Zambia's new middle-class - a Volvo, a BMW and a maid

The Kapayas in Lusaka boast all the hallmarks of a middle-class lifestyle but try to maintain their rural family values

guardian.co.uk, Georgina Smith, Sunday 25 December 2011

The middle-class Kapaya family (l-r Sechelanji, Kundanji, Chila, Tunawahili
and Musonda) in their four-bedroom home in Leopards Hill, Lusaka.
Photograph: Georgina Smith for the Guardian

Leopards Hill Road in Lusaka stretches into the suburbs, lined with leafy trees and large houses. This area of the capital is what could be called affluent: it's safe, well-serviced, with plenty of shops nearby and the roads are good.

Chila Kapaya, 37, works for a global health and development organisation. Wearing a traditional green dress, she introduces her husband, Musonda, and their three children in the comfortable sitting room of their four-bedroom rented house. They still own and rent out a smaller house that they moved from six months ago.

A senior administration officer with marketing qualifications, Chila completed her primary and secondary education at a Lusaka private school. "Being the chatterbox that I am, I was attracted to the commercial field and decided to study marketing," she says.

Having previously worked at one of Lusaka's best hotels, she decided to move into the health sector and has ambitions to save and establish her own business. She has travelled widely with her work and juggles her full-time job with being a mother.

Chila's father, Aaron Lilanda, was from a village near Kabwe, a town on the outskirts of the capital. "My father worked for the government most of his life. He was committed to furthering his own education," she says.

"He cycled the two- to three-hour journey to Lusaka at the beginning and end of each school term to study local government administration. His mother was instrumental in enabling him to afford this – farming to pay for her eight children's education," she says.

Although Chila never met her grandparents, she travels back to the village to see other family members. Her mother, also from a rural town on the outskirts of the capital, was a teacher and started up her own nursery school. "Many women in those days went into the education sector," Chila says.

Musonda, 40, was raised by a single mother and did not have much contact with his father. His mother worked hard to secure a good education for her children, selling fish in the market before securing a job as matron at one of Lusaka's top colleges.

"She grew up in Nakonde, and we used to visit once or twice a year. It's a rural area, with no running water and where firewood is used for fuel," he says.

After his primary and secondary education at government schools in Lusaka, Musonda played basketball, which provided income to support him through his further education.

He enrolled at Evelyn Hone College to study computer science and after graduation got his first job as a payroll and stock systems administrator before joining Meridian Bank. Now he is chief information security officer at one of the biggest commercial banks in Zambia, a good job that enables him to travel.

Like many middle-class families in Lusaka, the Kapaya family are covered by private health insurance, drive two cars – a Volvo and a BMW – and have a maid to help with household chores.

They also prefer to shop at large supermarkets, although: "For value for money we buy wholesale from more traditional stores and the local market in town," said Chila.

The couple's two eldest children, Kundanji, aged seven, and Sechelanji, aged four, attend private schools. "We prefer to send our children to good schools to give them a solid education. There are some good government boarding schools as well, which we will look at later, and perhaps even consider sending them abroad for exposure," says Musonda.

"We plan holidays as a family when we can – we enjoy walking, sport, boat rides and swimming for the children, exploring and shopping," he added. "The last holiday we took was just the two of us in Cape Town, South Africa.

"I had just finished exams for my Msc course at the University of Greenwich, so a week of relaxation was needed. It is generally cheaper to go to South Africa than it is to shop in South African retail stores in Zambia, so we plan a trip about once a year and get everything we need at the same time," he said.

Both agree that there is a definite increase in middle-class families in Lusaka. "There are a larger number of shops, restaurants and an alarming number of cars," Musonda observes. "There is also growing investment, especially in real estate. People are also taking out loans for a house, cars, and business or just for shopping."

But despite the surge in the middle-class and urban lifestyles that differ widely from those of previous generations, the couple don't believe this has caused any real culture clash.

"It depends on how you were brought up," says Musonda. "If you grew up in the village and move into town, of course there will be some shocks: you might have a more humble background and think other people in town are better than you. But in town you have to work hard and many people upgrade."

Chila and Musonda say that while values may be different in rural and urban areas, it is their family ties to rural life that allow these different values to co-exist.

Related Article:

Africa's burgeoning middle class brings hope to a continent

Cape Verde: African good news story