Southern Africa, including Malawi, face extended drought and increased hunger

 The combination of El Nino and climate change continues to hit some of the poorest countries in the world, with widespread drought and increased levels of hunger in southern Africa. This includes our friends in Malawi. For the fourth consecutive year, the Malawian President has had to call for a state of disaster due to climate issues; this includes Malawi and some of the schools we help being hit by Cyclone Freddy last year. The drought is the worst that has been experienced in the last 50 to 100 years, depending where one is.

This further encourages us to continue to help support our Malawi friends into the future. They need additional funding to maintain crops, drill wells, and create irrigation systems to continue to survive through the extreme weather they experience in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

New funds wired to Malawi

 We are wiring an additional $310 to our friends and schools in Malawi, Africa, to continue to support our EMPATHY Project. This is equivalent to 520,000 kwacha, their currency, which will continue to help about 24 schools plant and maintain crops and harvests that will feed on order of 10,000 children throughout their school year. We will continue to raise funds before summer break. Contact Doc V if you have any wishes to help out with this effort! 

A consequence of Climate Change - reduced food worker productivity

 As global temperatures rise, a new study suggests there could be significant reductions in the productivity of farmers and other food workers. The physical capacity to work in warming and hot environments may have a direct impact on the food supplies around the world, which is something most have never considered. 

What will the impact be on a country like Malawi? One of the poorest countries in the world, climate change will impact it in multiple ways, and this aspect of the problem must be considered. Consider that the study suggests physical activity could be reduced by some 30% compared to today's productivity - this would be potentially devastating to those who work the crops in the villages we work with, and every other community that has their own farms. It is something that must go into longer term planning for food supplies. 

Looking to start 2024 on the right foot!

 Last year, our Malawi friends were hit with Cyclone Freddie, and some schools had damage to their crops and the final harvest. But we will continue to move forward and raise funding so new crops can be planted. Fertilizer has become more expensive in that part of the world, so some new crops will be planted, including soy beans, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, and some other vegetables. 

Looking forward to this year, and as of today a high conversion rate of 1 USD = 1680 Malawian kwacha! This is what it is all about in the end...

Thanks for the coverage of EMPATHY Project in The Evanstonian paper

 One of our students at Evanston Township High School, Emir Bombaci, was kind enough to write about EMPATHY in our student newspaper. We certainly appreciate the positive coverage, and are in the process of raising some more funds to help some of the new schools get started with this process! 

SEL in Schools Series, for any and all teachers, administrators, schools

 My students know I am really into the inclusion of helping humanity into our physics classes, and also promoting the skills we ALL need and use every day of our lives, Social-Emotional Learning skills (SEL). It is to the point where ETHS, and most districts around the country, are promoting and including SEL into their district plans and goals. This is good news for everyone, and now the challenge is to all learn what SEL is (and is NOT), why we need it for our students, evidence that it works (otherwise it would be a waste of time and resources), and finally how it can be embedded within content courses. 

If interested, I have created a SEL in Schools series of slide decks and accompanying videos, as well as hundreds of examples of lesson ideas in all subject areas/departments for middle schools and high schools, in order to train teachers and staff, as well as build up 'buy in' among teachers when they see how possible and valuable it is to include SEL in lessons on a fairly regular and consistent basis. 

If you happen to view it and find it useful, please share with other teachers, administrators, schools, etc. 

Plumpy nut: Being used for years to help fight hunger and malnutrition

  If you are now aware of Plump Nut, here's an introduction. This is a simple mix of peanut butter, milk, sugar, vitamins and minerals, that is in the form of a paste. It can be stored at room temperature and has a good taste, especially to children. Groups like Doctors Without Borders use plumpy nut in places of extreme poverty and hunger in order to quickly build up the nutrition of their diets. This has been highly effective for a number of years with severely hungry and malnourished children, where a couple weeks of plumpy nut can revitalize their health and energy levels. 

I have always loved this example as one where it is sometimes the 'simplest' solution that can solve real problems. Can you come up with simple, creative ways of solving an important problem? It is so tempting to overthink problems, and assume one needs fancy equipment, technologies or mathematics to reach a solution - and often it just take some common sense and trial and error to develop a simple solution. It reminds me of early in the space race, when the US spent all sorts of money to build pens that could write in space, whereas the Soviets used pencils. Einstein was a fan of thinking conceptually about a problem in as simple a way as possible, and then add in the math after a simple physical model was in his head.