By Dr. Suryaraju Mattimalla
In the heart of Africa, where the warm winds blow,
There stands a brave nation that wants the world to know.
Malawi, beautiful Malawi, with a heart so strong,
An African Christian land that remembers the pain of Arab Muslim slavery for so long.
Along Lake Malawi, tears once touched the shore,
Eleven million Malawian men, women, and children were taken, never to return once more.
Families were broken, mothers cried in pain,
And eleven million Malawian Christians were sold like goods for someone’s gain.
Eleven million Malawian Christians, history tells their story,
A dark and painful chapter, robbed of life and glory.
Arab-Muslim slave traders carried many far away,
Leaving empty homes and broken hearts along the way.
But history has many sides, and truth must have its place,
Some came with guns and swords, others came with the Quran.
Britain joined the fight against the Islamic slave traders’ chain,
And British campaigns helped bring an end to much of that pain.
Fort Johnston, Fort Lister, Fort Mangochi stand,
Old stones that tell a story written on African land.
They remind us of the battles against the slave trade’s might,
And of those who fought to bring an end to that night.
Malawi, have courage, let your history be told,
Let no fear silence stories that are painful, brave and old.
Praise those who helped to break the chains of slavery,
But never forget the Malawian people who fought for their liberty.
Let the world hear Malawi, let the whole world see,
That freedom is a treasure and every soul should be free.
Let Britain receive its place in history’s light,
For its role in fighting slavery and standing against that blight.
And let Malawi be the first nation on Earth to declare,
That Western civilization played a role in protecting Africans there.
Not every chapter of history is simple or bright,
But the fight against slavery deserves to be brought to light.
American Republicans fought against slavery by democratic slave traders.
Western Christians fought against the persecution of African slaves by Muslims,
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis.
Build the museum, preserve the past, let future children see,
The price that people paid to live in dignity.
Let Nkhotakota speak, let every monument say:
No human being should ever be sold or taken away.
Oh, Malawi, land of courage, let your voice rise high,
Let truth become your message beneath the Malawian sky.
For nations are not measured by the power they display,
But by their courage to remember and the truth they dare to say.
Malawi, be brave. Malawi, stand tall.
Freedom belongs to every human, the great and the small.
Let history be honest, let justice be our guide,
And let the dignity of Malawians never again be denied.
Copyright @ Suryaraju Mattimalla 2026
Biography: Dr. Suryaraju Mattimalla is a renowned Indian poet based in Germany, a prolific human rights writer, a vegan, a refugee, a truth-seeker, and a free-speech advocate. Born into the Madiga (Untouchable Caste)-Yadav Christian family, which has historically faced caste-based and untouchability-based genocide in India, he writes poetry addressing Dalit genocide, Dalit pogroms, atrocities against untouchable castes, caste discrimination, human rights, and social justice. He has written and published hundreds of poems in the United States, Europe, Israel, France, India, Nagalim, Ghana, Somaliland, and the Federal Republic of West Papua. He has also published academic papers in prestigious academic journals and newspapers, including The Age of Human Rights Journal, Peace Chronicles, and Israel National News, Arutz Sheva. Public libraries in the United States of America and Germany have catalogued his literary works. The French-based humanitarian organization Salam translated his poetry from English into French. It published it in French, and the Federal Republic of West Papua-based newspaper Suara Papua translated his English poems into Bahasa and published them. Through his writing, Mattimalla seeks to challenge caste/religious/ethnocentric oppression/extremism/terrorism, defend human dignity, and give a voice to marginalized communities. He lives with his Ethiopian wife, Cartoonist Her Royal Highness Princess Selamawit Hailu Bezabih, and their three children: Saviour Suryaraju Mattimalla, the late Stanford Suryaraju Mattimalla, and Strathfield or Skylar Suryaraju Mattimalla. Her Royal Highness Princess Selamawit Hailu Bezabih is the great-granddaughter of His Royal Highness Emperor Yohannes IV and the immediate granddaughter of His Excellency Dejazmach Negusse Bezabih, the leader of the 1943 Woyane Rebellion. His first child was killed by Hindus in the name of honor in India in 2010, and his second son, Stanford Suryaraju Mattimalla, died following forced vaccination administered by a neo-Nazi German gynecologist on June 28, 2023, in Regensburg, Germany.
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