The Foundation for Girls Leadership Conference - Nyenyezi ya ku M'mawa Partnerships

I was halfway through my washday when I got that call from an unsaved number on my phone. The time was around half past seven in the evening and I was more than prepared to call it a day.

I put on my usual professional voice and uttered, “Hello!”

The voice on the other side sounded very sweet and nice.

“Hi Nthanda, it’s Memory Banda. I know it is very short notice, but I really want you to host (MC) my event tomorrow at Crossroads Hotel”, she said.

I could not believe her when she said “Tomorrow”.

“Ugh, tomorrow? That is literally a few hours away”, I responded.

“I know, but I really want you to MC this event. I know you champion Girls Empowerment and it means a great deal to me if you could be there. I got your number in the afternoon, but I have been really anxious to call you.”

“Can I meet you in the morning to run through the details of the event so I can decide?”

“Well, the event starts at 8am sadly, so that would be to late. But I can send you details about the event tonight,” she said.

Not only was she asking me to MC an event on the next day, but it was also literally 12 hours away.

“Well alright, please do send – let me look through them and come back to you. I think I can make it”.

I put down the phone and really was not up to doing this at all. I had planned that I would spend my door indoors, doing my hair, recording vlogs and cooking. Attending/hosting an event was not on my Saturday to-do-list, and definitely not on such short notice.

I put away the idea of the event and went to sleep.

When I got up around 1am, I found several messages and documents on my Whatsapp line from her informing me about the event. I was still undecided – and I managed to convince myself that I would only grace the event if my hair was dry by the morning. To be fair, the odds were greatly in her favour.

I talked to Dave about it when I woke up in the morning, and he encouraged me saying that I had nothing to lose, and he was right. If I was going to lose anything yesterday, it could have been the greatness of a day that was.

Memory’s friend picked me up from my apartment around 8:30am (keeping the time better than most Malawians I know) and we started off for the event. We picked up Sangie on the way, who was quite shocked to see me in the same car she was to be picked up in.

“Where are you going, Ntha?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, to see life.” I responded.We both laughed.

I have always loved my friendship with Sangie from the very first day I met her. She is one of the most genuine and authentic people I know – and you know I’m all about a good vibe. We are usually invited to all the same events and it is always fun winning by her side.

“Why are you not at Sand Festival?” I asked her.

“Oh I don’t go to that. Weren’t you supposed to be there?” she responded.

“Well, people.”

We giggled again.

We got to the event shortly after 9AM, and we struggled to locate the room in which the event was happening in.

When we got to the room, Nyika, we found a few people outside who welcomed us with hugs. I found Memory inside, and much to my amusement – she was someone I knew, and so very well. Memory and I went to Uni together, and were in fact in the church choir together at the same time. We were never really friends, but she was always such a great positive energy.

She handed me the program (something she had sent me the previous night, which I had not gotten the chance to review) but I kept my composure and pretended I knew exactly what I was doing. It was a brief, easy-to-follow programme and I knew it would not be too much trouble. After all, the audience was Secondary School students – my kind of people!

I quickly set up my Camera for video-recording and took to the podium to ask a student to open the event with a word of prayer.

I then introduced Sangie, who gave an inspirational speech to the students and said some rather kind words about me.

The rest of the day was an exchange of presentation between Memory and I. That and some speeches from women that inspire me – Charity, Grace, Nomsa and a few more.

We tackled topics on Youth Empowerment, Discovering your passions, Challenges the youth face, how to overcome, creating workable action plans and so much more. These are all topics within my work and what I write about, so I did not have any trouble winging it.

We had a lot of interactive sessions where the students got to share on their personal views, what they do and how they get it done.