Mayor of Blantyre City Noel Chalamanda has appealed to Blantyre City residents and all Malawians in general to continue voting for netball icon Mwawi Kumwenda as she is competing for the International World Games Association Athlete/Team of the Year award.
Chalamanda joins a chorus of Malawians of good will which include politicians, artists and religious leaders who say Mwawi is a pride for Malawi and have encouraged people to mobilize families, friends and colleagues to cast their votes.
“Her winning will put Malawi on the world map of sports. It will not only be an achievement for her individually, but a country as a whole. I appeal to fellow residents and indeed Malawians to increase her chances of winning by casting as many votes as possible.”
According to an article IWGA published on its website dated Thursday, January 14, 2016, Mwawi was leading the 18 nominees’ list with votes followed by Russian dance couple Dimitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova with 2,448 votes whereby the third place is currently held by the Flying Disc Beach Ultimate Mixed Team from Germany with 1,570.
Mwawi, the only African nominee, is among 18 shortlisted athletes from a cross-section of sports disciplines across the world whereby the general public through IWGA’s website, will vote for an ultimate winner whose actual prize is yet to be known in due course .
On her part, the athlete said in a statement that Malawi has the potential to win the award.
Bellow is her full statement:
Dear All,
Among the many lessons I have learnt is that: for one to be motivated, all it takes is one or a few people to believe in you.
Growing up, I was not so sure that investing energy in netball and what it entails was worth it. The popular conception was (and sadly still is) that nothing can come out of Netball or sports.
I almost accepted this misconception – but I had a big problem resigning myself to this. Because, Netball, for me is a passion. I love Netball. I therefore begged to differ and took a huge leap into Netball, as some say, head first!
What made my decision easier were the few (initial) people who believed in me and my potential. Today, evidence suggests that they were right to believe in me and the evidence is not that far away.
You, reading this, are testimony that since then, many more people have come to believe that I have something to offer to my current team in NZ, the Malawi Netball Queens, and perhaps, the world at large.
This is why I have decided that, today is as good as any a day, to tell you that I am grateful for your support to me and indeed the entire Netball Family out there.
Your being there for us is why today, the Malawi Queens has an Ambassador on the list of nominees for the 2015 Athlete of the Year Award.
I am touched and I am truly grateful. Thank you for the love, for the support, and for these thousands and thousands votes of confidence! Please, keep them coming!
You may know our proverb that says: “If you want to go quickly, go alone; BUT if you want to go far, go together.”I do believe that from this point on, I cannot go further, if I go alone. If I walk and work with you all, together WE will go far, very far.
In addition to this, in the vernacular we say “it takes a village.” Friends, please allow me to challenge this and say: it takes more than a village; it takes a continent, if we are to soar high and take our rightful place among the world’s best.
I therefore I urge you, request you and invite you that we walk together to the end of the road and claim this award for our beloved continent, and for the millions of African girls and boys still lacking belief in their own potential.
We have less than two weeks, two weeks of voting every day, less than two weeks of spreading the word, to seal this.
My sincere and heartfelt gratitude goes to each one of you, for believing in me and my potential as a daughter of Africa and indeed the Warm Heart of Africa, beautiful Malawi.
Voting Link:http://www.theworldgames.org/…/…/24-athlete-of-the-year-2015.
Lovingly,
Mwawi Kumwenda
Asambizi Asakala 