Reading Time: 3 minutesA Nigerian man called Femi Odeleye came up with a special design of a tractor intended to be used by small scale farmers. This was way back in 2007 but now the design has been turned into a real product, which is being marketed to Nigerian farmers. It is called a Tryctor. It is a […]

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe month of February is set aside to remember the black people who have done remarkable things and have contributed to the well being of society. We often think that all the inventions that have been made, particularly in the world of technology, have been made by white people. That simply is not true. Take

Reading Time: 3 minutesA few years ago, a clip showing a Malawian man of God displaying his recently acquired affluence  – away from home – went round on social media. One of the points raised in the said clip was that the man of God was being welcomed by mzungu (a white man). I find it difficult to appreciate

Reading Time: 3 minutesDuring a recent trip to South Africa I decided to get a little adventurous one Sunday morning.  I phoned the session clerk of a CCAP congregation and asked for directions to his church because I wanted to attend a service there. He told me that from Kempton Park, where my hotel was located, I needed

Reading Time: 3 minutesWhen white people first came across the great Zimbabwe, they quickly ruled out any possibility that the dzimba dze mabwe (houses of stone) could have been constructed by Africans. The African race was not considered sophisticated enough to embark on an engineering program of that magnitude. A 16th century Portuguese explorer postulated than the great Zimbabwe was

Reading Time: 3 minutesI have always stated, and I want to reiterate here, that achieving technological advancements has nothing to do with race but has everything to do with culture. If a group of people develops an enabling culture, they will climb one strung upon another of technological development. They may be white people or black people or

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe country we now know as the Democratic Republic of Congo has for the past two centuries or so been in one turmoil after another. During the Berlin conference of 1884 – 1885, the Congo Basin was allocated to a private charitable organisation run by King Leopold II of Belgium. In the subsequent years, Leopold

Reading Time: 3 minutesI once was on a team that visited Ntcheu on church business. One member of the team decided to call her son in Blantyre to tell him that if anybody would come home or call, he should inform them that his mum was in Ntcheu. “Where, mum?” the young man asked. She repeated the name

Reading Time: 4 minutesSeveral years ago I was given the responsibility of recruiting engineers for the printing organisation which I worked for. As it turned out, all the engineers I picked were from the northern region. My bosses were puzzled over how I, a non-northerner, could have ‘favoured’ people from the north. The truth of the matter was

Reading Time: 3 minutesOne of the most economically backward districts in Malawi is Dowa. This is so despite the district boasting a number of very proficient business people. In short, Dowa – and I would hasten to add Malawi – is a district/country full of ironies. A Dowa native called Mr Kondowe partly owns the Kang’ombe building which