Reflections from the Zambezi

My earliest memories of the late Brenda Muntemba Sichilembe date to the 80s at Lusaka Baptist Church where she became a member after becoming a Christian. I will say more about that later. For now I go back to memories at the University of Zambia where she was a student. I was ahead of Brenda by a few years. One of the courses she had to do in her Economics studies was Mathematics. This Mathematics had some components of Statistics. Since I was studying Mathematics under the Bachelor of Education degree, she asked me to help in explaining some Mathematics concepts. I gladly did that. I guess I did a good job because she passed the course. She later called me 'Teacher' in appreciation of the help I had rendered to her. I felt honoured to be called that way. I was impressed that she did not allow a challenging course to get in the way of getting her qualification. She worked hard. Sought help and got her qualification.  Such was Brenda. Determined and focussed all the way. Bre...

This blog post is based on notes that I made during a presentation that was made by by Pastor Conrad Mbewe during the Zambia Baptist Historical Society AGM held at Twin Palm Baptist Church last Saturday. The material for the presentation was complied Kapambwe Sunkutu the late daughter of the late Pastor Sunkutu. Kennedy was fairly involved with the life of KBC. In the early days he played an instrumental role in door to door outreach of KBC. He was a deacon and preached there often. When he moved to Choma he assumed the overall oversight of the church. He was ordained as elder of Central Baptist Church in Choma by KBC when he was barely a year in marriage. In April 2001 he was sent by KBC to plant a church in Kafue called Kafue Reformed Baptist Church where he served till he was called to glory. Kennedy as a preacher He had a deep riveting voice. His preaching was applicatory. He always ended his sermons by urging the listen to apply what they had heard. Kennedy as an evangelis...

My first encounter with Oliver Mtukudzi’s fondly known as Tuku was in the late 90’s. My workmate at Mpelembe Secondary School, Kanyampa Manda would speak highly of Tuku’s music. This made to start buying his audio tapes and video cassettes and later his CDs and DVDs. 


 My Favorite Tracks 
 Tuku’s music was simple, clear and direct. He loved to engage with various social issues affecting communities in his own country and in Africa. Some of my favorite tracks are: 

 Todii:  (What shall we do?). In this song Mtukudzi reflects on the challenge faced by communities as a result of the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The song gives cadence and sympathy to those who provide care. At the same time it magnifies how despicable those in positions of authority are for violating their responsibility. My other favorite tracks are Mabasa which talks of the anguish of losing a loved one, more so when not only you but even others have lost their loved one. Who will help the ...

Mwinilunga! Mwinilunga is 856 km from Lusaka and 256 km from Solwezi the North-Western provincial capital. It is famous for pineapples and  honey. But most interestingly it is 67 km away from Ikelenge where the source of the Zambezi river is. Zambia is named after the Zambezi river. Mwinilunga has the Lunga river running through it.  It is here that my dad Josiah met my mum Betty. An unlikely place for a couple like them to meet considering that they both hailed from very far away. Dad hailed from Choma which is 1,035 km away and mum from Mutoko which is 1,485 km away. Mum told me that dad was persistent in his marriage proposal. Her close friend encouraged her to accept the marriage proposal. She added "Wamene uyu kapokola ndiye azakusunga" which means "This same police man will look after you". Mum at the time was working as a nurse at the Mwinilunga General Hospital while Dad was working as a policeman. So this was a meeting of two public service wo...