A long farewell to Comrade Betty
By The Post
Fri 28 Sep. 2012, 12:30 CAT
The days pass, each year giving birth to its successor. What has passed becomes the past as time erodes the memory of what was living experience.
In their recalling, old joys expand into enlarged pleasure. Old wounds fade away into forgotten scars or linger on as quiet pain without a minder.
Those who give generously their lives, their talents to lighten our moments of darkness, do not want the embarrassment of the enthusiasm of our gratitude.
Those who brought us intolerable pain and took away our days of light insist that nothing should be recalled, lest we impose on them the pain of guilt and on ourselves the pain of our memories. And so what was slides away as though it never was.
Comrade Betty Kaunda suffered a lot. She bore the scars of our independence struggle and those of the liberation struggles of our entire region. We talk of the sufferings she went through as a mother and as a wife of the supreme leader of our independence struggle as if it was such a small thing. We talk about her charcoal burning undertakings as if it was such a small thing. All has passed as though it never was.
Comrade Betty had to endure long periods of time waiting for her incarcerated husband, imprisoned comrade. She had to fend, single-handedly, for her children. She had to endure all those long days and nights without Comrade KK, who was in prison. All lingers on only as a nightmarish image of what might have been.
Comrade Betty suffered and suffered quietly. Even after our independence, keeping the family together and participating in many national activities with all quietness and humility was still not such an easy thing and small thing. All has passed, as though it never was.
In the last few years we have congregated at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with greater frequency to bid farewell to the heroes and heroines of our independence struggle, the founders of our Republic, the builders of our nation, paying our last respects to the fallen heroes and heroines of our nation from a generation now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle. Again, those from that generation, who are singled out to stay the longest, have to bear the pain of seeing their comrades go. One after the other, the stars that brightened the firmament of a generation have been extinguished. Time has swallowed up our heroes and heroines.
Not anywhere in this country stand a statue and a monument which speak to us and all future time to say - once upon a time, our country was blessed to have as its citizens these who, though dead, are brought to life by every day's dawn that portends fulfilment for all the people of our homeland. They too slide into the past as though they never were.
Today, Comrade Betty lies in her small house of wood, cold and still and without a voice. When she passed on, yet another great Zambian heart ceased to beat. While she lived, she refused to allow her people to be abused, to be humiliated, to be oppressed in all sorts of ways. She elected to oppose those who sought personal benefit by abusing the people and their resources. And last year she took a quiet but very strong political stand against the corrupt, the abusers and ensured that they left the stage.
She gave those who were downtrodden and despised pride in themselves as glorious human beings, by instilling in them the knowledge that they held the gift of progress in their hands.
Today, Comrade Betty lies in her small house of wood, cold and still and without a voice.
Comrade Betty spoke quietly of hope, of human dignity, of the cruel eras of small-minded people scared of their own shadows, of the magnanimity of those who were mistreated by those who claimed to be born-again.
She worked quietly to persuade us to understand the cruel eras of the small-minded people, teaching us to assert our own humanity by respecting the rights of all our people to life, liberty and happiness. She showed us by example that we need no high-sounding titles to discharge our obligation faithfully to serve the masses of our people.
Even as some sought to present her and her husband and comrade as objects of ridicule, those of us who knew who they were and what was their worth to the masses of our people, determined that we, like them, would continue to be informed by our knowledge and consciences rather than the voices of those who sought to play various and insensitive games.
Today, Comrade Betty lies in her small house of wood, cold and still and without a voice.
While she lived, her humility, her self-effacing ways, her constant humour, her loyalty to principle, the certainty her very being carried of the inevitability of the realisation of our hopes, brought light and joy to our days of despair. The gods themselves would lose their patience with us if we permitted that time should persuade us that this jewel on our crown has lost its sparkle, merely because the soil we tread will have taken into its bosom the small wooden house that Comrade Betty now occupies.
Whatever the direction we turn our ears, the same message reaches us - the struggle that Betty and her comrades started and waged for the total liberation of our people is not yet complete. It is still aluta continua!
The voices that come at us from the great expanses of our beautiful land tell us that we must assert that what was, was.
The lived experiences of the times that have passed are to us and to future generations very valuable. The heroes and heroines, whom Comrade Betty has joined, like her, live among us, fighters still for the liberation of all our people. The cause for which they fought, sacrificed and lived has not run its course. We still have many challenges - poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and so on and so forth.
Today, Comrade Betty rests in her small house of wood, cold and still and without a voice. And yet we can hear her as she says:
Do not allow the shadows to deceive you nor the long road you have to travel, to discourage you! Refuse that selfishness should take possession of your hearts and minds and deprive you of what is most precious to us - the lived gift of humanism! Listen carefully to the strident voice of your adversaries and continue to strive as you have done over countless years, to remain loyal to what is good and just! Above all, as you call for God's benediction in the interest of our homeland and the masses of our people, act together to free the peoples of our continent from oppression, from war, from poverty, from greed, from lies, deceit, humiliation and contempt!
Today, Comrade Betty rests in her small house of wood, cold and still and without a voice.
Today, we all join Comrade KK, Comrade Betty's husband, their sons and daughters, their grandchildren and great grandchildren and the rest of the family, to put to rest a patriot who was to all of us variously, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a colleague, a comrade and a leader.
All of us say, together, thank you for being what you have been. We say thank you, twatotela, luitumezi, zikomo, twasanta, tunasakilili, tunasakilila, twalumba for the way you have enriched all our lives.
We appeal to you that you bear with us that we might not have understood as well as we should have, how much what you thought and said and did gave meaning and direction to our own lives.
Tell those whom you join that, whatever the problems, still we progress.
Farewell dear comrade! Rest in peace!
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, OBITUARIES
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Namibia mourns Mama Betty
September 26, 2012
By CLAVER MUTINTA
BETTY Kaunda was amongst Freedom Fighters recognised during the Africa Freedom Day celebrations.
NAMIBIAN President Hifikepunye Pohamba has sent a message of condolences to former President Kenneth Kaunda following the death of his wife, Betty, last week.
Mr Pohamba says he learnt with shock and deep sorrow of the sudden passing of Mama Betty.
“The sudden departure of Madam Betty Kaunda robs you personally and the family of a beloved companion, a caring mother and grandmother,” he said.
He said the death of Mama Betty equally constitutes “a great loss to the fraternal of people of Zambia and many friends abroad whom she treated with compassion over the years, including many of Namibians hosted in Zambia during the struggle for national liberation.”
Mr Pohamba conveyed his deepest sympathies on behalf of his government, people of Namibia, and his family to Dr Kaunda and the people of Zambia.
“May you be strengthened and consoled as you deal with this difficult time of mourning, in the knowledge that she served with humility and kindness until her final hour,” he said.
And former President of Namibia Sam Nujoma says he learnt about the death of Mama Betty with utmost grief and profound distress.
He said Mama Betty, Dr Kaunda and other revolutionaries played a pivotal role in the liberation of Africa.
Mr Nujoma said together with Dr Kaunda, Mama Betty dedicated her life to dismantling the apartheid regime in South Africa and total liberation of Africa.
“In this regard, a tribute to Comrade Mama Betty Kaunda will be incomplete without reference to the role she played in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the white South Africa colonial regime in Namibia,” he said.
He said Mama Betty will be remembered by the current and future generations of Zambian nationals, African continent and beyond as a fearless freedom fighter and an indefatigable liberator.
He said Namibia remains indebted to the government and people of Zambia for their “unflinching and unwavering support during the armed liberation struggle”.
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, HIFIKEPUNYE POHAMBA, OBITUARIES
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Fare thee well Mama Betty Kaunda – OBITUARY
September 24, 2012
By TENTANI MWANZAH
THE name Kenneth Kaunda readily comes to mind in relation to African liberation struggles and efforts aimed at resolving Africa’s woes and other ills in the world. He is an icon voted by the BBC in 2010 as one of the foremost 50 African icons of the previous 50 years, the only Zambian in that bracket. Call of duty in fulfilment of obligations to realise these goals has made it impossible for him to be a man who stays long in one place. He has been kept busy with public life since joining active politics more than six decades ago. A normal family life has eluded him ever since.
