Religion, Kusalazya Ritual and the coming of the HIV/ AIDS in Chikakanta District: A study of the impact of the disease on the ritual in the period between 2003 and 2017

At a time when Africa is striving to rediscover her lost identity, due to the pressures of colonialism, this book emerges with highlighters to the rediscovering of indigenous knowledge embedded in the religious life and practices of the Tonga people of Southern Province of Zambia. The book is divided into nine chapters, providing the religious history of the Tonga people and specifically the Kusalazya sexual cleansing ritual and how the fight against the HIV/AIDs pandemic has impacted on this traditional religious practice. The Tonga people are among ethnic groups in the country (Muzata, 2014), that practice sexual cleansing ritual after a death of a spouse. According to Hachintu, during Kusalazya, the surviving spouse engages in heterosexual intercourse with a close relative in order to stop death of any other spouses that may marry the surviving spouse of the first deceased spouse. The author had the courage against all cultural odds to write on a subject that is considered culturally restrictive to debate. This courage must be commended and emulated by future writers who have intentions to serve their communities by breaking certain barriers or taboos that stop people from discussing sexual issues openly. The book clearly shows that certain cultural practices facilitate the spread of HIV, a bold stance against a traditional practice that the author has attempted to bring forth through the book