I Have a Rank of Paraffin !

When I was doing my ninth grade at Sefula secondary school, I was given the responsibility of a school chief librarian.

My task was to account for library books which have been borrowed by fellow pupils.

I was then to ensure that my assistants put them back in the shelves according to the filling system of the library.

I was also responsible for assisting other pupils to select particular books.

This responsibility exposed me to some good reference books which really helped me in my class work.

Other pupils were given responsibilities such as school headboy, class monitors, school prefects and so on.

At the time, we had no electricity at the school. We depended on paraffin-operated hurricane lamps to provide lighting in the class rooms and dormitories during evenings.

One pupil was given the task of issuing paraffin to class monitors who were responsible for distribution of the lamps to various places.

That year, the President of the Republic of Zambia was attending the traditional ceremony of the Lozi people of the western province called Kuomboka.

This is the time when the Paramount Chief (Litunga) migrates from his Barotse flood plain palace to the dry land palace at Limulunga.

The President was attending as a guest of honour of the ceremony .

He flew in from the Capital City of Zambia, Lusaka, which is some 600 kilometres, to the east of Mongu town, the provincial capital of Western Province.

From Mongu he traveled to meet the Litunga at his flood season palace at Lealui by a speed boat.

It has been a traditional for the Head of State to attend this ceremony, which is an annual event.

It is one of the most celebrated traditional ceremonies in Zambia, which attracts thousands of people from all over the country and worldwide.

The Litunga travels by a huge boat, called the Nalikwanda, paddled by dozens of men across the flood plain for a distance of over fifteen kilometres.

As part of the ceremony, the schools around the Mongu area were to send some of their pupils to welcome the Republican President.

The pupils and local people would line up the route from the air strip up to the harbour where he was to board the boat and join the Litunga at Lealui.

Sefula Secondary School is some sixteen kilometres south of Mongu.

We had to board a bus from the school to Mongu as early as 4:00 hrs. in order to be in Mongu by 6:00hrs. We were then to wait for the President who was expected to land at the air strip at about 7:30hrs.

We were to have our breakfast before 4:00hrs.

It was quite hectic for us as we had to rush to finish the rice we were given for breakfast.

The rice was dispensed in deep bore plates. We were given about five minutes to finish the food. Since it was still steaming hot, it was no easy task!

I remember leaving almost a three-quarter plate of rice in my locker, and thought of having it later in the day, after returning from Mongu.

Since the space in the school hired Bus was limited, priority to board it was given to final year, grade12, pupils. This was followed by those who had some rank such as class monitors, prefects and librarian of the school.

We had a very hillarious moment when our "paraffin" pupil came to board the Bus. He was initially refused entry because he had no known "rank" at the school.

He was finally allowed to board the Bus after proudly telling the school master on duty, who was seeing us off, “I have a rank of paraffin” !

Whatever responsibility one holds in society should not be made trivial by others. We all have important roles to play to support the lives of others.

The Bible says :-

"For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another.

And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness." (Romans 12: 4-8).

Amen !