“No, Fringilla won’t die with mum, dad,” after losing parents, Andrew tells Fringilla story

“YEAH, I do miss them. I really do miss them,” Andrew Woodley, with a dejected face, says as he remembers his late parents George and Minnie Woodley. “But you always know that this day is always going to come. You think you are ready, but you are never ready.”

Andrew, 61, is the only surviving child of George and Minnie Woodley.

George and Minnie, who died seven months apart – June 18, 2022 aged 87 and January 17, 2023 aged 84 respectively – were the visionaries in the start-up of Fringilla and most of its enterprises. 

Today, Fringilla is renowned for its famous sausages, the boerewors and meat pies.

I caught up with Andrew, who gave an insight on the life of his parents and how the famous Fringilla was established.

“We came to Zambia in 1971,” he said. “My dad took a job as a farm manager under the Rural Development Company (RDC), on a three-year contract, to run a farm in Lusaka West under the RDC. It was at a time when the country was trying to get farms up and running so that Zambia can become more self-sufficient.”

To get the job, Andrew says, his father was interviewed by fourth republican President Rupiah Banda in Nairobi, Kenya.

“So he came to a farm that had not worked for years, and he did a very good job there,” he says.

Andrew says his parents were loved by the people. The Woodleys’ initial plan was to run out his father’s three-year contract then head out to Australia. But no, that wasn’t to be.

Instead, they ended up buying the place that sits on a 200 hectares piece of land and named it Fringilla – after the Fringilla Coelebs, a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family.

“…in 1974, this farm came up for sale. They bought it and at the time, my dad still had a contract with the Government. A few months later, my mother came and worked in the dairy,” he recalls. “Those days there was nothing here. I cannot even remember what the farm’s name was at the time.”

“It just grew and grew and grew,” Andrew says with a giggle when asked about his parents’ initial plan for the place. “My dad, he’d wake up in the morning and just do something. There was nothing really planned for a long-term sort of plan.” 

Andrew says his parents, who were both born in Kenya, were very industrious. They set up the butchery somewhere around 1975 and 1976.

It was around that same time that Minnie, as confirmed by her son Andrew, developed the famous Fringilla boerewors, whose recipe continues to be kept under ‘lock and key’.

In about 1990, they decided to rent out the butchery to someone else while they concentrated, largely, on developing the guest house in 1993.

“My mother started making the Fringilla pie, which has also become very popular among customers,” says Andrew. “Those days there weren’t shops in town where you could buy the ready-made mixes to batch packs. So it was all made by trial and error. My mother could mix spices and stuff to make the sausages and the pies herself.”

The guest house has also grown, with over 65 rooms, and Andrew is full of gratitude to Zambians for the support. 

“My parents always believed that a customer comes first. They were very good to their customers and have helped a lot of people around here (Chisamba),” he said.

Andrew took interest in making sausages around 1994. He got the motivation from the fear of losing his mother.

“I was worried my mum and dad weren’t going to be around much longer to teach me how to make the sausages,” he said. “… and they died 30 years later. That’s a lot of life ahead of them, so when I thought they were coming to the end of their road, they still carried on – which was amazing.”

Andrew has been running the butchery for close to 30 years now. “When my mum died, we were in it for 15 years, even the guest house,” he says. 

During that time, his parents were mostly embattled with failing health. His father, George, for instance, had Parkinson’s disease, which mostly left him bedridden, while his mother, Minnie, was there to tend after him, even though she too had her own health complications such as diabetes and old age.

“It was just sad, so sad to see him, for someone who was full of energy, full of drive and he ended up being bedridden,” Andrew said about his father. “And the poor man never gave up, though.”

He is convinced his mother kept herself alive just so she could take care of her sick husband, George.

“The way my mother stood by him was unbelievable. I am convinced that had my father not been sick, my mother would have died long before. It’s like she just kept herself alive so that she could look after my dad,” he says. “She stood by my dad like you cannot believe, he was in hospital three to five times a year.”

When her husband was in the intensive care unit at the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH), Minnie developed a complication with her heart which led to her being admitted to the same hospital.

“... and the doctor said ‘Mrs Woodley, it’s like you have made yourself sick so that you could be in hospital with your husband’,” recalled Andrew amid a gloomy laughter.

His father, George, was born in Eldoret, Kenya, on December 18, 1936, and his mother, Minnie, was also born in the same town on July 27, 1939.

“My parents were also loved in Kenya and that is why we receive a lot of them (Kenyans) here whenever they are in Zambia. Even President William Ruto has been here to visit my father, and the embassy is always referring Kenyan visitors to Fringilla for treats,” he said. 

Other than Andrew, the couple had another child named Martin George Woodley, who died of malaria in 1985 aged 21.

At the time of moving to Zambia, Andrew was only nine years old. He also shared with us how it was in the first days.

“When we were driving from Kenya, it was in 1971, and the road was terrible, through Tanzania. We came by road using Peugeot 404’s and we spent four to five nights on the road. I remember somewhere in Mbeya, a wheel came off. We came with our cats and dogs and a tortoise. I loved those days – things were tough, but they weren’t that tough,” he says. “Once I tried to take a shortcut when making the sausage, some many years ago, by putting some extender there to make it cheaper. This is a very expensive sausage to make and we got away with it, but my mother later found out. Eish! I was beaten that day. My mum always wanted the best standards for the sausages – you had to keep it 100 percent meat.”

On February 18, 2023, Fringilla hosted a memorial service in honour of the late Minnie. Asked about the attendance, Andrew said: “Yo! I cannot tell you, it was a lot as you can see in the condolences book.”

