Businesswoman and philanthropist Triephornia Thomson Mpinganjira has supported female crew Captain Yolanda Kaunda and senior first officer Lusekelo Mwenifumbo who flew State President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to Johannesburg earlier this week.
The pair, which is Malawi’s first female air crew to operate scheduled flights, is also behind the recent idea of airshows in Malawi under ‘Phantom Aviation’ in partnership with Puma Energy Malawi.
In appreciation of the sponsorship, Kaunda and Mwenifumbo described the assistance as unexpected and overwhelming as they met Mrs Mpinganjira on one of their scheduled passenger flights and had invited her to the flight deck to greet her.
“She was very warm, kind and was humble to come and greet us. We engaged in conversation about charity work under African children and the importance of not forgetting the boy child in our charity work. A few days later after the flight she pledged to sponsor the airshow with MWK7 million to help with our preparations,” said Mwenifumbo.
Captain Yolanda, who is Malawi’s first female captain, applauded Mrs Mpinganjira’s contribution to the show, not just as one with the generosity to do so, but one willing to support other women for such a positive platform.
She said this is rare among women in Malawi.
On her part, Mrs Mpinganjira said she was sponsoring the show for underprivileged children to experience something other than what was known to them.
Growing up, children in Neno ran to seek refuge when they saw aeroplanes fly past them due to lack of exposure.
After this sponsorship, Phantom Aviation seeks to give underprivileged children a chance for flight, the call has been given to two children from every district in Malawi among the 1, 000 children that will be attending for free from several orphanages and government schools in Lilongwe to come and attend this word class event.
The Puma Energy Airshow will be held on the 26th October 2024 at the Lilongwe Air Force base.
Performers such as the neighboring air force, among other aerobatic teams the most daring “flying lions by puma are set to perform”.
