Monthly Archives: January 2016

by Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.

Professor of Sociology

Introduction

I was triumphantly standing on a hill overlooking one of the many breathtaking beautiful valleys in Zambia particularly during the rainy season of December. I was not alone. I was standing before the beautiful scene with two other intellectuals; Marita Banda, Mulenga Kapwepwe, and an eight year old girl Temwani Banda who was Marita Banda’s niece. What were we doing here in the wilderness away from the hustle and bustle of the Capital City of Lusaka with its nonstop action everywhere you go? This was the beginning of the culmination of the longtime dream I have had over the last 10 or even 30 years to establish a serene location in the Savannah wilderness where Zambians can

contemplate knowledge. We were scouting for a location of The Kukaya-Kufwasa Center for Contemplation of Knowledge near the Chongwe area along the Great East Road. If you have not yet done so read part one of this story to understand the background to this article.

Woman Breaks Intense Discourse

Mulenga Kapwepwe, Marita Banda, Temwani Banda and I were standing in a circle deeply engaged in an intense discourse of intellectual ideas in the middle of the Savannah grassy wilderness on top of a hill. We discoursed about gender in traditional Zambia and contemporary Western distortion of the status of Zambian women. I elaborated on the Zambian Temba Sangweni philosophical thesis about how the womb may influence human thought process in psychology. Idea after idea kept coming. We were so focused and engrossed that we lost track of time and where we were standing. At one time I remember in the periphery of my consciousness of my eye being aware of a boy walk by with a herd of cows. Suddenly a slender woman perhaps in her fifties approached us and paused about 20 meters or 20 yards from where the four of us were standing.

We instantly stopped as if coming out of a dream. The woman politely greeted us in somewhat very halty broken Nyanja. We responded.

“Banthu wadabwa kuti nibandani yayimira apa na motoka panthawi yotali?” she asked. (People in the village have been wondering what strangers standing around in the bush with a vehicle were doing?)

Strangers Standing in the Bush

That’s when it suddenly hit me. I have lived in the village since the 1950s and conducted research in rural villages in Eastern and Southern Province for many years. The first cardinal rule of protocol if you go anywhere in a rural area for an extended time, you have to visit and seek permission of the headman. In the midst of the spontaneous philosophical and intellectual discourse, we had lost track of time and became unconscious that were spending too much time just standing in the bush; 1 man, 2 women and a young girl. It doesn’t get and stranger than and as puzzling as this.

I apologized profusely and told her talakwa; twa phwanya mwambo. (We were wrong we had broken custom.) I explained to her that we had seen the beautiful valley and the hills from near Chongwe on the Great East Road. We wanted to see how the valley looked like from here on this side. I assured her that our stay was peaceful. As a matter of courtesy I offered that we pay a visit to the village headman. The woman entered the vehicle and we drove to the village to meet the headman.

We Meet the Headman

We entered the mphungu; which is a small round structure with a grass roof but with open sides. We sat down until the Headman who had been summoned arrived. He sat down, greeted us in a mixture of Lenje and Lusaka Nyanja languages. He told us he was Headman Ngobola. He told us his village is in Chief Bundaunda which is between Chieftainess Nkomeshya and Mphashya further East in Rufunsa region.

One Zambia One Nation

We told Headman Ngobela that the land was beautiful and that the woman who had met us was very friendly since we had not consulted him first. He said the land we had been standing on belongs to a Tumbuka man. He also said there were 2 Bemba men who had settled in the area. I told him that in my home village in Lundazi, there was a Tonga man who had married and had settled. He was speaking Tonga with Tumbuka accent. We all laughed. This is when Headman said something that was very profound. It makes me and should make every Zambian feel very proud and lucky to be a Zambian. Referring to people from various tribes who have settled in his area; Headman Ngobela said in his painful mixture of the Lenje and Lusaka Nyanja language:

“Mlemdo abwera ni katemo kakuthwa. Tizinkhala wa mtendere. Kaunda anatigwirisa One Zambia One Nation.” (A visitor sometime comes with a sharp axe. We should live in peace. President Kaunda united us Zambians under One Zambia One Nation”. At the end of our visit, we were given some very delicious bagful of mangoes.

