Shadreck Chikoti
What if we loved our country with the same fierce passion we pour into our tribes? If we did, we would never tolerate careless insults about it, nor would we be the ones speaking them. Everyone would be proud to say, “I am Malawian.” Zopusa sibwezi tikuchita nawo.
Think of how angry we become the moment someone insults our tribe. If they say the Yaos are rude, the Lhomwes are crooks, the Tumbukas only favour each other, the Tonga behave as if they are the cleanest people on earth, or that the Chewa only think about nyau, how do we react? Our tempers rise. We are ready to fight. We come close to throwing insults and crossing lines we should never cross.
Yet, when someone says Malawi is a country of foolish people, slow and indecisive like a chameleon, our reaction is nowhere near the rage we express when our tribe is insulted.
We should take pride in Malawi the same way we take pride in our tribal identity. The same passion with which a Yao proudly celebrates Chiwanja, a Lhomwe celebrates Mhlakho wa Alhomwe, a Chewa honours Kulamba, a Tumbuka uplifts Gonapamuhanya, and every tribe exalts its own cultural festival, that energy should also cover Malawi itself. If we invested even half that passion into loving this nation, we would be far ahead. Our vision would be clearer. Our destiny would be brighter.
But today, many of us prefer the labels Mtonga, Mtumbuka, MuYao, Mchewa, mNgoni, M’sena, and others over the powerful identity of being a Malawian. We even use expressions that slowly erode our national pride: “Inu zitayeni, ndiye Mmalawiyo ameneyo.” “Ase, M’Malawi umamudziwa koma.” “Musaname, Malawi wafikapo.”
What if we removed “Malawi” from those negative sentences and replaced it with our own tribe? What if every time we spoke badly about Malawi, we swapped the word “Malawi” with Mchewa, Mtumbuka, Mhlomwe, or Ngoni, how deep would that sting?
The disrespect we show towards our country begins in the mind. It begins with us, the citizens. If Malawi is to rise, we must first rise in how we think and speak about it.
My grandmother, my father’s mother, was a Senga from around Katete in Zambia. She fled to Malawi when she was about to be sold into chinamwali, as a ransom for her elder sister who had been forced into initiation without payment.
She ran to Malawi where she stayed with another of her sisters in Mchinji who had been married into the Mavwere family. From there comes my connection to the Mavwere family.
My grandmother eventually married a Kumbuyo from Katonda, who carried Chewa blood and ancestral traces reaching all the way to Likoma where the name Chikoti comes from, (the roots are from Zaire). My wife Yamikani’s father, (my father-in-law) was Yao. His mother though, (my apongozi’s mother) had Portuguese-Mozambican roots. My wife’s mother is pure Sena. My own mother came from Thyolo, a Mang’anja by tribe, with strong Lhomwe blood as well.
These are the facts.
So what tribe are my children?
My children are Malawian. They come from Mhlakho wa a Malawi, from Chiwanja cha a Malawi, from Kulamba wa a Malawi, from Nthetho wa a Malawi. They are Malawian first because they carry everyone and come from everywhere. These are the facts.
If we loved our country more than we do now, most of this foolishness simply wouldn’t exist.
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