Page 16 - Number 2 2021 Volume 74

4 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

discipline is surely remarkable in any woman within the cultural constraints of the
period.
During a visit to the Providence Industrial Mission, Mbomwe in May
1994, the headmaster of the P.I.M. School, Mr. Charles Stimah, identified a
passing lady as “John Chilembwe’s granddaughter”. He then introduced me to
(the late) Grace Chapunga (1941 - 2000); a lady I later described as possessing
“innate dignity and quiet confidence...with an above average command of the
11
English language”. This short interview – Grace was on her way to church –
was followed by an extended, taped interview during a return visit in March 1997
at which an interpreter was present to enable questions and answers to be double-
checked in ChiChewa, to ensure my precise understanding of claimed inter-
familial relationships within the Chilembwe clan. Several control questions were
answered with unfailing accuracy and intentionally introduced errors were duly
corrected. Indeed, when shown a copy of the photograph from John Chilembwe’s
12
own album (reproduced opposite p. 215 in Independent African), Grace was not
only able to identify the three known male subjects, Morris Chilembwe, John
Chilembwe and Stephen Mkulichi, but she also identified the three hitherto
unidentified women in the photo as Ngupang’wa and Awanjilang’wa (John
Chilembwe’s sisters) sitting either side of Chilembwe’s mother Nyangu.
Awanjilang’wa also bore the Christian name Mary.
Grace stated she was the second eldest of three children then surviving
of Edson Chapunga and Sylvie (Sylvia) Chilembwe. Grace further stated that her
mother’s brothers were named John (aka ‘Charlie’) and McDonald. This appears
to be the first recorded claim of a ‘Mc’ (or possibly Mac) prefix to Donald’s name:
McDonald also being the name of Grace’s son, so named after his uncle. Grace
further confirmed that Emma, ‘Charlie’, (Mc)Donald and Sylvie all shared the
same birthmother, Ida. It is indeed entirely possible that John and Ida latterly had
a daughter Sylvie, as Grace confidently asserted, but that her arrival was eclipsed
by the Rising and the First World War and, possibly, in her being a daughter rather
than a more highly valued son. It is also a possibility that Ida was pregnant at the
time of the Rising and thought it prudent to keep the subsequent birth quiet for
13
fear of being parted from her child. The late George Shepperson drew my

11 See: SOMJ Vol.50 - No.1, 1997. A Brief Investigation into the Genealogy of
Pastor John Chilembwe of Nyasaland and Some Thoughts upon the
Circumstances Surrounding his Death. pp 44-58.
12 All three photos of Ida Chilembwe in this article are from John Chilembwe’s
own photograph album which was seized as plunder from John Chilembwe’s
home by the planter Willie Sanderson in the aftermath of the Rising.
13 Emeritus Professor George Shepperson, C.B.E., Edinburgh University. Co-
author Independent African.