By EUGENE MUKUYUNGWA –
The sight at Ponde Secondary School in Chiengi gives one a spine chilling effect.
It evokes numerous questions that beg for answers from people difficult to reach.
As you enter the gates of the secondary school, you are met by a gathering of more than 680 solemn faced people.
Instead of seeing school pupils with books, you see stacks of bicycles and household property heaped by the classroom blocks.
The faces of children, teenagers, babies, the middle aged and the old reveal trauma that is hard to describe.
But behind the torturous experience these people have gone through, their eyes also reveal a feeling of relief for having found safety.
Their sunburned faces tell a deep story of fear of their own future, not to mention that they are obviously worried about the fate of their loved ones and property left behind.
This is a group of people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have fled into Zambia through Chienge District to seek solace from the turmoil happening in their country as a result of violence.
Among them is a 54-year- old man by the name of Kibwile Lubemba who vowed never to return to his country.
With tears in his eyes the man recounts that this is the third time that he had been forced to flee into Zambia to escape war in his country.
Mr Lubemba, who speaks fluent Bemba learnt on previous occasions when he had stayed in Zambia, said he first arrived in Zambia in 1985 when he was 22 years old.
He came back in the country in 1999 and is now back in 2017 because of conflicts in the DRC.
“War, or any large scale violence is horrible; it is not one of the things you can wish on any one, not even your worst enemy. It destroys development, wipes out populations and tears families apart,” he said.
Mr Lubemba has a word of caution for Zambians to maintain the peace enjoyed since independence.
He said in the three times he had been forced to run from his country, all he has witnessed are atrocities.
“The people who suffer the most are women, children and the aged. The women are raped and some are forced into slavery by the warring parties.
“The children starve to death while the aged are abandoned by their families in a bid to move faster while escaping violence,” he lamented.
He said because of war, he had seen his country’s development degenerate.
He said infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings have been destroyed while putting up new ones has also stalled.
Mr Lubemba cautioned Zambians to shun selfish politicians and individuals enticing people to resort to violence in the country.
“What these people do is that they send their families to live in Western countries and leave the poor who do not have the means to escape in a similar manner to face the consequences,” he said.
He said at individual level when war breaks out, people lose all their business investments, properties and in other cases people who are professionals lose their status because of having their academic papers misplaced or  left behind when fleeing.
A 45-year-old woman from Mwashi Village in Mpweto area in the DRC recounted how she was forced to flee around 11:00 hours on  August 28, 2017, with four children aged 10, eight, six and three years when fighting started between government soldiers and rebels.
Ms Mwewa Kalenshi said the family left behind their house with all the furniture, clothes, a hardware shop, 15 goats and 21 pigs.
The subdued looking Ms Kalenshi lamented that all she carried were clothes she and her children wore.
She said the family chose to travel to Zambia because of its history of peace and hospitality to other nationals fleeing from armed conflicts.
Ms Kalenshi said the family walked the whole day and the whole night to reach Chinongolwela area in Chiengi District where they were welcomed by Zambian authorities.
Chienge District Commissioner Davies Kasongole shared the same sentiments with Mr Lubemba and called on Zambians to be patriotic.
He said the recent destruction of public facilities such as markets, Government offices and electricity installations in Zambia were undesirable activities that suggested that there was a sinister motive by enemies of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) to make the country ungovernable.
Mr Kasongole said there is need for all Zambians to be alert and realise that the destruction of public facilities hurts ordinary citizens.
He gave an example of the Lusaka City Market fire which robbed many families of a source of living.
He said any well-meaning Zambian ought to realise that it takes responsibility, patriotism by all citizens, be it politicians and the general public, for a country to develop.
Chiengi District alone received more than 680 Congolese nationals seeking a safe haven in the last few weeks.
So far, 15 of the asylum seekers have been admitted at Chiengi District Hospital due to various conditions ranging from gunshot wounds, maternity cases, malaria, and fatigue.
The district commissioner said the asylum seekers had been taken to Ponde Secondary School temporarily because the school is surrounded by a boundary wall to contain people’s movements.
By press time, Government was preparing another place in the neighbouring Nchelenge District to accommodate the high number of the refugees, especially now that schools were about to open.
All the asylum seekers that would arrive later in Chiengi District would be transported to Nchelenge after screening.
There are numerous effects of war, including loss of happiness, loss of loved ones, property and status in general.
War victims therefore need care and love if they are to survive the trauma they have experienced.
The Zambian Government has from time to time shouldered the responsibility of accommodating people fleeing armed conflicts in their countries, a situation which has earned Zambia commendation from regional and international bodies.– ZANIS