…..”And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18
“……However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20
What do Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda, Robert Mugabe, Emperor Haile Selassie I, Prince Charles (now King Charles), Michelle Bachelet, Aung san suu Kyi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hosni Mubarak, Harold Wilson, Richard Nixon, Bingu wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda, Arthur Peter Mutharika, Bakili Muluzi, Lazarus Chakwera, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reinhard Bonnke, Dr. Ann Gloag, Shaquille O’Neal, Bono, Steve Kekana, Robert De Niro, Ziggy Marley, Mbilia Bel, and Malcom-Jamal Warner have something in common?
These 25 people have all met Janet Zeenat Karim. In other words, it has been my privilege to have met, interact with, breathe the same air, and speak with them even! Imagine: me and these giants of all giants of the world! There may be others, but the 25 Eminent People I have met, please allow me to give one or two sentences of each interaction. They have grandly added to my character. I count it a big privilege, honor, and blessing.
- Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda: As a ten-year-old, when he was Prime Minister, Kamuzu examined me on why my joints were swelling, and he diagnosed that I had rheumatic fever; he was so happy on my college graduation, he dipped my hands twice and I almost fell on him (the whole Life President!).
- Robert Mugabe: As a Third Committee diplomat, I saw President Mugabe sitting at the Zimbabwe Desk at the UN General Assembly Hall and introduced myself as being from Malawi (“Aaaah apongozi,” he said to me, referring to the marriage of Bingu to Ethel – she grew up in Zimbabwe); from that time, every time he and I met in the corridors President Mugabe would shout out “Muli bwanji apongozi?”
- Emperor Haile Selassie I: When our father was ambassador in Ethiopia, every once in a while, Ethiopian Emperor went to the Malikato in Addis Ababa and greet the ordinary people; as word spread out, we joined the throng of ordinary people and lined up and were giddy with excitement to be touched by an “emperor.”
- Prince Charles (now King Charles III): When Prince Charles visited Malawi in 1987, I was the only senior female journalist, following him around the projects. I was next to the Prince and always asked the first question each time we had the opportunity to do so.
- Michelle Bachelet: First president of Chile, then Executive Director of UN Women, Chile president again, and now Human Rights Commissioner, I’ve been privileged to interact with her in her UN positions: as ED of UN Women, my request to her to change the agency’s in-country presence to include Malawi (the year Joyce Banda became first female president), was given an instant positive response.
- Aung San Suu Kyi: formally elected president of Myanmar because her husband was British citizen, she could not become president, so a title of State Counsellor was created; she was friends with President Joyce Banda, and was thrilled to meet me (I was Vice President of UN Women Executive Board).
- Benjamin Netanyahu: At the UN, Malawi voted for Israeli candidates, as my Mission’s elections officer, it pleased the Israeli ambassador to introduce me to President Netanyhu on his visit to the UN.
- Hosni Mubarak: in 1991 I was the Malawi delegate at the African Journalist Association, and the only woman in the room. As is my MO, I was first to ask a question; as a reward President Mubarak asked that I stand next to him: somewhere in the annals of Egyptian history is a picture of President Mubarak and African journalists with his arm around the only female delegate in the picture.
- Harold Wilson: Every year Prime Minister Wilson invited diplomats’ children to 10 Downing Street to watch the Trooping the Colour, the official birthday of the Queen on the second Saturday in June, and we watched the parade from the windows that overlook Buckingham Palace.
- Richard Nixon: Once a year President Nixon invited children of African diplomats to the White House, so we got to meet him and family when we lived in the US (1967-73).
- Bingu wa Mutharika: In 1973 I met former President Bingu wa Mutharika in Ethiopia when he was a director for the Economic Commission For Africa; however 37 years later at the celebration of my Parent’s 60th wedding anniversary at Sanjika Palace that he and First Lady Callista Mutharika gave to honor them, I learned President Bingu had been friends since the 1950s with my two uncles, and had seen my siblings and I being born.
- Joyce Banda: As a journalist, meeting prominent men and women was part of the job, watching Joyce Banda (who along the way, became a close relation when my cousin Harry married her sister; our bonding got deeper when she established the National Association of Business Women (NABW). Her1997 win of the Hunger Project’s the African Prize for Leadership for the End of Hunger, propelled her into the national limelight and later entry into politics, first minister of gender, foreign affairs, and ultimately vice president and in 2012 ascending to the presidency following the sudden passing of President Mutharika in 2012. These transitions provided fodder for many articles I was inspired to write.
Next week, from President Arthur Peter Mutharika, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reinhard Bonnke, Robert De Niro, Ziggy Marley, Bono, Shaq, and others.
