Story Of The Woman Who Walked For Weeks To Say Thank You To Hakainde Hichilema(zambian President)
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On 13 August, just hours after voting, Maggie Sapatu set off on foot from her home in Mwinilunga, North-Western Province.
Eighteen days and close to a thousand kilometres later, she walked into Lusaka.
Sapatu, 52, said she was confident President Hichilema would win because of his leadership, and she wanted to thank him herself, in person, with a gift – two live chickens she carried the whole way.
Along the road, her journey wasn’t easy. “My body and my legs hurt because of walking,” she told one reporter partway through her trek, “but I’m determined to thank the President in person.”
She kept going anyway.
On Sunday, President Hichilema welcomed her to Community House, alongside Jeremiah Tembo, who had cycled roughly 500km from Eastern Province for the same reason.
The three of them sat and shared a meal together. “Today we sat and ate together, as fellow citizens,” the President said. “The best is yet to come.”
Sapatu has seven children, all in school, something she says free education made possible for her family. That’s what carried her those 18 days.
In a season full of court battles and disputes, one woman’s long walk to say thank you gave the country something simpler to hold onto.
