Seeing the School and Meeting the Chief

Hilary writes:


Today was our first day at the Chipembi Girls' School.  Albert, the head teacher, gave us a history of the school and then we gathered with teachers from across Zambia who are there for a conference.  They had heated discussions about who is responsible for the low literacy rate of the children of Zambia...the teachers, the students, the families, the low teacher:student ratio , the government or who???  It was very interesting, with some of the discussions mirroring what we might hear at home.  We brought greetings from Canada, the United Church of Canada and Ottawa Presbytery to the teachers' gathering.

This afternoon we met the chief of the village who is actually chief of about 400 villages with about 600, on average, in each village.  All the girls had to put on chitenge, the traditional, wrap-around skirts.  We were told to address the chief as "royal highness".  Omega, being our host, had to lie on the ground in front of the chief and clap her hands as she reported that she had brought us to visit him.  We each were invited to kneel before him and introduce ourselves and tell a bit about ourselves, one at a time.  He then talked about his kingdom and the joys and challenges the people face.  The rains came late and left early this year, so they anticipate that they're going into a cycle of drought and will have to plan to make sure they have enough to see them through.  We hadn't realized, but he was in church yesterday.  He says that although people kneel before him, he bows down to a Chief higher than him.  We had a short question and answer time, before presenting him with pottery mugs from Canada as a gift.  He was very appreciative and said that we're welcome in his village as long as we wish to stay.

The experience has left us with some interesting questions about the place of  power and authority and traditions...all of which we have yet to discuss properly as a group.  However, I think we all agree that he was a very nice and intelligent man who has a good grasp of the needs of this community and ideas of how to work towards his vision for Chipembi.  He is chief for life and it is an inherited position.  Each village has a head, which is not passed on by blood lines, but chieftainship must stay within the blood lines of a family, although it isn't necessarily passed on to immediate family.

After getting home, we fed the cows and chickens and are now getting ready for supper.  Another good day full of learning, in Chipembi, Zambia.