John was born on April 8, 1954. His father’s name is Holland. He has five sisters and three younger brothers; total of nine children in the family. He is Chewa by tribe. A long time ago this tribe came from Zambia and passed through Lilongwe towards Dedza then down to the lake at Monkey Bay, where they settled and still reside today. When they first reached Money Bay, they didn’t find anyone; they created the first settlement and John’s grandfather was chief. Members of John’s family are still chiefs today.
John’s father was a professional cook because he had gone to South Africa for training. In those days people walked to South Africa by foot through the bush. First they went through Mozambique, then Zimbabwe, walking little by little to reach South Africa. At Bulawayo/Harare in Zimbabwe, John’s father also worked but not as a cook – the cooking he learned when he reached South Africa. John’s father went to South Africa because his brother (John’s uncle) was already there and working as a chef, so John’s father learned from him upon reaching South Africa. This all happened when John was very young; his father didn’t even remember him. Because John’s father forgot about him while he was growing up, he grew up wearing only one pair of black shorts which were torn at the buttocks; never even a t-shirt. But now he thanks God that he was able to make himself ok.
While John grew up, the family was very poor. From the age of five to six years, John was always crying due to poverty. He was cared for by his grandmother because he was the first-born child to his mom, so this was the tradition at that time. At the age of six years he went to primary school, and his grandmother paid the school fees. She was cooking local beer (kachasu) to sell for a living, despite colonial rules which forbid it. She made it in the “bush” and people knew where to go and buy it in secret. That is where the money for John’s school fees came from. Pounds, shillings, and pence were used at the time, “…up to one pound – money from British rules.” John’s favorite subject was English, second favorite was math. At that time in Standard 1 and 2 they wrote with chalk on small slate boards. When he reached Standard 3, that was the first time John started writing with a pen.
John continued school up to Standard 6, until his grandmother failed to pay the school fees. She had married another man, and he was working as a cook. At Monkey Bay there is a big harbor (for Lake Malawi), and the captains of steamer ships were at the dock and had houses there. Only white people could be captains at that time. John’s step-grandfather was working as a cook for one of the captains. The captain did not like his garden boy so he fired him and asked John’s step-grandfather to bring John to work in the garden. John must have built trust because he was later transferred to work within the house. As a house boy he cleaned the house and washed the clothes and dishes. His knowledge grew and although he didn’t start cooking there, he observed his step-grandfather’s work as a cook.
John moved to Salima at the age of 19 where he reunited with his father because his father’s new wife was interested in meeting her stepson. There, John’s father found him a job at the Grand Beach Hotel (now Sunbird), a very large establishment. He started off also working as a garden boy there before being promoted to bedroom boy, taking care of the beds. After that he was taken to the kitchen where he observed cooking but knew nothing about it. He was crying – he really wanted to learn – he learned a little bit but then the time came for that job to come to an end.
The man who was the chef at the Grand Beach Hotel had transferred to Lilongwe Golf Club, so when John finished the job in Salima, he was called to work with him in Lilongwe at the Golf Club. That was in 1973. After working at the Golf Club for awhile, the job ended, so John went around Area 3 and Area 9 to all the mzungu’s houses looking for work. (There were only white people in these areas those days, no Black people, not even Indians.) He was lucky to find a job with another mzungu – she was a lady working at Africa Leaf, which was the tobacco auction floor. She had another person working for her at home because she wanted John to work with her at the office of the tobacco floor. However, the manager at the office sent him to Blantyre to learn the speciality of cooking – that was in 1988. John studied there for one year and then wrote exams, passed, and returned to the tobacco office to work. He worked there for six years until the company claimed bankruptcy and canceled the job.
This is how I really learned how to cook – I really love to cook. I want more people to come to AHA again and again so I could cook for them. But I really love this company.
--John
