14 year old Leadness Mbeye, a form one student at Lilongwe Girls was all smiles as she emerged as the overall winner of the 52nd edition of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority International Letter writing competition.
MACRA in collaboration with Universal Postal Union runs the annual international letter writing competition where children below the age of 15 compete on various themes that affect their day to day lives.
This year the competition was held under the theme Imagine you are a superhero, and your mission is to make all roads around the world safe for children. Write a letter to someone explaining which superpowers you would need to achieve your mission.
In her letter Mbeye shared a real life story of her childhood friend who died in a road accident after she was hit by a car in Chintheche Nkhatabay.
“I got inspired to join this competition as I once felt the effects of road accidents after I lost a childhood friend. I really felt I can make an impact towards the society hence joining this competition”, said a visibly excited Mbeye.
In his remarks Acting Director of Postal services at MACRA Bannet Namacha said they are impressed with the impact the competition is bringing towards leaners.
“The impact has been huge as evidenced from an injcrease4 in the number of entries we continue to receive each year. For instance last year we received 212 entries and this year we received 338 entries that alone is evidence enough that this competition is attracting interest among eligible participants”, said Namacha.
According ti Namacha the target is to have a winning letter that would compete and win at international level.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Education has hailed the impact the competition is having on leaners.
“This competition is enhancing a reading and writing culture among learners. Currently the ability to read among our leaners is at 0.8% so with this competition we expect the percentage to increase”, said Professor Golden Silimba who is the Director of Quality Assurance Education in the Ministry of Education.
For emerging winner Mbeye has received a state of the art laptop, Laptop Bag, Scientific calculator and a Mathematical Instrument.
