Kuwasha (to wash clothes)

Have you ever washed your own clothes by hand? Have you ever washed other people's clothes by hand? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't, but if you're a Zambian woman, you probably have. In Zambia, washing machines are expensive. Electricty is expensive and unreliable, and most people don't have access to it. The same can be said for running water. But who needs a washing machine, anyway! Washing clothes by hand isn't the end of the world! It's part of everyday life.

I learned the local techniques of how "kuchapa" (to wash clothes). My grandmother, who grew up on a farm in the American midwest has also filled me in on the techniques she used. (I'll share some tips at the end.)

Many of you may find the word "kuwasha," which is a synonym for kuchapa, easier to remember. Nyanja by nature is an ever-changing language, borrowing from different languages and evolving its own slang constantly.

Even though I do possess the skill of being able to wash clothes by hand, in Zambia, I liked to take the opportunity to give employment to others by paying them to do my washing. Or, in the case of my younger live-in sister-in-law, convincing her to washa for me. She was way better at it anyway. My whites never got as white and I never wash jeans with as much determination. (Thanks, Misozi! We miss you!)

Here is a Zambian TV ad for hand-washing soap that show's some of the local expertise in chapa-ing.





I am so so SO thankful that we have a washer and dryer in our new apartment in the American midwest! (Back to my roots!) We are very blessed.

That said, as a small family, especially a small family which contains one member who likes to make messes, and is potty training, and uses cloth diapers on a part-time basis, I have actually had the desire to chapa from time to time, not wait for a full load of like-colored laundry to be ready to go into the machine.

Easier said than done! The laundry detergent readily available in the US is only for washing machines, and is harsh on ones hands. Having experienced the wide variety of hand-washing soaps available in Zambia, I recently found American laundry soaps disappointing. In Zambia, we had brands such as Boom, Chik, Bullet, Chapa, Washa, Sunlight, and Omo, that I can come up with on the top of my head. These brands had products ranging from bar soap for clothes, to washing paste to washing powder.

In America, I couldn't find anything like this in the normal grocery stores! Woe was me. Until, who came to the rescue, but noneother than, my local neighborhood... Mexican grocery store!
Behold, Roma! Complete witha beautiful lady washing her clothes in a bucket. And very affordable!

Thanks to Roma, we're back in action, washing the occasional lone stinky cloth diaper or delicate green sweater that shouldn't, for its own sake, go in the washing machine with the white towels. This washing goes on in our secondary bathroom (another blessing).

A little while ago, I had a small kuwasha/kuchapa project soaking in the sink, when I started doing something else in the kitchen. I came back a few minutes later to find Miss Nzinzi Tembo doing some washa-ing herself:



What a helpful girl! And, I'd much rather have her immersed in hand-washing soap than in Tide.

Thanks for reading Nyanja Word of the Week!

Vocabulary:

kuwasha (pronounced "koo WAH shah") = to wash clothes

kuchapa (pronounced "koo CHAH pah") = to wash clothes (synonym)

kuwasha mbale (pronounced "koo-WAH-shah mm-BAH-lay") = to wash dishes

Line from Mathew Tembo song, "Next Year", being said from a wife to her husband, who she is fed up with:
kuwasha washa ni kwako (pronounced "koo-WAH-shah WAH-shah nee KWAH-koh") - washing clothes (all the time) is yours (your job)

ni = is

kwako = yours

("Next Year" and other Mathew Tembo songs can be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, and other popular downloading sites!)

And last but not least, tips for handwashing:

Tips from Zambian Women:

* Use patience, persistance, and work up your callouses. (I learned this by observation.)

* Always work up a good lather!

* For stains on white cloth diapers (nappies), smear hard-bar washing soap on stains, then hang them up. Once they dry completely, getting the stains out is much easier!

* For stains on jeans, use washing soap with a small scrub brush, like a nail brush.

Tips from my Mother and Grandmother:

* Use REALLY HOT water, and give clothes time to soak.

* Use a washing board!

Ndiyo (main dish)

Americans all over the world and their families and friends have just celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving, a time for reflecting on the blessings we've been given, often uniting with extended family and friends, and feasting on a LOT OF FOOD.


The Nyanja word for "food" is vakudya. And the Nyanja verb for "to eat" is kudya, so here's a sentence for you to practice: Nikudya vakudya ("I'm eating food").


