Maravi

KK to trace his parents' roots

KK to trace his parents' roots
By Brighton Phiri
Thursday April 05, 2007 [04:01]

DR Kenneth Kaunda has finally decided to trace his parents' roots in Malawi where they originated before trekking to Zambia on a gospel crusade mission. In an interview, Dr Kaunda, who leaves for Malawi tomorrow, said the findings of his trip would be part of his memoirs, which a team of researchers led by Mark Chona was compiling.

Dr Kaunda said he looked forward to meeting some of the surviving relatives of his late father David Kaunda and mother Hellen Kaunda. "Time has come for me to write my memoirs. And I thought it was important for me to go and do three things... to go and find out where my father was born...to find out where my mother was born. And talk to their relatives, who might be there because it is only my mother's side that I had visited and that is my uncle in 1945."

Dr Kaunda said since 1945, he had never visited Malawi to meet either of his parent's relatives. "So this is why I want to go and hear from those that are still alive.... what type of people my parents were, about their life and their concerns," Dr Kaunda said. "I really thank God for my parents. They mean so much in my life."

Dr Kaunda said he intends to use the trip to learn something from his father and mother's surviving relatives about his parents.
He disclosed that he would visit Livingstonia Mission, where he believes that it was a place where both his parents obtained their education.

"I want to go to Livingstonia Mission. I believe that is where my parents obtained their education. I want to go and see what the records say about my parents," Dr Kaunda said.

He recalled that his father might have been in his early twenties when he responded to the Lord's call for him to preach the word of God.

The late David Kaunda died in 1932, when Dr Kaunda was eight years old, while his wife Helen died in 1973. Both were buried at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali district.

Dr Kaunda recalled that when his father died at Lubwa Mission, his relatives travelled from Malawi to mourn him and left with one of his guns after the Mission offered to take care of the surviving widow and children.

Labels: BIOGRAPHY, KAUNDA, MALAWI

posted by MrK @ 3:22 AM