Typically, he was away from home on an international mission in South Africa on Wednesday September 19, 2012 when devastating news reached him that his dear wife of 66 years, Mama Betty Mutinke Kaunda nee Banda, went to join her ancestors in the early hours of that day. She was 83. She died of causes related to her diabetic condition in Zimbabwe while on a visit to her daughter Musata who lives there with her husband, James. Kaunda wept. Who wouldn’t?
The previous day, September 18, 2012, in Durban, South Africa, Kaunda was a recipient of yet another award in recognition of his monumental work in bringing about peace and understanding among peoples of the world, the Mahatma Gandhi award. Mama Betty Kaunda has been the pillar of strength behind her husband, enabling him to score the many successes of great magnitude for all the six and half decades they have been together. She was invaluable to him.
He apparently recognised this fact and in the last years, he resorted to publicly sing in her honour as if to make up for his indebtedness to her. An accomplished guitarist, he would pick up his guitar, amidst cheers and ululations, during public functions and take his audience down memory lane to the days of his courtship with her. His favourite ballad, Pagan Moon, originally taken from the 1931 film Safe in Hell, had catchy words:
“I remember that night in your arms/Underneath the Pagan moon /Beneath the light on a pillow of palms/ underneath the pagan moon/…Maybe this was a sweet maiden’s prayer/ To your eyes and your lips and your hair/ Only the dark came too soon/ As we watched our pagan moon ,” Apt.
It would indeed have been untold ingratitude on the part of her acclaimed husband to ignore the pivotal role the great woman of substance played in his life. Incidentally, it was his mother Helen Tengwera Kaunda, who identified and recommended her for a wife to him. Let Kenneth Kaunda speak for himself: “With unerring judgement, my mother selected her from amongst all the other girls in the area as my future wife and marriage arrangements were concluded between the parents.”
It was only in June 1946, the very year marriage ceremonies took place, that he first set his eyes on the love of his life. He was on his way to Mufulira for a scout training camp. Passing through Mpika, his cousin arranged for him to meet her. “I had no doubt when I first saw her that my mother had made a wise choice and I have never had reason since,” he fondly recalls. Kaweche Banda, for that was the name of her father, was a prominent businessman with a shop near the Mpika Boma and it was here that she was born on November 17, 1928. Banda with his wife Milika Sakala Banda, had been close friends of the Kaunda family for many years.
The immortal Kwame Nkrumah, that miracle of a man, noting that human memory is short time without number reminded us that “independence does not come on a silver platter”. His Chinese counterpart the Great Helmsman, Chairman Mao Ze dong, had a couple of years earlier made his oft-quoted statement “A revolution is not a dinner party or doing embroidery or writing an essay … it cannot be so refined…” For Kenneth Kaunda, his contribution to the liberation fight entailed periods of long absence from home; more so the time he was organising secretary for the Northern Province, covering a wide area. Today one would be talking of most of Muchinga, Northern and Luapula provinces. It was a herculean task.
The responsibility of raising up the children squarely rested on the shoulders of Mama Betty Kaunda, who ably took up the challenge and lived beyond expectations. Kaunda never forgets that there was a time as organising secretary, having been away from home for quite some time, organising, mobilising and educating the people, he grew a beard.
Upon reaching home his first-born son, Panji, failed to recognise him; afraid, he ran away to his mother only to tell her “Mayo, kwaisa icimuntu.” She must have laughed uncontrollably when she discovered that ‘icimintu’ in question was after all her one and only husband, also known as bashi Panji -father of Panji. When in the company of my friend Bina Moyo, MP, I went to commiserate with him in 1998 after his release from the unjust detention, which started on Christmas Day of 1997, he suffered at the hands of the Chiluba regime, he narrated this story if only to show what he had gone through in life and what Mama Betty Kaunda meant to him. In giving him encouragement, I reminded him of the words he had told me earlier uttered by a Katete freedom fighter each time they were faced with many a difficult situation. “Ndiye umuna uyu, mwamuna afunika kuti nthawi zina (in this particular case) mwana wobala yeka azimuyiwala” (Thats what being a man entails. It is important for a man that there should be times when his own biological child should fail to recognise him).”
