WHAT began as a joke ended in near tragedy when TIMOTHY KAMBILIMA and friends were forced to abandon their mission of trying to stealthily help themselves to a fleshy fruit in someone else’s yard without permission. Here is his story…

THOSE who once lived in Zambia Avenue of Kamenza Township in Chililabombwe in the 1980s will remember the great good old days of childhood. As children, especially boys, we played all sorts of games to keep us busy.
Unlike children of nowadays who are always glued to their cell phones, pay channel television and other advanced technological gadgets, during our childhood, we played football made from old socks and all kinds of rags.
No wonder, Zambia had a lot of talented footballers then because of the usually tough and crude upbringing which, however, brought out the best in them. We played football barefooted, which made us very strong physically.
If we were not playing football, we would go to the near-by bush near Kamenza Primary School where the current coach for Kalulushi Modern Stars Mulenga Chewe was a pupil and played football together with Davies Sinyangwe who later played for Konkola Blades and then Profund Warriors, today called NAPSA Stars.
In the near bush, we would dig for some sweet potatoes from old beds, though sometimes big boys from Kakoso Township, which has today undergone development, would bully and intimidate us and when we ran away, they would get our ‘harvest’-the sweet potatoes.
Anyway, that was life and it very was exciting.
One day, my friends and I went to Glendower Court which is situated opposite, Kamenza Secondary School.
As usual, we settled for our favourite pastime – football- and when we had played enough for the day, one of my friends, Charles, suggested that we climb one of the mango trees belonging to a Mr Silumbwe who happened to be a teacher at Chililabombwe Secondary School.
This proposed undertaking was with the full blessings of Mr Silumbwe’s son, Katongo who was with us. The tree had plenty of ripe mangoes but, my darting eyes spotted one very big, fleshy and ripe mango at the summit of the tree
We all climbed up just to compete for the prize fruit.
Presently, a boy who was passing by shouted, “Hey, Mr Silumbwe has come!”
This sent instant chills into our spines and we’d to make a hasty retreat, a sudden climb down from the tree with our dream of being the first to have a big bite at the obviously luscious fruit dashed.
I was at the zenith of the tree compared with my three friends who had safely landed on the ground. In my confused state to get down quickly, I, unfortunately, missed a step and I crash- landed with the thud of a falling tree! Although this landing didn’t result in me being turned into a bag of broken bones, I lay down in agony, in excruciating pain.
Ironically, the boy who gave a false alarm about the arrival of Mr  Silumbwe, was busy laughing at me as I cried in pain.
This was certainly a joke in bad taste.
How could this mischievous boy have reacted if I broke a limb from the unceremonious fall? Was he going to continue mocking me the way he was doing now?
Anyway, as I pondered this, Charles rushed home and came back with my elder brother Raphael who took me home.
My left eye was badly swollen and, thank God, I did not have any fractured bone, but sustained a  painful knee.
When my mother came back from the market she was informed about what had happened and she had no kind words for me.
The rebuke was enough to send a life –changing message for me.
Like any good mother, however, she later prepared warm water and massaged my whole body.
For three days, I was confined home and my friends came to see and cheer me up as I made a recovery.
During the three- day confinement, I missed playing football with them.
From that day, I vowed never to climb any tree again. Sometimes, when I see my children climbing mango and guava trees in our yard in Mpatamatu Township, I feel scared as it reminds me of my experience at Mr Silumbwe’s Chililabombwe home.
I don’t scare my children when they are up there, lest they panic, but I often politely ask them to climb down and later advise them, using my own experience as an example, on the dangers of doing that. Although I got a black eye from this incident, it still rekindled the good and bad days of our childhood in the border town of Chililabombwe. It is my prayer that all those who once lived in Kamenza Township will have the opportunity to read my story.
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