Our Homemade Breeds 2

This cockerel is brother to the hens above. They were hatched together. I am cautious not to call it Hy-Line cock since I understand Hy-Line cocks are not necessary brown in colour. Nonetheless, I patiently wait to see what offspring it will give us. The legs and neck are such tall not be confused with anything. It is simply in a class of its own. In fact, it is improved on a similar we had last time.

Our Homemade Breeds 1

Today, I would like to introduce you to some of the chicken cross breeds we have managed to come up with at Upile Poultry (upilefarm.blogspot.com; fb.me/upilepoultryandlivestock) over the years. I prefer to call some of these absolutely pure, for they do have any difference from what is considered pure breed. In other words, after repeated crossing we have reached the point of producing pure breeds. The others are what I call half castes. They take traits of both parents or dominantly those of one. I would like to make it clear that our idea for crossing is simply to improve meat and egg production – not to come up with some new breed, something like upileloiler. That’s not the idea. That’s why we maintain pure breeds for pure breeding separately, and bring in new males/females time and again to avoid mutation.

What you see here is a Hy-Line hen. As you can see, its size, colour, and, yes, indeed, the egg and docility are Hy-Line. This is about 6 months old and started laying last month. There are just two of them, apart from the young ones.

Change of Focus

Dear reader, Please note that from now onward, I've decided to dedicate this blog to Upile Poultry and Livestock. This is a farm I'm operating aside from the profession you know me for - journalism. For journalism and media issues, I shall maintain georgekalungwe.wordpress.com. Please keep following.

Refusing to Accept a Mistake is Stupidity, Mr. Minister

On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, 14-year-old Goodson Makanjira because another statistic in the sad tale of abduction, maim and murder of people with albinism in Malawi. His case was the 161st in a series of attacks on people with albinism that have happened since 2015. Of these, 20 have been killed. Because his case in court now, we include it in the 65 that are either under investigation or in court. Another 96 cases remain unresolved. These are alarming figures of targeted killings in a country that touts itself as the Warm Heart of Africa. So when one Nicholas Dausi, the minister of homeland security, said the suspected ritual killings have not reached alarming levels for our brothers and sisters with albinism to think of seeking asylum in safer countries, it was no surprise that he stirred the hornets’ nest. Surely the minister should have known that a loss of one life is a loss of too many. Probably, he has no relation with albinism or he is ignorant that his ministerial position entails providing security to all Malawians regardless of race, colour or creed. Indeed, as the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi has put it, his remarks were insensitive and shameful, not befitting a minister. Mr. Dausi should have known that the international law on asylum and refugees, to which Malawi is a signatory, provides that any person has the right to seek asylum in another country if they feel their state can no longer provide them with safety and security. Being a homeland security minister, he needed to know this law, otherwise we have no guarantee he could approve asylum of citizens from other countries should they seek asylum in Malawi for various forms of persecution in their home countries. If the attacks were not serious, the U.S government should not have told Zodiak it was ready to offer refuge status to Malawians with albinism as long as they follow the necessary procedures ascribed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Public Affairs Officer for the U.S Embassy to Malawi, Douglas Johnston, says his government could resettle the victimized people with albinism just like it does with any other person who has experienced persecution or fear persecution in their home countries. Mister minister, if the attacks were not that serious, the international relations committee of the Malawi Parliament and Amnesty International should not have thrown their weight behind the suggestion for asylum. Mr. Dausi, you have one option: swallow your pride and apologise. It is that simple. After all, to err is human and apologizing is not stupidity. But refusing to accept a mistake is stupidity, in my view. Lule should have been let to live At the centre of the abduction of Goodson was one Buleya Lule, a Lilongwe based businessman. The man is now dead, and we may know the truth of what happened on the fateful day, if indeed he was involved. Buleya denied any involvement. He died as suspect, but it is incriminating that two men who confirmed abducting Goodson alleged in court they handed the young boy to Buleya. The case has only started, so I am surely positive that something would have come out of this man regarding the motive of the abduction of Goodson which, by and large, would have given us clues as to who is behind this heinous attacks on people with albinism. The sudden death, in police custody, of the key suspect in the abduction of the Dedza boy has ignited suspicions he may have been intentionally killed. I agree. Lule, was seen fit at court in Lilongwe the previous day only to be announced dead on Thursday. His body had scary wounds over the buttocks. His sister, Annie Lule, who has medical training, claims she saw suspicious blood clots in the lungs and brain of the deceased when his body was ripped open for a postmortem. According to her, these are not signs of a person who might have died high blood pressure but apparent assault. My conclusion is that the police severely beat him up – either in a bid to extract information from him, or even worse, to kill him and cover up evidence. Now that the family has requested for a forensic autopsy and the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi (Apam) obtained an injunction against the burial of Lule until the autopsy is done, we have a sigh of relieve someone will be held accountable for concealing evidence. The demos should go ahead I would like to hail the Apam for stating that they will not relent on their planned demonstrations and vigil at Kamuzu Palace, the residence of President Peter Mutharika. No police should dare disperse the protestors because doing so would only indicate the luck of seriousness by government in ending the attacks. The vigil is not a lasting solution, but it will help force President Mutharika to act with urgency in stopping the continued attacks of people with albinism. As we have seen in the case of Buleya, the repercussion of any attempt to quell the Apam vigil will be far disastrous. Police, let the voice of the oppressed be heard. ..... This article first appeared on https://zodiakmalawi.com/component/k2/refusing-to-accept-a-mistake-is-stupidity-mr-minister and the minister later apologised.

