Finally On my way to Malawi

Just finished sending all my stuff to Malawi .I will leaving London tomorrow (for Good) .I am looking to be back in Malawi for a longer time (despite all the problems that we hear about Malawi) .The weather in London has not been that bad during this time. I week from now I will be in Blantyre and will probably have forgotten about the stay in London (Hounslow and the Piccadilly line).On Easter I will be going to see my mum in Ezondweni Mtwalo Mzimba .
While in Malawi I will be in Blantyre at Lions Sight First Eye Hospital known as Blantyre Institute for Community Ophthalmology BICO
BICO will continue doing practical research that can guide Policy.
This means I am also changing my email. From now onwards you should Email me!

Happy 4th birthday Tapiwa my Daughter

Tapiwa my daughter is turning 4 on Wednesday 2nd June, and praise the almighty lord for that. Remember her story, born at 7 months premature, weighing like a loaf of bread (<1 Kg) and in intensive care (neonatal ) unit for 3 months Tapiwa at Birth
Well see where she is today!!!!.Who said miracles don’t happen? And see her ; no wonder mum (middle in a hut) can afford to smile ! Does Tapiwa look like she is from Ezondweni,Mtwalo, Mzimba,Malawi?

Unfortunately I cannot be with her on that day; because I am on my way from London to Berlin, Germany to attend World Opthalmological congress Berlin World Congress of ophthalmology from 2nd -9th June. While there I intend to visit an old friend and classmate Martin Mkandawire, a resident of Dresden for many years and also catch up with Chihana , who is at the Malawi embassy in Berlin. Here in London everyone is asking me about the sentencing of the Malawian gay lovers to 14 years improvement with hard labour BBC news Malawian gays and I do not know what to say : expect that I am not gay.
Back to her birthday, obviously my daughter is upset that dad cannot be there on her special day which only happens once a year; and she has requested that her birthday party should therefore happen at the school with her friends. So imagine both mum and me will not be celebrating with her , a sign of growing up and being independent.
The problem with me is that it’s always work with blind persons, work and work; and always on the road. I will be giving two lecturers about blindness in Malawi; and the human resource crisis that we have at present. That is what being an eye doctor and researcher is all about.

Happy Birthday Tapiwa.

Would I have cancelled this trip for my daughter? Or done something different
What do you say?

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Thank you for your nomination about the blog

A recent opinion poll has ranked my blog as one of the top 100 interesting blogs from Malawi.
The internet research was conducted by an old classmate and friend of mine who is based in Virginia, USA and whom I haven’t seen for 21 years.
He has acknowledged that in 1982 when we used to swim together in the mad running water of Jubile river in Ezondweni , Mtwalo ,Mzimba while our cows went around eating others peoples maize stalks ; he did not know that those experiences would be shared through internet many many years later . He also acknowledges the fact that for boys who used to sit on the mad floor and lose writing pencils everyday at Ezondweni Model school,and constntly wishing if we were born in another country and blaming God for our problems ; it a blessing that I can have a blog with less blasphemy.
He goes on to say that at that time we had no reasons to thank God for, but now we have many.
His views are shared by many other respected Malawian bloggers; who suggest that if I only seriously took some blogging lessons ( for a few dollars) I could probably produce some blogs that are more palatable and more beneficial to the nation of Malawi .One blog in particular , quoted that “for a man who can manage to see the following places in Malawi within a week: Chididi in Nsanje , East bank in Chikwawa , Kunenekude in Mwanza , Namitambo in Chirazulu and Mulibwanji in Mangochi , all of them extremely boring – and still blog about them !!! deserves some special award “. I am glad that people have realized that the work I do and the places I visit are not all fun, but somebody has to do the job, unfortunately for this time its me. No matter how boring the areas I visit are –some Malawians come from there and they need a visit.
Some bloggers have rated the blog as one o the worst 100 and least likely to be educative .That is what opinion polls are about.
I dedicate this blog to the volunteers of Nancholi Health centre in Mangochi Distrct that appear in the picture "with me included" .They recently did a good job in identfifying a lot of blind children .
What’s the prize and suggestions for the future?
Most readers suggest that if I stop blogging about the past and boring communities that I visit and concentrate on the good life that there is in Malawi (Lilongwe, Blantyre) and how I am part of that, one day I may be nominated by the majority of bloggers in Malawi and appear at the annual Entertainers awards that takes place yearly at end of December, Mount Soche Blantyre. Moreover they advise that unless I change my writing styles I may never move from rural “Kwabaluti” in Blantyre where I currently stay ( I am sure you haven’t heard of where it is) to more important places like Namiwawa, Sunnyside and Nyambadwe where the rich and famous live .
I am still young in the blogging sector; and I like writing about blind people and the poor communities they live in; hence I prefer to live in similar communities.
Hence I refuse their award that is based on bribery about my writing skills.
However my colleague from Virginia thinks that if he ever gets back to Malawi, we should go back to Ezondweni Village Mtwalo together and have a good laugh of what lives we used to have .I personally do not think he will ever get back to Malawi.
You can also rank my blog. Do you think its one of the worst 100 from Malawi?
What do you say?
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Forgive but not forget the old bad times

