Mbizo Chirasha
 

Kalinga- linga

A daughter of revolution fed on rich political nutrition
With a smile bandaging scars of the streets and falsehood by political demons
Fingers burnt in pseudo democratic pans of West, what a political humor
I see you smelling love through the thick dew of corruption and robots
True heroes and heroines swallowed up in the deep silence of chingwere and uzambwera*
Leopold hill shadows faking dances to the throbbing rhythms of vumbuza drums
Kalinga- linga- your rising sun will soon spread the beauty of its fingers in the skies of Afrika
 

*Cemeteries of the poor (Translator's note)
 


 
 
 
  
Kalinga- linga

Eine Tochter der Revolution, gefüttert mit reicher politischer Nahrung
Mit einem Lächeln verbindet sie Narben der Straßen und Falschheit politischer Dämonen 
Finger verbrannt in pseudodemokratischen Pfannen des Westens, welch politischer Humor
Ich sehe dich Liebe riechen durch den dicken Tau von Korruption und Robotern
Wahre Helden und Heldinnen verschluckt in der tiefen Stille von chingwere und uzambwera*
Leopold-Hill-Schatten täuschen Tänze vor zu den dröhnenden Rhythmen der vumbuza Trommeln
Kalinga-linga – deine aufsteigende Sonne wird bald die Schönheit ihrer Strahlen verbreiten  in den Himmeln Afrikas 
 

* Friedhöfe der Armen
 
 

 


Sources found for the term “kalinga”: 
1. “Kalingalinga is a low-income, high-density settlement east of Lusaka, in Zambia.” 
“It was one of Lusaka's earliest squatter settlements. By the late 1960s, many of Kalingalinga's residents were lured to Chainama Hills (later renamed "Mtendere"), a newly opened development that promised "water, good roads, schools, and a clinic". Those who left for Chainama Hills were mostly supporters of president Kaunda's UNIP,  leaving behind a population with considerable support for the opposition Northern Rhodesian  African National Congress.  By the late 1970s, assistance from the Deutsche Gesellschaft f+r Internationale Zusammenarbeit in the form of a major urban upgrading project provided a school, water, street lighting, and other necessities, such as loans and legal assistance in applying for land ownership. According to a report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, by 1991 the urban upgrading of Kalingalinga "enabled 4400 low-income squatter households to obtain improved houses, services and security of tenure". It noted, on the political situation, that progress initially had been slow because the population mostly supported the political opposition, but also that local organizations had been quite effective in the initiation, planning, and execution of the improvements.”
2. Statement on the internet (commercial advertisement): “find serious like-minded Zimbabwe Kalinga Diploma Grooms looking for marriage.” 
3.“Zuka Kalinga had been safe in a British detention centre, awaiting his forced return to Zimbabwe”  [Zuka Kalinga = name of  a  person from Zimbabwe]
4. A map of Southern Africa in ca. 1750 shows the territory of the Kalunga people.   Note the similarity of Kalunga, Kalanga (the Kalanga religion) and Kalinga.
Cf. also the information regarding the Kalanga (or Kalinga?) religion in this website: http://kalanga.org/
See also Ntandoyenkosi Dumani (Development practitioner and cultural activist), “Role of culture: the missing link in sustainable development” Nov. 30, 2015, in: http://kalanga.org/news/role-of-culture-the-missing-link-to-sustainable-development/   Ntandoyenkosi Dumani is the coordinator at the Kalanga Development Centre and is also the Secretary of the Kalanga Language and Cultural Development Association (KLCDA). He writes in his personal capacity. He can be reached at yalilahwehhu@gmail.com 
N. Dumani states very clearly that “[t]he approach to development which views communities from a ‘half full’ and not from a ‘half empty’ perspective would yield more positive results” than a pessimistic and paternalist approach chosen by many outside “experts”. It matters to respect communities and accept and encourage their self-emancipatory abilities. “This is the kind of approach which does not view poor and marginalised communities as problems that need to be solved or blank slates that need to be written. It rather acknowledges that communities have their own assets, knowledge, skills, values and systems of responding to and coping with various challenges which they face from time to time. The assumption that communities are some ‘desperate Israelites’ that need to be saved is myopic because it means that without the intervention of the development practitioner, the people will perish from the disaster of challenge which they have resiliently faced for decades be it drought, floods, environmental degradation, gender disparities or poor service delivery. This greatly undermines the body of values, knowledge and wealth embedded in the culture of the particular society which has seen them survive decades of marginalization, poverty or natural disasters. The fact that these communities have survived the problem for a long time speaks to certain skills, knowledge, values and practices.”
These insights by the coordinator of the Kalanga Development Centre are similar to those voiced by the Egyptian cultural sociologist and comparatist Magdi Youssef. (See the article on Magdi Youssef in Wikipedia.)
 

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