The Maravi Post

BLANTYRE--Award-winning musician Ben Michael Mankhamba is in Germany to raise funds for his goodwill cultural exploits and a film on unsafe motherhood and orphanhood in rural
parts of Malawi.

Mankhamba of the  Kamba Anga Mwala fame, who is also village headman of Chingalire in Lilongwe, told The Nation that he’ll be in Hannover City until June 10 for exhibitions on rural Malawians' life, art and culture.

He said while in Hannover he is expected to present a real-life case to potential donors of the Chingalire Rural Growth Centre projects which will benefit surrounding villages in T/A Kalolo.

The initiatives include tree nurseries in aid of the Lilongwe northwest community's reforestation efforts, English classes for 150 children  aged 6 to 15 and the film called Tikondane which employs rural residents as actors to tell their untold stories of maternal health, child labour and orphanhood amid HIV and Aids.

Invited by the City of Hannover, he said “I am travelling with lots of artefacts which mirror Malawi's folk way of living. I will showcase these things during the exhibitions as Germans want to experience art, entertainment and life from our roots," said Mankhamba.

Last year, he visited the same city together with Afrojazz enigma Agolosso and veteran folk artist Giddes Chalamanda in a cultural exchange sponsored by the German Embassy and Blantyre Arts Festival.

Mankhamba is expected to tour four schools which have expressed interest to partner with local schools in his catchment area.

He said the educational visits are a response from a German couple which toured his life-changing projects in Chingalire and fell in love with his goodwill track, Help the Children of Today.

The track asks the world to assist the African child for a better tomorrow, probing: "How do you say life is so sweet when many children suffer?"

In so doing, the lyrics ask people who "maybe don’t know the other side of life" to come and see for themselves the plight of "children who have no mama or papa".

"The song seeks…sensitize [the developed world] to the hard realities poor children face in hard-to-reach areas. I hope the visit will stimulate well-wishers to help construct a school or
better shelter for children. The classes will also serve as an art and sports center for the youth," he said.
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment