Reviews

I have the privilege of knowing Mwangala and the honour of being her niece. Reading this book, I felt many of the same emotions I felt on 28th April 2019, following behind her and Notulu for a few miles of the London Marathon: awe, wonder, pride, inspiration, and the knowledge that truly anything is possible if you are determined and allow others to help you. In her writing as in life, Mwangala demonstrates the power of vulnerability and the bravery of honest self-reflection.

Your story is truly inspirational and I can not even image how much you had to dig into your soul to produce the words that are now a living testimony of your experience

Thats what comes through....healing is a journey🙏
You know loss for many people is in diggerent forms, loved ones, marriages, Jobs etc....

But its still a loss and the healing process and journey is similar....you have to go through and not around....and that lesson comes through strongly in your book🙏🙏

I finished reading your book today and I absolutely loved it. ❤️ Very, very well done on this achievement! It is so beautiful written and 100% from the heart. I cried and cried and cried with you. My word! 🤦‍♀️ It is such an amazing memoir, you must be so proud. We are proud of you! ❤️❤️

I love how you describe Zambia and how your love for your country shines through, it’s beautiful. Such an inspiring book, I absolutely loved it. Thank you for sharing your story with us. It must have been so hard to get it all onto paper, but you did a fantastic job. I can’t believe how much you have been through - thank you for giving us a glimpse into your life and your story.

Zambian politician, Mwangala Lethbridge, was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident, the victim of a drunken driver, shortly after losing in a significant election. These two disasters following shortly after each other shook her previously deep-rooted faith in both herself and her God, leaving her questioning what her future on earth could possibly be.

Still Standing is an incredibly honest and painful memoir of the months in which she began to recover, physically and, eventually, mentally, with the psychological scars proving to be more difficult to circumvent. I appreciated Mwangala' candidness throughout Still Standing. She is all too aware of how her struggles to understand her predicament are reflecting upon her family and I found this aspect of the memoir one of the most powerful to consider. Mwangala's recovery isn't just her own rebuilding, but also a need to shore up and renegotiate family relationships which were also drastically changed forever when her strong maternal role was no longer possible.

Also of great interest to me were Mwangala's thoughts around the multicultural makeup of her marriage, particularly the question of where home might be when each partner - and their children - has a very different emotional response to that question - separated by thousands of miles. Mwangala's abrupt awakening to how her home town now saw  and openly treated her very differently, purely due to her disability, was an eye-opening chapter. 

Still Standing is an inspirational and, hopefully, influential memoir which I am glad to have been given this opportunity to read. I did not find it a religious book per se, although Mwangala's faith is obviously a vital part of her life, but I was more in awe of her personal strength and the dedication of her husband, Adam, as this family adjusted to such an altered reality.