Happy birthday Sarah!

I’ve been given two African names, Kaela (pronounced KAH-AY-LA) and Chibwe (pronounced CHEEB-WAY). The pharmacist gave me the first name, which means “the light after the dark” in Ngoni. The latest cohort of INAs (my ZEHRP post will be long overdue) gave me the other name, and it means “a large rock of great strength” in Bemba.

Zambia is home to 72 different Bantu dialects. English is an official language along with eight other major languages. They mostly speak Bemba in the Copperbelt (and Nyanja in Lusaka). I’m slowly learning from the staff and the locals I meet along my walk to and from work. The pronunciation is similar to Spanish. In fact, some of the vocabulary bears resemblance to those in Spanish such as bwino (bueno/fine) and sapato (zapatos/shoes).

They speak English very well since they have been taught since preschool. It has even been assimilated into the local languages. In general, Zambian languages have become more homogeneous as a result of urbanization.

There were rumors that our president was dead this past Thursday. Mwanawasa suffered his second stroke prior to the African Union summit in Egypt earlier this week. He was later transferred to Paris, where he remains, for treatment. The rumors were sparked by a phone call made to a South African radio show. The caller went by the name Malone Zaza and claimed to be a spokesperson for the Zambian High Commission in South Africa. No one by that name existed and yet the story was published. There was so much confusion we denied initial reports by the vice president asserting the president’s stable condition.