NGO to Fight Child Abuse in Schools throught SMSs

For most people the mobile phone is used for communication, calling friends and relations to socialize or talk business. But a local education lobby group is taking the use of mobile phone short messages (SMS) to unprecedented level – reporting abuse against school children, particularly the girl child. The Forum for African Women Educationists in Malawi (FAWEMA) has launched an interactive mobile phone text message platform to be used for collecting data on violence against school children, and is currently being piloted in two primary schools, Nkhoma and Mwatibu in Lilongwe. For starters, FAWEMA is using the platform to collect data on a child abuse study in areas around Nkhoma and Nathenje in Lilongwe where the two schools are located before it is formally dedicated to reporting and dealing with the problem. Judith Schoot Uiterkamp, country programme officer for the International Institute of Communication and Development (IICD) which is overseeing the technical aspect of the project said as technology continues to grow, there is need adapt to the ever-changing world to ensure efficient data collection on various issues relating to children’s education. “We find that almost everyone has a mobile phone these days. This is a toll free line which teachers, parents and guardians can use to send an SMS to FAWEMA on issues relating to forced marriages, school dropouts and other challenges facing girls’ education in their areas”, she said. She told me the project has been launched after serious consultations with communities to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. “We had many conversations with mother groups, teacher and parents associations and other members of the community to find out the problems of child abuse and the challenges they are facing in addressing them. So we thought of different means to dealing with these problems and found that mobile phones are very effective as they can reach very remote areas and are interactive”, she said. Communities using the platform will be sending SMSs about cases of child abuse in their areas to 55111 and they will be getting responses to enable FAWEMA conduct a proper follow up in consultation with the relevant authorities such as the ministry of gender and social welfare offices. Speaking at the launch of the project an official from the Lilongwe District Education Office Lucien Chikhadza appealed to other well wishers to assist in extending it to other areas of Malawi, adding that his office will render all the necessary support to ensure it is effective. The SMS project is a joint initiative of FAWEMA, Connect for Change, IICD, Edukans and Text for Change, and according to Uiterkamp, it could be made national if the pilot phase in Lilongwe proves worthwhile.

