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Candles for Light and Heat in Malawi

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While researching the story of William Kamkwamba and his windmill, I learned from Tom Rielly of TED that many homes in Malawi use paraffin as their main source of light and heat. We use candles here for more luxurious purposes such as decor, setting a mood, meditation and aromatherapy.

Paraffin as a main source of light/heat can get dangerous as well and there are many people who get burned from over turned paraffin candles and stoves. For more information on how to prevent paraffin accidents see Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa. Many homes don’t have electricity in Malawi and William’s family had to travel ten kilometers to purchase their paraffin so they could have light.

Once he got his ingenious windmill going it saved them both money and time because it created enough electricity to light several light bulbs in his home. William continues to upgrade his windmill and is presently working on building a more powerful windmill to pump water to irrigate his family’s garden.

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Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

  • Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
  • NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
  • Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
  • The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]