Another Year Added...
Thanks be to God who always leads us to victory through His Son Jesus. I believe that the Lord God Almighty takes us from one level of glory to the other! It is my birthday today and I have every reason to thank God. I feel honoured and privileged to have lived this long...many went to the Lord while relatively younger. I praise Him for the opportunities and windows that have opened since my last birthday...I simply cannot believe what the Lord has done in me for the past year! I have been places and achieved many things that seemed a mirage just last year. Indeed all things are possible with God.
I'm receiving many gifts, text messages, emails and phone calls...I appreciate! I broke down this morning in tears as Mom called and sang 'Blessed Assurance' one of my favourite hymns, and told me what I mean to her and the family...It is so good to be loved and feel loved. Thank God for family and friends! Happy Birthday To Me!! "Tiamwere, skall, cheers"
Almost Over
My time in Malawi is nearly over. Soon, I will be back in Europe as I continue with my studies. I need the grace of God so much as I prepare again to leave home, church, friends, family and relatives. It is not easy as I ponder the lonely life and the distance from Europe to the ones I love so much.
It has been fun to be in Malawi but also sad. It was great to see the developments taking root, to be part of the every-day nitty-gritties of life and just to feel the pulse of Malawi. During the vacation my neighbour's wife Grace Ngoma and my close friend at MBC, Susan Chikuse died. I thank God I was there to encourage them on their last mile on this earth.
I learned driving...would you believe that I didn't know how to drive?? I enjoyed playing guitar in church, and doing many other things plus being with some people I missed!!!! Of course there are some things I failed to do.
My last year of studies will not be easy and when I finish I will need even more grace to face the future from the relatively easy life of being a student and settling down with a spouse!! WOW!!
Lunch hour and meals in Blantyre
The other day I was around Ginnery Corner area in Blantyre, close to the National Bank/Pharmanova area during lunch hour and I beheld a touching spectacle. There were about 200 men gathered around stalls offering various kinds of food being sold by some women. There was cassava, sweet potatoes and even pieces of sugar-cane...take note: there was no rice, or the local Malawian dish nsima...just those three cited foodstuffs. I felt sad looking at some men chewing at a piece of sugarcane, and yet others huddled over a few chunks of cassava hoping it would sustain them for the rest of the afternoon. Less than a kilometre away at Chichiri shopping mall, some better endowed persons were having more filling and sumptious food and maybe throwing away large parts of their lunch! What a contrast.
The hordes eating sugarcane and potatoes/cassava personified to me, the hardship currently prevailing in Malawi as high fuel and food prices continue to cause havoc on savings or disposable income of people in the country. With oil prices showing no signs of going down on the international market and the cost of food also soaring, more misery seems to be in the offing for Malawians especially in the low-income bracket and those in rural areas. Mercy Lord.
Human Rights and Journalism
Last week on Thursday I returned to the University of Malawi, at its constituent college the Polytechnic where I met my former students in the Journalism Department. All I was trying to do was to motivate them to incorporate human rights in their studies and in their work when they graduate. It was a great and humbling experience to be invited by one of my ex-students Wonderful Hunga for the talk, and to have a classroom full of listening students from freshmen to final years.
It wasn't that easy to give a quick background of human rights and then outline its connection to journalism but in the end it went on okay. My hope is that some students will take up the challenge and go for post-graduate studies in journalism or human rights.
One first year fellow caught my eye with intelligent comments and it would be satisfying if he makes it big along with his seniors gathered in the room in the academic world.
