The other day, an online social media published an article in which an American woman spews out a litany of allegations at the Zambian community in USA – describing them as nothing but a bunch of gossipers, drunkards, jealousy and lazy individuals! I must admit I am enthralled by her flair of writing………this might have definitely impressed my late English literature teacher.
Apparently, the lady in question was once married to a Sylvester Mumba, a wood carver she met while on a visit to Livingstone. When she got back to the states, she continued communicating with Mumba by phone until she traveled back to Zambia and they got married. Once they were back in the US, they would attend all the functions organised by Zambians living in the USA or Mumba would go alone to meet his fellow citizens.
One day as Mumba was driving back home after dropping off to friends, his vehicle was stopped by the police. Upon searching the car, the police “discovered” some drugs and the gentleman was forced onto a plane back home. His friends had planted drugs on him and tipped the police. Unable to stomach the sudden turn of events, Sylvester decided to take his own life.
In this offering, I seek to buttress some of her assertions………particularly aspects of jealousy and gossip.
I have no doubt our colleagues in the US were chocking with envy to imagine Sylvester Mumba, a simple villager from Luapula who eked a living fashioning objects out of wood, had stolen the heart of a sophisticated lady from the land of plenty. Much schooled and more privileged as they were compared to Mumba, most of them probably don’t even have the balls to propose a “manifesto” to a person of Caucasian extraction on the streets.
Why on earth would the so called Mumba’s companions be making frantic calls asking the lady to divorce him and marry them instead? As if this wasn’t enough, others went a mile further asking the lady to go to bed with them so that they could show her what they were made of as if they don’t encounter white chicks daily, including prostitutes? Zambian ladies are equally disappointing; why should they back bite their own brother like that? That Sylvester did not marry the lady because he loved her but because of poverty and the opportunity to grab a green card? What profit is there to gain from such malicious gossip and slander?
This author has every reason to believe that most Zambians living abroad shy away from efforts to build closely knit communities and aren’t generally supportive of one another. Allow me to share a classic example.
A few years ago, I was invited to visit the UK by a British pastor friend. A few days of my sojourn, the pastor alerted me there was a Zambian lady in his church married to a Nigerian. Like me, she hailed from the Copperbelt mining town of Kitwe. The couple was requesting the pleasure of my company to join them for dinner at their residence.
After suffering through foreign cuisines, some of it partially cooked or completely raw vegetables, I was super excited and my taste buds quickly responded by secreting excessive saliva at the prospect of a home grown meal……..well, finally!
When I was dropped off at the couple’s residence that evening, the husband was still at work. It was only the lady and their two adorable kids at home. Of course the lads wasted no time hauling stuff out of their bedrooms to show off to me amidst feeble protests from their mom.
As I sipped on a giant mug of coffee in between, the lady couldn’t stop throwing a flurry of questions at me. How is the political climate at the moment; the ruling party seems to be receiving a lot of heat from the opposition? What about the economy, are people managing to make ends meet? What of infrastructure development; are the roads still as bad as we left them in the 1980s?
If the lady was conversing with you from another room, you would’ve mistaken her for a Muzungu from the upper echelons of society. Her English was quite impeccable!
Enough of her questioning! I firmly put the mug on the table and looked at her. It was now my turn to interrogate her!
“So……have you acquired your British citizenship; how are you finding life in this cold country?”
Suddenly, this polished demeanor had crumbled like a cookie! For once, I thought I was talking to an ordinary person from the townships.
“You tell them…..” she suddenly shrieked like one possessed. “Tell everyone back home that life in the UK is tough! You’ve to do more than one job in order to survive in this country. People are better off staying home than attempting to cross oceans and come to Europe…….”
Saved by the bell! The front door finally swept open and there he was. He was a towering fellow with broad shoulders.
“Hello my brother!” his velvet voice reverberated across the room as I stood to greet him. “Welcome to London.”
Nshima with boiled bubble fish and okra was something I was craving for the past couple of days as I contended with the cruel British weather.
As I dexterously rolled up a lump of nshima into a small ball and dipped it into a bowl of okra that one Canadian friend had the cheek to describe as it resembled snort, I turned left and directed my arsenal at the Nigerian.
“So my brother……how do you find life in the UK? Don’t you miss your extended family back in Nigeria?” I had to make sure I fired two quick ones before he could duck.
He let out a thunderous laughter as he shifted his gaze. This seemed to have a ripple effect on his kids and they joined in the laughter. The wife wasn’t impressed; it was engraved all over her cute face.
