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By A. Kusi-Appiah, QE scholar, 杏吧原创 University, 2019

1. Introduction:

Keeping a promise is sometimes difficult but when it needs to be kept, one must just do it! In the spring of 2018, I opened my big mouth and I promised the Queen Elizabeth scholarship coordinator, indefatigable Stephanie Pineau, that I will post a story about the first QE scholars to Canada and it has taken me this long to do so. In this write up I shall sing the praises of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship program, as a viable program for dealing with climate change and social transformation with Africa as a focus, and I shall pay tribute to the originators of the program as visionaries of extraordinary geniuses.

Firstly, Africa is now the 鈥榝inal frontier鈥� for economic models that have already ecologically compromised the rest of the planet. Not long ago touted as the world鈥檚 鈥榖asket case鈥�, it is now countenanced as a future breadbasket, a sustainable alternative and possibly the final bastion against global environmental degradation (Fatimah Kelleher, 2019).

Secondly, activists of feminist persuasions are already on the front line of the battle for ecological sustainability on the continent as exemplified by the work of Kenya’s Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner. Their everyday struggles, uncompromised commitment, and willingness to envision a radical future in which justice, equity and rights harmonise with environmental sovereignty, have the potential to save us all (Mkandawire, 2015).

Ruth Nyambura of the *African Eco Feminist Collective*, for example, uses radical and African feminist traditions to critique power, challenge multinational capitalism and re-imagine a more equitable world, and also聽organisations like the *African Women Unite Against Destructive Resource Extraction (WoMin)* campaign against the devastation of extractive industries. In addition, localised organisations are currently resisting ecologically-damaging corporatisation: in South Africa, women residents have fought off land mining companies; in Ghana, the *Concerned Farmers Association*, led largely by women, are holding mining companies accountable for pollution of local watersheds; and in Uganda, women of the *Kizibi community seed bank* are preserving local biodiversity in the face of the commercialisation of seeds by corporate multinationals.

2. Undisputed facts or fiction about climate change?:

Today, something that occupies the minds of most of us is how to do our bit in the name of mitigating the historical ‘human impact’ on the physical environment (Castree, 2015). We are all familiar with issues such as聽biodiversity decline around the world and fresh water scarcity, to give just two examples. The 2018 IPPC report confronted us with the *undisputed facts*, namely that the time is almost up after all the abuse humans have heaped on the rest of nature (humans included).

The IPCC report suggests that *we are going to have a great deal of difficulty reaching 1.5 degree celcius, which is probably impossible, and even capping it at 2 degrees is going to be extremely difficult* (Homer-Dixon, 2018).聽 Homer-Dixon believes that the only way we can cap global warming at 2 degree celcius will probably involve *the extraction of large amounts of CO2 trapped in the atmosphere*, and even that is not possible at the moment as the technology to do that is not in place (Homer-Dixon, 2018).

However Simon Dalby (2018) is relieved by the IPCC report for its bluntness. According to Dalby (2018), there is a *’welcome shift’ in emphasis on the immediacy, and necessity to act* (Dalby, 2018). He believes that huge transformations are possible with very basic mundane things such as using bicycles for mundane-short-distance travel, for example (Dalby, 2018). Another way of achieving sustainability is to give *local knowledge* the respect it deserves in becoming the basis for all mitigation and adaptation strategies (Ahenakaw, 2014).

Hence, in spite of the gloomy nature of the report, it serves as an opportunity for humankind to take action on other cross cutting issues in society including flooding, droughts, and resource access. The question clearly is, how do we address climate change and other cost-cutting human consequences? Thankfully, climate change adaptation and mitigation has now become the ‘new development mantra.’ (Bose, P., 2016). Bose refers to this era as the ‘climate turn’ in development work. We need to make every effort to put in place mitigative and adaptive processes and programs in order to avoid a displacement of our communities by climate change, as well as development processes meant to ameliorate the effects of climate change and its effects.

