The Reckoning - Colin Morris

I first came to know about Colin Morris when he interviewed my father for a BBC programme in 1993. I wasn't in Zambia at the time, and was lying half-awake in the small hours of the morning listening to the world service on my earphones, so it was a bit of a shock when my father's voice was suddenly in my ear. I'm including some excerpts from that radio programme, The Reckoning, in this post.

The programme came in three parts, of about 40 minutes each.  It starts at Lubwa Mission, founded by the Church of Scotland at the turn of the century, near Chinsali. Here Morris reminisces about his time there. He speaks to an aging Noah Chulu, visits the burial site where Dr Brown, David Kaunda and Paul Mushindu are buried. We are told that Mushindu never wore shoes because a missionary once told him to take his shoes off before coming into their house, and he decided then that he would thereafter go barefoot. Mr Moywa shows Morris around the decaying Lubwa hospital. He also speaks to Kenneth Kaunda, graduate of Lubwa school, who laughs about David Brown telling a Roman Catholic priest off for straying into a Church of Scotland area.

Morris was closely associated with Merfyn Temple, who was one of the first people my parents met when they arrived in Zambia in 1967. In fact Merfyn immediately told my parents they should leave, as he intended to do, and as all missionaries should do, he felt. Morris revisits this question in The Reckoning as he returns to Zambia to ask what the impact of missionaries was in Zambia before independence and after.

Here is a selection of recordings from the programmes, including several mentioning the Lumpa Church affair.

Here also is a footnote on Lenshina from Ryszard  Kapuscinski's book 'The Shadow of the Sun'.  According to him, Alice had an old hand-cranked phonograph (where would she have acquired this, I wonder?) and just one worn out record to play on it. This was 'a recording of Winston Churchill's 1940 speech', although he does not make clear which one. Perhaps it was the famous 'We shall fight them on the beaches'. He says that Alice would crank up her phonograph and play this record to her followers. As the record was very scratched and degraded, not much could be made out apart from the emotion and drama. Lenshina explained that this was 'God's voice anointing her his emissary and commanding absolute obeisance.'  This recording was played at the start of each mass, when it would work up the congregation into a state of ecstasy.... And then he suggests that the political leaders were ashamed of such cults, and the fine temple that they had built in the bush was reduced to rubble by tanks.


1 Godfrey Sikazwe talking about Lubwa Mission

2 Merfyn Temple on why missionaries should leave

3 Flexson Muzinga (Livingstone Museum)

4 Jack Kyle

5 Sikota and Arthur Wina

6 Kenneth Kaunda

7 Margaret Senogles on an attack on the Chingola Free Church

8 Lumpa Church (Alice Lenshina)

9 Robert Kaunda on Alice Lenshina

10 Fergus Macpherson on Alice Lenshina


In concluding this thoughts, Morris says 'I received from Africa much more than I gave and learned much more than I taught'. It is interesting to contrast his humility, together with the warmth of Kenneth Kaunda in speaking about him, with Sikota Wina's combative stance in the interview above.

Names in The Reckoning (BBC radio programme)

 Some of the following are mentioned in passing. Others (*) are interviewed.

Baker, Colonel (fired red cartridge, Lumpa)
Brown, Dr David (Lubwa)
Burton, Lillian (assaulted during riots)
Chikani, Frank
Chulu, Noah (Revd)*
Dandala, Mvumi (Methodist, South Africa)
De Jong, Dennis (RC bishop of Ndola)
Dil, Pierre (Revd; Dean of Anglican cathedral at the time) *
Gore-Brown, Stewart
Hannah, John (megaphone, tried to get Lumpa to put down arms) *
Kaunda, David  (one of the founders of Lubwa)
Kaunda, Kenneth *
Kaunda, Robert (elder brother of KK, deacon in Lumpa church)
Kyle, Jack (Irish rugby player) *
Mason, Cedric (Methodist minister)
Mazubere, Crispin (bishop of Methodist Church, Zimbabwe)
Macpherson, Fergus  *
Milingo, Archbishop RC church
Mushindo, Paul b.1895 (graves at Lubwa)
Moywa, Mr. (Clinical officer, Lubwa hospital) *
Mulenga, Alice Lenshina
Musunsa, Doyce
Muzinga, Flexson (Livingstone Museum) *
Mwape, Jackson
Nolan, Albert (Provincial of Dominican order in South Africa)
Ogden, Val (Revd; St Andrew's Church, Ndola) *
Senogles, Howarth (?)
Senogles, Margaret
Sikazwe, John
Sikazwe, Godfrey (Revd, UCZ) *
Siwale, Donald (father of Euwan; his mother hid him in a tree to protect him from Arab slave traders)
Siwale, Euwan
Temple, Merfyn *
Todd, Garfield
Todd, Judith
Whitehead, Dennis (Revd; Livingstone) *
Wilkie, James (Africa secretary, Church of Scotland)*
Wina, Arthur *
Wina, Sikota *