“Miss my family………?” he mimicked. “My brother…… how can I miss my family when they are all here with me? I had to make sure they all joined me – my mother, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunties…”
“Interesting…….” I observed as I trained my eyes on his wife, “Interesting indeed.”
She quickly avoided eye contact and darted off to the Kitchen to fetch sweet course. She couldn’t hide the egg on her face.
As I was driven back to my hosts later that evening, my mind was embroiled in turmoil as I tried to make sense of the conflicting answers from the couple on the question of immigration.
What was the motive of the lady discouraging Zambians from traveling to the UK? Was it because she was envious of fellow citizens coming to Europe to have a feel of the good life she was enjoying? How come her husband had repatriated his entire family to the UK? Why didn’t he just let them stay in Nigeria if life was indeed rough in the UK?
Perhaps readers can help with answers.
By Bill M. Kaping’a
Freelance writer
I didn’t read the whole article but I have one question, why did the talk time guy run away with the guys change?
This likely to be very true even if I’ve never head of this particular story since I left and avoided the Zedian community in 1999 because of kind of similar issues. Other foreign communities got the same issues and worse but I believe in John Rambo. It’s very had for me to allow someone in my circle of true and friendship. Have been happy and doing as good as I’d like to. Thanks God the humans are in the past.
He said so because life is tougher in Nigeria than in Zambia. I live with Nigerians in Europe, it is a dire situation. Zambia is a paradise compared to Nigeria. The problem with Nigeria is that the population is too large, hence the widespread suffering. West Africans always questions me why Zambian students tend to go back home after their studies. For them once they set foot on European soil they always vow not to go back to Africa. One is better off in Zambia if he or she is astute enough. Zambia has a lot of unexplored avenues that can help one make a lot of money.
“Woman made me love America”. Part 1.
Should be title.
Imwe bantu if one guy f***ks up in USA or a few zambians mess up in USA, it is not all zambians, most zambians are good people!!, just because Jonathan drinks Jameson doesn’t mean all zambians are Jameson dranks!!! Some black people!!, awe shuwa just because one white woman who complained,,, then tinye!!! Come on!!
Sorry if is, a true story, life can be mean sometimes, ,, but don’t group us all in one corner
Now this is worth commenting on:
What a good writer you got my attention all the way to last word of this article. Keep up the good work…
Loved it….
It shows the level of people who you hang out with real kaponyas this is the result.
Most Zambians l know are good people stop spreading lies ba pompwe imwe!
The truth is it’s people in Zambia who are jealous of the ones that made the journey to loftier opportunities. Stop this nonsense. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, just walk your path and live your life!
jealousy is the way of life in Zambia! You try to make these Govt Thieves accountable ati you are bitter and hateful,you try to make coins privately ati you are a Satanist,what a bunch of losers!
Ba Lsk Times first of all please remove those silly sponsored adds on weight loss showing half naked bellies its quite embarrassing when one opens an article only to be greeted by these offensive pictures!
The author is himself a typical example of a kachepa cretin! Why is he passing such judgement on the lady who offered to host him and indeed provided him a meal! Muchinje boyi! Otherwise what he is saying about others is basically what he is! Before you remove the speck of dust in your neighbours eye remove the plank in your own!
Zambians are indeed jealousy of each other, very bad! It starts from families and then spreads into tribalism, and the iddioots call themselves Christians?
Don’t mix with Zambians in UK or US,they love to gossip,backbite and love to report each other to police etc…They even approach your employers saying they are better than you and they want your job.Stay the F away from them!!
Bufi! Its not just Zambians. In any country you find such people who are jealousy to each other. Zambians may not even be the worst in this world.
You are just a disaster yourself!
“Its not just Zambians”
True. But Zambians hold the patents and rights to extreme jealous, hatred, PHD, gossiping. No one comes even close. Like any one can play music but the Congolese have monopolized it. You can’t beat them at it.
Wether wat u state here is true or not, I love your writting, its interesting. Infact, I wasnt in the reading mood but found myself finishing the article, well done. I would encourage you to start writing movie/soap scripts and earn extra mulla with such skill.
RudeMonk You are right, Zambians are far much better than my country wont mention! married to a Zambian lived here 35yrs no problem with Zambian community. All countries have their weaknesses you hear this one says my people are like this and that, its unfortunate that incident happened, i don’t believe Zambian planted drugs in his car, hey! i may be wrong. But if its true may the Lord punish them big time
Just wait until it happens to you. I really wanted to built a strong Zambian community and I kept on reminding them how progressive the Asian Indian community does well in Zambian when they stick together, in return I got smacked real great back of my head and by the time responded it was too late. Picked up myself from there, it took long and it was very painful. I’ve never been in contact with a Zambia here in more than 15 years and I love love love it.
