We are a happy people!!

Fishing on Lake Malawi, Photo by Clement Shema

So many things happened last week, so many stories came up, confusing, frustrating, surprising, entertaining and funny.

I have two to share, one is frustrating the other is interesting

The World Bank report about Malawi being the poorest country in the world is disappointing but true. It is painful to be told you are poor or you are from a poor family. Every time I hear about poor country poor people poor this, I get annoyed. Poverty is not an enterprise and there is no industry that manages it. Not long ago Malawi was the fastest growing economy after Qatar, how things have turned against us I don't understand. I don't want to talk about politics and leadership am interested in Malawi for Malawians. What a beautiful country we are, with all good, peaceful, friendly and hard working people. We are a people that knows how to work to impress and achieve. We have natural resources one day things will be sweeter than ever.

We are a happy people, happy poor people though not happy to be poor. We have peace in our land, we are not intimidated. We are the Warm Heart of Africa indeed.

So what defines our poverty then? So many things.

Making a phone call to the radio station during and taking note

Then came another story from the BBC Africa, Malawi Expensive phone habits, I can't agree much but it is worrisome. Call charges are indeed exorbitant. In this digital age communication is vital and we need to enjoy when communicating. Having a mobile phone, be it in town or village is a necessity. A mobile phone is a piece of technology every household need to have.

I have met happy phone users in the rural. I have received important calls from rural people that we work with. They are happy communicating with me, am always happy when they do because as mobile phones are penetrating the deep rural, there is also good usage of it.

Rural people like calling during radio shows, just to pass greetings to relatives and friends, sometimes just to be heard that they can also speak on radio through their mobile phone. Others don't mind how much they spend speaking with radio DJs, others may greet 20 people or more than that. While others may call several times using different names and locations. I find this fun, it makes them happy.

Making or receiving a call is one of the most interesting things for rural people because to most of them it means entertainment first then communication, it's fun. One example; when I visit farmer clubs in rural and I arrive earlier than others at the venue they start calling each other, "inu a Farm Radio abwera, fulumirani" (Hey, Farm Radio officials are here, please hurry), it makes me smile, though I still think of something, do these people think of call charges? Yes they do, communication is vital to them, whether high or low but entertainment is part of it.