Feminist relishes roles as student, activist

Jessie Kabwila Kapasula approaches feminism both as an academic and as an activist.

Kapasula, 40, a doctoral student in comparative literature, works with a social support network in her native Malawi that deals with HIV/AIDS issues as well as violence against women.

Kapasula left Malawi for Zimbabwe when she was 6, then returned to her home country for college. She earned two degrees in education from Chancellor College in Zomba before taking a teaching job in Botswana.

Kapasula returned to Malawi to teach and work on a master’s degree at Chancellor College, where she became president of the staff academic union. She led a fight that resulted in a 62 percent pay increase.

When she decided to pursue a doctorate, Kapasula wanted to prove herself at another university. She came to the United States because she believes it’s the best place to study the roots of feminism and the associated race and class issues.

“Here I can study it openly,” said Kapasula, a passionate and talkative woman with firm ideas about justice and fairness.

She came to Binghamton in the fall of 2006 with an American Association of University Women fellowship. Her goal is to complete her doctorate in three years so she can return to Malawi and resume working on behalf of women there.

Kapasula, now president of the African Graduate Student Organization, is teaching a class on African feminism this year at Binghamton.

She’s also looking forward to the arrival of her husband and her 15-year-old daughter, who’ve had trouble getting visas for the journey.

Kapasula credits her mother, who is a curriculum specialist, with encouraging her to pursue advanced degrees. “She’s pushed me to achieve more,” Kapasula said. “I’ve learned to aim very high.”

Zimbabwe: Controversy Stalks Kunonga

FISSURES have emerged in the local chapter of the Anglican Province of Central Africa following reports of the withdrawal of the Harare Diocese from the union at a recent synod held in Malawi.

State media claimed the Harare diocese, led by pro-ZANU PF bishop Nolbert Kunonga, had withdrawn from the union because it had failed to condemn homosexuality.

The reports suggested two other Anglican dioceses supported Kunonga's stance.

But a pastoral letter released after the meeting reveals that homosexuality was not on the agenda of the synod.

Heads of three of the Anglican church's five districts in Zimbabwe, bishops Godfrey Tawonezvi of Masvingo, Wilson Sitshebo of Matabeleland, and Central Zimbabwe bishop Ishmael Mukuwanda, say in the pastoral letter that gay matters were never discussed. Elson Jakazi heads the Manicaland district.

The Province of Central Africa consists of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana.

Since the synod in Malawi, Kunonga has portrayed himself as having stood alone in a region clamouring for gay rights in the church. But it turns out this was never the case.

"The Church of the Province of Central Africa condemns homosexuality. This has always been the position of the Province and continues to be so. At the just ended Provincial Synod, homosexuality was not part of the synod agenda and no bishop, priest or layperson condoned homosexuality. No homosexual lobbying by any one ever took place at the provincial synod," the bishops stress in the pastoral letter.

It has now emerged from sources who attended the Malawi conference that there is consensus in the church that if Harare withdraws from the unity, then Kunonga should leave the Anglican Church.

"He (Kunonga) was told that if his diocese withdrew from the union, then he should leave," a source said.

Kunonga's attempts to portray himself as a crusader against homosexuality could be designed to forestall a decision on his future by the church, the sources said.

Kunonga has previously survived moves to have him step down by critics who oppose his support for the ruling party's actions.

Preparing for 2010 the Malawian way

If you thought Bafana Bafana are far from ready to compete at the 2010 World Cup, the situation in other southern African countries like Malawi is worse, if not pathetic.

Poor preparations both on and off the pitch have cast a huge shadow of doubt on whether Malawi would be able to host visiting teams or qualify for the Africa’s first ever World Cup.

Save for the renovation of the national 40-seater Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, there is little that Malawi has done so far to improve its facilities in readiness to host a visiting team.

On paper, President Bingu wa Mutharika appointed an inter ministerial committee to prepare for the World Cup but the committee’s impact is yet to be felt.

On the pitch, the situation is even gloomier for the Malawi’s Flames.

A 3-1 loss to 3-1 to Zimbabwe second string side in a formality African Nations Cup qualifier further recently raised question marks over the Flames’ readiness for the 2010 World Cup, prompting captain Peter Mponda to urge the Football Association of Malawi to forget about qualification.

Mponda has every reason to doubt whether a team that has declined worrying, losing six-back-to-back-games in the last five months since English coach Stephen Constantine took over.

The loss to Zimbabwe in Bulawayo not only certified the Flames as not worth enough for qualification at next year’s African Cup of Nations finals but also piled pressure on the Promised Messiah Constantine.

Constantine, whom Malawi Minister of Sports Khumbo Kachali described as arguably the worst expatriate, is popular in Malawi for wrong reasons, having lost 1-2 to second string Namibia in front of President Mutharika during an Independence Celebrations game.

The former India and Nepal coach doesn’t seem to give the long-suffering Malawian fan hope either -- he has blamed the poor quality of players, low domestic league standards and inadequate funding as the evils affecting Malawi football.

To sum up it all he says he would “need at least two and half years” to put the Flames back on their feet!

And if you calculate that the World Cup is just less than 1000 days away, then Mponda and other analysts have every reason to rule the Flames out of the running for a spot at the 2010 World Cup.