Lusaka Parade Day

                        

I spent the day walking around Lusaka. The guide book tells me that most people choose to bypass the city but I actually really like it. It’s much bigger than the cities in Malawi but it’s still easy to walk around the centre. I’m fortunate to arrive on National Youth day, a national public holiday. I reach Independence Avenue just as a massive parade is lining up to march past the Vice President. There are crowds of youth groups and school parties.

As I’m standing on the pavement I’m called and waved in to join a dancing circle. I’m feeling far too old to be joining these teenagers but they won’t take no for an answer so I find myself engaged in a dance I’ve not seen before… the group form a circle and sing and clap. One person is in the middle and they have to dance and strip!! I think the idea is to dance and strip to woo the crowd. The stripping stops when someone else joins you in the middle. I got quickly pulled into the middle to screams (not mine – the kids are loving this!) and am a little concerned that I’m not wearing nearly as many layers as my counterparts who all have blazers, shirts and vests on. Fortunately after a pitiful attempt at bottom shaking and merely touching my fly everyone rushes into the middle – presumably they’re as keen as me that I keep my clothes on!

The parade starts and my new friends march off. There are brass bands galore, probably thirty or more bands interspersed by school and youth groups all carrying banners, waving flags and twirling batons.