True Adventure in Kariba, 1959 (Jack Dee)

Here is a story from a magazine article written in 1959 for the "Wide World" magazine [1] - "The true adventure magazine for men". It's one of those slightly unbelievable stories you hear, such as might have turned up in 'Jock of the Bushveld'.

The author, Jack Dee (no, not that one) looks quite the part in his beret. He says

"The white man builds a dam, and the Ba-Tonga must move to another home... How will this simple and happy people fare, now that they are come more and more into contact with the outside world?"

 I won't  tell the story of the building of Kariba Dam, which is told many places already.You can see some film clips made at the time online at the excellent Pathé News website. There are some good books on the subject, such as Operation Noah, by Charles Lagus [2].

By 1959, many of the people have been moved off their land already.

"Many of them believe that they will later return to their lands of the Valley and the white man's magic will fail"   I've seen the same thing said elsewhere, relating to how the river god, Nyami Nyami, would never let the river be dammed.

At this stage the operation is proceeding apace, trees are being felled by chains tied between massive iron balls, dragged behind heavy vehicles. Animals are fleeing the waters and being trapped (hence 'operation Noah').

"They grew maize and millet, pumpkins and melons. For their meat they went digging for the fat and juicy rats in their burrows along the high banks.... That was the time when hippo were wont to come out and create havoc among the mealie patches.

A story of these people concerns a woman who was taken by a crocodile and left in its larder, just under the bank... she was half drowned, as well as suffering in dreadful pain from her injuries, when the creature left her there for dead. For crocodiles like their meat to be well on the way to decomposition and the larder is a repository for the purpose. 

However, as she was lying in that vile den, the woman thought she could see light through the top earth. Dementedly scrabbling at it with her hands, she managed to break through.... From there she struggled back to the village, to collapse outside one of the huts.

By this time, the drums were already sounding the dance for the dead, for her people were sure that the Great Spirit of the river had claimed her for his own.

Mournfully the women danced, throwing the white ash of the fire over themselves. The drums throbbed, the men sang, and the chief watched, together with the old witchdoctor. 

Suddenly, someone came screaming into their midst. As they all ran forward they saw the 'dead' woman rise, and stagger towards her husband. 'It is not she,' they cried.

The witchdoctor demanded that the men take her and throw her back into the river, claiming that it was no longer the same woman, only a body possessed by evil. This must have been so for never had a human come back from the world of the Great Spirit.

And so the poor soul was thrown back into the water".

Apparently this story was recorded by the Northern Rhodesia Police.

A rescued sixteen foot python [2]

When the Tonga left their ancestor's graves behind they touched them with brushwood, and then dragged the staves, without losing contact with the ground, until they reached their new homes. Those old graves are now under water, along with many others of early missionaries, police and hunters.

"May the metamorphosis they must now undergo be not hurtful to them, and may they find, in the new way of life, compensation for the loss of one in which there was much beauty."

Of course, it was not an easy thing for the Tonga to move their homes in this way. The BBC does well to remember this in their Witness programme [3] which points out that even now electricity has not come to many people in the area, and that the hurt of the displacement is not yet forgotten.  Mwiindachi Siamwiza speaks eloquently about the scar that the displacement of his village left.

Those massive balls can still be seen at the museum in Choma, which is worth a stop on your way to Livingstone if you're travelling from Lusaka. In any case it is a place to break your journey, stretch and have a picnic. They also have a great old engine...

