Zambia

Seven kilometres from the world heritage site of Victoria Falls, in the Southern Province lies the rural Mukuni village, the main village of the Mukuni Chiefdom. It was founded in the 13th century by the Leya Tribal Matriarch and is today presided over by both a male and female leader. The Leya people keep alive their heritage in simple surroundings with dancing, singing and drumming for particular occasions and to communicate certain messages. The women of the village perform for us a traditional brewing dance complete with 12ft long poles for crushing grain while elsewhere in the village, the highly polished senior students at the secondary school in Mukuni village embrace the new modern Zambia with traditional, spiritual and rousingly patriotic songs.