While at the airport (I am still in transit) I have come cross some of my earlier home photos in my laptop dating as back as the 80s and 90s and they really depress me.In those days there were no phones ,computers,TVs et.c or did i not just know that they were there?
I do not want to accept that I was once mainly a goat herder, because my father had 4 cows and 10 goats that he inherited from my grandfather When I was in grade 5 (I was 10 years old then) my father gave me the responsibility to take care of the 4 cows and goats ;and I didn’t like this job. The animals were taken care by my father in the morning and as soon as I got back from school at lunch time I had to take over from him.I knew I didn’t want to live this life for good and I had to get out of the circle and out of that Ezondweni village, in Mtwalo, Mzimba.I loved school and in my small glas thatched house I had this hand written A4 paper (poster) which said “education is the way to the future” and I believed it .thank god I believed it .at that time I used to walk bear footed ,and new a lot of wild fruit in the bush which we were eating as we were helding the bush.I kept on playing to God –please give me the wisdom to become a primary school teacher –I used to love our teacher and he also fond of me as I was good at arithmetic and history.
Look at the picture of me standing while my brother is sitting, this one is from 1983.look at my grandfather and his ground children-we still have the same house. Look at my mum and dad holding my older sister who is now married. I remember my father had to sell one cow at a time for the family to get school fees and by the time I finished secondary school fees all the cows were gone and it was then that I started helping in taking care of the family
There were many other people who were in the same situation but did no get away from that village like me .
Was it because of my own effort that I am where I am today or was it because of the hand of god?.
I do not want to take the credit because I know God knew my destiny and gave me the wisdom to be where I am.
I wish I would pretend I did not go through that life and forget about it, but I can’t.
That is why I believe in those poor blind children I see in Zomba, and other communities, there is a potential that some of them may get out of poverty and be somewhere in future. Maybe an eye surgeon like myself or laywer or enginner .But they had to be inspired to work extremely hard.
We used to drink fresh cows milk straight from the cows tits (breasts) because we believed it had strong cream to make us fat and healthy
And here I am today only drinking low fat milk shake because I am scared of being fat
Are you inspired with my life? Or surprised that I went through that ?.

