By Sishuwa Sishuwa
Because of our close friendship, Andrew Sardanis many times asked me to speak at his funeral. I always gave the same response: that I would do so provided the need to do so was delayed as long as possible.
On 28 February 2021, 13 days before what would have been his 90
th birthday, Danae, his wife since 25 March 1962, informed me tearfully that ‘Andrew is gone’.
If my conviction that the relevance of death lies in its impact on those who live is correct, then we have much to learn from his long and eventful life. It represented, in my view, many things that a nation requires to succeed. These include our understanding of what being a ‘Zambian’ truly means, of the importance of public service, of the possibilities for home-grown African business, of investment in art, research and scholarship, and of family and friendship. These five general points and themes illuminate Sardanis’s life and the society in which he lived and helped to shape.
anglican.ink
The former Bishop of Botswana has launched a long-shot bid to become president of Zambia under the banner of former President Kenneth Kauda’s UNIP party. If elected at the August general election, Bishop Mwamba will become the second Anglican cleric after the Rev. Wavel Ramkalawan of the Seychelles to lead an African nation.
A Zambian national, Bishop Mwamba trained for the ministry in the UK and was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Kensington in 1984 and served his curacy at St Luke’s Chelsea and All Saints, Notting Hill. In 1985 he returned to Zambia and became rector Luanshya and vocations director for the diocese of Central Zambia. Elected Bishop of Botswana in 2015, he resigned in 2012 to take up the post of Team Rector of Barking and assistant bishop of Chelmsford. In December 2019 he resigned those posts after his wife, Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba was appointed Botswana’s Ambassador to Germany. He told reporters in Lusaka his United National Independence P
Because of our close friendship, Andrew Sardanis many times asked me to speak at his funeral. I always gave the same response: that I would do so provided the need to do so was delayed as long as possible.
On 28 February 2021, 13 days before what would have been his 90th birthday, Danae, his wife since 25 March 1962, informed me tearfully that ‘Andrew is gone’.
If my conviction that the relevance of death lies in its impact on those who live is correct, then we have much to learn from his long and eventful life. It represented, in my view, many things that a nation requires to succeed. These include our understanding of what being a ‘Zambian’ truly means, of the importance of public service, of the possibilities for home-grown African business, of investment in art, research and scholarship, and of family and friendship. These five general points and themes illuminate Sardanis’s life and the society in which he lived and helped to shape.