Thursday, January 5th

Today was pretty interesting on the environmental side of things. We visited a family "organization" called Never-Ending Food. It works on permaculture in the region. They originally came over through the Peace Corp to work on aids but found that the Malawians thought that food security was a bigger problem. They researched the native species that past generations used to eat for nutrition. When Banda was president he decided that he wanted Malawi to be known for maize production. That was the beginning of the stigma against the native "poorman food" that they need to eat to be healthy. Their yard looked like a jungle and they knew many ways to make the most use out of a little piece of land. So many plants are edible that have survived in Africa for centuries. The  most interesting stories were about how people would approach the family asking for food because they were starving and then would refuse a whole basket of mangoes because it wasn't maize. This trip was really interesting to me because I'm always interested in the environmental things and gardens. It was great to go there and see everything they are doing.