Notes from Zambia

Fond farewells

2011-08-01T22:31:00.003-04:00

Apparently, some folks have waiting patiently for the "last installment" of my blog. Since I've had such loyal followers, I figure I'd better not disappoint! I do apologize for taking so long to put up these details on the site.

Before I proceed however, I thought I might share that within the first few weeks of returning to Canada, it was almost as though I'd wakened from a long and vivid dream. I knew I'd done something extraordinary, but I felt a bit disoriented and actually had a hard time remembering some of the people and places that I'd visited. A very strange phenomenon to be sure. Fortunately the "amnesia" has faded and I now feel comfortable writing about the experience.

Obviously, leaving Mazabuka was not an easy process since it meant saying goodbye to good friends and colleagues from the past year and handing over the project. Though in the beginning it seemed as though I had lots of time, by the end it was impossible to believe it was over.

There were a few major leaving events, not the least of which was a braii hosted by Rob and me at our house. Earlier in the day, I introduced the game of Ultimate Frisbee which went over very well. Recent reports from friends indicate that weekend pickup games of Ultimate Frisbee continue on the local athletic calendar. I only wish that I'd had the thought to introduce the game earlier. To my great disappointment, the Sunday afternoon frisbee gang here in Ottawa that I so looked forward to rejoining has disbanded!

For the braii, thanks to the typical generosity and creativity of friends, we all enjoyed an exquisite buffet of foods. Friends came from Lusaka, Choma and Chipata (and Mazabuka of course) to send me off. I received some lovely presents too: among them a beautiful elephant print chitenge, an elephant business card holder, a gorgeous batik tablecloth, a wallet and coffee, a USB stick loaded with photos, and some small sacks of Zambian staple foods (nshima, coffee, sugar), and a customized Mazabuka Party People wall plaque (to be seen to be believed).

Fun loving VSO's in town for the party: Ben, Dan, Sarah, Helen, (me), and Rob

Another feast!

Sharing a fun moment with Mubiana!

A mischievous trio: Victoria, Lweendo and me.

Barbara's unique sense of humour: to wrap a USB flash drive in umpteen layers of paper. I do very much appreciate the photos! :-)

My elephant print chitenge.

Among my circle of Zambian and European friends however, football trumps everything. For the night of the braii, I was duly forewarned that the eating part had to be pretty much done by 9 p.m. so that the football aficionados (i.e. everyone) could go and watch the European Football Finals. Just about everyone poured out of the house en masse to go and watch the game at Marco's house.

Enthralled by the football action!

Relaxing with Ennie and Pami at Marco's

Enjoying a fun moment with Ian.

Gathering around the screen gave Victoria the perfect opportunity to show her wonderfully extraordinary slide show recapping my year in Zambia, set to the Black Eyed Peas' remix of Time of Your Life. Was it ever the time of my life! My eyes were definitely not dry at the end of the slide show.

The next day, Rob and I hosted a tea with Stella and her family. It was tough to say goodbye to such a great family. Stella's daughter Yumbe presented me with a lovely apron she'd made for my mom. Naturally my mom was astonished when I passed along Yumbe's gift!

In the garden with Yumbe, Suwilanji, Stella and Rebecca.

The night before I left town, the Mazabuka Municipal Council threw a fun cocktail party to thank me and send me off in style. We all gathered at the Council-run motel for some nibbles, drinks and some rather wild dancing! The program included speeches by the Acting Town Clerk, the Director of Planning and yours truly. Everyone in attendance was also given the opportunity to say a few words - I was truly honoured, humbled and even humoured by the many anecdotes my Council friends related during the evening. I was presented with more lovely gifts, including a copper serving tray, a decorative ceramic plate, and a card. My hand never seemed to be left without a cold beer either!

A farewell photos with Collins, the Socio-Economic Planner.

A farewell photo with Chibinga, the Rural Water and Sanitation Officer.

Basil and Mr. Nyoni enjoying the party.

Delivering my speech and words of thanks.

Enjoying a moment with Mubiana and Mary.

Enjoying a moment with Collins and Mr. Hanyati.

Dancing the night away!

A decorative plate of Africa.

