Linking the Malawian Diaspora to the Development of Malawi”
Malawi
Malawi (/məˈlɔːwi,məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa pronunciation:[maláβi]; Tumbuka: Malaŵi), officially the Republic of Malawi and formerly known as Nyasaland, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south and southwest. Malawi spans over 118,484 km2 (45,747 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). Malawi’s capital and largest city is Lilongwe. Its second-largest is Blantyre, its third-largest is Mzuzu and its fourth-largest is its former capital, Zomba.
Washington- President Donald Trump is taking credit for a decline in the African-American unemployment rate again, this time by taking aim at rapper and businessman Jay-Z following his comments on CNN Saturday night.
“Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!” Trump tweeted Sunday morning.
The President’s tweet follows Jay-Z’s remarks on the premiere of CNN’s “The Van Jones Show,” where the rapper addressed Trump.
Asked by Van Jones whether it’s OK for Trump “to say terrible things but put money in our pockets” amid Trump’s claims that unemployment for African-Americans has dropped, Jay-Z said no, “because it’s not about money at the end of the day.
Money doesn’t equate to happiness. It doesn’t. That’s missing the whole point.
“You treat people like human beings. That’s the main point,” he said. “It goes back to the whole thing — ‘treat me really bad and pay me well.’ It’s not going to lead to happiness, it’s going to lead to, again, the same thing. Everyone’s going to be sick.”
Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. Ruth 3:3
On November 14, 2014, Mary Singletary wrote on her FB wall: My recent trip to Malawi a couple of weeks ago visiting the Lumbadzi Primary School on invitation by Honorary Mrs. Patricia Anne Kaliati, MP, The Minister of Gender, Disability and Social Welfare.
Stay tuned for more information!
To the posting, were 15 likes and 8 comments all inclusive of mine that read: “Continue your great work. Awesome picture story.”
Mary passed away on July 6 and was buried on July 14, 2017.
Accolades continue to fill her Facebook wall.
Star Darko writes: Today I buried a very dear friend I was blessed to have had her in my life. Over the last month i saw her ups and down as we listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong she never stopped fighting the good fight. In the hospital I arranged meet ups and took notes because she refused to leave any projects unfinished. She has worked her whole life to advance african americans, women and children and even to her last she worked to pave a way for the next generation. The Pastor said to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ and if we truly believe in the work she has accomplished in her life it is up to us to continue it so her Legacy lives on. Rest in peace Mary E. Singletary my beloved friend and mentor. A helping hand and guiding light to so many. To the Lindsey/Singletary family I pray for your continued strength through this loss.
Gayle Walton writes: We lost a great leader and pioneer for women and children. I give thanks for her mentorship and example of service. Rest in peace Mary E. Singletary.❤?
Najah Shakir writes: RIH Aunt Mary E. Singletary. I never forget your kind words at my wedding & my mothers funeral. My mom, great grandpa Marshall & Aunt Mary reunited. 90 years old & a phenomenal woman. Rest on Aunt Mary.
Link to some of the tributes and the video that was made of her 2014 trip to Malawi: https://www.facebook.com/gayle.waldon/posts/10207060773134871
The gal from New Jersey, attended New Jersey City University and later Howard University, Singletary was a registered nurse who practiced for many years. A great admirer and scholar of Sojourner Truth, the African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.
In working on the fashion show to raise money for the fistula hospital she worked with in Lilongwe, it was a joy for me to work with Gyllian Art in the inspirational portrait of African American women and Martin Luther King – the portrait of Michelle Obama, Shirley Chisholm, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Maya Angelou.
Who was Mary Singletary was answered on May 10, 2017. In a great wonderfully and divine-inspired tribute, friends of Mary Singletary on June 3, 2017 honored the lifetime achievements of this phenomenal woman, who like Madonna, Rihanna and Roger Federer, had chosen Malawi to focus her philanthropic work.
She had insisted that I attend. I am glad I did. That was the last time I saw Mrs Singletary alive.
On that Saturday June 3, 2017, President of the National Council of Women of the United States (NCW/US) Mrs. Mary E. Singletary, received multiple honors at a tribute luncheon, hosted by the Friends of Mary E. Singletary. The event, held at Mayfair Farms, was held in recognition of the enormous work Mrs. Singletary has done in New Jersey, nationally and internationally. Among the accolades flowing in the room, embellished with her friends from all the years of her work, were that QUOTE: She is a woman of quantity, quality and longevity;
***She goes out, seeks people and push them through the glass ceiling; ***Mrs. Singletary “goes out seeks people and push them through the glass ceiling; ***She’s is a modern day heroine like Sorjouner Truth and Harriet Tubman; ***She should be immortalized as a learning tool for other young women; ***As an 88-year young New Jersey resident, four days a week, she treks to office – an hour ride into New York City (across the UN Headquarters); ***The Newark Council President, Honorable Mildred C. Crump cupped the accolades declaring that “everyone should have a Mary Singletary;”
I would add my own: Mrs. Mary E. Singletary never wants anyone to fail; but more importantly for me, she loves connecting people to work together for greater good of marginalized people around the world.
Who is Mrs. Mary Singletary? And why all the pomp? Why all the circumstance? I was privileged to meet Mrs. Singletary when she invited the Ambassador and staff of the Malawi Mission to the UN, to attend a breakfast and later in the day a seminar. After reading that there would be Ann Gloag, who wanted to build a fistula hospital in Malawi, I invested to a dawn wake up to enable me make the 8 a.m. breakfast meeting.
Right away, Mrs. Singletary introduced me to Mrs. Gloag, the millionaire philanthropist who have “been talking with Bill and Tom (former President of the US Bill Clinton and billionaire Tom Hunter). She’d been talking to these two about space in their Lilongwe hospital. She had asked them for 12 beds to set up a fistula hospital. She got my 100 percent attention. Malawi would be the second.
