FAKE ACCENTS, WEAVES AND BLEACHED SKINS

There is one incident that has stuck permanently like a scar on my mind. It happened in the era of the rush for ‘greener pastures’, when teachers left public schools to join the private sector. It was the period of the popular ‘brain drain’, when most professionals crossed borders to the side where the grass was watered ‘very well’. ‘To cut to the chase’ one of my frantic efforts to liberate myself from the ‘peanuts’ that government offered at that time, ushered me in front of a panel of interviewers, all British. During that time, I figured that one of the female panellists picked up my struggle to catch the quick spoken, semi-swallowed words. She spoke slowly and tried to pronounce every syllable.  How I wish she could have taken up the entire discussion because the rest of her team got bored with my constant interjections of ‘pardon me’ or ‘could you repeat that’. Suffice to say that I was not successful because my failure to catch the British accent made it seem like I did not know how to speak English. After twelve years in school and an additional four years in university, learning English, I had failed lamentably at the former colonial master’s language because of intonation. In the desire to overcome this setback I promised to teach myself the British way of speaking. Now, thinking in retrospect, that is just the problem, what is the acceptable manner of articulation? Some people travel abroad and after two weeks come back with a different accent, which does not sound like the people they try to imitate and is miss for the locals - wasted effort.  What was inherited from the colonial days still haunts the country. Zambia must start believing in its manner of speaking. It is one the countries in Africa where citizens do not need to constantly repeat themselves in order for others to understand what is being said.

English is not a first language in Zambia. By the time, most people are beginning to learn how to speak it, they would have learned their mother tongue first. Therefore, no one can be expected to speak like a British or American. Unfortunately, mispronunciations, poor intonations are scorned and looked down upon. English will remain the official mode of communication for a long time to come. However that is what it will always be, a means of communication and not a standard to measure our literacy, our speaking and listening skills. It is one way of remaining connected to the global village but is not a measure for belonging to an elite social class. It is important to have a common acceptable standard way of speaking without looking down on the interference from the local language. If we are to head ‘Toward a Zambian genre’, then we should consider acceptable forms of English that will not necessarily dilute common rules of grammar, spelling and pronunciation. Creative writers should be allowed to make use of Zambian phrases and expressions as a way of authenticating the culture and beliefs of the people being written about.  The millennials are caught up between many accents as a result of the influence of technology. The challenge to young people is that there is power in being yourself. The effort of trying to be like someone else can be exhausting, it devalues a person. Make your point without making your listener think that you do not know what you are talking about. The only pressure you will have is to be the best version of yourself. So when it comes to pronunciation, let us not judge one another harshly, English is just one of the many languages in the world.

KAFULA'S ESSENTIALS- a short story collection

'KAFULA'S ESSENTIALS' is a collection of 10 short stories that depict the life, culture, tradition of a cross section of people and communities. Below are snippets of the great stories that you get to read in the book. The book is available on Amazon.com and in bookstores in Zambia.

77 Steps

There it stood, stalwart! St Mark’s Cathedral looked back at him. It was as if it had been waiting for this day. Waiting for him! It towered over him, daring him, intimidating. Yet he was not afraid. He was angry, very angry. He was ready to hit back. The grey building had brightly coloured narrow windows, which made the building come alive. Without them, the cathedral would have just been another ugly structure in an affluent neighbourhood. He swept his eyes all the way to the roof. It did not appear as attractive as before. The huge cross right at the top of the building looked like it was about to ascend into the clouds. ‘Golgotha,’ he thought, and winced… Mabvuto’s mouth tightened. He clenched his teeth. His feelings towards the building went beyond the huge oak doors. They penetrated the thick walls to what was carefully hidden inside. He held the building responsible for causing him so much pain. His mother had called him ‘Mabvuto, meaning troubles’, and he had lived true to the reputation of his name. He had driven past St Mark’s every morning on his way to work. Each time, its huge oak doors were shut. They were resolute...