Well wishes!

On the final night before flying home, I gathered the Lusaka based crowd (about 20 of us!) the VSO's favourite Indian restaurant, Mahak's, for one last super-delicious, super-cheap, all-you-can-eat vegetarian thali. This is food I now very much miss.

All smiles with Ilene... one of the fine people I met in training.

Evelyn and Ben showing off the magnetic hippo they were about to give me.

Virtually family: Helen and Dan.

A lively bunch!

Much more importantly than any food or any physical locales are the people who, in the benevolent conspiracy that is life, made my experience in Zambia so varied, rich, gratifying and loving. I miss all of you very much and hope that we will again cross paths in the not distant future. Twalumba!

"I'm leaving on a jet plane... don't know when I'll be back again..." Hopefully not long! :-)

Finished!

2011-06-01T10:35:00.002-04:00

After 10.5 months in Mazabuka, I am finally coming home. The reality is starting to sink in, but it still feels a bit unreal.

I'll post pictures and stories about my final weeks after I've landed on Friday. The last few weeks have been quite hectic!!

Thanks to everyone along the way who has made my time in Zambia an experience of a lifetime.

Desert Fun

2011-05-16T11:52:00.002-04:00

After my tour ended, I headed onwards to Swakopmund to meet up with Victoria. We spent a very foggy and alarmingly cold weekend in this peculiar town. Despite the fog and the cold, we still managed to have a great time.

The first night, we went to an old-style seafood restaurant called The Lighthouse Grill, which was decked out in dark stained wood and large brass nautical implements, accented by the green and red lights from nautical buoys. There was no mistake that we were by the sea, even if we couldn't see much of it.

For Victoria, seafood was a great novelty. I managed to convince her that escargots are tasty, especially when they're doused in melted garlic butter. Calamari and mussels were also an adventure. We topped off our feast with a delicious dessert of Cherries Jubilee – YUMMY! Though nightlife options seemed a bit sparse in Swakopmund, we managed to find a great place where the locals were belting out the classic karaoke tunes... some well, and others not so well.

"I can't believe this is edible!"

Tasty prawns!

Having a blast at karaoke!

The next day, we headed off into the Namib Desert to do some quad-biking over the dunes, as well as the exhilarating (and more than mildly terrifying) phenomenon called sand boarding. This involves lying face down on a piece of particle board greased up with floor polish and then hurtling down a sand dune at full speed. At the end of our adventure in the desert, Victoria said, “My face muscles hurt from smiling so much!” Come to think of it, I never did see a frown on her face. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation.

Setting out on the quad bikes.

Motorized fun!

Smiling under that helmet.

Yes, this is a crazy thing to do.

But it's too much fun to resist!

The realities back in Zambia were quite obvious however: upon coming through the door, I discovered that the water utility had shut off the water for the day. Later, the power also went off for about 20 minutes. Welcome home!

Landscapes as far as the eye can see!

2011-05-16T11:42:00.001-04:00

The itinerary for the camping tour took our group to a few interesting landmarks in southern Namibia. First stop was the Quiver Tree Forest near Keetmanshoop, which the guidebook states is the sunniest town in the world. The town was fairly small and sleepy, but the quiver trees were certainly interesting to see. The trees are actually large aloe plants, which get their name from the way the San bushmen used them. The bushmen would cut off a branch, clear out the spongy material in the middle, and then stretch animal skins over the top and bottom to create a quiver for their arrows. In the late evening and early morning sunlight, the quiver trees were quite a beautiful sight.

Next stop on the itinerary was the Fish River Canyon near the border with South Africa. The canyon was originally created by seismic activity in the area, and has since been gouged deeper over many millions of years by the action of the Fish River. By most educated estimates, the Fish River Canyon is the second largest/deepest/most impressive canyon after the Grand Canyon in the USA. I can believe it.

Afterwards, we spent two nights camping near the tiny town of Aus. Upon reaching the camp, our group went off on a hike around Klein Aus Vista. At one point, we rounded a bend in the path, which gave way to an absolutely breathtaking view of the grasslands and some mountains off in the distance. At that moment, a thunderstorm was also making its way inland from the coast and every so often there were dramatic flashes of chain lightning over the mountains. On our brief hike, we also got up close and personal with some of the feral horses that inhabit the area.