Police raids at their residence were not infrequent. In 1955, after one such raid at home extended to his office as secretary-general of the African National Congress, he, together with ANC president Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, were sentenced to two months imprisonment with hard labour for being in possession of a copy of a London-produced magazine-Africa and the Colonial World – considered as a prohibited publication in the territory by the authorities. Every person in Britain was free to read the magazine but not so for Africans in the British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia! This was Kaunda’s first taste of prison.
Mama Betty Kaunda was the first to recognise the coming of the unwelcome white visitors, who happened to be policemen and she alerted her husband who was resting in bed at the time. He psychologically prepared himself for any eventuality.
The March 1959 police raid following the banning of the militant Kaunda-led Zambia African National Congress (ZANC), a breakaway group of the ANC, was more serious. It saw him rusticated to Kabompo, incarcerated in Lusaka Central Prison, the notorious Chimbokaila, before being transferred to Salisbury (Harare) prison. He was only released in January 1960.
These uncertainties in politics and the attendant hardship of the times led Mama Betty to sometimes resort to unorthodox survival strategies for the sake of the family. There was a time she went into such mundane chores as charcoal burning to raise income for food and children’s education. What a great woman! There was no subsistence allowance for active politicians.
Materially and financially, life became better after 1962, when United National Independence Party (UNIP) won seats in the Legislative Council, as Parliament was called then. Kaunda steadily rose to become Minister of Local Government, Prime Minister and first President of the Republic of Zambia on October 24, 1964.
They moved to Government House, renamed State House after Independence.
Mama Betty Kaunda became Zambia’s first First Lady on Independence Day in 1964. She was a trail blazer in that role and had to be careful how she treaded on the new ground. Being conscientious, the path she took and followed was that of being in the background most of the time. It was rare to see her addressing gatherings of any significance, least of all those which could have political connotations of any sort. Contrary to what many detractors may assert, Mama Betty Kaunda, growing up under a climate not too favourable to the education of women, attained the highest levels of education available to a woman. Unlike most Northern Rhodesia women of her age, it is noteworthy that she had remained in school up to Standard IV. Through her notable hard work, she earned a little pocket money when she was identified to work during hours when she was not in school as a ‘nurse girl’ for the District Commissioner’s wife. It is on record that she was one of only two females in the top class of her school and held her own with the boys. In 1944, she secured a coveted place at the famous boarding school at Mbereshi to do her two years’ training as a teacher. There she received her training in cookery, dressmaking and other domestic science subjects.
Mama Betty Kaunda’s style in approaching the role of First Lady was not out of place. It was in line with a good number of First Ladies on the continent, mostly those whose husbands were titans of freedom. The style of the African First Lady of that time was different from that of the American First Lady. There was a silent golden rule making it almost taboo for the African First Lady of the post-independence period to be given to standing on the Hustings making speeches advancing political causes. It is inconceivable to imagine Fathia Rizk, Kwame Nkrumah’s Egyptian-born wife, on the podium championing agendas to increase the approval rating of the husband notwithstanding the fact that she was at a top Egyptian University when Kwame Nkrumah married her in December 1957.
Tanzania’s Maria Nyerere and Uganda’s Miria Obote were no exception. Publicly, they kept to themselves and left politics and delivery of speeches to their eminent husbands, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Apollo Milton Obote, respectively.
Not even Mama Ngina, the wife of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, could afford to break rank and to behave differently. That was the style of the African First Lady. The dress code was also predictable as there was an attempt to give it as African outlook.
In Zambia, the change came in 1991 with the change in government when UNIP, the country’s ruling party for 27 years, from the inception of independence, was swept out of power by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). There was a feeling that there had to be a complete break with the past. So it was that the new First Lady starting with Vera Chiluba has been for all intents and purposes an American-style First Lady.
