board of portfolio companies, and generally representing the firm.

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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. Venture capitalists are willing to invest in such companies because they can earn a massive return on their investments if these companies are a success.

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Facts:
1. located around Santa Clara and San Jose, California
2. is the home of many key U.S. corporations that specialize in advanced electronic and information technologies
3. founder: William Shockley

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Silicon Valley facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Silicon Valley

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Get information, facts, and pictures about Silicon Valley at Encyclopedia.com. Make research projects and school reports about Silicon Valley easy with credible articles from our FREE, online encyclopedia and dictionary.

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Ch 15: Important Theme About African Inventors

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Ch 15: Important Theme About African Inventors

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"Africans bend what little they have to their will every day. Using creativity, they overcome Africa's challenges. Where they world sees trash, Africa recycles. Where the world sees junk, Africa sees rebirth," (Kamkwamba 267).

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1. Unique
2. Hard-working
3. Dedicated

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Chapter 14: Discovery of a New Inspiration

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Chapter 14: Discovery of a New Inspiration

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Quote: "'We're very proud. You represented us so well, and we're so impressed at how well you spoke.' In a way, it took having these reporters come to my house to make our town finally accept the windmill," (Kamkwamba 255).
SIAS: Despite being doubted and having to leave his home, William is finally gaining recognization for his windmill that he deserves, which will truly begin reshaping Malawi.

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TED: Technology, Entertainment, and Design
TED represents the action of coming together at a meeting to share creative ideas in order to change someone's world

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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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Validation: the action of checking or proving the validity or accuracy of something
Example: "It took having these reporters come to my house to make our town finally accept my windmill," (Kamkwamba 255).

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Ch 14: Personality Traits of Dr. Mchazime

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Ch 14: Personality Traits of Dr. Mchazime

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Dedicated, hard-working, kind-hearted

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Chapter 13: Magic, Disease, and Becoming Famous

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Chapter 13: Magic, Disease, and Becoming Famous

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Quote: "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," (Kamkwamba 249).
SIAS: Overall, William's life has greatly improved because he has finally begun receiving recognization for his windmill, which resulted in many good things.

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William and the Wimbe Youth Friendly Health Services Club created a play to help persuade people to get tested for HIV and aids. William played the friend and said, "You can't tell if someone has AIDS by just looking at them. It could be hunger, tuberculosis, or many other things. The only way to know is to be tested at the local Volunteer Counseling and Testing Center," (Kamkwamba 247).

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AIDS: AIDS refers to a set of symptoms and illnesses that occur at the very final stage of HIV infection (is a syndrome).

HIV: a virus that attacks the immune system. If untreated, a person’s immune system will eventually be completely destroyed.
Facts:
1. major public health concern
2. cause of death in many parts of Africa
3. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for an estimated 69 percent of all people living with HIV and 70 percent of all AIDS deaths in 2011.

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"This wave of superstition and fear soon came to Wimbe," (Kamkwamba 240).
Examples of Strange Events Occurring:
1. "Many people across Malawi reported having their private parts stolen in the night. It was later revealed that most of the victims had been virgins, and their parts had been sold to witches, Satan worshippers, and business tycoons," (240).
2. "The children removed his head and used it for soccer, The trophy cup was filled with human meat, which was to be eaten on Christmas Day," (241).
William was blamed for strange events occurring, such as the lack of rain during the 2006 famine and blowing away the rainclouds, because of the lack of education they have. If they had known what a windmill is, they would know that William and his windmill are not the cause of these strange events.

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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 to the Moto Brick: Both biogas and the Moto were created to find a simpler and better way to cook food. Both prevent deforestation and improve lives of women in Africa.

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William's failed "what's next?" starting on page 227, is the water pumps failure. The pipe he used to reach the bottom of the well to pull up water was had to operate and the grease used to grease the pipe was thick and did not spread out evenly.

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"Grooving through life, just living off small ganyu and having no real plan," (Kamkwamba 224).

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Chapter 12: Improvements and Innovations

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Chapter 12: Improvements and Innovations

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Quote: "Any new invention is going to have its share of problems," (Kamkwamba 218).
SIAS: William has made many new improvements despite the difficulties he had faced, including improving the windmill and gaining new trust from some of his country's people.

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Ch 12: Different Lives with the Windmill

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Ch 12: Different Lives with the Windmill

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William and his family's lives are very different with the windmill from before. Now, his family has working electricity throughout their house, which helps prevent blackouts and helps with everyday things. Also, the windmill's success changed the village's view on William. For example, before, Mister Godsten, the welder, no longer makes fun of him. Now, he helps William weld pieces together.

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1. created a step-up transformer to increase the voltage the windmill produced (to charge phones)
2. created a braking system to stop the blades from spinning uncontrollably

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Circuit Breaker: an automatic device for stopping the flow of current in an electric circuit as a safety measure.
Facts:
1. Acts like a fuse
2. Can be used more than once
3. Protects people, their homes, and their city from electrical fires

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Facts about a step-up transformer:
1. increases voltage from primary to secondary
2. consists of a soft iron coil with two coils wound around it (not connected)
3. more turns on the secondary coil than the primary coil
Facts about Michael Faraday:
1. British chemist and physicist - contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry
2. He discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator
3. "The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly."

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Quote: "One day, windmills would be our shield against hunger," (Kamkwamba 109).
SIAS: Despite everyone's doubts, William successfully built a working windmill that produced electricity.

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Quote: "We all laughed about it now, because it was only during better times that we truly acknowledged the bad ones," (Kamkwamba 185).
SIAS: Despite William's decrease in starvation and increase in imagination, he begins to get made of for collecting "garbage" so he can begin building a windmill.

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"I looked down and saw a perfectly good motor, stripped of its wires, lying there like one of those poached elephants without its tusks," (Kamkwamba 192).

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

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1. William's father's bicycle frame will become the body of the windmill (it's strong enough to handle strong winds)
2. Is going to use a bicycle dynamo as a generator

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Many examples
1. "The students across the street in the schoolyard could easily see me banging away on metal. When I wasn't being careful, they even heard me talking to myself. Even days when I tried sneaking past, someone would spot me through the open window and yell, "There goes the madman off to smoke his chamba!" Chamba is marijuana," (Kamkwamba 188-189).
2. "At one point, I realized I needed more PVC pipe, so without Gilbert's father looking, we dug out the drainage pipe from his shower stall. Inside, it was covered with several inches of slime that I had to scrape clean with my fingers. The whole thing smelled horrible," (Kamkwamba 189).
These examples show that despite being made fun by the entire village and having to take risks, he continues to show perseverance by proving everyone wrong once he builds the windmill.

