Heritage group formed in Karonga and Chitipa
People of Karonga and Chitipa have formed a Cultural Heritage group, aimed at preserving the culture of all ethnic groups in the two districts.
The group’s Secretary, Wantwa Mwahimba, said on Wednesday that as border districts, the culture in Karonga and Chitipa faces international influence from neighbouring Tanzania and Zambia, hence the need to safeguard it.
Following in the footsteps of their Lhomwe, Ngoni, Mang’anja/Sena and Chewa counterparts, Mwahimba said it i s high time the Ngonde and Lambya people, who traditionally are one district under Paramount Chief Kyungu, sold their traditions to the world through various festivals.
“The other important thing for us is to participate in infrastructure development as way of complementing government’s efforts. We know it is trying but there are gaps, and if we want to wait for it to do everything for us, we will wait for eternity,” Mwahimba explained.
He said through the heritage group, there will be concerted efforts to scrap off all the harmful cultural practices which are putting lives at risk of contracting HIV and Aids, and preventing girls from continuing with their education.
“Par amount Chief Kyungu is our patron, through his juniors, we will have grassroots structures aimed at rooting out all the evil practices which apart from retarding development, they tarnish the image of the two districts,” added Mwahimba.
Registered on July, 18 2016, founders of the Karonga-Chitipa Cultural Heritage have currently embarked on an exercise of popularising the group through district coordinators Steven Simsokwe and Josaphat Chiona for Karonga and Chitipa, respectively.
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