St Michael’s Teachers Hold Annual Conference
By Paul Mwandira
The Office of the Catechetical Methodology Advisor of St Michael’s Parish organized the 2019 Parish Annual General Conference of the Association of Catholic Teachers for teachers working within the parish.
The meeting which was locally organized was patronized by 41 teachers from the four zones of the parish and it took place at St Michael’s Lusubilo Conference Centre on from 26th to 28th April, 2019.
The theme of the conference was “Capacity Building to Teachers; A Goal to a Dedicated Teacher in the Catholic Church”. Facilitators from different fields were engaged to interact with the teachers.
In his opening address the Catechetical Methodology Advisor of the Parish, Mr. Paul Mwandira urged the teachers to use the meeting to explore frontiers for spiritual and professional growth and go home as agents of change.
Facilitators interacted with the teachers on the following topics; Financial Management and Entrepreneurship, Catholic Education Policy, Introduction to the Bible and Missio Ad Gentes as the theme of the Diocese in the year 2019.
The facilitators during the gathering included Mr. Peter Maston Mtambo of Nachembe Consultancy Services with a BSc Degree in Technical Education and over 29 years’ experience in Human Resource Management; Mr. Chauzuka Nyondo, former Education Desk Officer of the Diocese of Karonga with over 20 years’ experience in teaching and the pioneer in developing Catholic Education Policy; Mr. Augustine Mziza who is a retired officer in the Ministry of Agriculture with over 21 years’ experience and headed several pastoral positions, and Madam Elifa Chiona a Catechist at St Michael’s Parish.
During the gathering, teachers also shared ideas on coming up with income generating activities of the Association where among others was to allow any Catholic School to be contributing towards to that.
St Michael’s Parish has got a total of ninety Catholic teachers and only seventy are active members of the group. This year’s conference was highly affected by Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) briefing which was going on in the surrounding Teacher Development Centres (TDC).
Karonga Central Youth for Non-violent Electoral Period
By Maureen Soko
If there is a place in Karonga District well known for violence during campaign period, then Karonga Central Constituency ranks highly. The constituency is nicknamed Benghazi, after the infamous war torn town in Libya, where “candidates,” and “supporters” own and control their own territories which become no go zones for their opponents.
However, with lots of interventions in the area and the whole district, by the Justice and Peace Desk of the Diocese of Karonga, people, especially the youths in the area have realized and are haunted by the identity of the area.
This was revealed during the engagement meeting organized by the Justice and Peace Desk at Nyungwe in the district. The meeting which involved women and youth groups from Karonga Central and Nyungwe constituencies, aimed at calling on the youth to desist from being used by politicians to perpetrate violence during campaign period; encouraging them to support female candidates.
Speaking at the meeting, Tawonga Mwakabanga of Lupembe Youth Club in Karonga Central says the youth are ready to reinstate their images and that of their constituency by making sure they are not used by any politicians for personal gains, He claims that they are not happy to be referred to as Benghazi people, a name that haunts many of them. She has also pledged to support women come what may.
“Time has come to restore our image as youth from Karonga Central. Frankly speaking, we the youth from Karonga Central are not happy with the name Benghazi” she said.
Concurring with her, the District Youth Net Chairperson Elias Phiri says the youth now are more aware of the negative impact of ill behaviour during campaign, which he says discourages women from participating in politics fully.
On his part, Project Officer for the Malawi Electoral Cycle Support (MECS) project Moses Mwakisalu says it is his hope that this time Karonga Central and Karonga as a district will have violence free campaign period and see more women voted into power for the betterment of the country.
In cases where two women are contesting for the same position, Mwakisalu had this to say “Let me be clear, in areas having more than one woman campaigning for the same position, vote for the one who is determined. The one you think can work with you properly to facilitate meaningful development,” said Mwakisalu.
“Be assured that these women will perform because we have groomed them according to the position they are contesting for,” added Mwakisalu.
Mwakisalu also reminded the participants on the dilemma that comes when they have been receiving some handouts from politicians which brings confusion during voting time.