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William is ostracized and made fun of by villagers. ""There goes the madman off to smoke his chamba!" Chamba is marijuana," (Kamkwamba 188-189).
Ignaz Semmelweis: believed in basic hygiene, such as washing hands. He knew it caused unnecessary deaths. Many doctors became offended and the medical world completely rejected him. He was sent to a mental asylum and died there.
Thomas Edison: invented the lightbulb and phonograph

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1. Malawi eliminated its school fees in 1994
2. 80% of South Africa's school pupils don't pay fees

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Quote: "With a windmill, we'd finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger," (Kamkwamba 169).
SIAS: Despite not being able to go to school, William filled his time with reading books, where he found inspiration to begin building a windmill.

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Kinetic energy- energy that a body possesses by virtue of being in 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
electromagnetic energy- a form of energy that can be reflected or emitted from objects through electrical or magnetic waves travelling through space

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Reflection: William's situation and this video relates because school is not meeting the needs of every child. William leaving his school was probably the best thing he could have done because when he left, he realized what his priorities were. When he left, he followed his passions and creativity to create a windmill, which provided electricity for his community. This greatly impacted their world and this video likely changed many people's opinions about school.

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Quote: "No magic could save us now. Starving was a cruel kind of science," (Kamkwamba 151).
SIAS: Despite the everyday burials due to cholera and famine, William's family finally received a source of food and the entire country slowly began to recover.

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Many things were hopeful about the ending of Chapter 8.
1. The dowe (corn-on-the-cob) was ripe and ready to be eaten
2. William and his family began to go back to normal
3. The first pumpkins in William's family's fields were ready
4. Geoffrey ate their pumpkins and dowe, which helped the swelling in his legs go down. He began to smile again
5. People in the trading center began to gain their strength, hold conversations, laugh, and smile again

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Epidemic: a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.
Cholera: an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted from infected water supplies and causing severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Facts:
1. can be fatal in a matter of hours when left untreated
2. Modern sewage and water treatment have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries
3. The last major outbreak in the United States occurred in 1911.
4. Cholera is still present in Africa, Southeast Asia, Haiti and central Mexico.
5. Death results from severe dehydration that can be prevented with a simple and inexpensive rehydration solution.
(According to Mayo Clinic - http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cholera/basics/definition/con-20031469)

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Ch 8: William's Decision to Kill His Dog

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Ch 8: William's Decision to Kill His Dog

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Reflection: Khamba began to throw up everything he ate. William realized that Khamba was starving to death and it was near the end for him. Charity and Mizeck saw how miserable Khamba was and suggested that they'd kill him. William thought about how he could save him, but realized that Charity and Mizeck were right. William told Charity that he'd do it. William lied to Khamba and told him they were going hunting. He saw Khamba struggling to walk over the high grass and sticks, and almost started to cry. Charity told him, "Don't be so upset. It's just a dog, (Kamkwamba 146). Charity and William tied Khamba to a tree and left him to starve to death. When he realized William was leaving him, he began to cry and gave up his will to live. He died without struggling. Socrates, William's Uncle, asked William where Khamba was and William told him, "I haven't seen him. I was wondering the same thing," (Kamkwamba 147).

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Literary device: simile
Quote: "My arms became thin like blue gum poles and ached all the time," (Kamkwamba 150-151).

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Literally device: simile
Quote: "The next morning, the hunger woke me up. My stomach had taken over my entire body during the night, filled every limb and crevice, all the way up to my head like a great big balloon. It had been filled with air, and in this nothingness, there was only pain. I took deep breaths to try and fill the space again, but it was no use. I was flattened like a tube," (Kamkwamba 141).

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Chapter 7: The Fall of Malawi Officially Begins

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Chapter 7: The Fall of Malawi Officially Begins

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"My own problems didn't seem so important; the hunger belonged to the entire country," (Kamkwamba 134).
SIAS: The people of Malawi had to face the terrible famine on their own and realized how oblivious their president truly is.

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Ch 7: Is Society Obligated to Take Care of the Weak and the Sick?

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Ch 7: Is Society Obligated to Take Care of the Weak and the Sick?

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I believe that society IS obligated to take care of all of its people, especially the weak and the sick. Instead of Malawi's government taking care of its people, they decided to completely ignore the major issue of famine. Instead of facing the downfall of Malawi as a country, the president completely ignored that people were starving to death. The people were left alone in the hands of starvation.

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Children, including William, are expected to pay attention and learn new subjects at school even though they aren't getting the majority of the things below. They aren't getting food, rest and water. Their homes aren't safe, and they don't have strong relationships with anyone because of their desire to get their own needs. Without these things, they lack many things, including being able to pay attention. "The hunger was just as painful in class as it was in the fields. Actually, it was worse. My stomach screamed and threatened, twisted in knots, and gave my brain no peace at all. And I soon found it difficult to pay attention," (Kamkwamba 131).

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"There were also great clouds of mosquitoes, carrying malaria and death between their wings," (Kamkwamba 123).
Malaria- A disease caused by a plasmodium parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes
Facts:
1. can spread by both animals and insects
2. Symptoms are mainly chills, fever, and sweating
3. can also be spread by blood products, such as unclean needles or unscreened blood
4. can develop severe complications and death if left untreated
5. According to the CDC, there were 214 million cases of malaria that occurred worldwide and 438,000 people died, mostly children in the African Region (2015)

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"But there were no signs of happiness on my parents' faces. In fact, I'd never seen them so terrified in all my life. You see, the week before we ran out of food, on November 22, my mother had given birth to another baby girl," (Kamkwamba 100).
SIAS: Although all of Malawi was dealing with severe famine and had very little food, William and his family still had hope that they'd get through it.

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Ch 6: Mob Mentality Affecting Personal Moral 

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Ch 6: Mob Mentality Affecting Personal Moral 

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When you're desperate, you do a lot of things that you would not normally do. For example, in TBWHTW, many people took desperate actions in order to gain both money and food. "A man in the trading center was caught trying to sell his two young daughters. The buyer had informed the police. People were becoming desperate," (Kamkwamba 113). There were many more examples in the book.