A photo can never do justice to the grandeur of the scenery... but it's beautiful nonetheless. I felt extremely peaceful here.

The next day involved the exploration of long-abandoned Kolmanskop, a town set up in the early 20^th century to service the Sperrgebiet, or diamond-mining area running about 150 kilometres along the coast all the way to the South African border. The ghost town was both interesting and spooky, especially inside the Krankenhaus or hospital. Sadly, the white (mostly German) managers and engineers had many more amenities than the Ovambo workers, whose houses were set quite apart from the main town. Portions of the Sperrgebiet are still being mined for diamonds, which along with its many other geological resources, provide Namibia with significant income. By lunch, we moved on to Lüderitz where we enjoyed a fabulous seafood meal, and the quirky German colonial architecture. Unfortunately, Lüderitz felt like a modern ghost town; since we'd arrived on a national holiday, virtually nobody was out and about that day!

"The patient checked himself out a long time ago, sir!"

The colours of Luderitz.

Distinctive architecture.

Next day, we set off for the main attraction of the tour: Sossusvlei. Sossusvlei is situated in the middle of the Namib Desert and is the prime place to experience the beauty of the desert landscape. Climbing the large sand dunes to see the sun set and rise again was hard work (especially getting out of bed at 4 a.m.), but it was well worth it. I was amazed with the colours and the ecology of this (normally) arid landscape. I say normally, because it actually rained all night after we'd explored the area during the day. The day of our departure, we decamped in about 20 minutes just as the next wave of thunderstorms began pelting our tents. Breakfast was taken on the road at a German bakery offering up delectable pastries. More than adequate compensation for the rains, I'd say. At lunch, we stopped to enjoy a Nama cultural performance - they were great.

Climbing the dunes before dinner was hard work... but running down made me feel like a kid again!

Sunrise over Sossusvlei

Playing with light and shadow.

All this way to photograph dead trees... but they are pretty!

The songs and dances told stories of the Nama people. A funny one involved a male trying to impress a female with his dancing so she would accept his marriage proposal.

Namibia

2011-05-16T11:12:00.001-04:00

It's been a few days now since I returned from my holiday in Namibia. What I found the most striking about Namibia were the landscapes; in my two week visit, I experienced expansive deserts, sea coast, plains, mountains and urban landscapes, all of which offered a feast for the eyes.

Getting there by bus takes a long time, so I broke it up a bit by spending a couple of days around Livingstone before moving onwards to Namibia. In Livingstone, I took the opportunity to catch another glimpse at Victoria Falls, as well as to go zip-lining over a portion of the gorge. That was fun! On recommendation from various people, I also hopped across the border into neighbouring Botswana to spend a day ogling the wildlife at Chobe National Park. Chobe is as impressive as everyone says it is, but really needs a few days to do it full justice.

Takeoff over the Victoria Falls gorge.

Superman!

Taking a drink in the Chobe River.

A nonchalant "log" waiting for an impala to take a drink.

The last of the "Big Five" - a buffalo. One of the deadliest animals on the savannah.

After exploring Chobe, my dear friend Victoria joined me in Livingstone for the long trek to Namibia. Fortunately, the bus was new and comfortable since the journey from Livingstone to Windhoek took about 20 hours. Victoria and I explored Windhoek together before separating for a week. She went to visit a friend in Swakopmund (on the Atlantic coast), while I embarked on a week-long camping tour in the southern part of the country. After the tour, we reunited in Swakopmund to have some fun in the self-proclaimed “adventure sports capital of Africa”.

After a few days of fun and relaxation at the coast, we started our two-day, 2,000-kilometre bus-bound trek back to Mazabuka. Perhaps not the most relaxing way to travel, but with our backpack of sandwiches, snacks and drinks, we survived!

Extension #2

2011-04-24T03:25:00.000-04:00

I know it may be hard to believe, but I have agreed to another short extension to my placement in Zambia. I will now be staying at the Council until May 31, and flying home on June 2 or 3.

