My name's Kedibone and this is my story
My name is Kedibone, and I am currently 32 years old. I was born and raised in the town of Tikwana Hoopstad. Growing up, I was fortunate to be part of a family of six, including my grandmother, parents, uncle, and sister, who are now all deceased. Out of all my grandmother’s grandchildren, I was the closest to her, and she taught me many valuable life lessons without me even realizing it. Her passion for nurturing and caring for her plants inspired me, and as I grew older, I developed a profound love for nature’s beauty and wonder.
Throughout high school, I was one of many young people who benefited from the kindness of charitable organizations and generous community members who helped me with my basic needs. To make ends meet, I used to braid people’s hair to earn money until I got a job at a company called Senwess and Agribusiness. This company operates across various segments of the agricultural value chain, and it was there that I gained a deeper understanding of the science and ALTs behind cultivating the soil and growing crops.
Over time, I went from being a receiver of help to a giver. I began donating school shoes and gently worn clothing at church events, and I recently visited Blessing’s disabled home to extend my help with a few basic things. Additionally, I have been helping several underprivileged families with necessities such as food, clothing, and electricity. I learned the importance of giving not because I am wealthy but because I understand what it’s like to have nothing.
Currently, I am involved in the transportation business, where I transport students and teachers from their homes to school. This service is economically beneficial to parents who can’t juggle household chores, office work, and drive their children to school.
Furthermore, it ensures that children arrive at school safely and on time. I am like a journey, and like all journeys, I do not stop, I continue.
Diary of a village girl: Tukombo – Parrarel Mindsets
As I began to assimilate and became part of my community, through discussions and constant deliberations with the chiefs, the locals, the academics/learned/intellectuals, as well as those in the diaspora, I quickly realized that my quest for development in my community would never be a one-person game. I became aware that there is a short circuit in the flow of engagement amongst community members. People in my community generally associate themselves according to political affiliations, family ties, social status, villages, etc. Therefore, I decided to create a platform (Tukombo Today) that will act as a bridge to bring them together to have a consensus in building our community. The idea was “well” received, but the challenge was skepticism, distrust, and political and family differences. The platform had (still has) a snail’s pace on the flow of information. Yes, meaningful ideas were being shared. Also, concerns were being expressed, albeit treading on eggs. But however great the ideas were, they lacked a unified force to actualize them. In my view -this was a platform (a boardroom, as I call it) to bridge the engagement block. But still, people could not engage freely and unbiasedly with one common goal due to trivial matters that have crippled development. I have realized it is not unique to my village but to Africa as a whole.
Another huge challenge was that however great the developmental ideas were, the struggle was that most members were based in different cities, towns, and countries. Therefore, they needed more feasibility on the ground, physically ensuring that some of the ideas were shared with the relevant stakeholders in the village. The challenge was decoding these ideas into a layman’s language that the general public and chiefs would understand. I realized that our priorities were different, and our vision in terms of development ran on parallel lines; therefore, merging the two was a dream that “might” never be a reality, the demise of my community and Africa. My mind and heart would be overwhelmed as I saw my vision for a better Tukombo becoming a burden instead of a blessing. A unified force will never work under such conditions. The ideas got suffocated before they could see any daylight. My community has so many opportunities for greatness, considering its location close to the lake, excellent weather, fantastic scenery, unique natural vegetation, a heritage site that has ancient carvings, naturally warm water springs, and is home to some of the most prominent political leaders Like Aleke Banda and his wife, Mbumba Margaret Banda. Recently gold was discovered in my village. All of these opportunities lie dormant because people fail to come together to “agree to disagree’’ to ensure that they maximize the available resources to build a better community. The other challenge is ”the bwana mentality,” the scramble for positions in any community committee, especially by the locals to gain respect and access to resources. Celebrity status is especially used by those with resources to manipulate the locals to partner with them, manipulating them to their advantage. If a person comes with noble ideas and does not belong to either of the groups, there would be little or no local support. The person becomes a threat to those scrambling for positions or a threat to the community celebrities. Any noble efforts face many red tapes, and secret agents or monitoring personnel are deployed to spy and report to their ‘’master’’. Therefore, instead of making friends, a Pandora’s box of enemies is opened. It makes it difficult to trust anyone with any information on development for fear of ideas being stolen by people with the speed of light to ensure they remain celebrated (bwana mentality) – the battle for village/community celebrity. I have been debating whether to continue with the mission of working together through shared ideas or go solo since I have individually made minor impacts through financial help from just a few friends, but an impact nonetheless.
I have realized that development is not only in terms of infrastructure but a changed life and mindset. Therefore, I plan to implement progressive developmental change through whatever efforts I can manage and any assistance I receive. I have started a youth leadership program, a girl empowerment program, as the youths are the soul and future of the community. Hopefully, I will live to see my dreams of a better Tukombo.
Being an activist for community development comes with many burdens; however, it can never quench the desire to see a better life for my community and country because it is the place I call home.
Story by:
Cathrine Banda, from Mzuzu Malawi. She is a Community Activist, Motivational Speaker, Writer, Poet, Former Radio Presenter The 1873 FM, Johannesburg South Africa
cathrinetwabi@gmail.com