3. Here comes the 2018 cohort:

It is against this background that 杏吧原创鈥檚 Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QES) project was created to train the next generation of scholars through a *multi-disciplinary network of climate change and societal transformation experts* that will facilitate future ongoing collaborative research, and to share a global perspective on mitigative and adaptive responses to climate change and other cross cutting issues (Brklacich, 2018). QES’s prime motive is to work together as scholars to come up with solutions to avert complete “climate catastrophe, with

Alinafe Kamangira, Mike Brklacich (Project PI, March 2017-Nov 2018), Enock Dankyi

wars, famine and disease spreading across the globe.” (IPCC Report, 2018). I want to believe that in the short history of the program our scholars have done that and more.

One cardinal fact is that the QE program rocks, and *we must pay homage to all the wonderful minds who have made this project a successful one.* Personally, this program has broadened my horizon so much so that I feel more connected to societal transformation and climate change scholars in sub-Saharan Africa now then I was a few years ago.

In 2018, 杏吧原创 University hosted 10 scholars from Africa (2 from Ghana, 4 from Malawi, and 4 more from Tanzania) with expertise in a wide range of endeavours. Just like this year鈥檚 cohort (2019), each scholar from the 2018 cohort pursued research in their areas of expertise linking up with local organizations to work on various aspects of climate change mitigation and

Onita Basu (Project PI Nov. 2019 – present on left) beside QEScholar, Robbie Venis presenting a water filter to a community in Tanzania.

adaptation.聽 In addition one scholar, 杏吧原创 PhD Robbie Venis, worked with the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology as well as Tembo Trust in Tanzania on a water filtration project.

Subsequently the scholars had the opportunity to participate in some community activities in Ottawa. For example, a group of scholars went to see a game of ice hockey (Canada’s national sport) at the Scotia Bank Place and interact with residents of the聽national capital region. For some of them, it was the first time seeing the ‘miracle on ice’ and how passionate Ottawans are about their local club – the Ottawa Senators. Some of the scholars also took time off their busy schedules to witness a local political campaign as it is done in the province of Ontario. Other unofficial activities included a visit to a local football club where a substantial number of football equipment was donated by Chris Roth youth football coach extraordinaire, and Coach Gigio (Ottawa’s own version of Tele Santana聽of Brazil football). Other initiatives are currently underway in various parts of Tanzania, Malawi and Ghana.

4. Cohort of affirmation:

The second cohort (2019) is organized just like the first one except that the 2019 cohort who went to Canada stayed in Ottawa for 3 months instead of 4 months. During the first week of April 2019 杏吧原创 university welcomed 14 scholars from Tanzania, Malawi and Ghana. The scholars wasted no time at all and went straight to presenting their research proposals and/or publications to the whole group.

This year the 2019 cohort of scholars also put together presentations on the state of climate change in their respective countries, which were presented at the Sunnyside library in Ottawa.聽 An event which was very well received.聽聽

Photo credit: City of Ottawa

One of the main highlights of the 2019 cohort was a visit to the Corporation of the City of

Photo credit: City of Ottawa

Ottawa where the Mayor of the City, His Worship Jim Watson (an alumni of 杏吧原创 University) honoured the scholars by declaring May 24th 2019 as *杏吧原创 Queen Elizabeth Scholars Day in the City of Ottawa*, () with each member of the cohort receiving a personal plague commemorating the day. The city manager (Mr. Steve Kanellakos, a strong advocate for diversity and international presence/relationship in the

Photo credit: City of Ottawa
Mr. Steve Kanellakos

national capital) on his part hosted the cohort with presentations from various *climate-related project directors*, with a promise to work collaboratively with members of the cohort on mutually beneficial projects in their various cities of origin. It was then the turn of the longest serving city councillor (and my second favourite politician of all time) Rick Chiarelli to host the group for lunch. In attendance at this august event were the two 杏吧原创 University聽 members of the cohort who are slated to visit Mzuzu and Mzuzu University in Malawi (Kusi-Appiah is currently in Mzuzu and Alicia Gil will be visiting Mzuzu in October 2019).

