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OBJECTIVES AND
PLAN OF ACTIVITIES
The broad and comprehensive
objectives and the specific plan of activities are based
on the principles and rationale on which the ZANOBA Organization was founded. The detailed original document
that has the principles and rationale was in form of a
correspondence from Dr. Mwizenge S. Tembo to Dr. Frank
Chisela both of whom are co-founders of the organization.
This document is available upon request. Its title is:
"BIRTH OF "Zambia Knowledge Bank (ZANOBA)".
PLAN OF ACTIVITIES
ZANOBA membership application
forms should be sent to all potential members, filled and
then returned to the Coordinator in Zambia or in Europe
or North America. The organization will be able to have a
data bank about all its members.
A date should be set when members
can meet to elect ZANOBA office bearers; President,
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity
Secretary, and two Committee members. A membership fee
and the amount will be decided. There will be a need to
appoint members of the Board of Directors for ZANOBA.The Constitution for
ZANOBA has been drafted
with the assistance of some members and legal advisors in
Zambia and Overseas. The constitution is ready for
ratification by the members by a two thirds majority
during the first general meeting. It could be very good
if ZANOBA members from both Zambia and abroad were able
to attend. The only criteria for membership in ZANOBA is that the man and woman should have genuine interest in
Documenting and Validating an aspect(s) of Zambia culture
and technology. The emphasis and qualification of GENUINE
is to high light that ZANOBA should not be just another
coffee club that holds seminars where members merely
pontificate, make theoretical resolutions and later go
their separate ways. ZANOBA should be a prestigious
organization known for its research, practical
activities, and solid achievements and its members
deriving a lot of pleasure and pride as they perform
their various tasks. ZANOBA has published for its
members four Newsletters. The first edition was in May
1996. Send your suggestion about improvement of the
newsletter by post or E-mail. The newsletter will have a
wide variety of subjects including:
- Editorial
- Brief profiles about
individual members, where they are, their
address, what they are doing, spouse and family,
and what issues members are working on in
relation to research in Zambian culture and
technology.
- Life in Zambia
- Adventure by Zambians both in
Zambia, abroad and overseas; anecdotes
- Zambian humor
- Crucial issues in Zambian
Culture, technology, and innovation
- Health, Nutrition and Illness
in Zambia
- A list of New books on Zambia
and Reviews
- Children in Zambia
Please, suggest any other topics
that may be of interest to the members and other readers.
Since the cost of mailing the
newsletter has come from subscriptions from members, it
is important that you return your application forms
promptly so that we will have the right postal address
and other details. Members are strongly urged to write
brief articles for these columns for the newsletter.
- Where ever they are or intend
to eventually conduct research in Zambia, members
are urged to begin to organize a ZANOBA library
and operations center. There are members in
Zambia and Overseas waiting to donate books and
magazines to such a center. If it is a rural
district, make sure you involve schools,
churches, teachers, headmen, members of ALL
political parties (always explain and remember
that ZANOBA is non-partisan and non-profit),
school leavers and others. This should be a
pragmatic community enterprise or project. There
are ZANOBA members who are library experts who
will assist in giving technical advice.
- Next to the library, establish
museum that will house important cultural
artifacts and other forms of art from the
district villages.
- Publicity about ZANOBA will
be done as much as possible by the members.
Remember that there is no better publicity than
members setting good examples themselves. Explain
to potential members and newcomers what the
organization's objective is: to "Document
and Validate" or "Write, Record, and
put into practice Zambian culture and
technology." Translate these into Zambian
languages. Please, emphasize and make it clear
that this is NOT a political party, or some
international organization out to give money and
AID. (This is not to down play the role of NGOs
and other AID organizations but this is a
different organization). Infact all Zambians from
all political parties are welcome to join. ZANOBA will be built by Zambians, for Zambians
interests, with Zambian hands and sweat.
Assistance from friends should be accepted but
should not overwhelm the personal contributions
of members. Explain that Zambians need to record
and feel proud, and practice some of their
culture and technology.
- An emblem needs to be designed
to appear on letter heads, brochures, and
T-Shirts of ZANOBA. If you know of any computer
programs that have African clip art please notify
any of the Co-ordinators immediately.
