Steve Kabani

Today we celebrate my young brother Dr. Chikote Charles Kabani (MD), a gentle and kind soul, and a strong pillar working faithfully in all that we do.

We honor and appreciate you today, sir. Happy birthday!

Dear young mother,
Ever wondered why fertility doesn’t just bounce back immediately after that ka 3-months injection? let’s talk small medical science.

Picture your body like farming district in Eastern Province. Farmers are active, planting, trading, supplying each other maize. Business flowing bwino bwino. The market is being run by three serious people: Chairman GnRH and his two trusted commanders, FSH and LH. they control everything, fertilizer, sacks, pesticides. If you want to farm, you go through them. They are locals, they understand the language, the seasons, even the market gossip. The system is smooth.

Then one day, FRA arrives and builds depots and sheds.
That small injection you took? Once it your body, it builds a warehouse in your muscle. From there maize is slowly released into the market for months.

FRA takes over the local supply chain, farmers start bypassing Chairman GnRH. FRA has brought workers from Lusaka, sharp guys, but they don’t fully understand village dynamics.

Chairman GnRH loses respect and control, business is no longer flowing through him.
Out of frustration, he steps aside.
His two commanders, FSH and LH, follow him. And remember, these are the same ones responsible for crop production: that's your ovaries producing eggs, ovulation and everything to do with conception.

Business slows down and on top of that, FRA tightens controls, ZNS check points everywhere (thick cervical mucus).
The land starts drying (uterus becomes less welcoming)
Hammer mills go quiet (uterus lining stops building nicely)
Transporters park their trucks (fallopian tubes slow their work)
Because FRA is now running things its own way with ZNS-level seriousness, local transporters are replaced with army trucks.

For a while, FRA is in control, things look stable, but then, as usual, political will changes. One day, the depots close, the Lusaka guys are recalled, FRA pulls out.
Boom, market shock, no main buyer, no structure just confusion.
Farmers now run back: “Chairman, please come back!”
But Chairman GnRH is like, “Eh, guys, we moved on. We’re in petroleum now.”
Commander LH even laughs, “You think things just restart like that? Not so fast.”
Their old systems are rusty. Warehouses are dusty. Some were even vandalized while they were away. Rebuilding will need time, energy, and capital.
Meanwhile we don't even know what if FRA resumes next month? They say

So the process delays.
Now here’s the part many people miss:
After FRA left, a few bags still remained in their depot, and the guard has been secretly selling them off records, a thing that worsens everything, causes Chair just says 'keep dealing with FRA'

Those sheds you built in the muscle? They don’t just disappear overnight. Small small maize (MPA) is still leaking into your market.

So even when everyone is saying, “FRA is gone,” somewhere in the background bags are still being sold.

Chairman GnRH gradually returns.
FSH opens a small shop again.
LH starts planning harvests.
But let’s be honest:
Fields need clearing
Systems must be rebuilt
Confidence has to come back
So things take time.
For a few seasons, that town struggles. Farming is inconsistent. Traders are unsure. Everyone is trying to reset.
Remember:
The system is not destroyed.
Those farmers did not die. The chairman was not fired permanently. The commanders didn’t resign forever.
They just stepped away because FRA had taken over.
So when things normalize, they DO come back.

For most towns, within a few months
Others take longer maybe 9 months, even up to a year
But business eventually returns for almost all towns.

So no, dear young mother, fertility doesn’t return immediately not because your body has failed, but because
The injection is still slowly leaving your system
The hormone leaders need time to reorganize
The whole “market” must reset and stabilize

It takes seasons for full recovery

Dear young mother, let’s talk small medical science.

Wondered why it’s hard to lose weight when you are on that 3-months injection?
That injection contains a synthetic hormone (MPA) that mimics progesterone. Once it’s in your body, it suppresses another hormone called estrogen.

Now listen, estrogen is like Lusaka City Council regulates where not to put ntembas, especially in town maintaining order. So normally, estrogen helps control where fat is stored especially preventing too much of it from settling around the abdomen, but once that injection reduces estrogen, caders (synthetic progestin) take over land allocation.
Plots are now being given anywhere in drainages, road reserves, even on top of culverts resulting in unplanned settlements everywhere, that is your fat accumulation.