These stories about Zambians in the US are true, unfortunately.
You fake writer is this not true:”You tell them…..” she suddenly shrieked like one possessed. “Tell everyone back home that life in the UK is tough! You’ve to do more than one job in order to survive in this country. People are better off staying home than attempting to cross oceans and come to Europe…….”.
What do you want to achieve mambala iwe?
You are a disaster and living in a f.ool’s paradise.
Disaster!
True, especially one tribe from some region is very bitter and jealous of HE ECL. They don’t see anything good in him and all they want is to wrestle power from him. Unfortunately 6.5 provinces wont bulge.
Apparently in our country many people claim to be Christians naka above holy in actual sense they re full of inequity. They hide under a leave of a tree which is on a land and they forget about the dry season is approaching.
Watch out for bush- fire that comes and consumes whole entire fields.
Zambians are gossipers too, jeulous, envy and slander.
Shame ! shame!
If you are not a christian, you will never appreciate christianity!
Let us admit that we are a nation of gossipers, jealousy. I had lived in Swaziland for more than three decades when I left Zambia at the beginning of 1980s. We were a small number of less than ten families. But were so connected and shared our one Zambia one Nation image very positively. In 1985 we lost one member. Despite being a small community, we did a great job in relocating her family back home, paid for embalming the body, the metal casing, the coffin, the outside box and the freight costs. We prepared all the documentation and the body was flown back to Zambia. By the early nineties, the community had grown into a big group of nearly 3,000. From that first experience of death, we came up with ice of forming up the Association of Zambian Nationals in Swaziland. But as the number of…
But as the number of new arrivals increased, we found ourselves beset by many challenges of gossiping, jealous, sleeping around with other members wives, quarrels etc. Something you couldn’t see with other groups from west africa, east Africa. I used to admire mostly Malawians and DR Congolese, our neighbors. To be successful, was a big problem. Many Zambians died during my stay. Whenever one contributed to the repatriation of the bodies, stories would fly around that we were showing off. I lost my young brother and not even a single Zambian contributed towards the costs of flying the body back home. Sponsoring social gatherings was another problem. During these events, beer was flowing like a river. I later realized that it was better to live my own life.
In short, Zambians do not support each other out there. It is a mixed sense of insecurity and jealousy.
Some Zambian Communities if not most Suck especially those in the UK. Zambians tendbto compete against each other. And quite often, a Zambian would rather see his fellow Zambian fail to manufacture a story for Zambia. ‘Ati balya bwafya!
others even pretend they dont understand our local language until u insult them!!
Woooooow what a bunch of garbage!!! So fake I almost threw up
You are probably one of the scum that planted the drugs
Thanks
At least I’m in contact with two Zambians here in Ottawa and its all good.
It is called ZIMYA NEIGHBOUR. Most of them out in the Diaspora failed to make it in Zambia. And now that they’ve also made it out there……they don’t want anybody else towering over them. “I am the tallest around “. “Nobody comes close to what I am”. Zimya neighbour”
KkKKKKKKKKI. Its been a while that I heard this term “ZIMYA NEIGHBOUR”. That’s a compound mentality at times in Zambia.
Great write up!
The writer has produced accounts from the widowed White lady and i must it makes for very very sad reading if true. The extent of going to the wife asking to sleep with her and ladies telling her she wasn’t married for love but a Green card, that just sick period! I m glad people bearing the USA flags have agreed with the story though some people are disputing it when they are not even in the states typical i guess.
Zambians are primitive. I have never seen a more backward bunch.
Thanks
You are simply a good fiction writer Mr. Man. I was listening to parliament TV yesterday and one MP said we do not have writers in Zambia and now I do not believe her.
I am sure they are talking about Hajelousy!
Yes I read the story online! It really brings out the true picture of Zambians! A few years ago I wrote an article in Zambia Daily outlining jealous tendencies imbedded in Zambians, as compared to Nigerians who are naturally proud and supportive to each other, relatives, friends or even in a one meet situation! Its not only Zambians abroad that are jealous but here in Zambia as well! Even relatives are so jealous of their own relatives imagine! What’s the matter? I spend sometime in Canada where my family is . . . ooops the Zambians there are damn jealous and unhelpful. As a family we find it easier to associate with the Nigerian and Uganda communities than with the Zambian community! Imagine!