My best ‘Raw Stuff’ lesson
With the passing away of veteran journalist Edward Chitsulo, Malawi has lost one of its greatest sons. I had the privilege to know and interact with Edward Chitsulo on a regular basis since 1998 until his death.
I used to read his stories in various newspapers that he had worked for including his own newspapers that was jointly founded with one of his best friends Grey Mang’anda. I came to know him personally in 1998 when I was a second year electrical engineering student at the Polytechnic. Chitsulo had become our language and communication lecturer.
Typically, engineering students do not like courses that do not have numbers and graphs. They find such courses very boring and unattractive. Chitsulo proved us wrong. He made us love his course even more than the technically heavy courses like electronics, power and machines, telecommunications and control systems. This was because of his style of lecturing. He used his sense of humour to make sure that nobody slept or dozed in his class.
Most of his lectures were scheduled for slots after our heavy lunch, when it was very easy to doze off. Chitsulo managed to sustain our vitality to the end of his lectures. He taught us by using real life experiences and relevant topical stories. He would always start with the current affairs and use them for us to learn language and communication. That way, he made us very interested in what he taught and he motivated us to attend all his lectures with inept attentiveness.
Chitsulo and I maintained our friendship well after he stopped teaching me because of his impressionable character. In my fourth year of study, I campaigned for and won the seat of the presidency for the Polytechnic Student Union (PSU). I persuaded the PSU Council to change the PSU advisor and patron because I felt very safe to have Chitsulo as our senior overseer. My colleagues accepted his nomination. In fact, within the 15 member PSU Council, were two of his founding students in the bachelor of journalism (BAJ) programme. It is fair to say that Chitsulo was the driving force behind the idea and implementation of the first journalism degree programme in Malawi which was launched at the Polytechnic around 1999 or thereabouts. Harold Takomana who was PSU publicity secretary and the late Chimwemwe Chimbayo who was the ladies representative, greatly supported my idea as did my two classmates on the council. And the rest trusted the sentiments of five direct students of Chitsulo. During the one year we were in office, Chitsulo was very helpful in shaping us to remain as a responsible PSU as we could. He had a great fatherly figure and was our source of wisdom.
Many people miss Chitsulo for his Raw Stuff column which was published every week in Weekend Nation. I too enjoyed that column thoroughly. It was probably my best regular piece to look forward to in newspapers. I liked the fact that he was very straightforward, practical and courageous. Chitsulo did not beat about the bush. He hit the nail on the head – but nicely.
His lectures too had lots of ‘Raw Stuff’ talk. My best ‘Raw Stuff’ from him was what he kept telling us many times. He wanted us to grasp this single important fact of life. He told us that after graduating from the university, we should not expect to become ‘mabwana’ or ‘rich’ just first day or first few months or years. He said we would have to work hard over a long time to build our success. He would say that a graduate would first find a rented house in cheaper locations and then with time, upgrade the houses and locations and so on. This is the reality that many young people ignore and as a result, they end up in big problems because of failing to accept reality and to be patient in life. This was and remains my best ‘Raw Stuff’ lesson. May the Soul of Edward Chitsulo rest in eternal peace!
