Dear editor,
There is nothing that I despise than Zambians or Africans who think that because they have a chance to go abroad makes them smarter than those back home.
I mean people may have a chance to learn or experience new things but that does not change who you are.
I know we are a developing country but we have our own strength and success.
The problem with most of us Zambians, especially those in Europe, North America and South Africa is that we judge with the eyes of those countries we are living, studying or working in.
All countries have their unique way of showing their development, democracy, cultural or social integration. The best you can do is to be a patriot and promote your country.
Zambia, in the last four or so years has changed in a lot of things.
The middle class as grown. There has been a lot of infrastructure development. Our democracy, despite some challenges is getting stronger.
But you find people who have not even been to Zambia in six, 11, 17 or 21 years saying bad and nasty things about their country of origin.
Some of us are even out there on a Government scholarship but are in the forefront discrediting our country.
Some of us are even illegal citizens in the countries we live in. Should we find ourselves in problems with the local immigration department where are you going to run to? To the Zambian embassy of course.
I am not saying we should not criticise where we see the need to. We can. Zambia needs investors from outside. Do not be the reason they do not go there. Africa has received a lot of bad publicity from Western media.
Do your continent proud and promote it. I am 100 percent sure there is something positive you and I can say about our countries.
If you have so many bright ideas, why can you not go back home and do something for your country? You can even do something for your country away from home – thanks to social media. However, my advice is that please find time to go back home and see what is going on.
Do not just hide in the name of being in the diaspora. Remember before you went wherever you are, you were in Zambia, Kenya, Angola or Ghana.
Being abroad does not make you any smarter than people back home. We may get information, knowledge, experience or exposed but it does not mean we are smarter than people back home. Every well-meaning Zambian, Nigerian or Togolese wherever you maybe has an important role to play in the development of mother Africa.
It’s so sad that there are people who even claim they have even forgotten how to speak local languages.
One stays for five months in Europe and you forget how to speak Ngoni, Luvale, Swahili or Zulu. I do not know what to call this.
No matter how long you stay outside unless you went when you were a child, you cannot forget your language.
Those of us who are doing their best to keep the flag of our country flying high, please keep it up.
For those who think you are canny and your country is backward or think the government is not doing anything yet you do not offer solutions to help mitigate or get rid of social problems, shame on you. Days will catch up with thee.
JOE MWANSA LOMBE KALUBA
Lusaka
Heĺlo
Back Joe your message is well presented thought it appears you have someone in mind. I feel you have made your sentiments too general.
The apathy is double sided even people back home do despise colleagues living abroad .about the language tatwalaba icibemba ,icinyanja or any local language just tone down in your way of expression you sound so scornful and full of hate akachalo kanono Beni fye bwino
They are smarter bcoz they are more exposed than pipo with money like GBM & HH who can’t even enyoy their money with ka HH wearing ka Zambia Farmers Union Shirt for one week..
You really have hate for HH he will never be the same like you he knows time for smartness and time for casual. HH can’t enjoy his money when some people can’t afford even a meal. HH SUPPORTS ABOUT 250 poor children to go to school , he should be respected.
Jjb ,the only educated fool in diaspora
Kikiki the writer might have a point or two but he comes out a very bitter person. I ve traveled but no one forgets their mother tongue. So he can shove this letter up his.
Joe Mwansa….maybe they are smarter! You seem to have personal issues!!!!
Sharp shooter well said ask the brother why there is so much bitterness in his statement. Chill and have some iced tea no one has stopped anyone from visiting or living abroad.Therefore stop blaming others for your hardships.
tel them boss! They think wen they go to china to buy goods they are smarter than us in Mansa but I just go on internet and buy same goods in same country
I visit my family in Georgia USA every year, but I always miss my Zambia just a few days out there. There is nothing special out there, it is just colonial mentality
You are mistaking exposure for being clever. Two different things. It only follows that those that have exposure tend to vote based on merit and not like pf cadres who are so dull they will vote in same party that has caused them suffering
There you go again even when a woman turns you down you will blame PF
I would rather choose a wine sipper (one who takes beer) than a Satanist who can kill me and my blood for money. Therefore Lungu is far better than Hakainde Hichilema because Hakainde Hichilema is a Satanist, a tribalist and a sadistic capitalist. He cause unemployment when he sold the companies and pocketed the billions.
How did you bring HH in this topic if you have any issues with HH courts are open you present your case there. Who is more satanist ??? The one who sent PF police to SOLWEZI to go and kill Two innocent children just because of being power hungry. Get your facts about selling of companies was it HH or Chiluba??????
