Samuel Chiko Kaira

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Samuel Kaira and his family are involved with Educate Malawi Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Westfield that helps the people of Malawi, a country in southeast Africa, further their education. Participating in events like bike-a-thons and tag sales, the family has raised funds to build schools and to provide scholarships to female students at the University of Malawi.

Full name: Samuel Chiko Kaira

People know you as: Sam or Chiko

Date and place of birth: Sept. 1, 1967, Malawi

Address: Amherst

Job: Student

Who lives under the same roof as you? My beautiful and loving wife, Leah, and our two precious daughters, Linly and Loraine

Education: Diploma in accounting (U.K.), now studying for a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Westfield State University

Hobbies: I love singing in the choir and traveling

Favorite movie: “The Sound of Music”

Last thing you purchased just for fun: I don’t like shopping. My wife does the shopping for us

What’s at the top of your bucket list? Being a happy family

Life-changing experience: Coming to America

A little-known fact about you: I am very reserved

Dumbest thing you ever did: When I was 5 years old, I went bird catching with my cousins who were much older than me. We caught birds until darkness fell. Then suddenly my eldest cousin, who was 15, told us to collect our tools and start running toward home. He told us to run as fast as we could without telling us the reason. After running for a few minutes he stopped us and told us to look back where we were coming from and we saw some bright light moving toward our direction. My cousin told us that was a wizard and that was why he told us to leave the bush and run for our lives. As soon as he finished explaining the reason for our sprinting, we were back on our feet running toward home. When we got home, my eldest cousin explained our ordeal to my two uncles. Instead of sympathizing, my uncles started laughing uncontrollably. One of my uncles told us that it was a night hunter who was using a flashlight and not a wizard. We felt so dumb

What really sets you off? Racism and hatred

If you could spend the day with a celebrity from any time in history, who would it be? Bill Cosby. I watched a lot of his episodes while in Malawi, and grew to love him a lot. He is funny and intelligent

Best advice you ever got: Be nice and helpful to the people around you. This has been the greatest advice that I got from my mother

Favorite place to get a bite: Home. I don’t believe in eating out. I love eating what we (my wife and I) cook

Your favorite sport: I used to love soccer and I played it a lot but now I don’t have any favorite sport

What does your ideal weekend look like? I love spending time with my family, at home or visiting new places. We enjoy going to church every Sunday and then spending the remaining part of the day at home as a family

What gives you the creeps? Heights and depths. I am just scared of them

People who knew you in high school thought you were: Talkative

Whom do you most admire? My amazing and darling wife, Leah. She is so loving, caring, daring and smart. She makes my life happy and complete

Editor’s Note - To suggest someone for ID, email Keri-Ann Aubin at kaubin@gazettenet.com.