Culture

Zambian culture is a mixture of traditions from all 73 Zambian tribes influenced by practices from other countries.

Bemba Lesson 27: Emergencies

Emergency Bemba Phrases

Bemba Phrases to Use in Emergencies.In this lesson you will learn some phrases that will come in handy in emergency situations. It will help you to understand what someone may be trying to communicate to you in an emergency. It can also prepare you to communicate in Bemba when you are faced with an emergency. If…

Kitwe’s War Memorial

Kitwe War Memorial

An Empty Grave(Cenotaph) at Kaunda Square There was no Facebook, Twitter or other Social Media, so the civic leaders of Kitwe City Council carved a message in stone in the middle of Kaunda Square(formerly known as Coronation Square). A cenotaph was erected outside the Kitwe Civic Centre when it was still located in what is now…

Do you Know Any New Bemba Words?

Student cartoon

“Last night I saw something that I have never seen before. A young woman took a smooth stone out of her bag. She touched it and it started glowing in the dark. She pointed at it and the face of her mother appeared on the surface of the stone. She touched the face with her…

Bemba Lesson 26: Human Anatomy

Human_Skull

PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY The aim of this lesson is to list the names of body parts in Bemba. Human anatomy is fun to learn. In this lesson you will learn the different words that describe various parts of the human body: The Human Body = Umubili wa muntu The following table gives the Bemba term…

What I Got for Christmas

Christmas present

When I was a little boy, my father and mother never gave me a Christmas present. Nobody in my village got Christmas presents. Not even the chief. If you think my parents did not love me, it is because you did not know Bana Bwembya and Bashi Bwembya the way I knew them. No. It…

Bemba Lesson 25: Describing Places and Space

Bemba Lesson 25 - Adverbs of Space and Place

Adverbs of Place and Space Space and places are described using different adverbs. In some cases, more than one word is available. Where this is the case, the words are here separated by a coma. Examples show how the words can be used. In front, forward, before = Kuntanshi, Pantanshi She is standing in front of…

Bemba Lesson 24 – Nouns and Adjectives

Bemba Lesson 24_Nouns and Adjectives

In this short video lesson, we will look at the way adjectives are used in Bemba, as compared to English.   A noun is a part of a sentence that names a person, place, thing, idea, action or quality. Examples: Itaba = cob of maize Umuntu = person Kapenta = a type of small fish…

Mutondo House, Then and Now

KITWE CHANGES What is Mutondo house now? Just in between the Kitwe Civic centre and ZIBSIP College, is a two-storey building laced with copper rails around its entrance. If you go further inside you would notice that all door handles are made of pure copper. Mutondo house was the name of this massive former ZCCM…

What is a PONG?

Mana_benditatuluz

You probably don’t know what a PONG is because I just made the word up to describe an enhanced way of sharing our experiences using technology. This emerging phenomenon was not possible ten years ago. A PONG is a poem, song or story that consists of input from its writer, his collaborators AND each listener or reader…

The First Time I Saw a Dead Body

South African daisy -Osteospermum_ecklonis

Letters From a Retired Miner – 12 I want to talk about what happened one day when I went to visit my son in Kitwe. My son Bwembya has given me a granddaughter. Her name is Maria Fostina Bwembya. I am very proud of her. I was looking forward to seeing her with her brother…