One for the Process

It feels good to be back on this keypad typing the 199^th article on Richie Online. We have come far indeed and when I look back at how the blog has evolved, I am pretty sure I never saw it coming this far.

For those of you that may not know, this started out as an "evangelization platform" – an actual pulpit, if you may. Then, thanks to some metamorphosis (positive or negative, depending on how religious you are), Richie Online turned into some sort of megaphone for communicating different important issues and a bin for emptying madando when they were at the verge of making my head burst. The thing is that creating and sustaining this platform has been a joy ride and I have enjoyed every step of the way.

As we approach 200 articles on this blog, I am left with a question on how I want this platform to be over the coming years. There have been several suggestions along the way with others suggesting a divorce with Google for a better platform at RicheOnline.com. Others have gone on to suggest that I need to commercialize the talent by finding some space in one of the weekly papers. From the financial perspective, finding a space in the papers sounds more plausible but that may mean an end to these free pieces that we get to enjoy weekly (well, not weekly). Perhaps I should get a Richie Online reader-sponsored trip to Cape Maclear so that I can sit down on the sands overlooking the clear waters of Cape Maclear. Perhaps a stint on Nthumbi Island may help with the clarity.

Talking about visions for the future, we have at one point dropped the “when I grow up I would like to be a policeman” line to the teacher when we were in junior primary school. I remember blindly saying that I wanted to be a doctor but that was before the exposure. In the midst of confusions on ambitions and being bombarded with different career exposures and opportunities, I ended up being a doctor. That was probably one of the toughest six years of my life but it was through that process that I ended up being a doctor. As junior doctors, we tend to have this feeling of being inadequate and the hunger for more so you tend to hear people saying they would like to become surgeons, opthalmologists, health economists, physicians, paediatricians, proctologists and many other weird things that are hard to pronounce. I am in the pool and I happen to have my own dreams. Looking back at the six years of medical school, I know that if I am to get to where I want to be, I will have to go through an equally gruesome process for me to be really good at what I will be. That brings us to the topic of the day.

As young people (even old ones) we get to have our own dreams and aspirations. We always have a trajectory which we want our lives to take in the lines of career, family, finances and whatever else. No one would like to live a life of a low standard and we all dream in color. I mean, going back home to a mansion overlooking Chirimba down in Chapima Heights along with a wife and two beautiful kids wouldn’t be bad. Asa young person, I have always fallen into conversation with peers on hos we would like to have the best of cars and houses just like other people have uniquely done in town. The thing that has been lacking, however is the question of how the others have done it.

I was, last week privileged to attend a celebratory lecture by Prof Henry Mwandumba, the Deputy Director of the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust, the organization I am currently working with. He took us through his story coming from early primary school through high school to tertiary education and one thing that came out clear is how he went through a lot of steps and processes, harnessing the opportunities as they came along. That, is what I like to call the process of becoming and it is one thing that we need to learn to accept and embrace if we are to become something.

I have highlighted the issue of career. Most times, we tend to fantasize different career trajectories, admiring the people who are making money from consultations in projects, law firms, managing grants, private practice medics, chartered accountants, ana a Adadi and whoever else people consider successful nowadays. That is not wrong but to complete the picture, we need to pause and think about what those people may possibly have gone through to achieve the current status. That always gives a good picture of the feasibility of adapting oneself and creating similar paths to success.

It wouldn’t be me if I don’t drag the Richie Online Love Curriculum into this. You may have seen some memes of beautiful couple with the opening caption “this could have been us, but….” Around in the social media. What those try to show are a sense of inadequacy in other relationships (and perhaps the fact that some are just walking alone without partners/spouses). I will not talk about picture perfect relationships as that has been discussed in earlier articles so I will stick to the subject of the day. What we need to realize is that the relationships you admire take a bit of effort to build. All night texting until the phone heats up. The endless, hour-long phone calls. Lots of gifts and spending a lot time together. There will be people who will discouraging you from the start, telling you that what you are doing us a bit of an overkill, but the one thing you have to remember is that things don’t just come to perfection overnight. They need time and effort. Perhaps one thing that is leading to a lot of breakups, divorces and failed relationships is the lack of effort.

Another important aspect to include in this discussion is leadership. As people, we belong to different institutions which require teams of people to spearhead different operations for their day to day functions. Getting to be in a leadership position may come as a matter of a simple appointment or a vote but that is not without problems. Usually, people have their own biases which affect their choice of leaders. That, then brings us to the issue I earlier discussed in my article on leadership (well, probably) regarding the process of becoming a leader. Cutting a long story short, involves studying the goals of the organization or body you are heading and having a vision of developing the organization and future leaders for the same. All that cannot happen overnight and when we are vying for leadership positions or choosing leaders, this is one quality we should be looking for; we need someone who has gone through the process of being a leader.

We could apply the same reasoning of going through the process to the fields of parenting, ministry (I have a couple of men of the collar who read this), development and many other fields of life. Finances? Perhaps I should add a bit more on this one. You may know the popular actor and martial artist, Jackie Chan. According to reports I read (not sure how true, but let us assume it is), Jackie Chan is not leaving any inheritance for his child. Asked as to why, he was quoted saying that if his son is an able man, he will make his own money – adding that if he is not able then there is no reason as to why he should waste the money Jackie worked hard for. There is a phenomenon we observe more often than not when rich people die leaving worth for their children. Sometimes all the money and assets get blown away faster than they were built and the children end up being broke. That, in my view happens when the people end up with huge amounts of money without going through the process of making money. No more explanations.

