SWAMPY TALES

Some people shouldn’t have to die. How are we expected to cope with the death of those who were regarded in different ways by different people? How do we draft their obituary?   I regarded Tresphore Kunda Pintu as my Shepherd, Father, Teacher, Counselor, and Son. Late Tresphore Pintu with son Fr. T. Pintu Yes, someone I had wanted to take my cue from. But now, death has concealed him under its bottomless pit with no regard to the emotions of surviving loved ones.   While the Catholic fraternity was just coming to terms with the loss of its Bishop in Monze and two well-known Fathers, Charles Chilinda and Muyenga from St. Ignatius Parish in Lusaka, Lunga was trying to absorb the shock of losing its longest-serving Catechist, Tresphore Kunda Pintu, aka TKP who was pronounced dead at Samfya District Hospital on the evening of Saturday 23rd January 2021 at 20:35 hours.    Thirteen years after he drew the curtain on his long and eminent career in 2000, h...

Ministry of Education-Curriculum Development Center (CDC) Approved.  

Chinsanka Kalela group that spiced the launch of WFD Many in business circles are taking leave during this period. Some to go merry while others will go to reflect on what did or did not happen. They will dissect the year into days, hours, minutes, and seconds; and find strategies and tactics for the next year.   For many of us, 2020 was a challenging year due to an unfamiliar, deadly, and surprising pandemic called COVID-19. This disease attacked every nation of the world. Its impact was felt even by those who did not physically experience its venom.   To my family in the village, they wished the year had not even come. Climate change had subjected them to miseries as they had to cope with floods, starvation, and all that comes with floods. It was sad to see many of the families’ meager belongings underwater; while they slept in open markets, church buildings, and classrooms. Thankfully, Government, through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, with lobbyin...

  Ministry of Education-Curriculum Development Center (CDC) Approved.

"Ubufumu buucindika abeene," literally meaning, customary commoners, must honour their traditional leaders. So said our wise forefathers. Why is it important to do this? Because the traditional leaders are custodians of all that we are. They symbolize our culture; they mirror our tradition and are an insignia of what we call TRIBE (which means a group of persons having a common character, or interest.) They represent not only our history but are the emblem of our struggles, our triumphs, our evolution, our beliefs! And, most important, they hold in trust what belongs to us, our heritage, OUR LAND, AND ALL THAT IT HOLDS. As such, every tribesman must honour what we have.    Yes, we honour and respect our chiefs, headmen, and Guardians' of Nature. Therefore we should not allow anyone or anything to erode this esteem? Is it possible for the state and privatizers to undermine their authority while we look helplessly on? Can we do something? Why should we bother to do so? What...

Naturally, honest people hate thieves. As people created in God's image, like their creator, they abhor anyone with long fingers.  One of the shortest verses in the Cibemba Bible is Exodus 20:15 which is a single word, ‘ Wilaiba ,’ emphatically prohibiting stealing. However, some have always crossed this line and helped themselves with something that belonged to someone else. Men with such behavior are all over, including Lunga. Often, it is difficult to pin down the thief, especially the pretentious impostor who disguises himself as the holiest of the tribe. How do you trace or identify the thief from a crowd of innocents? Not so hard with the natives of Lunga. Lunga forebearers used three kinds of scarecrows, one for animals and two others for people.   The former being a mere dummy. Usually, mannequins were put by nets and weirs to scare away otters and other riverine predatory animals from feasting on fish, thereby preventing them from damaging the fisherman’s equipment....

Greetings to you all brethren living in blessed Lunga! If the legendary tale is true that Lucheleng'anga (presumed to be Jesus) stamped his footprint on a rock at the banks of Bangweulu in Kasoma Bangweulu's village, then somewhere in Lunga is Bethsaida (House of Fishing); and so, some of you are busy in our developing Magdala (Place where fish is processed.)  What a privilege to know that despite the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, we can still share thoughts about how we want to spend the remainder of our lives! It's indeed a privilege that in His wisdom, he created that part of the world, so different from others, and designed it so special for our inheritance. Some of you might have read my thoughts before about those who are happy to be called Apamwambas while they define us as grassroots, commoners, or simply common men. Oh yes, we might have grown up being told some people are supposed to be up there and look down upon you.  Sounds true on face value, doesn't it? ...