HISTORICALLY SPEAKING MALAWI PATCH PROGRAM
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1. Malawi is located in Africa. It is one of the smallest countries and is only about 100 miles wide. View an outline of a Malawi country map and its Capital. Identify its flag. The capital city is Lilongwe. Malawi’s flag has as made up of three equal horizontal stripes of black, red, and green with a red rising sun in the center of the top black horizontal line.

2. The official language of Malawi is Chichewa spoken by 70% of the residents. There are also other languages such as Yao, Tumbuka, Ngoni, and Lomwe spoken in other areas of Malawi. Learn some words spoken in Malawi.

3. An annual Music Festival is held every year to display the many different genres of music and dance enjoyed in Malawi. The kathak is a traditional dance performed by women. Watch a dance OR listen to music OR sing a song OR learn more information about a dance from Malawi and try your own moves.

4. Each group of people have brought their own cultural food to Malawi. A dish that most enjoy in the coastal area is a cook-up, or a plate of rice, beans, and meat cooked in coconut milk. The African heritage bring plantains, yams, and okra. While the Chinese have noodles and meat dishes. The Portuguese create couscous. A large variety of the food that all enjoy is seafood due to the country being located along a coast. Try a recipe, food, or drink from Malawi.

5. Limbo dancing, masquerade bands of people in costume marching down the street and acrobats with festive music are just a few activities that you may see in one of Malawi’s festivals. Learn about festivals in Malawi, go to a festival, participate in one, OR complete a craft that represents a festival. Examples include: Christmas, New Year’s Day, Kama, similar to Valentine’s Day, Festival of Lights, or Caribbean Day.

6. Legends and stories are passed down for many years through the generations. They also have proverbs and short stories with morals. Read a story, legend, OR listen to a legend or play.

7. Petroglyphs, or rock drawings, tells a story of the past. Some are displayed out in the open while others can be found near rivers. Find out more about the petoglyphs by viewing them in books or online OR create your story using petroglyphs.

8. Malawi has one of the best reserves in the world. Their forest contains many plants and animals to observe. Choose [3] animals OR plants from Malawi to learn more about. Examples include: Bromelaid flower, hoatzin bird, tamarin, manatee, matamata turtle, jaguar, and capybara.

9. Weaving is one of the wonderful creations that is created in Malawi. They can weave a hammock that becomes a complete bed, baskets, floor mats, and chairs. They also create beautiful bowls, trays, filigree jewelry, furniture, and brass items. Create a craft or project using a traditional a skill OR jewelry OR observe someone creating a handicraft OR a traditional craft from Malawi.

10. Traditional clothing in Malawi usually reflects the ethnic group that the particular person is from. They are worn for special occasions or events throughout the year. All the people that want to participate in Caribbean day of the Anniversary of the Republic will dress up in costumes to be displayed on floats and in parades. They will consist of masks, headdresses and vibrant colored clothing. Draw a picture of the clothing, dress up in a Malawi themed costumes, create an accessory, complete our paperdolls OR view traditional clothing through books or the internet or our country manual.

11. There are a variety of games that played in Malawi by children. Learn a traditional game OR play a game that symbolizes Malawi OR play a water game OR play a game in our manual. Some examples include: cricket, kite flying, catcha, jummin, littee, and rounders.