I could continue writing, but I guess I have communicated and you have gotten the point having endured the article to this end. If you have gone through the right ones of the past 198 articles, you might have noticed that I am more of an outcome oriented than a process-oriented person. I like to focus on the end as opposed to the means. That being said, the process of becoming is also important ad that is why students need to study for the knowledge and not for exams. Cheating? Non-starter.

One might wonder as to how different this article is from the call to action I wrote earlier. While acting is the bridge between a dream and actualization, there is a need for the understanding of the processes involved. That guides the action and keeps it focused. Eeetu.

I am taking suggestions on what we can do for the Richie Online 200^th article celebration next week. Lakeside party? Barbecue in Naperi? T-shirts? A fun truck around the major cities, maybe?  

Of Priorities, Means and Ends

It feels good to be back to my writing ways. The one Friday on which I missed the opportunity to write feels like years. Perhaps some of you would not understand as you think that writing these Friday pieces comes as a burden. I would refer you to the first paragraph of the Venomous Hope’s article in which he was trying to remind us how morally bankrupt we are as a nation. In that paragraph, he quoted some human who once stated that what we do in writing is to bleed our ideas on a piece of paper. I could not agree more because for me, this sort of bleeding relieves me of some toxic thoughts. One main purpose of this blog is to, therefore let out the bad energy. Before you stop reading, however, I would like to point out that I am not writing to blow off steam. Well. I might be, but it is not something that you should worry about.

Earlier today, I found myself talking to a guy who refers himself to as the man without a face. That is pretty odd considering that he has a proper face and he has not been known to hide it. The conversation? I was trying to convince him to sign an online petition that is poised to stop the Malawi Government from constructing two stadia for the country’s tow big teams. Perhaps I should go on to state the obvious for those who do not follow current affairs.

During the campaign period, el presidente surprised me when in his whistle stop at Chirimba, he pointed out that he like Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty BeForward Wanderers. I found that a bit odd because one of the reasons I am still not married is that I like one team and the ladies that always catch my interest are fans of the other. Anyway, that might be an exaggeration but we all know how much of a rivalry there is between the two teams. In other words, it is technically impossible to love both teams; unless of course, if you are a politician looking for votes in the presidential election (I might come back to this). To demonstrated his true affection for the two teams he loves the most, H.E. pledged to build a stadium for each team. Those of us who hardly every take anything seriously dismissed it as political talk but months down the line we are seeing the move gain the ground.

In the 2019/20 budget statement (which I have not yet read), there is an allocation for the start of the construction of the said stadia. When we talk about the budget, I hardly look at what is happening to taxes where. The first thing I look at is how much has gone to the health budget and once I see that it is south of 15 percent as prescribed by the Abuja Declaration, that is bad budget. This is what I did to the current budget statement but the issue of the building of sports arenas also caught my attention as it got me wondering as to how we prioritize things in the Warm Heart of Africa.

As you would imagine, the idea of constructing sports arenas for privately owned sports teams did not go well with some of us and a social media backlash followed. Fans of the very teams that have received the unmerited favor from the country’s leadership stood shaking their heads, wondering why the government is building a stadium and not expanding maternity services at Chavala Health Center or ensuring an uninterrupted supply of aspirin at Ndunde Health Center. To them (or us), that was a minor issue being prioritized and that is wrong.

While people were arguing in WhatsApp groups and discussing in their offices, one human thought of a brilliant idea. He started an online petition against the move to construct the stadia. The goal, as written on the website is to collect 1000 signatures. For those of you who are not savvy with how the collection of signatures works, you go on the website where the petition is being hosted, sign up using your e mail and then click on the “sign petition” button. I am not sure as to what happens with the signatures in such cases here. What I saw early in my life was that when one Jeremy Clarkson was fired by the BBC, one fan started an online petition which collected over a million signatures. What they did, then was that they printed the petition and the names of all signatories and marched to deliver the petition to BBC offices, taking a tank to lead the way in the streets of London HRDC style. Despite the million signatures, Mr Clarkson was never reinstated and he later joined Amazon.

One popular human in Malawian circles today happens to be one Timothy Mtambo. He has been in the spotlight for leading demonstrations that are calling for the resignation (or firing?) of the chair of the country’s electoral body through the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (this word reminds me of the Mgwirizano Coalition). Reason? The elections were not free and fair. A bunch of demonstrations and millions of kwacha in damaged property later, a letter of resignation from the Senior Counsel, Justice of Appeal is yet to be seen. The President clearly stated that he was not going to fire her either. I am told there are more demonstrations coming up but if I am to be honest, I am not too optimistic that the demonstrations will breed the desired outcome.

You have spent some time reading this, but what am I trying to communicate here? Sometimes it is good to discern between things that can be changed using certain means and those that cannot. Someone posted a picture of a sign on her WhatsApp earlier this week. The sign read “Give me Coffee to change things that I cannot…. And wine to accept things I cannot”. In other words, if you take the wine, changing things wouldn’t necessarily work. That is the case with the so-called peaceful demonstrations and online petitions. A case of bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Perhaps we should conclude. The first thing is that we should not major minors and before we pay for DSTV we need to make sure that we have food for the month. Izi zomanga ma stadium m’dziko mukusowa zinthu zofunikirazi, musamazipange pakhomo panu. Further to that, you should learn to discern. Pause and think about whether something can be changed or not. If you think something can be changed, you need to think about how best it can be changed before focusing your efforts on things that hardly have an effect. And oh…. Money and sex may not be the best ways of winning someone’s heart over. Just had to run it for you.

Weekend yamaluzi iyi. Koma muona kuti mupanga bwanji.