My Nest

Last week, social media and traditional media were abuzz over Flames player Dalitso Sailesi’s post-match interview. The majority of those who took to social media ridiculed the football star for responding to a question in the vernacular—Chichewa to be specific. Daliso Sailesi (Right) in action during the Cosafa Tournament  A lot has been said about the whole scenario, but what caught my attention was how many Malawians felt “embarrassed” by Sailesi’s decision to speak Chichewa at an international stage. Sailesi should have never ever spoken Chichewa because that is very “embarrassing” and somewhat “primitive” and showed how intellectually-challenged the player is, so they say.  This scenario made me realise that we still have many Malawians who are yet to embrace the cultural and linguistic diversity that exists in our country.  Many Malawians do not realise that people have a right to express themselves freely in any language. If one thinks they can...

Last week as I was coming from   a friend’s wedding at Comesa Hall at Trade Fair in Blantyre, I was booed, threatened and called all sorts of nasty names by a group of men. They shouted and uttered almost every unprintable word they could. I was called hule, mfiti, chitsiru, wakuba (whore, witch, fool and thief) but that’s just the few words I can write, the rest were obscene utterances. One of the men blatantly told me that if he had a gun with him, he would have just shot me dead. Mtundu uwu ndiofunika kungowupha (this tribe should be killed). He continued: Ine kungokhala president ndikhoza kungowathamangitsa anthu amenewa. Amabowa (If I were president of this country, I would chase this tribe out of Malawi). The only crime I committed was to speak Chitumbuka which according to these men, disgusts them. I was told when in Malawi I should be speaking Chichewa which according to them is the only true local language. I was  told that Tumbukas are foreigners in Blan...