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El Shaddai Complex
Zain Tower
Town Centre
KASAMA
Tel: 097 740 2280
Email: info@kalebalika.com
Web url: http://kalebalika.com
At our digital photo kiosks, you can print your digital photos from CD, DVD, mobile phone, memory card, USB, or digital camera
This website has been developed out of interest in promoting and sharing the cultural tenets that constitute the Bemba cultural identity.
This interest only came up after my 30th birthday and after I had completed my Master’s Degree in Research Psychology. Through collaboration with other African scholars, I got introduced to Afrocentricity, an attitude towards knowledge production and dissemination that seeks to centre the cultural experience of an Afrikan. I am particularly grateful to my conversations with Ba Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), and the writings of Ba Molefe Kete Asante (especially in the Journal of Black Studies). The two planted the seed. Since then, I have fallen in love with Bemba literary giants like Bashi Mpundu (Ba Mwansa Simon Kapwepwe), Ba Stephen Mpashi, and Ba R M Kambole, among others.
May this portal for Bemba culture be a fountain of knowledge, from which we can learn to be abantu in what we say, what we do, and how we live.
Ukwikala Palepale
Poem by Stephen Mpashi (1962)
AbaBemba, abaLamba, abaMbunda, baLunda, baKaonde, abaTonga, abaLozi, abaSoli...
Yonse mitundu iyalekanalekana -BUUFI?
Nkopyo aeba Fikumbi,
‘Tawakwata mulimo iwe.’
Fikumbi, ‘Ukuyemfya we shilu we.’
Ifimyefu ukumbaba!
‘Ukambeya imyanda umwanda.
Wango wapaapa kalama nsha kasanguke pala.’
Bupipi ati, ‘Nshaishiba shisala na kanesala.’
Mushishi-umbi ati, ‘Tabakambeyele pa nsaka, nalikwatisha incito.’
Fyonse mushishi;
Fyamena kumuntu.
Amashina yalifula
Kukumena palepale!
Ukwikala palepale
Kwafushishe umushishi amashina.
In the register of Christians, I’m documented as Luciano Mukuka (Mpolokoso Catholic Parish); in the register of Zambian nationals, I’m documented as Richard Mukuka (Mpolokoso National Registration Office); in the ancestral records, I’m documented as Mukuka Salala-bana-bonke.
Luciano is an Italian ‘baptism name’ that denoted Christian ancestry. Richard replaced Luciano due to the mispronunciation of the latter, but also speaks to the then requirement to have an ‘English name.’ Mukuka is the name I was given at birth and is my ishina lya mutoto (literary, navel name). According to the Bemba naming practice, this is the most important name and serves as the means of bringing back the spirit of a family ancestor. Salala-bana-bonke is my second name, ilumbo (=character name) according to the Bemba naming tradition, and speaks to what the spirit I have inherited from my ancestors is accomplishing on earth. Salala-bana-bonke denotes the lying-down position of breastfeeding mammals that maximises kidlings’ access to the milk-succulent breasts.
Nine Mukuka. Mukuka Salala-bana-bonke, umwana wa mate, uo kabalika ubushiku na kasuba. Kuli tata, Mwila Kokoliko, ndi mwina Nkamba: tufumbwa ne mipashi yamu Bulombwa. Kuli mayo, Lombe Chilamba-tondolo, ndi mwina Mfula; ikanda-ng’ombe lya mwiSenga. Ndi mupabi umwina kutekwa mwiSenga (mwa Mumpolokoso), mwiTuna (mwa Mwamba), elyo namu buteko bukalamba ubwa Lubemba. Ndi UmuBemba! Ndelomba uluusa uko muli bonse pakuti nsansule ishiwi pakumiletelako imilandu ya buBemba. Mukucita ifi, ndefikilisha icilaka nakwata icakumona ukuti inga twasambilishanya nokwishiba imibele ya bumuntu, kuti twatampa ukwikala inga abantu! Ubuntu mu micitile, mu milandila, namu mwendele.
Fikeni pali ino nsaka tupandishanye amano. Onse uukwete utumashiwi twakuposapo, nafike aposepo. IciBemba cesu citila: Amano uli weka, tayashinguluka ikoshi. Kabili: Amano mambuulwa, ni mbuto balalondola. Kalebalika!
“Uwakula aba mupundu uwakutuusha bonse abapita mwisamba lya uko”
