Maliko’s Times in South African circus

Without fear of contradiction, circus is alien to Malawi. The idea of clowns, jugglers, animal handlers, tightrope walkers, trained animals and other forms of art is foreign to the Malawian mind.

In recent times, circus came to town in Blantyre in the early 1990s pitching where the Chichiri Shopping Mall is situated today. Since then, no circus has toured Malawi.

It is surprising, then, to find a Bilila-born Malawian, Maliko Paul Chikaonga eking a living through aerial silks, strength adagio, fire breathing and other antics to entertain circus goers in South Africa.

Chikaonga performed for sometime at the South African National Circus in Cape Town before forming his own group, The Silk Workshop with his girlfriend Nichola Jane.

“I perform my acts in various occasions, corporate events, birthdays and many more. At one point, I performed at two birthday celebrations of King Mswati of Swaziland,” says Chikaonga.

Some videos, which Society has seen, show him doing somersaults, stretching legs and acrobatics on silks hanging from a high roof. Daring antics.

“It takes a lot of practice. We practice every morning from Monday to Friday and we also train people in various acts,” he said.

At times, the daring antics have borne sour fruits. Injury is inevitable. Chikaonga recalls one time when he had to spend two months off the circus after he twisted his ribs. The danger, he said, is that if you don’t warm up properly you get badly injured, since when you are high up there is no harness attached to you.

“That time, I was twisting my body to the left and the right while leaning backwards. I heard a click on the side rib! It was hurting but I managed to come down the silks. I couldn’t walk and was rushed to a hospital called Groot Schuur,” said the 37-year-old.

But how did he start out?

After finishing his secondary education at HHI Secondary School in 1998, Chikaonga worked in various entertainment joints as a bar tender. He was also a bodyguard for musician Joseph Nkasa at the peak of the Zosayinasayina star and music promoter Jai Banda. He also featured in several music videos, including Vic Marley’s Traffic Police.

In 2007, he went to South Africa where he affirms life was harder than he had presumed.

“After three years of living in South Africa, I met my English girlfriend Nichola Jane. She was in the circus in Europe and she came to South Africa and started the circus. When she told me about it, I was very excited to join her.

“She trained me in the aerial silks [a long silk fabric that we attach on the roof and do some tricks in the air]. We started performing in different events in Cape Town and people enjoyed it,” said Chikaonga.

Later, he said, they started doing Strength Adagio, an act where he lifts her from different positions, while she does some tricks as well.

Chikaonga is a master of several arts. He has a t-shirt label My Malawi Africa, which at one time he used to dress Black Missionaries Band when they performed in South Africa. He also designs and manufactures leather goods like shoulder bags, wallets, purses, pouches for tablets and phones and laptop bag.

Currently he is also working on a project to pass on the talent to the youth.

Under the At Risk initiative, Chikaonga teaches the less privileged youths to find a means of sustaining their lives.

“At Risk helps train youths coming from broken homes: street kids and orphans. We conduct workshops  in communities, teach them discipline and everything about the circus,” said Chikaonga.

High on his agenda is the dream to bring circus to Malawi some day in the future.

“My best interest is to come home and introduce the circus to Malawi. I would like to start the outreach programme to teach the circus in the communities, schools and orphanages,” said Chikaonga . n