Navigating the waters, creating Survival Instincts

Have a survival instinct, navigate the waters- Cathy

Her childhood bears alot of commonality with the famous Chimamamanda  Adiche. However, she is not a story teller,she is not a writer,she is not Nigerian but she is an inspiration, she has pursued education, she has kept dreaming and she is a role model to many. Just like Chimamanda, Catherine Mloza Banda, grew up under the roof of an academician, her father was a university lecturer. It is obvious that books were closer to her,but it was not all about books and being a daughter to an academician that mattered to her. There is more to Cathy.Growing up, she had a very happy childhood.

At a young age, Cathy began her primary school at Walani private primary school. Her father was a lecturer at the univeristy of Malawi, Bunda College of Agriculture the now Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). Her mother was a Bunda student before marrying her father, so both her parents had pursued careers in Agriculture.Whilst in primary school, the stable childhood of Cathy got abit shaky faced with divorce of her parents. It resulted in Cathy's transfering from one primary school to another before embarking to Providence Girls' secondary school. Despite everything that came her way, Cathy still managed to be a top student. Even though, she never thought she was as smart as her siblings. If you sit with her and compliment her brains, Cathy will definately tell you differently. "I am not as smart as you think cause my siblings are, but one thing I know am a hardworker." she would say with a smile.

After graduating from Providence- Secondary school in 2004, She held on the belief that

Cathy Mloza Banda-I loved communication

she could do anything. she never wanted to close herself in a box with limitations of what fits her.This led her to the thought of being many things. She admits, it was not easy to make a career choice. 

With her belief of being a hardworker, Cathy Grew up wanting to be many thing, a journalist, and Architect, an engineer , you name it. Well, may be this tells that she was never clear on what she wanted to be. For sure she ain't the only one who sailed in that boat, others still are up to date especially those in secondary and primary schools. After completing her form 4 (O level), her father a profesor at Bunda somehow influenced her to join Bunda and begin a career in Agriculture. She then listed all her university course choices for Bunda. She made it to Bunda under the crop science department. Her first year expereinces were not so easy. She felt being in a wrong place, she thought she would be better as a communication person. It was more of a time she got to get her identity out of the so many things she wanted to become. She thought of giving up her father's influence into the agricultural career path and try to trade into media for development at Chancellor college. This was all just a thought that she could transfer to Chancellor College but it never happened.

Whilst in her second year of college at Bunda, she was till struggling with her career choice and was almost convinced she was in a wrong field.Math was not her thing, and to her science had little creativity as compared to arts. As time past, she learnt to accept what she was in and tried all she could to embrace her creaivity into the crop science she was studying.Time  came when Agriculture extension students were taking their educational tour to the Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Agriculture and Extension Services (DAES). Cathy never heard of DAES before and it sounded interesting to her that she one day asked if she could one day join the tour just to have an experience of what happens there and she was allowed.

Upon visiting DAES, she got motivated with their work and the thought of building a career in communication began to spur into her again.Time came for students to do internships, she was assigned to go intern at Chitedze research station as a crop science major. whilst those majoring in Agriculture extension were to go to DAES. Whilst she was getting set for Chitedze. one of the lecturers at Bunda approached her to go to DAES for her attachment. She was more than happy, it didnt even take her a second to say yes, the next thing she had already reported at DAES and there she was anchoring a radio program on Cotton, her first ever radio encounter. It was not a perfectly presented program but she was proud that she managed it. The following week, she was in working on a magazine program, it was all fun and interesting for Cathy.Internships came to an end and school commenced, she still held her experiences in communication valuable. As years passed by, she became a crop science graduate with interest in communication.

She was now out of university and was job hunting. It was never easy, her wish was to get a job in communication with a Bsc in Crop Science. She later got an offer as a Tobacco holder at Auction Holdings, one of Malawi's leading tobacco company's. She actually thanked God for the offer considering the challenges in securing a job. it was not a communications job but still she was in for it. As she got ready to report to her new work place. she was faced with transport constraints that got her treporting later than the stipulated time.Upon arrival, she found out that things were not as direct as she had thought. The company then asked her to wait for sometime. In her waiting time, she got a call from one of her uncles who asked her to visit him. She made time to see him and that was the begining of her dream. Her uncle told her of an opening at the Farmers union of Malawi (FUM), She applied and became the communication specialist at Farmers union where she focused her work on agriculture knowledge management.

