Gunshots!?
on A Zambian Experience (Zambia), 23/Sep/2011 12:33, 34 days ago
I’m recovering after being woken up by the sounds of gunshots and massive political rallies outside my compound. The noise during the early hours was immense. I wasn’t sure whether to phone someone or just keep my head down. To be honest, I wasn’t sure who I was going to phone first and what exactly I was going to say, so in the spirit of things I made a cup of tea and tried desperately to work out what on earth was going on outside my bedroom window.If I’m honest, life has been very tense over the last 2 days here in Zambia and particularly my town of Chipata. Rioting started yesterday in town as people took to the streets of Chipata to air their anger that the results of Tuesday’s Zambian election had still not been announced. People were frustrated and had assumed that the delay was due to rumours that the current government was rigging the votes to stay in power. It didn’t help that their was a media ban either, so it was difficult to get any news of what was actually happening. I’ve never felt so cut off from the outside world –such tense times.The tea quenched my thirst and relieved my anxieties for all of 5 minutes. Huge crowds of people in the middle of the night had gathered in town playing loud music and chanting something I didn’t understand in regular 4 second slots. Somehow I went back to sleep with the lights on, hoping that the noise will subdue.I woke up again around 06.00hrs, I turned on the radio to finally get a signal. About b****dy time!, I thought in my slightly dazed manner which caused me to almost block out the sound of further gunshots in the distance and the cries of hundreds of people. Then the radio announcer confirmed that that after 20 years of MMD rule, Zambia could confirm that a new era of politics had been ushered in and that the Opposition Leader Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front had been democratically elected as the new President of the Republic of Zambia.Even though I’m not Zambian, I sighed a massive sigh of relief! The gunshots I had been hearing were not from hundreds of people with an angry agenda, the noise symbolised the jubilation of people, celebrating because they had caused change to happen. We still don’t know whether they were actual gunshots orfireworks, but just imagine the scenes as the Berlin Wall came down, that’s how it sounded.People were partying, not killing each other. How could I have got it so wrong!?In an era where the average African loses faith in the democratic system, a Zambian told me today, that they now had faith in the democratic process. People could now make change happen at the ballot box and they certainly did... Michael Sata won with a huge margin and the outgoing president Rupiah Banda later announced that he accepted defeat.I’m really proud of Zambia and the spirit of the Zambian people during this difficult time. They demonstrated that you don’t have to use violence to make your voice heard. Maybe its a lesson for many other nations around the world?There’s now a party atmosphere here in Zambia today. People are smiling, congratulating each other, waving the flag, playing music and dancing in their cars! They are really positive, particularly the young people who made up a majority of the winning PF supporters.I met up with some friends this morning to chat about the chaotic events of last night. Over coffee we chatted about Zambia’s history of peace and freedom. One Zambian explained that their non-violent nature is due to the fact that they have always been proud of their ‘One Zambia, One Nation!’ culture, a slogan coined by the 1960s African freedom fighter Dr Kenneth Kaunda.Former President Kaunda urged his young Zambian nation that despite Zambia having so many different tribes (73 to be exact) you can still come together in the spirit of peace and work together as one single nation. In a continent with a history of tribal conflict and violence, that kind of thinking was revolutionary. However many Zambian’s have enjoyed this freedom and still continue to enjoy it today, unlike some of their neighbours (Angola, Congo, Zimbabwe). This is evident in the fact that most Zambians here can inter-marry across different tribes, they can work in different provinces, they speak different languages, they evenjoke about their differences amongst each other rather than using violence to outdo each other. Every time you meet a Zambian for the first time, they are usually very boastful about their long history as a peace-loving Christian nation and today I've seen it's actually true.I think it’s great that this country can be used as an example of how democracy can work effectively under good governance systems. It has taken time to get there, however Zambia has shown that you can live peacefully and democratically.Thanks to VSO Zambia, we (fellow volunteer colleagues) were kept well informed of all the events. VSO was great at taking our safety into consideration with its minute by minute evacuation plans and emergency procedures if things got bad. At one point we all had a designated‘safe house’ in the event of an emergency. Apparently the safe houses were stocked up with tinned meatballs and pilchards. Thank goodness it didn’t come to that!...It’s been a very interesting time to be a VSO volunteer in Zambia and I feel very privileged to witness so many people being positively engaged in politics. It’s been so much more fun than the mundane politics of back home.I’m now off for a nap to recover from the disturbing sounds of last night. Peace has been restored and the first of the season’s rains have just fallen. In Zambia, that’s a sign of good things to come.