But even without the visionaries of the farm, Andrew says it will continue going forward.

“No, it definitely won’t die with them,” he said. “For the last, maybe, 10 years, my mum and dad have been out of it, it’s been completely run by us. They were there for us to go and get advice from and if we did anything wrong, we would still be reprimanded.”

He describes life without his parents as ‘empty’. “It’s something that you are going to miss. There are things that I wish I could ask my mum and dad about, but they are not here anymore, it’s sad,” he said. 

Andrew is married to Julie and they have three children together – two boys and a girl. He now runs the farm, together with his wife, oldest son Alex and Chisha, his daughter-in-law.

“So my mum and dad were very blessed because their grandchildren grew up with them on the farm. And you know it’s amazing how the farm that I grew up from, from the age of 10, 11, I am still here at 60 and my children have grown up. So that’s Zambia and it’s been fantastic with us. If we had gone to Australia, I don’t think we would have been able to have this legacy,” he said.

Andrew misses the evenings he used to spend with his parents.

“They are not there anymore, which I find difficult. But can you imagine, at 60 years old, losing your parents, I was lucky, you know. Some people lose their parents a lot younger,” he says. “My mother would be telling everybody, including the best farmers, about how much of a fantastic farmer I am. I would say, ‘mum, I am a good farmer but I am not better than them’. But to a mother, you are always the best.” 

“My mother was an incredible person,” he says. “I saw them fighting only once. They were busy making butter in the old kitchen here in our home and I don’t know what the fight was about and those guys started throwing butter at each other.”

Fringilla Farms, which is situated in Chisamba on the Great North Road, rears cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep and goats. It also plants wheat, soya beans and grows grass which it later uses to make bales for the cattle.

“We pretty much do everything,” says Andrew. But the main business remains the butchery and the guest house.

Andrew also shared that Fringilla has stopped taking part in the national boerewors competitions because it has outgrown the competition.

“… all of them want to make a sausage as good as ours – so it’s better we go in as judges, not as competitors,” he said.

He continues: “So, I think people have learnt to trust our brand. I have been doing it for 30 years now, and for the last 10 years, I can say my mum had just been looking after my dad.”

The Woodleys, who died seven months apart, were cremated as per their wish. Andrew intends to put their ashes next to their late son Martin’s grave, which is within the Fringilla grounds.

TAKING CHILD MARRIAGE PERSONAL: Choma youth picks mantle to reduce Zambia's global ranking on early nuptials

WITH 42 percent of women aged between 20 and 24 years married off by the age of 18, Zambia ranks among countries with the highest child marriage rates in the world.

Currently, Zambia is ranked 16th amongst countries with the highest rate of child marriage in the world, and although the Marriage Act establishes a legal age for marriage, and the Penal Code makes sex with a girl under 16 an offence in Zambia, these provisions rarely apply in customary law.

Owing to this, early child marriage has become a vital topic of discussion amongst several development platforms, so much that the vice has now become even more visible to many people, including those that were previously unaware of its existence.

And as the local proverb goes: “One finger cannot crush a louse”. There is indeed strength in numbers.

This proverb holds true in the fight against early or forced marriage.

The future of most girls is threatened by early or forced marriage, making it a national concern, bringing many organisations and people on board, all in an effort to mitigate it – this includes 30-year-old Choma-based activist Genious Musokotwane.

I caught up with the budding youth who has decided to dedicate not only his time, but also resources, to fighting the vice and sending children, especially girls, to school.

At his young age, Mr Musokotwane is also executive director for the Musokotwane Compassion Mission Zambia (MCMZ), a Choma-based non-profit and youth-led organisation that frontiers the fight against child marriages.

Not only that, his organisation, which has on a number of occasions retrieved many girls from forced or arranged marriages in Choma and surrounding areas, has also been ensuring that it meets their needs.

“I am just a simple Zambian, life transformation servant driven leader,” is how Mr Musokotwane describes himself.

Born in Kalomo in 1992, Mr Musokotwane was raised by a single parent, a thing that motivated him to found MCMZ.

“I grew up to know that I was a solution to my community,” he says. “When my mother died when I was 10 years old, I went to live in the village and my time in the village as a young boy birthed my passion to bring about positive change.”

At the age of 14, an opportunity availed itself for him to attend a boy’s camp under Peace Corps as a volunteer.

“At the end of the camp, we were all asked to take a quiet moment and reflect on things we would love to change in our communities,” he says. “It was at this point that the early child marriage problem resurfaced. It was in the same year that the 2007 Demographic Health Survey on Zambia was released and it indicated that half of Zambian women were married before the age of 18 years.”

Out of his passion, Genious, then aged 15, engaged Chief Chikanta of Kalomo district and Chief Cooma of Choma district and shared with them his ideas on the best practices of ending early, forced and child marriages in their chiefdoms.

“It was at this point in 2008 that Musokotwane Compassion Mission Zambia (MCMZ) was founded with the sole purpose of influencing chiefdoms, traditional leaders, government and others to end child marriages and also meet basic needs of girls retrieved from such toxic unions,” he says.

Today, MCMZ is a member of the Girls Not Brides global partnership on ending child marriages worldwide. It is also an approved Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) in the republic of Zambia.

“Since inception, over 500 girls have been retrieved and put back in school under the advocacy, education and capacity building thematic areas,” says Mr Musokotwane.

His organisation has since expanded its operations into Kazungula district, adding on the other three districts, Monze, Pemba and Choma.