More than 2 million Malawians on Verge of Hunger Due to Floods

The World Food Programme (WFP) says there has been a positive response to humanitarian assistance to help the two million people affected by hunger in Malawi amid fears that the figure may further rise following heavy rains that have already caused flooding in some of the country. The Malawi government with assistance from donors such as the WFP and the United States Agency for International Development is providing monthly food rations to the affected people to last up to the end of the next quarter of the year when people will start harvesting the current crop. Each family is getting 50 kilos of maize, ten kilos of beans, five kilos of corn soya bran and five litres of cooking oil, said WFP acting Country Director Baton Osmani,. “This food is well balanced so that the recipients eat all the required food groups,” he said. Osmani told Zodiak Online during a food distribution exercise in Salima that donors have so far provided $58.5 million of the required $63 million in financial aid – representing a deficit of about $5 million. “World Food Programme mobilizes this food. We get the resources from donors, we transport it, we bring it up to here, and then it’s the NGOs who mobilize the community, identify the most vulnerable people and those who need the food in close liaison with the national authorities”, Osmani explained. He said he was hopeful that the remaining amount of funds will be raised soon taking into consideration the positive response that donors have provided in the past months. About 16 districts have been affected by hunger in Malawi largely owing to poor harvest of the main staple food maize caused by drought and floods in the last growing season. “The food we receive is enough. There is no way someone can give you a gift and you it’s not enough”, said Christina Njilika, a mother of six, who is one of those in need of food aid. “We are so grateful because this food will help us to have energy so that we can work in our fields”. In the current 2012/2013 growing season rains are falling on a rate the experts call ‘normal to above normal’ and this has raised fears of an increase in the numbers of people that may need food aid in the coming months in some areas where floods have washed away the maize crop like Nsanje and Salima.

“This period, January to March, represents the peak of the hunger season. We don’t estimate and an increase, however there may be incidents such as floods where people may be in need of assistance and we are assessing the situation and we’ll respond as it may be required”, said Baton. According to the acting WFP country representative, an assessment team involving the UN, government and NGO partners will be dispatched to evaluate the effects of the recent floods and what of assistance the effected household may need.PENTAX DIGITAL CAMERA The irony of the current food shortage in Malawi is not that the country did not harvest enough but that other parts suffered poor harvest as a result of floods and drought. These, according to the minister of agriculture professor Peter Mwanza, are effects of climate change. He suggests irrigation and improved technology could be a long lasting solution. “We have a hefty programme to say every Malawian who has land that is irrigable should grow two or more types of crops – one that is rain fed and another that relies on irrigation or residual moisture. This will definitely make Malawi to be food secure in all year round in the long run”.

Using Culture to Fight High Population Growth

There is one thing that would definitely stun you if you go to Chalera village in the area of Traditional Authority Chiseka in Lilongwe. You see numerous children aged below ten wondering about the village. Usually they are dirty and wear torn clothes. If they are not playing football, then are fighting one another or making noise for something you cannot figure out. This is regardless of whether it is during school time or during the holidays – children are everyone, and they cram around your car if you drove to the village. It would take you several minutes with the help of a few adults to convince them that they need to stay away so that you can drive off, lest you will trample on one. This is the picture that made Dr Davis Mkwambisi, the director of Kumudzi Trust, to come to the conclusion that something was wrong in this village. “How can you have so many children roaming around a small village? This was the question that came to mind every time I came here”, he recalls, “ It was clear that the people had no access to family planning messages, or that if they had the messages were not being delivered in the right way. We also observed that there were high levels of poverty here in the rapid appraisal we did.” The situation at Chalera village justifies fears by the National Statistical Office that Malawi’s population estimated at 13 million in 2008 is likely to grow to around 20 million by 2040 if no stern control measures are put in place. Malawi is already suffering from various effects of rapid population growth including shortage of farm land and scramble for natural resources and social amenities, according to population experts. This is not exceptional to Chalera. “The main problem we face here is shortage of water. Of course, we’ve enough food to feed ourselves; but because the population is increasing, farm land is becoming scarce, and we might face a big problem in the future”, laments group village headman Chalera.