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Blogging lessons for Malawians

Blogging lessons for Malawians

So how does one start to blog ? Coz they aren’t many Malawians in this field ; because they do not know to start.
Well I never went through a formal training so I can t have the answers .All I can say is that I taught myself the hard way on the internet ; and I am sure other people can teach it easier to many Malawians .How did it start for me ? I was inpired by a Malawian journalist “Victor Kaonga” who was studying masters in Sweden in 2006 and was writing a lot about Christianity and journalism in Malawi ,and I noted that there were very few blogging articles about health in Malawi .I told myself that since I was a highly qualified person in the field of eye health in Malawi ,I would start by highlighting issues affecting my department in Malawi .And of-course my background and how I used to live that miserable life at Ezondweni , Mtwalo, Mzimba Malawi where my parents are still staying .I goggled on the internet about how to blog and came up with the list of blogging symbols .So then I started and look at where I am three years later .
But many Malawians leaving outside Malawi and within Malawi want to start Blogging but they don’t know how to do it .Is there a simpler way?
In my next blog , I will be highlighting the benefits blogging and I am convinced Malawians are loosing on this one .
If Khumbo Kalua , who came from the remotest of the remote villages in Mzimba , Malawi and had never seen a computer until a few years ago can now freely blog , then yes you can do much better. Ask me I have been there .
And talking about being busy ,my job is really involving –but I still have time to blog –so no excuse .

Are you in IT? Can you help many Malawians start blogging?

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Participatory Rural appraisal (PRA)

When I attended a full day workshop on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) two years ago at the Senate Lecture theatre, University of London; little did I know that the facilitator himself Robert Chambers is the most distinguished figure that has published extensively on this topic and is referred to as the guru of “PRA”. Had I known, I would have paid more attention to his teachings and this would have made my life easier today. I am struggling to read about this PRA now and had to attend other workshop to increase my skills on PRA. Well, what is this PRA? Unless you are someone who is interested in the community and research, this word is probably of no meaning to you and will not affect your life anyway. But for me, unfortunately this is what I have to deal with every day that I will spend in the community; fortunately Prof Chambers has provided guidelines on what is all about and how to conduct PRA. Robert Chambers describes PRA as "a family of approaches, behaviours and methods for enabling people to do their own appraisal, analysis and planning, take their own action and do their own monitoring and evaluation." (Chambers, Participatory Workshops, 2002) The methods are open ended, participatory, and often visual as well as verbal. PRA processes have facilitated the process of development in many contexts, rural as well as urban. According to my reseach project (finding blind children in rural Malawi )and possibly helping them; PRA offers a method of engaging the community to identify where those children are; shed more understanding as to why the don’t come and finally for the community themselves to find ways of identifying (finding) the blind children and making them come to me so that I offer eye services. It seems Robert chambers has given solutions on what I need to do next in Malawi; and fore sure I am about to embark on PRA methods to find blind children in the Southern Part of Malawi. Are you surprised? Well Robert chambers is one of the most quoted authors that you will find on the internet .And if you dont hear his name when you read any paper on PRA methods,I can bet a few dollars with you .If you find a scientific paper on PRA that has not mentioned Chambers or referred to his work in the literature , I promise to bring to your attention at least 300 articles that have referred to him. And I will be writing more and more about PRA methods and blind children; as that is my next area of research. Write now I am looking for someone with PRA expertise who can help with conducting a PRA workshop with my staff in Malawi .But one day you will hear that Dr Khumbo Kalua, the local doc from Ezondweni, Mtwalo, Mzimba,Mzuzu, Nothern Malawi is one of the few medical doctors with expertise in PRA. . As for now are you available to help , or do you want to comment? Email me!

Malawians in London: I got You .Lucius Banda playing at Islington Acameny in North London on Sunday 9th November:

