[...]... man, the mwini chisokole, or owner of the hunt, who called together all the willing men from the surrounding villages The owner decided where and when the hunt would take place, and in the event of a kill, he’d receive the choicest portion of the meat, usually the hindquarter Grandpa was often this person On the night before the hunt, the leader wasn’t allowed to sleep with his wife, not even in the. .. back to his house The Leopard and the Lion were so excited for their meal they even started singing a happy tune But as they were approaching, the two girls happened to wake up They felt refreshed after their nap and decided to continue on their journey Not seeing the old man, they left a kind note thanking him for the bed Finally, the old man arrived at the house with the Leopard and the Lion “Wait here... the lion and leopard, along with other powerful roots and herbs.” He fished out a wad of paper that contained more black ash, which he began mixing with the other potion “These other materials are very scarce, found only on the bottom of the ocean.” “So how did you get them?” I asked “Look boy, I’m not just another person I got them from the bottom of the ocean.” “Okay.” “I stayed there for three whole... The purpose is to protect the deceased from the falling dirt, or really, to keep the family from seeing the falling dirt land on the coffin For Uncle John’s grave, the adzukulu had dug the compartment at the bottom center of the hole —a kind of hole within a hole Grunting, the adzukulu carefully lowered the coffin with ropes, into the smaller compartment It was the exact size of the coffin One of the. .. powers The game was Dowa Medicals versus Agriculture, and as expected, the place was packed As is our custom, the women looked after the children on one side of the field, while the men and boys huddled closely on the other, smoking cigarettes and shouting insults at the officials I had no interest in the game I scanned the crowd until I saw a boy, perhaps my age, standing near the far corner of the pitch... addition to the sadness we all experienced, my father had to care for the business alone It was the start of the growing season, and my father tended the crops through until harvest He paid all the seasonal workers and settled all the accounts Then, heeding the advice of the chiefs, he handed the entire business over to John’s firstborn son, Jeremiah, who was twenty years old It’s custom for the firstborn... we consider the Yao our brothers and sisters My mother herself is a Yao, and I am half Yao The Pope in his crazy days, sitting at his stall (center with dark shirt) in the Dowa market with his pals Photographs courtesy of Kamkwamba family My father has told me many stories about the small town of Mangochi, located on the southern tip of the lake, just near the mouth of the Shire River The way he describes... father said, then turned to face the police “But since you’ve asked these men to remove me, I say let them come!” The policemen swooped in and swallowed my father in a swarm of fists and elbows The crowd rushed in behind From the look of things, it appeared my father had been properly handled But suddenly, one by one, the policemen began flying off the pile as if wrestling a cyclone They twisted in the. .. pain When the last policeman was pitched to the wall, the room erupted in cheers There stood the Pope in the center of the crowd, shaking his mighty fists Who is next?” he shouted “I’LL FIGHT YOU ALL!” A pack of Young Pioneers then tried their luck, only to be pitched off the same way For half an hour, the cops and government thugs tried everything to shackle my father’s hands, and each time, they failed... get the clay, my father dug deep pits near the fields that swallowed his entire body He’d scoop buckets of clay that weighed a hundred pounds, hoist them onto his shoulders, and climb out using steps he’d carved into the wall with a hoe He’d then cart the pails two kilometers back to the house, dump them, then do it all over again After molding the bricks, my father spent days in the valley hacking the . The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer To my family Contents Map Prologue THE PREPARATION WAS COMPLETE, so I waited. The. calling other villagers. By the time Grandpa and others arrived with their spears and bows and arrows, it was too late. They saw the lion—its body the size of a cow—drag his grandmother into the thorny. him for the bed. Finally, the old man arrived at the house with the Leopard and the Lion. “Wait here and I’ll go and get them,” he said. The old man saw the bed was empty. Where did they go?