Reflections from the Zambezi

Gabriel at Kalambo Falls In September to October 2007, I travelled to Mbala on duty. The purpose of the trip was to conduct training for small scale women miners in Mbala. This trip was organised by the Department of Vocational Education and Training in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training. It was a follow-up of an earlier trip that was made in June to Northern Province which covered Kasama, Mbala, Mpulungu, Nakonde, Isoka, Chinsali and Mpika. The training was held for two weeks. During this time we stayed at Makungo Guest House. Mbala is 1050 kilometers from Lusaka. Mbala is Zambia's most northerly large town, occupying a strategic location close to the border with Tanzania and controlling the southern approaches to Lake Tanganyika, 40 km by road to the north-east, where the port of Mpulungu is located. Under the name Abercorn, Mbala was a key outpost in Britis...

1. Introduction Surviving in a boarding school can be a tough experience. It can be made easier if some steps are followed. This article looks at the advantages of boarding school, the disadvantages of boarding school and how to survive in boarding school. 2. Advantages of Boarding School Boarding Schools have a number of advantages. These include more time for study, more time to develop friendships, becoming independent, more time to consult classmates and teachers and good preparation for college ad university life. (a) More time for study In boarding schools, times are allocated for afternoon and evening study times. Pupils have at least a minimum of three hours of study per day. This gives a pupil more time to revise and study their school work. Apart from study times, pupils in boarding schools have weekends which can be used for studies. Pupils in day schools may not have enough time as their boarding school colleagues. (b) More time to consult classmates ...

Uncle Enock & wife (April 2009) One that has been exposed to Christian principles will find sooner or later that their Christian beliefs clash with certain cultural beliefs. Such was the experience of my young sister Catherine and I when we tavelled to Mutoko in Zambia in April. This trip was made after the death of our beloved mum in March 2009. We were travelling to escort Aunty Jescah who had come when mum was still ill and eventually died. Also with us on the trip were my cousins Rosa and Chenai who had come from Harare after the funeral to be with us. The journey to Mutoko started from Lusaka to Harare using a bus from Lusaka Intercity bus terminus. The journey took about 8 hours. Chenai’s husband Mr. Mukumbira and my nephew Simbarashe, were on hand to receive us at the Harare Roadport Station, This is a well designed and neat international bus station. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and preparing for the trip from Harare to Mutoko. Travelling from...

One of my hobbies is travelling. But strange as it may sound I hate travelling. Hate it in the sense that traveling is tiring depending on the mode of transport and time that you travel. And there are the border formalities and so on. But I like travel when you have finally reached your destination. In early October I traveled to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The purpose of the trip was to see the famous city of Lubumbashi and get a feel of what is found in the city. Before I proceed some quick facts about Congo for some of you that have never done Geography or don’t know much about this vast nation. Congo has a population of 66 million (UN, 2009). It is the nineteenth most populous nation in the world, and the fourth most populous nation in Africa, as well as the most populous country where French is an official language. It is the third largest country (by area) in Africa . The capital is Kinshasa . Congo has an area of 2.34 million sq km. The major languages...

Michael Eaton was the fourth pastor of Lusaka Baptist Church from 1976 to 1977. He was a good expository preacher/teacher and prolific writer of many Christian books including commentaries on a number of books of the Bible. Michael Eaton was born in 1941. He came from a very ordinary family in London. He became a Christian (late 1950s) when he was a teenager through a youth group in an Evangelical Anglican Church. The Billy Graham campaigns in London may also have played some part in his salvation. He did his Bachelor of Divinity at Tyndale House Cambridge. He then entered the ministry as a curate (assistant minister) at an Anglican church in Surrey, England. In 1967, he resigned from the Anglican ministry on theological grounds and joined an Evangelical Free Church in south-west London. In March 1969 he moved to Zambia where he and his wife Jenny joined Lusaka Baptist Church and later became a deacon and an elder. From early days in the church he taught an adu...

Maputo City Normally we feel comfortable visiting people and places that are familiar to us. This makes us feel at home and easily interact with people in those places. However, there are times when we must visit places which are not very familiar with us. Such was my experience when duty called me to travel to Mozambique to attend a UNESCO Sub Regional Seminar. The Seminar had participants from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Germany and USA. The Seminar was held in Maputo the capital city from 15th to 17th July 2009. Mozambique is a former colony of Portugal hence the official language is Portuguese. “Bem Vindo” in Portuguese means welcome in English. These are the words that greeted us at the International airport in Maputo where we landed at 20 00 after a 1 hour flight from Johannesburg. Earlier we travelled from Lusaka to Johannesburg in the morning for 2 hours and had an 8 hour stopover in Johannesburg. We spent time with my wor...

Graham Ingram (on the left) was the third pastor of Lusaka Baptist Church from 1969 to 1976. He played a leading role in seeing the church change from primarily serving the white community and expatriates to an indigenous church with a major outreach to students. Graham Ingram was born near Sheffield in the north of England. His family was not Christian. He became a Christian in 1955 when was eighteen years of age and doing compulsory military service. A few months before he had been strongly influenced by two young men who were preaching in the street. Through their words the Holy Spirit convicted him of sin. Six months later after meeting some more Christians, and seeing Christ in them, he knelt by his barrack room bed - in front of 20 other soldiers – and surrendered to Christ. Ingram was educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Retford, Nottinghamshire; the City of Sheffield Teacher Training College and Spurgeon's College in London. From early on in his Chr...