June 2005
The Republic of Zambia, in south-central Africa, was once a middle-income country, but today, it is struggling against poverty and AIDS/HIV. Some 650,000 children are orphaned.
Zambia’s ambassador to the U.S., Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, Ph.D., visited Cleveland in February at the invitation of Baldwin-Wallace College. At a reception, she met with members of Cleveland’s Zambian community, and she spoke at the World Trade Center Cleveland and at B-W.
“Zambia has the highest number of orphans it has ever had,” Dr. Lewanika said. In 1964, when the country became independent, it had one orphanage, with just a few children. Today, poverty is rampant among its 11.3 million people, and churches, communities and individuals are operating orphanages throughout the country.
Zambia was not always a poor country. As Northern Rhodesia, it was part of the United Kingdom, then, briefly, part of a federation with Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland. In 1964, when Zambia became an independent democratic nation, its currency unit, the kwacha, was worth slightly more than $1, and many of its people were middle-income. Then, prices fell for copper, the country’s main export; Zambia was hard-hit by the worldwide inflation and oil price increases of the 1970s; and more recently, most Zambian companies were privatized in what many now see as a too-rapid change. She took the World Bank to task for many of her country’s economic woes.
Today, 4,700 kwacha equal $1 and 75% of Zambia’s people earn less than $1 a day.
Its leaders are working to diversify its economy. It exports many agricultural products to Europe, but U.S. inspectors have so far allowed only Zambia’s snow peas to be imported here. Zambia does export many cut flowers and crafts to the U.S.
Lewanika said Zambia seeks expanded trade partnership with the U.S. and other countries.
Zambia is also promoting tourism with a “Visit Zambia 2005” campaign. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Scottish missionary David Livingstone’s first visit to the breathtakingly beautiful Victoria Falls, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city Livingstone. In addition, Zambia will have a year-long celebration of what would be the 100th birthday of United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, who was killed in a plane crash in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1961.
Lewanika also discussed other issues, noting that Zambia is proud that in 40 years of independence, it has never experienced the violent conflict that has afflicted so many African nations. In fact, Zambia received a U.S. Congressional Award in 2003 for its humane treatment of refugees from war-torn countries such as Angola and Congo.
Lewanika herself has led and/or participated in a number of peace missions around the African continent, visiting Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea and elsewhere. She is an active member of the African Women Peace Movement and, from 1997 to 2003, was founding president of the Federation of African Women’s Peace Networks.
“Africa has 53 countries, and when one is at war, all are affected,” she said. “Women have pushed for the resolution of conflict. In Sudan and Somalia, sometimes women were the only ones who could cross the countryside.”
She spoke about the challenges facing women in her country.
“When poverty strikes, it strikes women more than anyone else,” Lewanika said. “Men are so stunned by poverty, they become demoralized, and they give up. So it falls to the women to take care of things. This takes all their time and energy – takes them from what they could have been accomplishing.”
In addition, women generally care for the country’s many AIDS/HIV victims.
Lewanika described a typical day for a woman villager in Zambia, where about 60% of the people live in rural areas.
“The women get up at 4 or 5 a.m., and walk one or two or three miles to the land they till, growing maize, vegetables and pumpkins. They may have a small snack, but they eat very little,” she said. “At 3 p.m., they walk home, collecting firewood along the way. At home, they fetch water, pound maize and cook. Then, they eat last – and least.”
Men’s work includes herding cattle and, when new land is tilled, working the soil until the women are able to till it. Men build the mud-covered pole houses, roofed in grass, where Zambian villagers live, although women do the final mudwork. Men and women share the work of the harvest.
Lewanika said age is revered in Zambia. People lose their “gender prejudice,” she said, and treat both older men and older women with respect.
However, women have made strides. Lewanika, a former member of Parliament, said 22 of Parliament’s 158 members are women. In addition, women hold several key cabinet posts, head electoral and anti-corruption commissions, and are increasingly well represented on local government councils.
Lewanika is ambassador to Canada, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Venezuela. It was her first visit to Cleveland.
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