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Mchinji Farmer Receives VOA Award

Traditional authorities, local school heads, family members and villagers, young and old, congregated on February 13 to witness Benjamin Chinkhunda receive an award from U.S. Ambassador Peter Bodde in Nkhomphola Village, Mchinji. 
Forty-eight-year-old Chinkhunda, a farmer in the remote area along the Malawi/Mozambique border, was one of 20 winners in a Voice of America (VOA) essay contest that asked the question: “Why are the American people so proud of their nation’s constitution?”  Of the more than 3,000 entrants from across Africa, Chinkhunda was the only Malawian selected as a winner.

Ambassador Bodde described it as an honor to meet a man that demonstrated such a clear understanding of the principles of democracy, saying “The comments he made about our constitution are significant.”  The Ambassador added, “He took a good look at the Constitution to be able to raise serious questions about it.  I believe he has more knowledge about the American constitution than many Americans.”

Ambassador Bodde expressed optimism that the lessons learned from writing the essay would be applied at home given Malawians' great interest in democracy.  “Malawi is a vibrant young democracy, you have an election coming up in May, people are excited about it everywhere you go, I think the lessons will be well applied, there is no doubt in my mind,” said Ambassador Bodde.

Chinkhunda noted several factors that aided his submission, saying “I followed the rules of the contest, I also knew something about the Constitution of the United States of America, I knew some history of the U.S. democracy and that helped me a lot in the contest.”