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Ch 6: Physiological Effects from Starvation

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Ch 6: Physiological Effects from Starvation

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Physiological- relating to the way in which a living organism or bodily part functions
Heart rate and blood pressure, plus more affects on the body due to starvation

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Organizations: Save the Children, Raising Malawi, ect.
Past efforts: ADMARC, many more
Purpose: Raise money to support Malawi with food and other supplies

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Facts:
1. Malawi dealt with erratic rains, floods and then droughts
2. The poor and jobless will be most affected
3. Maize will continue to increase in price while these disasters continue

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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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Ch 6: Courtship and Marriage Customs in Malawi

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Ch 6: Courtship and Marriage Customs in Malawi

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Before planning the wedding: A girl will ask a guy to meet her parents and he'll visit for several weeks. If the guy senses safety with the family, he proposes. The girl speaks to her mother, who will speak to the father, who will speak to the wife's brother. The bride's uncle approaches the groom's uncle. The bride's uncle talks about the price of the dowry and speaks on behalf of his family.
Planning the wedding: The groom's family pays for the ceremony and reception, including food, drinks and transportation. Weddings are expensive for men, which is why they remain single.

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"If the government treated our dear leader in such a way, with the hunger bearing down, I wondered if we people would fare much better," (Kamkwamba 97).
SIAS: Malawi has been faced with many challenges because of the president and the government, such as the beginning in severe starvation, violence, and corruption.

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Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation
Three facts:
1. as many as 800,000 people murdered
2. much more were displaced from their homes
3. Hutu murdered the Tutsi

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During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Started by Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread throughout the country with shocking speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited by local officials and the Hutu Power government to take up arms against their neighbors. By the time the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front gained control of the country through a military offensive in early July, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were dead and 2 million refugees (mainly Hutus) fled Rwanda, exacerbating what had already become a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Rwandan Ethnic Tensions

By the early 1990s, Rwanda, a small country with an overwhelmingly agricultural economy, had one of the highest population densities in Africa. About 85 percent of its population was Hutu; the rest were Tutsi, along with a small number of Twa, a Pygmy group who were the original inhabitants of Rwanda.

Part of German East Africa from 1897 to 1918, Rwanda became a Belgium trusteeship under a League of Nations mandate after World War I, along with neighboring Burundi.

Rwanda's colonial period, during which the ruling Belgians favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated the tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating a legacy of tension that exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence.

A Hutu revolution in 1959 forced as many as 330,000 Tutsis to flee the country, making them an even smaller minority. By early 1961, victorious Hutus had forced Rwanda's Tutsi monarch into exile and declared the country a republic. After a United Nations referendum that same year, Belgium officially granted independence to Rwanda in July 1962.

Ethnically motivated violence continued in the years following independence. In 1973, a military group installed Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, in power.

The sole leader of Rwandan government for the next two decades, Habyarimana founded a new political party, the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRMD). He was elected president under a new constitution ratified in 1978 and reelected in 1983 and 1988, when he was the sole candidate.

In 1990, forces of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), consisting mostly of Tutsi refugees, invaded Rwanda from Uganda. Habyarimana accused Tutsi residents of being RPF accomplices and arrested hundreds of them. Between 1990 and 1993, government officials directed massacres of the Tutsi, killing hundreds. A ceasefire in these hostilities led to negotiations between the government and the RPF in 1992.

In August 1993, Habyarimana signed an agreement at Arusha, Tanzania, calling for the creation of a transition government that would include the RPF.

This power-sharing agreement angered Hutu extremists, who would soon take swift and horrible action to prevent it.

Rwandan Genocide Begins

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and Burundi's president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over the capital city of Kigali, leaving no survivors. (It has never been conclusively determined who the culprits were. Some have blamed Hutu extremists, while others blamed leaders of the RPF.)

Within an hour of the plane crash, the Presidential Guard, together with members of the Rwandan armed forces (FAR) and Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe ("Those Who Attack Together") and Impuzamugambi ("Those Who Have the Same Goal"), set up roadblocks and barricades and began slaughtering Tutsis and moderate Hutus with impunity.

Among the first victims of the genocide were the moderate Hutu Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian peacekeepers, killed on April 7. This violence created a political vacuum, into which an interim government of extremist Hutu Power leaders from the military high command stepped on April 9. The killing of the Belgium peacekeepers, meanwhile, provoked the withdrawal of Belgium troops. And the U.N. directed that peacekeepers only defend themselves thereafter.

Slaughter Spreads Across Rwanda

The mass killings in Kigali quickly spread from that city to the rest of Rwanda. In the first two weeks, local administrators in central and southern Rwanda, where most Tutsi lived, resisted the genocide. After April 18, national officials removed the resisters and killed several of them. Other opponents then fell silent or actively led the killing. Officials rewarded killers with food, drink, drugs and money. Government-sponsored radio stations started calling on ordinary Rwandan civilians to murder their neighbors. Within three months, some 800,000 people had been slaughtered.

Meanwhile, the RPF resumed fighting, and civil war raged alongside the genocide. By early July, RPF forces had gained control over most of country, including Kigali.

In response, more than 2 million people, nearly all Hutus, fled Rwanda, crowding into refugee camps in the Congo (then called Zaire) and other neighboring countries.

After its victory, the RPF established a coalition government similar to that agreed upon at Arusha, with Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, as president and Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, as vice president and defense minister.

Habyarimana's NRMD party, which had played a key role in organizing the genocide, was outlawed, and a new constitution adopted in 2003 eliminated reference to ethnicity. The new constitution was followed by Kagame's election to a 10-year term as Rwanda's president and the country's first-ever legislative elections.

International Response

As in the case of atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia around the same time, the international community largely remained on the sidelines during the Rwandan genocide.

A United Nations Security Council vote in April 1994 led to the withdrawal of most of a U.N. peacekeeping operation (UNAMIR), created the previous fall to aid with governmental transition under the Arusha accord.

As reports of the genocide spread, the Security Council voted in mid-May to supply a more robust force, including more than 5,000 troops. By the time that force arrived in full, however, the genocide had been over for months.

In a separate French intervention approved by the U.N., French troops entered Rwanda from Zaire in late June. In the face of the RPF's rapid advance, they limited their intervention to a "humanitarian zone" set up in southwestern Rwanda, saving tens of thousands of Tutsi lives but also helping some of the genocide's plotters - allies of the French during the Habyarimana administration - to escape.

