Not too long ago, spotting a Lozi man or woman proudly donning their iconic ivory bangles (Litowu in Lozi) was not uncommon. In fact, you could easily identify a Lozi just by looking at their wrist. In Lozi tradition, the bangles are not just ornamental, they are symbolic and are typically given to children at different points in life such as at birth or at puberty.However, a chain of arrests of Zambians outside the country for wearing these iconic bangles shone a spotlight on this tradition. In 2014 a Zambian woman was arrested in Ethiopia for being in possession of three hand bracelets made of ivory, while another Zambian female was arrested in 2019 by Kenyan authorities at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi for wearing an ivory bangle. Many others were arrested locally for the same reason.It was around this time that the Zambian Government and the Zambia Wildlife Authority, now Department of […]
The Villager Zed Shop – Preserving culture and conserving wildlife
