Abash Paid-For Tuitions Part 1

By Matongo Maumbi

Education is said to be the greatest link to literacy. I say education is one way of milking your mind out to suit those that are cheating or is it teaching you!

Likezo Muyoyeta debating during the
 African Schools Debating Championship in RSA 

My favourite era in my life was my first grade when I seldom went to school and even when I did, I seldom got into class to learn. Only I know how I did my homework without being in class. Oh I hated anyone who forced me to go to class.

I did all sorts of tricks just not to be in class - locking myself in the toilet/bathroom, hiding behind sofas, climbing wardrobes, hiding under drainage culverts, hiding my books, dirtying my uniform and just anything else that would keep me out of class.

It didn't take long for me to start liking school - somewhere in my third grade. I just made it a point that no girl should surpass me in any exam, and when they did, I worked extra hard to make sure am the best in class. Wow, where did I lose that touch!! When I qualified to go to Canisius, it was all boys and I just relaxed.

The point I am coming to now is the motivation my teachers gave me in my secondary school years. That personal couching which made each of us be a part of the class except in instances where one just hated the subject or worse off the teacher.

Every August at Canisius Secondary School, grade 12s were accorded a two-week study break. This was meant to give chance to teachers and pupils have extra lessons on subjects they still found hard to comprehend. Great teachers such as Peter Ng'andu 'Level' (RIP) for History, Uncle TG Matesamwa (RIP) for Principles of Accounts, Sitali (RIP) Sciences and Halale for mathematics accorded us their time, for free so that we  could fully understand the subject contents.

The zeal and determination to see to it that all pupils got good results motivated the teachers for free consultation whenever we would approach them. We also had that passion and brilliance of being in class to learn and not be spoon fed.

14years down the line, things have totally changed. Tuitions have become the order of the day, and worse off parents have to pay the teachers huge sums of money to have their children learn what they otherwise MUST learn in class.

The tuition system has invaded ALL schools in Zambia such that parents take it that that is the best way to have their children educated. Do we really need these paid for tuitions? Are we in for the business or the education?  

The good old days of dedicated teachers are a thing of the past. Gone are our days when dedicated teachers taught in the classroom and that was sufficient for the us to prepare for exams. When I was not sure of anything, my teacher would passionately offer to help me catch up either at school or at home. 

I like the stance taken by the Minister of Education in Kenya, Mutula Kilonzo, who has put it point blank that strong disciplinary action will be taken against any public or private school ignoring the directive abolishing holiday tuition.

"Professionally, extra coaching or tuition is given to learners who show weakness in certain subjects. Such learners need remedial teaching to compensate the lapses they suffer from in learning ability, compared with their classmates. This is what constitutes remedial teaching and does not involve payment by parents.

"This is part and parcel of the calling of a teacher. It is in fact a violation of the teachers' code of ethics to either provide extra tuition to such learners at a fee and/or, decline to provide it when payment is not forthcoming," he said.

How I wish the Minister of Education in Zambia would rise and utter such words instead of mere politicking insulting those in schools. Sha!

THE PROS of TUITIONS

• ·         A pupil is able to gain extra knowledge which he otherwise failed to learn in class.
• ·         Maximizes the pupils' time taking them away from vices
• ·         Pupils are able to study as groups to exchange knowledge, and test each other's ability through past questions.
• ·         Education becomes a thing for ALL and not just the rich

THE FLIP-SIDE

• ·         Parents are more financially burden as the tuitions of today are expensive.
• ·         Child proper learning becomes overshadowed by parent's desire to have good results no matter what
• ·         Pupils get pressured too much leading to social problems
• ·         Creativity and dedication from teachers is only seen where there is that extra money.
• ·         Best tips on exams are left for such tuitions as a marketing gimmick.

For the time-being, I end here as I gather more ammunition, and to give you room to argue or cement my argument....TB

Smoking Vs Livelihood - Which Way Forward?

By Matongo Maumbi,

Tobacco kills almost five million people each year. If current trends continue, it is projected to kill 10 million people a year by 2020, with 70% of those deaths occurring in developing countries. Tobacco also takes an enormous toll in health care costs, lost productivity, and of course the intangible costs of the pain and suffering inflicted upon smokers, passive smokers and their families.

