inspire

THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE STUDENT MAGAZINE

FEBRUARY 2014

FIRST ISSUE

HEROES VILLAINS

JOHN CHIPHANGWI

&

SHORT STORY
MY INVISIBLE VALENTINE

p.7

Ex e in t n e r Val u o Y e able r Mak o m e eM perienc

L A I C E P S S VALENTINE -

HEY DOC :
health tips and tricks

PLUS: NEWS REVIEW, CROSS-WORD, SWAZI SECTION, ELECTORAL REPORT.

inspire
Managing Editor
Hagai Magai

CONTENTS
3. Introduction Earl Jay 4. Editorial Hagai Magai 5. News Reviews Symon Nayupe 7. Valentines Special Treighcy 9. Short Story & Poetry 13. Hey Doc Earl Jay 14. Cross-Word 15. Heroes and Villains Zaziwe Fatsani Gundah 17. Faces of COM Hussein Twabi 18. Swazi Republic

Editorial Team

Bright Mwafulirwa Senior Banda

Design
Innovative Africa

E-mail

hymagai@medcol.mw

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Introduction

The stage is set. All preparations are made. An idea conceives. and Inspire is born. Enter Inspire. Inspire: Ladies and gentlemen of the College of Mediciine intellectual body. I, born of an Idea, enter upon this stage for no other reason but to serve thee. if then it seemeth pleasing unto, thee use me to thy hearts content.

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editorial

Dear Readers The issue you are reading right now is the first Magazine from this generation of the University of Malawis College of Medicine. This Valentines Day issue has been released with the hope of keeping you interested and at the same time with the hope that we get feedback on how we can improve in the upcoming printed edition of the Magazine. Nonetheless, the quality of the Magazine, is in our opinion, definitely one of the best Malawi has to offer. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thanks to all those who have supported us, especially the sponsors of this issue, Mat Academy (Zomba). To all those who are celebrating Valentines Day with their loved ones, I wish you a day filled with peaceful waves of loves, and even the sky and the moon must testify to the bonds of your hearts. Happy Valentines Day. To the loners (ma Swazi), I wish you a happy independence day. Please, spend the day in the warm embrace of your books to avoid romantic intimidation which comes when you see lovebirds flying outside the window - with wings tightly wrapped around each others waist. Best regards Hagai Magai Editor in chief

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new reviews

ratory Sciences (Hons) Year 4)

Symon Nayupe( BSc Medical Labo-

OPINION: COULD COM STUDENTS BE COMedians?

It is very obvious that COM is not a place for drama talk, less anything relating to it. After all we do not do Arts here. But sometimes maybe observations have shown that we may be COMedians, or if not, we are something related to that. Have we been COMedy actors at one point? Or are we actors all time? Could we be real COMedians? Observations by some individuals on campus have led to them making an assumption that College of Medicine students could be COMedians. Indeed, at some points we have seen emails in our email accounts hosted by the College commonly known as Webmail though it is no longer such today. Webmail was the email system that the students were using before the whole thing was transferred to Gmail. Well, that is not what we want to address here so let us focus on what we want to address. Indeed we saw emails drop into our inboxes with titles like To My Fellow COMedians or To all COMedians. At times we wondered since when did we became comedians as we were addressed in the emails. Some of us gathered fury at points realizing that we could never be comedians, or if anything like that, we could be bad ones and therefore never wanted to hear anything like being a comedian. I wonder if the students sending the COMedian-titled emails never got flaming emails from an infuriated COM community admonishing them never to call them COMedians anymore. I am pretty sure they did. Well. COM is famous for its more argumentative but less action population. When an issue arises one would be sure to see a trail of well docu-

mented, phrased and paraphrased emails in the next few hourssome with Biblical references others with academic references typical of a COM student anyway. We are all the time sure that when such an individual makes a comment it is likely to be followed by a particular individual or if not in that certain order one thing we are sure of is the consistency of the names of individuals who comment. The funny and interesting thing is how these argumentors argue on things sometimes so straightforward that an argument would not be necessary. Could that be the definition for comedy according to the COMedian? Interesting enough is the other fact that COM community is a mixture of different characters and lives. That would be true of any institution with a big number of people from various backgrounds, but the uniqueness with COM is that both characters probably have similar weight and influence and when issues arise they seem to be annihilating each other and not producing anything beneficial at all in the end. Let us take Chanco, for example. When Chanco declares kayende it really happens - kamayendadi. When the Polytechnic shouts Poly Huwa! we are sure we will see them on the Highway with tree branches and whatsoever fits for a demonstration. These two have a sense of one direction for a good or bad cause. (Am not, of course, encourcontinued on next page...