DESOLATE ALTARS

…Just then she felt someone waking her up. It was Shadreck; she had not heard him come in. She looked at the clock; it was three in the morning. She sat up and looked at him, still confused by her dream. Shadreck stood in front of his wife, gazing at her expressionless. From the look of things, he was just arriving or had he been standing there for a while?

He threw some papers at her and said, “I don’t expect you to contest that. “He hesitated and then added, “I want you out of my life; you are like an obnoxious weed. Felicia and the kids will be moving in soon. Don’t do anything to delay the process.” With that he walked out of the room, without giving Luombe an opportunity to respond…

o   Businesswomen (An extract from the story, ‘Kabwata Market’)

The days dragged to my next hair appointment. My mind filled with ideas about how girls like Melinda can be helped. I am incensed by the lack of political will by government to provide opportunities for girls like her. Whatever the circumstances, they are victims of a government that hardly creates opportunities for the youths. What a society! I sigh as I grudgingly accept Mwape’s hands in my hair. Where is Angela? I can’t see Melinda either. Today is not very busy but customers are coming slowly, perhaps in my eagerness to hear more about Melinda I came too early. We are joined by a middle aged woman; her skin was once bleached with creams, when she stopped using the creams, it was as though thunder and lightning had struck her and the Sun had not been merciful either.

“Ah business iyi”, she has a very hoarse voice and no one responds, maybe we are waiting to hear what business she means and what could have happened. She pulls out a bottle of beer and I stare, ‘isn’t it too early for that madam?  But let us hear about your business’. Just as she is about to continue with her complaint, she receives a phone call.

“Eh, nili ku salon”, she listens, “pa Kabwata”. She listens again, “bwela chabe naiwe mwana”. She has invited whoever is on the other side of the line to join her at the salon. Good! I fidget in my seat. The more the merrier, I think; now we will get to hear all the gory details of this woman’s business. The friend arrives a few minutes later. She is equally middle aged with ‘toasted’ skin too. She has a bottle of mosi...

‘Ok, this is going to be a great story’, I think almost aloud.

“Mwana – uyu mulandu ukoselako che” the first one starts.

“Iwe, nina ku uza, ati tiye ku ng’anga- ija yaku Kafue ili na mpavu”. This must be a serious business gone wrong, for them to have wanted to seek a witchdoctor’s intervention?

“Awe mwandi, you are right.”

“But I think that DPP – tika mu dyesa mo che, you think it can’t be wash out?” the first one asks.

“Mmmm”, murmurs her friend. “The problem is that Mr. Kabwe has been transferred- you know that one used to literally ‘feed’ from my palm and I could tell him to do anything for me”.

“But mwana I told you when we arrived in Thailand to be careful with Carol. That one has minyama too much!” They are now both on the fourth bottles of alcohol and clearly getting tipsy and forgetting that they are in public and I could be... what? A patriot? With so much corruption in the country, there are very few good citizens who would sum the courage to report such deeds to the police.

‘Thailand’, can only spell one kind of business. Oh, the trouble you are in women.

“I was careful mwandi”, the first one is red eyed now and adds, “I just don’t know how that stuff was loaded into my container”.

Too bad I grimace. Just then, Angela brightens up my morning. She has been at the clinic, “malaria she complains”.

“I’m sorry”, I say. Perhaps I can hear what I really came for…

THE ERROR OF TEXTING IS UPON US

 

One thing that puts me off is seeing a text with words like 'dis' instead of 'this' or 'ze' instead of 'the' and so on, some words that I cannot even decipher. Of course, I am old school. I believe in complete words and sentences. I find pleasure in seeing correct spellings and good use of grammar. The challenge with the modern generation is that they have not learned how to define the text language from proper words. The former has strayed to the essay, application letter and curriculum vitae. You can even see some of it in a manuscript that is supposed to find its way to the Zambian market for other people to read. When we were young, we used to develop encoded language for the purpose of hiding information from our elders. That was the only reason. When it was time for school, the language became formal. The vocabulary that was exchanged in play grounds did not cross over to the classroom. In fact, in those days, economising of words was so good that even a telegram which was one of the first forms short messaging, was not compromised on quality.