The reasons for the extension are to coordinate a training workshop on GIS mapping, to conduct a public meeting on the IDP, and to help in polishing the plan for consideration by the Planning Committee and Council in June.

Meanwhile, I am still also going on a planned holiday in Namibia over the next couple of weeks. I've left some tasks for my colleagues to do while I'm away.

Rest assured that I am looking very much forward to seeing everyone back home in Canada. It won't be much longer, I promise!

The mail must go through...

2011-04-21T13:03:00.000-04:00

It had been a long time since I'd given up hope of ever receiving a promised parcel from my office in Ottawa. Lo and behold, the shipping slip came just today. I eagerly schlepped down to the post office to collect it.

The package was rather bruised and battered, but it appears that the contents were all there. My colleagues sent me a fun card, some magazines, a book, a collapsible water bottle, lip balm and a few other sundry items.

In true end-of-the-week FoTenn fashion, there were armloads of candy too, most prized among them being the maple sugar toffees! Thank you everyone for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

I love the saying on the tape: Found open and officially sealed by Zampost.

Yes, that says November 2, 2010: 170 days ago.

Eager to see what's inside...

... and even more delighted to find out what's inside!

The loot!

And most importantly, the warm wishes of the FoTenn Family!

Same blog channel, same blog time...

2011-04-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

I was fiddling with some design settings and realized I couldn't go back. So here's the new blog look, admittedly late in the game.

The only sheet of ice in Zambia

2011-04-16T07:59:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, it was my turn to be celebrated. This past week I took another bold step into my thirties. So far so good for the decade.

I woke up to find that my roommate Rob had decorated the house with balloons and a banner, and found a gift of some fancy chitenge pants at the breakfast table. At work, I received many good wishes from colleagues as they discovered it was my birthday.

In the evening, Rob and I held a braii at the house to gather everyone together. Inspired by our friend's participatory sushi rolling party, we cut up and marinated ingredients so that everyone could assemble their own kebabs for the grill. In traditional form, Rob was the expert grill-master. The whole party was just great.

Assembling dinner!

One of the most memorable things about the day was when my friend Lweendo showed up at my my office with a gift. I opened it and was completely blown away. She gave me a t-shirt with the words "Mazabuka Curling Team" and the Canadian Curling Association logo on the front; on the back, the shirt bore my name. She insisted that I wear the shirt for the party.

Little did I know that there were going to be three more members of the Mazabuka Curling Team - Lweendo, Victoria, and Victoria's nephew Mwaba - who all showed up in the team shirt. Victoria also made a cake iced to look like a curling sheet! Definitely the only sheet of ice in Zambia.

The only sheet of ice in Zambia!

Meet the team

"Skip" of the Mazabuka Curling Team and baker of the cake: Victoria

In fine Zambian tradition, my neighbour took advantage of me standing alone giving a speech to throw a pail of cold water in my direction. I knew it was coming... the only question was, "When?"

The party was fabulous - folks brought lovely food to accompany the kebabs, wine (and even a bottle of sparkling wine), gifts of art, and a full tray of brownies dressed up with an appropriate number of candles.

Having fun!

The best housemate I could have asked for.

More fun!

Bring in the fire brigade...

I felt so loved and blessed that night. I hope my speech conveyed that same message. Naturally, I will really miss my Zambian friends when I return to Canada in a few weeks time.

A taste of Japan

2011-04-03T11:04:00.000-04:00

Last night, my local Japanese friend celebrated her birthday with a futo-maki (sushi) rolling party, hosted at Marco's house. It was a huge hit!

For the afternoon, the hostess/birthday girl invited everyone to come over to learn how to prepare the sushi ingredients. Later, everyone converged on the house once again to find out how to roll and, more importantly, eat the sushi!

I think the photos show how much fun we had playing with our food... :-)

A lovely Japanese lady shares her skills and love of food with a Zambian, an Italian and a Canadian.

Observing and thinking, "I'll do it better than you."

The next batch...

Hurry up! The rest of us want to eat!

Pleased with the fruits of labour.

