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Mbaluku is situated on the Mangochi-Namwera road immediately after the bridge over Shire River. At the end of the bridge towards Namwera there is a road block. Then bicycles. After that people, people, people and all kinds of businesses. This is Mbaluku, a place famous but for unclear reasons to many.
But two men, who have lived at Mbaluku for a long time, have possible reasons why the village is famous. Group village headman Mbaluku — known with that name — and Sheikh Abdul Majidu Mtenje said recently Mbaluku is famous for several reasons. And their reasons are very different from much speculation.
Some have said the village is known for its women who take care of men on outing to the lake district. This is the place where, according to some sources, men are carried on women’s back from bathroom into the house. Away from comfortable self contained bedrooms, men on seminars in Mangochi have sometimes almost forgotten to return home, so it has been rumoured.
Economically, this is an area where in recent years it was a norm for young men to treck to South Africa to come back with cars of different types. In fact some have said that Mlaka Maliro was singing about this village in his song Nditengedwa because here some car owners have grass-thatched houses.
All that aside, Mbaluku is known for its own reasons as explained by the two old men who have themselves been to South Africa more than once. Group village headman Mbaluku does not know when he was born, but remembers well the 1949 famine. In fact he was already a grown up by that time.
The first reason why the village is famous is that Mbaluku was the first village to be established in that part of Mangochi. The other 10 village heads, now under Mbaluku, came years later. “As such everybody referred to this area as Mbaluku,” says the village headman.
The second reason is that Mbaluku is situated at a place where people were crossing Shire River. In fact the bridge today is at the very place used for crossing.
“People used this place to cross the river and so Mbaluku became famous,” said Sheikh Mtenje.
Thirdly, Mbaluku is where the colonial government constructed an inn for travellers. People who were going or coming from places, including South Africa, spent nights at the inn. According to the two sources the inn made people to discuss Mbaluku even in South Africa, Zimbabwe and other areas.
The fourth reason is that Mbaluku was a place for fishing. In the old days, according to the village headman, there was a lot of fish at Mbaluku and everybody talked about the place. Fish caught here were usipa, utaka, and some chambo.
Such are the reasons that make Mbaluku so famous until today. And since the bridge is a direct link between Mangochi town and Mbaluku, the residents of this town or village, which ever you like, take the bridge as their own property.
“Although the bridge is for all Malawians, we, people of Mbaluku take this infrastructure as our very own. We are proud of it,” said Mtenje as village headman nodded in agreement.
One peculiar aspect with people of Mbaluku is their love for Shire, popularly known there as the lake. There are a number of boreholes and water kiosks in the village but it is funny that people like the lake a lot more than the safe water. People frequent the lake for most of household chores like cloth and dish washing.
Perhaps this is a result of top-bottom communication channel in which those in power impose development work on people unlike participatory rural appraisal (PRA), a method that allows people themselves to initiate development programme.
This village of Mbaluku is strategically positioned. There is a road in the midst of the village. This road meets the Liwonde-Ntaja road at Namandanje. So Mbaluku is connected to the rest of the country with a reasonably good road network by Malawian standards.
There are two bicycle or taxi ranks at Mbaluku. Here you don’t say bicycle, but taxi. If you want to go to Ntaja, for example, you can do so by bus, via Namwera. But you can still choose to travel by bicycle. And you have to be ready to cough K500 for a four hours’ journey to Ntaja, according to Saidi Kamoto, chair of taxi operators.
Kamoto is the one responsible for registering new operators who pay K60. He says when a person comes to join the business, there is need for a cycling “licence.” And Kamoto is the examiner. He jumps onto the carrier and you have to ‘drive’ him around town to assess the performance of , and induct, the new business operator on customer care.
People of Mbaluku live together peacefully. These are folks who share natural resources, people proud of their village and leader. Wherever he goes the village leader is greeted with respect, that kind of Yao respect.
As a Yao area, manganje comes into mind as one of the main dances but it is not. “There is no manganje here,” says Mtenje hinting that instead women dance likwata, chioda and chindimba while beni is for both men and women. He added that manganje was popular in the past but now people are enjoying other dances.
All the stories aside, Mbaluku is simply like any other place. Many stories are exaggerated. But your eyes will not miss the inscription on the entry point to the village: “Welcome to Soweto.” This tells what kind of youth are in this village. Perhaps after visiting South Africa boys of Mbaluku want the gold land in Mangochi.
It is yet to be seen if this will come to pass.
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