In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, many prominent figures in the international community lamented the outside world's general obliviousness to the situation and its failure to act in order to prevent the atrocities from taking place.

As former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the PBS news program Frontline: "The failure of Rwanda is 10 times greater than the failure of Yugoslavia. Because in Yugoslavia the international community was interested, was involved. In Rwanda nobody was interested."

Attempts were later made to rectify this passivity. After the RFP victory, the UNAMIR operation was brought back up to strength; it remained in Rwanda until March 1996, as one of the largest humanitarian relief efforts in history.

Did you know? In September 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued the first conviction for genocide after a trial, declaring Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty for acts he engaged in and oversaw as mayor of the Rwandan town of Taba.

Rwandan Genocide Trials

In October 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), located in Tanzania, was established as an extension of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, the first international tribunal since the Nuremburg Trials of 1945-46, and the first with the mandate to prosecute the crime of genocide.

In 1995, the ICTR began indicting and trying a number of higher-ranking people for their role in the Rwandan genocide; the process was made more difficult because the whereabouts of many suspects were unknown.

The trials continued over the next decade and a half, including the 2008 conviction of three former senior Rwandan defense and military officials for organizing the genocide.

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During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Started by Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread throughout the country with shocking speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited by local officials and the Hutu Power government to take up arms against their neighbors.

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Ch 5: Corrupt Politicians and Government

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Ch 5: Corrupt Politicians and Government

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1. "A few months before, President Muluzi's people had sold all of our surplus grain for profit. Much of it had gone by lorry over the border to Kenya. In addition, millions of kwacha were missing, and no one in the government was taking responsibility," (Kamkwamba 87).
2. "I'm ashamed to see this school broken in such fashion. We should tear the whole place down and start from scratch, build is again strong and proud! Teachers' houses also need to be shipshape, and students need new desks and books!" But instead of buying us new desks, he sent men into our blue gum grove to chop down our trees to build them. Even then, there wasn't enough. The teachers never got new homes, and the only thing he did for the school building was give it a fresh coat of paint and a new iron sheet for the roof," (Kamkwamba 95).
3. "This was the same person who'd promised that every person in Malawi would get new shoes if he won the election. "Ladies and gentlemen, do I look crazy? How can I know the shoe size of every person in Malawi? I never promised shoes," (Kamkwamba 95).

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Anemia: a condition in which the blood doesn't have enough healthy red blood cells
Symptoms: fatigue, skin pallor, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, dizziness, a fast heartbeat, ect.

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1. "They're running out of food in the bush. They've come to ask my father for handouts or ganyu. Some of them have walked days to get here," (Kamkwamba 85).
2. "After only four months, their storages had gone dry. All of us were running out of food," (Kamkwamba 86).
3. "I even found nothing at Chimbia, and they usually have plenty," (Kamkwamba 86).
4. "Several market women had spread out plastic tarps on the road and were now selling gaga. It has so few nutrients that it isn't considered proper food. I saw giant sacks of gaga being sold for one hundred---ten times what it had cost a month earlier," (Kamkwamba 88-89).
5. "I saw my father rounding up our goats to sell in the market. Like many people in Malawi, our livestock was our only wealth and stature on this earth, and now we were selling it for a few pails of maize," (Kamkwamba 90).

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Deforestation: the action of clearing a wide area of trees

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Deforestation keeps Malawians poor because the lack of wood caused floods, which washed away the soil and caused power cuts. This resulted in no crops, electricity, and more deforestation because people sold wood to buy food for their families.

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The cutting blights a pastoral, sometimes breathtaking landscape. It dries up streams, pollutes the air, lowers the water table, erodes the soil and silts rivers so badly that, officials here say, hydroelectric plants are blacked out by the gunk.

It is hard to think of many other things that Mr. Juma and his fellow loggers could do that would damage the nation more.

The problem is that it is hard to think of many other ways that Mr. Juma and his fellow loggers could make a living, period.

"The problem is that we have nothing else to do," said Mr. Juma, a wiry 33-year-old with a neon green shirt tied around his bare waist, standing over the remains of the chopped-up masuku. "We have no money to raise our families. We have nowhere to run, nothing else to do. So we have to cut the trees to feed our families."

In few places do the dictates of modern environmentalism butt so painfully against economic reality as they do here in Malawi.

Two-thirds of the nation's 12 million people earn less than a dollar a day, according to the United Nations Human Development report. Nine-tenths of those two-thirds live in rural areas where both jobs and the odds of escaping poverty are nonexistent.

For hundreds of thousands of those rural dwellers, sales of firewood and charcoal provide virtually their only income.

Wood and charcoal are the preferred cooking and heating fuels in Malawi, even in the poorer parts of cities, and the demand is huge: the World Bank estimated in 2001 that charcoal consumption alone was twice what the nation's woodlands could sustain without further deforestation. Indeed, loggers illegally clear 100 square miles of forest each year just to meet the demand for charcoal, the government says.

Yet the income -- less than $8 million a year nationwide, by official estimates -- is pitifully meager, as Mr. Juma's band of loggers can testify.

A single masuku tree, felled and cut into logs and branches, brings about 2,000 kwacha, or about $15 at current exchange rates, when all has been sold. A bundle of three or four branches sold by the roadside brings about 15 cents; a thick five-foot section of trunk, up to $1.50.

Mr. Juma and his fellow loggers say they cut about 15 trees a year, the most the group can sell in a region where dozens of wood vendors line the main street of every town. That provides an income, on average, of about $20 a month.

That $20 must support the 10 men, their 8 wives and 16 children -- 34 people in all. Whatever else they have comes from casual labor as gardeners, for about 40 cents a day, or from the vegetable plots outside their one-room huts, just off the main road linking Blantyre and Lilongwe, Malawi's two main cities.

"Sometimes we just do without food because the money doesn't last a month," said Kabaitha Langwan, a gray-stubbled, 52-year-old logger clad in a red T-shirt bearing the words "surf extreme." "We lack money even for soap and bathing."

"It's a lot of hard work for very little money," said one forester, an expert who is working under a foreign government grant to reduce illegal logging. "Nobody does it by choice. But they have very few options."

In theory, at least, Malawi's impoverished millions could benefit by saving the woods instead of clearing them.

Some studies indicate that the income from forest beehives and their honey can exceed the profit from firewood sales. Practitioners of traditional medicine scrupulously tend their patches of wood to maintain supplies of forest mushrooms and exotic plants used in home remedies.

