Charity Nkosi: Founder of dream big global initiative

Charity Nkosi is a beacon of positive energy around people in her sphere.

She is highly dedicated to her work and this is mainly due to the smiles that result on people’s faces.

But the most important thing to her is seeing transformation in people.

“I believe I am living my life for a purpose and where there is purpose, there has to be drive, discipline and determination at all times,” she said.

In December 2014, Nkosi received the London Leadership and Peace Award from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

At the time, she was voluntarily working with offenders and ex-offenders in Greater London and was nominated for the Award anonymously.

Nkosi is a preacher and an accredited Sue Stone Foundation (SSF) life coach.

She has a background in mental health nursing from the UK’s University of Bedfordshire.

The life coach is also a mental health first aider at Dream Big Global Coaching having trained with the Armed Forces under the Ministry of Defence in Glasgow.

Said Charity: “Preaching became an important aspect of my life when I got saved. I believe the Lord called me into his office to serve according to the fulfillment of the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20.

“In terms of mental health, it all started with me wanting to do nursing, but I did not want to be hands on, so I branched off into mental health nursing. From there, my interest grew more than I anticipated.”

Nkosi founded the Dream Big Global Initiative, a non-governmental organisaiton that was initially created to empower women and children in Malawi prisons.

It was launched in October 2016 when she returned to Malawi after 21 years of living in the UK.

“The initiative came from my personal experience and from the time I visited Malawi in 2015 and held a motivational talk at a local prison. On that day, the state of the prison and prisoners gave me sleepless nights.

“After that experience, my sister and I decided to buy each prisoner their own plates for meals. Thereafter, I felt such a strong urge to reach out and do more for them,” said Nkosi.

The programme was later narrowed down to women and children.

And after talks with one of her mentors, Nkosi moved back to Malawi and birthed the organisation.

Dream Big Global Initiative also caters for orphans, widows, hospitals and natural disaster victims across Malawi.

So far, it has helped up to 22 women in the prison systems across Malawi, to either get bail or be released all together.

They have supported some women upon release, by providing them with transport money, helping them set up their own businesses and go back to school.

On one occasion, they even helped one woman who relocated to South Africa by contributing to her trip.

Currently, Nkosi is reaching out to flood victims of Cyclone Anna, particularly those in Chikwawa.

After visiting some of the affected areas with the help of local group village heads, they identified several groups in need of immediate assistance.

And with support from well-wishers, they are hoping to raise money to fund a project on re-building 32 homes for the elderly and single parents in two Chikwawa villages.

Through her community work, Nkosi admits that sometimes it is almost impossible to penetrate through the cultural and traditional boundaries, but she is learning to take time to understand the dynamics between various communities.

“It is important to involve the local leadership in any community and one must come to their level to connect with them,” said the nurse.

As an SSF life coach, Nkosi works with people internationally and locally.

She has worked with students and teachers in various schools and universities.

She has also worked with the Women Judges Association of Malawi.

Nkosi has also worked with Old Mutual Malawi, in particular, their women’s network across Malawi as well as all their male employees.

She has worked with World Food Programme and co-hosted Life Matters on Capital FM Radio.

Her clients are from Australia, Kenya, USA, Canada, UK, Denmark, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Ireland and Botswana.

Her mentor, Sue Stone—a British media expert, TV presenter, motivational speaker, life coach and business mentor—has been a main component in her journey and supported her.

“I met Stone at the lowest point in my life and she believed in me even when I lost all hope. She helped open my eyes to a future that was waiting for me specifically. When I launched Dream Big Global Initiative in Malawi, she came with her friend, for the first time ever and all to support me. Today, we still work together as she still continues to mentor me,” she said.

While in the UK, Nkosi is proud to have made a presentation on Equality in the Community as a community champion in the UK Parliament in January 2014.

Her presentation looked at the quantitative and qualitative outlook of equal rights for all races within the UK.

All this was by official invitation by the House of Lords.

She is also proud of co-authoring a 365 daily devotional, Being God’s Daughter and reaching people on a global scale with evident impact.

“When I see the transformation in people’s lives knowing God gave me the privilege to be a part of that, it fills my heart with joy. When I get a thank you report and positive feedback for my work— from any individual or organisation— it gives me the motivation to carry on,” the preacher said.

Nkosi is also motivated by God, life and purpose.

She added: “I believe life is a school and if we keep an open mind, we learn every day. Everyone must strive to discover their purpose in this life and once we do, we should not allow anything to disrupt it.”

Her advice to young girls is to choose associations wisely, be careful of where you go and that just because everyone’s doing it does not mean you also have to do it.

She also emphasizes the importance of having a mentor always to help in encouraging, enabling professional and personal development.

“If you fail, don’t quit; try again and again and again. What describes who we are is not how we fall in this life, but how well we rise up after we have fallen,” she said.

Nkosi was born and raised in Blantyre and is a Ngoni by tribe.

Her mother, who was also her Sunday school teacher, raised and taught her the power of faith and prayer.

She comes from a family of two girls and is the last born.

She’s a single mother of two to her son Dennis and daughter Michelle.

Nkosi is also a proud grandmother of two to grandsons Isaiah and Thiago.

In her free time, Nkosi enjoys cooking and lots of video calls with her loved ones.

“Overall my secret is simple; I pray!”she added.