Conclusion

Our trip had been more than successful. We learned by accident what the Kukaya_kufwasa Center for Contemplation of Knowledge will do in being a hosting place for intellectual and philosophical ideas. The fact that all the villages had a strict accounting of who steps on their land created the traditional security which is the comfort and security of all village life in Zambia. Although we had been only scouting and not yet chosen where the center may be located, this was a very good start.

References

1. Bohannan, Paul., and Curtin, Philip, Africa and Africans, 4^th edition, Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1995.
2. Kufwasa http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/articles/kufwasa.shtml
3. Kukaya https://hungerforculture.com/?p=1537
4. https://hungerforculture.com/?p=1212

by Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.

Professor of Sociology

Introduction

I was in awe triumphantly standing on a hill overlooking one of the many breathtaking beautiful valleys in Zambia particularly during the rainy season of December. This was just beyond the Chongwe Bridge East of Lusaka along the Great East Road. I had turned east on to the narrow muddy gravel road at Kazemba junction just inside Rufunsa jurisdiction. I had driven in the rental 4 wheel Ford Ranger pickup truck for 16 Kms. or 10 miles deep into the Savannah wilderness. There was a creek whose small concrete bridge might have been washed away last year. The 4 wheel drive sailed through the bottom of the shallow bridgeless creek as easily and as smoothly as changing a baby’s diaper or nappy.

I was not alone. I was standing before the beautiful scene with two other intellectuals; Marita Banda, Mulenga Kapwepwe, and an eight year old girl Temwani Banda who was Marita Banda’s niece. What were we doing here in the wilderness away from the hustle and bustle of the Capital City of Lusaka with its nonstop action everywhere you go? This was the beginning of the culmination of the longtime dream I have had over the last 10 or even 30 years to establish a serene location in the Savannah wilderness where Zambians can contemplate knowledge.

What would be the reason of such a remote difficult to reach location? Why not open such a place in the middle of Lusaka so that seminars and workshops can be held there which everyone can attend? What will be the name of the place? What will be special about it? Am I, Mulenga Kapwepwe and Marita Banda the best and most educated intellectuals in Zambia? Why bring an 8 year old child to such a serious event? So she can jump around, rudely whine that she is bored with being in the bushes, and cause us to leave early?

The Kukaya-Kufwasa Center

The reason why the four of us were there will be explained in a rather an unusual fashion. We live in a world today in which every moment we are bombarded and overwhelmed with excessive chatter and information of little value or right out being irrelevant. I will explain the purpose of the center while describing something that happened spontaneously as the four of us were standing there in the Savannah

wilderness for hours undistracted. You will read information jam packed into this one short article because that is what happened. But there are even more surprises. If you are impatient and don’t want to read long articles that don’t say what is important in half a page in 5 short bulleted points, its time to skip this article entirely or come back to it later when you have more  kufwasa time. May be you don’t know what the “kufwasa” Zambian philosophical term means. May be this is one reason this article may be very important. http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/articles/kufwasa.shtml

I had first sent an article earlier in December to both Mulenga Kapwepwe and Marita Banda to read. Then I asked them if they could come on the historic trip with me. The title of that article was: “Kukaya-Kufwasa Center for Contemplation.” The idea was to bring a young girl and boy on the trip to accompany us. The reason will be explained later. The young girl Temwani Banda was quickly found but we could not find a young boy. We ran out of time.

Contemplating Knowledge Kukaya-Kufwasa Center

As we stood overlooking the beautiful valley surrounded by the serene wilderness it is as if the spirits of our ancestors going back hundreds of years had suddenly reentered our minds. There was no spirit possession here. We just begun to talk. It was nothing formal. I expressed my wish and internal drive to both share with other Zambians and go beyond the knowledge that both indigenous and foreign that I had acquired over the last 50 years. I told them about philosopher Michael Polanyi “Tacit Dimension of Knowledge”. I told them of my encounter with Temba Sangweni; a Zambian 12^th grade intellectual who inspired me who was searching for knowledge in 1989 or 28 years ago.

