SWAMPY TALES

IT’S TASTY! IT’S CALLED BOCHOO! Imagine you are travelling for about eight hours. If you are travelling by private car or public bus, you make stops at takeaway outlets and buy your refreshments. If you are travelling by air, an air hostess will wake you to some warm munchies that may include fresh juices. This is because your body demands to be nourished for renewed energy and keep healthy. So it is with us travelling to Ungland . When we have been paddling a laden boat or canoe over a distance of more than 30 kilometers, we stop to fill the tanks.  We fix some original and real fast food! The difference is that our fastest meal will be complemented with delicious stuff known as Bochoo . It is indeed some quick delicacy that should not take a lot of time. The meal is better taken while it is hot.   The other difference with what you pals consume on the plane, your car or bus is that we cook our own while you get it ready-made. Here is how accomplished Ung...

Watching school pupils   on our national television learning under a mango tree at Matipa Primary School in Lunga and seeing them being taught by a volunteer school leaver left me with a huge lump in the throat. May be this is better left to competent administrators to contemplate.   I remembered an argument I had with one foreign   researcher last year. The young researcher based in Lunga once doubted that there would be little or no meaningful development that could take place on these islands. He argued that the geographical location, seasonal flooding and remoteness made it difficult for any meaningful investment. As we say in my language,” uwikwite atila ubwali ubo kateule, ” meaning when you are full, you discount the urgency of serving a meal. The world is focusing on the tourism industry today. Zambia’s marketing language is all about attracting tourists. It’s the hot topic in many circles considering economic improvement. Question is; wha...

LUNGA’S BURIAL SITE FOR THE BLAMELESS! "The secret behind the respect accorded to sacred areas and their environs lie in the taboos that are associated with them," so they say. In Lunga, Njelele is one such place!  It is a tiny Island that looks desolate but with a strong cultural attachment to the beliefs of the Unga people. In 1974 when my mother died at Mukanga village in Chief Bwalya Mponda of Ncheta Island, one of my uncles firmly suggested that she be buried at Njelele, 40 kilometers away in Nsamba chiefdom. Uncle Chalwe was convinced that if his sister’s death was caused by someone within the village, she would come to haunt the killer’s family until they were identified.  Secondly, if the killer tried to stop her by going to her grave and frustrate her vengeance strategies, s/he will be harmed by all the innocent souls buried at Njelele. It was undoubtedly believed that only guiltless people who never practiced witchcraft and other vic...