But today we're talking about ndiyo, or "main dish." In Zambian English, ndiyo is translated as "relish," but "relish" in American English refers more to a condiment than to the real substance of what ndiyo means in Nyanja. Ndiyo can be chicken, beef, goat, or fish, or any of the myriad of amazing green leaves and other vegetables eaten in Zambia, or even insects! Ndiyo is the dish or dishes that are served next to the staple food, nshima (cornmeal paste), or rice.

Here's the story for the day:

In January 2009, Mathew and I took a trip to visit his family in the rural district of Petauke, in the Eastern Province of Zambia. He has a sister living there who is very industrious, farming with her husband, taking care of the household, and raising 4 children. Our accommodations were even more rustic than my time spent in a rural refugee camp. We slept on the floor of a mud-brick thatched-roof house, bathed using a bucket in an outdoor straw structure, and took a walk into nature in order to answer the call of nature, if you know what I mean.

I couldn't really communicate except through translation, because my sister-in-law, and most of Mathew's family there, do not speak English fluently. One day we decided to accompany my sister-in-law and brother-in-law to their fields to do some farming. The men were tilling the ground using cow power:

At first, I just watched, but then I decided to help my sister-in-law do some weeding. Mathew's younger brother, who is in high school, (a level not attained by Mathew's other siblings, giving one stronger knowledge of English and other subjects) was also with us. I asked him, "Should I pull out anything that isn't maize (corn)?" And he said "yes." So that is what I proceeded to do.

(BEWARE TRAVELLERS TO ZAMBIA AND FOREIGNERS RESIDING IN ZAMBIA: sometimes a person will reply with "yes," even though they haven't understood your question. If you're not sure if the person you're talking to is sure, ask follow-up questions! I have fallen into this trap several times.)

I pulled out EVERYTHING that I saw that wasn't corn, including a familiar leaf, chibwabwa, or pumpkin leaves, which are one of the common delicious dishes served in Zambia and completely underutilized in the USA. But, if these pumpkin leaves were getting in the way of the corn, by all means, let's get them out!

Half-an-hour or so later, my sister-in-law must have noticed my handiwork and approached me. "Ni ndiyo," she said. "That's food." Instantly, with my limited Nyanja knowledge, I knew she was telling me that I was pulling out precious "main dish" food, which is hard to come by at times in the village, but I did not have the vocabulary to respond to her or apologize to her. Although she didn't seem angry, I was slightly mortified, having been trying to act all cool, like I fit in with all the cool village subsistence farmers. After she and I collected as much chibwabwa as we could from what I had discarded in piles so that we could eat it for dinner, I sat down and sulked until it was time to go home.

We visited the village again this year, with a one-year-old Nzinzi, who gave me an excuse to hang out with the children, who I was less worried about impressing. That was more fun. Still, I hope next time I go to the village I'll get to participate in farming again - the right way, and hopefully my Nyanja* skills will be better, so I can have better dialogues with my family there!

Enjoy your ndiyo this holiday season!

*By the way, the language spoken in Petauke is actually Nsenga, which is related to Nyanja. I'd like to learn Nsenga, too, one day. But Nyanja is understood by many people all over Zambia, and often used as a common when talking to people from different areas, especially in Eastern Province and Lusaka. Many people in Petauke use Nyanja, instead of Nsenga, to try to communicate with me if they don't know English.

Zikomo (Thank you)

If you know anything about Nyanja, zikomo, is probably one of the first words you learned. It is not too hard to pronounce or remember, and it is very useful. Have you said "thank you" to anyone today?

Zikomo is useful for thanking people in Zambia, from the people you work with, to the taxi driver, to a stranger who helps you find your way, but did you know that zikomo also means "excuse me"?

Get more mileage out of a word you already know! (Or get double-usage for a new word, if you're new to Nyanja.)

Need the person in front of you to move so you can get off the minibus?

A tap on the shoulder and a soft "zikomo" will do.

Need to squeeze past the person buying tomatoes so you can go and buy the last cupfull of kapenta?

"Zikomo" is your ticket.

Want to get back in front of the person who just squeezed in front of you in line at the post office?

Give "zikomo" a try.

In the USA, we're coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday, celebrated with family gatherings and LOTS of food. Its also a time of reflection to think about what we are thankful for and to GIVE THANKS for it. This year, I'm thankful for my family and friends, and my new job, and how wonderful it is to be a mom. I'm not sure what sort of feast is going to take shape in the Tembo household of DeKalb, Illinois, USA, but we can be happy to have food and to have each other.

