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A WET
DISTRESS CALL FROM LUNGA!
This long year, you will
not find anything as wet as this call in Lunga wetlands!
Picture a family of eleven hungry boys and
girls aged between one and nine surrounding a small pot. In it, is but little nshima.
A piece of leftover bony-meat submerged in unseasoned gravy in a plastic bowl is
placed beside the pot, in the center of the eleven-man team eagerly waiting for
a signal to start munching. Parental refereeing is evidently missing. They have gone searching for possible
donor-pledged food packs from overwhelmed local government officials.
You watch scantily
dressed kids dipping a few fingers in a bow of water as a mere mandatory ritual;
certainly not for health reasons! All eyes on the ball. Ready- to- attack positions taken!
But one necessary act is
yet to be done. The meat has to be shared by Chakanya (sharer), the
eldest person around.
While Chakanya is
struggling with the bone, siblings can’t wait for him to execute this important
duty. The urge to cram the food down is great. They are all chockablock with
gargantuan appetite. This might be the only meal for the day. They can, after
all, do without relish.
Pfft…they kick off!
You notice this is no simple
contest. It is survival of the fastest. For one to emerge satiable will depend
on their pre-conceived strategy. A
perfect game plan had to be accurately delineated. One either increased the rapidity
or the size of morsels they plucked off and stashed down the gullet, or better
still, engage both tactics. It’s no contest anyone is willing to tank.
By the time Chakanya
turns to check what’s going on, there’s but just crumbs left. He O-My-God-ingly throws
the bone back in the gravy, splashing it all over clearly unperturbed kin-turned-rivals’
faces as he desperately goes for the remainder. As he devours his bit, he crabs
in Unga: “Nkoti nkoyabanya fikolya, nfileke nandi njo kulya!” (what? they are busy champing while I
apportion the meat; it’s time for me to dig in hard!)
My grandparents would advise never to
volunteer to serve others in the Chakanya bamulilile abana crises like
this.
Do not get me wrong. It
is no refugee camp scenario! No!
It is the disaster involving indigenous citizens of Lunga Islands, within the new district in the Bangweulu swamps. The place was hit by heavy rainfall
earlier this year flooding to levels that threatened both wild and human life.
The highly dependable cassava gardens were washed away leaving people with no
option but salvage tiny tubers prematurely.This has left most
families with no food reserves to enable them survive up to the end of this
year, even into the next. Food security here is a pipe dream and the majority of the
people are vulnerable.
Ordinarily, when this
happens, mealie meal prices skyrocket beyond what ordinary villagers can
afford. As a consequence, inhabitants of
the area resort to illegal hunting to make ends meet. Fish stocks, which is the
mainstay of the people in swamps, have significantly depleted. This also means
fishermen will be forced to use prohibited gears to increase their catch and possibly defy the periodic fish ban. These activities will pit them against law enforcers
in ghastly tit for tat fights.
While government through
the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit is aware of existing status and
gave some support during the flooding period, more is required in the aftermath.
The eleven-child illustration given above may sound
exaggerated but is not far-fetched from the actual circumstances because the
area has traditionally embraced early marriages. Very little reproductive health
education has been received to counter traditional beliefs such as ‘the bigger the
family, the richer we become.’ Birth control calls usually fall on deaf ears
plus effects of HIV and Aids that offload orphans onto families with limited resources.
While the case is less
devastating than the recent Angola-Malawi hurricane catastrophe, starvation in
the swamps is certain. As such, from all over the wetlands, our wet plea is
that well-wishers help mitigate the situation by helping Lunga families with timely
relief food supplies.
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