Marita Banda brought up her knowledge of the Maharishi Effect; that the energy expressed in knowledge in humans happens in subconscious process of communication and contemplation. I told them that a week earlier, my 91 year old father who is a retired teacher told me again about “mdulo”; the traditional indigenous belief that if a young woman has improper sex and goes on to cook and serve food especially older men and women, the people become victims of mdulo which is a cough that had no scientific modern physiological explanation. The treatment is herbs. Of course the West and other Eurocentric Zambians have dismissed this and other indigenous knowledge as superstition. They will often say everyone knows those African natives live in dirty dusty unhygienic mud huts, unsanitary environments, and worst of all believe in witchcraft.

Marita also shared her deep interest in epigenetics and how they might relate to both our indigenous knowledge and improving our lives today. It was then that she said something very profound: we can really use the best from both worlds; the indigenous and Western. I agreed and added that better still we could push the frontiers of knowledge into a better, deeper and newer different direction as our ancestors might have done thousands of years ago before Europeans enslaved us via the Atlantic Slave Trade and before European colonialism over the entire African continent.

Mulenga Kapwepwe who had been listening intently had walked away briefly a few meters away. She and Temwani were deeply engrossed in the flora and fauna, and the flying and walking insects. Mulenga was using her cell phone to carefully photograph these beautiful fascinating creatures and tropical plants.

Mulenga Kapwepwe chimed in with something very profound. She said the sad part is that we as humans are changing ourselves losing so much of what we have had for over a hundred thousand years. Western technology was erasing so much of what we had learned from our physical environment as humans. She cited the example that the Western society is totally dominated by the tick tock time. As a result Western bodies have only 2 rhythms while the natural bodies here in Zambia and Africa may have up to 7 rhythms. She added that rhythm and grace are what gives us humans speed and the richness of syncopation in our lives.

I added that we Zambians do not have polyrhythmic dances anymore as the Western dominated linear rythmless choreography dance through video clips dominate our entertainment. We were actually right there and then both kukaya https://hungerforculture.com/?p=1537

and experiencing kufwasa http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/articles/kufwasa.shtml

and that’s what this center was going to do; provide a serene space where Zambians can engage and contemplate deep thought and intellectual discourse.

The role of the Child

The late Nigerian Writer is the one who might have said it best. He had said being a child in Zambia and Africa gives you the best position to observe and understand life around you including that of adults. I also subscribe to the traditional Tumbuka expression: “Mwana wopulikila wakurya tuwemi”,  which translates with complex metaphors as: “A child who listens to adults eats good delicious things”. The purpose of bringing 8 year old Temwani Banda to the event was that she can later bear

historical testimony; that she was there when the three adults were scouting for the Kukaya-Kufwasa Center for Contemplation of Knowledge. She turned out to be the best behaved child we could have brought along. She was curious and asked questions along the way without being disruptive. At the same time she enjoyed the precious opportunity as a child should. We as Africans have traditionally allowed children to attend the most solemn of adult gatherings so long as the child behaves him or herself. Describing this custom among the TIV of Nigeria, Bohannan and Curtin (1995) say: “….children are allowed to go any place, so long as they keep quiet. They can go into the most solemn court proceedings and sit down and listen. ….children at the age of eight or nine often get interested in court cases or political meetings.” (p.73)

Conclusion

The article cannot be concluded as more happened as the four of us were deeply engrossed in quite complex intellectual discourse in the middle of the beautiful Savannah Wilderness. A second part will have more intriguing details. A woman politely intruded and broke our kufwasa.

References

1. Bohannan, Paul., and Curtin, Philip, Africa and Africans, 4^th edition, Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1995.
2. Kufwasa http://people.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/articles/kufwasa.shtml
3. Kukaya https://hungerforculture.com/?p=1537

 

by

Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.