References

[1] The Wide World Magazine, January 1959, "Notice to quit for the people of the river", (b/w photos, quotes)
[2] Operation Noah, Charles Lagus, William Kimber, London, 3rd Edition, 1960 (python picture)
[3] BBC Witness, The Building of Kariba Dam, Fri May 15 2015

Big Gold 6

If you are a Zambian at home or an expat in exile dreaming of Zambian skies you will be aware that Zambia is rapidly approaching its 50th independence anniversary on the 24th October, 2014. There will no doubt be many commemorative activities and much ink spilled over how well or badly the country has done in its short life. For my own part, I am wondering what I can put on this blog for the occasion and I thought it might be an opportunity to move some materials I've been hosting elsewhere, where they never really belonged. Here is some audio material I digitised from my record collection.

This is a single from the Big Gold 6 Band, who were formed in the 1960s and were originally called the Lusaka Radio Band. They were the resident band at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Lusaka at one point. One of the founding members was Alick Nkhata, at one time director of Zambia Broadcasting Services.

They were named after the brand of cigarette, Player’s No.6, whose manufacturer sponsored the band.  I don't know how they came to be singing for UNIP, but it seems that musicians such as the late Batolemeo Bwalya and Alick Nkhata were the draw cards at UNIP rallies. "People who had no interest in politics were drawn to UNIP rallies, not to listen to political speeches, but to listen to the duo belting out liberation songs which they rendered in Sinjonjo, Kwela or Township Jive." (Source: http://afronet.org.za/monitor114/music.htm)

Lest we forget, here’s a sample of some great campaign music, on a single labelled UNIP-1.

The first is "Go with UNIP" in English.
And then we have the same song in Nyanja, "Tiyende Pamodzi ndi UNIP".

My memory is that we got our copy of this in the early 70s, but I am not sure exactly how old it is. It must be post-independence anyway, given the lyrics.

Vote and remember what UNIP has done for Zambia
From the date of independence up to the present day
Vote and remember President Kenneth Kaunda
With his true leadership, You are going ahead with UNIP

More primary Schools, more secondary schools (UNIP, Yes!)
New hospitals throughout the country (UNIP, Yes!)
University of Zambia, International Airport (UNIP, Yes!)
Peace, progress, stability (UNIP, Yes!)
Good roads throughout the country (UNIP, Yes!)
Kafue hydro scheme and Kafue textiles (UNIP, Yes!)

So remember when the time comes to vote for UNIP chances
In the Local Government elections, so go ahead with UNIP
Now we have the oil pipeline, Nakambala Sugar Estates
Ndola Copper Refinery, all bacause of UNIP

Zambia Railways new diesel train (UNIP, Yes!)
Local industries, more jobs for all (UNIP, Yes!)
Zambia Railways new diesel train (UNIP, Yes!)
Local industries, more jobs for all (UNIP, Yes!)

And back when I hosted this elsewhere, Edwin Nyirenda got in contact and provided me with the lyrics of the Nyanja version of the song:

Sankani ndi kukumbukila, Nchito UNIP ya gwila mu Zambia
Kucokela pa tsiku la ufulu, Kufikila tsopano
Sankani ndi kukumbukila, A President Kenneth Kaunda
Ndi u sogoleli wao wa bwino, endani pa tsogolo ndi UNIP.

Ma primary schools ndi ma secondary schools (UNIP, Yes!)
Vipatala va tsopano mu Zambia yonse (UNIP, Yes!)
University ya Zambia ndi International Airport (UNIP, Yes!)
Mutendele mu dziko ndi kukhala bwino (UNIP, Yes!)
Miseo ya bwino mu Zambia yonse (UNIP, Yes!)
Kafue Hydro Scheme ndi Kafue textiles (UNIP, Yes!)

Kumbukilani nthawi izabwela, kusanka a imilili a UNIP
Mu ma Local Government elections, pitani pa tsogolo ndi UNIP
Tsopano tili ndi oil pipeline, Nakambala Sugar Estates
Ndi Ndola Copper Refinery, zonse izi ndi UNIP

Zambia Railways Sitima Sitima ya tsopano (UNIP, Yes!)
Mamangidwe a tsopano ndi nchito kwa onse (UNIP, Yes!)
Zambia Railways Sitima Sitima ya tsopano (UNIP, Yes!)
Mamangidwe a tsopano ndi nchito kwa onse (UNIP, Yes!)

And a little bonus. Here is a version of the evergreen Tiyende Pamodzi, written by president Kenneth Kaunda during the independence struggles. It was reissued in this pop song version in the 1980s. KK appeared on television in a music video, miming badly, but it's quite a nice version of the song.