The Many Faces of Mulenga Kapwepwe

Often sponsored sites make it a minor inconvenience to scroll through their photos and blurbs.  Their idea is that every time visitors open a new page on the site, that's an important to pop an ad in front of their eyeballs.  This CNN site, on the other hand, is actually pretty good.  The photos of Mulenga Kapwepwe scroll cleanly and quickly, and the blurbs are simple and useful.  Nevertheless, I'm so taken by her that I gather these up all on one page for our reference, enjoyment and learning.

1.  Mulenga Kapwepwe is the daughter of Zambia's former vice president, Simon Kapwepwe. Growing up in a house full of the nation's liberators left a lasting impression on the young girl. Today, Kapwepwe has become something of a tour de force for Zambian arts and culture.

2.  Her favorite place in Lusaka is the National Archives -- it also holds a special place in her heart thanks to the moments in Zambian history captured on film including her father. "They do have some really nice photographs that for me are very real because some of are my parents."

3.  It's also where the de facto arts patron takes her artistic inspiration from. She tells CNN: "This is where I do most of my research work ... I'd begun to write the history of my tribe. And as I got into it and I dug into it, I thought this would make a really good play." Despite the fact she had no formal theater training, Kapwepwe has become a celebrated playwright in Zambia.

4.  Mulenga Kapwepwe stands on stage providing script direction while preparing her latest play, "Rufino's Wife." Kapwepwe says: "That again was inspired by the fact that there were members of my family: my uncles, my father's sister's husband for example, who went and fought in the Second World War. And it struck me that the Second World War actually had an impact on my family and the village that we come from. But you don't hear those stories anywhere. What happened tot he Africans who fought in the war who came back to their villages. What is the story?"

5.  The talented playwright was surrounded by books during her childhood -- something she wanted to share with children today. So she built three libraries in Lusaka. "We kind of mix it up with the traditional African hut, where you discuss things and you are mentored. You get knowledge and you interact, there's drama."

6.  In addition to her work on stage, she found traditional music in the National Archives and decided to ask young up-and-coming musicians to incorporate it in their work to find a new audience. In doing so, she founded a record label, which has since released three albums.

7.  When she's not wrapped up in the world of entertainment, Kapwepwe can often be found cheering enthusiastically from the sidelines of the Chilenge Girls football team -- a group she set up. Kapwepwe herself was born in Chilenge and wanted to give something back to her community while helping young girls stay "off the streets." She reveals: "We've managed to push girls into the national team and play for Zambia ... It's a nice avenue that we've created for girls to go a little bit further than they would like to do."

8.  Another achievement on her list of many accomplishments is the Lusaka Youth Orchestra which Kapwepwe founded to provide teens with a place to embrace music.

9.  She explains, "These young people are from different backgrounds, from different parts of Lusaka, and some of them very vulnerable. But I think when they all come together like this, music is an equalizer and everybody enjoys themselves and they learn something."

Reference, with warm thanks to CNN:  She's written plays, built libraries and started an orchestra... Meet Mulenga Kapwepwe, Zambia's patron of the arts.

I am very grateful to have met this lady.  I love the arts, and besides Kapwepwe being an inspiration, there are, in my conceptual and practical language, wonderful algorithms to extract from this very informative, very engaging feature on her.