IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAREST COUSIN MPUNDU HILDA KASUBA
I remember vividly the day when my cousin Mpundu died. That day still haunts me up to today. I have kept it to myself for four hard years. I hope I find inner peace after this and I hope somebody out there will understand how hard it has been not only myself but for my family and relatives.
When my father died in 1989, I went to stay with Mpundu and her mom in Lusaka (Zambia). I grew up with Mpundu. I picked her up from school and we would walk together home. S ometimes I would steal money from my aunty (Mpundu’s mom) and buy food for her, on my way to her school to pick her up. She came to love me as her own sister.
When she got sick the least I expected from her was to die. She was a small brave warrior who never let anything stand in her way not even her sickness. She fought very hard just to get better. I remember her telling me one night when I was sleeping with her in her room, that when I get better, I will be coming to stay with you guys in Ndola. (I had moved back at my mother’s house in Ndola, Zambia). I was happy because I would have a young sister to stay with us finally. I do not have a young sister.
The last time I saw her was when she came to visit us. She was quite sick and I saw how much she was suffering. I remember taking her up the stair cases. Each time I asked her how she was feeling, she just said I am much better. I assured her that the next time I saw her she would be better. But that was the end, and I mean the end….
One thing I admired from Mpundu was her love for her mum. She really loved her mother so much and her little sister Chikwa that she would give anything to see them happy. She was young but so matured.
I really do miss Mpundu so much and I have failed to forget about her. I have tried everything to forget her but have failed. She has left a deep hole in my heart.
In Loving Memory
Mpundu Hilda Kasuba
Beloved cousin of Fortune Twila Mwandu Mwansa
Daughter of Judy Mwenya, Chikwa’s only sister
Born 26th July 1988 ~ died on 26th August 2003
Pneumonia
IN LOVING MEMORY OF PRICILLA MWALE
Ba Pricilla,
I have no right words that I can say to you my dear. Your death has caused your five children to be separated. Thita is just too young to under-stand your death. She is only two years old and will never know what it’s like to have a mother in her life.
Your Mum (Auntie Rebecca) raised you into adulthood. Why did you not do that to your own children? You were a strong lady who laboured and struggled to put food on the table for your children to eat, but only God knows why you decided to close and shut your eyes and not to open them forever.
All I can ask from you dear one is to watch over your children every day and night. I know you are seated at the right hand of the Father and you are waiting for us to qualify into glory and be reunited as a family again.
Davie your firstborn son is still in Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) and would like to come to the land that you were born. William and Gabriel are in Chingola (Zambia) with their Grandfather. Patrick is with us here in Ndola (Zambia) and your only girl Thita is with Auntie Judy in Lusaka (Zambia). Patrick will be starting school next year. And you should have been here to see him put on his uniform for the first time.
Every child deserves a mother Pricilla. Be at peace my dear. Only God knows what I feel and he alone can understand the pain and anguish I experience each time I look at your son. Patrick has come to love me as his own mother and nothing not even me can take your place in his life.
Till we meet again Bana Davie
Fortune Twila Mwandu Mwansa
In Loving Memory
Pricilla Mwale
Beloved cousin of Fortune Twila Mwandu Mwansa
Also survived by many loving family members
Born in 1970 and died on 13th June 2007
Leukemia
The Broken Chain
If I could take you down memory lane dear ones, we once gathered round the table just like the disciples. No chair was left unsettled. Each one had his own idea and would impact knowledge in the others. We were a chain that could not be broken.
I remember the noise, the smiles, the laughter. Each one wanted to be heard and had his own perspective on life. When a problem rose, an ear to listen was there and could be attended to. United we stood and happily we lived.
Today I woke up, with tears in my eyes I asked myself why?????? And then I realized that we are the broken chain. Death came in and cut our chain. All that is left of us, are the pieces that we try to mend everyday but with no success. We try to sit around the table hoping you are going to feel pity on us and share the tables with us once more but you never come. There is a wailing noise of anguish that we hear and we pack our problems hoping that you are going to help us solve. We are now hopeless.
Days may pass, years may come and go but we still feel your scent and memories of you are so vivid. We would give anything just to see you once again. We always hope for a miracle to happen dear ones. Your life is in the Lord now. And we are going to leave everything into his hands. We are going to be dependent on him and to him be the glory. We thank him for the wonderful years that he allowed us to be with you in this world. We can not take back what has been robbed from us but we shall live to cherish the memories.
But for now we remain the broken chain.
Forever in tears
Fortune Twila Mwandu Mwansa.
A Race They Run
Dedicated to my Mother,
And my Relatives.
“I Miss You Truly”
There is a run that I must run
There is a victory to be won
Every hour, Every minute
and Every second to get by
And that is a race that you run dear ones
And now the victory is yours
If you had looked back you would have not won your race
You were faithful when you started your race
and faithful when you completed it
That is why the victory is yours now.
For you have run the race.
I have started my race too. And someday I will complete it.
And you are going to be with me when I get my victory
I love and miss you
Twila
Dedicated to Beloved Family
Twila & Chalwe’s Mum, died 27 February 2008
and their Father, died 10 December 1989
Cousin Pricilla Mwale, died 13 June 2007
Cousin Brenda Nayame Mwale, 2 July 1972 ~ 29 January 2005
Aunty Rachel Katebe Siame, Brenda’s mother, died 27 February 2005
Cousin Mpundu Hilda Kasuba, 26 July 1988 ~ 26 August 2003
as well as Cousin Willie Mwale, Uncle James Katabe,
Aunties Lillian Katebe and Rabecca Katebe
and grandparents, James and Lillian Katebe.
Charity Chanda
Katebe Mwansa
27/2/08
Joel Mambwe
Mwansa
10/12/89
~ Held ~
Natalie Grant
Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.
Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It's unfair.
Chorus:
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.
This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow.
The wise hand opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.
(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.
Bridge:
If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?
(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
