I love my language. It is simply the best. I am originally from Malawi although I speak English most of the time. My home language is Chichewa. ‘Kuangola mtengo mpoyama’ that means ‘You must learn things while you are still small’. This is my favourite Chichewa saying.

I don’t feel completely comfortable when I speak in English, that’s why I mix it with Chichewa. My language is my priority. My language is the best because without my language I couldn’t know where I come from. By speaking Chichewa I know my origins. I know where my forefathers come from. I am connected to them because I speak what they spoke all those many years ago.

I love my language because I know I always find something new about it. It is my country, it is me. I speak English, Chichewa and Yao. I don’t speak isiZulu but I understand it.