After sometime, Cathy went on to pursue furthur education. She enrolled for a masters in Crop science at Bunda  under a scholarship.  Upon submitting her proposal to the crop science department, it got rejected. It was then refered to the department of agriculture extension as it was more related to extension.It got her worried. She thought she would loose her sponsorship as it was specific for crop science. By the grace of God, this compromised nothing, instead, it just opened up opportunities to her dream.As she got closer to finishing her studies, she got an offer at Farm radio to be a part of them as an agricultural value chain officer. She now works with Farm radio and has been exposed greatly to the media world. She is glad to be applying communication for advancement of agriculture. She smiles everyday living her dream.

Asking Cathy what she has to say to Malawian girls she was quoted saying

 "To girls who feel like the world is full of impossibilities, life has delt me a hand and it is up to you to make a decision either to have your best days behind you or infront of you.Always remember that God has a plan not to harm us but to prosper us. so have survival instincts,.Navigate the waters regardless of what is around you and what life has to offer." 

Reflecting on Cathy's life, there are so many girls out there who might be sharing her experiences, of couse not exactly as Cathy's but somehow you may relate your experiences to hers and may reach a point of wishing you were somebody else, or may be just like that lady next door, but being you is what God can best use to help you define who you are. Challenges in life are inevitable, Cathy was faced with family issues, her parents divorced when she was young, we may all agree that in such circumstances it ain't easy to step out of the shadow but her remarkable value on hard work helped her get to live her dream. 

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). young women achievers are also welcome to share their profiles and achievements: Are you one or do you know a young woman whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

A small package with big contents

The journey was unclear from the start

It is often said that Big things come in small packages. This phrase has been such a confusing one to many.Regardless of the confusion,there is something that the Life of Tendai Katsonga can help us understand the phrase. Tendai Laura Katsonga Munemo  is a vibrant 23 years old  young woman based in Lilongwe. She happens to be the only child of her parents. To those that have met Tendai, she is one fine woman with a golden smile. A smile that will motivate you to get talking to her. Well, there is more to Tendai than just a smile. Tendai is an active and hard working young lady who never knew how much she could be untill she lived it. From a young age, Tendai did primary education in multiple schools. She ended up finishing her secondary ducation at Mary Mount Girls secondary school. A school that is well known to most Malawians.

She never thought of herself as an art student someday. She had alot of dreams for college. Perharps studying science or something more than language. To her surprise, The university of Malawi, Chancellor College enrolled her for a Bachelor of Arts Humanities. There began the unclear journey for Tendai who opted to major in english literature. Pretty sure limiting herself to become a secondary school teacher some day. She just never knew how much one could do with such a major in the Malawian context.

As time passed by, Tendai enjoyed her studies and almost forgot what the future could entell for her. she deeply got emmersed in the literature that she started living literature without knowing it. She began to take up leadership roles in college. She could handle anything from finances to editing through her involvement with Chancellor College Students Organisation (CSO) and Chanco Telescope Magazine  where she served as a treasure and an editor respectively. Later on she stood out as a Secretary for Students in Action (SIA) at the Chancellor College. To all these tasks, Tendai gave it her all. she had applied her literature skills without noticing as her focus was to make a difference and that is what kept her in the realms. Through working with SIA She managed to get 50  school drop out girls of Zomba back in schools.  

She noted a number of things around her that needed to change. She knew she could be the change. "But how can I really be of substance?" she thought on her own untill when she realised that to go a mile, you can always decide to start alone but to go miles, you need more buddies with you and that is when Tendai launched her journey alongside other passionate team members to mentor and groom young writters. It all started as a student group and she was the executive secretary. From there she co-chaired a Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition on Children Rights and that was the begining of her self identity. she got to realise how associated she was with development issues, she figured out how children rights mattered and that she could be more than just a writter, a mentor and a student.

