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.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

Visit :  www.amaruphotos.com

Trusting your instincts...

Am living my dream of being a geologist
- Tamara Faith Kamanga

Fascinated by her secondary school Geography teacher's explanation of an obsidian rock  to be a volcanic glass. Tamara Faith Kamanga was keen to understand the formation and mineral composition of this rock. Knowing the secret of knowledge can be sealed in books, Tamara started familiarizing herself with a number of geology literature. From Mary mount secondary school Tamara went through Mzuzu University as a Bachelor of education student before withdrawing for her dream career to the University of Malawi, Chancellor College where she was enrolled for a Bachelors degree in Geology with a double major in demography.

Geology was not so popular then as it may be today, and there was little that Tamara knew about Geology.She only related it to minerals and rocks.As she kept on with her studies, she discovered that there is more to geology than just studying rocks or minerals. She came to realize that she could map geology to policies.Soon after graduating in 2012, Tamara found herself at Malawi's ministry of Natural Resources,energy and mining working under the geology survey department as a geologist.

Despite being employed at the Geology survey department, her decision to work with the ministry was not supported by many. Everybody thought Tamara would do better as a demographer somewhere or perhaps as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with some NGO. It just never sounded so feminine for her to work in such a department, argued those advising her.

"Being an M & E officer is not all I wanted and It took faith and prayer, sticking  to my instincts and following my dream of becoming a geologist and defiling all odds."

Many are the times, we tell our girls in Malawi that choosing a career goes with one's gender position,and most of the secondary school girls might be dropping their dreams as they do not see their dream careers fitting their gender position and often get less support in terms of encouragement.  Tamara was one of those girls discouraged of her dream career, but she stuck to her interest , worked on it and got it. Every in secondary school have dreams and indeed some of their dreams are at the peak of fading with many voices discouraging and blinding the visionary girls. No matter what voices may be there to fade these dreams,it is necessary for girls in secondary and primary schools to stick to their dreams, work towards it and live it just as Tamara did.

In Malawi, mining was set out as one of the priorities in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS 2011- 2016) signifying the role the sector has and plays in the sustainable development of the country. Currently, Malawi government is undertaking a countrywide airborne geophysical survey under the Mining Governance Growth and Support Project, which upon completion will reveal the true potential of minerals in Malawi. Today Tamara is a proud part of this project as a geologist that has exposed her to many opportunities including earning trust to represent Malawi at different fora in Africa, Asia and beyond on issues relating to mining.

"Yes  as girls we have been told to dream and dream big , but Its vital to make your dream a reality .and it takes courage!" say Tamara who adds on to say " Courage is the vehicle taking you to your dream and faith in God is the fuel.  If you don’t have courage, you will never want it bad enough to plan. If you don’t have courage, you will never plan it well enough to do it, if you don’t have courage you will never fulfill your dreams. If you don’t fulfill your dreams, you may not have the courage to dream again.  And most importantly, if you don’t have faith, you will not dream or go anywhere.  I dreamt, I planned and I have the courage to move ahead. " Who is still dreaming again and again as she keep aiming higher and higher.

Tamara who is intrinsically interested and committed to promoting girls into geology as a career as well as other challenging careers as perceived by society. She grew up seeing family members playing the role model role to her but she does realize that not so many young girls are privileged like herself to have so many role models in their homes or communities and she decided to be one. She therefore started visiting secondary schools across Malawi, with other like minded young Malawian men and women over career talks. her message to the youth and society at large is that quality education requires a multifaceted and multi layered approach at family, community and national levels and that everyone has a part to play believing in the power of unity Tamara says "Together we can, and it begins with you and me."

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.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

Visit :  www.amaruphotos.com

A blossomed seed of hope...

