By Daniel Dube

For the first time in Malawi, there seems to be an agreement on government policy across the political spectrum and the general public. The Religious community, The Human Rights Defenders Coalition, the Opposition, and many other Human rights organizations appear to agree that The Rwanda and Burundi Refugees should be returned to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in line with government policy. Our agreement with this policy is marked by our silence. Privately held opinions of many citizens and indeed leaders of human rights entities are clear on the subject- These men and their families must return to Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

Malawi should be the last country to be xenophobic. In 1969, Zimbabwe had 500,000 Malawians. Today, they have no less than two million Zimbabweans of Malawi descent. We went there as economic refugees to work as house boys, garden boys and farm boys. During the Mugabe era when we were dispossessing white Africans of their farms, Malawian workers were also being abused. In Harare there are parts with the following villages: Kalolo, Chimutu, Jalasi, Mponda, Chowe etc. That is how comfortable we are in other countries. The Malawians in Zimbabwe speak Yao and Chewa with ancient twangs. Zimbabwe has had several Cabinet ministers of Malawian origin.

In South Africa (SA), There are officially just under a million Malawian Economic Refugees. In Mangochi, just about every household has at least one member in South Africa. You may not know it, but SA also hosts tens of thousands of Mzimba and Northern Malawians. When I toured Cape Town and the Wine Country, I stayed in four bed and breakfast houses. I was served by Malawians from Mulanje, Thyolo, Mzimba and my own in every single one B&B.

There are more than 500,000 Malawians in Tanzania. Zambia does not even register Malawians as foreigners. Why? We are effectively one giant country except that we are respectful to colonialists for dividing us. In Zambia we have Tumbuka, Chewa, Nyanja people. Their president was of Malawian Origin.

Rwanda and Burundi People came to Malawi with nothing! Many of them started on the markets as poor boys carrying bags or working in beer places roasting meat for us. They graduated from the markets and soon enough they were owning small shops. Here is why; You arrive in Lilongwe at 8 PM and just about everyone is asleep. You travel in our townships in Lilongwe Burundi shops are open through to midnight. A Malawian shop is a small government entity with parliamentary derived protocols intact! They will refuse your money because it is time to close shop. Never mind the occasional rudeness and the inability for competitive pricing. We are too comfortable where we are. You cannot sacrifice your life so much  as these Burundi’s and never get to rip the benefits. Rwandese and Burundi refugees are now an affluent middle class.

We Malawians are known as the warm heart of Africa. Why are we dismantling our brand? We once absorbed 1 million refugees from Mozambique. We took in their children in our schools, we gave them farmland. After the war, the majority returned home, and  some stayed. In the entire Eastern Mozambique region bordering Malawi they use our facilities and use our Kwachas. We are lacking creativity to translate the affiliation of a million souls into our national wealth.

The magnanimity of Malawi (The country I love and know) was seen when our parliament granted citizenship to a formally Rwanda refugee to allow her to study medicine in China. She is a powerful woman leader now and one of our own. (Privilegium; the French root of the word privilege. ; A special Law for one)

The conditions at the Dzaleka refugee camp are unacceptable! There is overcrowding. There are teen pregnancies. Violence breaks out there all the time due to frustration and hopelessness. It is about time to close the camp. It has been in existence for more than seven years. Our own laws have provisions for citizenship after such periods.

We can enter discussions with UNHCR to assist us absorb the refugees by asking for decent money for schools, social workers, teachers, language teachers, resettlement funds and monitoring system. We do not need the laws! We need humanity.

We need to call out organization that use CSO status for political purposes. This is a human rights issue. ACT! This an issue of conscience. We need religious leaders to revisit their spiritual  instructions.

Those who claim to men of the cloth please let us remember Ezekiel 16: 49- 50.

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me, therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”

When what they thought were refugees coming to Lot. They congregated outside the house to rape the immigrants. Lot had to offer his virgin daughters to be gang raped but they wanted the foreigners.

For Moslems.
Surah 9:6

“And if anyone of the disbelievers seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the word of Allah and then escort him to a place where he will be secure.’

This is a verbatim translation. The interpretation is much clearer in the hands of scholars.

“Chathu Si Changa.” Belonging to a commune does not make you an owner of the commune. There is the Nativist Ownership Complex (NOC). You do not own the country because you were born there. You own the computer above your shoulders, the brain! Use it. The English protested the Poles and the Central Europeans for taking their jobs. (White on White). The Poles would work for anything. They made a lot of money and went back or opened shops in London.

 In the US, there are people who believe they cannot get into Harvard because their government is letting in people from Guatemala. Travel the US, 1000 miles you see Mexicans and Hispanic men on engineering sites. Few natives can be seen doing manual labor.  It is hard to stand on the roads for 10 hours day in and day out!  One open secret in the US is that many of the victims of the COVID-19 outbreaks were economic refugees. We could not shut down the factories. The food industry would have collapsed. Nations are richer with diversity .Immigrants bring wealth to nations.

We cannot talk of Pan Africanism, Organization of African Unity, Common African trading blocs when we worship the colonial borders.

While we are reflecting on the subject, lets hang our heads privately in shame. 20 thousand refugees are threatened with internment and the prices of groceries in a whole nation go up. Seriously? Time to acknowledge. These great Lakes Africans are a different breed of black people. They think about money, dream about money, make money, spend money and work for money. It is time to take more of them and study them and emulate them. For me, this issue is simple, we are crueler to each other than others are cruel to us.

For me: When I see any human being (White, Green, Purple) I see God. When I see a black person, I see a mirror: “I see myself. What I do to the image in the mirror is how I feel about myself.”

 Malawi?’

Daniel Dube is Pulmonologist and Intensivist CEO Nasoro Medical PLLC in the USA