The 11th and 12th March 1990 are eventful days for me as I remember two special things in my life. It was on Sunday 11th March 1990 that I first heard my voice on MBC radio. I had been selected to be my school and class’ representative in a national radio quiz competition highly popular at the time, known as Top of the Class Quiz competition.
In the competition, each school selected top performing students to compete against rival schools in a question and answer session which was recorded and aired on the sole radio station, MBC at a later date.
My first ever quiz competition was recorded in October 1989 and was broadcast on national radio in the evening of Sunday, March 11, 1990. Prior to hearing my voice on radio, the only other time my name was on radio was when results of Primary School Leaving Certificate were being announced.
Back then, opportunities for High School (secondary education) were very limited with very few secondary schools available against ever increasing numbers of pupils in the final class of primary school, ready to take the next step. Pupils would write examinations one year, not get selected, repeat the following year and year after with most eventually just dropping out.
For those that got selected they would have their names announced on a radio which represented a very proud moment. Then, there was only one radio station in Malawi.
I was selected in my fourth attempt from a rural school called Mphompha in Rumphi district, northern Malawi. Hearing my name on radio as one of the selected students was very delightful.
But hearing my actual voice – on the night of March 11, 1990 – was beyond words. The following day, March 12 was yet another special and memorable day for me. It was on this day that I made a conscious decision to follow Christ led by Pastor Lazarus Chakwera.
I think the rest of this story should be in a book!
Entries by Ndagha
