“Disgusting chongololos!” Auntie Stella said crossly. “Naughty children!”

We loved our chongololos – the Chewa name for millipedes. As children, we played with them in the rainy season. I quote from Wikipedia that “Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature.” Chongololos curled up in tight spirals when we picked them up. They were harmless creatures occasionally staining our fingers a yucky yellow in an attempt to make us leave them alone. My cousin Robert tucked his Chongololo pets into his shorts pockets and then forgot about them until, to the fury of his mother, they made a horrible mess when they were squeezed through our old-fashioned washing machine mangle. Those were the days that started my interest in nature and that made me write Dust and Rain: Chipo and Chibwe save the Green Valley
Wonderful Chongololos and my children
I went to Zambia in 1972. My return to Africa where I was born made me happy and gave me the pleasure of showing my children their first chongololos. They were no longer to be collected and crushed by mistake as Robert and I had done but seen as an introduction to the wonders of insects, arthropods, arachnids and animals and as creatures to be understood and respected along with antlions, flying ants, crickets, beetles, moths and butterflies.Life in Zambia gave us our love of nature and the environment. Because chongololos are harmless, prolific and loved by children, they became an ideal symbol for an education club about wildlife conservation and the environment,
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