Samba Yonga Explained

Samba Yonga
Birth Place:Lusaka
Nationality:Zambian
Occupation:Journalist, media consultant
Notable Works:Creation of Zambia's Museum of Women's History

Samba Yonga is a Zambian journalist and media consultant. She has worked a long time as editor for Big Issue Zambia and has written for several other publications. Yonga is the founder of Ku-Atenga Media, a media consultancy firm and was named one of Destiny's "Power of 40" most influential women in Africa in 2017.

Career

Samba Yonga first became interested in journalism after she won a prize for a short story she had written.[1] She attended college and whilst there worked part-time for a local newspaper.[1] After graduation Yonga found work developing ideas for TV and radio programmes.[2] She was then appointed to run the relaunched Trendsetters youth magazine.[1] Yonga has also written for Okay Africa magazine and The Guardian.[3] [4] Yonga was editorial director of The Big Issue Zambia magazine, which was launched by the International Network of Street Papers in 2007.[1] The magazine was published in six countries and Yonga travelled frequently to visit these.[2]

Yonga established a media consultancy company, Ku-Atenga Media, from the word for "to create" in Luvale, her native language.[2] Shortly afterwards, she left Zambia to study for a master's degree in global media and translation communication at the University of London.[2] Upon her return, she began to expand Ku-Atenga, providing consultancy services on communications strategy. The company now carries out work for local and international clients, including the Zambian government, European Union and the United Nations.[5]

Yonga began the Narratives of Silenced Voices to research and publish the stories of African women from history.[5] [6] The project was run in conjunction with the, a women's history museum in Sweden, and Zambian activist Mulenga Kapwepwe.[6] Yonga developed the project into the Zambian Museum of Women's History, initially as an online-only offering but with a view to having a physical location to allow display of artefacts collected by the project.[6] The Women's History Museum of Zambia [7] has worked with Swedish ethnographers to facilitate the digital repatriation of Zambian cultural objects and artefacts[8] .

Yonga writes a blog on WordPress.[9] She was named one of Destiny's "Power of 40" most influential women in Africa of 2017.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Samba Yonga. Panos London. 13 November 2017. en. 9 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190309041134/http://panoslondon.panosnetwork.org/journalists/samba-yonga/. live.
  2. News: Meet Samba Yonga The Woman Behind Ku-Atenga Media - UzaCoona Magazine. 13 November 2017. UzaCoona Magazine. 26 July 2017. 8 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180808013106/http://magazine.uzacoona.com/meet-samba-yonga-woman-behind-ku-atenga-media/. live.
  3. News: Meet the Zambian Radio DJs Who Could Play a Pivotal Role in this Week's Presidential Election. 13 November 2017. Okay Africa. 9 August 2016. en.
  4. News: Yonga. Samba. Youth paralegals in Zambia help tackle child abuse. 13 November 2017. The Guardian. 21 September 2011.
  5. News: Zambia : Zambian media entrepreneur Samba Yonga, selected as one of Destiny Magazine’s "Power of 40" most influential women in Africa. 13 November 2017. Lusaka Times. 1 November 2017. 12 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171112161349/https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/11/01/zambian-media-entrepreneur-samba-yonga-selected-one-destiny-magazines-power-40-influential-women-africa/. live.
  6. News: Zambia: Museum of Women’s Living History Launched. 13 November 2017. LusakaTimes.com. 23 November 2016. 16 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171116092552/https://www.lusakatimes.com/2016/11/23/museum-womens-living-history-launched/. live.
  7. https://www.whmzambia.org/
  8. https://diggers.news/local/2019/10/31/zambias-womens-history-swedish-national-culture-museums-to-develop-digital-platform-for-artifacts/
  9. Web site: Samba Yonga - Vishinganyeka. Word Press. 13 November 2017. 24 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180324205904/https://sambayongawrites.wordpress.com/. live.