By Agness Changala
Dovecot College of Health Sciences founder and principal Prof. Dr. (Col) Anne Namakando Phiri (RtD) has urged women to work hard and stop depending on their husbands solely.
In her message to mark the celebration of Women’s Day which fell on Saturday last week, Phiri, a midwife by profession and a retired officer from the Zambia Army, challenged women to venture into side hustles so that in the event their husbands died before them, they should be able to take care of themselves and the family.
“Start something, even just selling tomatoes and other merchandise by the road side. Empower yourself and help your husband, they also need help. Men are dying early because they have too much pressure to provide everything,” she said.
Phiri told Daily Revelation that she struggled to be where she was today after the death of her husband, but added that what helped her pull through was the fact that was already empowered especially with his support.
She added that being an officer in the Zambia Army also helped her a lot.
She also advised women to understand and prepare for retirement mentally and financially, adding that if possible, they must own three houses, one to live in and the two to help generate capital for them.
Phiri also bemoaned the high divorce rates which she attributed to nagging and caused men to run away from their homes to look for peace elsewhere.
She noted that some men after knocking off from work, went to bars and other places to mingle with friends and only went home to sleep for fear of nagging wives.
Phiri said if only women could realise the power they had, they could change a lot of things in their lives stressing that nothing was impossible.
She also advised men to invest in their wives so that they were empowered to help them fight the negatives that came with life.
Phiri was also mindful of some women who after being empowered dumped their husbands, a practice she said must be stopped.
Born and bred in Monze, Southern Province, Phiri trained as a registered nurse at Ronald Ross Hospital on the Copperbelt in 1971 and later worked at Wusakile health facility until 1974.
She was later commissioned as a nurse in the Zambia Army on April 4, 1975 and was among the 23 lady officers who underwent military training.
“In fact this year, on 4th of April, 2025, we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary as first women military in the army,” Phiri shared. “The army commander will host us.”
Phiri also said she went to the United Kingdom to further her studies with the help of her late husband who she left with their one year-six old baby.
She said despite the husband not having issue with her decision to go to school, most women did not like it and discouraged her husband from supporting her.
Arising from the above, Phiri said women were their own barriers to progress as her husband was mocked even when he took their child for under-five.
“But he told them look, I am preparing my wife for life eventualities. And they used to say balimulisha (he has been charmed). Others even asked him if the mother was dead and when they learnt I was at school they even said umukashi ichipuba alisha umwana (the wife is a fool she has left a child behind),” she said.
Phiri, a family woman with nine grandchildren, also shared that she was the first officer in the Zambia Army to attain a PHD ( doctor of philosophy) which she obtained from UNISA in South Africa.
She said at Zambia Army, she worked as a Chief Nursing Officer under the Ministry of Defence where she diligently served until she retired in 2005.
Due to her her experience, between 2003 and 2005, the Ministry of Defence asked her to open a school of sciences for them.
While she worked there, she was exposed to a lot of statistics and it was during this period that she discovered the need for more nurses.
Phiri said during the same period, the Ministry of Health was struggling to meet its mandate due to fewer numbers of nurses.
However, when she retired, she Joined the University of Zambia (UNZA) where she lectured for 12 years under the department of Gender Studies.
Phiri said after working as a lecturer at UNZA, in 2007, she registered the Dovecot which started operating in 2008.
She said the college has been placed at a five acre family land which even had a house that was transformed into office space.
She said her college had trained thousands of graduates who got employed by the Ministry of Health, while others chose to go abroad in the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America ( USA) and Australia.
Phiri also boasted that students from her college were well trained and were well behaved, and found it easy to find jobs.
She said the pass rate at her college was high and the school fees were competitive
Phiri further said her college was also a reference and this meant that those making it a point of reference knew what they were talking about.
She said the school also obtained a loan from CEEC (Citizens Empowerment Commission Commission) to expand boarding facilities.
Phiri said she started with 21 registered nurses and in 2013, another program for general clinical officers was added.
She said the college wished to expand into a university and would like to offer degree programs under clinical medicine, registered nursing and teaching methodology.
Phiri bemoaned too many regulators in the sector and the many fees that had to be paid for them to be kept in business.
Phiri said to offset the cost, the school opted to transfer some fees to students.
She said being in business as a woman was not without challenges in that some business ideas were discussed in bars and hotels which was easy for men to do unlike women.
She said while women were willing to do the same, they would be labelled for going in bars and hotels to hold these meetings.
Phiri hopes the business environment would get better especially for the private sector.
