Once a teacher always a teacher

Martin Chirwa with grandchildren Elinart (Aubrey's daughter) and Ulalo Martin (Robert's son)

At Nathenje in 1991

Businessman

Martin Chirwa rented an old shop that used to belong to an Asian and invested some of his retirement money into a grocery store. Back in the 1970s, the president of Malawi, Hastings Banda, ordered all Asians to no longer conduct retail business in rural areas. He believed that Asians were slowing down progress of Africans learning to become retail business owners. Most of the Asian shops at Nathenje were bought by native Malawians but had become dilapidated. It was one of these shops that Martin Chirwa rented in 1991 after his retirement in 1991.

Running a grocery store needs business acumen. Martin was too generous to be a successful businessman. Martin run the grocery for four years from 1991 to 1994. But he was giving away grocery inventory to those in need. By the end of 1995 the grocery store was closed.

When Martin Chirwa was retiring in 1991, his four oldest children were employed and earning income. The middle children were either in college or boarding secondary school. Only the youngest two children lived at Nathenje with their parents. But the older children were paying tuition for the younger ones so Martin was not burdened with tuition obligations. The oldest son, Aubrey, was a game ranger at beautiful Nyika National Park in Rumphi in the north of Malawi. Robert had just returned from completing a Master of Science at University of Kentucky in the United States of America where he had been for three years. He returned to be a manager in the Information Technology Department at Reserve Bank of Malawi. Patrick was an accountant at the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) headquarters in Blantyre. And Evans was a Civil Engineer working for Norman and Dorban in Lilongwe.

Back to teaching

There were political realignments occurring at the international stage in the 1990s. During the cold war, there was competition for international influence between United States of America and Western Europe on the one hand and Soviet Union and Eastern Europe on the other. President Banda of Malawi was dictatorial but was a capitalist. Malawi was therefore aligned with the United States of America. Malawi had become a one-party country in 1975 and had been ruled by one political party and one leader, Hasting Banda, from independence in 1964. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1992, the priority of the United States shifted to promoting democracy. Malawi was forced to first hold a referendum in 1993 on the question of whether people wanted multiparty democracy and then to hold multiparty democracy in 1994. Hastings Banda and his Malawi Congress Party lost the elections. The winning political party was United Democratic Front (UDF) led by a man called Bakili Muluzi.

One of the issues on which Bakili Muluzi run was free primary school education. Elections were in May 1994 and the new school year was starting in September 1994. The Malawi government needed new teachers and resources to meet the increased enrollment due to the free school policy. One of the solutions was to call on retired teachers to return to teaching.

Martin was recalled from retirement and returned to teaching. He grew tired of renting so he bought himself a piece of land behind the shops at Nathenje. He built a modest red brick house with iron sheet roofing and lived there with his wife Elinart. He rented farm land to grow maize and groundnuts.

Martin Chirwa with son Robert (center), Robert's wife Tambu, and grandchildren Ulalo and Kabelo

Zomba 1996 

Final decade

Martin fell very seriously ill in 2006. He had always looked youthful. His hair had not grayed much even at the age of 60. But after falling ill, it seemed like he grew old overnight. His movement slowed and his hands shook. With Elinart still paralyzed by the stroke of 1988 and Martin in poor health, life at Nathenje proved difficult. Some of the children including Grace (now married to George Kuseni) and Beatrace were now resident in the nearby city of Lilongwe. Moreover, Matilda built a house in the Lilongwe City residential location known as Area 25 near where Grace lived. In 2010, an arrangement was made for Martin and Elinart Chirwa to move into Matilda’s house in Area 25 where they could be better cared for by the children. Of course, elder care is difficult. But the children did everything to support their parents. Later Richard was transferred from Salima Technical College (on the shores of beautiful Lake Malawi) to Lilongwe Technical College. This added one more person in the care of the parents. Masiye Joseph became a pastor and was posted at a church in the city of Lilongwe. He was also actively involved in caring for the parents. And Masiye moved into the parents' house in the final days.

