village road

People Passing Through Our Lives

As I look back on my life, I believe many people come into our lives and impact us significantly for a short while. Then they disappear never to be heard or be seen again leaving us with a wonderful story … read more

Gulugufe butterfly

The Beauty of the Natural World

The natural world in all the tropical areas of the world has some of the most fascinating animals, plants, insects, and the large variety of creatures both large and small. Savannah Zambia in Southern Africa is different in that during … read more

M. Tembo

Why Does God Do Good Things for Fools Like Me?

Dispatch from Ibex Hill/Chainda in Lusaka in Zambia in Southern Africa My great and deep admiration for the First President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, begun when I was 13 at Chizongwe Secondary School in Chipata. Students had marched to the … read more

village

Dangerous Journey to Chasela

Sometime in late 1959, my mother arrived back at our village in Chief Magodi in the Lundazi District of Eastern Zambia in Southern Africa. I had lived with my grandparents, uncles, aunts, dozens of cousins and other kinship member. The … read more

village road

The First Time I Saw a Train

I was a thirteen year-old village boy who was going to see it for the first time any minute now. My dad and I had just completed a grueling sixteen hour bus trip from the country. We were dusty, black … read more

city

Has AIDS Changed Social Life in Zambia?

Note: This article was written on November 22, 1988 in Lusaka in Zambia Has AIDS changed social life in Zambia? AIDS is a terrible, incurable, fatal disease that renders the body’s immune system vulnerable to disease. It can be contracted … read more

M. Tembo

Are You Sleepless in a Glitzy Hotel Room?

It was 2:00 am and I was still tossing and trying to sleep in my sparkling clean hotel room in Richmond in Virginia in May 2010. At 5:00 am I finally sat up in exasperation. My heart was racing. My … read more

plane

My First International Flight

Part One The build up to my first International Flight started one morning when I lived in Lusaka in February 1977. I received in the mail the acceptance letter to go to Michigan State University for my Masters Degree. My … read more

Sacred Cows and Myths are Broken

In September of 2002 sacred cows and myths were broken in my African home village. The wider implications of the breaking of these myths are still unclear. It all started when the Tembo family decided to purchase two bulls to … read more

plane

Letters to My Grandfather

Letters to My Grandfather in the Village in Zambia *These letters were written in December 1977. Dear Grandfather, I should have written you this letter a long time ago.  But I was so busy with my further education and daily … read more

nshima and ndiwo

Do You Have Cravings for Truly Zambian Food?

For a traditional Zambian who lives so far away from home, life overseas is not all enjoyment of cheap blue jeans, night clubs, and easy life. There was a Zambian whose name will not be disclosed as authorities and perhaps … read more

M. Tembo

Do You Have a Spare Tire?

The last time I shopped for clothes was a couple of years ago. Early this fall I discovered that all my dress shirts were fraying around the collar. Many of my long dress pants had either emergency mending, or were … read more