Africa-Press – Zambia. While on Kenny T 1 ON 1 podcast, rapper Chef 187 shared an insight into his eight months experience working in the Chingola mines after he completed grade 12 before he would go on to pursue a diploma in Business Administration at Evelyn Hone College.
Chef 187 revealed that he worked as a general work in the mines. A contractor would come at a place they referred to as Ku wire/Pa mulolela chipuba, and they would randomly select people as the only qualification needed was a National Registration Card(NRC).
“So, randomly, one day, a guy would just come up and say, Iwe, Iwe, Iwe, Iwe tiyeni and that’s it, you would be employed by a contractor in the mines like that. So, I was fortunate enough to have had that particular job,” said the rapper.
The rapper would further reveal that working as a general worker meant he never knew what job he’d be doing when he showed up to work as they would only be told when they reached and be given a safety talk based on their assignment.
“Like you would show up for work this day, you’re working at the open pit, this day, you’re underground, this day, you’re cobalt concentrator, this day, you’re cobalt secondary,” shared the rapper.
Chef 187 shared a moment of when he was working in the mines, which, up to date, he still shares.
He said once upon a time a colleague who seemingly looked younger that them had told them that he can’t be found with them because there’s nothing they could talk about.
“Ine teti nsangwe naimwe, kuposa inshita. Finshi twinga landa po?” said the colleague – words that touched him and left him wondering why someone seemingly younger than him and doing the same job would say that.
He would later find out that the colleague was married with children – and the money he made was shared between him and his family whilst his money was only for swag(clothes) and some for buying cooking oil at home.
“Nale ntontonkanya, ine nga nafola, mufyashi namushila olo fye ka cooking oil shashala ni ngubo fye manje, shalaingila fye muli swag,” said the rapper who letter understood what the colleague meant by saying he can’t be found with them.
The rapper would continue sharing how his experience shaped his next endeavor, “I believe my experience in the mines gave me a level of maturity that I took college. I had seen life down in Chingola in the mines. So it gave me a whole different perspective.”
The rapper would leave home at 4 AM to go to work and come back at 6 PM, enduring long hours of working without resting to the extent that he would be dozing by the time he got home.
Chef 187 would leave for college soon also shared one more thing he learned from the mines experience, “One thing I took away from that experience, I remember our foreman baletu sonta ati, imwe baiche imwe muchili abaiche don’t think this is the “BE ALL, AND ALL” there’s more to life than efyo tulechita pano.”
Kondwani Kaira alias Chef 187 would then leave for Evelyn Hone College a year later after joining the mines to pursue something similar to his late father career, “Accounting.”
The rapper pursued Business Administration, a program he said was broader compared to that of his late father.
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