Good question. The pf are so paranoid and running scared
Cool aticle tho to me u sound u’ve got a personal vendetta but all ‘n all me like it!
Well articulated and I wonder especially Zambian who will pretend to have forgotten their mother after barely staying for months in the UK. It remind of story I read in the times of Zambia by the late Remmy Kabali in 80s who documented a Lozi man who had stayed in England for fours years and needed an interpreter to speak his parents when he return home.
This is true
I have liked the message, well said nangula tuli fitongo.We happen to have ears but we do not hear.
you spend 2 months in india,you come to Zed with an american accent….??????.mmmmmmmm gentlemen!
One thing i know is that yes being abroad to some extent makes you different.What makes them appear different is because they perceive and interpret stimulus from their environments differently. Meaning that most people that have lived abroad tend to be more broader minded as opposed people who have not travelled. Mostly it has a lot to do with SOCIAL LEARNING. And when you adapt to different cultures and different ways of doing things. Getting Acculturated, is good for an individual as it helps not be too judgemental and afraid of change. Narrow minded people are full of fear of change and criticize everything because of the inability to see positive things in every negative situation and also because they lack problem solving or coping skills. Being able to See the glass as always full and not Half Full is a TRAIT as well. The most important thing is to be willing to learn, whether in bound or out bound.
The writer is right, I think we should change the way we look at our country back home not just posting for sake. Thumbs up to the writer. I will to register to vote next year
sounds too judgmental.
Idiocy! Stay in Lusaka, mate. No one gives a single f@ck about your disdain for Africans in the diaspora. If patriotism means shutting up about the negative aspects in Zambia, then count me out. No need to generalize.
Mate came from the fact that those guys in Aussie were prisoners and they called each other mate. Come down to earth.
And I apparently care? Ubututu among Africans; you just can’t let a person be. I’ll use whichever words I want because words have several meanings. Instead of focusing on the thesis of my comment, you chose to perform verbal diarrhea on ‘mate’. Progress cannot be made with such thinking.
When you have gone out of Zambia means your skills are marketable than kufulamila ka headmaster to be promoted. Every time I go back to Kitwe I feel like crying because the attitude and manners of my old friends are low. Prove it by checking the rating of Universities in Zambia. SAD!
But whatever the Case no amount of knowledge beats Experience…. Those exposed are always better bcoz of cross culture experience & the ability to judge other people in a more rational & tender manner….example if you have never been in India you will always judge & treat Indians based on there Behaviour they portray in a foreign country when the same Indians have diverse of culture amongst themselves… But exposure with them from there countries you develop sound understanding in your perception & judgments towards there Behaviour & cultures…….Just experience bane & you judge for yourself not what the writer is saying.
w@ a senseless article!! wasted 3 minutes of my precious life!! would have been better off jerking off on mampi’s video
The above article just repeats what happens in Zambia. Most Zambian children in Zambia cannot speak local languages.
People will always show their stupid, it be in Zambia, or abroad.
Being able to travel abroad DOES NOT CHANGE A PERSON’S BEHAVIOUR… THEY ARE BORN THAT WAY
Too much jealous pa zed kamonganimwe mulikuno.
You misunderstand our confidence and levels of knowledge. You need to call the person who’s been looking down on you and vent or clear matters with them.
@ Sarah, yes stupid cannot be fixed. But also one’s mother language does not guarantee one’s success in life. Do not force your kids to speak new language in the name of culture when they are not ready. Wait for then to show interest and signal their readiness, then learning a new language,be it a mother language will be more fun and less painful. I was out of Zambia for 10 years , however i still speak my mother language and follow my values as if i never left. Its all about self discipline and being proud of your Roots. Though i love learning from other cultures, as it helps in being BROAD MINDED and being more RATIONAL in dealing with different personalities and problems that comes with it.
well written.most of those guys in the diaspora just clean toilets for a living and eat junk meals day in day out(mind you, junk food is not considered a rich peoples meal out there.).those are probably the ones the writer is referring to.
Bushe ni Junk food nagu toilet ya nyoko?