Well, University days were over for Tendai. It was time to go and be in the industry. Still trying to figure out how she could apply her developmental passion, she entered as a Communication For Development Troupe Member for CRECCOM through Radio Acting for Education Development Centre under their Tikwere Program. Later she found an opportunity to serve the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) as Progammes Officer on Internship basis. While working at CCJP she contributed to the reduction of reported cases of Gender Based violence, through frequent and close monitoring of CCJP PEACE (Promotion of Equality and Access to Justice)Project. This internship exposed Tendai to a child abuse case. With her passion and commitment to protecting children's rights, She Successfully intervened in 13 cases of Child Abuse in Dedza District.

Tendai Continued to pursue her passion and she craved to understand the national and public approach on issues of gender and child rights.In her capacity she managed to secure an internship with the ministry of gender where she was involved in their Social Cash transfer programme. This internship led Tendai to her first professional position with Plan Malawi as a Community Development Coordinator responsible for the Child Protection program in the district of Kasungu . After which she was then moved to the position of Youth Led Advocacy Coordinator based in Lilongwe. 

Nothing should limit your passion- Tendai Katsonga

Currently, Tendai is working with Save the Children as a Youth in Action (YIA) Livelihoods Coordinator. Tendai is responsible for providing technical and advisory support to the projects in the Child Poverty thematic sector as well as to Humanitarian projects. Tendai’s immediate focus is the Youth In Action project– specifically the coordination of the implementation of the action phase. Asking her today if she ever thought she would be working on issues she value the most. She definately would say no " You know with my major in english literature, I was so much limiting myself, the sky seemed cloudy at times untill I discovered my passion and began living it even without noticing. Today the sky is clear and I always trust God to make a way to everyone over their passion regardless of their college major." Today there are so many of us young people limiting ourselves in a shell due to some other factors . Tendai sets a very good example that we can live beyond our college major. we can hold on to our passions, we can start the journey without a clear direction, find a sense of identity along the way. Unity is key and pursuits of discoveries is vital. " we are all packages small, but wraping big things!"

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). young women achievers are also welcome to share their profiles and achievements:Are you one or do you know a young woman whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

The power of a shared dream

One of the Network members on the way to the site

It was just an idea; it looked like a picture that was partially painted, the president carried it through. “ May be we are too young to do it? Perhaps we do not have the financial muscle to carry through? Well, these were some of the fears that Chimwemwe Manyozo the World Bank Youth Network Malawi president struggled to fight after being consulted by a few members of the network to take a step into agriculture. The ideas kept growing and ambitions kept rising. It was then shared, every member of the network was down for it. It was a selling idea. More like a hot cake. We admired the energy and vibe in our youthful generation of Malawi and yet pity the unemployment rate amongst them. We then took time to imagine the partial picture being our nation Malawi. A nation that is agro-based yet remains one of the poorest and hungry nations around the globe. Is there a way we can make a difference in Malawi as young people? is there a way we can work on this partial painting?

Well, Malawi is a beautiful country whose beauty is well known through the bountiful fresh waters of Lake Malawi, It is said that 20 % of Malawi is made up of water. All over the world, the admiration of our water bodies bring pride to every Malawian. Much as we find pride in these water bodies, little has been done to make investments out of it. As a nation, Malawi is heavily reliant on agriculture though its production is limited due to so many factors, which include over reliance on rainfall. Most farmers in Malawi are seasonal farmers who are often unable to produce beyond consumption. 

Members of the network  working at the agricultural site

 Following the current trends of floods and dry spells in some parts of Malawi this year, Malawi was declared a state of emergency. It cannot be denied that the experience has inflicted some fears of food insecurity to many families and individuals. It is with no doubt that some are already fighting the bouts of hunger due to this experience.

