On The Ground in Malawi: Brake Justino

"I come to talk about the future of our children."

At the age of a grandfather, Brake Justino still has a big family to provide for: more than 20 children. 

Many of his own children have died and he is now caring for their children, as well as those of some of his deceased sisters and brothers. In Malawi, this is not unusual. The AIDS pandemic is taking a terrible toll among the population, which in turn has a devastating effect on virtually every activity in the country.

To support his vast family, Brake has two jobs. He is Chairman of the Chembe Natural Resource Committee, as well as a Fish Warden of Lake Malawi National Park. He also does all kinds of maintenance jobs for the buildings related to the projects of WWF Finland.

Tenfold population increase over twenty years

Born in Chembe village, Brake still lives in this village of farmers and fishermen, located along the beautiful sandy beaches of Lake Malawi. However, the village is no longer the same as it used to be. During the last twenty years, the population has grown from 2,000 to an astonishing 10,000 – making Chembe the largest village in Malawi today.

As most men in the village are fishermen by profession, fishing in the lake has increased accordingly. The fish populations are now declining at an alarming speed.

Brake’s job as a Fish Warden is to ensure that there is no fishing inside the no-fishing zones within Lake Malawi National Park. In order to allow fish some safe breeding places, fishing is forbidden within 100 metres (350 feet) from the shoreline in certain areas.

Brake Justino’s job is not an easy one. “There is illegal fishing going on every week”, he laments. “Sometimes the fishermen just run away when they see me coming. At other times I talk to them and ask them to please move outside the no-fishing zone.”

In the village, Brake is a well-known figure. His work consists largely of talking to people. One of the frequent issues is the mesh size of fishing nets. Many fishermen use nets that catch very small fish, removing them from the lake before they have had a chance to reproduce.

"I come to talk about the future of our children."

The work of a Fish Warden is also the work of a diplomat. "I cannot just say, ‘Don’t do that’. Instead, I talk to them about the future of their children."

Sometimes diplomacy does not work, and other means become necessary. "In many cases, we have had to confiscate the nets of illegal fishermen. The nets have been given to the chief of the village. The illegal fishermen have been brought to court, where I have spoken as a witness."

Despite improvements, patrolling still necessary

At the moment, it seems that these measures may have helped a little. Yet there has been a lot of illegal fishing, especially around Mumbo Island. Now, after several court cases, the situation around Mumbo has improved. However, Brake still has to continue patrolling around the islands.

Multi-tasking for WWF

The other part of Brake’s workday, the part done for WWF, involves a variety of tasks, in addition to fixing roofs and maintaining buildings. "We are now collecting snails from the shores of the villages, in order to find out how bilharzia is being transmitted here. We are going to find out which species of snails there are at Chembe, and which of them do have the bilharzia parasites."

The results may turn out to be a life-saver for many of the lake-side villages. Badly infested by this parasite, which can lead to death if left untreated, the shallow waters of Chembe would benefit greatly from a the return of snail-eating fish – a solution planned by WWF Finland to help combat the bilharzia problem.