Kasungu

Kasungu is a town in the Kasungu District of the Central Region of Malawi. The population of Kasungu was 58,653 according to the 2018 census.<ref name="World Gaz"/> Kasungu is approximately Template:Convert north-west of the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, and is Template:Convert east of Kasungu National Park.<ref name="Lonely Planet">Template:Cite book</ref> The main industry in Kasungu is tobacco-growing.<ref name="Britannica">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

History

A farm close to Kasungu was the birthplace of the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda<ref name="Britannica"/> and William Kamkwamba.

Geography and climate

Kasungu is in central Malawi, lying at an elevation of Template:Convert. It has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa) and a rainy season that lasts from November–December to March–April.<ref name="Only cash crop"/> The dry season lasts from May to October.<ref name="Lonely Planet"/> The town receives, on average, between Template:Convert rainfall each year.<ref name="Only cash crop"/>

Demographics

Year	Population<ref name="World Gaz">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Census2018">Template:Cite web</ref>
1987	11,591
1998	27,754
2008	39,640
2018	58,653

Language

Chichewa is the main language spoken in Kasungu.<ref name="Language">Template:Cite book</ref>

Facilities

Transport

Kasungu is served by buses and minibuses that travel to Lilongwe and Mzuzu.<ref name="Lonely Planet"/> In June 2008, Central East Africa Railways announced plans to extend the rail line from Lilongwe to Kasungu.<ref name="New rail">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Amenities

There are guesthouses, bars, restaurants, and four petrol stations in Kasungu; according to Lonely Planet, there are "no major attractions" in Kasungu.<ref name="Lonely Planet"/> Kasungu National Park is an hour's drive to the west, and Kamuzu Academy is 25 minutes by road to the east.

Emergency services

Kasungu has a police station.<ref name="Police">Template:Cite web</ref> The town is also home to a 179-bed government-funded district hospital. The hospital is often overcrowded, and suffers from a lack of nurses and anti-retroviral drugs.<ref name="State run">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="lack of nurses">Template:Cite web</ref> The hospital's 13-bed paediatric department can receive over 100 patients, leaving some patients on the floor.<ref name="Corriere">Template:Cite web</ref> UNICEF-Hamburg has sent over US$6000 to train care-workers in Kasungu.<ref name="UNICEF">Template:Cite web</ref>

Land and economy

The land in Kasungu lacks nutrients and water, and is mostly "sand veld";<ref name="Britannica"/> the Kasungu area is suffering from depleted forests.<ref name="Forest">Template:Cite web</ref> A tribal chief stated in 2004 that over 250,000 people in Kasungu own no land.<ref name="No land">Template:Cite web</ref> Tobacco is the only cash crop grown in Kasungu district,<ref name="Only cash crop">Template:Cite web</ref> and the area has been described as a "tobacco heartland" by Xinhua News Agency.<ref name="Xinhua"/> The opening of Kasungu National Park in 1970 has increased tourism in the area.<ref name="Britannica"/> Due to their poverty, most residents of Kasungu live in houses made of hand-made mud bricks, covered by roofs of straw or corrugated iron.<ref name="Peterborough"/> According to AllAfrica, Kasungu is a "child labour hotspot."<ref name="Child labour">Template:Cite web</ref>

Politics

Kasungu is a "stronghold" of the Malawi Congress Party.<ref name="Stronghold">Template:Cite web</ref> The Member of the Malawian Parliament for Kasungu Central is Allan Kabuluzi.<ref name="Jimu">Template:Cite web</ref> The MP for Kasungu North North West is Rodger Sithole,<ref name="Sithole">Template:Cite web</ref> and the MP for Kasungu North West is Gerald Jere.<ref name="Gerald Jere">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Foreign links

Kaluluma School in Kasungu has formed a relationship with Greenford High School, Southall, England.<ref name="Ealing">Template:Cite web</ref> A church in Kasungu also formed a relationship with two churches near Peterborough, England, in 2001. Parishioners from the two churches have travelled to Kasungu several times and have built a new church and a fish farm. In February 2008, the church group built a maize mill in Kasungu.<ref name="Peterborough">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Notable events

Famine and disease

Over 100 people died in a famine in 2002, according to official estimates; Kasungu was the worst affected area in Malawi.<ref name="2002 famine">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005 a famine occurred in Malawi, affecting 4.2 million Malawians. The efforts to distribute food to the needy were concentrated in Kasungu.<ref name="El Mundo es">Template:Cite web</ref> During 2004 and 2005, there was an outbreak of cholera, with eight people recorded to have suffered the disease.<ref name="MIJ FM Cholera">Template:Cite web</ref>

June 2003 riots

In June 2003, Kasungu Muslims rioted with police, after five Malawians, suspected of being al-Qaeda operatives, were arrested and taken into United States custody. One demonstrator was treated for "serious gunshot wounds".<ref name="Xinhua">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="AP Tenthani">Template:Cite web</ref>

Chess championships

In January 2008, the African Junior Chess Championships were held at Kamuzu Academy near Kasungu.<ref name="Chess">Template:Cite web</ref> The academy, which The Nyasa Times describes as "highly regarded" and "Eton in the bush", was founded by the first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.<ref name="Kamuzu Academy">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Kasungu National Park