The oldest children were scattered all over the world. Their contribution to the care of the parents at this point was primarily financial. Aubrey was an instructor at Dedza College of Forestry. Robert first became a Lecturer at Chancellor College in Zomba before returning to the University of Kentucky in the United States for further studies. He is still in Kentucky to this day. Patrick changed jobs from ADMARC to the American non-profit organization, World Vision International. He was posted to several countries such as Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, and Mozambique. Likewise, Evans changed jobs from Norman and Dorban to The Polytechnic in Blantyre to become a Lecturer. He went to study for a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky in the United States. After completing his studies, he returned to Africa and the became a professor at the University of Pretoria where he is still employed.

Kondwani who was the youngest child of Martin and Elinart passed away in October 2011 at age 29. The third from last, Pirirani, is an accountant at Maiwathu Hospital in Blantyre.

Four years after the serious illness of 2006 – and shortly after moving to Lilongwe in 2010 - Martin started become incoherent and was losing memory. He never recovered from this illness until he passed away on 16 June 2016.

Lessons from my father

The journey is multi-generational

Economic upward mobility need not be a short term or one generation effort. Martin Chirwa did not become a rich man. He did not live a middle-class lifestyle. In fact, his life bordered on subsistence for most of his life. He always fed his family from crops grown in his own garden. The little income from his teaching or journalism jobs was used for the extra expenses of bread, clothes and tuition for family. On the other hand, all his children attained a middle-class lifestyle. The economic upward mobility was not of himself. Rather, it is when his progress is viewed in the long-term context, from his father before and his children after, that mobility is clearly visible. This has taught me that I need not strive to achieve it all in a single day. My responsibility is to ensure that I am providing a conducive environment for my children’s progress.

Balance

Balance is important between serving your country and being there for your family. Martin Chirwa contributed to the politics of Malawi by fighting for independence to the extent of being arrested. He contributed to the development of Malawi by establishing three new schools. He contributed to the future progress of the nation by educating his children to the level where they are in a position to contribute to the country's socioeconomic development. It was his honesty and hard work that enabled him to achieve these otherwise contradictory roles in life. Martin Chirwa showed how working at the intersection of politics, service, and family is possible. Although he told me to never be involved in politics, I would strive to be at this intersection if I ever entered politics.

Never give up  

Martin Chirwa was older than other children when he started school. He was finishing 8th grade at age 20. Yet he was always seeking the next qualification. He studied at night using light from a Tiley lamp. He passed O-level and A-level exams in his late 20s. And he obtained the diploma in journalism in his late 40s. There were many reasons why any reasonable person would stop and say “Enough now”. But Martin continued working for the next stage. Working for the next qualification. Whenever time allowed, he studied. He was a lifetime learner. He was a lifetime teacher. And he was a lifetime father.

Conclusion

God packaged many positive attributes in a small man. Martin Chirwa stood at 5 feet 6 inches (about 1.7 meters). But he had heart. As a head teacher, he motivated the schools he led to make progress in improving academic achievement. In those days, a school was measured by the number of students selected to go to secondary school. He would come to a primary school that did not send students to secondary school and by the time he left there would be between 5 and 10 students selected. He believed that a school can only perform well if it looked like it could. He worked hard to ensure the landscaping and interiors of the schools he managed were in tip-top shape.

Maybe Martin Chirwa’s generation was the “great generation” of Malawi. A generation selflessly serving their country while adhering to a high moral standard. A generation with enough vision to see further in the future rather than being clouded with desires of instant gratification. Consequently, the nation of Malawi was experiencing tremendous economic growth from 1964 to 1980.

Something changed in Malawi after 1980. People started looking for instant personal gain in everything. Corruption started creeping in at all levels of society with the “katangale” culture. I remember how a relative of the village headman at Mngwangwa went to the city and found buyers of the trees in the forest that separated Mngwangwa Trading Center from Mngwangwa Village. The next thing we saw were trucks coming from the city. The trucks brought people who cut down the trees and loaded the logs on the trucks. Suddenly we were able to see the village from the trading center as the forest was no more.

I think it will take a national U-turn for Malawi to get back on course. The population of Malawi will need to return to the mindset of earning “it”. The population will need to return to the mindset of the generation of Martin Chirwa. I am not making this statement to advocate for any “ism”. This is not about capitalism, socialism, democracy, or dictatorship. I am merely attempting to identify the root cause of corruption in Malawi society.