Are You A Chongololo?

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A Chongololo is a millipede. Sometime in the 80s and 90s, ‘Chongololo’ or ‘Chong’ came to refer to people who were enamoured of Western culture. Remember that Zambia in the 70s and 80s was during the cold war. Everyone knew if you travelled out of the country. Clothes, music, movies, TV programmes, mannerisms, food and how you spoke identified where you came from.

In the 1970s, as part of efforts to promote wildlife conservation, Chongololo Clubs were established in schools. There were various activities and trips that the clubs would participate in across the country, which meant only certain schools could afford to be active in the Chongololo Clubs – schools with their own buses. Naturally, only the elite government schools, church-run schools and private schools signed up and it made sense that it was the popular kids who joined the Chongololo Club and went on exchange visits to other schools, had study tours etc. The Chongololo Clubs also had a colourful magazine and workbooks as well as a radio and TV show where the presenters spoke with an ‘accent’. For your average Zambian, to just say ‘accent’ is explanation enough. But since this is a history lesson, when I asked, this is how Twitter explained it:

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“Chongololo Club had a radio show with kinds speaking in ‘ma yardi’ English”.

“Intro song had kids singing chowngowlowlow. Thus, UNZA christened students with accents Chongololos”.

“The Chongololo theme song was sung with a curious accent (posh-ish) and that’s where Chongs came – trying to speak ‘better than’”.

But back in the day, to be a Chong was more than just about the accent. Chongs lived a certain lifestyle and had particular interests, among them basketball, pop music etc.

At the same time there are real deal Chongololos (who lived abroad). A Chongololo is also a wannabe or imitator, trying to be cool by association. The imitators includes the former real deals who came back from America when they were five years old and at 25 still speak with an American accent, despite being educated at Munali Boys and never having returned to America even once.

In conclusion, to be labelled a Chongololo is not derogatory, but it is unflattering and derisible. Meaning it’s not an insult, but neither is it a compliment.

I am indebted to the following in Zambian Twitter users for contributing to the history lesson: @simunza, @LauraMiti, @missbwalya and @kuwaha. 

You can follow me on Twitter: @masukamutenda.

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This article is a side-bar to my review of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that was published in the Bulletin and Record magazine in September 2013.

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