Realizing the importance of agriculture not only as a foreign currency earner but also as a tool to a food secure nation, a solution to youth unemployment as well as a key to development, World Bank youth Network Malawi decided to create a platform for agricultural growth in an effort to empower young people to take charge of the present and the future they want and envision. 

As a group of young people, the network is really diversified in terms of skills and expertise shared amongst its members. To begin with, the network identified the available resources within and outside its realms and how best it could use the available human resource to build a solid foundation on empowering the youths who make the majority of the population and yet stay idle in their homes due to limited job opportunities.

The network decided to take a step and venture into all-year agriculture. All-year agriculture?? This may be the question lingering in somebody’s mind. Well, the answer is yes, the network is into agriculture that is not seasonal and rain reliant, the network decided to make the 20% water coverage of Malawi count by diversifying the seasonal rain-fed farming to irrigation farming. “we are looking into giving youths employment through agriculture and make their expertise compliment agricultural development,” said Gloria Masula who is one of the members leading the project. To add on, another co-lead member Chikondano said that “we are to make full use of the available resources, talk of land that awaits rain to be cultivated when there is plenty of water to facilitate production all year round. Aint that a reason enough for us to take a step?”

The project is in its initial phase and is more likely to grow multiple crops for income generation. It aims at diversifying the crop portfolio to go beyond maize and consumption.

“There are several factors contributing to agro-production, as the World Bank Youth Network Malawi, we see untapped human resource In our youths and we plan on advancing these skills to build the capacity of other youths from the already existing expertise within the network so that together we can venture into agro-technologies that will change the face of agriculture in Malawi and beyond.” Says  Maggie Phiri another co-lead of the project.

As of 1st August 2015,The network launched the beginning of their initinitiative with land surveying and land clearing with the generous support of the Social Initiative for community Empowerment (CISE).

NB: This is a youth led initiative, it is being co-led by Agricultural experts who are members of the network with support from all network members and other well wishers. It is a shared dream and vision of over 45 members of the network and we believe to attain this dream in the near future, If there is a way you feel you can support this initiative or you would like to learn a few things from us contact World Bank Youth Network Malawi or simply email the blog owner (alibewawo@gail.com) and you will be directed to the right channels

Raised Blue Collar

Ellen Chilemba- My interests keep expanding

It may take forever for others to make a difference for various reasons, while others feel they are too young to get involved, some others feel they are too old to do something. It is all about missing out on an opportunity to impact a life.To most people, taking an entrepreneurship  class or lesson is the last thing they could think of. Most University students and graduates today are on the look out for white collar jobs. Everybody wants to be attached to some tittle and office as an affiliate of some institution.While this is true with many students and graduates today, 20 year old Ellen Chilemba chose to be different. She chose to brand herself in a unique way. She took the path most young people  would admire to venture into only if they have the zeal. At 17, Ellen never felt to be too young to set up a project that changed lives of people who were a number of years older than herself. Today, Ellen is known beyond Malawi because of her "TIWALE" initiative.

It all began when she was 16. Ellen Chilemba was born and raised in Malawi. Like every other Malawian child, Ellen went through the Malawi system of education untill she was 16 when she had to leave Malawi for Johannesburg in South Africa.One may be wondering what took Ellen to South Africa? Well,doors had opened for Ellen to continue her studies at the African Leadership Academy (ALA), an institution that seek to enable lasting peace and prosperity in Africa as it develop and connect the continent's future leaders. Her enrollment at African Leadership Academy was more less a default push for Ellen into a pool of future leaders as she was now at a right place to be molded into the leader she could imagine to be.Whilst at African Leadership Academy, Ellen pursued studies in leadership, entrepreneurship and African Studies.

Soon as Ellen got into this program, her interests expanded. "With every aspect of my studies, it kept fueling my interests in art, entrepreneurship, women and youth Empowernment." she said. Before an academic year past,Ellen already became one of the 60 youths from around the globe to patronise the Global Changemakers global youth Summit where she convened with other young global changemakers exchanging best practices and developing action plans for projects that tackle issues ranging from AIDS & HIV, corruption to education and human rights.