More than that, simple math shows that Malawians could cook their food far more cheaply using electricity -- if it were available -- than by buying and burning wood or charcoal.

But only 2 percent of Malawians are hooked to the electrical grid, and for the rest, merely the cost of plugging in -- buying a meter, and buying a stove with which to cook -- makes electricity a pipe dream. Only so many beehives can fit into a forest. And all the arguments about the long-term benefits of woodlands pale beside the relentless need to find the next day's meal.

And so along the main road, almost all the hills have been shaved of their leafy canopies of trees, leaving behind a rocky bristle of scrub and dirt. Plumes of smoke curl skyward from behind the peaks, the signatures of charcoal makers at work.

More than a fifth of Malawi's forests vanished between 1990 and 2000 alone, the World Bank says, and 23 species of trees are considered to be endangered.

In many places, the biggest patches of untouched woods are the ones that protect community graveyards.

Michael Pathungo, the assistant forestry officer in Malawi's southern region, said the nation's heavily populated southern half has now lost up to four-fifths of its tree cover.

"The rate of cutting is dwindling," he said, grasping for a shred of good news, "because there are no more forests."

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Malawi Is Burning, and Deforestation Erodes Economy

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Lovely and lissome, the masuku tree rises maybe 35 feet at maturity, its wood the hue of a rare steak, its branches dotted with sweet golfball-size fruits that ferment into a tasty wine.

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Alternating Current: bidirectional, it alternates between two directions (goes back and forth)
Facts/Details:
1. waveform- sine wave (triangular or square waves also)
2. electricity is delivered to homes or businesses
3. Nikola Tesla created it
Direct Current: only goes one direction
Facts/Details:
1. batteries
2. Thomas Edison created it
3. is also called "Galvanic current"

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Facts:
1. is a type of generator attached to a bicycle
2. produces electricity for the bicycle lights.
3. the top of the dynamo spins when the bicycle starts moving and touches the tire's rim
4. early bicycle dynamos resembled small bottles
5. bicycle dynamos are rare in North America
Dynamos usually power lights

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TATTOOING Close Up (in Slow Motion) - Smarter Every Day 122

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"I'd become very interested in how things worked, yet I never thought of this as science," (Kamkwamba 71).
SIAS: Although Malawi was going through a difficult farming season, William continued to grow his knowledge and curiosity about how things worked.

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Simile: "The maize leaves looked like onions, brown and brittle and ready to crumble to the touch," (Kamkwamba 77).
Personification: "I saw a lamp flickering inside and found my father there alone, staring at the sacks as if he'd just asked them a question. Whatever they told him, I'd find out soon enough," (Kamkwamba 78).

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Ch 4: Timeline for Malawian Farming Process

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Ch 4: Timeline for Malawian Farming Process

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http://www.fao.org/agriculture/seed/cropcalendar/cropcalendar.do
Agro-ecological Zone: Medium Altitude Areas
Maize Dry Season (Sowing/ Planting): April - June
Maize Dry Season (Harvesting): Middle of April - October
Maize Rainy Season (Sowing/ Planting): Middle of November - End of December
Maize Rainy Season (Harvesting): May - July

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Sustainable: to be able to continue, defend, upheld, maintained
Ethical: moral principles and the knowledge of them
Feasible: to be able to do something with ease and convenience

5 facts or benefits of eating grasshoppers:
1. Protein
2. Lower in cholesterol
3. Less strain on the environment
4. Rich in vitamins
5. Rich in minerals

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You might ponder ~ ~ ~ is grasshopper edible? Why do I need to include it in my diet? How can I eat this hopping insect?How can a little creature that normally produce chirping noise while hopping around the garden be part of my diet? No not for me! I've never and will never eat this type of creature! Well, what if there are no other options like meat, fish, birds, crustaceans and seafood etc? What if it had been part of your diet right from the onset of your journey on this planet earth? What if it is part of your basic requirement for therapeutic purposes? Well, I leave you to proffer answers to these key questions.

I personally do not query anyone on this subject because the idea of making insect a part of our diets is pretty tough to accept. Simply put, grasshopper is safe to eat, nutritious, healthy and delicious! It is also considered a suitable alternative to chicken, beef, meat, birds, fish and other seafood. As part of The Telegraph documentary captioned "Eat more insects, scientists say", Tibbetts pointed out that grasshopper is beneficial to health and should be encouraged in our diets. Besides, even the holy Bible recorded it that John the Baptist ate locust and honey while in the wilderness.

Now, another concern is the difference between grasshopper and locust. Basically, the both are just the same! Locust is just a short-horned type of grasshopper that usually moves in or forms a swarm. Biblically, we are permitted to eat insects such as grasshopper, locusts, crickets, katydid, beetle as recorded in Leviticus 11:22. Grasshopper is an important staple delicacy in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. Despite the awareness of the importance of this amazing creature as a healthy alternative for food supply, many people are still oblivious of this. This shouldn't be the case because grasshoppers are rich in numerous essential vitamins and minerals such as protein, serve as a healthy alternative to conventional meat and also suitable for medicinal purposes.

Grasshopper belongs to the order of Orthoptera and suborder Caelifera. It is distinguished by its strong hind legs that allow it to easily escape from predators such as birds, animals and spiders. Interestingly, it tends to camouflage as soon it sights predators in other to protect itself. This insect is hemimetabolous in nature being that it has no pupal stage while transiting from larva to adult. It also thrives mainly in the temperate regions of the world. Some species of grasshopper are high in population, that they tend to form a swarm such as locust. This insect is cold-blooded in nature thus it is best gathered under cool temperature when it is still immobile. It usually dwells in the ground and tends to emerge from the eggs that are deep buried in the soil. Grasshopper feeds mainly on plants, vegetables, cereals and crops etc.

Grasshopper has three main body segments of a head, thorax and abdomen. The head bears a pair of compound eyes, three simple eyes and a pair of antennae that are sensitive to the environment. The thorax and abdomen bear a rigid cuticle that comprises of overlapping plates made up of chitin. The thoracic segments bear 3 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of wings. The abdomen is made up of 11 segments while the legs are surrounded by claws for holding firm to anything. Male grasshoppers are usually smaller than the female ones that have short chisel-like ovipositors. The male species usually produce loud chirping sounds to attract females.