Now here’s where it gets worse.
Because estrogen (the council) has lost power, even insulin (another important officer, say "Mr SML" that manages sugar starts being ignored), it’s like even Ministry of Health inspectors have no authority anymore, people are dumping garbage anywhere. So sugar that was supposed to be used properly gets converted into fat.
Your body becomes like a compound where no one is in charge.

SECOND SCENE
That same cader like hormone goes to the brain, say plot one (hypothalamus) and increases a chemical called neuropeptide Y (NPY). At plot one they say "we are the ones on the ground, we need more funding, suddenly, your appetite increases." at this level you are not even hungry-hungry but you find yourself opening the pot.
Then the Cader hormone causes leptin, the hormone that says “you are full” to loses power.
Now imagine caders at Ministry of Finance, hence failing to control spending.
Some ministries (your appetite) are now overfunded
You’ve eaten nshima, but your brain is like:
“Budget still allows one more round.”

THIRD SCENE
Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) now increases.
Friends to caders are joining the system, your appetite keeps growing.
Now you’re eating without even realising.
That type where you say: “Let me just tasty” Next thing the whole plate has disappeared mysteriously

FINAL BLOW
Now “tribalism” shows up, activating glucocorticoid receptors.
The tribesmate don’t play fair.
They start converting small fat cells into big investors mature fat cells and increasing storage.
Now fat is being stored everywhere outside the “Bank of Zambia system” your abdomen, your upper arms, your neck, completely off-record
At this point even if you don’t eat much your body is still storing more.
So you gain weight and are confused like:
“But I’m not even eating that much!”

This is now the stage where ACC and DEC enter the chat:
“Madam, your salary and your properties are not matching.”
That’s exactly what is happening input and output are no longer balanced.

So dear young mother, before you give your body to Cader chemicals, understand what it does to you because once caders take over and council police are weak restoring order is not easy.

The year was 2004, tag or mention any faces you recognize indicating their exact position in the picture.

Dear Young Father, Table Talk Time.

Ba boss, long weekend is here, what’s the game plan? Or you’re about to “just see how things go"

Sir, what have you deliberately planned for your wife and your constituency?
Because if this weekend you clock more hours with your friends than with your family, bro you are failing the constituency

At least have a ka budget and a ka plan.
Take them for a picnic ku reptile Park.
Go game viewing.
Even just go chill at the river with some snacks and juice

Bro this weekend, contribute just a little to the depletion of the ozone layer, Yes small small carbon dioxide from your family braai. Contribute to chemistry in the formation of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and benzopyrene
In short bro let smoke and the aroma of burning fat be seen and smelt from your family braai.

Bro, learn the art of finding joy in spending time with your children and your young wife. In over 10 million Zambian women, you chose that one, freely, no coercion, no ECZ involved, no rigging, no premarked ballots so stick to your constituency and manage your it properly.

Yes, the farm and the plot are calling but carry your children of Isreal with you! Even the kids want to see where “dad’s investments” are. Bro, the long weekend is not for unending singing rehearsals and chains of church and business meetings.

Bro final advice
An outing is supposed to be a joyous time, not an audit session.
Women carry things. Emotionally, physically, spiritually even bags you don’t understand.
While you are moving light, a T-shirt, sandals, one jean like a tourist DO NOT start interrogating her:
“What’s that?”
“Why are you carrying that?”
“Why is the bag full like you’re relocating?”
Sir, what language is that? Let the Queen be.

And when departure time comes:
You: ready at 10:00 sharp
Her: 11:07, still adjusting something
Do not threaten: “If you’re not ready now, I’m cancelling!” bro relax,
She is organizing that you will eat when you come back, what the children will need and how you will arrive tired, go straight to rest while she has to serve you dinner.
Sir respect that system.

Carry extra money but more importantly extra patience and tolerance otherwise your wife and children will come back regretting that they went out with you.

Lastly, we congratulate you in advance for choosing to make a program for your beautiful family this weekend 👏🏾
That decision alone qualifies you for into the association.
Go and be happy with your family.

Yours faithfully,
Chairman – Young Husbands Association of Zambia

Dear young teacher, lets us have some serious table talk.

