Mr Emeka Maduewesi took to his Facebook timeline to discuss how Biafrans struggled between having salt in their food and recharging their radio batteries to be able to listen to news from around the world during the crucial Nigeria/Biafra War.
Here is how he puts it and the reactions that followed which gave deep revelations of how families survived the war that took the lives of about 3 million people.
This is nothing short of the ingenuity of the average Igbo man, a natural trait that should be harnessed by the country to grow it economy.
They made highways out of Nothing! Built airport in the middle of the forest! Among other mind blowing technology.
Read.
Biafra: The battle between salt and information by Emeka Maduewesi
So, it got to a time when all the radio batteries in Biafra were used and new ones could not be imported. But we needed to know what was going on. We needed to listen to Radio Biafra. And we used salt to recharge the batteries. Great!
But salt was scarce too. Lack of salt in the diet brought its own problems. Those who were bringing in food loaded the fish with salt. You cannot just eat the fish. You have to use it to cook and the loaded salt seasoned the food.
It was a battle between Mamas and Papas, between the radio and the kitchen, between salt and information.
Till the end of the war, Papas listened to Radio Biafra while Mamas where able to cook food. Mamas soaked the salted fish in water, which Papas got some to use to give life to "dead" batteries. It was a win-win situation even as many died of hunger.
Green energy. Biafra would have pioneered the power wall.
Do you recall other Biafran response to hard times? Share with us.
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Read responses!
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Biafra would have been the hub of technological advancement if not for Western gang-up.
God bless Biafra!
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Palm oil was refined to use as fuel for driving the trucks of war
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At a time the Biafra train (locomotive) would come from Umuahia the right way and would go back with reverse. The facilities for turning the locomotive had been lost in Enugu and Port Harcourt, but did not stop Biafra Railway from providing services to the people.
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Because of severe food scarcity anyone that could lay hands on a few tubers of cassava didn't have the luxury to ferment it over days as normally done in order to remove the poisonous substances in fresh cassava. The Biafrans added palm oil to remove the poisons after grinding the cassava and then heating the mixture to complete the detoxification process. Sometimes after all these my mum would heat it again to ensure she wasn't the one going to wipe out her family with her own hands.
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One day the chronicles of Biafran survival will be documented and recast for future use.
All these ideas are simple ideas that spells self reliance.
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Emeka Maduewesi
How were the 'tired' batteries re-energized with the salt solution.
It's purely scientific and it's through electrolysis of water. Add salt to a point of concentration in water. Get expired or tired batteries equivalent to the number your radio is using. Connect wires from positive to positive and connect the last negative end to the positive end of your radio and the last positive end to the negative end of your radio. Tune on your radio and see it working.
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Jehovah God! Even at that time when technology had not so advanced as it is today, yet biafra advanced above the times
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Biafra was the first African territory and probably the only one that produced green energy from ethanol squeezed from cassava
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Mazi Emeka Maduewesi I was at National War Museum Umuahia yesterday, I ran my fingers along the hard body of the Biafran Cooking Pot{Made in Biafra mobile modular refinery} in love. Many years down, Nigeria is still grappling with PMS supply.
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Locally distilled dry gin was used as aviation fuel
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We suffered but on a positive, my Mum told me a story of a miracle that happened at her hometown, Ufuma, Anambra, during the war. She said God fed them with Manna just as He fed the children of Israel in the wilderness.
She said "During the war, there was scarcity of food but EVERY morning, when they go the the field, they will see new leaves of MUSHROOM grow, she said the leaves are quite nutritious and used as soup and most times serves as food to them. After they might have finished harvesting the mushroom in the morning, they plant another one there and the next morning it will germinate again".
Those who knows Mushroom knows it grows in a period of 6 months or so before another one germinates.
This was a miracle which saved them from Kwashiokor at that time.
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My point? The hands of the Almighty is upon every Igbo. We are truly one of the lost tribes of Israel. And until NDIGBO turns back to He that blesses them, until we turn back to the God of Israel, we might not reach our required promise land. Our marginalisation might not end too, we are the ones holding BIAFRA from coming to manifestation. The Almighty has done His part by turning the £20 given to every Biafran after the war to millions of ££££££ (Pounds) and Invariably He has made us great and the richest despite our marginalised state and He has fulfilled His words to Abraham that "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curses you".
God bless Biafra.
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Coconut water was used as brake fluid for the vehicles.
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Uli airport...
Was originally part of a major highway,had been cut into the countryside in the middle of a tropical rainforest and operated mainly at night. The airport traffic control terminal,passenger facilities and hangers were constructed in such a manner that the entire runway and all of the planes on the ground could be heavily camouflaged with palm leaves and raffia fronds during the day,disguising it from Nigerian army reconnaissance mission and radar. At night the airport became a beehive of activity. Incoming flights carrying relief supplies,particularly from international location such as Sao Tome,Ivory Coast,Gabon,were given the airport's coordinates after appropriate background checks were done. Pilots who were involved in the airlifts of relief supplies summed it up this way "in the middle of the vast expanse of tropical rainforest we would be told to descend from our cruising altitude to about two thousand feet to avoid enemy fire,barely atop the forest in the pitch dark. All of a sudden,bright floodlight appeared from nowhere,illuminating the forest floor. Right before us was a breathtaking sight-an entire airport appearing from nowhere!
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Indeed In Biafra, Africa died.
See below the screenshotof some of the comments
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