Finally I have found means of tracking where the Malawians hang in London and I will try to find them .My purpose is to associate with them and see what they are up to and maybe engage some of them to fund for the community work I am doing in Malawi or ask them to do the same.
You remember, for the last 3 years that I have been moving up between London and Malawi (after I left Manchester in early 2006),I have been asking where are all these Malawians who are supposed to be in London ? While on the tube (train) or buses if you look front or backwards, left or right all you see are the Nigerians and proudly enough our African counterparts have the courage to speak loud in their language ,so you can not mistake them for Malawians .But I have not heard Malawians speaking Chichewa on buses. I was once told there were many Malawians in East of London (Stratford ,Leyton and Hackney );I stayed there for 6 months and I didn’t see any. Now I am in North London (Seven sisters ,Finsbury park) and I have held this is where the home of a famous and rich Malawian called Mr Chair is ;but I haven’t met any of his family or bodyguards. And if you do see a face that looks like a Malawian and you try to talk to them; they tell you sorry, I am from Zimbabwe and we are neighbours. I miss the early 90’s when I was in the earlier part of my studentship in Adelaide South Australia as we used to know everyone from Malawi and visit each other and gossip about the then life president Dr Kamuzu Banda (we couldn’t speak loud because we had spy’s amongst us and if reported one could be deported back home, in Ezondweni, Mtwalo, Malawi) ;those were the good days !!! I also remember the late 90’s where I was in Nairobi, Kenya as a mature postgraduate student (now I have over matured) and when I was the vibrant treasurer of AMAKE(associations of Malawians living in Kenya)and we could organise parties and raise funds for Malawi whenever there were floods in lower Shire .Having come to the UK (on an over matured student VISA) and having heard that there were many students, nurses, Drs ,watchmen, carer takers and cleaners ,I expected to find a strong vibrant Malawian community but I was wrong.
After many unsuccessfull attempts I decided to goggle search on some common Malawian names like David Banda, Mkandawire and Phiri in london ;and guess what I found ; that the famous Malawian musician and honourable Lucius Banda with his Zembani Band is playing tonight in Nottingham the 8th of November and on Sunday the 9 in North London at Islington Academy ( a few miles from where I stay).Alas, atleast I know where you Malawians hide and I am going to check on you tomorrow ;I am not going to miss this show ;even though its costing £30 per head ( that’s my monthly budget for food in Malawi).But if you thought that by raising the prize you would put me off you are wrong; I will be there .

And I am going to report about that stuff you didn’t want people in Malawi to know about ;and I am going to dance too .

Are you disappointed ? Surprised ?

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How was your Easter?

As for me I couldn’t have asked more than what I got for this Easter. For once I had a break from the busy work schedule in town. For 4 days I forgot as I was an eye doctor and a researcher.We went out to the North of Malawi with my family to visit other family members at home. We left Blantyre at 6.00am on good Friday ; had a stop at Jenda police road block in the afternoon, and bought some potatoes, onions and tomatoes to take home, proceeded to Chikangawa forest and had a short break for a drink and arrived in Mzuzu around 4.00pm . Yes a very long distance to cover (about 700km). In Mzuzu we did some more shopping; getting meat , fish and bread only left Mzuzu around 6pm for Ezondweni, Mtwalo. Upon seeing our vehicle the whole village warmly welcomed us; slaughtering local chicken for us to eat. With only candles used for lightening (no elcetrcity) and no TV to watch,
We spent most of the evening charting with old friends; some of them currently having 3 wives. In the morning I went to see Chief Mtwalo to pay him respect and for him to update me about the developments taking place in the village.I noted that his house now has electricity; thanks to the rural electrification project .
I then drove to Phwezi Boys secondary school in Rumphi Distrct to see my brother who is still in high school there;and on my way I stopped at Enukweni to see an old friend and primary school classmate who works as a medical assistant at Enukweni Health centre (he is nicknamed the Doctor).
In the afternoon we proceeded to Mpherembe through Sokopo but stopping at Luvwere to see my aunt who is married there.
At Mpherembe we went to Malidade at Chipwafu estate, where my mother inlaw stays.Our visit was followed by more partying and eating fresh corn. I visited the farm; with a lot of good tobacco , groundnuts and maize.
Having spent a night there we went back to Ezondenin to bid farewll to my mum; spent one more night there and on easter Monday we left at 6.00 am back to Blantyre and arrived in Blantyre at 5pm.
It was a good week for me and my family.

What did you do ?

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