A Pen for Social and Economic Impact

  In 2024, I met a girl who at a single glance, captured my attention. There was something about her; an unspoken radiance, a silent strength. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I knew she was special. Now, if you know me, meeting and connecting with young girls or young women is nothing new. But this girl, who for the sake of this piece I will call Nia, was different. From our first encounter, she struck me as joyful, bubbly and remarkably intelligent. She had an energy that was both refreshing and contagious. Above all, she was beautiful not just in appearance but in the way she carried herself, in the spark of life that danced in her eyes. We exchanged a few words that day, a brief conversation that left an impression. As time passed, our interactions became a little more friendly; just a few polite greetings here and there over WhatsApp. At that point, she was just an acquaintance, nothing more. Then one night, around 11 PM, my phone rang. I sleepily reached for it, barel...

THE MOTHER AT GIRLFRIENDS IN FAITH Many have  failed to figure out who I am. Now Let's talk about me, shall we? 😆 To many, I am a mystery; unpredictable, as they like to say. To those who know me well, I am fun to be around, even talkative. But truth be told, I don’t entirely see myself through their eyes. I have always thought of myself as calm, composed, and maybe even a little shy. Introverted, if you will. One thing has always been clear, though: I know my creative power. I’ve always been the one to dream up ideas effortlessly. Ideas of change, growth, and transformation. Stagnation? I can’t stand it. Failure? I refuse to befriend it. I thrive on building something out of nothing, on shaping what seems out of place into something extraordinary. Those who know me best will tell you this: I am an advisor of transformation. And that’s where Girlfriends in Faith comes in. This is more than just my brainchild; it’s my dream turned reality. Once, someone asked me about my calling. M...

  Shaping Lives, One Lemonade at a Time I can’t quite remember the moment I consciously decided to become a mentor. It wasn’t a sudden epiphany or a loud declaration. Instead, it feels as though I woke up one day and realized I had been shaped, molded, perhaps even born, for this role. Somewhere along the way, I embraced the saying: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade . Life, in its unpredictable generosity, has handed me enough lemons to make lemonade for generations. Looking back, I see that those toughest times were not just trials but lessons. Without them, what tangible wisdom could I offer to others navigating their challenges? I’ve found my calling in guiding young people; a fragile yet resilient people. For me, working with them goes beyond mere profession. It’s a purpose; a mission! Beginning the Journey with Girls My mentorship journey began with girls. Their stories found their way to my heart and my desk, demanding solutions to challenges that seemed overwhelming....

In 2023 I connected with Rwanda’s capital city. One that sprawls across numerous hills, ridges and valleys.   Before I travelled to Kigali, I learnt that Rwanda was a land blessed with creativity in Arts and one rich in culture. Walking in the streets of Kigali, I saw that the city has clearly expressed an effort to connect people through Arts and Culture. After learning that Kigali was a hub of creativity, I promised myself I was not flying back to Malawi without a visit to one of the Arts Centers in the city. Since establishing an Arts Center is one of my dreams, I made it a point to visit one center even amidst my busy schedule. Inema Arts Center is a small but an amazing creative hub that spurs creativity for personal, social and economic growth. The center is simply pretty as a picture! It was amazing to learn that the center works with orphans offering them an opportunity to discover and use their artistic talent and mentors in art as a skill, a talent, an occupation ...

  THE CREATIVITY THAT IS ARTS While the Arts have and continue to play an import ant role globally, in curriculums of most Developing Countries in Africa, Arts is undermined. In Malawi, for instance the success of students has mostly been measured by classroom credit hours in other subjects but Arts. My passion for Arts began 20 years ago when I was in primary school. I remember loving music and dance. Among all my friends, I was well known as the dancer.   When I was 10 years old, I loved the Congolese genre of music called Rhumba. Rhumba was the music. The beat in rhumba felt like nothing else. I grew up in church. When I was in secondary school, I envied the choir members at our local church. I was curious to know what made the jazzmen and vocalists unique. Why were they able to make music while the rest of us couldn’t?   The piano players were always my favorite.   Somehow, at the age 15 my ears had already learnt to distinguish a good pianist from a not so g...

Creativity in the Malawian Arts Industry   I recently wrote a piece about Arts Education and how we can advance Creativity in the Malawian Arts Industry. Arts is one of my passions and I believe that the establishment of arts  centres will contribute alot in the Arts industry and Arts Education in Malawi. I partnered with the Arts Education Partnership in Denver to publish this blogpost and it has been published on their website. Please read my blogpost on: https://www.aep-arts.org/arts-education-and-creativity-in-the-malawian-arts-industry Enjoy!

                 In many of the communities where I’ve worked, the value of educating a girl is often questioned—or quietly ignored. One visit to a school in a rural village in Neno District made this reality hit hard. I remember walking into a Standard 8 classroom and noticing something striking: 30 boys filled the desks, but only one girl sat among them. Just one! We checked the records. From Standard 1, the number of girls enrolled was impressive. But as the years passed, the numbers dropped—steadily, almost predictably. By the time they reached upper primary, most girls had disappeared from the classroom. We asked the headmaster why? His answer was blunt. “They get married,” he said. “And to many of them, that’s not a bad thing. They look at their married friends and think those girls are doing better in life than the ones still in school.” In these communities, once a girl reaches puberty, the expectation is marriage, not graduation. Edu...