and these children are employed by Wenela [in South Africa] at that time. They go to Wenela and most of them die there. They don't come back alive. And then there's a lot of oppression. There's this thangata and with that federation, unfortunately for them, that time, they had already started removing people in the areas where they thought it was best for Europeans or it was best for farming ... They wanted to make room for Europeans to settle. I said, you can see all these things. Now, we are being removed in our rural areas. We are being pushed here and there. And the women understood. They said, oh yes, then we must do something". In 1953 Edwin Chibambo was transferred to Blantyre, according to Rose because of his political activities. Rose Chibambo joined the local NAC branch and was elected treasurer, the first woman to hold a senior position in the NAC. In Blantyre, she joined forces with Vera Chirwa to form the Nyasaland African Women's League, closely associated with the NAC. Executives of the Women's League would select fabric from which they made matching outfits. The purpose was to show solidarity at public occasions, identifying members as a group. She respected the moderate leaders of the NAC but thought some, including the President J.R.N. Chinyama, had been too cautious. In Chinyama's case this might be since he remembered his father's execution after the Chilembe uprising of 1915. She rejected federation and in the later part of 1955 she was among those who called for the withdrawal of the NAC members Manowa Chirwa and Clement Kumbikano from the Federal parliament in Salisbury. At 30 March 1956 annual general meeting in Blantyre the delegates from Johannesburg supported her position on non-co-operation with the Federal government, although she had been pessimistic that they would be given a hearing. In 1956, Rose Chibambo organised a group of women to protest when the NAC president James Frederick Sangala and secretary T.D.T. Banda were arrested for sedition. Her group was arrested and fined after they travelled by bus to the High Court in Zomba singing: "War! War! War today!We are going to have war.We don't want, we don't want, we don't want federation.We want freedom today!" In a 1999 interview, Rose described the use of song at the women's meetings. She said "In most cases, our singing, like in the woman's league,