There is a theory called “seven degrees of separation” that suggests any one of us can be connected to anyone else on the planet by no more than seven personal contacts.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that being true, but then I read The Chronicle story about the Twin Cities’ close ties to the University of Livingstonia in Malawi, and that theory came vividly to life.
The genial Hank Kirk, the former president of Centralia College, and his equally engaging wife Jenny have spent 25 years helping people in southeastern Africa build up a college that can serve in one of the poorest countries in the world.
They’ve succeeded in that since the college began admitting its first students in 2003. The university’s first graduating class was 35 students. Sixteen years later the University of Livingstonia’s graduating class numbered 817, with over 4,000 bachelor’s degrees distributed in total over the years.
The Kirks don’t personally know all those students, of course, but they have close ties with many of their teachers and deans. Whoever you are in Lewis County, you certainly are only a step or two removed from the Kirks, and they in turn are within a step or two of college graduates who are changing their African country for the better, every day and in so many ways.
Last week, the Kirks hosted some of their longtime Malawian friends the Rev. Dr. Howard Matiya Nkhoma and wife of over 55 years, Mariya. The sweetness of the Kirks and Nkhomas seeing each other again was seasoned with the added poignancy of knowing that it might be their last meeting this side of the Pearly Gates.
They know they have done their part and found a new generation to carry the baton forward.
“It’s a very wonderful thing. It was an idea, a dream, and it became real,” said Hank Kirk, now 87, speaking to Chronicle Assistant Editor Isabel Vander Stoep. “That’s a terrific opportunity, of helping make a dream come true.”
The Chronicle has covered the local ties to Malawi for years. I’ve met several of these stalwart workers during their visits to the United States, and I’ve been so impressed with their faith, their dedication and their joyful spirit despite the hard work and inevitable setbacks.
“Together with these people here, we scattered the seed in the soil,” the Rev. Dr. Nkhoma told Centralia Rotarians in 2013. “Now, we’re producing crop.”
In 2010 I was there when the Nkhomas’ son, Masanche “Nelson” Nkhoma, had a poignant reunion with a Chehalis woman, Cindy Hall, who had paid for his college education. She greeted him as a long-lost son. He couldn’t hold back his tears.
“It was life changing,” he said of her support. “When I was done, how would I give back? It changed my life up to now. It guides and directs me in everything I do.”
I think also of professor and University of Livingstonia dean Joyce Mlenga, who visited Lewis County in 2011 and spoke about her deep Christian faith.
“We are encouraged by the fact that our God is able and he is our provider,” she told a gathering of local Presbyterians. “We continue to serve him despite the challenges because we know that our labor is not in vain.”
You can hear these voices from Malawi yourself.
Howard Matiya and Mariya Nkhoma will be part of a service at Westminster Presbyterian Church this Sunday, with a lunch to follow. The service will begin at 10 a.m. at 349 N. Market Blvd., Chehalis.
They will also be part of a public event at 11 a.m. Monday at Centralia College. The Malawi Cultural Exchange program will offer detail and stories about life in Malawi and about the operations of the University of Livingstonia. The free discussion will be in the TransAlta Commons Building, Centralia College.
This is your chance to not only prove the “seven degrees of separation” theory true, but to find an even deeper truth — that it’s not separation, but connection, which will change the world. It stars with each of us when we make our big world smaller by making a new friend from a faraway land and join them to build something beautiful together.
Dad Joke of the Week
When Hank Kirk was president of Centralia College he was clean-shaven, but he now sports a fine bit of facial hair on his upper lip.
Thus, if you are inquiring anything of him, you may say, “Dr. Kirk, I mustache you a question.”
(But you probably shouldn’t.)
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Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com. If you see Jenny Kirk, ask her about the butterflies of Malawi. She’s a big fan and has the photos to prove it.