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aging one direction-ness for acts with bad intentions or bad courses. Am only admiring the sense of having one direction at times, not all times for it is impossible for all people to have a single destination or aim or course of action at one similar point). At COM its a different case all together. When the vicious young men and women shout kayende, we are sure The Evangelist has already dropped his long email calling for dialogue and discussion, and we would be certain that intercessory prayers are already underway for the same cause. Such is life at COMCould that be another definition of comedy according to the COMedian? COMs student union leadership at times has been more of comedy than serious business. Unsynchronized rule with a president saying one thing and the Secretary General saying the other as directors and hostel representatives go their own ways with their own gospel. But could this also be a point to support the assumption that we are doing comedy here and that we are eventual COMedians? Much as I understand College of Medicine

and the type of professionals it trains, I think our conduct is just right for what we are being trained to be. As medical professionals to be we ought to conduct ourselves in a way that in itself sends a healing message to our clients or whoever we may call them. After all the clients themselves out there already have a good perception of our character before we even meet them. Frustrating such clients with our despicable behaviours would lead to serious consequences like subsequent loss of trust in these clients. In the same line I think COM students must also understand that they are living in a world with a lot of ado where survival must be achieved through braveness and arrogance at times. Sitting down and waiting for things to happen would yield nothing at all in a world where actions need to be triggered and constantly be kept in motion through active supply of force. Otherwise we would continue to act like comedians one acting this way, the other acting the other way and would probably be rightly called COMedians.

Some faces of the new COMSU executive

Felix Kaminyoghe
President

Brany Titus Mithi Vice President

Wanangwa Dovie
Treasure General

Taonga Banda Secretary General

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and the breadth and the height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everydays Most quite need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my griefs, and with my childhoods faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints, --I love thee with the breath Smiles, tears, of all my life!-- and if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

tin e

ss pec ia

How to spoil Me on valentine

Treighcy

va
The pressure that comes every February is finding the perfect present that will just melt your partner. Personally, going an extra mile to make me happy would be perfect. With Malswitch, it is unrealistic to expect a weekend away or dinner at 21 Grill or designer perfume. A card, box of chocolate and flowers are too ordinary but if you personalise them for me my heart would melt under your charm like a bar of chocolate on desert sand. Call me old fashioned but I love it when things are made specifically for me especially cards. A handwritten message would be sweeter pasted over the default message that comes with the card. Knowing that the person put thought into what they bought and actually considered my likes and dislikes alone is highly appreciated. I like to be surprised! Like if we ever walked around by Queens and I said I have always wanted to try chiwaya but never got to it and you took me to a chiwaya, I would love you forever. You dont need grand gestures to make my Valentines extra special. Simply going that extra mile to do something nice and thoughtful will make a huge difference. So, for valentine, a simple sweet surprise would melt my heart.
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len

short story & poetry

my invisible valentine
I have been watching you a million times, I have been wherever you have been, I have feared what you have feared most and perhaps with faith felt what you feel. For so long I have been procrastinating about this, but a powerful surge within me has been arguing me to let the cat out of the bag and expose its contents to your virgin and innocent heart. For so long I have been looking forward to your hug and perhaps an opportunity to whole-heartedly lavish your sumptuous face and lips. My valentine, Rabecca, wherever you are know that I am here incomplete without you. It is not that I am a coward nor that I didnt have a rich vocabulary that would make walls of Jericho fall. A vocabulary better than that which has seen many young men receive cold shoulders. But you have to understandI have been looking for an opportune time to let you know that you are my lost rib and that I need you more than anything else here on mama earth. Let me start by apologizing for I have been in love with you all this while, though without your consent. If your memory serves you right, I have been approaching you on several occasions; the first one being when we were at High School back then in the late 1990s. On that particular day, for your information, I built up all the confidence that I needed to convince you how I desperately needed you in my life. Indeed I was ready to walk where you walked and to eat whatever you ate. I resolved not to be like Peter who after hurdles and tribulations denied the Messiah; I was prepared to drink from the same cup that you drank. Nothing about school was in my head by then. Each time a teacher was in class I was daydreaming. I recall in one of those episodes how I visualized you and me sneak out of the heavily-fenced school premises during weekends and spend the weekends together at Kande Beach. I approached you in no time. Your reply was a blow unto my life. The least I expected from you, though I admit I regarded you in high esteem. You said we must prepare first for the examinations which

