LP:Can you tell me more about yourself and where you are originally from?
AG:My mother is from Zimbabwe and my father is a Malawian. According to my father’s customs the children belong to the father’s side.
LP:When did your father move to Zimbabwe?
LP:What ethnic group was your father from?
AG:My father is Angoni from Mwanza District from a place called Kandugu.
LP:How far did you go with your education?
LP:What languages do you speak?
AG:Chitumbuka, Chichewa and Shona and a little English.
LP:When did you move to Zimbabwe?
AG:I was born in Zimbabwe in 1949.
LP:Was your husband born in Zimbabwe?
AG:No, he went there when he was already grown up.
LP:How long were you in Zimbabwe?
AG:From when I was born until 1995.
LP:Where were you living in Zimbabwe?
AG:At Gwibi College of Agriculture, Harare. There were houses where we used to live within the College.
LP:Did you ever work in Zimbabwe?
AG:Yes, I did primary health care and later worked with co-operatives. I used to work in village communities.
LP:Can you tell me more about your life in Zimbabwe, did Shona and Malawians stay together peacefully or were there any problems?
AG:Life was generally good, we had good food, good clothing, but Kwanu ndi Kwanu – home is best. Sometimes the Shona weren’t treating us nicely. They used to call us Mablantyre, even though my mother was Zimbabwean, because she belonged more to her father’s side, I used to feel insulted when they called us Mablantyre.
LP:What did they mean by Mablantyre?
AG:Malawians or Mabwidi, Obwera, [separate terms for foreigners, when asked what Mabwidi meant, she said she didn’t know exactly]
This used to hurt me a lot when we were called these names. The “tsankho” [?]. Let’s say you are given a place to live and you made it look nicer than it was before, then the MaShona would come and tell you to leave, tell you that it is not a place for Mablantyre.
Then we would move to another place and then the Shona would say, “the owners have come this is not a place for Mablantyre.” And that was the biggest problem I used to find with my life there.
LP:Who did you used to chat/socialise with?
AG:There were so many Malawians that you don’t even know that you are away from Malawi. I even thought that all Malawians had moved there because we used to stay among so many of them. There are so many Malawians who have a mother from Zimbabwe or South Africa and a father who was Malawian. I used to spend my time with those people. And when you heard that someone’s father was from Malawi you could even stay in that person’s house as if they were your relative. There weren’t any problems there we used to love one another. We, the children used to feel upset by the name calling but it didn’t seem to affect our parents.
LP:What did you used to do in your free time and at weekends?
AG:I used to like going for prayers. I used to pray at the CCAP.
LP:Did you used to have organisations for people working or living together, or any trade unions?
AG:Yes, the organisations were there. Some of them were for everyone but there were some specifically for Malawians. The ones that I knew of were the burial societies. These organisations were started by Malawians. Because they were not originally from there, they did not have the villages or places to go for funerals and burials, so that is why they came up with the societies. It was very much the Malawians who came up with these. They used to collect money weekly or monthly as a contribution towards these societies, so they could buy food and coffins for the burial ceremony. The Shona later joined these societies because they were impressed by the unity among the Malawians.
LP:Did you have churches specifically for Malawians?
AG:The churches were not selective, they were not meant for one group or another, but when the Shona saw that Malawians were patronising one church over another, they would brand it a Church of Mablantyre, most of the Shona wouldn’t go there. If you saw a Shona go to that church, maybe if it was a woman she would be following her husband, but Shona didn’t usually go to such churches.
There were several churches for Malawians, such as the CCAP. The CCAP was predominantly a Malawian church. Malawians from farms and from the towns would attend the CCAP.
LP:Did Malawian participate in politics in Zimbabwe?
AG:We used to participate, because they wanted more votes.
LP:So, you think they allowed people to participate purely to increase their support base or were they able to take positions within parties?
AG:The President of a party would not mind, everyone was considered able to take part, but if it wasn’t for the leaders and those in the higher positions Malawians would have been chased back a long time ago.
LP:Did you participate in any meetings when Zimbabwe was obtaining independence?
AG:Because we were living in Gwibi Colllege and it was a government building we were not allowed to attend the meetings. It was only after independence that people from government institutions started attending meetings and rallies. After independence some Malawians were even given positions within the party.
LP:Did you used to communicate with relatives back home when you were in Zimbabwe?
AG:The communication was good, we used to write letters to each other and we even used to send money to my mother-in-law.
LP:While you were in Zimbabwe did you ever come back for any holidays to see relations?
AG:No, it was my first-born son who first came here to Malawi. And then his sister came after he had already come.
LP:So how were you welcomed on your arrival back home?
AG:We were welcomed well because we used to send them things like money and clothing. When we came back it felt as if we had grown up together because of the communication we had, it wasn’t very difficult.
LP:So, had you not been sending things would you not have been so welcomed?
AG:Yes, it would have been more difficult.
LP:How about this land, did you buy this on your arrival?
AG:We already had this land and my husband’s brother used to look after it for us when we were away. Some people were interested in this land but he (the husband’s brother) had to keep them away. When we came back, we found our land.
LP:How did you feel on arrival and how long did it take you to get used to the new environment?
AG:When I came here, I felt as if I was coming home. In Zimbabwe we used to be called Mablantyre so I was never really happy there. I was prepared for what I was going to face when I came back, that is why I have never really found it difficult to stay here. I just had the heart to come home, even if I had to come here and eat greens (bonongwe) I was happier than staying in Zimbabwe where the food was good because I was tired of all the name calling, “Mablantyre”… people used to tell me that because I was stout that when I came to Malawi I would lose weight because the food wasn’t good, but I didn’t really care. And then when people used to tell me that I would tell them it was fine, that I would eat whatever was found in Malawi.
I didn’t really find it difficult to adapt to farming because in Zimbabwe, although we were not allowed a garden at the college, we used to have a piece of land by the railway line where we used to grow maize.
LP:Do you have any relatives still in Zimbabwe?
AG:Yes, I left some still there. Some of my relatives told me that when I came here, I would die, but I have been living here for the past 12 years and I am happy. I don’t wish to go back especially with the problems there now, some of my relatives really want to come here but they can’t.
LP:What made you marry a Malawian man? What were the differences between Malawian men and those form Zimbabwe?
AG:My mother is Angoni from Mwanza and because of the attitude of the Shona it would not have been a good idea for us to marry Shona men. We grew up with the mentality that we would marry somebody form Malawi.
LP:Did you and your sisters all marry Malawian men?
AG:Yes, all of us married Malawian men.
LP:So, you were lucky to marry a fellow Angoni?
AG:Yes, we used to hunt for them! Even if there were some Shona guys who were wealthy and wanted to marry us, we didn’t see them as men, we were only interested in Malawians.
ZG:Mrs. Galatiya, what was your father’s occupation in Zimbabwe?
AG:He worked in the mines.
ZG:Was your mother Zimbabwean?
ZG:Did your father remain in Zimbabwe?
AG:Agnes says that her father died in Zimbabwe.
