The Kaunda family house stands small and unassuming in New Chilenje. Four walls painted peach and roofed with corrugated iron make up the structure of a national monument and historical site. Its role in Zambia's history and one of the families that shaped it is significant but often overlooked, much like Betty Kaunda.
Before she was a wife or a mother to her children or the nation itself, Betty Banda was a shopkeeper's daughter in Mpika. Born on 17th November 1928, Betty Banda was the daughter of Kaweche Banda and Milika Sakala Banda.
The Foundations
She completed her grade school education at Mbereshi Girls and, despite her father’s wishes for her to study nursing in what was then Southern Rhodesia, she remained in Zambia to stay close to her mother and trained in teaching at the Ecumenical Foundation’s Women’s Programme. Little is known of her childhood; in fact, little is known of her internal life. Much of Betty Kaunda’s legacy and strength lies in the impact of her actions. A childhood wish we are aware of, however, is her persistent dream to marry a teacher—a dream that would come to fruition the day Helen Kaunda visited her parents’ house.
Kenneth Kaunda’s mother, Helen, had encountered Betty’s family before. Coincidentally, she was even an attending midwife at Betty’s birth. But it was Betty’s appearance and demeanor as an adult, which Helen encountered during that visit to her parents’ house, that caught her eye and deemed her a good match as both a friend and wife for her then 21-year-old son, Kenneth Kaunda, who was working as a teacher.
The marriage ceremony of the two in 1946 marked the beginning of a 67-year partnership; both the love story and stability found their way into Zambian history. Upon their marriage, Kenneth Kaunda was a man with ideals, but after he was fired from his teaching post due to his distribution of politically subversive literature, it became clear that the family's path — and that of Mama Betty’s — would largely be determined by the fight for these ideals.
Kenneth Kaunda’s fight for independence would have Betty Kaunda switching between multiple roles at an age where most women are yet to acquire even one. She remained a mother to her children and his supportive wife, but his absence often saw her take on fatherly roles, as mentioned in Dr. Kaunda’s book, Letters to My Children. When Kaunda was away in prison, she had to be innovative and sell charcoal to provide for her children. And when colonial administrators tried to bribe Betty and other freedom fighters’ wives with food and money, she again had to maintain the balance between caring for her husband’s struggle and making sure her children were cared for—accepting the food and money but never giving in to the incentives for them and standing firm.
Transition
With 1964 came the birth of Zambia as an independent nation, and with it, another role added to that of Betty’s, this time the unprecedented one of First Lady. In an interview with Jack Zimba, Mrs. Kaunda revealed that she never liked the limelight or attention that came with the position. But in photos from those 27 years, this is not how she appears. Round-faced and smiling in head scarfs and chitenge dresses in prints as bright and bold as her smile was, she projected an image of unwavering duty.
Mama Betty conducted her diplomatic duty, state visits and public appearances with a pleasantness that gained her the love of the state as well as the affectionate title of Mama Betty. Away from the eyes of the media, she ran a household of 9 children, still often on her own, as her husband now had to frequently travel on presidential duties. As both an Anglican and a traditionalist, she raised her children strictly, keeping in line with the roles she thought they were suited for. She kept her sons in trousers and her daughters strictly in dresses. She arrived at kitchen parties as a guest with her standard gift of the mbaula (braiser), a chitenge and a broom as a starting kit and an important reminder of her view of their roles in married life.
Betty spoke out sparingly, doing so only when she thought it necessary to highlight socio-cultural issues such as gender-based violence, alcohol abuse in the country, and the HIV/Aids epidemic. Betty stated that she did not want to interfere in the politics of the country and only advised her husband on matters relating to their family.
Betty Kaunda’s reign as First Lady ended in 1991, but her tenure as mother of the nation did not. She remained in charitable service to the nation long into her old age, even receiving the Indira Gandhi Nonviolence Award in 2003. Mama Betty and Kenneth Kaunda were married up until her death from diabetes complications in 2012. She left behind 8 Children, 30 Grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren as well as a mourning husband and a nation. Dr. Kaunda would follow suit 9 years later.
The Kaunda family house in Chilenje still stands, and one might wonder if it would have endured this long without Mama Betty, who shifted roles endlessly—from door to window to wall to frame. She transitioned from schoolgirl to mother, to first lady, and grandmother. We could analyse Mama Betty through a modern lens, suggesting there was more she wanted the public to know about her or more about how she wished to be perceived. However, I believe the most telling clue lies in the title of the biography she co-authored in 1969: Betty Kaunda: Wife of the President of the Republic of Zambia.