Philmon M Mphande
were in due course and you will you will tell me where your heart is after the examination results come out. I must confess I lost direction because of you. When the examination results were out I failed miserably. Not that I was not intelligent, but I didnt know it was the litmus test set before me to qualify for enjoyment of all the heavenly treasures within you. Your angelic smile, natural dimples combined with the squinting brown eyes made me lose my mind at times. Then you came to me asking for my report card which broke your heart much as the same you broke mine. From that time it was never the same again as you told me that I should be always on the first or second position for you to accept my proposal. This news was shocking; it was as if I have been sentenced to life imprisonment. I did not really understand the mathematics behind all this, but all the same I tried all what I could do to make my name so I could acquire you. I have to take this opportunity to thank for you made me work extra hard in my school, and am glad to inform you that am one of the best engineers the country has ever had. Then I didnt hear from you again as we went our separate ways. We met again some years later as you came to Kalanje College of Engineering, where I was doing my Honours degree in Mechanical engineering, for some sporting competition. At first I did not recognize you for you accumulated all the beauty for yourself. I was in the horns of dilemma whether to approach you. What if its not her? I kept asking myself. I managed to swallow my pride and then we talked. This time I did not waste much time but to tell what was troubling my heart. Then you told me to wait for your response, which by all means I did. After a week of long waiting you told me that it was too early and that we still have a long way to get into a serious relationship that would see us lead each other to the aisle. We were chatting here and there, at least it was promising for I had hope that it would finally work. Continued on the next page...

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short story & poetry

Then you cut all contacts with me. I tried to calling, writing and all other available means but to no avail. Its been a long journey, still it is and certainly a bleak one. I must tell you I have been through trying times. Then I fell in love with this other girl. She was also beautiful, only in average though. Beautifulness has no measure but I can tell you, you are far above what people call beauty. She was a fine lady though, deep down my ribcage, my heart was still attached to you. I could not do otherwise but to think of you every time I was with her until one day she asked me what I was thinking about so much. I broke the ice, and as I write the rest is history for the relationship did not last long. I felt very sorry for her as it hurt her much, just as you cause pain unto my soul. As per the say, love is in the air, it is my prayer and hope that one day we will both grow wings and find it wherever it is. My valentine, Rabecca, wherever you are know that somebody is dying inside, somebody is desperate for your love and somebody wants you so much just to hold your hand, to laugh at the un-laughable with you and to whisper into each others ear while birds of the beautiful Lilongwe Botanical Gardens sing silent melodies in our world. That somebody is me. Fin

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short story & poetry

Winners.

short story and poetry

Transplanted rib
I love the way you search my depth With eyes so bright and blue. The way you kiss; makes me run out of breath With lips so soft and smooth. Like the fountain that springs happiness you soften me with waters of care. I love the way you say, I Love You, And the way youre always there. That magical touch, leaves me enchanted Sending chills down my spine. You are the rib that God transplanted And I am glad that you are mine. Leonard Kambewa (Foundation)

CLOSER I looked without seeing Preoccupied with images of my fantasies Hoping for a vermillion banquet of roses In a seductive way that movies portray So I shut you out when you came Yet I felt your presence when you moved closer You are a treasure to hold for eternity More worthy than diamond and gold You eyes spark me with a desire of longing Feeling the beats of our hearts in symphony As I learn the verisimilitude of love Just after I let you come closer You are a thousand reasons to smile For it is just a whisper of your voice That gives me courage to carry through I wont try looking back; its a waste of my time I may trip and fall but I will hold still As long as you are there; closer Takondwa Malamba.

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runnerups

The Physics of My Life You remind me Newtons third Law of Motion Like the upward force you raise me to a climax But with gravity I falter and fall. Like friction, you oppose my motion to stupidity But that just culminates my inertia. When charged with happy moments You wash my soul with calming torrents When I drown in a sea of my own transgression I am recharged by your energetic passion They are guessing your name starts with A For you seem to be the alpha of my radiant smile Your greatness is too surreal, Maybe like the gravitational force So I might mess things up By my prolonged radius of words So lets just say You balance me on your beam of life Simply put You are the physics of my life. Loviisa Mulanje

Seasons of love
A journey that started on hard ground, a trail crowded with many a hound, that spat a mound of taunts at us, they spelt damn and doom, but we remained firm and calm The hands endowed with dexterity, you crafted my hearts love in fine art You are a beauty - free of frivolity, so in you I see and smell security a trait that yields my hearts liberty Now that love is in the air, lets go and run a race at loves pace, lets go and hike Tikondane peak, so its tall grass can give us a standing ovation, while the birds chant a fanfare, assuring us a life in full care, as flowers offer a guard of honour, their fragrant scent perfuming our trip. Mcferson Masida Msowoya

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hey doc
Nutrition Info for pears
The mango season is over and the pear season is just beginning. Well, before you start having pear sandwiches for lunch and supper, here are a few tips on pears to consider.

