Meeting Hakainde Hichilema I have only meet Hakainde Hichilema 4 times. No, make that 2 times. For the first 2 times, I did not actually meet him, I only saw him. The first time I saw HH, I happened to be passing near where he was standing. He was busy on the phone. He waved when he saw me and I waved back. The second time I saw him, was in the same locality as the first, but at a different spot. Again he was busy on the phone. He appeared to be engrossed in his conversation. Not being a person uwa chi beleshi, I quickly walked past him, concentrating on my mission. Then last year I met him; in person. Even though it was nice to meet the famous rich man and politician of sufficient influence, I did not think much of my meeting him. I think subconsciously I still thought of him as the media and his political competitors have presented him to us overtime. Our second meeting happened recently. Again I happened to be in a group of people that where meeting HH. I was in that meeting that day for my amateur journalistic interests. I say amateur because I have never studied journalism neither do I have sufficient experience in the field. As we waited for HH and his company to arrive, I busied myself on my phone, switching between Facebook and Watsapp. When I saw people standing up around me, I realised that HH and company had arrived. I quickly stood up but continued with my trolling on social media. A while later I looked back so that I could see HH walk in. Just when I turned my head, I came face to face with the man. There was HH standing with his hand held out to me. I smiled like a school girl as I took his hand. Good evening sir, I said sheepishly. Quickly the man went around the room shaking hands and saying hallo, how are you? At one point he stopped to compliment the, up until then, only lady in the meeting. You are a special one, madam. You are the only lady one here? You are special. After HH had settled in his seat, the moderator asked us to introduce our selves. When my turn came, I tried to say my long and difficult name as quickly as possible. But HH interrupted me! He had just realised that there was a woman seated just before me. Aah madam, he said, when did you walk in? I did not see you. Maybe I was busy with may papers. I was just telling your colleague here that she is special. You are also special. There are two special people here today! Then he politely gestured to me to continue with my self intro. After everyone had introduced themselves, the moderator sought to move to the first item on the agenda but HH called out to him. Aaah, Mr Chairman, and I am Hakainde Hichilema, community worker! The remark draw surprised and amused laughter around the room. After this particular meeting, I could not help to think back on the HH I had met that evening. They said he doesnt smile, but I cannot count how many times he had smiled that evening. Yes he smiled and laughed heartily. Many times he cracked jokes which draw laughter from very one of us. I did not see bitterness in him nor did I detect any in his words. He came across as a humble and personable man. A nice guy in short! You would not realise that the man was worth not less than K40 million nor that he was the President of the leading opposition party in Zambia. I am just a creature who came from the village, he kept saying. He paid full attention to each and every speaker. Sometimes writing furious on his note pad and sometimes sitting back to literally watch the speaker. That evening I realised why HH is a successful businessman. He did not look like a political leader whose party had just lost 5 parliamentary by-elections. Not that he didnt care, but rather someone who quickly picks up the pieces and moves on. I realised it was not easy to crush his spirit. In fact he informed us that he had just come from another meeting, meeting some political partners. Instead of continually talking about the last by-elections and repeatedly blaming his opponents, HH concentrated on talking about his vision for the country. Our aim for winning the next elections is so that we can govern the country effectively, he enthused. This is why I keep on saying I dont need the tax payers to build me a house. We can use that money to build houses for people less privileged than us.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:02:39 +0000