Zambia trip close to Sam’s heart

SAMANTHA MUMBA is due to make an emotional trip to the home of her ancestors in Zambia at Easter. She hopes to raise awareness about AIDS and other killer diseases in what is one of Africa’s poorest countries.

It is the first time the singer will visit the African country where her grandmother, aunts and cousins still live.

Samantha’s visit is part of her first, official tour as a special representative of UNICEF.

“It’s going to open my eyes because I really don’t know what to expect,” said the singer, who admitted that she had really only taken an interest in her African heritage recently.

“Growing up, my dad, Peter, was always playing Zambian music, even though I’d tell him to turn it off,” she laughed.

The chart-topper said she expected to meet her grandmother, Veronica, during her week-long visit.

“She visited Ireland several times but this will be special as she lives out in the bush,” said Samantha.

She also hopes to see her aunt, Dorothy, who works with a UNICEF clinic in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, as well as many other members of her extended family whom she has yet to get to know.

The singer was surprised to learn that she is already a celebrity in Zambia where her songs are well-known and her forthcoming visit has been well-publicised.

“I get a fair amount of fan mail from Zambia but I wasn’t aware of how much of my music they’d heard.”

Speaking in Dublin yesterday just 24 hours after taking the role of Grand Marshal in the capital’s St Patrick’s Day parade, Samantha stressed the importance of the visit in highlighting the work of UNICEF Ireland.

“I was very upset to find out that nearly 30,000 babies are estimated to become infected with HIV every year in Zambia,” the singer said.

Her tour will be used as a fact-finding trip to help promote UNICEF Ireland’s annual schools’ campaign, Kids Helping Kids which has so far raised over 1.5m for its work in Zambia.

The charity’s executive director, Maura Quinn said Zambia had one of the highest proportions of AIDS orphans. It is estimated that up to one-in-five adults in Zambia are infected with the disease.

Ms Quinn said UNICEF Ireland had already established clinics in Zambia where expectant mothers received drugs which helped reduce the transmission of HIV to their babies by up to 60%.

“It is vital because three out of four children with HIV die before they are five years old,” she added.