Can’t wait to see what the future holds for 杏吧原创’s Queen Elizabeth Scholarship project and these

Protecting ‘the commons’ through informal governance systems: acknowledging the power of local knowledge.

By A. Kusi-Appiah,聽2019 Queen Elizabeth Scholar,聽聽杏吧原创 University

Abstract:

Local people everywhere have expert knowledge about their environment and resources therein, and they are also the sole custodians of sound practices that can protect common environmental resources. It is therefore imperative that we quit paying lip service to them. Using water access for making ‘kachasu’ (local gin) as an example of prudent and sound management practice, this paper highlights some of the ways in which local business women use and preserve water in Chibavi, a periurban settlement in the City of Mzuzu, Malawi.

*Key words:*
the Commons / tragedy of the commons /
governing the commons / local knowledge

1. Introduction:

In many informal settlement settings, a vast majority of the people do not have access to formal water networks which is usually operated by municipal governments. However, even though they may be located outside of the formal network, local people are able to commandeer common resources such as water for household and business activities through their own informal networks made possible by the use of their own social capital (Bourdieu, 1977). The literature on water access in periurban environments hardly address informal sources of water access; rather, it concentrates mainly on formal government provision of pipe borne water and water taxation issues as dictated by neoliberalism, the leading paradigm guiding international development policy today, with its聽emphasis on the market as the sole allocator of common resources (Hay, 2004; Harvey, 2005).

Such principles promote the idea of an economically motivated, rational individual who exchanges based on profits as the foundation for society (Griffin, 2007; Larner, 2000). This politico-economic and ideological discourse, mainly favoured by neocolonial entities with an interest in the control of resource allocation processes around the globe, especially those of the developing world, subtly but effectively disregard local knowledge in favour of western knowledge which hinges on the enlightenment project of continuous progress fuelled by the indiscriminate use of local resources. The inherent assumption of neoliberalism excludes behaviours based on other types of motivation such as altruism, collectivist strategies, empathy for others, love, reciprocity and care (Ferber and Nelson, 2003). More than a set of policies, neoliberalism shifts public perceptions about citizen entitlements, government efficiency, and the collective provision of social needs (Hay, 2004; Bezner and Mkandawire,聽 2012; Larner, 2000). In this formulation governments are encouraged to focus on economic efficiency and international competitiveness, initially through聽 *’rolling back’ the state, and increasingly through market provision of services and targeted interventions around social issues such as crime* (Peck and Tickell, 2002; Saad-Filho and Johnston, 2005).

But water governance is not only about institutions and processes and the market, it is also about local knowledge and how marginalized people use the local knowledge at their disposal to manage and safeguard the continued availability of common resources within their environment. As Ahenakaw (2013) eloquently explains in “Beyond Epostemic Provincialism”, indigenous people all around the world have knowledge about their environments, and this knowledge is based on the knowledge of the natural world around them. According to Ahenakaw (2013):

“Moral expectations and aspirations are determined *not by normative knowledge, legislation and regulations prescribing protocols and practices*,聽 but rather an unbounded awareness of the connectedness of all things…..All things are interconnected to the point where modernity/colonial conceptions of being, knowledge, morality, politics and economy become infused, inseparable and simultaneous. In this context, object/subject dichotomies become redundant, only subject-subject relationships remains: I am the river, and the river is me.”

(Ahenakaw et al., 2014)

The tendency for some scholars and other commentators to regard local people as squanderers rather than preservers of common resources was articulated by Garrett Hardin (1968) in his book: “Tragedy of the Commons”. Hardin refers to the tendency of people who have access to a *common shared resource*, a resource which is not specifically and personally their own, to squander it rather than preserve and improve it (Hardin, 1968). Eventually, this public resource is destroyed and lost to all. An example of this phenomenon is familiar to landlords. People who rent tend to abuse their accommodations in ways owners would not, because they don’t see a personal advantage to caretaking. After all, they reason that the cost of maintenance and upgrades are borne by the landlord (they forget that they pay for that cost in their rent).

