About me, Simeon Kalua
Malawi’s Call owner | advocate | climate justice activist
My name is Simeon Kalua. I am a 24-year-old Climate Justice Activist and Permaculturist from Malawi. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Public Health at the University of Livingstonia in 2020. Currently I am based in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. My dream is to study a Masters degree in Climate Change and Planetary Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). With that I hope to address the climate crisis at the intersection of people’s health and the health of the planet.
In the past few years, I have experienced the effects of climate change firsthand, such as prolonged dry spells leading to low harvest in my community, and floods caused by Cyclones like Cyclone Ana (2022) and Cyclone Freddy (2023). These experiences have fueled my ambition to become a climate justice activist.
My engagements:
I serve as a Solidarity Exchange for the Environment and Development (SEED) Participant at Spire in Norway.
I’m an FXB Climate Ambassador.
I was one of youth delegates for the Africa Climate Summit 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.
I was one of the top 100 international youth climate delegates (IYCDP) for COP28 in Dubai, UAE.
I founded Fridays For Future Malawi, Rise Up Movement Malawi, and Climate Live Malawi - all of these are youth movements with the shared goal of demanding global leaders to immediately act on the global pressing issue of climate change.
Apart from advocacy work, I have huge interest in implementing small projects in my community, such as tree planting exercises, climate education in schools, and clean-up campaigns. For example, during my service as an FXB climate advocate, I implemented a permaculture gardening project at Lwambo primary school. This project aimed at teaching children the sustainable farming practices like understanding the permaculture principles and ethics, water conservation, and understanding the impact of harmful chemicals on soil.
I am a published author on The Restless Development blog, where I published an open letter to global leaders at COP27, demanding them to act on climate change to avoid further loss and damage to vulnerable communities in Africa. I am also the founder and host of FXB Climate Talks, which is a platform that aims to amplify the voices of young FXB climate advocates alumni around the world to inspire action.
I'm currently in Oslo, Norway, on 5 months exchange program called “Solidality Exchange for the Environment and Development” (SEED). I will be working with Spire, a Norwegian environmental and development youth organization that works for a fair and sustainable distribution of the world’s resources. The SEED program, a youth exchange program supported by NOREC (The Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation) aims to promote climate justice awareness among the youths in relation to agriculture, gender and youth participation in both Malawi and Norway.
Thank you for reading. I’m looking forward to sharing my learnings during the next five months in Oslo.