 

Yet, today the overuse of the new shortened forms have down-graded the quality of writing. With the coming of the short messaging system contractions have lost their place and abbreviations and acronyms have since disappeared. What happened to words like aren’t, you’re, didn’t, won’t, etc. There used to be common abbreviations that could be used without offending anyone; std. for standard or s/holder for shareholder or stakeholder, ltd. for limited.

The problem with today’s short forms is that they do not have a place in formal writing. Additionally, the words are not commonly understood and seem to be limited to regions or cultures. For instance, the recent derivation of lol or Laugh Out Loud, in the local Bemba language cannot be used anywhere else. The relentless usage of text language has ushered in new way of writing. The question is, should this kind of writing be given a formal place?

Communication devices are equipped to keep a user as close as possible to the proper way of writing however, with time, the software meant for auto correct, spell check and auto spell adapt to the new words that are insistently types.

Another thing that irritates me when I receive a text message is when words are misplaced and misused. The consistent mix-up of homophones (words that have the same pronunciation) and homographs (words that are spelt the same way but do not have the same meaning). The misplacement of synonyms (words that have similar meaning) and antonyms (words that have opposite meanings). Common examples in Zambia; ‘the, there, they, their’ or ‘raise up your hand’ or ‘where, were, we’re’ or ‘leave, live’ etc.

English is not our first language but it remains the official mode of communication. This being the case, there is a small percentage of tolerating mistakes that seep into English as a result of first language interference. However, Zambia belongs to a global village and if we have to head ‘Toward a Zambian genre’, we must be able to tell our stories in manner that the rest of the world can understand and appreciate what we are communicating. The most unfortunate part is that even when we decide to use our own languages to write, we fall short on quality as most young people cannot even spell most local words. So whether you choose English or vernacular to write, use words properly, write grammatical sentences and get the spellings right.

TOWARD A ZAMBIAN GENRE : A ZAMBIAN GENRE

TOWARD A ZAMBIAN GENRE : A ZAMBIAN GENRE

A ZAMBIAN GENRE

On literary arts in Zambia-focus on fiction writing

 

M

ost countries in Africa have effectively shared their fundamental nature through works of art. Countries like Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, just to mention but a few, have developed specific genres of fiction over the years, rendering this group of countries leaders in African literature. Nigeria and South Africa for instance has gone from the script to the big screen, leaving Zambia trailing far behind.

Zambia does not have a specific genre of fiction that she can be identified with. Any form of literature especially prose, drama and poetry should be a conduit for the transmission of people’s culture, language, religion, traditional values and any other aspect that defines their lifestyle and evolution. In the absence of sound literary identification, a country is likely to experience gaps in the development of the things that describe its core existence. Nations have preserved their history, morals, beliefs and customs through writing. The absence of Zambian fiction writing has contributed to a large extent the lack of proper documentation of its cultural development and the transmission of such cultural beliefs through the passing of time. ‘If the current Zambian authors are anything to go by, Zambia is still miles away from literary autonomy. There is a notable dearth of authentic Zambian authors’. ^[1]. It can be said that the present generations are easily swayed by so called western cultures because of the absence of a strong literature that should have otherwise transmitted the beliefs that should act as a backbone of cultural identity in every generation.   

Where are we coming from? Despite the few collections of fiction, the country can still trace its literary history back to the colonial days, when selected Zambian die-hards, put together some work and had them published.  However, the lack of documentation makes it very difficult for some of these works to be traced. By the 1960s, the likes of Steven A. Mpashi had published a few books that people still refer to as being the most entertaining stories that were narrated with such great skill. ^[2] There were also other colonial writers like Fwanyanga Mulikita. By the 1970s, there were only about twelve known published works of fiction.