I have been abroad and visited friends and relatives who work and live there. Although none of those worked as janitors I saw both locals (whites) doing all sorts of jobs. One thing I noticed is that people there respect every job. Secondly the people who do such jobs drive smart cars and live in decent houses, have Internet at home and their children go to public schools which are well funded. At least that is the situation in developed countries. Thoe people who eat junk food chose to. Junk food is not cheap either. Hot meals cooked home are even much cheaper. There is rice, maize meal, fish, cassava in addition to a eider range of foodstuffs from other cultures. I can bet you that a janitor in UK can eat and drive a very good car on wages while in Zambia a clerk can never even dream of the same unless they have side income. That said, let us respect how other people earn a living whether in Zambia or abroad. It is not possible for every one to do the same job. Besides who says those cleaning toilets or looking after the aged are doing demeaning jobs? Do you have an idea about the stench Surgeons have to withstand to save your life during surgery? Who cleans you while you are in surgery, in a coma etc? Should we degrade them as less human? Should such people be walking with their heads low? By thinking that way makes you really inferior in your thinking.
Towards the end of your script I am crying.
good article we need to be proud of our country.
The writer has made a very good observation. Let’s admit. You even find some adult Zambians who claim they have already forgotten their mother tongues barely a few years of being in another country. It points to a lack of patriotism which unfortunately many zambians have and also an element of inferiority against their own. We need to learn to be proud of our country like our fellow africans who aren’t ashamed to proclaim loudly what they are regardless of where they are.
Imb…wa doooog NEZ.
Respect elders. Am old enough to be your father. If that is what you think of your father then it shows where you came from you mongrel
Your sentiments are too general, it is not everybody who thinks to be in diaspora you are smarter than people at home,Most of the people usually come home for different projects, some support their families back home and to be honest there is no place like home. Very few people might think that way and this entirely depends on the way they were brought up and they can not change.
Home is were your heart is.
The bottom line is that people who have spent good time in Europe or America are more exposed than those born and bred in Zed or Africa. If you where born in Monde, went to Monze primary school, then proceeded to Monze secondary school, finished your tertiary education at Charles Lwanga College of Education, got baptised in Monze Central SDA, got married in Kalomo, got a degree from UNZA through distance arrangement, work in Monze, waiting to die in Monze and will be buried in Monze, then when Jesus comes you will resurrect in Monze. That is not health Mr. writer, it is stupidity of the highest order. Move out but bearing in mind where you came from. “Umwana asheenda, atasha nyina ukunaya”
Imagine all of us Zambians going abroad for slavery and the country getting filled up by Indians and lebanese who have seen the good in Zambia. Imagine a Zambia where the whites’ Indians,and Lebanese are busy exporting goodies to other countries and making their bucks. Imagine a country where there is so much PEACE.
It’s this kind of reasoning that makes people who travel sounding more smart. Definitely no company outside Zambia can hire you with your brain functioning at this rate.
Kikiki that is funny
We ve always remembered home.
We writer wee stop snoring n wake up !
Umwana ashanda atasha nyina ukunaya inshima. Ba Joe nga mwaendako fye nangu panono, nangu fye pa Malawi apa pa next door, ubututu bukafumako pamenso!!
UBUTUTUU.WHAT DO MEAN,PIPO WHO THINK SO LOW LIKE U ENDS UP BEEN TOILET CLEANERS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
What if the person in the diaspora had no job back home? What if plan B was a better option? What if life in the diaspora proved to be better? What if there are better facilities in the diaspora? What if, what if, what if, what if? One’s choice should not make you have the bitterness which you are exhibiting.
By the way…I am very happy where I am. Catch me if you can.
Just like living in “town” does not make u smarter than a villager, right?
Its the same. The exposure of living abroad makes u think differently. Exposes u to a better school of thought, i.e. thinking out of the box. Given a $1million, a villager, a town-dweller & a diasporan would use the money differently.
a) A villager would buy cattle.
b) A town-dweller would rush & buy trucks & mini-buses.
c) A diasporan would invest in the stock market.
i stayed in Europe for 5 years studying an doing some odd jobs.after completing my studies i couldn’t wait to come back home pa zed.nothing beats your motherland. of course there are some positives about being abroad but nothing beats the feeling of being in your own country.most people are literally slaves out there in the diaspora.
The writer has an issue with NEZ who visited Kasumbalesa for some hours and came back pretending he had forgotten his mother tongue and cant see the developmental projects pf is doing.
Well said ba Sarah. I came with my kids pa zed for some time from SA hoping that their nyanja would become better while there, but to my surprise, kids in kabulonga only speak English!!!!!And in private schools kulibe nyanja as a subject like it used to be during our days.
It does make you smarter and more hardworking and more faithful in marriage
@stella,not to everyone some forget their morals and fail to respect others because they think they know everything..some people should just learn how to humble themselves.
we have the chinese,americans,europeans,midle easternerz,south africans,kenyans etc who are abroad here in zambia,am sure people back in there countrys think they are smarter