David Chuba was born in 1969 in the Kasama District of the Northern Province of Zambia. He started his primary schooling in Lusaka at Burma Road Primary School, where he did Grades 1 and 2. His family then moved to Kasama, where he completed Grades 3 and 4 at Kasama Primary School. They moved again, this time to Kitwe, where he completed Grades 5 to 7 at Kitwe Primary School. David then went on to Kitwe Boys Secondary School, where he obtained a G.C.E. ‘O’ level certificate in 1987. After finishing his secondary education, he was admitted to the University of Zambia in Lusaka where he completed his BSc degree (Biology major) in 1994. His high academic performance earned him an appointment as a Staff Development Fellow at the University of Zambia.
Upon being appointed as a Staff Development Fellow, David made up his mind to further his studies in Botany. As a Staff Development Fellow, he assisted in the demonstration of laboratory practicals, as well as tutoring the undergraduate students. It was not easy to secure sponsorship for MSc degree studies, as the University of Zambia had suspended the provision of funding for postgraduate studies and depended on external funding to support its Staff Development Fellows. In 1996, however, David was awarded a DANIDA scholarship to study for a Postgraduate Diploma in Research Methodology at the Dansk Bilharziose Laboratorium in Denmark. This course strengthened his research proposal and execution skills, which were useful during his subsequent BSc Honours and MSc degree studies at UCT. In Denmark, David also attended his first lessons in computer software, such as Windows 95, DOS computing, Microsoft Excel, Pegusus Mail, Microsoft Word, Reference Manager, and Win SPIRS.
Early in 1997, David was incorporated into the SABONET project to replace Ms Tasila Banda (now Sakala), who had taken up a Fulbright Masters scholarship in the USA. Later in the year, he attended two SABONET courses that were run concurrently—the Database Managers course and the Threatened Species (Red data List) course.
In 1999, David was offered a SABONET scholarship to study for both a BSc Honours and an MSc degree at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He obtained the BSc Honours in Botany (first class) in 1999 and his MSc in Systematics and Biodiversity Science (cum laude) in 2001. His postgraduate performance has since added pride to the SABONET steering committee (as principal sponsors), University of Zambia management, and his own country.
His two BSc Honours degree projects were entitled “The Phylogeny of Brachycorythis Lindl. and Neobolusia Schltr.” and “The comparative distribution of C3 and C4 species of Cyperaceae in relation to climatic factors and phylogeny”. His Masters thesis was entitled “Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Andreaea Hedw. (Andreaeaceae) as inferred from rps4 and trnL-F sequences and morphology”.
After his return from his BSc Honours and Masters studies, David attended a number of short courses, including the Tropical Bryology and Lichenology course in Kenya and the SABONET Herbarium Managers’ Course. All these courses have contributed further to equip him for the present and future responsibilities and challenges within his institution, the country, as well as the southern African region.
David has recently done work for the SPGRC on fruit and nut trees of the southern African countries. He has also, with Mount Makuru Research Station staff, carried out a survey of edible orchids of the Central and Northern Provinces of Zambia; he hopes to extend the survey to the Luapula Province. In addition, David was part of the SABONET-Zambia team that visited Livingstone’s Gorges, Victoria Falls, Songwe Gorges, and Kazungula area to search for Selaginella imbricata and to collect seedlings of indigenous plants for the development of a Teaching Botanic Garden at the University of Zambia.
David collects Zambian bryophytes whenever he has an opportunity. So far he has a few collections from the eastern part of Lusaka Province near the Chinyunyu area, Livingstone, and Serenje, around the Kabumba area, overlooking the Luangua Valley. His senior academic colleague, Dr P.S.M. Phiri, pioneered bryophyte surveys in the early 1980s.
David has now been officially appointed as lecturer and is currently working in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Zambia. Regarding botanical collections, taxonomy, and systematics, he feels that whatever information is available on the current status of such fields in Zambia is not yet easily accessible to Zambians. He is therefore currently thinking of working on a guide to botanical literature on Zambia’s botanical diversity, which can be made available to all relevant institutions of higher learning such as universities, forestry and agricultural colleges, and also to other interested individuals.
In 1997, David married his beautiful wife, Ruth Precious Phiri, and God has already blessed them with two wonderful children, Yuri (3 years) and Debra (3 months). His hobbies include playing the music keyboard, jogging, and learning anything he can about auto-mechanics.
SABONET News 7.2: 90