But the two big lads wouldn’t have it. She was told to get permission from the Government of Malawi; and as she was having trouble, could I help her? The request was echoed by Mrs. Singletary. With permission from my Ambassador Steve Matenje, I connected Mrs. Gloag to then Vice President Joyce Banda, who ensured of its completion.
Malawi has a fistula hospital. Slightly changed, the new fistula unit at Bwaila District Hospital, has a new major theater and a 28 bed inpatient unit.
The next Malawi project Mrs. Singletary had was collating items into Mama Kits. These are bags (similar to layettes for mother and baby, would be given to pregnant women; by the time they have the baby, they would already have basic provisions required. Eight hundred sets were assembled with the assistance from college students from the NYU.
Mrs Singletary did not stop there; always calling to her office so we could strategies on the next project to raise funds and submit them to Malawi. The highlight of our relationship, reached a crescendo when again she called me to her office and told me she had amassed books from the US and wanted to take them to Malawi. There were 50,000.
That is a lot of books, however Mrs Singletary has a vision of bringing joy to children and hear them read from the books; and she believes that that one book has the power to change a multitude of lives.,When the Malawi Mission could not afford to pick up the freight costs, Mrs. Singletary partnered with the United Parcel Service. Under the company’s “Your Wishes Delivered,” Mrs Singletary brought books to Malawi and distributed to primary and secondary students.
My role in this was to connect her with officials in Malawi who would receive the books and facilitate distributing them to the students. In this I was fortunate that Honorable Pateicia Kaliati. She graciously agreed to receive the books, arrange for three to four schools and distribute in the local schools. This was November 2014.
Mrs. Mary Singletary is a teacher, mentor, instructor, coach; she encourages and gives advice. And she’s a powerful resource for organization’s, women and girl. She is a connector: simply put, she brings powerful synergies to any group. Mrs. Singletary is also someone who connects people, creating powerful virtuous cycles of philanthropic excellence.
Other tribute speakers, which reads like a Who’s Who of philanthropists, political figures and members of African countries where Mrs. Singletary, presented Mrs. Singletary with tributes in the form of resolutions.
The tribute speakers were Mary White, Club Sister (BPW)/Friend; New Jersey Senator, Honorable Nia Gill; Assemblywoman Shiela Oliver(Speaker of the House); New Jersey Fourth Ward Councilor of Montclair, Honorable Renee E. Baskerville; Rose Ivy Quarshie, former Secretary General, National Council of Ghanian Associations Inc.
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Mrs Mary Singletary had to be placed in a hospice two weeks after the tribute; and she passed away on July 6, 2017. She was 90 years old.
May her soul rest in God’s eternal loving peace (RIGELP).
Image Mrs Mary Singletary went to her office four times a week till the month she passed away. In her office the day she welcomed Hon Kaliati Image Mrs Singletary with the delegates from African countries she performed her charity work Image Mrs Singletary and janet Karim, they first met when Karim was social development expert at the Malawi Mission to the UN Image Mama Singletary and 50,000 books greeted by a sea of eager students in 2014
Malawi president Mutharika: urges African states to be united
JOHANNESBURG-(MaraviPost)— Malawi President Arthur Peter Mutharika, on Monday urged African leaders to strive for unity in Africa, and not to allow national boundaries to be an excuse for divisions.
Mutharika made the remarks in Johannesburg, South Africa during the opening of the Pan-African Parliament session.
His remarks come amidst disputes between Malawi and Tanzania over ownership of the Lake Malawi, which since the colonial time, has been entirely owned by Malawi.
“This Parliament is founded on the principles of Pan-Africanism. Since the 1960s, be it in the Diaspora or here at home, African people have always aspired to pursue a common goal. In those days, Black Americans and Africans here on the continent, understood themselves as sons and daughters of one Africa, and always saw a common goal to pursue.
“It was on the same spirit of Pan-Africanism, that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was founded. This is where the idea of African Unity comes from. We believe in standing together as a united front. We believe that united, we are a rock, divided, we are sand,” said Mutharika.
He added: “Our national boundaries should never be an excuse for division. I have used the word excuse, because excuses are not reasons anyway. From the 1890 Heligoland Treaty to the 1964 Resolution on Border Disputes among African States by the OAU, there has never been a reason for disrespecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations. Africa did not come to be what it is, by mistake. It is then wise to remember that we co-exist peacefully because our forefathers, who founded the countries we govern today, valued unity, in spite of our boundaries.”
In an apparent reference to the Lake Malawi wrangle, Mutharika mentioned former president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere, as one of the forefathers who pledged to respect the borders sketched by colonialism in European capitals.
“In 1964, we all pledged that we will respect the borders we found by colonialism. In Resolution 17(1) of the First Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, all member states solemnly pledged and declared ‘to respect the borders existing on their achievement of national independence.’ The most outstanding of those forefathers, was Julius Nyerere, who sponsored the resolution and led Tanzania in playing an active role in respecting the territorial integrity we inherited from colonialism,” he said.
On economic growth, the Malawi leader said the youth and women, must be given room to participate in the economic growth endeavours, if Africa is to register meaningful economic growth.
He said women constitute almost half of the African population, therefore, women empowerment, is a vehicle for economic growth.
“In fact, there is no vehicle that can move when half of its wheels are not moving. Therefore, we have no choice, but to promote women empowerment. And women empowerment must begin with investing in the girl child of Africa,” he said.
He further said Africa, being the youngest continent as the majority of the people are the youth, youth empowerment, must be one of the objectives to be addressed in the parliament.