MCMZ is also a transit facility for survivors of child marriage. This, he says, is done in accordance with the Government's vision and aspiration to reduce the number of children raised in institutional care through the implementation of an alternative care plan where the organisation partners with a volunteer family to keep and care for any such survivor or child.

The organisation is also a trainer of trainers in organisation strategic planning, data for decision making, monitoring and evaluation and also trainer of trainers in child protection policy and disability inclusion.

It is also building classes for its formal and skills training school at its Choma farm as part of its transition into a transit centre for survivors of sexual violence and child marriage.

Asked what it was like setting up MCMZ, Mr Musokotwane says it was challenging at first, but has no regrets now.

“But I believed in myself, I understood God had called me to this and I never expected a smooth path. With this view in mind, it made everything easy. Also, Chief Chikanta and Chief Cooma supported me with what I needed and knowing that I had such traditional leaders behind me, and being called for this made the whole thing adventurous,” he says. 

“The programmes are being received very well as we have traditional leaders raising the flag to end child marriage and over five chiefs and their headmen have been trained and are now champions of ending child marriage.”

He says in rural areas, it is always important to work with traditional leaders if you want to achieve positive change.

He says child marriage has been a traditional practice that has escalated now because of poverty levels.

He recalls how while in primary school, a school mate got married off and later lost her life during child birth. Up to now, it still hurts him that his schoolmate had no one to stand up for her.

“If someone stood [up] for her not to be married off, she probably would still be alive today. This has continued to pop up in every case that we come across and that's what drives us to stand for girls and help even when we have little to give to the down-trodden girls and children,” he says.

The impact isn’t just on society and the retrieved girls. It has also had an impact on Mr Musokotwane.

He says: “Serving as a lead servant at MCMZ has made me realise that we are all tools in God's hands. The opportunity has changed my view of success as not the acquisition of fame, material things or money but by how our actions, lifestyle and character bring the kingdom of heaven to those in distress.”

He adds: “The privilege to serve under this organisation has made me have a global view on how best we can improve our communities and the country’s social and economic development for all.”

MCMZ retrieves girls from child marriages and provides them with shelter, basic needs, and education support through a school sponsorship programme.

“MCMZ work improves the protection, health and education chances for girls, and widens their economic opportunities in society,” he says. 

“Child marriages are mainly driven by poverty, perception of girls as only good for marriage, inequality among boys and girls, and also [bad] traditional practices. We can curtail these by investing in the education of girls, especially those at risk of falling into the trap and also those already retrieved.”

He adds that improved economic opportunities for families in rural areas are key in the fight against the vice.

“Since inception, we have been dealing with 20 cases on average, annually. We need to abolish all those traditional practices that impede the development of young girls,” he says.

To keep afloat, the organisation has some income generating activities such as farming, beverage brewing and supply, fundraising galas and musical concerts, crowd funding and individual donors.

He says a number of prominent private and public schools in the district have partnered with his organisation to offer scholarships to the girls under its auspices and care.

It operates within four thematic areas, namely, advocacy, capacity building, child protection, and education support.

“We hardly face resistance when rescuing these girls from these toxic marriages,” he says. “We are part of the victim's family support who are mostly the ones that report such cases to us and these are the same families we rely on for alternative care.”

Mr Musokotwane, who has been married for slightly under two years now, has earned himself a name for his actions and contribution to society. While acknowledging a reduction in the number of any such cases, he advises parents to desist from sending their children into early marriages.

 “The reduction could be attributed to concerted efforts by stakeholders and the government's free education policy. However, there is a need to continue addressing the poverty levels among rural areas as the vice is mostly propelled by poverty and hunger in most of these areas,” he says.

Mr Musokotwane who is also a promising young farmer in Southern province studied public relations at Evelyn Hone College and also spent some years in South Africa studying Missions and Leadership and while there, worked for a number of charitable organisations.

NOTE: This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Wednesday, January 4, 2023. 

NEBBY MULAISHO: from driver to lawyer

IT IS said the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. 

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them - and that is exactly what former Zambia Daily Mail driver Nebby Mulaisho has done - pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Mr Mulaisho, 43, who is married to Mara Mushili, with whom he has five children, attended Kambosha and Kapila primary schools before completing his Grade 12 at Mkushi Secondary school in 1996.

“After school, I sold some cooking oil at some market in Kitwe where I used part of the profits there to get a driving license sometime in 2000,” he says. “

Mr Mulaisho then moved to Lusaka and worked for Shonga Steel as a metal fabricator, Tau Risk as a security guard and also Pan-African Distributors as a salesman, before landing a one year contract with Zambia Daily Mail in 2005 as driver.

“Even as I was working here, I had not given up on my dream of becoming a lawyer one day. I kept telling myself that I will raise enough money and go to school, and I eventually did that,” he says.

After his contract with Zambia Daily Mail ended, Mr Mulaisho went on to work for Fedex as a courier before being employed in government under the Ministry of Works and Supply as a driver.

It was while at the Ministry of Works and Supply, in 2009, that he enrolled at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) to study law. He graduated with a diploma in law in 2012.

“In 2014, I decided it was time for me to go for my degree and that is how I decided to enroll at the Zambia Open University. I deferred a year, due to finances but I am glad to have resumed soon after,” he says.

He says it was gratifying to be among the law students graduating in October 2021.

“It was very fulfilling to me. I have plans of going for a masters of arts degree and maybe get admitted to the bar, but first, I know I have to pass the test at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE). Those are things I will do eventually, with time,” he says.

Mr Mulaisho said American lawyer Courtney Griffiths who represented former Liberia president Charles Taylor at The Hague has had a great influence on his journey.

