• Mr and Mrs Daka of Petauke have been married for 68 years – Picture By CHUSA SICHONE.

By MIRIAM ZIMBA –
NOT many of his contemporaries have lived to see this day, let alone boast of having been married to one woman for the last 68 years!
Although record keeping was seen to be a foreign culture back then, Jonase Daka now aged 94 years recalls having been born on an unrecorded date of April 1920, in Patauke, in the eastern Zambia.
His parents, Mtalika and Mwanja, both of Petauke, had eight children, of which Mr Daka was the seventh born with four sisters and three brothers.
Education was not a priority either, because back then men were groomed to become leaders, providers and protectors of their families, hence his brief stint at school, where he only managed to go as far as grade two.
In their times, it was more fashionable to spend one’s time in agricultural activities, as opposed to going to school.
Being young and very adventurous, the year 1935 will always be memorable for Mr Daka, because he and his father embarked on a two and half week journey on foot to Lusaka from Petauke!
“All we wanted was to get a feel of the much talked about Lusaka, which was a bigger town than ours,” he recounted.
“When we arrived in Lusaka, we stayed with some of our relatives for about three weeks because we needed to regain our strength from the great trek of over 300 kilometres, before undertaking the same journey back to Petauke,” he recollected.
Unknown to him, this journey served as a warm-up to yet another journey on foot, this time around all roads were leading to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1937 and Gatoma in particular, where he navigated through the bush, in search of a job as a garden boy.
He recalls that from this job, he used to earn five Schillings as salary, and upon his return to Petauke, the only assets he had to himself was a blanket and a few personal belongings.
After having worked there for close to two years, he returned to his native land, and before long, news about the Second World War broke in 1939, and Mr Daka was among several other Zambian youths who were rounded up to beef up the defence forces.
“We were captured and brought to Lusaka for short inductions before being dispatched to the then British-Somaliland (Somalia), we also went to Madagascar, and went back to Somaliland, to continue fighting the war,” he recollected.
It was during this period, while he was only 22 years of age that he was honoured with the rank of Sergeant Major Warrant Officer Class Two in the North Rhodesia Regiment.
“From the war, most of what I can recall is the harsh punishments we underwent, besides being deprived of seeing my family for five years, it was the most difficult experience in my life,” he recounts.
“We were divided into sections, others were given hand weapons, whilst others were given guns and different weapons to fight with during the war,” he added.
He recounts how their major opponents were the Italian insurgents who were also stationed in Somaliland.
Although he does not recall how many Zambian youths were taken to fight in the Second World War, all he can remember is that youths were picked from all parts of the country.
“There were so many of us, others were taken to Japan, Europe and other parts of the world, while others were taken to Somaliland,” he recounted.
He returned to Zambia in 1946, and as a ‘welcome back present’, the elders in his village saw it befitting to arrange a maiden in the name of Teleziya Sakala (popularly known as anyina Lucy) whom he married later in the same year.
He recalls paying about 10 Schillings as bride price (lobala) for his marriage, and together, the couple had nine children, with only six of them still surviving.
Their first born Lucy was born in 1949, while their youngest daughter Glenda was born in 1967, and the couple have 33 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and two third generation great-grand children.
Among some of the places he worked includes the department of Water Affairs between 1948 and 1953, before joining Ndola City Council as a reserve police officer, in-charge of Copperbelt Province.
In 1979, Mr Daka opted to retire and went back to Petauke where he and his wife reside, and are farming.
One of the major near-death experiences for Mr Daka was back in 1968 when he was attacked by a lion in Rufunsa, during one of his hunting expeditions.
He was taken to Mumpashya Mission Hospital by Headman Mwanjeleku and a friend called George.
“I was about to gun it down, when it turned violent and attacked me, I remember the period because it was the same year Dr Kenneth Kaunda commissioned the Luangwa Bridge. He (Dr Kaunda) even came to visit me on his way to Luangwa,” he recounted.
“I thank God for saving my life from that deadly and terrible beast because even now, my memories are still vivid and the scars are still there,” he said.
His service to the nation has not gone unrecognised because in 1970 he was honoured as a War Veteran by Dr Kaunda.
Among other honours of recognition Mr Daka received include the African Star Medal, the War Veteran Medal, and the Defence Medal, all bestowed upon him by a representative of the Queen of England.
One of the greatest achievements his family will continue to remain indebted to him is having managed to educate all his nine children, and now the couple is reaping benefits of their children’s success.
In 2008, a ceremony in which the couple renewed their marriage vows was organised by their children, and was attended by over 500 people in Petauke.
The couple, who are staunch Catholics, are more than grateful to God for having kept them alive to see the successes of their children and grandchildren over the years.
In revealing some of the secrets to their long years of marriage, Mrs Daka explained that mutual understanding and appreciating and respecting each other’s gender roles, are some of the ingredients that have worked in their marriage.
“The concept of equality between men and women should not be misinterpreted, each should play their roles accordingly in order for peace to prevail in the family,” she explained.
She also cautioned married women against the culture of only providing for their families at the expense of providing for their in-laws as is the case with most marriages.
“The cake should be shared equally on both sides of the family,” she cautioned.
Mrs Daka, who only recalls having been born in 1924, does not recall which date or month of the year she was born.
“All I can remember is that I was born in the same year with first Republican president Kenneth Kaunda,” she says.
Some of Mr Daka’s favourite foods include English foods and biscuits, but the couple eat a lot of natural foods.
He would like to be remembered as a patriotic Zambians who tirelessly contributed to the development of Zambia as a whole.
If accorded another chance to re-live their lives again, Mr Daka is more than certain that he would still prefer to marry the same woman again, a response that placed a smile on his wife’s face, as she also responded affirmatively.