It’s not so common in the United States.
Much about life in Malawi depends on the rains. The challenge comes when it does not rain as expected. If there is too little rain, there are droughts. Farmers then cannot plant on time, or their crops dry out too fast. As a result, their families do not have enough food. Also, when the environment gets too dry, dangerous wildfires can start.
On the other hand, when it rains too much, there are floods. It’s an even bigger problem because the ground gets really hard during the dry season. Then, when lots of water dumps down at once during the rainy season, it cannot soak into the hard ground very well.
When there is not enough rain for farming, one solution is to bring in water from other sources. For example, it can be pumped up from underground. This is really slow if you have to use your hands to pump the water. It is really fast if you can use electricity, but this is not so common in Malawi. Many communities do not have poles for electrical wires, the way that we do in the U.S. Luckily, they do have lots of sun and wind, especially in the dry season. Some farmers are using solar and wind power to pump up water so that they can plant and grow food in the dry season. It is very smart, because they are using resources that they do have to get what they need. There is actually a movie about a middle-school student in Malawi who built a wind-powered pump for his village.
