Meeting My Presenters of 20 years Ago

It was like a joke that I the chance to get to Nairobi, Kenya. Though I travelled for a very important Global Voices Summit, I decided to stay on afterwards to visit TWR and rest a bit if possible.

Global Voices Attendees at Nairobi 2012 Summit

This was a special visit to me because at TWR Kenya, I met people who I had been listening to 20 years earlier when I was in secondary school.

At that time in Malawi, when we talked radio, it meant the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) which was fully controlled by the state and the Malawi Congress Party.

So why was TWR special at the time? This was the only radio station broadcasting on Shortwave from Manzini Swaziland with programmes that I found uniquely relevant in my life as a teenager.

Why not a pose with David and Helen?

There was (on TWR Shortwave) a programme called A New Dimension which was being produced in Nairobi, Kenya but transmitted to East and Central Africa on Shortwave.

The moment I discovered this programme, I knew that this was to be a special programme to me. I kept wondering how the persons presenting the programme looked like.

Then there were those who could do the audience relations. One such was Helen Ogore. She could respond to listeners' letters including mine.

Those were days when receiving a letter with your name printed brought lots of excitement and even envy by schoolmates. More than that getting a letter from outside the country meant you are a special person. No wonder I still keep those letters!

Helen and Mike

These people had no idea then what I was to become 20 years later. As a visitor to TWR Kenya now, I was received with a lot of respect deserving someone who heads the same organisation but in Malawi.

They were all joys to see that their work of many years earlier had produced someone who now is in key leadership of the same.

Global Voices Sub Saharan Africa Team

I was challenged by their commitment that they were carrying on with the work years later. It was a joy for me to be in the corridors where programmes that transformed my life are being produced.

I got reminded on how faithful I also need to be in my radio work as I have no idea who I am broadcasting to and especially what they will become.