Professor of Sociology

Introduction

I had just finished shopping at the Downtown Shopping Mall on the South-End of Cairo Road around the Kafue Round About. I turned left heading South to Kafue but I was going to Manda Hill on the Great East Road. I had to turn right at the robots toward Lumumba Road. I didn’t want to go to Lumumba Road because I knew there would be more traffic congestion. The U- Turn back toward Cairo Road was wide open. As soon as I made the U- Turn into an unusually wide open lane, I knew I was in deep trouble when a Traffic Police Officer stopped me immediately. He politely told me I had broken a traffic code as I was not supposed to make a U-turn. My protesting that I did not see any big visible “no U-Turn” sign did not change the officer’s mind. I was invited to the back of a make shift police station at the back of a van where I paid the fine.

Driving in Lusaka is any driver’s worst nightmare. There is congestion night and day in virtually all parts of the city. Cairo Road is probably the worst. It took me over 30 minutes to drive from Katondo Street across to the Main Post Office. If I had walked, it would have taken me may be 5 minutes.

A “Zambian Watchdog” article of May 2011 has a head line that says: “Traffic Jams and used cars terrorize Zambia’s Roads”. Another article by Kelvin Kachingwe in UKZambians web page in February 2008 said: “Lusaka becoming auto jungle – 50 vehicles per day are being imported”. It is estimated that 300 used cars are being imported into Zambia every day.

In spite all the traffic congestion, to be fair, I never saw any traffic accident in the two weeks I drove in Lusaka last month. Drivers help each other out and every driver negotiates incredibly tight space leaving mere millimeters between vehicles which often may raise one’s temperature and levels of anxiety.  Is there a solution to the traffic nightmare and gridlock in Lusaka? There are two possible solutions: first an underground train system and second a new massive sophisticated road highway system around Lusaka. Doing nothing or just building more side roads are not best solutions in the long run.

Underground Tunnel Train System

Lusaka should have 5 major underground train tunnels. The first train tunnel should be from the round about going to the Kenneth Kaunda International airport near Chelston on the Great East Road all the way to Cairo Road. The second underground train tunnel should start from Zanimuone or Landless Corner on the Kabwe or Great North Road all the Way to Cairo Road. The third train tunnel should start from Bauleni, Mtendere, partially under Independence Avenue, under the current Intercity Bus Terminal and Railway station, and finally connect to Cairo Road between Churchhill Road and Independence Avenue. The fourth train tunnel should start from Munda Wanga Botanical Gardens along Kafue Road all the way to Cairo Road. The fifth train tunnel should start from Chilenje and Chilenje South extension through Kabwata, and Kamwala Shopping Center under the Independence Avenue flyover bridge into Cairo Road. The whole area underground between Cairo Road, Cha-Cha-Cha Road, and Freedom Way should have a massive underground railway station where all the trains form the City will interchange.

Sophisticated Road Highways

If the underground tunnel is deemed not possible or too expensive, Lusaka should have a sophisticated road highway system. Four lane highways should be constructed on elevated massive pillars on top and along the five major current road arteries as described already; on the Great East Road, Independence Avenue from Mtendere and Bauleni, from Chilanga on the Kafue Road, and from Zanimuone on the Great North Road all leading to and some highways bypassing above Cairo Road. We cannot afford to have any major roads on the ground anymore as construction has used up all the ground space in Lusaka. These highways would be high speed expressways where there would be no stopping allowed. Slower cars and other limping vehicles would use the current ground roads underneath the elevated highways on massive pillars. The Highway Traffic Officers would enforce the new rules.

Advantages and Benefits

All of these recommendations if implemented would ease road traffic congestion in most parts of Lusaka, save billions of Kwacha in money spent on petrol by thousands of idling vehicles that are caught in perpetual traffic jams. The life spans of the vehicles would be extended. People would sleep better as they would not have to wake up very early to drive to work which would lower costs of medical conditions that happen due to stress. The flow of commerce in the city would be improved.