Into Twenty Two

 

The last Friday of the year has fallen on the last day of the year. Happy New Year’s Eve from Richie Online. While all the circumstances are pushing towards no article, I had to squeeze the time from the day for the Friday tradition. It has surely not been a great year for this blog with so many Fridays on which we did not honor the obligation of providing the readership with pieces but it surely went better I expected for reasons I whose discussion I would rather postpone.

At the start of the year I wrote two articles in which I declared that 2021 was going to be our year. One was on why the year was going to be a wonderful one and the other about how to make it a wonderful year. Just like me, you probably do not remember much from the articles, but I hope 2021 was a good year. Nonetheless, if you are reading this you have something to be thankful for and that is the gift of life itself. That is enough capital for turning things around in 2022.

Generally, the year 2021 did not start on a high note as we witnessed the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic to which we lost our loved ones and notable figures in society. As the year progressed, we witnessed a progressive toughening of conditions as there was a resounding cry that pa ground sipali bwino. Looking at social media posts, one can notice that many are talking about how they did not manage to accomplish the preset goals for 2021 to different degrees. While this may be the case for most of us, I would like to offer a new perspective.

For those that believe in setting goals, it becomes frustrating when the nicely set goals are not realized by the set time. This leads to a sense of frustration and may prompt one to give up. In most cases, it is difficult to see the good out of the failure but I would like to implore you to see beyond the result because sometimes going through a process is a win in itself. Whenever you do not get a desired outcome, you still get something in the name of experience which you can use on the next attempt at it.

Another way of escaping the trap of dwelling on failures is by celebrating achievements. Most people who set goals have multiple goals for a particular time period. While some of those may not work out, there will be a proportion, however minute, that will be realized. While reflecting on what could have been better for the failed goals, it is good to celebrate the ones achieved.

2021 gave us a lot of catch phrases. The social media gurus on Twitter Malawi created a poll on what the most popular catch phrase was for the year and “tigona panja” came followed by “aliyense azipanga zomwe zamusangalatsa and “kalikonse mukaona”. I will dissect these in a bit.

Tigona panja literally translates to “we will sleep outside or outdoors”, and was used by people to imply that they will be pulling all-nighters having fun. This came from Martse’s Mkatimo song which features Hyphen and Barry one and is arguably one of the best songs from Malawi for the year 2021. Malawians are fun loving people and we generally kept the partying and clubbing spirit through pretty much all the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many will tell you stories of how they had so much fun to the extent of getting home at 6 am from clubbing sprees. While that may not have any issues in itself, it becomes a bit of an issue when it is habitual. With our economy, very few have the money to sustain their week-in week-out partying habit. Trying to keep up with such has seen many fail to develop their personal lives in the areas of career and finances. Here is a tip for 2022. While kugona panja may be a good experience, it is good to live within our means to avoid unnecessary expenditures and debt.

Kalikonse mukaona. While this catch phrase went viral in 2021, it is actually a 2019 thing. If you have seen the video and are wondering what happened for Mr Damiano Ganiza to tell Brian Banda that “he will see something”, here is the back story. The clip was taken at COMESA Hall where the country’s electoral body was receiving nomination forms from presidential candidates who were contesting in the 2019 elections. With the nomination process requiring a lot of paperwork, Brian Banda was surprised that Mr Ganiza had come in with little if any papers, prompting him to say “komatu mwabwera opanda kalikonse”, meaning the presidential hopeful had come with nothing. The response? Kalikonse mukaona. You will see something when the time comes. Eventually, Brian and the rest of us did not see kalikonse and his bid was rejected for not having brought the requirements, but what if he actually did? Perhaps we should learn not to judge people by the outlook or to at least keep our judgements to ourselves. For those of us who are planning to do something, we need to keep our cards close to our chests and tell the Brian Banda’s of this world that aona kalikonse when the time comes. Not everyone deserves to know our plans. Wa liwamba sapanga mtswatswa.

Aliyense azipanga zomwe zamusangalatsa was another common catch phrase this year. Everybody should be doing as they please. With people having strong opinions about how others should live their lives, spend their money, run their businesses and handle their social media, this phrase came about to remind people that everybody has a preference and that you need to let people live their life the way they want. What we have seen now, however is that people have used this saying to defend stupidity, throw away the concept of standards and to abuse others. Cheating on your partner? Failing exams? Drunk driving? Aliyense azipanga zomwe zamusangalatsa does not apply there. I will tell you where it applies. Simbi Phiri inviting Koffi Olomide to perform at the birthday celebration of his wife and Namadingo posting about the Range Rover he is going to buy. Their money and social media platforms, right? It is what it is. Don’t blame Simbi for not hiring a local artist to perform. Iye wakonda Koffi ndi Makhadzi.

Looking at the ending year, it is important to recognize the progress we have made as a people and to think about what we should do in the new year. For the first time this year we saw a decline in those stupid chain messages that told us to forward something to two groups for us to get the latest Range Rover. Kudos, everyone. We have however seen that with our phones increasingly getting smarter than the owners others are still getting trigger happy with sharing irrelevant graphic images in the name of wanting to be the first to share some “news”. Some don’t even bother to check if someone has already shared the same video of a bwanyanga mask from the gulewamkulu cult doing sexually suggestive dances while completely naked. These habits should remain in 2021.

Plans and resolutions. I would encourage you to put some together within reasonable means. The importance of having a roadmap for the year cannot be overemphasized. While it may be possible to go through the year without any sort of plan and pull many things off, it is good to have plan that governs your habits, movements, company and choices overall. Osamangokhala ngati chinyama chopanda mzimu. Plan.

Like many who read these articles, I am getting to a critical age where settling down is important. I am actually considering that. I should agree with Reverends Alexander Kambiri, Zacc Kawalala and Essau Banda that you all need to be getting married if you remember the name Patrick Mphaka. Even Sheikh Dinala Chabulika cosigned. Tikukula, guys. Tikwatire. No two ways about it.

When it comes to money, let us make more to be able to afford to save and invest some. In 2022 we should go beyond talking about what other people have and think of what we can learn from them to make financial progress. Chaka chamawa tibweze ngongole. Let's pay back all the people we owe, in the name of everything holy. 

A Happy and Prosperous 2022 to you all! Tiyeni tigone panja but we should remember that COVID-19 is real and HIV is still around. Let’s enjoy but we should remember to get back to grinding.