There are different species of grasshopper, for example, brown-spotted range grasshopper, club-horned grasshoppers, Oxya hyla hyla and velvet-striped grasshoppers, sage grasshopper, grass-green grasshopper, kiowa grasshopper, obscure bird grasshopper, fuzzy olive-green grasshopper, orange-legged grasshopper, short-winged toothpick grasshopper, Carolina grasshopper, American grasshopper, Chinese rice grasshopper, harris sprinkled grasshopper, Locusta sp, migratory grasshopper, Kraussaria sp., Anacridium sp., Nomadacris septemfasciata, Cataloipus sp., Hieroglyphycus sp., narrow-winged spur-throat, striped grasshopper, Katantop sp., largehead grasshopper, Gelestorhinus sp., keeler grasshopper, packard grasshopper, but the most common one is locust.

Locust is a short-horned swarming species of grasshopper that belongs to the family of Acrididae. Short-horned cricket can be easily distinguished from katydid or bush cricket that are characterised by long antennae. Grasshopper secretes a high level of serotonin that causes it to behave in certain ways, change colour and breed faster. It produces several wingless nymphs that later turn to swarms of winged adults. Swarms of locusts are usually a threat to crops thereby contributing to famines and short supply of food. Grasshoppers are often referred to as crickets (Ensifera) of the sub-order of Orthoptera, however, they have several differences especially in terms of the structure of their ovipositor, the segments in their antennae, the way they produce their sounds and the location of their tympana.

Grasshopper's Lifecycle

Grasshoppers are distinguished from most insects because they have incomplete metamorphosis and undergo ecdysis. Insect's ecdysis is the process of casting off the outer cuticle of insects and other arthropods. Male grasshopper usually produces a chirping sound in other to attract the females. Female grasshoppers identify conducive egg-laying sites for example; close to plant roots or soil. During the ovipositing process, the males usually come around the females. Once the eggs have been laid, the female covers the spot with waste matters and soil.

The females normally lay their eggs in pods that can be glued together with a froth. The eggs undergo development within a couple of weeks before going into diapause. Once the eggs are ready to hatch, all the embryos in the pod then hatch out within a couple of minutes after each other. Afterwards, their membranes are shed while the exoskeletons become hard. The initial instar nymphs at this stage can easily jump away from potential predators.

Nutritional Values of Grasshoppers

Kinyuru et al., (2011) assessed the nutritional ability of green and brown coloured grasshoppers as an alternative for combating nutritional deficiencies. The study showed that the selected grasshoppers contain 37.1% and 35.3% protein, 48.2% and 46.2% fat, 2.8% and 2.6% ash, 3.9% and 4.9% dietary fibre for the green and brown grasshoppers respectively. These grasshoppers also contain macro and trace minerals such as; phosphorus (P) 140.9 mg/100g and 121.0 mg/100g, potassium (K) of 370.6 mg/100g and 259.7 mg/100g, calcium (Ca) of 27.4 mg/100g and 24.5 mg/100g, iron (Fe) of 16.6 mg/100g and 13.0 mg/100g, zinc of 17.3 mg/100g and 12.4 mg/100g in the green and brown grasshopper respectively.

They also exhibited a retinol concentration of 2.1 μg/g and 2.8 μg/g, riboflavin 1.2 mg/100g and 1.4 mg/100g, α-tocopherol 201.0 μg/g and 152.0 μg/g and niacin 2.1 mg/100g and 2.4 mg/100g for the green and brown grasshopper respectively. The lipid analysis showed that the grasshoppers' oil contains high quantities of polyunsaturated fatty acids, 89.4% and 84.3% neutral lipids, glycolipids 3.2% and 6.4%, 7.4% and 9.3% phospholipids, for green and brown grasshopper respectively. Furthermore, Ghosh et al., (2016) evaluated the nutrients quality in Oxya hyla hyla grasshopper species. The results showed that this species consists of 64% protein, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrate, amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids. They also reported that this grasshopper is low in antinutritional factors and contains negligible amounts of cholesterol and other fats. These findings support that grasshopper is an excellent source of essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients that are essential for the healthy functioning of the body. This further suggests that this edible insect is suitable for tackling nutritional deficiencies that are increasingly becoming a global concern.

Astonishing Benefits of Grasshoppers

Some amazing benefits of grasshoppers are discussed below;

Grasshoppers are edible, nutritious, delicious, healthy and safe to consume, thus can serve as food. But always endeavour to cook them properly first before consumption. Cooking the grasshoppers properly before consumption helps to destroy any parasite present. To prepare grasshoppers for cooking, always endeavour to remove the legs, wings and excreta first. Different countries use grasshopper for preparing assorted cuisines such as; cornmeal pudding with grasshoppers, grasshopper tortillas with chilli sauce, skewered grasshoppers, kebab grasshoppers, silkworm and grasshopper bug kebab, roasted grasshoppers, deep-fried grasshoppers, walang goreng, roasted chapulínes, boiled grasshopper, sun-dried grasshoppers and cooked grasshopper. Culinary Purposes
Treatment of Kidney Diseases DeConconi and Moreno (1988) report that the hind legs of grasshoppers can be crushed and mixed with water. This concoction can be consumed as a powerful diuretic for treating kidney diseases. Treatment of Gastrointestinal Diseases Some countries use grasshoppers for treating certain intestinal disorders such as stomach ache and dysentery. Livestock and Fish Feeds There has been an increased demand for livestock and animal feed. Interestingly, due to the rich nutrient constituents of a grasshopper, it can serve as a nutritious feed for animals and fish. It can also be used as a fish bait for capturing fishes. Ghosh et al., (2016) study supports the idea of using grasshopper as an alternative protein-rich feed for feeding livestock and fish. They agreed that since the short-horned grasshopper species O. hyla hyla is rich in carbohydrate, protein, fatty acids, amino acids, fat and low in antinutritional factors, then it is suitable for use as a protein-rich feed supplement in fish and animal diets. Suitable for Artworks Grasshoppers are suitable for artworks, paintings, designs and decorations of buildings .
Supports the Ecosystem
Grasshoppers significantly support the ecosystem thereby making our environment safer and comfortable for animals and plants to thrive. They feed on poisonous weeds that can be toxic to farmland crops and animals.They facilitate plant growth, development, decomposition, and regrowth. They are also a source of food to animals, birds, lizards and spiders etc. Grasshoppers usually leave droppings that are rich in nutrients on the ground. These nutrients help to promote the soil and vegetation. Moreover, dead grasshoppers decompose and enrich the soil with valuable nutrients, minerals and vitamins.

