Making a meal out of mice in Malawi

LILONGWE, Malawi —Cooked, salted or dried, field mice strung on sticks are sold as a popular delicacy in Malawi markets and roadside stalls.

The mice are hunted in corn fields after the harvest when they have grown plump on a diet of grains, fruits, grass and the odd insect. The most widely eaten species is known locally as Kapuku, gray in color and with a shorter tail than the more common rat.

Young boys have to be quick as they chase the mice through the fields and catch them. But local villagers have also come up with an innovative trap.

One method involves digging holes and putting clay pots filled with water into them. The mouth of the pot is smeared with fried corn husks. As some of the mice fight for the husks, they fall into the pot and drown.

Malawi, with a population of 12 million, is among the poorest countries in the world, with rampant disease and hunger, aggravated by periodic droughts and crop failure.

Namibian artists to rock Malawi

Lilongwe — Windhoek-based R & B sensation Daphne Willibard and Frieda Haindaka popularly known as Gal Level team together with five other international artists are set to rock Malawi.

The duo have been nominated together with Malawi’s hip-hop star Tay Grin and Zimbabwe’s Buffalo SoulJah for the 2009 Channel O Awards for their song ‘My type of Guy’ in the Most Gifted Group category.

The three join hands with Kenya’s Nameless, Zambia’s Petersen, Kenya’s Wahu and Nigeria’s DJ Waxxy in a battle of stars to launch Tay Grin’s music label Black Rhyno.

According to Tay Grin the event will be patronized by Channel O TV, Africa Magic and Malawi Television who will beam the proceedings.