His Youth

Yeremiah Chienda was born on 5th May, 1933 at Chikhutu Village in the area of Chief Chitukula, some 12 kilometres west of where the Kamuzu International Airport now stands.

His father was a Phiri by clan. In Chewa hierarchy, the Phiris used to constitute the aristocracy, the ruling elite, while the Bandas were the religous elite (en.wikipedia). All other clans used to be subordinate to these two. His full name was Kawayulachiyendan'chiwanda, which translates to something like "the trendsetter who moves like a ghost". So, not only was he a member of the privileged clan but he was also a leading light, if his names are anything to go by.

Later, family members partitioned this mouthful of a name among themselves, some calling themselves Kawayula, others Chiyenda and yet others Chiwanda. The modern format of the Chienda name, spelt without a "y", was a corruption by the Dutch missionaries, who preferred to spell it that way.

Rev Chienda used to be intensely proud of his Phiri clan name. Some of his contemporaries, like Rev Chimutu, Rev Sankhani, the late Rev Kachaje and the late Rev Mlenga, always used to refer to him as "Phiri" or "Jere", the Ngoni equavalent. When my youngest sister, Tertia, was born, she was given the name Nagomo, which is a Shona version of Phiri (Mountain).

That he was literate at a time when going to school was the rare exception rather than the rule, and that he raised his family on Christian principles against all odds is perhaps testimony to the fact that the Senior Chienda was indeed a pacesetter. His son, Yeremiah, was among the first in that area to go to a high grade school at Kongwe in Dowa district. Mr Kafumbi Njewa, former head of news at the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, recalls that when he was a boy he used to by inspired by Chienda, Chatsunda, Chimphanje and one or two others, all of whom received their education at Kongwe.

These boys from Sentala (corruption for "Centre" for Education) would come back from school during holidays and would get themselves neatly dressed, mostly in white. Probably unknown to them, they would in so doing inspire the younger ones, like Kafumbi Njewa. In turn, Kafumbi Njewa himself later inspired his own team of young men, the likes of Davies Mussa, who later became a well known radio personality.

His mother was called Lucy. She too could read and write, which was even more remarkable for a village woman of that time. She had migrated from Ntchisi along with other three sisters, apparently at the invitation of their brother who had left Ntchisi earlier. At that time (the beginning of the 20th century) the Dutch Reformed missionaries were planting churches in parts of the central region. Along with a church, came a school as well, normally. They (the missionaries, that is) set up such a centre at Chimwang'ombe in Chikhutu Village, and those with a trendsetting disposition, like Bambo Phiri and Mayi Lucy, were obviously quick to take advantage of these facilities to learn new things.

When they set out for Chikhutu, Lucy and her sisters were warned that they were going to a Christian area, where use of obscene language, among other vices, was not tolerated. As they walked, one of the girls is reported to have ordered the others to stop so that she could for the last time curse a tree, heaping all manner of obscene language on it. That was her own way of bidding farewell to the old lifestyle as she was about to embrace a new one.

After completing the highest class at Chikhutu, it became necessary for Yeremiah to go to a higher school. The nearest such school was at Kongwe. Along with the other boys mentioned earlier, they would walk to Kongwe, some 50 or so kilometres away, taking 2 days to get there.
Their mothers would prepare peanut butter for them, to be consumed during the trip.

Some of his classmates at Kongwe were Mr Chiundira from Ntchisi, Mr J H L Honde from Mzumazi village in Lilongwe and Mr Mc J Kamwana from Mponela in Dowa. JHL Honde moved on to become the first principal of the Teacher Training College in Area 25, Lilongwe and Kamwana later became the first Malawian Inspector General of Police.

While at Kongwe, Yeremiah befriended a boy from Salima (in a lower class) called Abyud Mndala. On many an occasion, he would bring Mndala to Chikhutu during holidays, to spend time with his family. Apparently, Mndala was from an Islamic background, but the love and warmth he got from Yeremiah touched his heart so much so that he later became a minister of word and sacrament in the Nkhoma Synod, following the footsteps of his mentor.