***

An interesting dynamic in examining the informal sector is that most of the operations in local communities is predicated on informal networks and knowledge. The informal sector is therefore a lens for understanding of urban resource governance of all common resources including water. It is about the social organization of water supply and the ways in which local people use local knowledge to manage common resources. It is also about stakeholder conflict in the informal sector.

2. Hardin, not so fast

*”Governing the commons”* was Elinor Ostrom’s response to Garrett Hardin’s *Tragedy of the Conmons*.

She posits that even though this could happen, it is very rare and *local people* do organize to manage the commons very well.

It is true that in history common resource聽systems have been known to collapse due to overuse (e.g. over fishing, overexploitation of forests, etc.), but many examples exist where members of a community with access to a common resource cooperate or regulate to exploit those resources prudently without collapse.

Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for demonstrating this concept in her book *Governing the Commons* which included examples of how local communities were able to do this without top-down regulations.

3. Local people also have knowledge, but it may not be ‘formal’:

Ostrom was essentially referring to *the informal ways in which local people organize to use community resources based in their own social norms*.

In the 21st century, you do find organizations dedicated to protecting common assets, and people who have dedicated their lives to such goals. These organizations have ‘formalized’ local knowledge in the west, and use them as their main principles for ‘managing’ environments. For example:

*Greenpeace is dedicated to preserving the life of the oceans, especially whales.*

*The Sierra Club tries to protect forests. National parks are developed for the express purpose of making those resources available to the public in a manner which preserves and protects them.*

In general we can say that common shared resources represent a cost for upkeep that is born indirectly by everyone who has access to that resource, and that a wise user will take care of it. As the saying goes for nature enthusiasts, “Pack out what you pack in.”

4. Pay attention to local knowledge:

It is therefore imperative to pay particular attention to local traditional knowledge when dealing with local people in issues of resource access, use and governance.

To be continued……

“Water everywhere and a lot for small businesses in an informal setting in the City of Mzuzu: Is this culture I see before me?”*

By A. Kusi-Appiah,聽2019 Queen Elizabeth Scholar,聽聽杏吧原创 University

1. Introduction

It has been a wonderful week for visiting local businesses in 5 (Chivabi, Area 1 B, Lower Zolozolo, Mzilaguaingwe and Masasa) of my chosen 6 research areas in the city of Mzuzu. As noted in a previous blog, all 6 areas exhibit periurban characteristics, and are marked by many informal businesses mostly unregulated by formal government. In this blog, I seek to describe my visits with particular attention to how the businesses I visited access and use water and the possible impact of this access and use to the health and well-being of the local population. My

CEO of GINTE carwash centre in Chibavi, a vibrant peri-urban neighbourhood. This young man is self-employed. He uses a borehoke right in his business premises for his carwash business. He doesn’t use water from the official grid.

main target is local businesses that use a substantial amount of water for their operations, and these businesses include kachasu makers (local gin making), car wash operators, hair salons, vegetable gardening, food vendors and maize mills.

2. Triumphant entry: *Captain Mwayi ‘Fortune’ in the driver’s seat:

During the week of June 23-28 2019 I made my way into 5 neighbourhoods representing 5 of my 6 study areas with my interpreter-in-chief, the one and only *Captain* ‘Fortune’, doing most of the heavy lifting and guiding me throughout the experience. *Captain* ‘Fortune’ has been with me since I arrived here and he is now very conversant with my research objectives, so he does a good job of engaging in conversations with the local people using their preferred local language – Tumbuka (Bantu based). I found *Captain*聽 ‘Fortune’ by ‘accident’ when I boarded his ‘taxi’ during my first week here.聽 His taxi is an unusually run-down Japanese model but it is proverbially the warmest heart of the warm people of Mzuzu, and he has ever since been my ‘eyes and ears’ in Mzuzu.

