Its more than court rooms...



Stella Mapemba(Lawyer)- Lived her dream

Their tune may be different but they sing one common song, "being lawyers" that's Stella Mapemba and Uchizi Chinula's shared commonality. Like many other girls in Malawi, Stella underwent the Malawi Government school system. From Dzenza Primary School to Lilongwe girls' Secondary School, through hard work, Stella kept pursuing her dreams of being the lawyer she imagined to be. Both Uchizi and Stella believed in education as a privilege to shape their future self. While Uchizi went straight into studying a Bachelor of law degree at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, it was not the same with Stella who began her law career as a Bachelor of journalism student at the Polytechnique a constituent college of the University of Malawi. She studied for a year before being enrolled to study Bachelor of law at Chancellor College, another constituent college of the University of Malawi. She later pursued her Master of law at the University of Warwick in the UK.



Uchizi Chinula (Lawyer)-Believed in the power of Education

While being a lawyer is one of the most claimed and admired dream profession for most girls in Malawian primary and Secondary schools, not many girls believe they have what it takes to be one. To some, law is all about being in court and they limit themselves of not being good enough and under-possessing qualities that can enable them to argue a court case on behalf of a client hence they give up on their dreams. Stella and Uchizi serve as exemplary insights that lawyers do not spend all their time in court and that indeed, some do not even see the inside of one in their professional lives and lawyers are not only called in when things go wrong. Shedding more light that legal advice is needed, for almost everything a human being is entitled to do, from signing forms which include consent forms at hospitals, to property buying and many other transactions. As lawyers, Stella and Uchizi also recognise the challenge lawyers  value in defending the innocent and helping the most disadvantaged in society. For every Girl who wants to take pride in being a part of this amazing and life changing profession, education is the only way forward they hint.

Pursuing dreams has never been easy for both Stella and Uchizi, but one thing that they both held at the back of their mind is the realization that to become someone in life, you have to be educated. For Stella it all centres on imagination "I believe that imagination is the greatest gift God gave us, if we can imagine it, we can bring it into being. We need to imagine and dream BIG, We can’t afford to settle for small dreams when we have the potential to achieve bigger things." She urge Malawian young girls in primary and secondary school to start imaging of what they want to become as they pursue education for their dream fulfilment. Whilst Uchizi who wants  success for every Malawian girl child encourage girls to work hard in school. she says, " education is key to a bright future, no matter where you start from its a journey that requires hard work and it pays off."

Having worked as a lecturer at the Catholic University in Malawi, Uchizi Chinula is now working as a compliance and prevention officer at the Financial Intelligence Unit in Malawi whereas for Stella, she lived her dream of working with the Government under the Ministry of Justice for four years contributing in making justice accessible for all (The old, poor, women, men, children)before joining Malawi Leaf Company Limited, a subsidiary company of Auction Holdings Limited as a Legal Services and compliance Manager. keeping a good attitude while working hard on her dreams, Stella is passionate about service and impacting lives especially those that are less privileged and counted, those that the only crime they ever committed is being poor.
Besides her office work, Stella also finds a great deal of satisfaction through her pro bono (Volunteer) work with Centre for victimized Women and Children (CAVWOC). Where through this NGO, She has been able to represent women and children in various court cases and provided them with the much needed legal advice and representation which most of them could otherwise not have afforded on their own. She does sensitize women and children about their legal rights and is forever grateful to God for getting her to a position of service to others towards access to justice. She still believe in Education and that her academic career tree has not stopped growing, so is every girl's academic tree : "to those of you in secondary or primary school, nurture your academic goals and believe in a strong sprouting tree in whatever career you will opt for" she advised.

NB : This profile is shared for motivational purposes, feel free to use it to motivate young women and girls who you know are still not aware of their potential. If you are looking for mentorship or need more details please contact the blog owner (alibewawo@gmail.com)

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Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

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