In May 2003, the member countries of the World Health Organization adopted a historic tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has the potential to reduce this terrible toll.

Zambia signed the treaty to be party to the FCTC in 2007 but has lagged behind in putting to effect the recommendations under the treaty.

The FCTC is encouraging governments to increase tax on tobacco and related substances so as to discourage would-be smokers and those that are already in the habit. Is it the nation's well-being or the nation's wealth that counts here? Certainly the nation has to have a healthy citizenry so that they become much more productive.

The objective of the FCTC is "to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke." The Preamble of the FCTC recognises the need for countries to give priority to their right to protect public health, the unique nature of tobacco products and the harm that companies that produce them cause.

Tobacco tax increases are encouraged in the FCTC, but the Zambian Government is doing the direct opposite. The treaty states that "each Party should take account of its national health objectives concerning tobacco control" in its tobacco tax and price policies. The treaty recognizes that raising prices through tax increases and other means "is an effective and important means of reducing tobacco consumption by various segments of the population, in particular young persons."

The momentum after signing was good because just a year later, in April 2008, Zambia passed on a law that prohibits smoking in public places but its implementation leaves much to be desired as local authorities are finding it very difficult to do so.

The other challenge that has been in enforcing the ban on smoking in public places is the non-availability of smoking zones in offices or just any other place. Smokers believe that if they are smoking in open space, then they are not affecting anyone around them as the wind will blow away the smoke.

AND to add salt to the challenge on the ban, tobacco farmers recently attending the Intern-ational Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) Africa Regional Meeting in Lusaka Zambia have strongly opposed proposals by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that threaten the region's econ-omies.

According to a story by The Financial Gazette of Zimbabwe, the declaration came from agricultural leaders from Kenya, Malawi, So-uth Africa, Tanzania, Zam-bia, and Zimbabwe.

The FCTC now recommends, among other things, that governments phase out tobacco farming by limiting ­­­the land where it can be grown and endorsing the dismantling of all bodies relating governments with growers-such as the tobacco boards-thus putting farmers' livelihoods at risk while failing to offer an economically viable alternative crop.

At the Zambian meeting, all tobacco growing countries were urged to defend the interests of tobacco farmers that provide employment and income for thousands of African farmers and their families by rejecting the draft policy recommendations for Articles 17 and 18 and urging other governments to reject the draft recommendations, as long as they just aim to destroy the tobacco farmer's livelihoods.

Articles 17 and 18 focus on the provision of economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing and protection of the environment. Very little research on alternative, economically viable crops has been undertaken and as the group recognises, any future research will require lengthy time trials.

However, the FCTC has now put forward unreasonable and absurd measures to phase out tobacco production, without offering the vast African producers that heavily rely on tobacco any viable fall-back solutions."

The meeting also observed that the working group responsible for these proposals known as the working group for Articles 17 and 18 is being driven by health officers with little to no real world knowledge of agriculture , tobacco farming , or the challenges faced by farmers and farm workers living in rural areas.

"The working group should be reminded that the FCTC has acknowledged that the tobacco farming community should be involved at every stage of policy development and implementation. Yet it has failed at any time to meaningfully consult farmers or the associations that represent them and their interests on specific, detailed, and credible options to other viable crops, ignoring the reiterated offers of co-operation by growers organisations from all over the world," ITGA said.

ITGA also called on governments to request the working group for Articles 17 and 18 to revise its draft policy recommendations, to seek input from tobacco farmers' organizations and agricultural policy specialists on specific, detailed, and credible options for diversification with alternative crops.

The association which represent millions of farmers and tobacco workers and countless tobacco farming communities in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe refused to accept the FCTC systematic discrimination of tobacco growers.

"All tobacco farmers, farm workers, and farming communities should acti-vely and collectively def-end their land, their jobs, and their livelihood from efforts to deny the right to produce the legal crops that better assure their economic prosperity and we should remain actively engaged in opposing these proposals," ITGA added.

Since the adoption of the FCTC, the ITGA has argued that these measures will have disastrous social and economic consequences without making any difference to peoples' health.