When I sat in Mwayi’s old rickety taxi on that fateful day on June 7 2019, and we got chatting, I noticed something interesting about ‘Fortune’ – he聽didn’t just know his way around town, he is also a walking encyclopaedia of Mzuzu. I realised there and then that this is the guy who will guide me in the reconnaissance exercise for my 6 research study areas. ‘Fortune’ has volunteered to literally follow me everywhere I go. He doesn鈥檛 only help with translation, he actually prepares me for site visits, serving as a *liaison* between researcher and researched (Dunn, 2005). ‘Fortune’s strength comes from his deep knowledge of Tumbuka culture and ‘ways’ of life. Indeed, ‘Fortune’ is well socialized (read *educated*) in the ways of Mzuzu and he carries himself with so much belief in ‘self’ and is a ‘man of the people’ (to borrow from Chinua Achebe who has written a book by the same title). ‘Fortune’ (Mwayi, in Tumbuka language) was born and *nsima-ed* in Mzuzu, and has been operating a taxi business for many years. ‘Fortune’ is married to a home maker with a young daughter who goes to school in Mzuzu. With the help of ‘Fortune’, I have been able to navigate my way successfully into 5 neighbourhoods, interacting with the people and business owners here.

3. Embedded ‘socilaization’: there are no *illitrates* anywhere:

Without *Captain* ‘Fortune’, my progress in my mission here would have been an uphill task, but ‘Fortune’ has made a huge difference even though he speaks limited English, but his Tumbuka skills are impeccable and he understands everything I communicate in English! And that is the first thing I noticed about the people I have met here so far. Even though people speak and understand English, Tumbuka is their go-to language of choice in all transactions. They use Tumbuka for the performance of all mundane activities. When I go to the market, I try to get along by starting conversations in broken English but I am always rebuffed by traders who insist on speaking to me first in the local language –聽 Tumbuka. More often than not I am either with ‘Fortune’ or Chims and Wales, and they almost always come to my rescue. But I am fascinated by the pride people here have for their language, their mother tongue. I am happy that unlike in certain parts of the South where the so-called elite are trying so hard to replace mother tongue with a colonial language, Malawians are holding fast onto their mother tongues while at the same time trying to navigate the ‘elephant’ in the room (i.e., globalization), shaped by neoliberal thinking and neoliberal policies.

So then I ask myself: *”…in light of the fact that people here proudly speak their mother tongue (even *”in the marketplace”* where the neoliberal adherents expect all transactions to take place in the pursuit of surplus value and in their chosen language) *does it mean that people here are illiterates*?聽 Furthermore, I ask,聽 *should the people start speaking English*, the so-called universal lingua franca, *in order for them to be part and parcel of this wonderful thing called ‘globalization’ being driven by neoliberal ideas and policies*?

I have been wondering, and then I remembered my first year sociology at the only university *of* Ghana – University of Ghana at Legon, Accra. In the many years of my daily existence since my dear departed mother (may her soul rest in perfect peace) delivered me at the Tema General Hospital in Ghana many moons ago,聽 I have been hearing phrases to the effect that if one has not sat in a classroom imbibing the curriculum of the colonizer, one cannot be deemed to be educated or literate. In this hideous enlightenment thinking, one must be able to “read and write” in order to be deemed *educated*.

Of course this way of thinking disqualifies all those people who do not/did not get schooled in a formal institution called a school or a college or a university. This way of thinking disqualifies my grandma, the greatest philosopher I have ever known. But in my sociology 101 class Professor Abokyi taught me that *Education* is the same as *Socialization* and that every society has its own way of socializing or educating its population and most of it is informally derived and most importantly that education or the socialization process *is based on culture*, where culture is defined by the famous anthropologist EB Tylor in his 1871 book titled *”Primitive cultures”* as:

*”…..that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other* *capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society.鈥�* (EB Tylor, 1871).

All the ‘other capabilities’ mentioned by EB Tylor refer to/includes all the institutions *created by humans in their own communities* to steer their lives within their own societies.聽 These institutions ‘evolve’, they cannot be supplanted or imported into communities and be expected to work, they must be nurtured by the people within their own space and through time. These institutions include:

1. The Educational /Socialization institution,
2. The Justice/Legal institution,
3. The Marriage institution,
4. The Economic institution, and
5. The Religious/Spiritual institution.

