Zambian culture is a mixture of traditions from all 73 Zambian tribes influenced by practices from other countries.
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
REFLECTIONS LEADING TO MY LAST YEAR AT KITWE BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL 1964 Scholar occupation of the newly built school took place in 1957 with the then head master Mr J Hall. Initially the school was a co-education one, with building of the proposed Girls’ High School, next door, having been ‘completed’ in 1959 but it was only…
Precipitation is upon us Hoe in hand, turn soil upside down. Food security; we hope to acquire Precipitation is upon us, laziness a path to poverty. A good harvest we require, Precipitation is upon us. Hoe in hand, turn soil inside out.
