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...

Last year I was privileged to travel to two countries, i.e. South Africa and Rwanda. I travelled to Cape Town in South Africa in July 2018 for an International Conference in e-Learning Conference and in September 2018 I was in Kigali, Rwanda for the eLearning Africa Conference. I would like to share some of my favourite photos of these two countries or more specifically cities that I visited. Since, I travelled to Rwanda for the first time since I was born, I will start with photos of Rwanda. Enjoy a photo journey of Africa, albeit East and Southern Africa! I took the above photos during a dinner reception that was held for eLearning Africa participants at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda  Below is Rwandese architecture at one of it's best. The Kigali Convention Centre at night and  during the day.  The photos below show why Rwanda is called the 'land of a thousand hills' Amazing art as seen at Inema Art Centre

Last week on Tuesday, the Zambian Reformed Baptist Church family lost one of it's long serving and committed pastors Kennedy Sunkutu who at the time of his death was pastor of Kafue Reformed Baptist Church. Who was Kennedy Sunkutu? Barnabas Chiboboka records:  Kennedy worked as a Secondary School teacher after obtaining a BSc (Ed) from University of Zambia in 1986, and briefly as a College Lecturer in Luanshya. In 2000, Kennedy was sent as a Missionary Pastor by Kabwata Baptist Church to plant Kafue Reformed Baptist Church. In 2009, the Church became autonomous, and called him as its Pastor where he served until his passing away.  He obtained a Master of Philosophy in Practical Theology in 2011 from Cape Town Baptist Seminary.  He served as Registrar and Lecturer at the Lusaka Ministerial College. Kennedy wrote several gospel tracts, some for occasions like Christmas, Easter, Youth Day, and others for general evangelistic purposes. Some titles include: – ‘Another ...

In September this year I was privileged to travel to Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills, for an eLearning Africa Conference:  www.elearning-africa.com .  This conference was preceded by an e/Merge Africa development planning meeting that was held at Corina K Guest House in Kigali from 20-25 September.  
 
 Land of a thousand hills Photo credit: Gabriel Konayuma Getting to and arriving in Kigali 
 This was my first trip to Rwanda. Travel started at around 02 00 hrs from Kenneth Kaunda International airport in Lusaka using RwandAir. The flight was via Harare. The flight was smooth and the onboard experience great. This was my second time using RwandaAir having used the airline in July when I travelled to Johannesburg from Lusaka. I recommend the airline to budget travelers without compromising quality.    We landed at Kigali International airport at a few minutes to 06 00 hrs. immigration formalities were smooth and in no time I had collected my l...