Washington, DC (MaraviPost): Malawi Washington Association (MWA) leaders attended the first, “Town Hall Meeting – African Immigrants Engage Leadership of Montgomery County, MD” which was held on June 27th, 2015 in Silver Spring, MD where they engaged the leadership of the county a place where a large number of Malawians in the area live and where MWA holds a lot of events.
The county executive spoke about the importance of getting young Africans engaged with government through internships and volunteer work. He also stressed the importance of African groups building coalitions with other minority groups who have similar interests.
Africans from different countries were represented at this meeting and were able to speak with the leaders about their concerns. This included funding for African projects, eligibility for grants, and African representation in the selection committees for the educational boards amongst other important topics. MWA was represented by Sitinga Kachipande, Patricia Msaka-Kankondo and Mwiza Munthali.
According to Sitinga Kachipande, Chairperson of MWA they were able to bring attention to the county leadership about the increasing problems that Malawi Washington Association (MWA) has experienced in renting park facilities. They confirmed that they are aware that African immigrants are have concerns about the rental of county facilities and the attitudes of the park police.
He advised that the county is now strictly enforcing their regulations but that the county is also trying to adapt to the changing demographics in the county so that the type of events that Africans in the county want to hold will be more in line with the county policies