When I was in Zambia, far away my motherland, I created a couple of Thanksgiving feasts with my new friends and family there. In 2005, in Meheba refugee settlement, when going around the table and asking what people were thankful for, it was truly mind-opening to hear from my friend Rachel, an orphan who had been through a lot and had plenty of reasons to be simply thankful for life.

Here are some pictures from the Lusaka Thanksgiving of 2007. Guests included my soon-to-be husband and his sister and her friend and some of my friends, refugees from Congo, Sudan, and Angola. These guys were in school at the time, and now they've all moved on to bigger and better things. Most, in fact, have returned to their homelands and are re-starting their lives, armed with eductation and more than their share of life experiences. Some of them are probably reading this blog, too. (What's up, guys? Keep up the good work!)

Zikomo, everybody! Thanks for being my friends, and thanks for reading this blog!

Zikomo = thank you, or excuse me

Kapenta = small type of fish, popular in Zambia

And here's one for Thanksgiving:

Zikomo pali vokudya vamene mwani pasa. = Thank you for the food. (Literally, Holly-approximate-translation, "Thank you for the food, the way that that gave it me.")

P.S. Zikomo to all of my African-Facebook-Nyanja-advisors for recent posts: Joe, Nicholas, Wajenda and Victor (and anyone else who I've forgotten!) And of course, my live-in Nyanja advisor, Mathew.

Niyenda na mendo (I'm walking)

Commuters in Lusaka, Zambia get to work in a variety of ways. Some drive cars, some take taxis, but I think the majority walk, or take a bus.

When I was working in Zambia, I used each of these means of transportation, but my commute almost always involved some walking, whether it was walking to the bus stop, or when I was rushing, walking to the taxi rank. Walkers in Lusaka are almost never lonely, especially during "rush hour." I remember living Northmead and having the sides of the streets completely conjested with commuters. Often, you'll see someone you know and have a chance for a smile, a handshake, and an exchange of greetings that could make you late for work... "Muli bwanji (How are you?) ... Mwadiela? (How's life?) ... Kunyumba kulibwanji? (How's everything at home?)... ATembo ati bwanji?" (How's Tembo?) ... and so on...

Here are some pictures from this morning, from the commute of our Lusaka corresspondent, Print/Photo/Video Journalist, Jorrit Meulenbeek. (Check out HIS blog here if you'd like to try reading some Dutch.)

They are in the middle of rainy season, as you can see.

I've recently been hired as an Administrative Assistant at Northern Illinois University, where my husband* is going to school. (Yes, thank you! So happy to be employed!)

We live near campus, so on most days, niyenda na mendo kunchito (I walk to work). I don't see ANYONE else walking when I walk to work! Today I saw one bicyle rider, one person walking to a bus stop, and a handful of cars driving. I miss streets full of people! I also miss the warm weather. This morning it was 34 degrees Fahrenheit. (That's almost 0 degrees celcius!)

I posted on Facebook yesterday asking for pictures of people's morning commutes. Minutes later, I got Good Magazing posted THIS link:

http://www.good.is/post/day-15-document-your-commute-30daysofgood/

I guess great minds think alike!

Kuyenda: "to walk" or "to go"

Niyenda: "I walk", "I go"

Kuyenda na mendo: "To go on foot" (to emphasize the "on foot" definition of kuyenda). (Literal translation = "I walk with legs.")

Happy commuting!

(Whether its to work, school, visit friends, to occupy some sort of space, or to look for employment, or wherever you may be going!)

Nyanja Word of the Week: Umfwiti (Witchcraft)

They don't celebrate Halloween in Zambia.

A couple of years ago, my husband agreed to carve pumpkins with me, but it took some serious convincing that I wasn't making him participate in a Satanic ritual. This is a completely valid concern, as the origins of Halloween aren't necessarily innocent, and because "umfwiti," or witchcraft, is real in Zambia.

In rural villages, when someone becomes ill or dies suddenly, it may not just be of natural causes, it may be that someone else has put a curse on the person. But these beliefs aren't confined to villages. Many urban, educated Zambians also know that umfwiti is real, though rarely spoken about in day-to-day conversations. I have heard many 2nd and 3rd hand stories, and at least one first-hand account about experiences with umfwiti. Even on television and in the papers, news reporters don't clarify that witchcraft "isn't real." I remember seeing a story about a man who had a "satanic cell phone," a possessed cross wrapped in yarn, that allowed him to talk to his satanic colleagues without needing to buy airtime. The reporter left it up to the viewer whether or not to believe that this man's story was true.