Ellen- Presenting her project

Something extraordianry happened soon as Ellen graduated.She was 17 then.She decided to take a year off. She got back home to Malawi and launched her own project branded "TIWALE" (Let us shine). In an effort to empower youths and women, Ellen made a choice to set Tiwale as a youth-led community based organisation that sought  to empower young Malawian women by providing entrepreneurship opportunities through leadership workshops, microfinance loans, and vocational skills training as well as school grants. 

In recognition of her passion and contribution to development, Ellen was In April 2013, granted the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work. She was also one of We Are Family Foundation’s 2013 Thirty Global Teen Leaders. As Ellen continues with her entrepreneurship, it keeps getting better daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly. The impact is notable and one can never miss a part of Malawi  being shaped by such a young and brave mind. In 2014, Ellen was named Young Entrepreneur of the Week by the International Youth Forum. As of 2015, Ellen is named on Forbes top 30 young entrepreneurs list. The young Malawian is now a rising sophomore at Mount Holyoke College in the United States of America (USA) pursuing a special digital art major in combination with economics besides running Tiwale.

Tiwale is still growing and changing many lives for the better. So far, Tiwale has helped 40 women start small businesses through microloans, it has sponsored secondary school education for two women and taught entrepreneurship skills to 150 participants. Tiwale has also set up a new project that focus on teaching women how to design and dye-print material that is sold to Malawi's fabric-export traders and shipped worldwide.

Fo all the young people out there who feel too young to make a difference and lead greater impacts, Ellen has set a very good ground to let everyone know its possible, to take the challenge and lead an impacting change in our communities.

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). young women achievers are also welcome to share their profiles and achievements:Are you one or do you know a young woman whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

THE MAGIC OF A BLENDED COLOR

Davis on one of his furnitures

It is indeed true that we all get to get lemons in our hands at some point in life. What you make out of them depends on you. To some, lemons may be the best ever fruit they could wish for and it would bring all sorts of happiness knowing it is what they have desired for . While others would just throw the lemons away without knowing what to do with them, Davis Kasenza chose to be different. Despite that lemons werent his favourite. Davis held on to the lemons that ended up on his laps some few years ago and made a very famous and apeasing lemonade out of it. Most of us would wonder what sort of lemonade Davis made and what lemons are we talking about. Well to begin with, The lemons that Davis had is simply the opportunities that each one of us get at a set time and his lemonade falls under the brand of Davina Furniture.

Growing up as a young boy, Davis desired to be an accountant.To him accounting was a family thing and somehow, he felt he could inherit that special accountint gene that ran through in the family.Davis worked hard in school with a dream of being an accountant some day.He spent his secondary years at William Murray still dreaming along the realms of accountancy.Little did he know that 2005 would be a year to sing a different hymn from the usual accounting song. Upon graduating from William Murray, Davis was selected to go to the University of Malawi, the Polytechnique to study Technical education, To him it was like he was granted a bitter fruit, he felt like lemons were thrown on his laps. This program never crossed his mind. Imagining the diversion he had to take from his family influenced childhood dream, one could tell that it was not as easy as it may sound for Davis to accept joining Technical Education and leave his dream career. Regardless of all the options that were available for Davis to still pursue accounting at any of the available private Universities, He decided to challenge himself and venture into a new career that was offered to him.

Davis Kasenza- I blended the color

To some people, technical education was not a career worth spending four years on, simply because the majority of Malawians have related Furniture making to low and average brains who often fail to make it to university.Davis's charisma prooved different as his four years of University paints a different picture of technical education and embraces the begining of entrpreunuship and continous flow of money as well as maximum use of the brain to come up with unique and special designs on different furniture. Graduationg in 2008, Davis began his career as a lecturer at Lilongwe Technical college where he has shaped multitudes of youths in wood and metal works. As he taught  at Lilongwe Technical college, Davis felt like he still held the lemmon that was just cut in half but not squeezed yet to make his lemonade. It was untill 2011 when Davis began squeezing the lemon juice and came up with his best lemonade. He entered into the entreprenueship with the name DAVINA as he set his own furniture bussiness in the premises of Lilongwe.Today, Davis is one of the successful young men in Malawi who has made his home in Lilongwe FALLS Area an office and factory for his beautiful furniture that is shining in many of the homes in Malawi from Nsanje to Chitipa to Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre and you name it.  As of today, Davis has managed to employ more than 2o youths in his bussiness and is still growing.