Solid a woman as she was, barely three years into independence, she was faced with a serious no mean challenge of her life in 1967. Age 39, doctors diagnosed her with diabetes. Health experts say diabetes is a condition, NOT a disease. It is instructive to note that, not one prone to desperation with adverse news, she was able to manage diabetes for the latter 45 years of her life. Prominent Lusaka lawyer Sibanze Simuchoba was impressed with her “unparalleled stoicism” in the manner she handled her diabetic state. Kaunda has often revealed and expressed admiration that she was “a strong-willed and courageous woman,” who used to inject herself to receive her regular dosage of insulin. Jocularly, he would add that “she could not rely on me to do it. Me I am a coward”.
Rodgers Mapenzi Simuchoba and Chileshe Mwashinka, both members of the Pan Africanist Committee (PAC), remember her for her dignity and graceful nature but especially her unwavering support for freedom fighters. They echoed South Africa’s Jacob Zuma who has stated unequivocally that “she was our mother who looked after so many South Africans in exile”. The Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, sent a message of condolences to the Kaunda family acknowledging Mama Betty Kaunda’s commitment in serving the country.
THE Freedom Fighters.
After UNIP’s hold on power ended in 1991, with her husband, she left State House gracefully. In 1992, Kaunda relinquished his position of president of UNIP, a position he had held since January 1960 and went on his first retirement from active politics.
In March 1993, something terrible happened. UNIP, now in opposition with only 25 parliamentary seats in a 158 seat parliament, surprised even itself by remaining a vibrant political party with deep-rooted grass root support. This was not in line with the desires of the Chiluba regime which aimed at seeing UNIP to its grave sooner rather than later. People woke up one morning to information that a sizeable number of prominent UNIP leaders and some sympathisers were rounded up after a declaration of a State of Emergency in what came to be known as the Zero Option saga. It was alleged that the Zero Option was a UNIP plot to render Zambia ungovernable. Among those detained were Rupiah Bwezani Banda, Rabbison Chongo, Bonnie Tembo, William ‘Tekere’ Banda, Ackim Zimba(who died in detention), Muyoka Lemmy Sulwisha, Muwanei, Peter Lishika, Cuthbert Nguni, Stephen Moyo, Patrick Goma, Stanley Muntanga, Ilukena and Mama Betty Kaunda’s son, Ngwawezi Kaunda, commonly known as Wezi.
Over the years, because of what she had gone through she had developed a thick skin and could withstand all kinds of pressures. Somehow, she could not stand the sad experience of seeing her son, Wezi, widely considered heir-apparent, behind bars on flimsy grounds. In the very early days, the Zero Option saga took its toll on her. She suffered a stroke, massive to subsequently confine her to the wheelchair till her final days. That notwithstanding she lived for another close to 20 years. She possessed rare resilience.
Prison Graduate (PG), a term introduced by Kwame Nkrumah, was a lofty title of honour among freedom fighters symbolising a new birth and baptism, having been to prison fighting for the liberation of the continent, was considered a mark of distinction and people were not filled with terror at the sight of prison walls. Former Nigerian military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo coined his own Post-Prison Graduate (PPG). Explaining those eligible for PPG status, he said it applies, mostly, to those heads of State, who, having retired gracefully from office, find themselves in prison for political reasons. To surmise what he said, “I have been saying that people like Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela and others are Prison Graduates (PG). But for Kaunda and myself, we are Post-Prison Graduates (PPG) because we found ourselves in prison on trumped-up charges after leaving the presidency.” Kaunda spent most of his 1997/98 prison spell under house arrest at his Kalundu residence with Mama Betty. Virtually, Mama Betty was also a prisoner at Kalundu Prison. Arguably, she too was entitled to the distinction of PPG as described by Obasanjo.
The title Mama (Mother of the nation) was hard-earned in struggle and to all it comes naturally because she deserves it.
Eternal glory to the memory of Mama Betty Kaunda-Mother of the nation!
