Poverty looms in Khonjeni

By Albert Sharra

Poverty continues to hit hard in Khonjeni, Thyolo. Most families have exhausted the little maize they harvested after the January floods that hit 15 of the 28 districts of Malawi. The next option is to do piece works to get money to buy maize. However, with almost everyone affected by the floods, the piece works have become scarce and families are living on one meal per day. Also hard to find is relish. In the picture, women from Mwanandi Village in T/A Kapichi (Khonjeni) are hunting for crabs to use as relish.

Usually, when maize, the staple food has not done well, smallholder farmers rely on tuber crops such as Cassava and Sweet Potatoes, but it is a different story this year. The two including pigeon peas have not done well.

There is tough time for mothers who are breast feeding as this is dependent on good diet and there are fears that many children Under the age of 5 will be hit by malnutrition. Read more on mwnation.com website.

Aisha Raphael is struggling to breast feed her child
due to empty stomach

Ruth Wonderford and Mary Biziwick (Front) hunting for crabs

Biziwick shows poor cassava yield in her farm

Sand-Fest back, pegged at K30m

By Albert Sharra

Sunbird Sand Music Festival returns this year at the same venue, Livingstonia Beach in Salima with a K30 million budget, organisers have said.

This is K10 million up from last year's budget and the organisers say this year's festival comes bigger and better. However, despite the pledge, organisers have kept under a tight lid most of the surprises in the festival saying they will be unveiled with the build up to the final event.

Unlike in previous years, the organisers say they will not announce anything about international artists to headline the festival until the contracts are sealed. This comes from the background that most of the international artists invited for the previous editions did not make it.

“We are publicising the festival as an event and so we are still holding on names of the artists to headline the festival. We have learnt some lessons from previous events and we want to provide something very different, but unique,” said lead festival organiser Mazz.

He also said this brings to bed the culture of attaching the festival to international artists saying being a Malawian festival, it should promote local artists.

Another notable change in the organisation of the festival, which is brought forward by Impact Events and Sunbird Tourism Limited, is the change of dates. Previously, the festival was held in August, the 2015 edition will be held on October 30 and 31 and will finish on November 1.

Deputy lead festival organiser Nkhwachi Mhango said the change in dates has been necessitated by a weather prediction by the Department of climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) which predicts that in August there will be some showers in Salima and dry days in November. The three previous festivals were marred by bad weather characterised by showers and cold weather.

"We are growing big. Our budget has increased and we are more careful in our planning so that we deliver to public's expectation. The package on offer includes drama, poetry, music, fashion and games," said Mhango

He added that they are on the scout for better and power equipment to support the artists. Mhango said Impact Events has equipment that can be used on one of the performance stages and they will be monitoring music shows to choose the best equipment that can achieve the standards they have set.

While reacting to a question that most of the foods available at the festival are expensive, Sunbird Public Relations Officer Akossa Mphepo said her office will look into the issue and ensure the foods are affordable so that every patron can access them. She however said, not all their food is expensive.

As a build up to the final event, the organisers have arranged a Sengabay clean campaign where they work with the communities to clean the venue and the surrounding community.

Meanwhile, the organisers have called upon organisations to partner with them and these will benefit from the business expo which will allow them to display their products.