We all know Wikipedia the online encyclopedia the world’s knowledge based website but it also doesn’t have much information about Zambia, while that problem may have just been solved with the new Zambian based encyclopedia called Chalo Chatu meaning Our World in the English language. The online encyclopedia was launched by Jason Mulikita a Zambian photographer of JJ Arts Photography on June 1, 2016 when it went public with the slogan Preserving the History and pride of Zambia, in an interview with Jason he said “Documenting an entire nation is no easy task, but with the help of the general public to come on board this job can be done in no time.” He also said that “As a country we haven’t done so well in documenting our history. If you think about Zambian History most of it, is centered on independence as it was a big political and liberation movement that took place in 1964. But if you think and ask anyone about life before that, you will find that there is a blackout. Much of Zambia’s history found in the public domain starts around the late 1950, but we know that there was life before that. So we are going as far back as possible to get this information as well as documents and also what’s happening in the present day and bring it in one location.” He also stated that Chalo Chatu is continually growing each day so far it has over 1000+ articles a milestone that was reached on 18 November 2016.
Chalo Chatu runs on the software called Media Wiki software that’s why it looks and feels like Wikipedia but has that Zambian touch to it, but unlike Wikipedia it’s not open for anonymous editing you need to have an account before you can edit or create a page in order to reduce the number of vandalism on the articles on the site and remain professional as possible. In an interview with Chabota Kanguya the organization’s Chief operating officer (C.O.O) he said that “Chalo Chatu is community of dedicated group of people from around Zambia that make Chalo Chatu grow…. Anyone that has internet access and has an account with Chalo Chatu can write and make to Chalo Chatu expect in limited cases where editing is limited to prevent vandalism…..”
Chabota also said that “Chalo Chatu“ is a highly efficient non-profit project driven by dedicated by a team of volunteers and doesn’t own equipment’s to support the rapid growth of the website and the vast information but relies on the donations made but the general public to pay for the large server that comes with a highly monthly and yearly cost.” He also stated out that “On Chalo Chatu Zambia comes first and so articles like Zambian Hype Magazine’s profile is more significant
than E! Online.”
Chalo Chatu is a knowledge hub of Zambian related information. Chalo Chatu may not be known to all Zambians but its slowly gaining a status as a general reference website in Zambia for Zambian history. The encyclopedia can be used as a research tool since all articles are written in a balanced neutral and encyclopedic containing comprehensive, notable verifiable knowledge of Zambia. Some of the best articles have marked as Good Articles have a green cycle with + sign inside while some notable but not so forgotten are set as the fractured articles on the main page.
Chalo Chatu has over 60 registered users including 3 administrators’ 1,000+ articles and a total of 5,000+ pages and over 500+ files uploaded since the website was set up back in 2016. The rest of the contributors are supposed to be you.