In spite of ringing the alarm bells, the ITGA's request for a seat at the table has been rejected, dismissing farmers as "interferences".

Nonsmokers must be protected in workplaces, public transport and indoor public places. The treaty recognizes that exposure to tobacco smoke has been scientifically proven to cause death, disease and disability. It requires all Parties to implement effective measures to protect non-smokers from tobacco smoke in public places, including workplaces, public transport and indoor public places -- evidence indicates that only a total smoking ban is effective in protecting non-smokers.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first treaty initiated by the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO). Negotiations began in October 1999 and concluded on March 1st 2003. The FCTC was adopted at the World Health Assembly on May 23, 2003 and is now open for signature and ratification. TB

(with excerpts from Framework Convention Alliance and Tobacco Information & Prevention Source – TIPS)

Maid Of Honour

By Matongo Maumbi,

There has been growing outcry from all corners of the country on the latest increase on the minimum wage for domestic workers, aka MAIDS. How could the minister give them 100% plus when us we only got 14%? The maid does not deserve such a pay cos she does nothing in the house!

I am single and I do not need a maid per se. But listening to people go on selfishly on how the maid enjoys a lot of privileges at home just made realise how shallow thinking most of these are earning more money are.

I understand the cry of many and I appreciate it very much such that I pity them for having to be told that maids deserve better. The arguments that come are that the maid eats, baths and does everything from THE HOME, and even watches DSTV. 

That is very true and she very much deserves all that and even better. If it bothers you so much, it can help that you disconnect your DSTV service so that she no longer has to watch AND your children to having nothing to entertain them. Don't allow her to cook so she does not eat AND your children have nothing to eat as well. She should not bath so that no matter how much she bathes the children, they will still carry some dirt on them.

It's a bitter thing to accept by the stingy selfish so called employers but for the majority, and actually ALL, maids, this is what they deservedly need to earn and more. They have strong bonds with the children they are left to care for. 

I call them Maids Of Honour. They are honourable because the children get to learn a lot of things by socialising with the maids, the house gets to be cleaned by the maids, your husband's clothes get to be washed and ironed by the maids, there gets to be some one at home.

I sample two comments that have been posted on facebook (in protest):

looking for a washing machine before my maids approach me for increament. at least i can do the ironing on a daily basisWith this new minimum wage thing,maids will be employing maidsto look after their children

You can clearly tell how UNWELCOME this move by government is. And I hear of some who have already fired their maids who have finally demanded their fair share. 

Some have even taken great offence at this and wrote to maids:

Dear Domestic Worker,
With respect to the new minimum wage, your usage charge for DSTV, Food (breakfast, lunch and any snacks), water for your bath and electricity for charging your phone IN MY HOUSE will be at a cost of ZMK 250,000 per month. Please note that this will be recovered monthly from your new minimum wage.
Regards

And a Patrick Muzumbwe on Facebook wrote:

The Central Government should first create employment opportunities before increasing salary wages for general workers.This will cause more unemployment because employers will be employing less to combat the minimum wage increase.

I agree in totality with   My Frustrated Brotha:

We complain when Zambians are abused in mines, we complain when the shop workers are underpaid, we strike when our employers do not increase our pay, however, we forget the injustice that goes on in our very homes. Maids have no unions to speak on their behalf. No one hears their voices and nobody asks their opinion. Let us be honest, the reasons we have maids is so our lives can be a lot easier. Maids are usually expected to work six days a week. This is usually in an average household of six people. She is expected to wash for each individual, cook the meals, if there is a baby, babysit and do all the other chores the madam does not have time for. It is not an easy thing. Personally doing my own laundry is hell and if someone can do it on my behalf that is such a relief. Incredibly people still find a way to make their job insignificant and seem like a by the way thing that we can all do without if we choose.

Refusing to upgrade the pay of the Maids Of Honour only results from one who does not acknowledge the role that the maids play in the homes. If you so much do not want to pay the 522pin, at least you can pay 520pin and live with a peace of mind knowing your children have someone with them at home.