I never doubted I would do well...
Estiner Walusungu Katengeza

She might be known as the “zilibwino fame” (It is perfect) or perharps you know her as the “Sindikusiyani icon” ( I will not leave you). Much as all this is true of Estiner Walusungu Katengeza, there is more to her than just the angelic voice we hear and the irresistible music we fall in love with. Estiner is known not just as a musician but also a medical physicist and environmentalist and to some she is known simply as a lecturer.

Estiner is one of the young women in Malawi who is well known to many gospel music lovers. She has embraced her talent and has impacted many lives. For Estiner, talent was not enough to dwell on. She raced on combining education and talent in order to amount to something. The journey to her fame and accomplishments was never smooth as she had to climb some hills and cross some valleys before she could land on the plains and sow high. She grew up with her mother and father apart. As a child of school age, she was enrolled in primary school. By then she was living with her mother in the Northen region and kept rotating from one school to another of which Mzuzu demonstration and Mkombezi primary school in Rumphi are amongst them. In the late years of her primary education she had to move to Blantyre with her mother and she ended up being at Chilomoni Primary school where she sat for her national primary school exam as an external candidate. Even though this was challenging, Estiner made it to Zingwangwa secondary school in 2000.

She continued to live with her mother as a secondary school student until two years later when her mother’s financial challenges paved way for Estiner to join her father. Even though this presented a stable financial support for Estiner, it was of personal discomfort as her thoughts were on her mother’s well-being considering the struggles she was facing and life was just not the same basing on the fact that she was used and loved to live with her mother. However, she found comfort and relief in the letters her mother could send to her. They were letters of hope. “ No matter how bad things could be, mama always made it look okay and she made the future look so bright,” says Estiner as she look back to the seed of hope that has blossomed today. There were times Estiner struggled in school, as well as at her new home but one thing she believed in were the messages in her mother’s letters that pointed to the light towards the end of the tunnel.

“I knew that my future would be bright just because mama told me so, I never doubted a second that I would do well and i kept working hard…” emphasized Estiner.

With such a drive, at the end of four years of secondary school, Estiner made it to University of Malawi the Polytechnic to study Environmental Science and Technology where she opted to major in Physics despite people’s objections, referring it as the hardest subject. Amazingly the zilibwino fame graduated with a credit despite all odds.

Recalling her childhood dream, being a medical doctor is something she could talk about even though she had no idea of what that meant. This may be common with many of the girls in secondary schools today. You may not necessarily want to be a doctor but probably are dreaming of careers that you have no idea what it means simply because everybody is talking about it. Do not worry about it, just keep working hard at the stage you are.  Little Estiner was a champion in sciences,worked hard at every stage and as she grew to be a third year Poly Student, she got convinced science is a part of her and teaching Physics at a university would make her happy. She then worked hard to be a physics lecturer. She ended up being a part time lecturer at the Polytechnic after her graduation and later joined College of medicine as a lecturer as well before getting back to the Polytechnic as a full time lecturer.

Estiner holds a master of science in Medical Physics, A field quiet new and unpopular in Malawi. Looking at her career prospects, one would think Estiner is a risk taker to be bold enough pursuing a career that has no known employment prospects clear at home. To Estiner, the challenge she took on her career choice means a lot and she can foresee professional growth opportunities. She believes this is the risks and choices our secondary school girls need to follow suit. They should view their career choices like a market. Whereby when considering market, rare and exceptional products are always battled for and girls in secondary schools need to be so good and skilled in preparation for careers of their choice. Never allowing other voices telling them the career path they are choosing is not marketable and girlish or difficult. There is neither marketable nor girlish careers and no career is difficult if you have your heart on it. "Markets will always be there and with a perfect skill, buyers will battle to have you in your rare and scarce career." added Estiner.

Estiner do shine today in her career and talent through the music industry owing it all to God and her mother who instilled confidence in her steps up. She therefore encourages parents to give beyond financial resource support to their children’s education. Emphasizing that children need mental, spiritual and guidance to amount to something and they need to be told the future is bright in a way that they will see it.