Now, what is special about Davis that most people can learn from? Well Davis has one answer for that as he says "we all dream, and our dreams are often in colors,sometimes we land to our dreams when the colors aint exactly the same as those we had seen, perharps because we just never knew they exist ,but still its a dream that has come with color and its time to get to know the color and see how it can be blended to shine, what matters is how you choose to handle the color. You can blend it or refuse to have it existing completely. It all depends on you.I brightened my colors as i blended it and here I am today living my dream that keeps growing each day.

Davis and some of his Products

Young people today, we have preferences but sometimes things won't come in our prefered colors. its time to blend in the colors, squeeze the lemon juice and make a lemonade

NB: This profile is shared for motivational purposes, feel free to use it to motivate young women,men, boys 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). Young women achievers are also encouraged and welcome to share their profiles and achievements : Are you one or do you know a young woman /man whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls and boys to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education and youth empowerment

Visit :  www.amaruphotos.com

Do you know one book can make a difference?

One book can make a difference

It is not so common to notice the power of a book simply because many of us assume that Malawian boys and girls have no interest in reading. Much as it may be true to some extent, a single book has the power to transform the life of a school going boy or girl and even those that are not in school. As a member of the world Bank youth Network Malawi, I have been a part of career talks in a number of schools in Malawi.It is inspiring to see how young students in rural areas which are considered less privilleged are so into education.

At every visit, I keep getting amazed to learn more on the dreams most of the rural school girls and boys have shared with me and the team.When these dreams are shared with the society,to some it just seem impossible considering the background of these youngsters while to others , they assume the youngsters are just too ambitious. That aside, in my moment of thought, I tried to figure out what would hinder the achievement of the so called over ambitious dreams in the girls and boys of Malawi.

A book will take them to their dreams

My memory took me back to the days when I was a primary school pupil and back to my secondary school days. I recalled  my primary school teacher reading one book for almost a class of over 20 pupils. I never sensed anything wrong with that, it was just so normal to never hold a book as a pupil in class. If one was to read a passage from the book, it was the teacher handing over the book to the pupil.Time ran so fast, and most of us entered secondary school, we expected change, we expected a different life.Those of us that were fortunate, managed to go to secondary schools that had atleast a number of books that could be circulating from one student to another. Those that weren't as fortunate as we were, continued with one book for the whole class.

Support World Bank Youth Network-Malawi Donate a Book

Years down the lane, The population has risen, classes are packed and the resources  remain the same. Most schools have no books especially those in rural areas that do not even own a library.Well, the thought of all this took me back to focus on  the power of a book. As i thought over it,the name William Kamkwamba popped in and as I went deep into his roots, I noted that he aint any different from any Malawian boy or girl.He is been as ordinary as everybody else, he was once in school before circumstances pulled him out.Impressively,William loved books and he loved reading. He at some point managed to access a book. He went to a school library.The library helped a school drop out come up with an innovation that opened doors he never imagined.The foundation of his innovation rose from a book....Now what would happen if we all unite in making books available and accessible in our community day secondary schools? what if every rural girl and boy has access to a book in school? would we not raise more of the William Kamkwamba's?won't we get more of the innovations?



NB: This article is written to support rural  education in Malawi as well as to support the World Bank Youth Network  Malawi "Donate a book Campaign!"If you are interested in donating a book or supporting rural education in Malawi, do not hesitate to write to the blog owner at "alibewawo@gmail.com" or find and contact  the World Bank Youth Network Malawi facebook page.
If you would love to be featured on this page or know somebody with an inspiring story, please contact the blogger.