Education/socialization is obviously one of the institutions found in every culture and it is based on the knowledge and norms and mores and beliefs found in that culture. And of course any culture can ‘borrow’ from other cultures, but that ‘borrowing’ must always be done with the parent culture in mind.

1. Introduction:
Marriage is a very important institution (the others are *socialization*, economy, law/order and religion/spirituality) in any society (Assimeng, 1988), for it is the building block on which any society grows in numbers and flourishes, and just like all other cultural institutions, elaborate rites and ceremonies are performed to mark the various milestones of a marriage. For the African, there has to be a symbolic ceremony with pomp and pageantry for every stage in one’s life – marriage included (Assimeng, 1988). It is one of the many ways in which African culture comes alive around the globe. Such ceremonies require the extensive use of water especially in cooking all the food that is consumed at each stage of the process and the cleaning that has to be done before, during and after cooking and consumption of the prepared food.
On Sunday June 16 2019, I witnessed a wonderful event commemorating a milestone in the joining together of two families as a prelude to the impending marriage of two consenting adults in the city of Mzuzu (Northern Region of Malawi). The event occurred at the family residence of the groom-to-be in Chumaliru. Chumaliru is scenic suburb of Mzuzui that exhibits periurban characteristics just like nearby Lower Zolozolo (where the family of the bride-to-be have their ancestral home). This is a ceremony that clearly reminded me that African culture is alive and very significant and therefore must be preserved for future generations. I have witnessed many traditional marriages over the years, this one only cemented my conviction that Africa鈥檚 traditions are indeed worth preserving.

2. Culture, culture, who art thou?:
The story is told of two consenting adults (a male and a female) who met in faraway Blantyre (Malawi) and decided to tie the proverbial knot in marriage. But that couldn鈥檛 just happen until all the *customary marriage rights* had been performed and the *church’s blessings* had been bestowed upon the couple (both families identify as Catholics by religion). The customary rites represents a significant part of African culture, it becomes the ‘blueprint鈥� for behaviour in every society. According to EB Tylor (1871) culture is:
*”…that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, artifacts, mores, laws, customs and all other capabilities performed by (wo)man as a member of society.”*
(EB Tylor, 1871).
EB Tylor’s classic definition is instructive on many levels: First, his definition gives equal importance to all cultures and identifies common traits that is present in each and every culture. Second, he makes it clear that all cultural traits are relevant and serve an important purpose in the lives of the people who participate in it. The importance of one’s culture manifests itself in the five (5) cultural institutions stated in the introduction of this blog, and it comes alive through one’s mother tongue (language). In this case, the rich language of Tumbuka (common language spoken and used in everyday business in Northern Malawi) takes centre stage.
Needless to say, language is a very important part of any culture, and any society that lacks a mother tongue is seriously missing an important trait. And indeed, one’s mother tongue is the limit through which all traditions are articulated and transmitted from generation to generation (Achebe, 1981). Without one’s mother tongue (not just any acquired language) humans remain completely lost in space, for as Wittgenstein (1922: 5,6-7) succinctly puts it:
*”….what can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence……..what cannot be imagined cannot even be talked about……the limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (5.6)…..whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”*(Wittgenstein in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922).

