I LOST my maternal grandmother on Thursday September 22, 2016 and I have been asked to give a speech on behalf of all her grandchildren.
My name is Kampa Senkwe and I am one of the grandsons
to Ms Elina Mwale Zimba. I want to
thank everyone in attendance. Thank you all for coming.
I would also like to
extend my gratitude to my brothers and sisters who have accorded me this
opportunity to speak on their behalf. I’m quite honored.
It is only earlier
this month while I was chatting through WhatsApp
with a good friend of mine Sishuwa
Sishuwa from back home when he said something that really touched my heart.
My fellow countryman said, “The
relevance of death lies in its impact on those that live.”
Your attendance here
speaks volumes about the impact that this wonderful woman had on all of us. Some
of you knew Ms Elina Mwale Zimba as sister, mom, aunt, grandma, great grandma,
amai Zimba, amake boi or simply Awasi Wrong.
I find it extremely
hard to hold back tears as I put down these thoughts. Where does one even begin
in paying a fitting tribute to someone they literally owe their life?
My first memory of my grandma
goes as far back as the mid 80s. I briefly stayed with Gogo Elina and my late
granddad Mr. Zimba (MHSRIP) at No. 43 Nalikwanda Street in Highridge, Kabwe.
I must have been 3 or 4 or at the time
but I vividly remember one hot summer afternoon when grandma dressed up in
readiness for her usual trips into the Central Business District.
I remember standing by
the gate to our house while I watched her across the street as she waited for a
bus to get her into town. I asked her to bring me something from town and she
said okay “muzukulu wanga”. She was dressed in this flashy Chitenge wrapper and
I thought she looked amazing. Anyone who
met my grandma in her hey days will tell you she was a beauty to behold.
Grandma was really, really beautiful.
But grandmas beauty
wasn’t just skin deep. Grandma was unbelievably compassionate, kind and
generous. I was about 6 the last time I stayed at my grandparents’ home in
Kabwe. I never got to see grandma until 10 years later in 1996 when she visited
my mom’s family in Ndola. She stayed with us for two days and on the day she
left she gave me a bottle of this expensive women’s fragrance. It’s been over 20
years but I can still remember the smell of that perfume. And now that I think
of it, that was actually the first bottle of perfume I ever owned. I would
safely say, grandma introduced me to the importance of smelling good.
Now, I don’t want to
stand here and try to paint my grandma as an angel who was always fun to be
around. I spent 5 years of my adult life with her in Kaunda Square when her
house was still a two room and we had our moments.
It was only last week
when I met my cousin Patricia here in South Africa. While I was chatting with
Patricia our conversation turned to grandma. I remember Patricia giving me the
props for staying with grandma for that long.
Yes, anyone who has
ever lived with grandma will tell you she could be quite difficult at times. There
were times it was impossible not to be mad at her. But in the 5 years I lived
with grandma in Kaunda Square, I saw a part of grandma that some will never get
to see. Grandma’s heart and generosity knew no bounds. Her door was always
open- literally. She rarely locked the house. You could just walk in and people
often did. Grandma’s neighbours, friends, church mates, immediate family,
relatives including my own friends all knew they had a place to stay for a few
minutes even a day or two to enjoy her hospitality. The door was always open
and the food was always plenty.
In the five years I
lived with grandma, she made me feel like I was her only grandchild. There was
no single moment grandma made me feel like she never cared about me or wanted
me around. There were time I felt the heavy burden of life and she would always
encourage me and urge me to stay strong and to always believe in God.
When I left for my
studies at the Copperbelt University, it was always a homecoming whenever I visited
her during my vacations. She would show me off to her neighbours and beckon anyone
she knew that passed by the road and introduce them to me. I will always
cherish those moments.
Though I stand here to
speak on behalf of her grandchildren, I’m aware each and every one of them have
their own stories to tell about grandma. But speaking for myself, I would like
to end by quoting the words of Maya Angelou who once
said, 'I've learned that people
will forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'
I want to say to grandma that thank you for making me feel
special through and through. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for
those encouraging church hymns you used to sing to me when I was down. Thank
you. Thank you. You will forever live in my heart.
As they say here in the South, Hamba Kahle Gogo Wami. I Love You!
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