“I am a key follower of very difficult cases and Ms Griffiths inspired me a lot. I follow and learn from her experiences religiously. I have also drawn inspiration and support from my close friends and acquaintances such as Steven Nyondo, Naomi Hara and Dr Munyonzwe Hamalengwa who always encouraged me to keep studying,” he says.

Mr Mulaisho says working as a driver exposed him to a lot of places and situations that cemented his desire to study law.

“At one point, while on duty in some prisons, I interacted with a number of inmates and realised that a lot of them need legal representation. That, to me, just told me to keep pushing,” he says.

He says the other driving force has always been his family, especially children. He says he decided to set the bar so high that his children can learn that they too can become anything they want to become in future.

“I see everything I do as a stepping stone. Being a driver, people tend to look down on you so many times thinking that you cannot be anything more than being just a driver. There is a lot of ridicule that comes with this job, but for me, I just had to curve my own path and prove people wrong,” he says.

He says education is the greatest equaliser in the universe.

“I believe that anyone can achieve anything with an education and it makes you useful in society too,” he says.

He adds: “I will support my children up to the end. One of them completed grade 12 and intends to study engineering and the youngest is a just under two years old.”

Mr Mulaisho is currently seconded to the country's electoral body, Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

RESIDENTS GEARED ON COVID-19 FIGHT: Zambia currently sits at 52 percent of the national herd immunity

THE setting is Mahatma Gandhi grounds in Lusaka’s Mtendere Township. And scores of people are gathered to witness the official launch of the 2nd COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Yes, the country, which currently sits at 52 percent of the national herd immunity, has set itself an ambitious target of getting to the internationally required 70 percent herd immunity.

“I am yet to be vaccinated,” says Alick Mwale, a Mtendere resident. “That is why I have come here to hear for myself the stories they say about the vaccines.”

Mr Mwale, like many others who are yet to get vaccinated against COVID-19, has been skeptical taking the jab because of the myths that he has heard about it.

“I have heard a lot of bad stories about it. That is why I am just from having a chat with that nurse there, asking about the safety of the vaccine. I think I will take it with time, we shall see how it goes,” he says.

Another Mtendere resident, Derrick Phiri, was among the people who had spared some time to be at the Mahatma Ghandi grounds to learn about the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Mr Phiri was brought to the venue by his older sister, who is already vaccinated and wants to get a booster jab.

“I will get the vaccine,” he says. “My sister has recommended that I get the AstraZeneca because it is the one that she got and it didn’t give her any problems.”

His sister, only identified as Bridget, says: “There is nothing scary about these vaccines. It is better to get the vaccine and forget about worrying about COVID-19. At least you know you are partially protected even if they say it [vaccine] is not a cure.”

Previously, vaccination campaigns were implemented by the Ministry of Health, but not anymore.

Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo announced at the venue that, as part of the decentralisation policy, Government has decided to delegate to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development activities such as sensitisation campaigns.

This, according to her, is to ensure that the information trickles down to the intended people in the communities.

“Going forward, such events will be officiated by local councils because they are the ones on the ground and they are the ones in touch with the communities – the actual people who need this information,” she said.

It is no wonder that Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Garry Nkombo was guest of honour at the event.

In his speech, Mr Nkombo called for heightened awareness in the COVID-19 pandemic in order to attain the internationally required 70 percent herd immunity.

He observed with dismay a resurgence of respiratory diseases since the relaxation of the COVID-19 guidelines such as cessation of the mandatory wearing of face masks in public places. He said much as the COVID-19 positivity rate has reduced, the pandemic has not been eradicated.

“You are all encouraged to get vaccinated. It’s not a secret that at the peak of the pandemic last year, we lost a lot of people. Government remains committed to improving health systems in the country and to attaining universal health coverage status,” Mr Nkombo said.

He added: “This campaign must be a reminder that our country has not yet achieved the desired target. Let’s play a role and encourage each other to ensure that every eligible person is fully vaccinated against the COVID-19.”

Mr Nkombo said vaccination has demonstrated to have a high impact, owing to how the number of hospitalisations and deaths have dwindled from the time the country started administering vaccines.

Currently, Zambia stands at about 56 per cent herd immunity against COVID-19.

At the same function, World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative Nathan Bakyaita commended Government for the dedication and commitment to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Bakyaita said WHO will continue to collaborate with Government through the Ministry of Health to fight COVID-19.

“This pandemic has crippled a lot of economies and ensuring that we vaccinate many people will see us return to a semblance of normalcy,” he said.

He said at the current rate, Zambia is on course to achieving the required 70 percent herd immunity target and WHO remains committed to supporting the country.

UNICEF acting country representative Benjamin Meyer said with the vaccination campaign, Zambia stands ready to meet its target by the end of the year.

“We have been working closely with many other cooperating partners to provide vaccines since April last year,” he said.

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) country director Dr Andrew Auld said the U.S government is fully committed to supporting Zambia in her vaccination drive.

Dr Auld said a significant number of eligible people still remain to be vaccinated.

“Please, continue to get vaccinated. The vaccines are readily available and the US government has donated over six million vaccines,” he said.

Lusaka Province minister Sheal Mulyata, in a speech read for her by Minister of Water Development and Sanitation, Mike Mposha, who is Munali Constituency Member of Parliament, said the province has adequate vaccines, and personnel has already been dispatched to various centres for the vaccination campaign.

Ms Mulyata urged all stakeholders to continue championing the response in a multi-sectoral manner.

The campaign, which is being held under the theme: ‘COVID-19 is not yet over. Get vaccinated today, protect yourself, family and your community’, is running from 3rd October to 12th October.