Now please don't confuse a "mfwiti," or witch, with an "ng'anga" or traditional healer, though the lines may be blurry at times. An ng'anga uses herbs, roots, and other local medicines and techniques handed down over generations to treat a variety of ailments. Now the reason I say the lines become blurry, is because some ng'anga don't just offer medicine for physical ailments, but also claim to be able to recover lost property or lost lovers, or to help you win a sporting event or get a job. Just check the classified section of any Zambian newspaper. (Some big libraries in the US have the Times or the Post.)

Ng'anga do have respect in Zambia, and internationally, and are actually important players in health issues, including the fight against HIV and AIDS: http://allafrica.com/stories/201008290005.html

There are other interesting traditional beliefs in the supernatual in Zambia. My husband is working on a term paper about how music is used to communicate with ancestors. He has also written about a healing ceremony called "mashabe," where a dancer becomes possesed by a spirit who tells them how to heal a sick person.

Here in the USA, where witchcraft pretty much just serves to lend imagery to a day of dressing up and eating candy, our little family has avoided most things spooky or other-worldy for Halloween this year. We did decorate pumpkins. (We didn't carve them, because we're planning to eat them!) And we took our daughter, Nzinzi, to watch a spectacular Pumpkin Festival Parade in Sycamore, IL, dressed as a ladybug ("ladybird" for you speakers of the Queen's English). She got her groove on each time a marching band passed and loved the dogs and horses, and the Shriners in their little cars and funny hats. Here she is, smiling with a little chibanda (ghost) in her hand.

Please write to me with your superstitious stories from Zambia!

Nyanja vocabulary of the week:


umfwiti - witchcraft
mfwiti - witch
ng'anga - traditional healer
mashabe - healing ceremony from Eastern Province of Zambia
chibanda - ghost

Last but not least, here's a song by one of my all time favorite Zambian bands, The Witch. Too bad they're not around anymore.

Nyanja Word of the Week 3: Pamodzi

Happy Independence Day!

Zambia is now 47 years old.

Kaunda in 1967.

Today in 1964, Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, was shaking hands, signing papers, getting his picture taken, and moving into state house. At least, that's what I'm assuming a new president of a new country would do when the transfer of power has been peaceful.

Zambians have a lot to be proud of today. In 47 years, right there in the middle of Africa, they have never been involved in a notable war or conflict of any kind. And look at some of Zambia's neighbors!

Tanzania - war with Uganda: 1978-1979

Angola - Civil War: 1975 - 2002

Mozambique - Civil War: 1977 - 1992

Zimbabwe - history of instability and human rights violations

D.R. Congo - on and off wars and conflicts since its inception

That said, we must acknowledge the successes of Zambia's other 3 neighboring countries, Malawi, Botswana, and Namibia, who have also had peaceful histories.

But today is Zambia's day. And I want to ask this:

Question: Why has Zambia been so peaceful over the past 47 years?

The answer an average Zambian might tell you is that Zambians are simply peaceful people. Scholars may tell you about Kaunda's policies that led to national unity. But I have not heard anyone talk about the answer I'm about to give you...

Answer: Zambia has been successfully peaceful since its foundation because its first president was a (A) peace-loving, (B) guitar-playing, (C) vegetarian, (D) groovy-guy.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

International Vegetarian Union - Famous Vegetarians - Dr. Kenneth Kaunda

Exhibit D, just see his outfit and the look on his face:

The evidence speaks for itself!

The Nyanja Word of the Week this week is "Pamodzi." Pamodzi means "together," or literally "as one."

This week I want to highlight a song of national unity for Zambia, not the national anthem, but a song sung during and after the freedom fight and recorded by Kenneth Kaunda, "Tiyende Pamodzi," or "Let's Go Together." This was not only popular in Zambia, but in Malawi, where the national language is very similar to Nyanja, and other countries as well. It is cited in literature among important political songs.

Listen to Kaunda singing in the YouTube clip below, then practice singing along. Here's the first line, which repeats throughout the song:

"Tiyende pamodzi ndi mtima umo[dzi]," which means "Let's go together in harmony," or literally, "Let's go as one, with one heart."

This is what Zambians were singing in 1964:

Here are some other highlights from Dr. Kaunda's career:

- Primary School Teacher
- Scout Leader

- Popularized the "Kaunda suit"
- Honorary Doctorates in Law from at least 7 Universities

Vocabulary for the week:

"modzi" - "one"

"pamodzi" - "as one" or "together"

"mtima" - "heart"

"mtima umodzi" - one heart

"Taj Pamodzi" - a 5-star hotel in Lusaka

"chimodzimodzi" - "the same as" ("same same" - just threw that in for fun)


Thanks for reading Nyanja Word of the Week! We'll see you next week with a new word!

