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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 APRIL 2017 39 This Week Manwel Dimech, in his own words HOW would Manwel Dimech in- terpret the events that shaped his life and philosophy? What if he had to speak for himself? What if we had to discover a lost auto- biography of Manwel Dimech in someone's attic? What would it include? What would it exclude? What bearing would such a work have on our lives us today? These are hypothetical ques- tions, of course. As far as we can ascertain, Dimech did not seem to have ever written such a book, and neither did he show any commitment for an employ- ment of his time for such a task. In the twilight years of his exile in Egypt it was not an autobi- ography that he had wrote but thousands of sharp aphorisms. Rather than attract attention to himself, Dimech always focused on his human, social and political message. This is what he wanted to be remembered for. Nevertheless, as autobiogra- phies go, it would surely be fas- cinating to have Dimech speak in the first person singular. Though we all know that autobiographies are fictional, most modern read- ers like them over all other gen- res just the same. This is probably due to the fact that we all like to tell our sto- ries—in our own way, of course— and repeat those of others. It is a fondness that has been going on since the cavern daubings of prehistoric times. One has just to peek into YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to realise how the story-telling goes on and on as steady as ever. Though Dimech may not have wrote an autobiography, Di- mech's major biographer, Mark Montebello, does it for him. His new publication in Maltese, Jien, Manwel Dimech: L-istorja ta' ħajti (I, Manwel Dimech: The story of my life), has Dimech nar- rating his own life story, from his humble beginnings at Valletta in 1860 to his deathbed in Alexan- dria in 1921. This is the author's fifteenth book dealing with the 19th-century social reformer. Despite its fictional nature, the book is not fictitious. It is thor- oughly based, in every minute detail, on Montebello's own sys- tematic and comprehensive re- search on Dimech's life and times which was first published in 2004 (republished in 2013; the second volume to be released later this year). This new publication, the English version of which was published as The Amazing Story of Manwel Dimech in 2014, may be considered an abridged edi- tion of that classic work. The official launching of Jien, Manwel Dimech, in commemo- ration of the 96th anniversary of Dimech's death, and of Workers' Day, will be held on April 17, at 18:00, Castille Square, Valletta. The event will include talks by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and author Mark Montebello. Jien, Manwel Dimech is pub- lished by Sensiela Kotba Socjal- isti. The wood sandpiper (M: swejda ċara) is one of several species of shorebirds that visit Malta. It is a small wading bird with long bill and long legs, very handy tools when probing wet mud for worms. Due to their small size and subdued monochromatic colours, these birds are easy to miss. Lack of bright colour is in fact a feature common to many waders, as these birds need to survive in wide open spaces like shores and mudflats, with nowhere to hide from predators. As our beaches and warming sea slowly begin to attract humanity, wood sandpipers and other waders that visit the Islands on their way north find few places where to rest and look for a snack in peace and quiet. Their best bet is places like BirdLife's wetland reserves at Għadira, Is-Simar and Salina. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti Female cocoa farmers are experiencing substantial discrimination and inequality working in the cocoa sector. In West Africa, cocoa is produced largely in traditionally structured societies, where women experience great difficulties in obtaining legal land titles, even when their husbands die and they want to run the farm themselves. Without land titles, they are often excluded from saving and credit systems, as well as from access to training and certification schemes. But increasingly, women are running cocoa farms. This is largely the result of the age differences between husbands and wives, HIV/aids, social conflicts and male rural-urban migration. Still, women are less involved in decision-making processes, are less informed about market developments and effective ways of farm management and have even less opportunity to invest in their farms than men. Women who run a farm together with their husbands are often not regarded as cocoa farmers, but rather as the spouse of a cocoa farmer Bittersweet Chocolate Women in the Cocoa Sector 551. WOOD SANDPIPER GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 454 FIRE STARTER: Use crumpled up bits of old newspaper to start a bonfire, charcoal grill or camp fire. Mark Montebello allows Manuel Dimech to speak in the first person in an upcoming book