Some time ago, Marco (the de facto party master) asked an American friend of his to make up some Hard Rock Café Mazabuka t-shirts prior to visiting. Marco asked us all to put on our "uniform" for a group photo around our prized possession - the pool table. As the evening wore on, we turned up the music and tore up the dance floor.

The Hard Rock Café Mazabuka crowd.

Marco's bar, designed according to the client's wishes by Yours Truly. My brother would have done a much better job but it turned out pretty well.

The sign behind the bar... a Christmas gift designed by Rob and me.

Marco's conversation piece... a funky lamp made out of an old hospital ventilator.

The Sweetest Town in the Nation

2011-04-03T10:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday being a bright, sunny Saturday, I borrowed my roommate's bicycle and went out for a ride. I decided to check out mostly unknown territory (to me at least), by visiting the Nakambala Sugar Estate. It was quite a pleasant (albeit hot) ride.

Mazabuka is popularly known as the Sweetest Town in the Nation as a result of its long association with sugar production. The fields that surround the town, particularly those lying to the north in the Kafue River floodplain are covered by hundreds of hectares of sugar cane. At the heart of the cane plantations is the sugar factory, its associated offices and research departments, and several pockets of staff housing.

As I meandered through the housing area, what struck my eyes as a planner was how orderly and normal everything looked. The roads are a uniform width and they have a proper convex profile to facilitate drainage. Being a sugar plantation, the company even coats the roads with molasses as a cheap substitute for tar (on a hot day, the place does have a somewhat cloying scent, but it's not unpleasant). Housing is set back from the road by an appropriate distance and the houses are well kept. There are some community facilities which appear well-maintained and appreciated by residents. My field trip showed me that viable alternatives to the conditions in many Council-run neighbourhoods are very possible. The examples are even reachable by bicycle.

A molasses-sealed road in the staff area. Looks pretty nice, doesn't it?

I wondered whether there could be some sort of exchange program for Council staff to learn from the "municipal works" staff at Zambia Sugar. Building and maintaining roads is not rocket science!

The Nakambala Factory of Zambia Sugar. Mmm... sweet!

Sugar cane, as far as the eye can see...

The road leading away from the Nakambala House - a relatively posh place to have a drink and a meal in town.

The road leading out of the sugar estate. As I rode back towards home, I realized that this was the skyline of downtown Mazabuka. At four storeys, the building between the poles on the right is the tallest in town.

Galvanized by tragedy

2011-03-28T15:04:00.001-04:00

Truck accidents are an all too common occurrence around Mazabuka. This morning, there was another horrible accident at the Shoprite intersection. A truck loaded with several large bins of ice was en route to the Kafue River to collect fish when it slammed through the fence and rolled over. The biggest tragedy is that there were several people riding in the back of the open trailer. I am told that eleven people lost their lives and that another eight are in hospital with various fractures. The scale of the tragedy is truly difficult to comprehend.

Incidentally, today was the scheduled quarterly meeting of the Full Council. As a result, the councilors were definitely talking about the morning's accident. They resolved that the Council officers should move ahead with the by-pass road and, as an interim measure, find some money to install warning signs and additional speed humps on the current route through town. The sticky situation is that the Councilors are determined that the work should proceed on a different by-pass route than the one proposed in the IDP - essentially replacing an entire 60 kilometre stretch of highway. While their proposal goes through much flatter terrain than the current highway, it will be an astronomically expensive route to build and will disrupt a number of small villages. In contrast, the other by-pass road is about 8 kilometres, crossing through three large farms. No solution is ever perfect...

The day's deliberations.

Recognizing the dangers of the Shoprite intersection, the Council did recently get out and paint the road with some markings to control traffic. I've spent a bit of time observing the intersection and have noticed that people do pay heed to the lanes and the stop line. It's a start, but it won't stop any runaway trucks.

More fresh produce

2011-03-26T08:01:00.000-04:00

It just keeps getting better. Now the local bananas are back in season, along with these strange looking oranges called “naartjies”. I assume that's just Afrikaans for “orange” since in Spanish the word is “naranja” and in Italian “arancia”. The naartjies have a greenish-yellow peel which makes one think they've been picked too early; however the insides are much like tangerine – decidedly orange and decidedly tasty.

