Not too far from my house is Lake Chilingali (aka Lake Chikukutu), it is a manmade lake and is pretty old, it was done back in the 1960’s from what I understand. It is one of the few large lakes in Malawi (aside from Lake Malawi) so a lot of the economy in the area is based on the lake. Irrigation agriculture, fishing and ecotourism hippo watching are all dependent on the lake.
From what the villagers have told me, about 5 years ago the dam broke. Now when I say dam don’t picture anything like a dam you would see in America. It was a concrete barrier with a spill way but not very big at all. The concrete has long since been blown out and all that is holding the lake back was a mud barrier. Until recently.
Riddle me this, if you have a business ferrying people across the river below the dam and the water flow slacks off how can you drum up more business……..
The answer is so simple it may shock you! Grab your khasu (hoe) and rip the mud wall apart! Problem solved!
Oh Malawi.
That is exactly what happened. Over two days, what is left of the lake has plummeted about 10 feet. The hippos have long since left but the crocodiles are supposed to still be there. The dropping water level only serves to concentrate them. So I expect to hear about more and more people having conflicts with the wildlife.
Today I stopped in at the Department of Irrigation and told them about it, because let’s face it; there is no way they knew this soon. They all looked pretty shocked, which was good. Apparently they had been out a week ago to do survey planning. They are starting on planning to put in a new dam. From what they told me the European Union is involved in some capacity so that might help.
All the people I have talked to are really upset about it they all say, “Ah he is a very foolish man”. Yup. The police came out to arrest him and before they took him away his punishment was to ferry people across for free. Kinda poetic justice that way.
Also, the African Cup of Nations was played on Sunday night. The contenders were Cote d’Ivory and Zambia. All the Malawians were cheering for Zambia because we are neighbors and it is right to do that. I watched the game, the first soccer game I ever watched all the way through. They tell me it was a really good game. I still don’t see it. No one scored the whole game so it went into overtime or whatever they call it. So basically they took shots at the goal until someone got one in and someone missed. That part was kinda exciting but otherwise it was a little over an hour of my life I want to get back.
It’s funny though that the logic behind cheering for Zambia was that we are neighbors. That doesn’t work in the States. Take the AFC West for instance. If the Oakland Raiders are playing the Steelers we don’t cheer for the Raiders because we are in the same division, you pray the Steelers beat them into the ground. That sort of thing only works here. But Zambia won so in the end everyone was happy.
The Traditional Authority (think like a few steps up from chief) of the goalie from Zambia gave him two cows and 250 hectares for doing such a good job. Superbowl victors get a ring and a parade. Both completely applicable in their own ways.
I was told that the dam was built by the Taiwanese in the early 70's and was damaged by flooding in 2008. I am amazed that a man with a kasu was able to do so much damage before someone could stop him.
ReplyDelete