From the Editor

Greetings and welcome to "The Social Entrepreneurship Journalist Newsletter", an e-newsletter that will be covering anything to do with social entrepreneurship in a unique way.

This, of course, happens to be the first edition of the newsletter, a Service of Frontline Media, Registration # MBRS1001822.

Wow! This is actually a dream coming true for me personally, because I've been harbouring this idea since my childhood days, as it it appears I was bitten by the journalistic bug early in my life.

Back in the days, I religiously devoured current affairs magazines and books like Newsweek, Reader's Digest, the Plain Truth, Mahogany, Parade, the Student's Companion, and many others in Makwika Village, Hwange, Zimbabwe, where I grew up.

Old friends like Kampeni Mangani, Jah Kazombo Mwale, Shepherd Sithole, Nelson Nkonde, Moffat Phiri, and many more would gladly attest to my insatiable appetite for current affairs magazines and newspapers in particular, and books in general.

 (I remember how we used to storm our local library after school in Makwika back in the days)
Any wonder I have ended up becoming an award-winning journalist in my own right.

But then that was just the background to my love for writing and reading, which has grown over the years.

But why this e-newsletter?

Incidentally, the answer to this question comes from the answer to yet another question: Who are Social Entrepreneurs?

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.

Social entrepreneurs (whether for profit or non-profit) often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.

These social entrepreneurs are found in every society.

Now, these are the kind of people this newsletter will be writing about! And it is also for this reason that I regard myself a social entrepreneurship journalist.

And it is for this one reason, and one reason alone, that our focus will be on instilling in readers that spirit of social entrepreneurship, whether full time or part-time.

That is why this newsletter will be packed with lots of tips on how you can become a social entrepreneur regardless of your current status.

I personally hope that you'll find information in this newsletter valuable in one way or the other.
For a starter, these will form part of our regular departments/sections:

Message from Our Sponsors This Week

News You can Use

Creative Writing:Poems/Short Stories

Health Tips for You & Your Family

How to Start Your Own Business from Your Ideas

How to Master English Language...So Easily

Job Searching Made Simple

Get Inspired: Our Social Entrepreneur of the Week

The Ultimate Guide to Starting & Running Your Own NGO

Quotable Quotes

Press Release

 Speak Your Mind

 Advertisements: Buy/Sell Here

This list, of course, is not cast in stone: changes will be made as we go along, depending on our readers' needs and emerging trends.

Personally, I feel this is my contribution to humanity: putting together valuable information that'll in turn enrich other people's lives every week.

Once again, welcome to "The Social Entrepreneurship Journalist Newsletter", your weekly where-to-go-for-what newsletter.

And by the way, "umuntu ngu muntu nga bantu", a human being is what he/she is because of other human beings.

I'll need your feedback---always!

Yours truly,

Winston Mwale-Publisher & Editor.

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MEET ELIZABETH CHIRWA, A MALAWI TEACHER

As a social entrepreneurial journalist, I've embarked on another life journey -a journey that will see me tell inspirational stories of people who are making a difference in life-from far and wide!




Today, meet:

 MEET ELIZABETH CHIRWA, A MALAWI TEACHER

Get inspired!

SEJ: Tell me about yourself. Where do you come from? What kind of family did you grow up in?

Elizabeth Bai Chirwa is my name and I come from Nkhotakota, in the central region of Malawi. I am a 7th born child in a family of 4 girls and 5 boys. My late father Joseph Bai was a teacher, while Lillian my mother was a nurse.

SEJ: And why did you decide to become a teacher?

I never wanted to become a teacher because most of the teachers were being posted in rural remote areas. A thing I did not want.

After my secondary education in 1993, I joined World Vision International as a Project Manager in the remotest area, that’s Mpalowafisi in Nkhotakota near Ntchisi. One day a thief broke into our mud house with a bamboo door and ran away with personal items since I disturbed him. Money for the project was also kept in the same hut.

I realised that there was no safety for both my company and my life. I reported that to the authorities with my letter of resignation. My next door was teaching, that’s how IS landed in this profession.

SEJ: Give us a picture o what you do each day.

Teaching is a job of planners. I make sure I have my Schemes of work at the beginning of every term, and a lesson plan for a particular subject on a daily basis. Am a Mathematician; hence, lesson plans for my classes is a must.

SEJ: Where do you get your energy to do your work?

My present duty station is Dzoole CDSS in Mponela, Dowa where am also the head teacher.Managing a school is not an easy task with the democracy and human rights our students have these days.

In addition, am also a Divisional Trainer for science teachers in a programme known as Strengthening Mathematics and Science in Secondary School Education (SMASSE) where we are looking at how we can improve the quality of Mathematics and Sciences in secondary schools.

SEJ: Teaching has become synonymous with hardship in Malawi, do you agree with these observations?

It’s not a lie that teaching has become synonymous with hardships in Malawi where teachers in remote areas are residing in mud glass-thatched houses, experience delays in accessing their salaries, missing on payrolls, arrears accumulating for months some for years, and over staying at one grade without promotion etc.

SEJ: What do you think should be done to improve the situation?

If teachers were involved at a point of decision making better, these would improve. Each and every stakeholder should put a teacher at heart.

It’s high time government and law makers realized the presence and importance of every teacher at all levels, because every Jim and Jack you see doing well today went through this teacher.

There are times when we are told that there many of us, and that it’s difficult to take up our grievances, cannot be promoted. By the way, why employing so many teachers who cannot be paid normally? And yet we hear there are not enough teachers in Malawi.

Sometimes lack of unity amongst the teachers themselves is another challenge. Imagine the Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) had to recruit invigilators and supervisors to administer JCE and MSCE exams without allowances. Isn’t that torture to that poor teacher? If it could be agreed that since Maneb does not have money, then exams be put on pending up until all is well. Cry my poor but diligent teacher!

SEJ: The issue of promotion in teaching is another thorny issue. Have faced any problems as far as promotion is concerned? What happened?

If there is one thing that distresses a teacher in Malawi then it is the issue of promotion. Some teachers have stayed at one grade for over 10 years.

I have been a victim on several occasions. One was when I qualified as a T2 , and had to stay for 4 years without being recognized that am a PT4 teacher which was a starting grade after qualifying.
Am in my 8th year yet on the same grade no promotion. Despite all these hardships, I enjoy and like this profession.

SEJ: Given a chance, would you quit teaching?

Teaching is a wonderful career, and am proud to be a teacher because behind all those lawyers, doctors, presidents etc there is a teacher.

Teaching has taught me to endure, and I enjoy being with the youth, especially the girl-child. I always encourage learners to work hard to teachers. As a teacher you learn every day.

I don't think I can quit teaching, people think teaching is at primary or secondary school, facilitation is also teaching.

SEJ: What was your happiest and saddest moment in your teaching career?

My saddest moment in my career was when my salary went missing for three consecutive months in 1996 and my happiest moment was when I was promoted by word of mouth by the then President of the Republic of Malawi Dr Bakili Muluzi in 2002.

SEJ: What would you point out as your achievement in teaching?

My achievements in teaching are many. As already said am a Head teacher at a secondary school and went through Staff Development Institute in Mpemba. I’ve been a President of Teachers Union and Teachers Sacco in Salima, a Divisional trainer for SMASSE, over and above that under my leadership transformed a school where I found two teachers to a modern school.

SEJ: Thanks for this interview- it’s been a great pleasure and learning experience. Do you have anything you’d like to say before you “close shop"?

Thank you so much for the interview and would like to request males who take advantage of poor girls or their money, to consider that girl as their own. Thank you.

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