Just think about it, take the map of Africa, shade out all the other countries and leave out Zambia...it truly does look like a smile of Africa, and it truly is.
As much of the Country was building up for the major celebrations for Zambia's golden Jubilee, I struggled to get into the mood to truly celebrate, I mean, why should I? A great many people shared this view. The major part of our upbringing is plagued with evidence of the many opportunities Zambia has missed, it is a well accepted position that, had Zambia put its development ahead of its politics, it would have been rivaling many of the developed nations of this world.
In the late 1970s and the early 1980s,the years of my birth and of course childhood, the name Kaunda was synonymous with the word President, it was common for kids to confidently ask who, for instance, "the Kaunda" for Tanzania was, others kids, just as confidently,would provide an answer without questioning the flaw in the question; this goes to exhibit what those in the marketing profession would refer to as "product positioning". Indeed, Kaunda had positioned himself so well in our generation to the extent that we believed he was the presidency. Others in the political sphere would simply refer to this as indoctrination, I am somewhat inclined to agree with the later.
This positioning of Kaunda also enabled the citizens to some extent adopt the spirit of the man Kaunda, a humanist at heart, a fighter for togetherness as evidenced even in the slogan he coined; "One Zambia, One Nation". Of all the faults many will find in his tenure, it is hard to avoid noticing the efforts this humanist put into ensuring that the 72 tribes of Zambia put their oneness ahead of any ethnic polarities. This remains the reality of modern Zambia with so many inter-tribe marriages that the biggest pure ethnicity is Zambianess.
As the late Stev Jobs put it, the dots of life can only be connected from top to bottom, as if following a pre-written script,5 presidents in 5 decades is a statistic often overlooked.2014,Zambia's jubilee year, under the leadership of Zambia's 5th president and over two decades after Kaunda's rule, the unique attributes that where the pinnacle of Kaunda's rule managed to survive 3 other presidents and are destined to survive the current president. It should therefore be worth betting on these attributes as being part and parcel of being a Zambian.
The question, however still lingers.Why should we be celebrating? Our economy has not realized the potential it has for some many years been highlighted to have, we still battle with poverty,disease,poor infrastructure? To ask this question, as many of my fellow Zambian's would tell you, is to fail to appreciate the reality, the core of being a Zambian.
Those in the know have been celebrating since the turn of the year, the fireworks littered the night skies of Lusaka and many other metropolitan places in the country, dancing the night away climaxed by the countdown as the clocked ticked October 23rd away and ushered in 24th of October 2014,Zambia's Independence Jubilee. This level of euphoric celebration was last seen in February 2012 when Zambia lifted its maiden CAF Africa Cup Trophy.
"One land and one nation is our cry,
Dignity and peace 'neath Zambia's sky,
Like our noble eagle in its flight,...."
We celebrate because we are Zambians, those that celebrate only when the sun shines on them are not intrinsic, we celebrate because of an even more important reason, our oneness, the moment we wait for outward tangible reasons to celebrate, is the day we lose our independence to those that can control that object.We are free of such dependencies and this freedom enables us to smile even when it is dark because we have the freedom to do something about that darkness.The Zambian National Anthem puts it very clearly,"One land and one nation is our cry,dignity and peace neath Zambia's skies".By celebrating our oneness,we are actually standing by the pledge in our anthem,One land and one nation is our cry.
As the proceedings of Jubilee celebrations went on country wide,i could not but appreciate that this freedom we have came at a price, this is the angle many of the older generation appreciate even more whilst my generation struggles with it.What makes it easier for us to appreciate are the ideals the "freedom fighters" stood for and enshrined in our national anthem.Today ,we honor their sacrifice in song and dance, we appreciate.With this appreciation comes a realization that freedom also brings responsibility,a responsibility to keep the ideals of the founding patrons of this nation and use their foundation to create a better Zambia for our children.
An echoing reminder in my mind says, only babies are truly free as they have free minds.Freedom to think and map out a successful Zambia is what we won from colonialism.We have 50 years experience on what doesn't work, its time to usher in a 50 years of strategies that work.We are out of laboratory now, we ready to conquer the future and usher in a successful Zambia were we shall truly say
"Free men we stand,Under the flag of our land"
A flag that was holstered in honor of the new nation, Zambia, in 1964 at the source of the Zambezi river, in the Kaleni Hills of north western Zambia.
Do you still not appreciate why we celebrate? We celebrate because we are free Zambians and citizens of this proud smile of Africa have been able to say this for 50 years now. Happy 50th birthday mother Zambia.
