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Pilato – AWAY FROM ZAMBIA
It doesn’t matter where you claim to be going, you will only go where you are heading. If one is on the bus to Chawama, even if they claim to be going to Woodlands, they will only go as far as the bus can go. So it doesn’t matter what we claim to be, we are what we act. The greatest act of belief is not in the claiming but in the acting. Do we live what we believe?
Zambia is a beautiful country with very beautiful and peaceful people. It is sad that those that we’ve given our power to manage and rule our land are taking advantage of this fact. Today I am writing from a foreign country not because I chose to but because I chose life. It is important to die for a cause but it is even more important to live for it. My country Zambia is blessed with resources, copper, water, youths and so many other great things. If these resources are not benefiting the people of Zambia now, what will they benefit from in the future when we will not have any more copper? If our resources don’t improve the living standards of our people know what will?
I am an artist who lives among the poor people, these poor people speak to me daily. It is in their eyes I look every day and I always pray that they don’t lose hope. I pray that they keep believing for a better future. I pray that they still look at the national flag and be proud that they belong to a country that is not anything lesser than other countries. I pray that every Zambian will walk tall among his or her other human beings from other countries. I pray for dignity for my people. But what is dignity without a proper health-care? When our people cant find drugs in hospitals? What is their dignity when students are brutally beaten by the state police for asking for meal allowances from their own government? When the majority of our young people can’t find jobs and when they do it’s under very inhumane conditions, what is their dignity?
When our people cry for proper health care, our leaders use that to enrich themselves. They use our cries to steal. They buy ambulances at prices that not even rich country can consider buying. When our youths cry for jobs, they sign a $1.2 billion road construction contracts and say our people will have jobs. A road that costs less in other places. We have a president who became rich just by being alive. In my attempt to share this story, I was threatened with death. I was forced to leave home and stayed in the bush for 25 days for merely sharing this truth.
The 14th of January 2018 was my daughter’s birthday, on this day i usually take her and the sister out for a Pizza but this time I couldn’t. I called and spoke to her and she asked when I was going back home, I cut the call because I didn’t know when. I have stopped calling home now because I don’t know what to say to them.
In my lonely moments I ask myself, is it worth fighting for the good of my people even when it means endangering my own life? Why can’t I be like many other artists that just sing and make money? A bigger part of me reminds me that I am a part of every human being that has shared their pain and sorrows with me. I want to be alive and safe but I only deserve the life that I can fight and speak for. I want my children to go to school, but they only deserve the education that every child in my country can get. I want proper health-care for Christina and Abishai but only that which every child in Zambia can get. This is why my life is threatened. This is why I am where I am today.
I have been warned that I will be snatched even from the courts of law. I have been warned that even if I dared to go hide in the American Embassy I would still be snatched and dealt with. I don’t want to die for this fight, I want to live for it. The police officers have lost power to political bloodthirsty Satanists who are beating and killing people with impunity. These demons attacked people at the graveyard and no one has accounted for that. I refuse to die or be beaten by such evil imitations of humanity. I will live to see the greatness of my people….and of my country
To my family and friends, I am well and safe, please whenever you can check on my family.
Thank you.
Chikuni Community Radio