While the government and independent organizations are largely using public gatherings with official technical speeches on the need to control population growth, one NGO – Kumudzi Trust – is using a different approach. It has employed traditional dances and acoustic music to disseminate messages about the negative effects of rapid population growth in this village. “We run a programme called Kumudzi Eco Learning Centre. The aim is to teach the people environmental management as well as make them aware about the affects of rapid population growth on the environment,” says Dr Mkwambisi, who is also a lecturer at Bunda College. He says Chalera village was chosen as the programme site because of its proximity to Bunda College and because most students from the college conduct their research studies there. Kumudzi Trust organizes what it calls cultural days where traditional dances and acoustic music fused with messages on family planning are performed. Usually hired are the upcoming acoustic band Galang’ombe Boys and Tilitonse Cultural Troupe. After the performances, the villagers engage in a roundtable discussion spearheaded by the village development committee. This is a forum where women, men and children talk openly about the effects of population growth. Thokozani Julius, Health Surveillance Assistant for Mazinga Catchment Area, explains the source of overpopulation in Chalera village. “We do give messages, but the problem is that men shun the village meetings organized to talk about family planning. So the messages only go to a single part of the population.” He adds that most men also feel they are being degraded to be taught how to run their families in the presence of their spouses hence they shun public meetings on family planning. According to Mr Julius, women also have a greater advantage because they get health education from antenatal clinics when they are pregnant or when they are taking care of under-five children. He says most of the households estimated at two thousand in the catchment area have a minimum of six children with an age difference of less than two years. One of the villagers, Hudson Solomon, from Sinosi village has an interesting response as to why people still have more children despite knowing the advantages of family planning. “Some people think that they need to have more children so that when one or two die, the rest would support them in future. However, they do not know the irony is that most child deaths are caused by lack of care. “The more children you have, the more problems you have to feed them, so they end up being sick and die. But when you have a few children it is easy for you to feed them and send them to school and they grow up well,” he observes. Speaking to this reporter under a deafening sound of traditional music, village headman Chalera says the approach has significantly helped to improve the understanding of the implications of high population growth among his subjects. He says government and several organizations have been to his area to disseminate messages about birth control, ‘but some people can’t just take the message,’ adding that some people still believe in the traditional belief that the more children one has, the wealthier they are. “They still want to live in the old days where people had not less than five or six children. If you tell them that things have changed, they don’t understand. They insist on having more children as a sign of wealth. “Only a few people here have taken up modern family planning methods because the hospital is very far away,” he observes. Village headman Chalera says the initiative by Kumudzi Trust has helped to bring change because more people now are lured to attend public gatherings where messages about birth control are disseminated. “The people are attracted to the traditional dances and music. So when they come they end up getting the message as well,” he observed on the sidelines of one of the cultural days I attended recently. Health worker Julius agrees with the chief: “This is very helpful because people in the villages like to associate themselves with things which are part of their life like the traditional dances and the songs. In this case, as the people listen to the traditional music and watch the dances they get the message at the same time.” On the side effects of modern family planning methods, he says not many complaints have come to his attention although some women do take contraceptives after being advised at the outlying Mitundu Health Centre. Dr Mkwambisi says the cultural days have helped to bring change. “Bringing together men, women and children means we are having a holistic approach to family planning at the same time creating a debate on the topic. You can see even children are talking about family planning and they will grow with it their mind.” He says Kumudzi Trust is implementing the programme under an action plan in which a village strategic plan will be developed to see people of Chalera significantly reducing the number of child births from December this year. He says this would be a departure from common thought that strategic plans are only meant for big companies and organizations, saying the village plan will incorporate issues of ecotourism, income generating activities, improvement of sanitation and enhancement of population control messages. Dr Mkwambisi observes that most people in rural areas have limited access to family planning methods such as condoms and contraceptive pills because government has no capacity to reach out to the remotest areas. As rightly observed by Dr Mkwambisi, a holistic approach is needed to ensure that Malawi’s population growth is proportionate to the country’s size and resources because the reproduction rate of 2.6 percent per annum is just too much for a land locked country that is barely 118,484 square kilometers. Certainly this cultural approach cannot be overemphasized.