And as the Minister said, if you are aggrieved and can prove that you cannot afford to pay for such after declaring all your income, then please approach the ministry. Do not prey on the vulnerability of the many maids around the country. We are learned so that we help them out.

A domestic worker is a person who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping. Responsibilities may also include cooking, doing laundry and ironing, food shopping and other household errands. Some domestic workers live within the household where they work.

Government recently increased the minimum wage for domestic workers from K250,000 to K522,000 a move which has been received with mixed feelings from maid employers.

Mind you this is only a minimum, you may pay more or don't get one at all and note the difference. TB

For the love of Volleyball

Volleyball Court at a community school in Zimba Picture: Matongo Maumbi



A community school in rural Zambia has improvised to make sure that children also play the good game of volleyball. It's a pity I did not find the children at play, but the playcourt was there. What impressed me is they are not just idling to wait for proper nets, poles and the likes, but get to use what they have.And I am happy that the Zambian Volleyball fraternity has offered some help for the school.This is commented on facebook. Thank you to all. Indeed we shall make a difference, no matter how small.

• Peter Mwamba Kombaniya Get in touch with me for a proper volleyball net.
  

  Yesterday at 11:51 via  ·  · 1
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  Mutale Bwalya way to go coach pk
  

  Yesterday at 14:15 via Mobile · 
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  Shona Banks That's what we want people with the heart for the game.thank you on their bhalf coach
  

  Yesterday at 14:17 via Mobile · 
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  Matongo Kanenga Musiba Maumbi ‎Peter PK thanks for that, i will inbox you....
  

  Yesterday at 14:23 · 
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  Iven Sikanyiti I can offer transport to go and donate. By the way iam disoriented now but i cant remember where kabuyu iz
  

  Yesterday at 15:24 via Mobile ·  · 2
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  Charles Haambote Matongo, Thanks for this picture. On behalf of ZAVA, I pledge support to this team in form of an additional net for mini volleyball, a volleyball manual and at least two or so volleyballs. Iven and ba PK, lets get details from Matongo on how we can deliver this equipment. These are areas that need our interventions and not institutions that can easily procure the appropriate equipment.
  

  50 minutes ago ·  · 1
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  Matongo Kanenga Musiba Maumbi I will get more details next week when I get back to the school. Thanks so much for the positivity. Despite the odds, kids want to play the game, and I can already see smiles in them. Viva ZAVA
  

  17 minutes ago ·  · 1

Atweende Musokwe - Beautiful Plants, Fruits and Insects of Southern Province

Beautiful plants, fruits and insects of Southern Zambia

Are You a Machona?

BOOK REVIEW

By

Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D

Professor of Sociology

Bridgewater College

United States of America

Yizenge Chondoka, Machona: Returned Labor Migrants and Rural Transformation in Chama District, North Eastern Zambia, 1890 -1964, Lusaka: Academic Press, 2007, pp. 125, $14.00, K72,000.00, Paper.

There was a popular song "A Phiri Anabwera Kucoka Kuwalale" (Mr. Phiri Came Back from the City) by Nashil Pitchen that struck a chord among Zambians that played dozens of times per day on radio Zambia in the early 1970s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-CGa7CCuY. The song describes a Mr. Phiri who left the village to look for a job in the far way city. He worked for many uncountable years without communicating with relatives back home. One day, he suddenly returned home alone with an empty suitcase to find the village gone or relocated (kusama), http://www.hungerforculture.com/index.php?page=the-kusama-experience and his parents were long dead. Mr. Phiri looked down and stared into the sky. No doubt teary eyed, feeling destitute and heart broken, he did not know what to do. The thousands if not millions of people who migrated from all over their villages in Zambia in search of wage employment in distant cities and stayed away for dozens of years were called Machona.

In the book: "Machona: Returned Labor Migrants and Rural Transformation in Chama District, North Eastern Zambia, 1890 -1964," Yizenge Chondoka, who was a history lecturer at the University of Zambia for more than 25 years, conducted ground breaking research using 200 interviews about the lives of Machona among the Senga people in Chama district in North Eastern Zambia. In the ten chapter book, Chondoka describes why and how the Machona left their villages. How in the 1890s they walked for months in the dangerous savannah wilderness to such distant cities as Lusaka, the Copperbelt, Bulawayo and Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) up to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa. He uses maps to trace the Machona routes from Chama in Zambia and the Southern African region.