Earl Jay

white blood cells that produced them. Vitamin C also promotes immune health by stimulating the production of white blood cells.

Vitamin K for Bones, Blood and Brain

Vitamin K helps produce proteins your body needs to make blood clot and to regulate bone density. Emerging research reports that vitamin K may also support your brain, where it helps produce specialized lipids, according to a review in the March 2012 issue of Advances in Nutrition. Vitamin K may also have an anti-inflammatory effect in the brain. One large pear provides about 8.6 micrograms of vitamin K, or 9 percent of a womans and 7 percent of a mans recommended intake.

Macronutrients
One medium pear contains about 103 calories, 27.5 g of carbohydrates, 0.68 mg protein, and 0.21 g of fat and 5.5 g of fiber. Adults should eat a minimum of 14 g of fiber for every 1,000 calories in their diets, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. That means a medium pear contributes 26 percent of the minimum fiber requirements for a 1,500-calorie diet. Pears have more fiber than many other common fruits, such as apples, oranges and peaches. When you eat a pear, youll get soluble and insoluble fiber. You need the insoluble type to keep your digestive tract regular, while soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol. The soluble type has another important job: it slows down the rate at which sugar enters your bloodstream. Even though a large pear has about 34 grams of total carbs, including 22 grams of sugar, the fiber stops the sugar from causing an unhealthy spike in blood sugar.

Minerals
Like most fruits, pears are high in potassium and low in sodium. A single medium pear has 212g of potassium and only 2 mg of sodium. Other minerals include 16 mg of calcium, 0.3 mg of iron, 12 mg of magnesium, 20mg of phosphorus, 3.9 mcg of fluoride and 0.2 mcg of selenium. Keep in mind that even though pears are a rich source of a good number of nutrients they are still lacking in several nutrients essential for a healthy life. So supplement your diet and eat a larger variety of foods. Lastly happy Valentines to all. references: http: //www.li vestrong.com/arti cle/527955-nutri ti on-i n-green-pear/ http: //www.li vestrong.com/arti cle/522337-nutri ti on-i nformati on-for-largebartlett-pears/

Vitamin C for Immune Support

You will get about 10 milligrams of vitamin C from eating one large pear. Vitamin C neutralizes free radicals formed as metabolic byproducts, which prevents them from damaging healthy cells. White blood cells in your immune system synthesize free radicals, which they use to kill bacteria. Then these free radicals must be neutralized by vitamin C before they damage the 13INSPIRE

Cross-word

Across
2 Second person plural pronoun; you. (2) 3 Basic Unit of life. (4) 4 Analgesic drug. (10) 6 Roman god of desire, sexual love, & attraction and affection(5) 10 People requiring medical services. (5) 12 Pioneer of medicine in Malawi. (14) 15 Vex. (3) 16 A strong Feeling of attraction. (4) 18 Joint. (4) 19 Surgeons honor title. (6) 21 Help. (3) 22 Valentines was named after --Valentine.(5) 23 Basic length unit. (5) 24 Concerning the ear. (4)

Down
1 Sense Organ(3) 3 Muscle pain (5) 5 Solid Water (3) 7 Same (4) 8 State of sickness(3) 9 Pattella region (4) 10 Anatomical specimen (7) 11 Inventor of the compound microscopeRobert --. (5) 13 pain (4) 14 Slang term for a mental health professional (6) 15 Nutrient (7) 16 Swell (6) 20 Person involved in medicine (5)

