Chiwoza Bandawe decorated

The Society of Malawi (SoM)—an association that draws membership from different spheres of life and aims at promoting literary, historical and scientific interests—has inducted Chiwoza Bandawe, a University of Malawi College of Medicine (CoM) associate professor, as an honorary member.

SoM chairperson Carl Bruessow inducted  Bandawe last Tuesday during a ceremony held at the Blantyre Sports Club. 

In his acceptance speech, Bandawe said he was overwhelmed with the recognition, adding that as a Malawian, he shall strive to promote the strides the society is making in bringing to light important things for the good of the nation and the world.

“I feel humbled and assure fellow members that I shall endeavour to promote the aims of the society so that together we can achieve the needful and develop Malawi,” said Bandawe who is a practising clinical p sychologist at CoM.

Among other achievements, Bandawe has written and published several books such as Mind Tips: A Psychology of Practical Living Skill for Malawi (2005), Mind Tools to Sharpen Your Mental Health (2006) and Practical uMunthu Psychology (2010).  His areas of interest and expertise include social psychology, cultural aspects of human behaviour and mental health competence, indigenous African psychology and mental health education. 

The Society was established in 1946 (then known as The Nyasaland Society) with membership open to all, and it organises regular talks on a wide range of topics and publishes an excellent journal twice yearly.

It aims at discovering and recording facts and information about Malawi which might otherwise be lost, acquire books on Africa, particularly, Malawi, to serve as a reference library for people, including visitors.

It has a library and archive located at Mandala House in Blantyre, which is open to both the public and society members. The library offers a unique collection of books, documents and photographs of interest to browsers and researchers alike. n