When you are a boy growing up in one of the urban cities in Malawi, everything is easier because the language is diluted to fit everybody. We have the working class with their language, the young boys from Bangwe with their language, and the trap artists from Lilongwe with their lingo as well.

The great thing about these languages in the urban cities is that it is universally fitting Chichewa all the way. Even if it is mixed with some slang to accommodate your peers or social mates. I visited the north recently and it has been a roller coaster since day 1.

Now understand this, my job requires me to interact with the people of any location firsthand. I said ‘Muli Makola‘ a greeting in Chitumbuka meaning how are you, and everybody laughed. They responded and asked me how I was, I responded again and they burst into more laughter while they muttered to each other something I couldn’t understand.

I realized that I was sounding funny and the people could tell I wasn’t originally from there. I vowed to learn the language and all the accents that come with it because if I were to work with different people, I have to eliminate the language barrier. It is the greatest barrier to all development efforts because people do not understand what is happening because they are being spoken to in a language they do not understand whether financially or literally.

Anyway, there is more learning to be done. ‘ndichisambizgilenge pachoko pachoko’ I will learn the language slowly.