“My mother planted a seed of hope in me making me believe I CAN! every parent can do the same and every child CAN!.” Says Estiner as she reflects and quotes Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:10

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." I am what I am by the grace of God and yet I will not just leave it all to grace but I work and will continue to work hard through that very same grace and I pray all of HIS people will do the same.”

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.

#Girlsmustayinschoolsupporttheireducation#

 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

Visit :  www.amaruphotos.com

A road through the "Odd one out syndrome..."

  

I worked Extra hard to make something
of myself- Wezi Thandiwe Sataya

We all have dreams and wishes that we long to fulfil someday. Some wish they would get a name through impact, some desire to just be like any other dreamer, silent yet impacting in their deeds. While not all of us get the platform to be what we wish for, we at least, all have what it takes to make a difference in one way or the other. Born last in a family of three is 26 year old Wezi Thandiwe Sataya who grew up to be different from her siblings in many ways. Wezi happened to be born last in a family of three, one boy and two girls and she was focused from birth.

Born to parents who knew very well the value of education was the greatest gifts to have ever happened to Wezi. She had all the chances to earn education not only because it is a right but because her parents attached meaning to it. At a tender age, she was introduced to primary education at Southend Primary School in Blantyre. She was just a young primary pupil who never noticed nor took much interest to notice anything within her, a thing that is common in almost every primary school pupil in Malawi. From Southend Primary school, Wezi went to continue her studies at Kamuzu Academy Secondary school where all her elder siblings attended their secondary education as well. It was not that easy for Wezi knowing quiet well how clever her siblings were and at the same time getting to discover of some things she never noted about self in primary school and throughout her childhood. It was up until this time that she started understanding herself. She started noticing things within herself that were different from her elder siblings. She got to notice that she was not as sharp and clever as her siblings were and this bothered her to some extent. She convinced herself to be the odd one out of the three. This conviction challenged her, it got embedded to her heart, she wanted to beat “being the odd one” syndrome. She wanted to be as good as her siblings and there was no any other best way to do it except to work extra hard. The going got tough and she decided to get tougher. Like Wezi some students in various primary and secondary schools in Malawi are also at a stake of self-discovery. Some are convinced to be as smart and sharp as the two elder siblings of Wezi but there are some who are convinced to be as Wezi herself. “I am not as good as my classmates, my sisters, brothers or my best friend.” They ruminate.  Whatever it is that makes you to categorise yourself as the odd one out, does it give you a reason enough to challenge yourself? Does it motivate you to get tough with the going?

Well, as for Wezi she faced the challenge, kept working extra hard and made it for tertiary education. From Kamuzu Academy she joined Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa for a bachelor of Law program. Throughout her tertiary education, she never really knew what she exactly wanted after her studies but one thing she was positive about was not to go into practice. Wanting to make something of herself, she worked extra harder and graduated a cum laude as well as the best international student of the year. Remember this was the girl who felt to be not as good as her siblings or perhaps everybody else and it took just an extra hard work to turn the odd one out into the best international student of the year for Nelson Mandera Metropolitan University who later joined the University as a student assistant, helping in marking and tutoring.

In 2011, Wezi joined The Malawi Catholic University as a lecturer in law. She contributed in the faculty set up and is currently serving as the Acting Dean of the Faculty. In 2012, she sat for the BAR examinations and got admitted to the BAR in February 2014.giving her option to practice law. This did not just advance her career but also expanded her job horizon. It gave her the opportunity to work on a part time basis at Knight and Knight Law firm.

 To all girls in secondary and primary schools, “You can be the odd one out and turn your not good enough outlook to the best there can be with just one thing and that’s an extra hard work to your studies,” says the young Wezi who is not only serving in her profession but also her passion for music, under the Music Ministry of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement of Blantyre Archdiocese where she serve as the secretary.

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#

 Photo Credit : AMARU Photography in support of girls education

Visit :  www.amaruphotos.com