MY GRANDFATHER WANTED TO BECOME A CATHOLIC PRIEST

My great grandfather as I mentioned before had four wives which were given to him by Mutwa Mkwava. With one of his wives Getrude  also known as Mponela, he got two boys, Waligunda the elder who was later to be called Francis, and Sambigavalye  who was born in 1908 in Katenge village, and was baptized in September 1924  and was given the name Raphael.
After the 1st World War, when he was old enough, Raphael joined  other youths to work as porters for  soldiers who were constantly on the move from one location to another. There were also porters from Nyasaland now known as Malawi, and they sang as they walked from one place to another with heavy loads on their heads. One of the songs my grandfather later taught me had these words,

Lemba ni kalata
Lemba ni kalata
Nyasalendi kwa bwinu hoyera

Rough translation would be; write a letter, write a letter to Nyasaland your home.

I have heard army brass bands many a time play this tune and it always reminds me of my grandfather Raphael.
It was during this time that he spent with these soldiers (the Europeans and Africans) that he came across books and was first exposed to the meaning of reading, education.  A few years later he joined Tosamaganga School and that was how he was the only who got that kind of education among all the children of Kimwagutangu..

Village  School

The only nearby school then was at Tosamaganga, so Raphael finished his primary school there and was one of the first students to join what then was then called Tosamaganga Central School, the locals could only manage to call it ‘Sendiladi’. The school was under an Italian Catholic priest, Father Francisco Sciolla. 

Schools were then divided into lower or village primary schools which included standard 1-4, and then Central Schools which had standard 5 to 9.
My grandfather Raphael later chose to be called Raphael Mwagutangu instead of Kimwagutangu.  He dropped the Ki maybe he was  now exposed to Kiswahili speakers and ki in front of a name meant tiny, he didn’t want to be known as the tiny Mwagutangu I guess.  For a short while Raphael joined the seminary wanting to become a catholic priest, later changed his mind, (good idea or I wouldn’t have existed) but already had a good knowledge of reading and writing Latin and also reading and writing music. He then joined a teaching course and ended up as a Grade I Teacher some time between 1929 and 1930. His first post was Malangali Middle School, a very respectable school at the time. Teaching was a highly respected job at the time. His salary was 60/- per month.