Drawn from hamlets far and wide, people of varying backgrounds\u2014 I mean, personalities brought to Blantyre Water Board\u2019s Mudi catchment area by the magnetic force of a future they may not be there to experience\u2014 had the opportunity to plant trees and contribute to reforestation in Blantyre.<\/p>\n
I am talking of last month, when members of the National Theatre Association of Malawi descended on Mudi Catchment area to plant trees they may not be there to climb. I mean, folks who like climbing fruit trees.<\/p>\n
Well, for the folks that like to play games under trees, I am talking of planting trees they may not be there to sit under. Whatever games they will be \u2018playing\u2019 under the trees! Don\u2019t overtake me in your thinking. I am talking of the innocent things in life. Did you know that seeking cover [under a tree] from rains is a type of game? It is. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! <\/em><\/p>\n Even eating fruits such as mangoes without washing them is a type of game! It is \u2018playing\u2019 with cholera; hence, it is a game. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! <\/em><\/p>\n Anyway, my interest was drawn to some of the light things\u2014 the jokes the theatre addicts were throwing around; of course, free of charge\u2014 that were said on the day. I surely came to realise that birds of the same feathers flock together. The mind is surely a fertile ground for wild thoughts; at least this is the impression I got, considering some of the things people were saying, as they executed the \u2018heavy\u2019 task of planting trees.<\/p>\n One actor, observing that the exercise was taking long to conclude, wondered if, indeed, the \u2018water guys\u2019 had really given them 3, 000 trees. Them? Okay, us; for I was one of those who planted trees on that day. I must have planted about 15 trees; trees that will never know me. Sob! Sob! Sob!<\/p>\n \u201cAkuluakulu, atipatsa mitengo yambiri [they have given us more trees than promised],\u201d one actor said.<\/p>\n \u201cUkunena zowona ayise, monse muja <\/em>[You are spot on; otherwise, it has been a while since we started planting the trees],\u201c said another.<\/p>\n \u201cKoma chomwe chikundinyasa ndi chokuti sadatiwuze kuti mitengo yaimuna ndi iti, ndipo yaikazi ndi iti <\/em>[the worst part is that they have not taken the trouble to inform us about which of these trees are male and which ones are female]\u201d, said another, sending some of us in stitches.<\/p>\n \u201cKodi Akuluakulu, chikuchitika ndi chiyani? Akapita kukatenga mitengo munthu wamkazi akumachedwa, pamene wamphongo akumafulumira <\/em>[By the way, good people, what is happening. When a female goes to fetch the trees from the centre point, she is taking long; which is not the case when a male goes. What is happening]?\u201d Asked another.<\/p>\n \u201cAh, nde kuti akuyesa kudisha. Pajatu amadisha ziri zonse. Kotenga ziphaso za unzika, akumaperekanso ziphuphu kwa opereka ziphaso. Ku zipangizo za ulimi zotsika mtengo, akumachita chimodzimodzi <\/em>[Maybe they are trying to corrupt those giving out the trees. You know women. They want to get things on a silver platter in every endeavour. Just to collect their national registration identity card, they sweet-talk the officials. The same applies to the Farm Input Subsidy Programme. Women!]\u201d<\/p>\n But this sentiment does not go down well with gender-sensitive actors, who condemn the \u2018insensitive\u2019 actor for playing the gender card.<\/p>\n Then, from the blues, one actor \u2018deletes\u2019 all bad feelings with a joke.<\/p>\n \u201cAkuluakulu, a water board sakuticheza bwino. Akungotizalitsa mitengo imene siingatithandize kupeza mankhwala achikuda. Sindikuwonapo mitengo yolodzera ena pa mitengo tikudzalayi. Uku nkulakwa <\/em>[Good people, we are being given a raw deal. The [Blantyre] Water Board people have just given us \u2018innocent\u2019 trees, I can\u2019t see a tree future generations will use to bewitch each other]!\u201d<\/p>\n Almost everyone laughed. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drawn from hamlets far and wide, people of varying backgrounds\u2014 I mean, personalities brought to Blantyre Water Board\u2019s Mudi catchment area by the magnetic force of a future they may not be there to experience\u2014 had the opportunity to plant trees and contribute to reforestation in Blantyre. I am talking of last month, when members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60423,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60421\/revisions\/60423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}