26] The Telegraph by Tibbetts, (2008), Eat more insects, scientists say, accessed online DISCLAIMER This post is for enlightenment purposes only and should not be used as a replacement for professional diagnosis and treatments. Remember to always consult your healthcare provider before making any health-related decisions or for counselling, guidance and treatment about a specific medical condition.
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19] Kinyuru, J. N., Kenji, G. M., Njoroge, S. M., and Ayieko, M. (2010a), Effect of processing methods on the in-vitro protein digestibility and vitamin content of edible winged termite (Macrotermes subhylanus) and grasshopper (Ruspolia differens). Food and Bioprocess Technology, 3(5), pp. 778-782. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11947-009-0264-1
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27] Wang, D., Zhai, S., Zhang, C., Zhang, Q., Chen, H., (2007) Nutrition value of the Chinese grasshopper Acrida cinerea (Thunberg) for broilers. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 135, pp. 66-74.
28] Whipple S. D., Brust M. L., Hoback W. W. and Farnsworth-Hoback K. M. (2009), The grasshoppers Arphia Xanthoptera and Dichromorpha Viridis prefer introduced smooth brome over other grasses. Great Plains Research 19: pp.179-86.
29] Yadav R. S. and Singh J. (2011), Biodiversity of short- horned grasshopper (Acrididae: Orthoptera) at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Environment and Ecology; 29(1A), pp. 347-350.

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ASTONISHING BENEFITS OF GRASSHOPPERS amp-version

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Grasshopper You might ponder ~ ~ ~ is grasshopper edible? Why do I need to include it in my diet? How can I eat this hopping insect?How can a little creature that normally produce chirping noise while hopping around the garden be part of my diet? No not for me!

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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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"It was the first time I'd ever seen my parents suffer, and the sight of it frightened me more than any magic ever could," (Kamkwamba 50).
SIAS: Although William's Uncle John passed away due to tuberculosis, his family still tried to get along the best they can by continuing to farm, hunt birds with unique inventions, and be there for each other.

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"My first and only experience with magic had left me with a sore eye and hands that throbbed from bad medicine," (Kamkwamba 48).
SIAS: Although William's mangolomera experience was unsuccessful, Trywell, his father, converted his beliefs to God, and built his new family home to begin farming.

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Mangolomera: a form of magic that delivers superhuman strength

William's first encounter with magic, specifically with mangolomera, was when Shabani confronted William and told him that he can give him magolomera to make him stronger than the bullies. William agreed and so him and Shabani met in the blue gums behind Geoffrey's house. That is where Shabani cut William's knuckles, told him that if he cried, it would not work, and rubbed the powder onto his knuckles. Lastly, he told William to wait three days to work its way through his veins and to not eat okra or sweet potato leaves. After the mangolomera did not work when William tried to beat up a kid bigger than him and got beat up instead, he confronted Shabani. Shabani asked him if he bathed the day he gave it to him and told him that it did not work because William bathed that day. William realized that Shabani never told him that and cheated him for his money. After this experience, William learned not to play with magic, as his father had told him before.

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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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Robert Fumulani is known for his Afroma ("Afro-Malawi") funk rock reggae fusion music, since he is an award-winning musician http://www.malawi-music.com/R/75-robert-fumulani

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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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Cult of Personality: the excessive use of public admiration in order to gain loyalty and devotion, mainly used in politics.
This is applied to Hastings Banda because he made it known to his people that if anyone stood up to him and his rules, they would be silenced by imprisonment or execution.

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Kamuzu Banda (Hastings Kamuzu Banda), medical practitioner and politician: born 14 May 1898; Minister of Natural Resources and Local Government, Nyasaland 1961-63; Prime Minister of Malawi 1963-66, President 1966-94, Life President 1971-94; died Johannesburg 25 November 1997.

He was one of the most extraordinary people of the 20th century. He lived three different lives; as a peasant, a doctor and a king. But he failed to integrate them. He died a lonely and unhappy man unable to reconcile the cultural schizophrenia which tore his soul.

His first name was Kamuzu, a little root. He was conceived after his mother had been given root herbs by the medicine man to cure infertility. Banda means a small hut. Later he took the name Hastings from John Hastings, a Scottish missionary working near his village whom he admired. The next name he added to himself was Doctor, first in the United States in 1937, and then in Edinburgh and Glasgow, collecting the initials LRCP and LRCS (Edin) and LRFPS (Glas). And he also became an elder of the Church of Scotland.

When he swept to power as the first President of Malawi in 1966 he called himself "Ngwazi", which means conqueror, and after a few years declared himself "Life President". So his extended title read: "His Excellency The Life President (Paramount Chief) Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the Ngwazi". This is how all official organs in Malawi had to refer to him. He was also Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Justice, Minister of Works and Supplies, Minister of Women's and Children's Affairs and Minister of Community Services. He ruled Malawi for nearly 30 years, until his defeat in presidential elections in May 1994.

A friend who saw the president in one of his last illnesses said that when he parted from him the old man wept and said "I'm so lonely, so lonely."

Yet he had rejected companionship and marriage and turned his back on the Englishwoman who bore his son. Once a dedicated doctor with admiring patients, first in Liverpool, then Newcastle and Harlesden, he was surrounded by friends. But he was swept away on a tide of history which he thought he controlled but which finally washed him up alone in a world he did not understand. In his last years he was under the control of the "Official Hostess", Cecilia Kadzamira, once a nurse in his Blantyre practice. She was always at his side controlling his life: who saw him, what he read, what he was told, what he signed. But even she does not seem to have been close to him.

He created the prison but the circumstances of his life drew him into it. He was born, the son of an African farmer, apparently in 1898 (though the official year of his birth was always 1906), at a time when the existence of white people was but a rumour in that part of Africa. As he was growing up near Lake Nyasa the first mission schools were founded among the Chewa people by Scottish missionaries. They changed African society for ever. They also made a deep impression on the young Banda, who never lost his links with Scotland and its church.

The choice for a young man then was between a hard life of tilling Africa's precarious soil or education and the world. From then on Banda's sole aim was education. His first journey was to South Africa. He walked the 1,000 miles to Johannesburg and worked in the mines. But in his spare time he studied and in 1925 he got sponsorship to go to school in the United States.