Belived in the formula to life

Yvonnie Akonda Sundu- MISA vicechairperson

To most readers of the Malawi Nation newspapers, the name Yvonnie Akonda Sundu is not new.Yvonnie a journalist with Nation Publications Limited is one of the young women active in the promotion of Media in Malawi. Raised as a town girl for the first seven years of her life, Yvonie was as happy as any other kid growing up in town enjoying the privilleges town life offers. The demise of her mother forced little Yvonie to quit town life for a village life. Due to circumstances beyond her control, Yvonnie , as little as she was, became the centre of all household chores in her new home at her village. She had to wake up at dawn to fetch water and make sure there is enough water in the home,sweep their compound and then leave for school. Her morning duties were not enough for the day,getting back from school, she had to clean dishes, go to the maizemeal at times, help with field work and any other duties that would come at her home.

"It was tough, I was young,but with time it became a routine and I became used." said Yvonnie.
As time passed by, An opportunity came for yvonnie to get back to town. It felt like heaven, she imagined being abit free from some chores. Even though this came with some changes in her lifestyle, it was still hard as the family where Yvonnie had to grow up in could not afford everything a girlchild of her age needed for education. With the limited resources, She sat for her primary school leaving exams and made it to Malamulo secondary school. She could spend the whole term on numbered resources, of which many were basic resources like soap and books.Amist all this circumstances, Yvonnie was a workaholic when it came to books, she was the top five of her class. she competed with boys and told herself that no circumstance would take her love for school away.Asking Yvonnie's motivation for school, she openly said her grandmother's dream for her was the secret to her hard working spirit.Her grandmother was the only person supporting her education. she was retired but she promised Yvonnie to fulfil her wish of dying and leaving behind an educated woman in Yvonnie.As years passed by, Anambewe, Yvonnie's grandma past a week after Yvonnie finished her Certificate Examinations at the Malawi Institute of Journalism.It was time for Yvonnie to be strong.she rejoiced knowing that she had gotten something from her grandma that would carry her along the journey of life. She called it the formula to living and thus Education.

After her journalism studies, Yvonnie got her first job with star radio at its inception. she then kept moving from one radio station to another.All the moves were motivated by the monetory offers different stations would give her.She never minded professional growth. Though she rose from being a reporter to a sub editor in the radio station, it was not a big deal for her. One day, Yvonnie made what she calls the biggest gamble of her life,She no longer focusing on money as a motivating factor to work instead, she focused on building professional skills, she quit electronic media in the pursuits of learning something different. She Joined print media under Nation Publications.

In her early years,Yvonnie grew up having no career dream. She became a journalist because of her love for the radio. Today, she is proud to be a journalist. One thing that actually came to her mind upon finishing form four was to join University of Malawi and do journalism,and by this time she was already a grown up who was just fascinated by radio presenters.Missing out on the university of Malawi corridors was never a reason enough for Yvonnie to sit down wallowing, whining and accusing herself for not being like her friends who made it.Instead she built a dream that she owned and lived and that was to be a journalist.

In her life as a journalist, she never stopped pursuing her dreams and ofcourse with her passion that keep growing, she started doing even much better than those she admired in the profession.Later Yvonnie went back to school,and this time was the University of Malawi, The polytechnique where she furthur studied for a diploma in journalism. She look forward to Returning to class for a Bachelors degree in God's time." I still want to pursue education even if  I am 50, I will still pursue education, and to all girls out there, never limit yourselves, move beyond all the circumstances and turn out with a dream you can own and live someday."said Yvonnie.

"Today, my job has made me see places, dine and wine with queens and kings.I owe this to God. If it wasn't for Him and the determination I carried,I would never have had such an opportunity.My hardwork came with special gifts, In December 2014, I was elected as the vice chairperson of MISA Malawi, which is the highest journalists' body in Malawi and I am the second woman heading such a position since the establishment of the body in 1996 . I can see myself being the first chairperson in the next two years." she said while laughing.

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). Young women achievers are also welcome to share their profiles and achievement : Are you one or do you know a young woman whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

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 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

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