Malawi Culture impresses UK

By: Lackson Kanyoza

United Kingdom based professor Kim Ferguson who is a professor in the psychological department at Sarah Lawrence College has hailed Malawi saying the country is rich in culture.

Ferguson made the remarks over the weekend at Chichiri museum in Blantyre where they graced the performances from Chichiri Heritage Entertainment Company.

Ferguson and his students from Sarah Lawrence College are on tour in Southern Africa where they came to learn about human and community development.

During the event, Chichiri Heritage entertainment performed different traditional dances like

and others to the amusement of the visitors.

In an interview with The Malawi Star, Kim Ferguson said she was impressed with the performances.

“We are running a program at our college and the goal is to learn human and community development in Southern Africa. So I brought the students to Tanzania, Zimbabwe and here in Malawi. We have to learn about culture, history and that’s why we came to appreciate these traditional dances. After this we will see some Malawian films and meet the filmmakers.

“Actually I am impressed. It was an amazing performance and it’s really good. I really like it. It just shows us that Malawi has original dances. We have been entertained and we have learnt a lot from them,” Kim Said.

Ferguson, whose parents are teachers at St Andrews High school then promised to help Chichiri Heritage Entertainment Company with funding to alleviate some of the problems that the group is facing which were announced during the event.

“I came from a college that really supports the art. They are important for human development and learning and to support them today its really good but I will tell everybody when I return home so that maybe we are going to raise some money and possibly we will bail them out,” she explained.

On his part, Chichiri Heritage Entertainment Company director Dennis Masalah said the group is trying their best to preserve culture through traditional dances which he described as a job to them.

“We feel honoured that even foreign people recognize our potential and asked us to showcase our talents through dancing. Actually, we established this company to preserve our culture through traditional dances. This group has helped us a lot because it is a profession to us since we perform in different events and gain something at the end. Apart from dancing we also learn traditional weaving, paintings and sculpting,” said Masalah.

He also said that doors are open for those who wish to join them and learn different skills.

Chichiri Heritage Entertainment Company was established in 2006. It’s one of the notable heritage groups in the country which has been representing Malawi in different cultural events in and outside the country and have won several medals. The company boasts 15 members.