One would ask, what has been the challenge for Zambia? Is it the lack of authors? Could it be that there is nothing to write about? Every country has something to say about itself.  Recently, there has been a rise in Zambian writers both within the country and in the diaspora. Although growing at a slow rate, there is literary potential in the country. The problem has not really been who or what to write but the issues lie deeply in the lack of support systems for those who aspire to take up this noble undertaking. Zambia for instance has a young publishing industry. The existence of private publishing companies can only be traced to the 1990s, when Zambia’s economy was liberalised. Before then only one publishing house had the monopoly, Kenneth Kaunda Publishing House and priority then was the provision of educational materials to schools in the post independent era. With the coming of private publishing companies like Macmillan and Longman, the situation has not improved because the publishing costs are still very high. In recent times, more publishing companies have been established and they mostly want to survive on a guaranteed education market. Besides, without regulatory bodies, the quality of material goes unchecked more often.

Some individual writers have opted to self-publish. With the internet providing so many opportunities, several works have found themselves on the open market and sadly some are substandard. Well, even if someone succeed at publishing an excellent piece, there are still more hurdles to jump; the poor reading culture and low literacy rates. If we are to head ‘Toward a Zambian Genre’, the writing industry must be made a reality for those who are ready to take it up. Both government and the private sector must invest in making the journey from the script to the book shelf a reality.

LITERACY AND TECHNOLOGY

It has been deemed the age of technology and rightly so because practically everything in the world today is being led by speed, gadgets and the internet. The digital era has spun the way people look at the world. In fact there is so much to read, watch and listen to that it has raised a red flag. Generally, there is a high rate of abuse of the media age.  A lot of misinformation can now be communicated or damage caused through a simple mobile device. The use of social media has become a ‘bone of contention’, is it a good or bad thing? The amount of pornography that is being shared carelessly is shocking. Bullying has now infiltrated the internet. There is a serious concern that the values of learning and teaching are being diluted by the click of a button.

The United Nations Agency reports that more than 3 billion people in the world are now using the internet (UNA report 2015). ZICTA (2016) reports that 6.1 million people are internet users. The question is what are the majority of Zambians using the internet for? Of course, the positive side is access to knowledge but what else is being accessed? What impact does all this information have on the younger population, on the school boy or girl? If you take time to read some comments on some social media pages you will get a clear picture that literacy and technology are closely linked. Of course, you will get a headache just trying to read through the misspelt words, ungrammatical sentences and vulgar language, which is a clear indicator of literacy levels of those who have access to the internet. Most mobile devices have in-built dictionaries and spellers but the question is how many make use of this technology?

Access? It would be interesting to get details of what percentage of the 6.1 million are aged below 16 years, the critical developmental stage of childhood and the most vulnerable. The education sector has had its fair share of the battle between good and evil in as far as internet access is concerned. Much as educators wish to promote the usage of the many opportunities on the internet, protecting children from straying to illegal and dangerous sites overturns their good intentions. The cellular phone is the main culprit. In the modern age when parents want to keep in touch with their children all day, the schools suffer the consequences of children brining their mobiles to school. First of all, it is seen as a distraction to the learning period. Secondly, the cellular phone is the main source of transmitting pornography and opens doors to cyber bullying that parents are busy complaining about. Let us just leave this thought here; to buy or not to buy your child a mobile phone?

Literacy? There is a wealth of information on the internet. It is an open library, there is a lot of education materials. But what about the other information sites, what about social media? The minimum age to open a social media account is set at 18 years and according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a child is a boy or girl below the age of 18 years. Yet, there are social media groups for school going children. Here is where the problem begins. Literacy skills on these groups leave much to be desired. The jargon that has now strayed into school essays has clearly devalued the quality of reading and writing. That we have a generation that cannot spell or give simple directions to where they live, is surely a source of concern.

We cannot deny access to technology for anyone. However, parents need to do more to support the efforts of educators to uphold the value of education and to promote good values and ethics in as far as utilization of technology is concerned. For example, if you buy your child a mobile device or a computer, get interested to know what they are doing with that piece of technology.

Should we ban social media platforms? What is more important is to sensitize people on the positive usage of the internet, especially social media. If we are to head ‘Toward a Zambian Genre’, we must take advantage of this grand opportunity to develop our literary abilities. Positive use of technology is individual responsibility. Rather than read jokes and poorly constructed sentences on social media, look for pages and sites that can help you build your literacy skills.