Reflo Magazine 3rd edition 2021

By Newton Kalua
Numerous times
Malawian
artists have
had their call
for support
on different
talents backfire. It is either
you work hard on your own to
realise your dream or die off in
infancy.
FEATURE
Breakthrough
suffocation‘
As it has been in the past
governments, all hopes turn
to the President Dr. Lazarus
Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance
administration, to see whether
the national youth policy will
square the needs of young
talented Malawians in the
country.
TALE OF MALAWIAN
ARTISTS
Malawi’s national youth policy
expired in 2018, and Honorable
Ulemu Msungama is the
Minister of Youth and Sports,
and is responsible for making
sure the country has an up to
date youth policy framework.
A review process for the policy
was initiated in October,
2020, and so far a couple of
consultative meetings have
been undertaken on the same.
One such person enduring in
an environment where young
people are struggling to make
ends meet is a Lilongwe based
22-year-old boy, Blessings
Chiumia, popularly known as
Tingo-B The Pencil Guy.
He is a passionate portrait
drawer trying to break into the
scene, but lack of resources is
delaying his progress.
“I struggle with materials, like
the only materials I easily find
are rubbers and pencils. But
there is a unique kit which I
cannot get it here in Malawi,
to have them you need to
order from abroad; United
Kingdom, United States of
America or China, which costs
a lot of money. Right now, I am
trying to keep some money so
that I can buy high standard
materials one day,” the young
man lamented.
Apart from drawing, Tingo
also does music, and he is
also pursuing a Journalism
19
and Mass Communication
programme at Pentecostal
Life University.
At the moment, he has
however stopped singing and
going to school, so that he
concentrates on drawing and
to fetch for his school fees, and
lift the burden off his mother,
who also has the responsibility
to pay for his younger sister’s
fees.
“I have currently stopped music
and school to concentrate
on drawing. About school, I
will maybe resume next year
because I feel like school
and art doesn’t work at the
same time, to be honest. So
I gave myself time to see
Reflo Magazine 3rd Edition 2021