Not too long ago, USAID Discover Health deputy director Mutinta Nyumbu urged people not to drop their guard against COVID-19.

“Let us, therefore, go out there and tell the people that all those myths they have about vaccines are not true. We are glad to have partnered with the chiefs and Ministry of Health to win the fight,” she said.

At provincial level, North-Western, Copperbelt and Central provinces have all reached the internationally required 70 percent COVID-19 herd immunity.

Note that this story was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Wednesday 12, 2022.

ZONOBIA TEMBO'S TALE: WFP, DAPP partner to end malnutrition in adolescents

WHEN Zonobia Tembo, a 30 year old mother of four children, heard that her youngest child had a medical condition that could be likened to cerebral palsy, her world started to crumble. 

The news of the condition, a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture was sure to ruin her marriage. Her husband blamed her for their son’s disability to an extent that he had to chase her out of their matrimonial house. 

Ms Tembo now lives in Katete’s Sitolo village, in Chieftainess Kawaza’s area. She moved back to her mother’s house, together with all her four children. 

“My husband shunned me and our son for being disabled, he never tried to provide for him and even refused to be involved in anything to do with him,” says Ms Tembo.

Her other three children are okay.

Cerebral palsy is mainly caused by abnormal brain development, often before birth. Symptoms include exaggerated reflexes, floppy or rigid limbs and involuntary motions, these appear by early childhood.

“He [the child] was born in 2017. First, he started by having fits, and when I took him to St. Francis Hospital, I was told that the child had malnutrition which may have started from the time he was in the womb. They said that I wasn’t feeding him as much while he was in the womb,” she said.

Ms Tembo explains that she was in an abusive marriage and it had taken a toll on her. Because of the torture and torment, she would sometimes skip meals due to loss of appetite that may have been induced by emotional stress.

“I believe that is what contributed to my child to be born the way he was born. I used to have a lot of challenges eating when I was pregnant. You know, sometimes you lose your appetite when you have a lot of things going on in your life. It was difficult for me in that marriage,” she says.

She was married for close to eight years to the man whose details she is not so keen on revealing.

Her son, who was born in 2017, will soon be turning five years old. Despite his age, he still cannot walk, speak or sit independently. 

“After a lot of back and forth visits to the hospital, I was then later told that he has a brain problem,” she said.

She loves him anyway; he is her child after all. “There is nothing I can do. I have been receiving some help here and there, and at least, he is learning to sit independently now,” she says.

Her mother Innocensia Phiri says ever since her daughter was chased from her marriage for giving birth to a disabled child, her life has not been easy – not even in her mother’s community.

She says she has, on many occasions, had to deal with discrimination from members of the community, something she never imagined would happen.

“She’s been here for over two years now. She is my daughter and there is nothing I can do but accept her back,” she says.

Ms Phiri says throughout her daughters’ marriage, reports of her being abused used to reach her - but in many instances, like most parents do, she would just encourage her daughter to be strong and that in any marriage there are challenges.

She somehow feels guilty of every wrong thing that has happened to her daughter.

She says: “Perhaps, I should have listened to her when she complained the first time about what was happening in her house. Maybe that is the mistake I made and I know a lot of parents out there do the same.”

Ms Phiri acknowledges that raising a differently abled child in a rural area is difficult.

“It’s just that some of us have a little understanding of some of these things, otherwise, if it were in another community, maybe they could even have thrown away the child. We have heard of such things,” she says.

Apart from the Government, through the department of social welfare, Ms Tembo’s differently abled child has also been receiving help from organisations such as Development Aid from People to People (DAPP).

Through the integrated nutrition and smallholder support project which is supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), DAPP, as an implementing partner, is building the capacity of locals in the production and consumption of nutritious foods through an integrated multi sectoral approach.

Liato Kashweka is DAPP project monitoring and evaluation officer in Katete. He says the district has a lot of children who are not doing well in terms of nutrition. 

“…and in order to tackle it adequately, we ride on the 1,000 most critical days – and that is how we have been helping these people here and in all the other districts we are implementing this project,” he says.

And in order to prevent starvation of fetuses such as the case of Ms Tembo’s child, Mr Kashweka says DAPP has also been organising cooking demonstrations for pregnant and lactating women where they are taught how to prepare nutritious homegrown foods.

WFP Zambia Deputy Country Director Ms Jayoung Lee says her organisation recognises the nutrition challenges in the country and has in partnership with various stakeholders been supporting the Government’s nutrition improvement agenda. 

“WFP has been complementing national efforts in addressing nutrition challenges by promoting the production and consumption of locally-available nutritious foods, targeting vulnerable populations including pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, children and smallholder farmers,” she says.

Ms Lee adds that WFP provides technical assistance to the Government in generating evidence on nutrition and in integrating nutrition components across national programmes to ensure they are nutrition sensitive.

This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Thursday, July 28, 2022.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: of courageous Lungu assenting to a people-driven constitution

EVEN with the fact that his ascendancy to power was one that was least expected, even by him, President Edgar Lungu has pledged to leave a legacy befitting to make future generations proud.

Infrastructure development is at the core of his administration. Notable among them is the Lusaka – Ndola dual carriage way, the new Ndola International airport that is under construction and also the Lusaka Specialised hospital, among others.

But none supersedes the feat he pulled off on the January 5, 2016 at the Heroes National Stadium when he put pen to paper, to assent to a piece of legislation that would eventually reduce his powers, which he didn’t have issues with by the way.

