2020-01-15 Wed

Malawi is a small African country which is surrounded on all sides by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. It was the British Nyasaland Protectorate before it became an independent country in 1964. Over 80 percent of its population resides in rural areas and pursue agriculture.

John Chilembwe Day is a national holiday in Malawi celebrated annually on January 15th. The holiday commemorates the life of John Chilembwe, an important figure in the emergence of Malawi's nationhood and resistance to colonialism in the early part of the 20th century. This is a day when the earliest hero of Malawi’s independence movement is remembered.

John Chilembwe was a Baptist pastor, teacher, and missionary who trained in the U.S. but returned to his native Nyasaland, now Malawi, to serve his people. He soon became involved and fought to promote the rights of African plantation workers as well as the political and social rights of Malawi’s black population. When World War I erupted in the early 1900’s, Chilembwe organised an unsuccessful revolt against British colonial rule. On gaining independence in 1964, Malawi remembered and honoured the Chilembwe’s legacy.

His portrait adorns all Malawi currency notes and is still on the 2000 and 500 Kwacha notes. The note depicted alongside is a 50 Kwacha banknote issued in 2007. The obverse depicts an engraved portrait of Reverend John Chilembwe to right with Sunrise; and Fishermen on Lake Malawi in the background.

The reverse features the Independence Arch in Blantyre. This predominantly blue hues note has the portrait of John Chilembwe; and 50 as its watermark.

Image Courtesy: PicClick