Musale bwino,

Holly

p.s. This is what Americans, Brits, and whoever else were singing in 1964:

Nyanja Word of the Week 2: Bwino

Muli bwanji?
Bwino!

"Bwino" is one of the few Nyanja words that my 2-year-old daughter, Nzinzi, actually knows. When we first found out we were expecting a baby, my husband and I were adamant that we would teach her both English and Nyanja. (Really, we wanted to teach her English and "Nsenga," a language very similar to Nyanja, and spoken in the area that my husband's family comes from. Nyanja, she would learn from her playmates in Lusaka, obviously.)

Well, she's 2 now, and speaking English like crazy - why, just this morning she said, "Mr. Bear wants to sit on the couch" - but her Nyanja is limited to only a few words. It's not too late, though, and that's part of the purpose of this blog - to help keep Nzinzi and myself in the habit of thinking about, practicing, and expanding our Nyanja skills.

Today, we're focusing on one of the basics.

In Nyanja, "bwino" means "well" or "good." Bwino is pronounced "bwee-no," but because Nyanja is a tonal language, there is a right and wrong way to say it, as far as your intonation goes. Any of my readers who already know a bit of Nyanja would already know the meaning of bwino. If you are one of them, try chatting with a Zambian to perfect your pronunciation and intonation. (In my early days in Zambia, I had a long discussion with Mathew Tembo*, where I heard him keep saying, "No, it's not 'bwino', it's 'bwino.'")

If you're just starting out, don't worry about perfecting your accent yet, just go with it! Bwino can be your go-to answer for all kinds of "How?" questions, or questions which end in "bwanji?"

EXAMPLES:

Question: "Muli bwanji?" ("How are you?")
Response: "Bwino!"

Question:"Mwauka bwanji?" ("How did you sleep?"/Literally "How did you wake up?")
Response:"Bwino!"

Question: "Kunyumba kuli bwanji?" ("How's everything at home?"/Literally "How's home?")
Response: "Bwino!"

Question: "ATembo ati bwanji?" ("How is Tembo?")
Response: "Bwino!"

Here's another little secret, in Lusaka, sometimes "bwanji?" gets shortened to just "bwa'?"

EXAMPLE:

Question: "Muli bwa'?" ("How are you?" slang verson)
Response: "Bwino!"

And that's not all... you can even use "bwino" in other Zambian languages!

In Bemba:
Question: "Muli shani?"
Response: "Bwino!"

In Nsenga:
Question: "Muli tyani?"
Response: "Bwino!"

There must be more languages that use this word. Zambians, leave a comment/email me/Facebook me if you know of other languages that use bwino.

To those of you non-fluent Nyanja speakers, if you're like me, and you'd like to pretend that you know more Nyanja (or other Zambian languages) than you really do, practice this:

If someone asks you a question ending in "bwanji," or "bwa'" (or "shani" or "tyani," if you can remember), even if you don't understand the question, answer "bwino." Nine times out of ten you'll be safe. (But be careful! I will have stories to share about the pitfalls of pretending to know more Nyanja than you really do.)

Other useful bwino phrases:

"Mwende bwino" - "Go well." Say this as part of your goodbyes to someone who is going somewhere, whether its home from work, or to another country.

"Musale bwino" - "Stay well." The person who is going somewhere would say this back to the person who is staying.

"Mugone bwino" - "Seep well."

"Mulungu ali bwino" - "God is good."

"MC Wabwino" - MC "who's good," a famous Zambian pop artist, who I have always enjoyed for his large stature, large voice, and large jewelry**!

Here's MC Wabwino's song "J.O.B." Its about sexual harrassment during the interview/hiring process. (MC Wabwino and I are both against that!) But I like singing it these days, because I'm looking for a job.

Bonus phrase:

"Nifuna nchito!" - "I need a job!" (Listen for it in the song.)

* Thank you for tolerating the shameless promotion of the artist who I manage/promote, aka my husband.
** Please stay tuned to Nyanja Word of the Week for more Zambian musical recommendations. I can't wait to share some whose music I think is really bwino!