“I have no qualms about reducing presidential powers because it is not about me, but about all of us today and posterity,” he said as he addressed the multitude that trooped to the stadium to witness the ceremony.

In his own words, president Lungu said: “the reduction of presidential powers, achieves the aim of ensuring that power is commonly distributed through subjecting leadership to legal restraint that replaces the rule of men with the rule of law.”

The day of assent was also declared a half working day by government, a gesture that lent credence to the importance of the assenting process itself and to also show how historic the achievement was in the constitutional making process which had divided the country in recent years.

French ambassador to Zambia Emmanuel Cohet marked the occasion as a landmark in the political life of the country.

"The assenting of the bill marks a significant milestone for the people of Zambia. The next step is the referendum which will be held in August which we hope will also be a success," Mr Cohet was quoted as saying.

Alex Ng’oma, a political analyst applauds President Lungu for being courageous enough to assent to a constitution bill that his predecessors had for a long time avoided.

He says despite the debate currently going on resulting from the same piece of legislation, President Lungu will be remembered as “one of the most democratic” leaders Zambia has seen.

“You see, that piece of legislation is very cardinal to the democratic dispensation of the country. Even with the debate around it, it offers a breath of fresh air in the many new clauses it came with such as the running mate and also the 50% plus one,” he said.

Constitutional development in Zambia can be traced back to the British colonial times, especially from the beginning of the 1950s.

Following the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963, a new constitution based largely on the Westminster model was designed at independence in 1964. The constitution that resulted from the negotiations at Lancaster house was conceived in a multi-party political dispensation.

Among its bill of rights, every person in Zambia, regardless of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed, or sex shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms.

But in 1973, Zambia became a one-party state with the justification being that it was a practical way to prevent ethnic rivalries and promote national unity.

The independence constitution was largely viewed as a colonial vestige which many leaders that followed promised to either change to one that truly reflected the aspirations of the Zambian people.

In 1969, a referendum was held which gave power to the legislature to amend the constitution and consequently, on 30th March, 1972, President Kenneth Kaunda appointed the Mainza Chona constitutional review commission.

After 18 years of one-party rule, the people of Zambia demanded change consistent with the “wind of change” that was blowing across the continent. Government then went on to reform and amend the 1973 constitution by repealing article 4 to allow for the return to multi-party politics.

Government also announced its intention to make comprehensive amendments to the constitution, and consequently, appointed the Patrick Mvunga constitutional review commission. However, the 1991 constitution that followed the Mvunga commission was perceived as a transitional one to meet the immediate demands of the multi-party system. Thus, on 22nd December, 1993, two years after the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) came to power, late president Frederick Chiluba appointed the John Mwanakatwe constitutional review commission.

The commission made many recommendations, amongst others, that a presidential candidate must receive 50 percent plus one of the valid votes cast for the candidate to be declared winner among others.

But again, government rejected most of the commission’s recommendations.

Then late president Levy Patrick Mwanawasa went on to appoint the fourth constitutional review commission, which was chaired by Mr Willa Mung’omba.

Significantly, the Mung’omba constitutional review commission which in the main sought to super-impose a constituent assembly over parliament.  But government rejected it on account of the constitution of Zambia vesting the legislative power of the republic solely in parliament, among other reasons.

In 2010, another attempt to amend the constitution was entered into.  Again, the attempt to enact the constitutional amendment bill adopted by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) failed because the bill could not garner the two-thirds parliamentary majority required at second reading.

When the Patriotic Front ascended to power in 2011, it undertook to deliver a constitution in accordance with the wishes of the Zambian people.

Thus, on 16th November 2011, the late president, Michael Sata, appointed the Silungwe Technical Committee on drafting the Zambian constitution whose terms of reference included examining the recommendations of all previous constitutional review commissions in order to ensure that the proposed constitution took into account the views of the people.

On 23rd October, 2014, the draft constitution was tabled before the national assembly as “an Independence anniversary gift” to the Zambian people, but it too failed to go through.

Among the various issues that many people demanded and which have been provided for in the constitution amendment bill, include the election of a president with over 50 per cent of the valid votes cast and the provision of a running mate to a presidential candidate.

The bill also provides for the establishment of the constitutional court and the court of appeal, the implementation of a devolved system of government and the general strengthening of accountability among the various organs of the state.

There have also been persistent calls for dual citizenship, especially from Zambians living abroad. The new constitution provides for that.

It has also removed the uncertainty associated with the date of elections by clearly stating that the general elections shall be held on the second Thursday of August in an election year.

In the same vein, Zambians would know in advance who the successor would be, should the office of the Republican President fall vacant for one reason or another, as the vice president who is now elected alongside the president as a running mate automatically takes over.

Contentious clauses such as the parentage clause have been removed.

The new constitution amendment bill has also seen the provision for the rights and obligations of political parties and the establishment and management of the Political Parties' Fund;  revision of the provisions relating to the Executive in order to, among other matters, provide for the election of the Vice-President of the Republic as a running mate to a presidential candidate in a presidential election and the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries in an effort to enhance good governance.

Other reforms include the revision of the provisions relating to the Judiciary in order to provide for the establishment of the Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court and revise the jurisdiction of the superior courts.

On December 15, 2015 in Kasama, president Lungu may have said that, “under the new Constitution, when it comes I shall sign it with eyes closed because that is what Zambians wanted”, but January 5, 2016 told a different story.

He appended his signature to the piece of legislation that Zambians had cried for, for many years with so much ease and ‘open eyes’.

He will undoubtedly go down in the country’s history as the one that gave the people that which they had for a long time been crying for – a legacy to be remembered for many years to come.

