THIS IS LIFE

The social media for advocacy workshop organised by GIZ in Lusaka Zambia has kicked off today. The workshop scheduled to take place for two days at Cresta Golfview in lusaka has brought together CIvil Society Organisation representative from various sectors. In his welcome remarks, GIZ Legal Advisor Jens Poessel said GIZ was piloting the workshop for Their CSO partners in Lusaka. He explained that his organization had observed that most proposals that were submitted for funding had similar approaches around advocacy such as workshops.  Poessel emphasized that the tools appeared limited to the people that had the opportunity to participate in them and it was with this background in mind that GIZ decided to address the issue so that their partners could begin to look at sustainable, far reaching and cost effective means of transferring knowledge and reaching their targets.  The workshop is expected to provide tools to the participants and enable them to use modern web 2.0 advocacy tools

 Susan Mwape    After an endless hype on the much anticipated comedy show in Lusaka featuring MNET Comedian Pablo and Kansiime Anne from Uganda, there was no way that I would miss the show. Firstly the Host of the show Chibwe Katebe never disappoints and I knew that this would be a show worth going to. Secondly, having encountered the works of Anne Kansiime online via minibuzz I just had to watch the lady who silenced a man who thought he could get away with being rudely whistling a woman without clearly knowing what he wanted.  I rushed to Mulungushi hoping to get there by 19 hours as indicated on the Tickets but Alas the great East road was jammed with cars all heading to mulungushi International Conference Centre, how could this have been strange when the show was sold out, anyways I slowly creeped into mulungushi with my friend, struggled to find the parking space and as soon as we parked on the side of the road we practically ran out of the car so as not to be late.

By Susan Mwape  So I had the opportunity of going to what we call in my part of the world a “Chezela”. This is simply a word derived from the term ku cheza which means to chat so chezela means an endless chat that occurs over night into the wee hours of the morning. In Zambia where I come from the moment you hear people saying am going to a chezela, it is synonymous with a series of events that occur overnight by and among women initiating a young lady in a rite of passage. Often this lady would be in the process of getting married and after undergoing a series of counseling sessions, ranging from wellbeing, healthcare, motherhood and home management by a team of women led by one called Bana Chimbusa. The Chezela is the epitome of all that she learns but brings in a diverse group of women of different ethnic groups who each share what they know with the bride to be. It is usually a joyful celebration that marks the end of her initiation into married life. It is charact

By Susan Mwape  When did you last enjoy the feel of ripe mango juice oozing down your chin or just savor the smell of pumpkin leaves cooking? I guess sitting at home on a Sunday and experiencing these feelings made me realize that it’s the simple pleasures in life that make all the difference. I spent a beautiful Sunday slowly cooking some village chicken until it turned a golden brown. The aroma had many of my neighbors coming by to ask if lunch was ready. This in itself put a smile on my face as I realized how when I was a young gal I always wondered how my grandmother always managed to knock me out with heavenly smells of chicken cooked without cooking oil. Infact, it started when I was peeling chibwabwa (pumpkin leaves) and she just said Susan you are wasting relish. I just said grandma am tired I have been peeling these vegetables for a long time and am tired. As if she didn’t hear my complaint she set aside her glass of juice to show me how they clean chibwabwa whilst i