James Chavula

Journalist & Features Writer based in #Malawi | UN Voices of a Brighter Future Award winner | Tweeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | Energy Matters |

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

Drought keeps scorching crops in #Malawi, where experts forecast above-normal rains starting the 3rd week of November, stressed farmers in the Southern Region are gazing at another year of hunger and poverty. 5.7m #Malawians require urgent food aid following last year's #ElNino

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

#Malawi's political elites are in denial, so they won't fix the system soon. A recent @afrobarometer opinion poll shows only 29% of eligible voters could re-elect the @mcpmalawi & their only reply is to fault the sample size. Do u swallow the whole watermelon to know it's sweet?

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

I've gone around the globe saying #SustainableEnergy is the hub of human development and #SDG7 financing should prioritise countries left behind like #Malawi. Sadly, some funding only funds corruption as I have waited in vain for 2 years for @ESCOM_Malawi to connect my house😜

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@lisabanda983 @Meteo_NoelBanda @nwra_mw @DisasterDept @NationOnlineMw Here is an ordinary developer's dilemma.
1. The law is unknown and seldom enforced.
2. The contour at 477m above sea level is neither defined nor marked. You need GIS tech to figure it out.

GOOD NEWS: With the lake swelling, government wants to define and mark it with beacons.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

THREAD: Swelling Lake #Malawi has left many resorts flooded for over a month. Even those that are partially flooded and fully functioning are grappling with massive cancellation of bookings due to safety concerns. This threatens tourism, a pillar of Malawi's economic recovery.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@lisabanda983 @Meteo_NoelBanda Both @nwra_mw and @DisasterDept tell us @NationOnlineMw that Lake #Malawi and the #Shire River are reclaiming their basin. The lake swelled to 477m above sea level in 1980. The Water Resources Act outlaws construction below the floodline.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@lisabanda983 @Meteo_NoelBanda According to the National Water Resources, the swelling of Lake #Malawi and the Shire River will peak in May, but will only recede to the normal by August. That's five more months of untold agony, including the potential sanitation-related diseases outbreaks.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@88_12T @MizzVeron Prayer or no prayer, the conditions are favourable for cholera erruption and the early warnings are all there that the current outbreak can only worsen unless we get the basics right. We can save millions spent on cholera management by investing in prevention, not cure.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@wandaman @NationOnlineMw Strange?

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@TaylorsTrinket @UNDP @MalawiUNICEF @MalawiGovt @UNEP @oxfamgb @AndrewMtupa @GlobalGoalsUN @UNOCHA @UN @unwomenmalawi @UNMalawi @UNICEFwater @UNDPClimate @MalawiRedCross During my assignment in Mangochi, I have heard of two people being mauled by hungry crocodile as the swelling Lake Malawi and Shire River have come too close to human settlements.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@WJS_Nyangulu Spot on. Wading in stagnant floodwater, the risk of bilharzia loomed large. Any preventive medicine for the neglected tropical disease common along Lake #Malawi? Well, someone had to tell this story. Health workers in Mangochi can only advise you to wear gumboots. Who has a pair?

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@AndrewMtupa @WHOAFRO @WHOMalawi @MalawiRedCross @save_children @MalawiUNICEF @UNICEFwater @SDG2030 @UNDP I took a boat from the flooded gates of Idle Lodge in Mangochi District, to appreciate the impact of the swelling of Lake #Malawi. The impact is so devastating that those affected want the @MalawiGovt to open the Kamuzu Barrage on the #Shire, but the floodgates are automated.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

Flooding along swelling Lake #Malawi and #Shire River has sent ripples of fear of a deadly cholera outbreak, with water points, latrines, septic tanks and rubbish pits underwater for over a month. The stagnant flood is also a breeding ground for mosquitoes which transmit #malaria

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@UNDP @MalawiUNICEF @MalawiGovt @UNEP @oxfamgb @AndrewMtupa @GlobalGoalsUN @UNOCHA Sandals in hand. Body lotion on the backside of her palm, Amina Daudi, 14, walks to school. It's been a month since her home was flooded by rising #Shire River, now inundated by outflows from swelling Lake #Malawi. After walking through the water, she has to bathe & oil her body.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

Motherly love beats disasters! SiganLayisoni takes her son, Ishaak, home in Mapira location, #Mangochi District, where flooding from swelling Shire River, the sole outlet of rising Lake #Malawi, has disrupted livelihoods, schooling and access to #water, sanitation & hygeine.

[James Chavula @chavulaj]

@AndrewMtupa @PACJA1 @mko Sounds good, like all pieces of sloganeering. But here are the big questions: How do we define or break down the big terms in this conversation for all to play their part? What methods do we use to accelerate the desired shift? This debate requires clear terms and methodologies

[Wongani Nyangulu MBBS, MSc, DTMH @WJS_Nyangulu]

Ma Dr's!

[In Pursuit of Development 🎙️🌍 @GlobalDevPod]

Public sector reforms on the African continent can be cases of "institutional mimicry", where institutions adopt the language and behavior of reform without necessarily achieving substantial changes on the ground — @HappyKayuni @unima_official

#Malawi

https://t.co/G80PhkhVsW

[Hivos Global @hivos]

What is a #LossAndDamageFund? It specifically supports vulnerable states and communities whose land has been irretrievably lost to rising sea levels or turned into deserts by #climatechange. So then what's #mitigation and #adaptation? See our #explainer 👇🏽
https://t.co/nzMbPd5xvf