Malawi Red Cross Society on Saturday donated assorted relief items estimated at K50 million to 213 households in Salima District who were affected by stormy rains which led to flash floods in December 2023.
Speaking during the donation at Kambwiri Primary School in the district, Malawi Red Cross Society Acting Secretary General, Chifundo Kalulu said his organisation is committed to ensuring that households affected by floods are cushioned from the impacts of floods by assisting them to get their livelihood back.
He said they did an independent assessment after the floods occurred to ascertain that those who were indeed affected receive the much needed assistance.
He, therefore, warned authorities not to take advantage of the situation to grab the donated items from the beneficiaries.
Assorted non-food items which include hygiene kits, kitchen utensils and other domestic items have been distributed to three affected Traditional Authorities.
Director of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Enford Kanyimbo who represented the District Commissioner, commended Malawi Red Cross Society for the donation citing the district is prone to floods during rainy season, therefore, such assistance is much needed.
He advised households living in flood prone areas to find safe places to dwell as a preventive measure because the rains have only started hence careful consideration has to be taken to protect lives and property.
One of the affected people, Elizabeth Flackson, hailed Malawi Red Cross Society saying the donation will go a long way to help those affected get back on their feet.
When we talk of martyrs the first thing that comes to mind is the Christians who died for their belief in Jesus Christ, and closer to AFRICA the martyrs of Uganda.,to which most catholic and Anglican churches and establishments derives their names to signify the importance of their actions, St Kizzito, Charles Lwangwa , St Luke, St Denis among others.
In Malawi we have people of different divides , religions and political affliations but they almost agree that John Chilembwe is a martyr , A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to advocate an ideology …. of which they do not believe in. One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle. A great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy from the wider public. However, the focus here is about John Chilembwe. A lot of literature has been written about JohnChilembwe and I will not belabor you with that but I would like to focus on him as a conscious martyr.
Conscious is a Latin word whose original meaning was “knowing” or “aware.” So, a conscious person has an awareness of her environment and her own existence and thoughts. If you’re “self-conscious,” you’re overly aware and even embarrassed by how you think, you look or act.
John Chilembwe
To follow the analogy of Chilembwe being a conscious martyr let us understand that while in Nyasaland then John Chilembwe was just an ordinary person, but when he travelled to the United States, he met people who were critical of whites. When he left home Nyasaland was under British protectorate.
He had traveled to the United States in 1897 to fundraise for the Mission to which he belonged to back home. There in America, Chilembwe was plunged into an environment that was highly critical of whites. He met and was influenced by the radical Zulu missionary John L. Dube from South Africa, Dr. Lewis Garnett Jordan of the Negro National Baptist Convention and many other African American preachers and radicals. Staying behind in the United States as Booth returned to Nyasaland, Booth was the one who arranged that John Chilembwe should go to America having been impressed with his character as his servant then, Chilembwe attended Virginia Theological Seminary and College at Lynchburg, Virginia in 1898 and 1899. In the United States, Chilembwe gained an increasingly global perspective on the struggle of people of African descent against injustice and white supremacy. He took these newly acquired political ideas back to Nyasaland in 1900, returning as an ordained Baptist minister.
Once returned, Chilembwe founded the Providence Industrial Mission with aid from the American National Baptist Convention. By 1912, he had established a chain of independent African schools, constructed a brick church and planted crops of cotton, tea, and coffee. His attempts to uplift the local population, however, were undercut by continuing exploitation of Africans by the British. Triggered by British mistreatment of famine refugees from Mozambique as well as the conscription of natives to fight the Germans in Tanzania during World War I, Chilembwe invoked the name of the American abolitionist John Brown and organized a rebellion against the British. The Chilembwe uprising is a story for another day.
While in America he started to have goals, he was powered with faith in the outcome of his native Nyasaland, coupled with with the exposure he was having he started noticing the opportunities to fulfill that dream,but for the time being it was beyond the reach of the conscious mind Back home he wrote letters seeking justice and equality for the blacks about the thangata system. The subconscious mind is the powerful secondary system that runs everything in your life. Learning how to stimulate the communication between the conscious and the subconscious minds is a powerful tool on the way to success, happiness and riches.
The subconscious mind is a data-bank for everything, which is not in your conscious mind. It stores your beliefs, your previous experience, your memories, your skills. Everything that you have seen, done or thought is also there. It is the issues that he had learnt observed and read while in America that were in his subconscious mind that something was wrong and needed action to correct the wrongs. He was conscious of his surroundings in Nyasaland before and after America that he saw poverty, oppression and to this end he encouraged hard work, dressing smartly, he discouraged drinking and encouraged people to get an education perhaps because of what he had seen in America and wanted a just society for the people of Nyasaland.
Martin Luther King the black civil rights campaigner in one of his speeches had this to say and I quote …” Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!’ end of quote
I can envisage that John chilembwe in his conscious mind on the path he had taken was aware of what lied ahead but he did not mind as it was in his conscious that something was wrong and had to be corrected he knew that of the issues that lied ahead he was aware of the implications but in his conscious he still had to do it. Nature has given humans an absolute control over the information that enters the subconscious mind, through the five senses. However, this does not mean that everyone exercises this control. Even more, in the majority of cases the average person does not exercise this control. This is why so many people go through life in poverty, denial and waiting for others to rescue them.I it is this premise that after his demise John Chilembwe should be considered as a conscious martyr as his surrounding and actions are stated. With the passing of time things do change and facts become twisted to suit a particular sect of society for their selfish ends but the fact still remains that events happened that qualifies the so-called victims to be martyrs and John Chilembwe qualifies as a conscious martyr
It is worth remembering that there is a price to be paid in order to be able to influence your subconscious mind. That price is called persistence. You have to keep doing the steps for auto-suggestion, you have to keep repeating your goals aloud and you have to keep having faith in the outcome and the end-result. John Chilembwe to this end led an uprising to the unjust of the white rule he died while fighting for a good cause for a black man.