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heroes villains

&

Zaziwe Fatsani Gundah

Zaziwe Fatsani Gundah considers the founder of Malawis College of Medicine

JOHN DAVID CHIPHANGWI 1936; 2001

Going around the Mahatma Ghandi Campus, no one fails to notice the inscription of the name John Chiphangwi when passing through the anatomy department buildings and at the core of the sole medical school in Malawi, stands the John Chiphangwi Resource Centre. An architectural grandeur of the state of the art resource centre to have been built in the commercial city of Blantyre. On the 17th of December, 1936, Professor John David Chiphangwi, a very singular and extraordinary human being was born at Luchanza, 30 miles east of Blantyre. He was born to an estate clerk father and a school teacher mother. Educated at Dedza Secondary School in the central Part of Malawi, he proceeded to study Medicine at Aberdeen University from 1960. He furthered his career to do his postgraduate at Makerere and London University. Chiphangwi never lost his love for his motherland and in the early 1980s, he played a pivotal role in establishing the only medical school in Malawi. His apprehensive direness saw Mahatma Ghandi campus doors opening in 1991, and Chiphangwi himself as its medical director and, later in 1995, became its principal. Upon the first graduation ceremony, those in attendance witnessed his appealing joy of awed devotion when he was giving the certificates to the Malawi premier medical doctors-a memory they will eternally cherish. John David Chiphangwi, an artistic and elegant speaker and witted writer, lived his life under the most hostile and terrifying atmosphere orchestrated by the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Dr Banda, himself a medical doctor, seeing himself as unpopular figure in Africa, he had set himself to controlling every aspect of in the

republic of Malawi. In so doing, many of Chiphangwi peers had resorted to fleeing the country seeking a more secure living, yet Chiphangwi endured the artificial calamity. Dr Banda had told doctors that Aids was not in existence and that alone made life a living hell for the nurses, teachers and doctors more particularly for men with astute medical skills and administrative calibre like that of Chiphangwi. In the 1998, Chiphangwi was yet again instrumental in the erection of Malawis second university in the northern part of Malawi. Few men can march the un-attenuated effort of Chiphangwi, Malawis arch specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology, who worked tirelessly organising debates about diseases and the then banned birth control topics in the 1983. At the age of 65, Professor Chiphangwi died on the 29th October, 2001, having served at the Commonwealth science council and as Africas regional representative on the coordinating board of the World Health Organisation/United Nations Development Project/World Bank programme for research and training in tropical diseases, among many others.

Reference: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/ jan/29/guardianobtuaries1 http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/ aberdeen/john-chiphangwi

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That is why at MAT Academy we specialize at giving your children great beginnings. After all a strong foundation is the backbone of Greatness.

Give your children a great future. Take them to MAT Academy.

We offer : Reception and grade 1-3, lim-ited spaces available ( Zomba) contact : 0888580558 MAT Academy, where green pastures bloom.
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faces of COM

Hussein Twabi

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swazi republic
A LETTER TO THE FAITHFUL SWAZI

Thindi muula

Dear Swazi,

The Swazi Association of College Of Medicine (SACOM) . Private Bag 360 , Mahtma Gandhi Campus, Blantyre . 13 th February, 2014 .

I am very anxious to warn you on the new development that has arisen to our surprise.This is simply the decrease in the number of the faithful swazis in hostels of Anadkat ,Soche, Chambo, Mlambe and Nyasaland. The development has seen multitudes of our followers leaving the Swazi Bus Group of companies opting for the Romeo and Juliet Bus Company. It is because of this, that we would like to strongly advise you to remain intact and keep your personal shares with our bus company as we are passing through this tough time called the season of Valentine. We really treasure your commitment, support and good will. I also would like to tell you that some of your friends who left us and joined Romeo & Juliet Bus Company have failed to drive such buses yet alone earn a profit from their shares. They are out of business as they have been booted out by their competitors. This in simple Swazi language means chawaluma chakuda. Finally, let me remind you that SACOM has been around for so long that it has seen premeds that were 25 years of age who did not need to be under our responsibility. Today, at this very moment, this very sentence, we are seeing premeds that are 15 years old that are joining the institution with the priority of falling in love rather than the academics which saw them through to this level. It is very sad that such relationships do not last a week, day, an hour yet even a minute. I have been a Swazi for this long due to the fear of the sentence to fall in love, if it was to rise in love may be I would have been the first one to abandon the SACOM. The management of SACOM currently is trying to establish another wing at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) which will be opening its doors later this year. Our friends from Chanco, Poly, LUANAR and the most faithful ones from KCN greet you. Yours faithfully, Professor Swazi (The Incumbent President)

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The inspire management would like to thank all the people that took time and contributed to this magazine and we thank the com communityfor tolerating us. Thankyou and Happy Valentines

For the next issue contact us to make your cotributions. Tell us what you would like us to cover. We would like to hear feedback from you.

contact
managing editor: Hagai Magai e-mail: hymagai@medcol.mw