Kulamba

While working in Geriatrics at home I once commented to a colleague how our image of elderly people was quite skewed. From experience there I sometimes thought all elderly people were ill, suffering from various degrees of poor mobility and dementia and needed high levels of care. Only when working in General Practice did I get to see that the majority of elderly people lived quite healthy and independent lives and continued to make a valuable contribution to society.

Occasionally here in Zambia after long hours and days on end working I get a similar view of the people. It comes to seem to me that all Zambian children are malnourished or currently seriously ill with malaria and that all Zambian adults are suffering from TB or some HIV related illness and that most will die before forty. In reality thankfully most Zambian children whilst underprivileged by our standards are well nourished and many have the opportunity to go to school. Most Zambian adults are not HIV positive, have jobs, families, relationships and interests.

Time spent away from the hospital on weekends off helps give me a fresh perspective of life in Zambia, gives me an opportunity to see the beautiful countryside and to experience local culture. The people of this part of Eastern Zambia mainly belong to the Chewa tribe. National borders in Africa were mainly decided by European colonists so the Chewa people occupy much of Malawi, the Eastern part of Zambia and northern Mozambique. Every year in August they hold a thanksgiving ceremony called Kulamba (worship) close to Katete.

One of the nurses from St Augustine, John Banda (the quintessential Chewa name) takes a group of us along to the last day of the four day festival. The overall set up reminds me most of the ploughing championship at home. It’s down a dusty (rather than muddy road) there is lots of traffic, throngs of people are coming and going and there are all manner of stalls and hawkers pedaling their wares. The centre-point of the festivities is however quite a bit more entertaining than comparing one furrow to another.

In the middle of the area there is a raised circular platform for dancing and entertainment to take place. Overlooking and right beside this is a thatched shelter housing the Undi Paramount Chief of the Chewa people on his throne. Next prime viewing position goes to a viewing stand containing dignitaries including the president of Zambia. The general public are formed in a circle around, those at the front sitting, more standing towards the back other further back perched on trees to get a good vantage point of proceedings.

When we arrive the colour of our skin pretty much guarantees us front row seat and our cameras get us into the press area right beside the chief’s throne. Various people are introduced from each of the three countries of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. These then proceed to the chief with all manners of gifts in thanksgiving to him including several mattresses, a chest freezer and a washer dryer interspersed among many wrapped unidentifiable objects. The gifts are given as a form of worship to the chief

The chief is sitting on his throne (an armchair like one from your grandmother’s living room) receiving these items. He is surrounded by ivory and a leopard and lion skin, though I am unsure these are real. Several men in brightly coloured dress carrying bows and arrows surround him, John explains these are the subordinate chiefs.

After each presentation of gifts, there is dancing. Many of the dancers are people (or two together) dressed in the form of an animal and believed to be transformed into such for the festival. John explains this is called the Nyao and that nobody is to know who these people really are or to disclose their identity. People who perform the Nyao are taken out into the bush for two months initiation and training by elders. John tells me later that previously almost every male Chewa had to undergo that initiation before they got married. Others dance with fire or are dancing up along tall poles, it is an amazing spectacle.

The whole experience is a fascinating mix of traditional culture and the modern commerce required to support such festivals. Despite the fact the signal is fairly rubbish here both the major mobile phone operators are out in force as are the banks. Outside that there is of course the mass commerce of food stalls, clothes sellers and just like festivals back home alcohol. Indeed the main sponsor of the event is Chibuku. This is a cloudy beer (called shake-shake) sold in milk carton type containers that is extremely popular. Whilst it’s advertising slogan promotes ‘taste the goodness’ my main encounter with it is in frequent alcohol related medical problems such as liver disease (again much like home).

Front row seats guarantee photoparama for us. In typical Zambian fashion at one point we are told not to be taking photos unless we fork out for an official press pass and then a couple of seconds later one of our groups request to meet the president is enthusiastically granted. We file up to meet ‘His Excellency’ Rupiah Banda (himself a Chewa, from this area and extremely popular here).

We get a brief handshake the chance to say where we are from, I utter something ridiculous like ‘I am from Ireland our countries are great friends’. Sadly we don’t get a photo op nor do I get the opportunity to ask him what kind of a country is he running that we often have no blood supply for several days or that the country ‘ran out’ of Insulin a few weeks back or why aid agencies withdrew hundreds of millions in assistance due to fears of irregularities in the department of health or for that matter why is it taking so long to process my work permit. Nonetheless it is of course a great honour to meet him before he leaves in his motor cavalcade.

It was strange to see the president being subordinate to the chief at the event and while he was being whisked away back to Lusaka I was comforted to think that the Undi Paramount chief would be staying locally providing community leadership. Not so unfortunately. John explains that the chief lives in Lusaka and because of this ‘is not nicely connected with the people, I think it would be better if he stayed in the area’. Whilst political leadership in Zambia often serves self interest it is truly heartening to see and experience the richness of the local culture and the pride the people have in that culture.