I was born in the year 1992 in a family of 4. I am the third born. I have never seen the face of my father and my mother died in 1997. My elder sister started a job as a housemaid in area 25 to provide for the family but this was not enough. To ease the burden, my uncle who was living in my grandmother’s village took me to start staying with him.

I started standard one in 1999 and when I reached standard 3, the elder sister of my mother Mrs. Polina Elias Banda took me to town and started staying with her. Life was difficult in my auntie’s house as she had many children (13). When I joined this family, we were now 16 in total.

Weeks later, she registered me at Chikondi and Mphatso Orphan Care Centre. This was a relief as I was assured of a descent and enough lunch after classes. Moreover, the centre also supported me with school materials and clothes. I should say it here that in this centre I felt like I had found a new home. The love I and others used to get from Mrs Mphande ( may her soul rest in peace) and all other volunteers was just too much. We were taught to be disciplined , hard working and grateful.

Fast forward I sat for my primary school leaving certificate in 2006. When results were out, I was one of the two boys who were selected to national secondary schools in Malawi ( Robert Blake Secondary School). I got straight A’s in all the five subjects I sat for. My happiness of passing the examinations with flying colors was short-lived when I heard about the school fees of the school I had been selected to, complicating matters was the fact that my uncle , the husband to the elder sister of my mother, the breadwinner died a week after the release of the results. My hope of attaining secondary school education was shuttered. When I communicated about the results to late Mrs Mphande, the director of OCSR by then, she resurrected the hope in me when she said that I should not worry about the fees as OCSR will shoulder all of it up until I finish secondary and even to college. I made a decision to completely utilize this opportunity and never to let her down for supporting me.

When I started form 1 in 2007, I scooped position 7 out of 120 students and this encouraged me to work even harder. I scooped position 11 in second term and then position 2 third term. In form 2, 3 and 4 I was always in top 3 and when I sat for Malawi Certificate of Education, I got 7 points. I was then selected to Chancellor College, now University of Malawi and I graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Social sciences with a major in economics and a minor in demography. In June this year 2021, I got an employment offer by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. I am currently working with this Bureau as an investigations officer