Here are hard truths you must remain alive to in your practice.

You must serve yourself, your children, and your family first before extensing the servive to your pupils. The primary beneficiary of your career must first be your own. That means even if, in the worst case, all your pupils failed, but you still get a salary, you are still a success in life.

Madam, among your pupils are some whose parents have failed to tame and send them to you to do what they could not “we are taking you to this school so that teachers can discipline you.”

Some of your pupils are little “gods” in their homes where parents have become personal assistants. Children who decide what everyone watches, who have never been told “no,” who do not respond to simple instructions like “stop,” “come,” or “go.”

Some come from homes run like boarding houses no rank, no order, no structure. Everyone is “guys.” Mother, father, and children all on the same level, each doing as they please.

You are dealing with children who have never been pinched, slapped or spanked
You are dealing with children causing stress, BP and depression in their parents.

These are the realities placed before you, especially in an environment where discipline is easily misunderstood, where the very act of correcting a child can be turned against you and where stupidity is mistaken for human rights.

So hear this clearly: do not break your back over someone else’s child, do not lose your sleep over a pupil, they are not your children, and within a year, they will move on to another teacher.

In my profession, when a patient refuses treatment, we simply document: “gone against medical advice.”
In the same way, why should you lose your job over a learner who refuses to write notes? Who refuses to do homework? Not in a system where teachers are not protected, protect yourself.

That child can leave your school today and find many others waiting to receive them. But if you lose your job, there may not even be one opportunities waiting for you.
So when they make noise step out to the staff room. They have given you time to drink your fruitikana
When they refuse to cooperate take that moment to go and watch UEFA highlights in the staff room.

When they refuse to write pack your books and step away, time to go online on Facebook.
Madam the chaos in your pupils is not yours to carry.
You are not their parent. You cannot change them all. And even the best of them will not feed you if you lose your Job.
No one has ever lost their job because their class failed but many have lost their jobs, even faced jail in trying to enforce discipline.
Us we just document and move on to the next patient.

If a pupil is consistently unruly, ask them to step out or you step out. And if this happens repeatedly, the pressure will not come from you, but from other pupils and parents. The system will correct itself without you carrying the liability.
Protect your peace. Protect your job. Do your part but do not destroy yourself in the process.
Yours is a calling, yes but you must survive it too.

We recently took an 11-hour drive (750km) from Lusaka to Sitoti Mission, an Adventist mission in Sioma District bordering Shangombo.
The main reason for the tour was to visit the place where I was born and spent the first six years of my life which I haven't visited since then.

We visited the mission health post and our old home, though my memories are not very vivid, I could still recall playing around the clinic. I also remember at one point seeing the staff boiling syringes and other surgical instruments in a pot over an open fire a form of sterilizing (autoclaving) at the time

Today, as dad and mum walked us through the place, I felt a deep connection to the vision of the missionaries who came in the 1920s to establish it. It stirred something within me, and I felt a strong urge that, as the Lord continues to bless us, we should one day make a meaningful and well-equipped maternal health donation to this historic clinic.

Among the ultra-modern equipment we supplied were resuscitaires, they are basically a full mini ICU for newborns. These machines are not playing, sir; they sit right at the interface of medical and engineering ingenuity. Suction function, oxygen and resuscitation support, baby warmer, UV light for jaundice, vital signs monitor, and even an inbuilt scale. Mwana abadwa, angena straight mu VIP class

We are joyful to see rural clinics and health posts reach this level of care and capacity. I even overheard one villager exclaim with excitement, “Mzigawa clinic ili na ma mashini amu muvi!” and honestly, they weren’t lying. Aya ni ya mu muvi for real.

Today, the good people of Mzigawa, Muchima, and Muzengelezi three rural areas in Vubwi District are now connected to the world of modern medicine. Right there in Muzengelezi, with what can only be described as movie-level medical technology. Mothers no longer have to depend on sunlight or zigolo methods when a newborn develops a yellow skin these machines are now doing the job safely and effectively.

At this rate, we’ll soon start decongest UTH, and for us as Kabani Pharmaceuticals Limited, that’s our real happiness. Development is truly sweet when it reaches places people never imagined it would. Yes simple, powerful Vubwi.