The most interesting descriptions are the motivations for migrations, how the families and the kinship headed by women left behind in the village coped, and what the Machona brought back to the village on their return. The Machona brought change to the village. On page 105 and 108,  for example, Chondoka lists some of the dozens of items a married man brought back to the village that included 3 children's print dresses, 5 women's blouses, 3 blankets, 11 bars of soap, 1 mirror, 3 saucepans. Some Machona brought back bicycles and used the money they brought with them to upgrade village houses so that some of the homes had wooden door frames and windows for the first time. Besides new material possessions, many of the Machona brought new ideas and social changes about different lifestyles, marriage roles, languages, food including tea, bread, and sugar, farming methods, education, politics, religion, and knowledge about the world outside or beyond the village.

Perhaps the most significant conclusions Dr. Chondoka arrives at after analyzing the data he had meticulously collected is that the positive aspects of labor migration or Machona outweighed the negative aspects. Machona benefited the people in Chama district. His conclusions for the first time contradict or debunk the Eurocentric narrative and economic determinism perspective of most of the Zambian history we learnt in school; that labor migration initiated by European colonial industries always had an overwhelming negative impact on the village social, economic, and political organization. What is often overlooked in these main stream Eurocentric historical narratives of the Machona or labor migration is the reality that many Zambians may have been motivated by human curiosity. Beyond paying the compulsory colonial hut taxes, many of the Zambians may have been motivated by human drive and desire to explore, investigate, and experience change.

It is a possibility that other future researchers of Machona experiences among the Lozi in Western province, the Kaonde or Luvale  in the NorthWestern Province, the Tonga in Gwembe Valley, or Lunda  in the Luapula Province may yield different results. But this is where other future researchers could carry out further investigations.

There may be parallels of the Machona from the 1890s in rural Zambia to the wave of Zambians who left the country in the late 1980s to work in Southern Africa and in the Diaspora abroad. Are we the new Machona? If so, what do we bring back to Zambia when we return? Will we be like A Phiri who returned to the village alone with an empty suitcase, destitute and heartbroken?

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ABOUT REVIEW AUTHOR: Mwizenge S. Tembo obtained his B.A in Sociology and Psychology at University of Zambia  in 1976, M.A , Ph. D. at Michigan State University in Sociology in 1987. He was a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Zambia from 1977 to 1990. During this period he conducted extensive research and field work in rural Zambia particularly in the Eastern and Southern Provinces of the country. Dr. Mwizenge S. Tembo is Professor of Sociology who has taught at Bridgewater College in Virginia in the United States for twenty years.

Dr. Tembo has authored 4 books: Titbits for the Curious (1989), Legends of Africa (1996), The Bridge (Novel) (2005), Zambian Traditional Names (2006). He is spearheading the building of  a Zambia Knowledge Bank Libraries: Nkhanga Branch Village Library in Lundazi District in his native country of Zambia in Southern Africa. He is a weekly columnist for the Daily Newsleader Newspaper of Staunton in Virginia in the USA. He is a frequent column contributor to the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg in Virginia in the USA. He was also a frequent contributor to the Sunday Times of Zambia in the 1980s. He has published at least 100 newspaper columns. He is a freelance photographer who has sold many of his works. He has written over a 100 articles and research papers which he has published on his  web page: www.hungerfoculture.com. For more details: www.bridgewater.edu/~mtembo, www.bridgewater.edu/zanoba

Dr. Tembo has also published at least 15 scholarly articles, 21 book reviews, and 10 journalistic articles.

He has just signed a contract for the romantic adventure novel "The Bridge" to be published this year by Linus Publication of New York.

 

 

”Doctors recommend that women reduce the risk of getting breast cancer by having their breast sucked .It is said that regular sucking of the breast lowers the risk level that tends to build up breast cancer. The breast must be sucked as often as poss

Thanks to the Zambian Govt and thank you Angolans for staying peacefully in our country.

Thanks to the Zambian Govt and thank you Angolans for staying peacefully in our country.

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