Name: Emily & Graphiud
Duration: P00H04M23S
Description: Emily & Graphiud met in college. Ignoring the cultural taboo of knowingly marrying an HIV positive woman, Graphiud proposed and now the two are happily married with a 3-year-old HIV-negative boy. They mentor HIV-positive expecting mothers through UNC Malawi at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe. "The most important thing is the love that is there." -Graphiud

Emily & Graphiud

from Mau a Malawi: Stories of AIDS by Peter Mawanga & Andrew Finn Magill

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about

Emily & Graphiud met in college. Ignoring the cultural taboo of knowingly marrying an HIV positive woman, Graphiud proposed and now the two are happily married with a 3-year-old HIV-negative boy. They mentor HIV-positive expecting mothers through UNC Malawi at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe. "The most important thing is the love that is there." -Graphiud

lyrics

Sikangandilume sikangandilume ayi
kachina nane manyazi pakuti mkazi ngwachikondi
anandiululira chinsinsi chake eee

I never thought love could be/For a girl with HIV
He proposed all the same/And so I took his name

In sickness and in health
He has kept that promise well
In sickness and in health
He has made me love myself

Sikangandilume sikangandilumeeee (aye wanga wa chikondi)
Emily mayi wachikondi (aye wanga wa chikondi)
Graphiud bambo wachikondi
Kan'luma bwanji m'banja lachikondi

You are the most beautiful girl that I've seen
Emily, won't you marry me?
We can have children who are free
I will always keep you healthy, and love you

Some of them tried to tell me I was crazy
I do not care what they say
Nothing can stand in the way
Emily we'll tell them one day, what love is

Sikangandilume sikangandilume
kachilombo* kachite manyazi
Kwetu mkazi wachikondi unandiululira
chinsinsi choke

He's the love of my life
I'm proud to be his wife
Now we have a boy
Our little baby joy

All the men they used to run away
When I'd reveal
Graphiud only ran closer
To me to help me heal

Translation:
It cannot bite me, not it cannot bite me
It will shy away from me because this woman is faithful
she revealed her secret to me
It cannot bite me no it cannot bite me (aye she's my one and only lover)
Emily is a loving woman
Graphiud is a loving man
How can it bite me in this house of love?

Let the virus shy away from me
you are a loving woman because you revealed your secret to me

*In Chichewa, the euphemism for the AIDS virus is Kachilombo, meaning "little beast," something that could actually "bite" you.

credits

from Mau a Malawi: Stories of AIDS, released October 12, 2011
Lizzy Ross: English lead vocal
Jorge Izquierdo: English lead vocal
Faith Mussa: Chichewa lead vocal
Peter Mawanga: nylon-string guitar, percussion and backing vocals
Andrew Finn Magill: steel-string guitar and backing vocals
Alfred Sitolo: bass
Dryson Mwimba: drums

license

about

Andrew Finn Magill Asheville, North Carolina

For twenty years violinist/fiddler and composer Andrew Finn Magill has been pursuing parallel careers in traditional Irish music, Brazilian choro, jazz and American fiddle and he has performed with everyone from grammy-nominees Trio Brasileiro to Rising Appalachia. ... more