Meet the Fourth Group of CorpsAfrica Volunteers in Malawi:

Precious Edward Chakunkhulira is a highly creative and results-oriented young man passionate about empowerment of women and youth. He graduated from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College in 2015, with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in philosophy, minoring in political and administrative studies and history. While in college, he worked with Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM) as a Theatre for Development Troupe Member. From November 2015 to December 2018, he worked at Drug Fight Malawi as a Project Officer. He also worked for Kadale Consultants as a Research Assistant from January to March, 2019. Precious also worked as an Enumerator at Salima District Council, Social Welfare Department, under the Unified Beneficiary Registry (UBR) survey from May to August, 2019. Through his work experience, Precious has acquired skills in planning and implementing project activities, initiating and sustaining partnerships with relevant stakeholders, facilitating meetings, trainings and focus groups discussions, community mobilization and sensitization, comprehensive report writing, among others. He believes that working with CorpsAfrica will help him to accomplish his long-standing passion to work with rural and high-poverty communities in contriving solutions to some of the challenges that the rural masses face, especially women and youth. 

Eliza Chanika is an enthusiastic young professional who is passionate about grassroots development. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Gender and Development studies from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, she volunteered as a girl child mentor in the E3 project with Word Alive whose project goal was to empower girls, provide school necessities to needy girls, eliminate school dropouts, early pregnancies and child marriages. She was in charge of events coordination, data entry, counseling and mentoring girls. She also interned as a Paralegal officer at Centre for Legal Assistance (CELA) where she was responsible for networking and collaborating with service providers, identifying and training beneficiaries, and advocating for human rights and health. While in college, Eliza served as a Bunda SCOM secretary and also volunteered in the SCOM hospital ministry which performed charity work, sanitation and hygiene activities. 
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Margret Balekire Chavula is from Mzimba, Malawi. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences majoring in Sociology from the university of Malawi, Chancellor College. She believes that empowered women and girls have control over their lives and are able to participate actively in social, political and economic domains. She was a 2016 Global Champion at Empower Women, an organization under UN Women where she was advocating for girls and women empowerment. She also volunteered as a mentor at Little Big Prints, where she mentored secondary school girls and she is currently an ambassador for Maphunziro265, an organization which mentors secondary school students and acts as a bridge between scholarship providers and needy students. Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, Margret worked as an intern labor officer at M'mbelwa district council labor office.

Chifundo Chibaka is a graduate of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Seed System and he also has a certificate in Library and Information Science from Malawi Library Association. Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, Chifundo served as an intern at University of Malawi Chancellor College and St John's Institute for Health. He has volunteered with a number of organizations including AIESEC in Malawi as a Local Committee Vice President, UN Volunteers Bunda Chapter and Maphunziro265 as a Vice president and a Desk Officer respectively. While in College, Chifundo worked as a student researcher and extension worker for two years on the BaMGNut project with Chitedze Agriculture Research Station and LUANAR to assess the performance of new Bambara Groundnuts varieties and to promote the cultivation and utilization of the crop in Mzimba and Ntchisi districts. Chifundo believes that the opportunity to serve with CorpsAfrica will help him engage with rural communities, share knowledge, skills and diverse experiences to solve challenges that they face in their day-to-day lives.

Angella Chizimba holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Cultural studies obtained from Chancellor College, a Constituent college of the University of Malawi in 2018. Angella has skills in social marketing, community mobilization, and behavior change communication. Before joining CorpsAfrica, Angella worked as a Communication Intern in the Department of Museums under the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. Among other communications duties, she was responsible for day-to-day administrative work. Due to her passion to help people around her, Angella joined several organizations including the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP) to help people realize the shared responsibility and active involvement in responsible parenthood, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) behavior, Family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and more. She believes that it is the responsibility of everyone to be the help, might and light to humanity. 

Being the first female graduate in her family, Margaret Magombo is passionate about girl’s education and loves to impart knowledge in young ladies and motivate them to stay focused in pursuing their goals. Margaret studied media for development at the University of Malawi Chancellor College. The program has strong elements of participatory communication. Previously, she worked as a field supervisor with National Statistics Office, and because of her love for volunteer work, she has also volunteered with AGE Africa where she mentored secondary school girls.

Dorothy Mapira was born and raised in Malawi and is a graduate of African Bible College. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biblical Studies and a Minor in Mass Communication. She worked as a student intern at ABCtv. During her Internship at the station, she worked on TV presenting, news writing and reporting, camera work, and program traffic. While in college, she volunteered for several organizations, which also helped her to have a better understanding of life in rural community. She volunteered for Live Love Malawi in the Kids and Women Department. She has also volunteered for Ministry of Hope, under the feeding program and also His to Offer, an organization that seeks to improve the life of people by providing safe water through construction of boreholes. In addition to this, she worked for Grace of God Orphanage (GOGO) in their Prison Ministry. Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, she volunteered for Association of Children and Elderly Development. One thing that stood out to her in her previous volunteering experiences was being able to bring hope for a better Malawi and sharing a smile with the people she served. She believes a better Malawi is everyone's responsibility and Malawians can bring the change they want to see. Her passion for a better Malawi made her opt for CorpsAfrica as a platform for helping to change the mindset of people on how sustainable development work should be done in the rural community.

Mieke Annie Mmeya holds a Bachelor's degree in Arts (Humanities) from Chancellor College. She believes that improving the socio-economic conditions of communities is a prerequisite to nationwide development, and that development should be in the hands of the people, not institutions. Before joining CorpsAfrica, Mieke did an internship with the GIZ Basic Education program. She then proceeded to work as a sales representative for Tecno Mobile Malawi. Her interest in volunteering was sparked during her college days, when she volunteered as a mentor and tutor under the Chancellor College Volunteering Scheme.

Bertha Emmanuella Mukhuna is a young professional who is passionate about community development. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education Languages. Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, she was involved in community development activities both in and after college. She was part of Chancellor College Disability Clinic in college and later worked for Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) as a research assistant. She also volunteered with the Breaking Red Project which focused on teaching young girls about Sexual Reproductive Health Rights. In addition to this, she has experience as a secondary school teacher. CorpsAfrica is a platform she has been looking for to purse her vision of helping out and making impact in rural communities, especially in activities that involves the youth.

Chiukepo Mwenechanya holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Planning with special interests in Applied Geographic Information System and Research from the University of Malawi. Prior to joining CorpsAfrica, he co-founded and worked as an Associate Research Consultant-Project Management for Research Insight for Learning (RIL), a professional research firm which helps individuals and institutions to build their capacities and capabilities, as well as their abilities to continuously learn, change and innovate through the provision of social-institutional development and management consulting services. Chiukepo has also worked as a Research officer for Centre for Health, Agriculture, Development Research and Consulting (CHAD). His drive to join CorpsAfrica lies in the urge to understand why rural communities in Malawi continue getting poorer despite the presence of huge development aid and the country’s efforts to improve its socio-economic conditions. Chiukepo believes CorpsAfrica will offer him a platform to understand sustainable community development and be amongst the drivers of change in the country.