In life when a baby is born there is joy and happiness. So when my mother fell pregnant while she already had a two year old child she was happy, she wanted to have a baby girl. My mom had fun at that time. She used to steal eggs from my grandmother’s shop when grandma was gone and left the shop alone.

When I was born she was so surprised to see a fat baby girl so she just said ‘zaithwa’ meaning ‘thank you’ in our language, Ngoni from Malawi. She was happy because she knew that eating eggs during pregnancy was a benefit.

I love my name because it has a meaning behind it. Whenever my mother calls my name she is happy and sometimes starts laughing – that sounds weird right? I know! I know but I love it when my mother calls my name.

When I came to South Africa I gave myself the name ‘Anna’ meaning ‘a great woman of God’.