Gladys Msekandiana

Gladys was born on 6 August 1970 at Mwadzama village in Traditional Authority Kaphuka in Dedza District in the central region of Malawi. She started her formal primary school education at Dzenza School and completed her primary school education at Nthumbo Primary School in Ntcheu District. It was from this school that Gladys was selected in 1987 for further studies at St. Michael’s Girls’ Secondary School in Mangochi District, in the southern region of Malawi. Because of her outstanding performance in class, she was selected to do a BSc Degree Programme in 1991 at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, in Zomba.

During her studies, she did a biology research project entitled "Assessment of conservation status and utility of Chirunga Natural Woodland". During vacations, Gladys worked as a herbarium attendant at the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi. She worked with herbarium specimens—listing, checking (for damage), mounting, and filing them in cabinets. She completed her university studies in 1995, majoring in biology and demography. It was during this time that Gladys developed a keen interest in biology.

After graduating, Gladys was employed as a Biology, Physical Science, and Mathematics teacher at Berlin Private Secondary School in Thyolo District. She later joined the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as a Biology and Mathematics teacher. In September 2000 Gladys started working at the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi as an Assistant Scientific Officer, responsible for vegetation surveys, identification of plants, ethnobotany, curation of plants, fumigation of the herbarium, and systematic research.

In November 2002, she was appointed as SABONET Research Officer, a position she still holds at the institution. She is responsible for supervising computerisation of herbarium specimens, writing quarterly progress reports, organising field trips, plant collecting and identification, procuring project equipment, and coordinating production of plant checklists.

Gladys attended a number of training courses under SABONET. In December 2000, she participated in the Database Course for Beginners at the NBI (now SANBI) in Pretoria, South Africa. In 2001, she attended Herbarium Management and Plant Identification courses at the NBI in South Africa, and at the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Mozambique. She also attended a SABONET Red Data List Workshop that was held in Malawi. In June 2002, she attended a vegetation survey training course at Liwonde, Malawi, also organised by SABONET. With financial support from the SABONET Project, Gladys contributed to the production of the Red Data List for Malawi, as well as the compilation of the Zomba checklist and the National Checklist of vascular plants.

Gladys is hard-working and committed, and her goal is to continue with plant studies, which will enable her to do meaningful research work in botany.

Gladys is married to Albert Msekandiana and is the mother of two boys, Anderson and Goodluck.

SABONET News 7.3: 170