This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper, sometime in November 2017.

JUICY WILD IDEA: The case of Livingstone's Mario Nyanga who turned a wild idea into business

ANYONE who has lived in Livingstone, or at least visited the tourist capital at any time of the year will attest to the town’s high temperatures.

In fact, Livingstone records some of the highest temperatures in the country and one way to beat the heat is obviously by staying hydrated at all times.

And instead of just sitting at home and engaging in illicit activities after failing to find a job, an enterprising youth in the name of Mario Nyanga, 32, has taken advantage of the situation and seen a business opportunity out of people’s desperate attempts to beat the heat.

Located on Botswana Road in Livingstone’s Dambwa North township is Summer Splash Enterprise, a wild and healthy fruit juice joint owned by Mario. He started the business in November 2018. What is interesting about the joint is that the fruit juices are made from indigenous Zambian wild fruits.

The self-taught juice maker makes drinks such as lemonade, tamarind juice and smoothies out of baobab fruit, locally known as mubuyu. Mario also makes granadilla fruit juice.

“You know, growing up, we used to just play with these fruits and many times we never even thought of taking the idea of eating them seriously because for all we cared, they were just wild fruits that you could only eat once in a while,” he says.

Indeed these fruits are everywhere and readily available. Anyone who has lived in rural Zambia will agree with Mario that even collecting them requires minimal effort. Mario first started with tamarind juice.

“It was sometime in November 2018 when I started. It was at a time when there was a lot of talk about how beneficial musika (tamarind) is for people, both male and female. I then decided that maybe I should try and make something out of the fruit that was selling like hot cake in Livingstone. Besides that, it was tamarind season then, so it was only wise that I started with it,” he says.

Mario says he was overwhelmed by the response his drink got. “I used to sell it in disposable plastic cups and people would queue up here for it. Then, I hadn’t even built a structure and shelter.”

Since then, he says, the business has been growing and making steady progress. Mario says he makes about K200 per day.

“Today I have been able to put up this structure and shelter, thanks to the business. I have also gone into making other types of juices as well, which many people have been appreciating,” he says.

He adds: “There are plenty of health benefits in tamarind, lemon, granadilla and baobab that many of us have taken for granted. These same fruits have the ability to boost immunity, maintain and control sugar and cholesterol levels in the body. They are also good for the kidneys and have a lot more benefits.”

But like any other business, Mario has had to deal with his own share of challenges. He says the biggest challenge has been sourcing the fruits, bearing in mind that they are seasonal.

“I have had to go to places like Siavonga and Maamba to get supplies for some of the fruits and stock up for use even in times when they are not [in season]. It hasn’t been easy, but I am glad that I have been managing, much as it has been with difficulties,” he says.

He says with the right kind of money, his business, which is legally registered, would have grown to a more satisfying level. “I want to be able to package the drinks nicely in branded bottles or cups and supply them to big chain stores here in Livingstone and other nearby towns, if not the entire country,” he says.

At the moment, Mario stills sells his drinks to those that stop by his stand in disposable plastic cups of three different sizes at different prices. “As you can also see, these juice dispensers and beverage coolers that I am using are not industrial, so it means I have to constantly keep refilling them from time to time,” he says.

Asked if he has ever tried to get a loan or any form of capital to boost his business through the youth empowerment fund, Mario says he is yet to.

“I have thought about the idea of accessing those loans, but it is something that I haven’t really given much thought to. However, the idea that I fancy most is to partner with someone. Otherwise, I know that with enough funds and access to any financial boost, I would have the capacity to get as many supplies as possible and be able to grow the business,” he says.

Mario is a trained auto-electrical engineer. He graduated from Livingstone Institute of Business and Engineering Studies in 2015. He is the last born in a family of six which comprises three boys and three girls.

“I was born to Wilfred Nyanga and Agness Njoolo in Maamba in 1989. I attended Mujala Primary, St. Mark’s Secondary in Choma and also David Livingstone Secondary School in Livingstone,” he says.

After completing school, Mario went on search for job opportunities and a happy life. His pursuit of happiness even landed him in South Africa for a brief stint before moving back to Zambia to start work as a gym instructor.

He relocated to Livingstone from Choma in 2018 and soon after, even without any formal training for it, decided to open his business.

He has gone on to get a food handlers certificate from the council and registered the business with the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) and is tax compliant with the Zambia Revenue Authority.

“As youths, we don’t need to limit our thinking. We should be able to identify business opportunities from everything around us. I wasn’t working when I started this, but afterwards, I think I am okay working for myself,” he says.

Mario says there are a lot of business opportunities in Zambia and all that is needed is for people, especially youths, to apply themselves and take advantage of the favourable environment Government has created for small businesses to thrive.

This article was published in the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper on November 12, 2021. You can find it on this link http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/juicy-wild-idea/

JOSEPH MOYO: how one man has defied sickness to protect girls

IMAGINE you have two chronic illnesses, one of which has left you confined to a wheelchair and another has people looking at you weirdly and wondering what is just wrong with you because it is somehow strange.

Also add the fact that doctors have advised you to continually rest and do absolutely nothing, but the passion and dedication to work won’t just let you.

That is what Joseph Moyo, founder and director of The African Woman Foundation (TAWF) has had to live with since 2011.

Mr Moyo was in 2011 diagnosed with chronic back pain and chronic intractable hiccups at the Livingstone Central hospital.

“I began to have continuous pains in my spine in 2011 and the same way, I developed this condition of hiccups. They [Livingstone Central hospital] tried to treat my back pain and hiccups with some medicines, but they never stopped,” he says.