3. Reclaim your mother tongue and progress:
A big chunk of any society’s development depends on knowledge and use of their own language, but if that language is taken away by dubious legislation and policy (as it was in the case of *Indigenous peoples* all over the world), or if that language is deliberately made redundant through *alien socialization processes* imposed by colonial and postcolonial agents in the name of *”progress”* (as it is in the case of the numerous artificial boundaries of many modern nations/states/countries etc.), there is bound to be stagnation and/or constant false starts in many projects meant to drive the development agenda.
It is against this backdrop that the Trudeau government of Canada needs to be applauded. In the aftermath of the tabling of the 94 recommendations of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in 2015, the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has gotten it right by tabling legislation to revive Indigenous languages from coast to coast to coast in present day Canada. This will enable Indigenous people in the *”Turtle Island”* to reclaim a very important part of their heritage and consequently allow them to achieve much needed reconciliation.
The TRC was officially established on June 2, 2008 with the purpose of documenting the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system on Indigenous students and their families. It provided residential school survivors an opportunity to share their experiences during public and private meetings held across the country. The loss of Indigenous languages through the deliberate policy of “….taking the Indian out of the Indian” by denying Indigenous people the use and study of their languages in school, became the major complaint centre of all Indigenous people who testified at the concern to many Indigenous people who testified at the meetings of the commission.
Other significant African philosophers have also echoed the important place of ‘mother tongue’ in development. A leading female philosopher of the Akyem Kotoku traditional area of present day Ghana, Obaapanin Akua Akrasi (born in 1908 and died in 2008) was of the view that not using one’s mother tongue is a mistake which can come back to hurt one’s progress. According to Akrasi, even dreams only occur in one’s mother tongue before it is translated into any other language that one has acquired. Ayi Kwei Armah (born 28 October 1939) is a Ghanaian writer best known for his call for the preservation of mother tongue all over Africa. Chinua Achebe is also known for advocating for the use of mother tongue and preservation of African languages on the continent. Other philosophers and African writers such as Ama Ata Aidoo and Ngugi Wa Thiongo have all written extensively about the importance of mother tongue and the role it plays in transmitting and preserving African cultures.

4. Consenting adults need permission to ‘shack up’:
According to Malawi culture, as in all other cultures of Africa, one needs permission to cohabit with another consenting adult. And this I must add, is *non-negotiable*! Traditionally, and as narrated by grandma Akrasi under the moon light:
*”when two individuals of the opposite sex meet and they are interested in each other (provided they are not related by blood), the next step is for the male suitor to go and see the parents of the female suitor and ‘ask’ for her hand in marriage. In Akan tradition, the male suitor’s family negotiates the ‘dowry’ with the family of the female he is seeking to marry. It must be made clear that this material (s) (usually called a dowry) *does not* signify a *purchase* from the market. *Buying* as in the *capitalist* sense of *owning* a property, does not apply here. In this transaction (for lack of a better word in this foreign language I am using), no commodity is being bought or sold, rather, the item(s) or material(s) being sought/demanded/parted with is only *symbolic* (remember the body of Christ?). It (the dowry) is supposed to show appreciation to the family for having taken care of the female suitor, and it also serve as evidence of the occasion and intentions.”
(Conversations with Grandma Akrasi, 1988).
In a discussion with my Mzuzu friend whose sister was getting married, I gathered that a similar event (i.e., dowry negotiation and acceptance) had already been witnessed in Lower Zolozolo where the female suitor’s family reside. Today’s (June 16, 2019) event is however a little different from what happens in Akan tradition as narrated by Grandma Akrasi above. In Tumbuka culture (Mzuzu, Malawi), after the ‘dowry’ has been negotiated and accepted, a date is set aside for the family of the female suitor to visit the family of the male suitor in their family home. That date was Sunday June 16 2019.
Before setting off from Lower Zolozolo (one of my six study areas) to the family house of the groom-to-be, the family of the bride-to-be performed a short ceremony at the family home beginning with a short prayer and the consumption of an alcohol-free millet drink prepared by female members of the family. I am told that the millet drink *symbolises* the work of mainly the womenfolk in the family: from tilling the soil, to planting the millet, tending and watering it and harvesting for the millet to be prepared into a beverage with *water* from the wells of Lower Zolozolo. In each step of the way, the importance of *water* is *highlighted and emphasised*.
As part of the marriage process, the family of the bride-to-be is obligated to bring presents to the family of the groom-to-be on this occasion. I counted 10 live fowls and 14 buckets of corn meal and other food items loaded onto one of the male member’s pick-up truck to be transported to Chumaliru where the family of the groom-to-be resides (a distance of less that 5km from Lower Zolozolo). In total, 20 family members of the bride-to-be made the short trip to Chumaliru.