CHiume was born in Nkhata Bay District, Nyasaland, and described his given name, Kanyama, as meaning "another piece of meat for you," a wry joke by parents who had grown wearily accustomed to death in their family. Chiume's younger brother died at two months, and Chiume's own mother died the following day, aged 37. After the funeral, Chiume went with his uncle to his native Tanganyika (now Tanzania). He attended schools in Dar es Salaam in the mid-1940s, at a time when this coastal city was a hotbed of African nationalist political activity. In his last year at Tabora Upper School he became Secretary of the Debating Society, polishing rhetorical skills which would later be much admired when he entered politics in Nyasaland (now Malawi). At Tabora Upper School he reportedly invited an alumnus, Julius Nyerere, to join him in debating against white colonial teachers and administrators on political subjects. According to Chiume in his autobiography (the strict veracity of which has sometimes been questioned), they were so successful in this debate that the school threatened him with expulsion. Nyerere later became the first leader of independent Tanzania.