Many old-timers know him as the boy who graced top venues alongside the legendary Du Chisiza Jr and Wakhumbata Ensemble Theatre, the who’s who of Malawi’s English drama industry.
Millennials found him at the summit of his marketing career, mixing his theatrical antics and sociable character to attract radio advertisements and give talented musicians a competitive edge.
From a beginner’s steps on the streets of Mzuzu to the epic-making hike to the summit of Kilimanjaro Mountain in Tanzania, Emmanuel Maliro has scaled hurdles many would happily shun.
However, a terrible illness that left him bedridden for three years led him to realise that he was born with one kidney—and it was failing to remove toxic impurities from his blood.
The shocker has not just left Maliro trotting the globe in search of quality care that the country hardly provides.
It has emboldened him to talk about the hidden truths of kidney failure on social media and everywhere he goes.
Kidney awareness
Now, the versatile personality and his wife, Dr Susan Nambewe Brown, have launched Mphukira Foundation to help Malawians understand kidney failure and take action before it is too late.
The charity promotes mass awareness, preventive measures, early detection and giving hope to people who survive on dialysis, the machine-aided treatment that filters waste and excess fluid from one’s blood when kidneys are failing.
Maliro is receiving kidney treatment in the US years after discovering his sole kidney was failing.
To him, Mphukira—Chichewa word for an offshoot or side-shoot—means a new beginning.
The foundation aims to help people understand what their kidneys do, hazards that harm kidney health, ways to protect themselves and how to identify problems earlier.
“This means beginning in communities, not in hospitals and dialysis units,” he says. “Kidney disease can progress for years without obvious symptoms. Conditions such as hypertension and diabetes can increase risk, while infections, some medicines and other exposures may also contribute to kidney injury.”
However, low awareness and uneven access to testing and specialist leaves many Malawians dying without knowing their kidney status.
“If we help someone understand their risk, we also have a responsibility to help them understand what comes next. Hope is the possibility created by knowing sooner,” Maliro states.
Despite spending years entertaining audiences, telling real-life stories, developing ideas and hiking the likes of Kilimanjaro and Mulanje, he did not know that a life-and-death uphill journey would soon get underway.
“When I became critically ill in 2023, I was shocked to learn that I was born with only one kidney. But it was already too late. Many of the kidney patients I met also had little or no knowledge of kidney disease until they were diagnosed,” he says.
The experience left Maliro wondering: How many more Malawians live or die without knowing their kidneys are damaged?
The Maliros seek to close the information gap.
“For Mphukira, the answer is not simply more information, but information people can understand, trust and use. Knowledge should give people something they can do,” he says.
Brown, an American doctor, wants kidney health talks to go beyond hospital walls and agonies of patients on dialysis because kidney disease affects families, communities and nations.
“Kidney health should therefore matter to us all,” she says. “At Mphukira, we want parents talking to their children, churches talking to their congregations, schools talking to students and communities talking to one another.” For her, awareness initiatives can begin with a simple conversation.”
Currently, only Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre and Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe provide free dialysis, but many kidney disease patients die waiting for a turn.
Apart from the two public hospitals, the blood-cleaning service is available at a fee at Mwaiwathu and Adventist private hospitals in Blantyre as well as Partners in Hope and Like Daeyanga Luke in Lilongwe.
Early strides
Mphukira Foundation has launched a social media campaign, encouraging followers to learn about their kidneys and take action earlier.
The Maliros plan to expand the campaign in October with Climbing the Kidney Mountain Together One Step at a Time.
Maliro put the planned global walk, bike and hike campaign for kidney health in context: “Kidney disease can feel like a mountain, especially when you discover it late and do not know where to turn. But this is not a mountain anyone should have to climb alone, Mphukira is about climbing it together and helping people begin the journey before they reach the steepest part.”
