Lusaka our capital city. i call it the city of pretenders. one may ask why, well look at this and tell me if non of you have not noticed these things if not lived like this.
1. everyone looks busy especially the ladies. so nicely dressed they come in town just to roam around. half of the ladies you see in lusaka town do not even have jobs. yet they are always looking busy! it really shocks me. what is it that makes them busy?
2. all the guys have dispensable cash and good clothes and laptops with good phones and most of the time driving cars. they are always spending on hefty meals for their girlfriends, take them out on weekends to nice places and buy them expensive drinks. gosh! you would melt and think this is the guy for me. life could not get better than this.
3. everyone gives this impression that they are from a well to do family. kids are spoilt to the core. for what? some people even talk of certain designer clothes as being their favourite like they can even afford them. i mean come on. whats with that?
this one time when i was in college i was invited to help organise a bash. and we met up with these organisors. my gosh the guys whwere looking like they had just jumped out of a magazine. i felt weak in the knees i was like gosh these guys are hot. so one of the speakers blew up and so one of the organisors offered his speakers for the night so we went to pick it from his house. nice flat by the way in a nice area too. commomly known an "mumayadi" ah we were so impressed with the flat from the outside. but the inside was something else.
there was absolutely no furniture in this house not even a floor mat. the floor looked like it had never felt floor polish. it looked like the pavement in cairo road. his bedroom had no bed what so ever. he only had a mattress on the floor, with a wadrobe full of clothes.
the kitchen had a two plate cooker the one's we used to have in college. the fridge was old and worn out i wouldn't put my relish in it. i could not believe my eyes. and oh yeah by the way he'd been living there for over 2 years so chill he aint a starter and he is over 35 yeras old. NO WAY? YES WAY!! all true. when i left i lost all interest for the guy come on a guy at his age living like that?
this is just the many scenerios that are rampant in lusaka. i mean talk about everybody's lingua!! whats up with that. everybody wants to sound like an american or a white man dah!!! come on you sound ridiculous. especially the girls. they twist their mouths so much i get scared that one of them will swallow their tongue one of these days. its embarrasiing especially if you are talking to a foreigner or an american to be precise and you try to sound like them. Gosh get a life its so emabarassing!!!
i could go on and on about things that i see and have experieced but i rest my case.
It's not uncommon anywhere you go, but it's funny you mention that. I haven't been to Zambia in 10 years, but I STILL remember the word 'chongololo'. You will find that to be the same nearly everywhere. I live in Miami, where white kids try to talk like black rap stars, and there are so many plastic surgeries done here that you can't be sure that a woman walking down the street has more original parts or 'after market improvements'. It is, sadly, all about image.
Oh yeah lts the same embarrassment lm facing even here in Sudan. The Zambian community up here is undescribable, they are exagerating in their accents when they are with their Arab colleages who know very little English!!!!!!!!!!!
The city presents a picture of the country at large. We seem to be all pomp and splendor and little by way of substance. We feel the need to show off about things that are not ours really.
We are "all thunder and no flash". Try and ask most Zambians about the last good book they wrote and they'll be lost. Ask them about the last movie they went to see and they'll tell you. What does that tell me? We just want instant gratification.... you'll get seen at the movies, you won't get seen reading a book.
If you want to try something really funny... try this, Find a college or university graduate. Ask them to write a letter or any official document, report, proposal or anything. Wait for Friday buy a few beers and sit down to have a good laugh. Most of our scholars can bearly write in the English language. Funny, they have these nice degree certificates and look so flashy. I realised that most of these scholars speak slang most of the time ......... more for the purpose of hiding the fact that they cannot speak correct and proper English.
My case is that faking is a national pass time....
one little advice to my fellow Zambian youths is that the BIOLOGICAL CLOCK is catching up with us very fast l see no point in wasting time pretending
This is the fact, i noticed this during the time i stayed in Lusaka. Here are some my findings also.
1. Women are not real. - Most women like girls especially those in colleges exibite or potray a high standard of Living even when they come from compounds they demand expesnive things look expensive but if you go where they stay they came from a humble background. i.e. They like being taken to nice and expensive places and eat only nice and expensive foods manda hill, arcades etc.
2. Guys drink a lot and like partying - Some guys even bring beers in class
3. People have created a fack high high standard of living - Most people driving seem to very rich, alot cars expensive habbits - But if you study them closely u will find out that they are not as rich as they appear... Rich People dont show off, coz they have a lot of money
4. Lets face it Lusaka City is full of old buildings, Dirty surrounds, Lots of refuse in town and untidy as compared to other capital cities in other African Countries.
What i can encourage people in Lusaka is that you have nothing to show off, you should be more concerned in the cleaniliness of the city and its infrastructure development.
Wow! You basically broke it down like a lawn chair. True indeed. When I went back to Zed I felt the complete opposite. I hid the fact that I was raised in Michigan. I quickly exchanged my East Coast accent for my Zedian lingo. I did all this because I really liked the 'vibe'. Everything and everyone was for show...or 'posing' should I say. I come from a very well known family from Malawi, who everyone knew, therefore I lied about my family name; just so anyone who saw me in town wont ever say 'Ewe, I just saw muwana wa oujayni doing this and that'. I was a teenager, and the Zambia life back in 1990 was LIVE. Everyone wanted to be something other than....
Yet I was proud to be amongst my 'booties'. Yet the Zambian Ghetto mentally still exists. Looking back, I can't help but laugh.
Mwilaponta!
Well it seems that most of you have a a lot beef with Zambians. To be honest I have been to many schools in Zambia (am a Zambian) and now I'm studying in Finland. Most Zambians write and speak good English. English is the language that most Zambians use since childhood and for you to say most college or university graduates cannot properly write official documents, you would be lying! By the way, which country are you from? How many scholars' degrees and certificates have you seen from Zambian anyway. For your own information you cannot even use slang if you cannot speak correct or proper English. There is no master in English!
I agree wich ya........... zedians Oh l mean Zambians are good at what they know best!
Well, I think such a problem exists where ever you go. Our lives and how we carry ourselves define and shape who we are. It is sad when people spend years pretending to be what they are not. Strong character is built on being proud of who you are and where you have come from and not what you wish to be.
We could go on for ages, talking about what is wrong with our society, the fake this or that. Looking back at my last contribution I also see how negative I was.
I was once told that complaint and or criticism without offering solutions is wasteful communication.
Therefore, I think the following is more suitable. Lets try and fill up the void between what we are portraying and what we are, with a lot more substance. Lets incourage others to do so too.
Lets distinguish dreams from fantasy from reality. Lets dream of what we can be (if we invest our time and effort), use fantasy to imagine what it would be like (to get from one month end to the other without having to visit the bank) and reality to sober up (and make a plan B).
I guess I am on Fantasy Island: "The plane boss, the plane"
anha! kida kweis, thats wot l wanna hear ,the way forward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!