At the universities of Indiana and Chicago he graduated in medicine, philosophy, history and political science, but although he talked a lot of returning to help his fellow countrymen his appetite for study proved stronger and he set off for Scotland. He excused his quest for British medical qualifications on the grounds that American qualifications did not allow him to practise on British territory.

His stay in Scotland, gathering more degrees, accelerated his journey away from his original home. He was becoming eccentrically European. His shyness and reserve masked a puritanical streak, perhaps a legacy of his narrow Scottish education which was later to be so dominant. It made him intolerant of couples dancing together and he was appalled at the lax wartime morals and the ensuing secret abortions. But he was fastidious and diligent as a doctor and was renowned for acts of kindness towards his patients. In 1941 he set up his practice in a poor area of Liverpool, waiving fees for poor patients and even paying the rents of the poorest.

It is astonishing that a black man could attract such a large and varied medical practice at that time. From Liverpool he moved to Harlesden in north London. Again he attracted a large and devoted following, mostly white and middle- or lower middle-class. He was said to be particularly good with children. He was becoming very British, parted his hair and adopted a Homburg hat, furled umbrella and dark three-piece suit. He was welcomed into people's homes and gained an acceptance and integration which was remarkable. But it also strained his personality. He had always kept in touch with African politics and politicians but at this time Banda became increasingly peremptory and high-handed in his dealing with other Africans. Kwame Nkrumah, the doyen of the African leaders, he referred to as "my boy".

His secretary became pregnant with his child and her husband sued for divorce. He fled from Britain to Ghana, his secretary followed him but he rejected her and he never supported their child. He left Ghana under a cloud and there were reports that he had been running an abortion clinic.

There is no record of what was going on in his mind at this time but the crisis coincided with rapid change in Africa so he threw himself into African politics. The white settlers of the Rhodesias wanted Nyasaland to be part of a Central African Federation. Banda and other African leaders opposed it actively. The battle brought Banda back to his original country after 43 years. The campaigners inside the country kept the leadership for Nyasaland's most educated son but Banda no longer spoke his mother tongue and mistrusted the local politicians. He returned in triumph but he asked British friends to advise him about whom to trust.

After mass African protest broke the federation plan, independence followed swiftly with Banda inheriting Nyasaland in 1966, which he renamed Malawi. Shortly after he became president he turned on his former colleagues, sacking and imprisoning them. After that he was the most totalitarian ruler in Africa. No decision in Malawi was taken without his consent. Like an enthusiastic colonial officer he wanted to impose on Malawi his idea of education and progress, but no colonial officer would have dared treat Africans in Banda's patronising and imperious manner. He regarded them as children to be guided with a firm hand.

He stressed obedience and hard work. Anyone who challenged or even questioned his authority was silenced. His power was absolute. Thirteen years ago, speaking to fellow southern African heads of state, he said: "Government here means Kamuzu. Kamuzu is Malawi. So be frank when you are speaking about government. You know you are speaking about Kamuzu, that is all, whether you like it or not."

Once he had acquired power, he was careful never to appear radical in front of the former colonial masters and pleased the British government by maintaining trade and contact with South Africa, condemning his fellow African leaders more than he did apartheid. He also appropriated businesses and land amounting to a third of the country's GDP, incorporating them into Press Holdings, a trust which he controlled. This gave him a huge source of patronage.

His bizarre projects for Malawi betrayed his own inability to reconcile his Western life as a British doctor and the realities of Africa. He was culturally European and uncertain about his African roots. He banned mini- skirts and trousers on women and long hair on men. He founded an English public school, the Kamuzu Academy, near Lilongwe, which taught Latin and Greek. He became one of Africa's biggest tobacco growers. He persecuted the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was a strange Ruritanian rule, a mixture of village Africa and British ritual, traditional warriors and brass bands.

One of the most spectacular and surreal sights I have ever seen in Africa was Hastings Banda in Homburg hat and dark three-piece suit, riding high in the raised back of his open Rolls-Royce. Around the car a vast heaving throng of women danced and sang and jogged along, all wearing the same cloth emblazoned on breast and bottom with the Ngwazi's smiling image. Beside him, waving majestically like a consort dressed in a broad blue hat and pink frock, was Margaret Thatcher.

A short time before, a Scottish clergyman met his old friend from Edinburgh and dared to ask him about another old Malawian friend whom Banda had thrown into prison. Banda writhed, foamed at the mouth and stamped his feet. "They shall rot, rot, rot," he shrieked.

In May 1994, after months of pressure by Western aid donors, Banda gave in and held a referendum on whether Malawi should remain a one-party state or adopt a multi- party system. His rallies were feebly attended as he struggled to read prepared speeches under a blazing sun. When he spoke extempore he reverted to speeches he had given 30 years before asking the people to choose between him and colonial rule. He turned the debate into a personal campaign, a choice for or against him. He lost hugely. It was a shattering personal rejection. And he was reported to be bitter that no one had warned him. But perhaps that was the price of absolute kingship.

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Kamuzu Banda (Hastings Kamuzu Banda), medical practitioner and politician: born 14 May 1898; Minister of Natural Resources and Local Government, Nyasaland 1961-63; Prime Minister of Malawi 1963-66, President 1966-94, Life President 1971-94; died Johannesburg 25 November 1997. He was one of the most extraordinary people of the 20th century.

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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 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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Malawi, Africa

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Chapter 1: Friends and family, with a side of bad Juju

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Chapter 1: Friends and family, with a side of bad Juju

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"When planning misfortune for your friends, be careful because it will come back to haunt you. You must always wish others well," (Kamkwamba 24). SIAS: William eats stolen bubblegum and believes he is cursed, but luckily, his father sorted out the issue and calmed him by telling him and his friends stories of magic.

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Information on Black Rhinos

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Magic and Juju: a spiritual belief in West Africa; believes in bad magic, karma, curses and a part of witchcraft

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Juju is sometimes used to enforce a contract or ensure compliance. In a typical scenario, a juju spell will be placed on a Nigerian woman before she is trafficked into Europe for a life in prostitution, to ensure that she will pay back her traffickers and won't escape.

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Gule Wamkulu: a secret cult, who performs ritual dances, performed by members of the Nyau brotherhood (a secret society of initiated men)

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Prologue: introduction section separated from the rest of the story
Memoir: a piece of writing that tells a story from the author's life (personal experiences, but not an autobiography)
Theme: the message or lesson of a story
Universal Theme: a theme that is relatable by a wide range of readers

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