'Just to be' is simply 'not to be at all'

In short, I found Badenberg's book to be a splendid, highly captivating piece of ethnographic and linguistic scholarship, one that uncovers layer upon layer of insight regarding the Bemba people and their culture, language, life-view, and lifestyle. I do not recall a work quite as comprehensive (or well done) in anything else that I have read in this field over the half-century that I have been engaged with Africa.
Ernst R. Wendland, Stellenbosch University and Lusaka Lutheran Seminary, Zambia

This study, the fruit of many years experience among the Bemba people of Zambia, provides an excellent preparation, as well as opening one's eyes to how a grasp of the language of other people groups is the key to understanding how they think, feel and act.
Derek Cheeseman, MissionAssist, United Kingdom

G Robert Badenberg is a missiologist, anthropological researcher and education consultant. He worked in Africa from 1989 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2020.