In this inspiring story of individual activism, a boy recognizes gender inequality when his sister must stop attending school — and decides to do something about it.Victor is very close to his twin sister, Linesi. But now that they have turned eight years old, she no longer goes to school with him. Instead, Linesi, like the other older girls in their community, walks to the river to get water five times a day, to give their mother more time for farming. Victor knows this is the way it has always been. But he has begun learning about equality at school, and his teacher has asked the class to consider whether boys and girls are treated equally. Though he never thought about it before, Victor realizes they’re not. And it’s not fair to his sister. So Victor comes up with a plan to help.
Malawi
Materials from Malawi
Moses
Meet Moses, an orphaned elephant baby from Malawi, Africa, who is curious, loving, and full of mischief! This nonfiction picture book bursts with fun facts and adorable photographs.
Galimoto
Kondi is determined to make a galimoto — a toy vehicle made of wires. His brother laughs at the idea, but all day Kondi goes about gathering up the wire he needs. By nightfall, his wonderful galimoto is ready for the village children to play with in the light of the moon.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
When 14-year-old William Kamkwamba’s Malawi village was hit by a drought in 2001, everyone’s crops began to fail. His family didn’t have enough money for food, let alone school, so William spent his days in the library. He came across a book on windmills and figured out how to build a windmill that could bring electricity to his village. Everyone thought he was crazy but William persevered and managed to create a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps. Several years later he figured out how to use the windmill for irrigation purposes.
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Chewa
This book presents the history, culture, art, and economics of the Chewa people of Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique.
City Boy
Set in contemporary Malawi, a poignant account of an orphaned boy’s transition from city life to village life. Sam’s widowed mother has died from “the Disease,” and Sam is claimed by his aunt Mercy, who lives in the small African village where Sam’s mother was born and raised. The gap between Sam’s life in the city, where he had his own room, attended private school, and used a computer, and his new life in the dirt-floored one-room hut, which he is to share with his aunt and cousins, is vast beyond imagining. Grief, loneliness, and the absence of everything familiar make for a rocky transition to a traditional culture where possessions count for little and everyone is expected to do his or her share.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 2
Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk about AIDS
In Malawi and Zambia, children who have lost family to the AIDS pandemic tell their stories. This book is about the power of the human spirit to endure and hope for a better tomorrow.
The Heaven Shop
Binti and her siblings struggle to survive when they are split up and sent to different parts of Malawi after their parents die of AIDS.