16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
15 “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask of Him”. – 1 John 5: 15
37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us”. – Romans 8:37
In this year 2026, I ask everybody to join me in celebrating five life-changing, awesome happenings that fill me with great joy! The first among them is that 40 years ago on 19 March, my last-born son (Smiler Mose), was born.
A very close second is my own birth, my re-birth when I gave my life to Jesus, joining the throng of Born-Again Christians; this was on a cold July evening.
The third was meeting Pastor Barbara Tippett, Malawi’s first female church leader/pastor/reverend, and founder of the Blantyre Christian Center, currently known as the Word Alive Ministries International Church.
The fourth was the Reinhard Bonnke Blantyre Crusade (where I gave my life to Jesus). And last, but not least, was the creation by the Malawi Congress Party of the now defunct Chitukuko Cha Amayi m’Malawi (CCAM).
All these 40 years and I recount some of the important ones as I recount them one by one by one. They have shaped my own life and those of my loved ones, near and far.
As different as they are in being, they are all entwined, linked where one led to the other, or following one event, when the other happened, called forth memories of the entwining. The five are all interlinked.
On March 19, my last-born son was born, by Caesarean Section. My mother, God rest her soul, was with me the whole 8 day I was in the hospital. Baby stealing had reached a scary level in Malawi, so I begged her to stay with me, and watch over my baby as I slept.
On being discharge, we drove by the Post Office where we picked up two important letters: One with our voter cards (it was an election year), and the second an invitation to the Blantyre introduction of Chitukuko cha Amayi m’Malawi (CCAM) to be made by the former Official Hostess, Mama C. Tamanda Kadzamira and to be held at the Blantyre Christian Centre. We vowed to do both. The vote came first.
The day of the CCAM launch, Mom, my elder sister Miriam and I sat together at the lunch table. The high-profiled person to introduce and launch the CCAM was Mama Kadzamira.
She informed the packed room that there would be no membership fees, but that all women in Malawi were expected to be members and to participate in its activities.
It was a way for women to contribute to the development agenda of the country. The CCAM was to be a nation-wide organization and various offices were set up around Malawi until its demise at the dawn of democratic governance in 1994.
But before launching the CCAM, Mama had said “….as per our tradition, let me ask the pastor to bless the occasion with a prayer.” As per tradition, as Christians do, I joined others in closing my eyes. At that time, I was a Muslim. But my eyes were soon opened as soon as the “pastor” began to pray: Pastor was a woman. In Malawi. In 1986! All religious leaders in Malawi in 1986 were men. When did she come to Malawi?
I wanted to know and I whispered, during prayer to my sister: Who is she? Miriam said, “That’s the lady that used to pray for me at the hospital, when Lois was born. She’s now a pastor. Shush, we’re praying.”
I obeyed the “shush” command, but I willed the good Lord to make the prayer come to an end, so I could get to the bottom of who and how Malawi got its first female pastor and the news passed me by: I was a journalist! Doing her rounds, Pastor Barbara Tippett soon came to greet Miriam (whom she remembered and had prayed for at the Blantyre Adventist Hospital). After introductions, I asked if I could feature her in my weekly Daily Times “Meet…….” Column in which I introduced prominent women in the country. Thus, Malawi got to meet Barbara Tippet and her story of wheelchair-laden to healed by the blood of Jesus story was shared.
Pastor Tippett was a jovial person; it turned out she was part of the preparatory team for the upcoming Reinhard Bonnke crusade later the same year.
The Christ for All Nations (CfAN) leader with his Cape to Cairo mission of spreading the Good News, came to Blantyre, the country’s commercial capital.
I sent reporter after reporter; none came with a report on the preparation; nor did any bring a report of the crusade once it started at the current Blantyre Shoprite premises opposite the Kamuzu Stadium.
Greatly not amused, I left my husband and young sons at our home in Chitawira, and on a chilly July night in 1986 went to the crusade grounds.
At the outer grounds, but by altar call, I was at the foot of the stage and into the arms of Pastor Barbara Tippett. I gave my life to Jesus and I was Born Again. While I never wrote the story on the Malawi Crusade, God certainly did and has been doing these past grand 40 years.
It has been a really awesome 40 years, that started with my last-born son (Blessings in abundance on your 40th birthday Mo). I met and became a protégée of Malawi’s first female church leader, Pastor Barbara Tippett. I attended World famous evangelist, CfAN leader Reinhard Bonnke who’s Cape to Cairo ministry agenda reaped 107,071,107 souls for Jesus, including me – Janet Karim of Malawi. Lastly, the birth of the local women in development organization CCAM was born.
Happy 40th birthday and anniversaries to all.
