All of the children currently available for sponsorship live in Mazabuka, so I will tell you a little about it. It is called the sweetest part of Zambia because it is the place where the sugar factory is located. When travelling from Lusaka, it is 124 kilometers away (headed southwest). In the year 2000, 35,000 people called Mazabuka their home.The area is mostly farmland, so farming is the business of choice for most residents. They farm their land and use most of what they grow for their own household food. The rest, they sell at the market to earn money to support their family's other needs.
The people of Mazabuka are from the Tonga tribe. There is an annual Tonga music festival held in Monze, and thousands come from all over to hear and see the rhythm of the Tonga Tribe. Tongan people make up 15% of Zambia's overall population, and their language is called Chitonga or just Tonga. Their language is part of the Bantu language family (which includes Bemba). That means that they have words similar to other Bantu languages. The children do learn English in school, and are usually speaking both English and Tonga by grade 4.
It is important to the Tonga tribe that as parents, they have many children. Since they are agricultural, the children are helpful when farming their land and herding their cattle. The children, also, bring the parents a sense of security because there will be someone to care for them in their old age. Family is very important and extends past just a mother, father and children. The Tonga family includes grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, all helping each other as a group.
The annual music festival in Monze - when is it?
ReplyDelete(my inner musician is twitchin')
Also - is there anywhere out there in Amazon-land to get hnds on a decent Chitonga primer (or Bemba, as the case may be...)
Mazabuka is a commercial focus for surrounding villages? as a farm community?
yeah I know - the question pest...lol
Twalumba!
jp
This year it will be held September 2-3.
ReplyDeleteMazabuka is the main city that several villages rely on for things to purchase. It is like USA when you live in the country and have to "go to town" as those here save. Meaning that the items you need to buy can not be found in your small town, so you have to head to a larger city to purchase them. Mazabuka is this for 30+ villages.
Almost missed a question. So far, there is not a book in Chitonga. However, I think that something like this may be found in a bookstore in Lusaka, but just not found here via the internet. We do have a link to a long list of words and phrases found at www.mulonga.net
Twalumba!