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, OBITUARIES
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KK weeps
By Mwala Kalaluka, Fridah Nkonde and Christopher Miti
Fri 21 Sep. 2012, 10:30 CAT
DR Kenneth Kaunda yesterday wept uncontrollably when he arrived at the KK International Airport on an Air Zimbabwe plane carrying the body of his 83-year-old wife, Betty.
And Egyptian Ambassador to Zambia Salah El-Sadek says Mama Betty's death is not only a loss for Zambia but for the whole of Africa.
Meanwhile, President Michael Sata yesterday 'warmly' received opposition MMD leader Nevers Mumba and led him into the airport's VIP lounge as they awaited the arrival of Mama Betty's body from Harare.
A crowd of government officials, family, friends and political leaders and cadres from the PF and opposition UNIP were on hand to receive Mama Betty's body when the Air Zimbabwe plane, called Mbuya Nehanda touched down at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport at 13:55 hours.
As he alighted from the plane and walked down the steps towards the airport apron, Dr Kaunda, 88, was seen trying to contain his emotions but broke down a few steps down as freedom fighter Grey Zulu moved forward to hug him and others followed suit.
President Sata looked on as others like Mama Chibesa Kankasa consoled a weeping Dr Kaunda for several minutes. As military personnel moved to the cargo compartment of the aeroplane to collect Mama Betty's casket, President Sata went to receive the body.
The Air Zimbabwe crew came out of the plane carrying wreaths while a team of journalists and camera people from the neighbouring nation followed the event from the plane's steps.
Dr Kaunda's security detail and government protocol officers failed to restrain those that were surging forward to console the first Republican president as a military band played solemn music.
And Ambassador El Sadek said in an interview after consoling Dr Kaunda that Mama Betty was a symbol of greatness not only for Zambia but for the whole of Africa.
"It's a sad moment. This is life but these people are special, you can't find them," Ambassador El Sadek said. "They are symbols not just for Zambia but for the whole of Africa. It's a very sad moment especially for a great man like Dr Kaunda."
Earlier, President Sata received a tumultuous applause from excited PF cadres at the airport after he went to accord them a surprise greeting. The cadres mobbed President Sata whilst raising the PF symbol.
Later at around 12:52, President Sata came out of the VIP lounge and welcomed Mumba who was in the company of his two new vice-presidents - Michael Kaingu and Dr Brian Chituwo. The two greeted warmly and President Sata ushered Mumba inside the VIP lounge.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was one of the notable absentees at the event but the party's Mazabuka parliamentarian, Garry Nkombo, was present.
Mama Betty's body was later driven to the Kaundas' home in Lusaka's State Lodge.
And the Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of The Post which had honoured Mama Betty with the Mama Julia Chikamoneka award in 2008 says freedom fighters should be appreciated when they are alive.
PFC chairperson Leah Kabamba said in an interview yesterday that it was evident that freedom fighters were becoming fewer.
"It is unfortunate that we most of the times fail to celebrate freedom fighters to the extent we should. We fail to celebrate the people that liberated our country to maximum capacity. We should learn to appreciate those that liberated our country while they are still living so that they could also have time to tell us how it was then because once they are gone, there will be no one to tell us," Kabamba said.
She said Mama Betty was indeed a freedom fighter who did not give up but stood by her husband's side.
"Mama Betty valued family life and was a very hard working woman. We wish the Kaunda family strength during this difficult time," said Kabamba.
Chikondi Foundation president Bishop John Mambo described Mama Betty as a great mother of Africa who made her husband achieve political freedom for Zambia and the rest of the continent.
"We are grateful to God for Mama Betty's humility and service to this nation and the continent. It would have been difficult for Dr Kaunda to achieve what he did if it were not for Mama Betty's support. She is our mother and we will live to celebrate her life as a great leader," said Bishop Mambo.
"Let's not mourn her on political lines, but give her a mourning that befits a hero. We will forever be grateful to God for that humble life."
Mama Betty was found dead in a room at her daughter's house in Borrowdale Brook, Harare, on Wednesday morning.