Sometime in May or June of 2016, Mr Moyo flew to the USA to seek medical attention at Florida Hospital in Altamonte Springs in Florida.

“I was admitted to that hospital for almost a year because my condition wasn’t getting any better,” he says. “The improvement was minimal.”

He says: “I could walk a bit with the aid of a walker, until they prescribed me a wheelchair and declared me temporarily disabled.  I don’t know when I will be okay.”

Mr Moyo lives on therapeutic drugs time and again.

Talking is not without challenges either because of his hiccups. “Sometimes when I am in the bank or anywhere public, people tend to wonder what is wrong with me because I am always constantly hiccupping. Sometimes, you have people look at you in a certain discomforting way,” he says.

Since then, Mr Moyo usually flies back and forth between Zambia and the USA for his medication – of course now, given the current scenario, flying is a risk too.

He has, on several occasions, been advised by doctors to rest and “do nothing at all”.

But he has defied those doctors’ orders and says: “I have dedicated my last breath here on earth to change the perception that people and society have towards the girl child.”

He adds, “I am determined to use my days on earth to contribute towards ensuring a better future for the girl child so that they may in turn contribute towards the growth of the country and continent as a whole.”

A father of three – two daughters and one son [Leifer], Mr Moyo says he decided to found and register TAWF in 2018 because of the challenges faced by his daughters Cara, 31 and Mara, 28 in a society where men who could approach them and tell them they loved them were in fact only interested in using them for sex.

“Plus, wherever, they would go to visit, my daughters would be made to believe that their value was in sex and child bearing only. That made me angry and made me relook the approach, especially in Africa.

“That, coupled with the experiences I had while working for the United Nations, I discovered that a girl child in Africa was being raised for sex and child bearing,” he says.

TAWF was first registered in the USA in the State of Florida in 2018, with another office being in Washington D.C.

Even though it was registered in the USA, Mr Moyo says its lenses of focus are focused on Africa.

To this day, TAWF has 176 satellite offices across Africa in various communities where women organize themselves and register with their respective local authorities and operate under the core values of the mother body.

“The USA offices are just for logistics in terms of shipping aid and finances,” he says. “We exist to change how society treats women through education, by changing how a boy child is raised in a home and also by changing how a girl child is raised in a home.”

Mr Moyo is of the view that challenges being faced by the girl child in society are as a result of how they [including the boy child] are raised in a home. To change this, he says both girls and boys are supposed to be raised as equal sexes in a home.

“That way, once the boy child grows up and goes into society, he will know that girls are not groomed and raised to be a subject of the boy but as an independent human being and equal partner to development,” he says.

TAWF also exists to empower women with knowledge to understand some of the legislation that protects them whereas empowering the endangered girls with education.

To date, TAWF has sent over 7,000 young women and girls to go to school across Africa to various colleges and universities so that once they attain education, they can be independent and empowered enough to contribute to the growth of the continent.

“Many women are abused by men who feel they own their survival,” he says. “We visit various colleges and universities to talk to scholars on these matters and identify those that are struggling with fees so that we help them. Others come to us through Facebook requesting help, and we help them and we are still helping a lot of young girls and families here in Livingstone.”

Mr Moyo who is married to his wife of 32 years, Evelyn was born on September 3, 1965 in Chibombo district in Chief Mungule’s area. He is number six in a family eight which consisted of three girls and five boys – two of whom have since passed on.

“Most of my childhood, I did not have the priviledge of having and knowing a father. My father [John Moyo] died when I was very young, leaving my mother [Anita Mthimkulu] and my grandmother to raise us, something that wasn’t easy,” he says.

He attended Mbosha Primary School in Chibombo from 1972 to 1979. After passing his Grade Seven exams, he was selected to go to St. Paul’s Secondary School but couldn’t go there due to finances and then opted to go to Mumbwa Secondary School for his grade eight, nine and ten before enrolling at Wisdom Secondary School in Lusaka, which was owned by a Mr Handabu for his final two grades.

“After completing school, I went back home in Mbosha and became an untrained teacher at my former school Mbosha Primary somewhere in 1986. I enjoyed my stay there,” he says.

Soon after, with the help of then Katuba Member of Parliament [a Mr Laima], Mr Moyo in 1988 got a job in the now defunct Special Investigation Team for Economy and Trade (SITET) which was a government security agency that worked hand in hand with the Ministry of Finance and was posted to Livingstone.

“The duty was to check compliance in foreign currency trading, corruption and also check on whether businesses where adhering to the sanctions that President Kenneth Kaunda had imposed on South Africa resulting from apartheid. Basically, we were ensuring that public workers lived within their means,” he says.

Mr Moyo has a Diploma in International Relations from the University of Alabama, a Bachelor's Degree International Relations from the University of Florida, a Degree in Family Life Education from the University of Florida, a Diploma in in Social Work, a Diploma in Gender Studies and he is today, a certified member of the Centre for Family Life Education, a USA regulatory body for family life educators.

He has previously worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and spent most of his time in Angola and Rwanda. Apart from working there, he is also a human rights activist and is the founder of the United Nations Human Rights Association in Zambia where he, together with the likes of Dr Sipula Kabanje, Dr Irvin Devalia, Vernon Mwaanga and others were educating people on issues of human rights.

A committed Seventh Day Adventist member, Mr Moyo in 2003 founded the Lifestyle Health Foundation (LHF) which used to promote good healthy lifestyles and sponsor children to school. The organisation grew and got registered in the USA, Cambodia and India.