The difference between those who succeed and those who fail may just be a few days. Or it could be the availability of a back-up plan. Those who always say: “In case I do not succeed, I will do this and that” will always do this and that. Because their conscious mind would always keep thinking about the way out.
While Martyrs Day and Kamuzu Day have been there since independence, it was after 1994 when the then president, Bakili Muluzi declared 15th January as Chilembwe Day holiday. In 1944, during the formative period of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), George Mwase from Nkhata Bay and other members of the executive committee then, pressed the colonial Nyasaland Government to set 15th January as Chilembwe Day. To no avail.
The author is a fellow of IPMM who writes on various topics in his own personal capacity.
Thousands of Malawians on Sunday lined up the streets of Blantyre to welcome President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera who is in the Southern Region for various engagements.
Among the engagements on the cards are, Chilembwe Day commemoration and National Tree Planting Day.
In his welcoming speech, MCP’s Southern Region chairman Hon Peter Simbi said President’s visit to the south is very timely.
Chakwera being greeted in Blantyre
Simbi said people of the Southern Region want Chakwera to physically appreciate the current hunger status in the region and progress of interventions such as food distribution.
The chair said the President has demonstrated true statesmanship.
National director of campaign in the ruling Malawi Congress Party who is also Minister of Information and Digitalization, Moses Kunkuyu, described Chakwera as the only person with solutions towards challenges which Malawians are facing.
The President addressed people on whistle stops at Chirimba, Mbayani and Chemusa.
President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has called on Malawians to continue uniting regardless of social, economic and political affiliations saying this is the only way of bringing solutions to challenges facing the country.
Addressing the gathering on Sunday at Chirimba and Chemusa Trading Centres during a whistle tour in Blantyre City, Chakwera said he is ready to meet different groupings with an aim of discussing, appreciating the situation and together develop the country.
Chakwera being welcomed in Blantyre
The Malawi leader also encouraged people not to lose hope rather remain resilient just like they have shown over the past years.
“When passing difficult times, do not lose hope rather trust in God for there is a reward for it. Currently, some things have already started ticking and very soon other things will completely turn around for our good,” he said.
The Malawi leader also cautioned people in authority to desist from misappropriating resources meant to support social protection programmes for vulnerable households.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) National Campaign Director, Moses Kunkuyu thanked the president for visiting people in Blantyre.
Kunkuyu, who is also the Minister of Information and Digitalisation, said people are grateful for government support rendered to them including creation of job opportunities for the youths in Israel, construction of security houses and also provision of maize to hunger stricken families.
Group Village Head Magasa of Traditional Authority (TA) Kapeni hailed the Chakwera administration for cushioning vulnerable households with different social protection programmes.
Truck drivers in Malawi are once again threatening to stage a nationwide strike unless the government fulfills its commitment to implement a minimum wage of K300,000. This latest development follows allegations that the Ministry of Labour has reneged on its promises made during negotiations last year. The Truck Drivers Association and the Professional Drivers Union claim that despite engaging with presidential advisor Ephraim Chivunde, no progress has been made. With tensions mounting, the drivers are fervently demanding fair wages and accountability from the government.
Truck drivers in Malawi have long been grappling with the issue of low wages. The demanding nature of their occupation, coupled with poor working conditions and extended hours on the road, has compelled them to advocate for improved compensation. The current minimum wage, currently at K40,000, falls significantly short of meeting their livelihood needs and fails to adequately address inflationary pressures.
According to Francis Mkandawire, Vice President of the Truck Drivers Association, the Ministry of Labour has continuously failed to honor the agreed-upon minimum wage. Despite assurances made during negotiations, government officials have not taken any concrete steps to implement the desired wage increase. The drivers have voiced their disappointment and frustration with the lack of progress, and their plea for fair compensation has fallen on deaf ears.
Meetings with Ephraim Chivunde, presidential advisor on politics, were expected to yield positive outcomes, as both associations held discussions to find a satisfactory resolution to the ongoing wage dispute. However, the drivers claim that none of the agreed-upon resolutions have materialized, leaving them disillusioned. This breach of trust has only intensified their resolve to take action, potentially resorting to a nationwide strike to amplify their demands.
The Ministry of Labour spokesperson, Nellie Kapatuka, told Maravi Post that she didn’t have more information and requested for more time. “Kindly give me additional time so that I give you valid information not speculative,” said Kapatuka before hanged up the phone. This response from the ministry further fuels the truckers’ frustrations, as it seemingly indicates a lack of urgency and concern for their plight.
The truck drivers of Malawi find themselves at a critical crossroad, highlighting the precariousness of their livelihoods. Their demands for a fair and livable wage reflect a fundamental desire for improved working conditions and dignified treatment. The ongoing battle for higher wages not only affects individual drivers but also has broader implications for the transportation sector and the nation’s economy. As the government contemplates its response, it must recognize the significance of addressing these legitimate concerns to avoid potential disruptions that could impact essential supply chains, trade, and economic growth.