Nyanja Word of the Week - 1. Pabwato (on a boat)

In January 2009, I took a business trip to Nyimba, Zambia. Home at the time was Lusaka, Zambia, a 4 hour bus ride away. Lusaka is a metropolitan city with tall buildings, shopping malls and modern conveniences. Nyimba however, is so rural, it can hardly be called a "town." Nyimba is known for its delicious small bananas. (My husband says the bananas are called "tukonde twa kazizi" in Nsenga, spoken in that area. If anyone knows Nyanja word for them, please leave a comment!) The guesthouse I was staying in didn't have running water, but as is customary in Zambia, the staff would bring you a bucket of piping hot water for your morning bathing needs, and let me tell you, it really does the job! On one of my days there, after long hours of monitoring surveys about malaria, I had two options for evening activities: hang out in my room at the guesthouse, which didn't have a TV, phone, or Internet (what? read a book?!); or I could hang out in the guesthouse bar with a group of Zambian men getting progressively more kolewa, or tipsy, as we say in polite English, and watch Obama's inaugural address on a tiny TV. Well, there was only one option for me!

Obama's inspirational words moved me. Yes we did! Change was here! There I sat, eyes glued to the screen, sober, 3 months pregnant (and starting to show), while the men around me drank Mosi, the favorite beer of Zambia and talked jovially, happy about Obama, but otherwise having a normal night at the bar. I was so hopeful, about Obama and America, about Africa and fighting malaria, about my half-African/half-American unborn baby. Maybe he or she would grow up to be a President!

As far as governments go, Zambians had been wanting change for a while, too. It seemed that most of the people I talked to supported the opposition parties, but the ruling party just kept winning the presidential elections. Whether they won them fair and square is largely up for debate. Government officials and their families seemed to be doing pretty well, but the vast majority of Zambians were still living in poverty and were wondering where the roads, schools, and hospitals were that the government kept promising.

Here we are, 3 years later, and, well, to put it lightly, Obama has suffered criticism from both his opponents and supporters. The fight against malaria goes on in Zambia, but I must say, I think it is going well! (www.path.org/projects/malaria_control_partnership.php) And I have a 2-year-old daughter who is amazingly beautiful, intelligent and sweet! (Future presidential material? Maybe, but we'll let her decide her career path.)

And finally, this brings us to .... the Nyanja Word of the Week: pabwato*.

Pabwato literally means "on a boat" and it has been the campaign slogan of the Patriotic Front, one of the main opposition parties in Zambia. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy, or MMD, has held power for the past 20 years. The slogan pabwato, or "on a boat," symbolizes a crossing over, perhaps from a place of poverty and corrupton, to a more inviting place. (The boat analogy hits home for Zambians, whose most publicized tribal ritual, the Kuomboka Ceremony involves a mass ceremonial migration on boats.)

Michael Sata, the leader of the PF party, is a charismatic speaker with proven track record of "getting things done" as he worked his way up from the lower levels of Zambian government. Sata, however, has no higher education and has been frequently known to resort to rough language and insults, points that his critics often use against him. He has run for president in the past 3 elections, losing 2 by small and disputed margins, but finally...

on the 20th of September...

over a million Zambians voted for Sata, pushing him ahead of the incumbent, Rupiah Banda, and making him the 5th president of Zambia!

The Zambian people got what they wanted and weren't afraid to show it! My attention this time was not fixed upon a TV screen in a dark, crowded bar, among friendly strangers, but glued to Facebook, in the quiet of our new apartment in DeKalb, Illinois, a quite rural town in the USA. After 2 days of waiting for the unofficial results come in, one constituency at a time, and hours of waiting after the scheduled time for the Electoral Commission to announce the results, my friends in Zambia had a lot of interesting things to post:

"The people have spoken!"

"People are singing and dancing in the streets."

"I hear vuvuzelas."

"I wouldn't go out there..."

"I just saw a bunch of guys dancing in their underwear."

"Someone is crowd-surfing in a bathtub!"

"I have never heard this much noise in the streets, and its 3am!"
"Pabwato!"

Well, after all of this excitement, I hope that Michael Sata can give the people the change they want to see. Maybe he'll go the way of most world leaders and just behave in largely the same manner as the leaders before him. Or maybe he will be the "Man of Action" he has been known as and whip the government into shape.

Pabwato!

Nyanja words to practice:

tukonde twa kazizi (Nsenga): (literally, "little owl's banana's") "small bananas"
kolewa: "drunk"
pa: "on"

bwato: "boat"

pabwato (Nyanja and Bemba): "on a boat"

*Note: "Pabwato" is also a word in the Bemba language. Though there is a slight variation in pronunciation, the spelling and meaning are the same. I'm stealing from the Bembas a little bit here, because the slogan was first and foremost popularized by speakers of their language. Thanks, Bembas!