- A guide to conducting research
and performing practical activities should be
written and available to all members. Each
activity should have a step by step description
of how to perform these activities and the
possible technical experts among the members who
can provide concrete advice. Eventually, we
should compile a list of members and their areas
of expertise right from members with degrees,
secondary school graduates, Grade school leavers,
retired teachers, bureaucrats, political leaders,
preachers, hunters, traditional healers, dancers,
curvers, clay pot makers, up to both young and
old men and women in the village.
Examples of Activities
- How to collect and record
knowledge about aspects of Zambian village
customs.
- Medicinal plants and Zambian
traditional healing.
- Zambian history from
pre-history to 1996
- Status of Zambian urban and
rural women
- The experiences of Zambian
children in the process of socialization and
growing up in urban and rural Zambia
- All types of technology both
modern and traditional
- How to start a library for a
local community
- How to make Zambian
traditional drums
- How to form a Zambian
traditional dance club
- How to raise funds for ZANOBA activities and running of the
organization.
- Begin to collect pencils,
pens, paper, typewriters, tape recorders and
other equipment needed for conducting research
both in rural and urban Zambia.
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
These general objectives are from
the original ZANOBA document and are not in any
systematic order.
- The Zambia Organization for
Documentation and Validation of Culture and
Technology (ZANOBA) could eventually be the
major excellent source and provider of research
material in text books that are used in all
schools in Zambia.
- The Organization could be a
reliable and prestigious source for all materials
about Zambian culture for colleges, research
universities, and many others in Zambia and
abroad.
- During all district
agricultural shows in Zambia, ZANOBA could
sponsor a stand, traditional dance competitions,
plays and theaters during the nights of the
agricultural show. Residents of surrounding
villages and schools could stage the plays.
- ZANOBA could eventually
sponsor busloads of rural pupils to travel to
game parks, commercial farms, and urban landmarks
and factories. Rural residents, especially
children will be the custodians of land and wild
life. But many of them have never seen a game
park. Rural young people in Africa are some of
the most alienated to day.
- The organization members in
Zambia could organize trips once every few years
during which we would meet in one district in
Zambia as guests of the local district ZANOBA.
During the periods participating members could
travel in groups of two or three to collect data
in outlying rural areas for purposes of
documenting and validating Zambian culture and
technology.
- The organization could
eventually sponsor or atleast be responsible for
writing reports about Zambians who have made
significant national and international
achievements.
- ZANOBA could sponsor
Zambians on expeditions may be to the source of
the Nile or reaching the North or South Pole, or
the first Zambian to reach Siberia.
- The organization could
eventually publish a big dictionary of Zambian
traditional names. One of the members has already
done some research in the Eastern and Southern
Provinces of Zambia. This dictionary could be
available at maternity wards in all hospitals in
Zambia for Zambians to use to choose a Zambian
name for their baby if they so wish.
- The organization could
eventually form or sponsor traditional Zambian
dance groups that could periodically perform at
the district office. There could be sister clubs
in Zambia and abroad where ever members live.
- The Organization should
conduct hands on research or fieldwork and write
a comprehensive manual about all the traditional
and modern technology that is in use in rural
Zambia ranging from how to build houses up to
hunting techniques and traps.
- ZANOBA should conduct hands
on research or field work and write a
comprehensive manual with pictorial illustrations
of all traditional Zambia foods: how they are
collected, stored, processed, cooked, and eaten.
- Lastly, the aim of the
organization in to eventually have a brach in
every district in Zambia to document and validate
Zambian traditional culture and technology. It
may strategically be a very good idea even now to
find someone who could have a branch in Gwembe
Valley, Sesheke in the Western Province, Zambezi
in North-Western Province.
Conclusion
To all potential ZANOBA members,
if you have been looking for something that you can
devote some of your energies to and fulfil some of your
dreams, this may be what you have been waiting for.
____________________ July 29, 1997
Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D
Associate professor of Sociology
Co-Founder and Coordinator
_______________ July 29, 1997
Frank Chisela, Ph. D.
Co-Founder and Coordinator
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