If creativity is, indeed, the realm of fantasy that makes writers a special breed, charity works must be the realm that makes them relevant.
If not, why have some celebrities— already flying high on the wings of fame— settled for Malawi as the destination of their philanthropic works? As Malawians may, probably, be searching for answers to this question, it has come to our attention that another renowned world personality has revealed that she has set her eyes on Malawi.
Aware that U.S. Pop singer, Madonna, has ‘active’ footprints in Malawi, United Kingdom-based television presenter, Pauline Long, says she wants to use her childhood experiences in Kenya to change lives of women and other vulnerable groups in Malawi.
Long, who was born in Kenya and has four international lifetime achievement awards and 48 community awards to her credit, is a fashion designer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, fashion, media mogul, writer, music video director/producer, writer and TV and radio presenter.
Long said in an exclusive interview that she has started working in Malawi, but her work currently focus on using proceeds earned through her work to promote food security in Malawi.
“As a TV presenter, I’m inspired by the fact that I can use my platform to effect positive change in the society. I use my TV show to tackle issues that affect the most vulnerable. We tackle issues like domestic abuse, child marriage, extreme poverty, racism and many other injustices. It is also a platform to promote businesses, people and projects,” said Long.
Long was born in Kenya and was one of 11 children in her family.
“You can imagine how growing up was for us. Being from a large family was like living in the community [in the sense that] we shared so many things. Despite coming from a large family, my parents still took orphans in, educated many and supported many in the village. So, naturally, we learned the art of becoming humanitarians.
“I was born in the city, the second largest city of Kenya, Mombasa. During school holidays, I loved going to the village to visit my grandfather and other relatives. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather from the tender age of six. I saw him give to the villagers what he did not have,” said Long.
She says she is happy to contribute towards the cause of Africans, citing her work in East Africa, where she provides food supplements to street children under her Feed the Street Children Campaign.
Some of the biggest street children feeding campaigns are run in Uganda, where she fed over 1,400 children in a week, Tanzania and Kenya.
She adds that, building on the foundation of her work in East Africa, she has set her eyes on Malawi.
“In Malawi, apart from supporting families with food supplies, my long term plan is to set up projects that will see investors partner with farmers to work towards sustainable farming methods that will increase food production. It is not enough for me to supply bags of maize to a few families. There has to be a long-term sustainable solution but until this process comes to life I will continue doing my bit whenever I have the funds,” said Long.
This year, for example, Long has distributed maize bags to the people of Chathina Village, Sub- Traditional Authority Mkapita, in Zomba,.
However, this is not the first time Long has reached out to Malawians, having done so in Mzimba District Council.
Long said: “I worked with my team on the ground to identify the most vulnerable [people in Malawi]. We shall continue to identify more across the country. I am a business woman first then a philanthropist [and, therefore] the money is directly from me as a business woman”.
She adds that it would not do any harm to extend the wings of the Pauline Long [Television] Show to Malawi.
“However, it would be great to spread my show in Malawi and the rest of Africa so I can reach as many as possible with the topics that we raise on the show, topics that sometimes the world shies away from talking about. For instance, the issue of starvation in 2016 is clearly an injustice to humanity. My TV show, therefore, takes responsibility to tackle such human issues.
“I also plan to carry out humanitarian work by setting up a centre for women and the youth in Malawi through Pauline Long Entrepreneurship Foundation. I am already working on this with a team in Malawi and this is one of the long term plans I have for communities in Malawi. My vision is to see every woman and youth set free economically. It is now an entrepreneurs’ world; people can trade with others from any part of the world. My aim is to link communities in Malawi with the rest of the trading world.”
Long is the only person to be conferred the Most African, Caribbean an Asian Talent in the UK and Abroad, and is the founder of Europe’s biggest award ceremony for black and ethnic personalities in entertainment, film, fashion, television and arts (BEFFTA) which celebrates and promotes the achievements of a very talented and hard-working community often over looked in entertainment, film, fashion, television and arts in USA, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean.
Some high profile personalities honoured at BEFFTA Awards include the Jackson brothers, Quincy Jones, veteran broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald OBE, Sir Lenny Henry, The first ever BBC Dr Who Director Waris Hussein, US producer and director Tyler Perry, Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and many more.
A mother and wife, she is the founder of “Mr. and Miss East Africa UK” which promotes entrepreneurship through pageants among East Africans in the UK children’s charities.
She runs a family business, East End Studios, which is one of London’s biggest independently owned film and TV studios next door to Olympics village and home to UK’s and US biggest mainstream stars like Professor Green, Chipmunk, Wretch 32, Wiley, Starboy Nathan,Kelis, Azealia Banks, among others.
She is also a fashion designer with a label Pauline Long collection and has a column on Europe’s biggest African-Caribbean newspaper The Afro News.
Pauline Long’s award-winning daytime global TV talk show “The Pauline Long Show” (on SKY Channel182 in UK also streaming live globally online at www. bentelevision.com) is being used by her as a platform to promote community projects, good causes and highlight on people empowerment. She has interviewed several UK, US and Africans politicians and showbiz personalities.
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