She had been in Zimbabwe for the past two weeks visiting her daughter Musataa Kaunda Banda and her husband Jimmy Banda.
Musataa is a counsellor at the Zambian Embassy in Harare.
Family spokesperson Tilyenji Kaunda said Mama Betty would be buried in Chinsali.
"She had a long history of diabetes and high blood pressure. We thought it was getting better. We are told she went to sleep yesterday (Tuesday) and they just discovered her dead in the room in the morning (Wednesday)."
Dr Kaunda and Mama Betty celebrated their 66th marriage anniversary in August at a moving function in Lusaka.
Meanwhile, Dr Kaunda sang a love song dedicated to Mama Betty when receiving the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation in Durbam, a short while before he learnt of her death.
According to a statement issued by the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria, the song talked about how Dr Kaunda would never forget the first kiss he shared with Mama Betty.
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, KENNETH KAUNDA, OBITUARIES
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Mama Betty is an inspiration - Grillo
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 19 Nov. 2011, 12:30 CAT
MAMA Betty Kaunda is an inspiration to the women of Zambia, says the women's movement. In a congratulatory message to Mama Betty on her 83rd birthday which fell on Thursday, NGOCC board chairperson Beatrice Grillo said the Zambian women celebrate Mama Betty's 83rd birthday with pride.
Grillo said the women's movement recognised Mama Betty's resilience and determination as the bedrock of not just her family but the nation. She said the women's movement felt obliged to celebrate Mama Betty's 83rd birthday because she was an inspiration to the women.
"She is one of the freedom fighters that contributed to the liberation of the country, yet she has remained a humble and down to earth person. She has remained friendly, approachable even at the time she was first lady," she said.
Grillo said Zambian women felt lucky to have such a woman and urged the government to honour her by naming some of the institutions after her.
"We also similarly appeal to the Lusaka City Council to name some of the many nameless streets and roads after women who have greatly contributed to the nation. As we celebrate her contributions in various national endeavours, we salute Mama Betty for her courage and respect for human dignity, Happy 83rd birthday mother of the nation and receive God's abundant blessings," said Grillo.
Mama Betty Mutinke Kaunda was born on November, 17, 1928 at Mpika to Kaweche Banda and Milika Sakala Banda.
She went to school at Mbereshi Girls and also did training at the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation's Women's programme and worked as a teacher in Mufulira.
In 1964, she married her fellow teacher Kenneth Kaunda of Chinsali, with whom she has seven sons, two daughters and an adopted son.
During Zambia's struggle for independence, she struggled and sacrificed for her family to make ends meet. At the same time, she worked with women folk and men to fight for independence.
Mama Betty, as Zambia's first, first lady from October 1964 to November 1991 is considered the mother of the nation.
She has preferred to contribute quietly, mostly behind the scenes, to greatly support her family and nation and has been matron of many organisations and projects.
Mama Betty is also an example of many people living with diabetes as she has been living with it since 1967.
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, HEALTHCARE, NGOCC
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Thandiwe hails Mama Betty’s loyalty to KK
Written by Sydney Mungala
FIRST lady Thandiwe Banda has said former first lady Betty Kaunda's exemplary qualities of loyalty and support to her husband in good and bad times are a record to beat.
Commissioning the Lady Betty Boat Cruise by Lawrence Sikutwa Group of Companies (LSA) in Kafue last Tuesday, Thandiwe said few husbands could stay the course in the face of a nagging and unsupportive wife.
"Mama Betty Kaunda was exemplary and she remains a shining example of loyalty and support by a wife of her husband in bad and good times. It is a record to beat," she said.
Thandiwe said the gesture was not only a show of recognition of Betty's efforts, but the role many women played in the liberation struggle.
LSA Group of Companies chairperson Lawrence Sikutwa said the group picked on Betty for her contribution towards the liberation struggle.
He also announced that the Group would put up a hotel worth US $12 million.
Labels: BETTY KAUNDA, KENNETH KAUNDA, THANDIWE BANDA
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