The finger bananas don't look like much on the outside (one would expect to see them on the mark-down rack at the supermarket), but inside they're oh-so-sweet and full of flavour. The texture is very smooth and creamy.

Local produce - yummy!

In addition, the maize crop is about ready to harvest. After a dry spell of a few weeks duration, the rains came back but with not as much gusto as in December-January. Nevertheless, the rains returned at just the right time to rescue the crops from an otherwise disappointing (disastrous?) harvest. Stella, our cleaner, planted maize in the garden, which has grown to about three metres tall. I never knew maize would grow that high!

The towering stalks of maize in the backyard.

Under African Skies

2011-03-25T07:58:00.000-04:00

As we begin the transition from the southern summer to winter, the sunset comes earlier – around 5:45 p.m. It's now pretty much dark by about 6:30, whereas during December we still had some light in the sky after 7. Not a huge difference I know, but it is noticed nonetheless.

While people find inspiration in evening skies just about everywhere on the globe, those found in Africa must be among the most beautiful. These days, when I go running after work, I run under beautiful cloud formations painted all shades of gold, blue, orange, pink and purple. It's quite a nice treat after a sometimes difficult day.

I've decided to post some of the evening sky shots I've taken over the last several months, to give everyone the idea of what I mean. A photo will never fully do justice to a full sky-scape... I guess you'll have to come and see for yourselves some time.

Sunset over Lake Kariba

Setting up camp on the Lower Zambezi River after a long day of paddling.

The blues, golds and purples of Kasanka N.P.

Sunset on the walk home from work.

Skies over Mazabuka

Another evening sky phenomenon is also worth sharing. During the sugar harvests, the fields are set alight to burn off all the unwanted plant matter, which leaves the cane to be cut more easily. The first time I saw the fields on fire, I actually heard it first. It sounded a bit like the roar of a heavy rainstorm on the roof, but not quite. I went outside to investigate and was amazed to see the tongues of fire rising above the treetops!

Fire's burning, fire's burning, draw nearer, draw nearer, in the gloaming, in the gloaming, come sing and be merry.

This looked and sounded particularly impressive.

Colourful Currency

2011-03-13T09:01:00.001-04:00

I've always been interested in nerdy things like currency and stamps. Yes, I said it, I'm a nerd. Didn't you know?

So, I've done something to further prove my nerdiness... I took photos of all the banknotes and made a collage. Hey, I had to test the fancy features of my photo editing software somehow...

ZMK 86,650 = $18.05

Environmentalism?

2011-03-12T08:50:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I bought a few of the “green” shopping bags proudly on sale at the Shoprite store. Since there's virtually no recycling, and waste disposal is a difficult issue here, I thought I'd do my part to reduce the amount of waste going to the dump.

The problem is that every time I go to the store, I get hassled by the security guard to check my environmentally-friendly bags at the store manager's office. At the checkout, as the cashier or bagging clerk starts putting things in plastic, I yelp, “Wait, I've got bags!” So I go off to get them, return, and find that the groceries are all wrapped in plastic anyway.

Today I did a major shopping and brought my knapsack, plus the reusable bags to carry everything home. I still ended up with eight additional plastic shopping bags... head office policy obviously hasn't reached Mazabuka.

"Shoprite bag saver: A Shoprite environmental initiative."

My actual grocery wrapping.

More trouble on the street

2011-03-12T08:42:00.001-05:00

Today when I went into town for some shopping, I happened upon another scene of devastation on the main street of Mazabuka. Apparently a truck with failed brakes came careening down the hill towards the Shoprite, hit a bus and then flipped on its side before coming to rest in a series of storefronts along the main street. When I got there, a heavy piece of machinery was set up to drag the truck out of the way. It was more or less spinning its wheels.

There was plenty of debris around since the truck had wiped out several pillars from the colonnade along the storefronts. My thoughts also leapt to the fact that usually several informal salespeople are stationed directly outside those stores. I understand from another resident that two of the fruit sellers were injured but that nobody was killed in the accident. This is all quite alarming... let's get crackin' on that by-pass road folks!

International Women's Day

2011-03-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

Tuesday March 8 was International Women's Day, which is celebrated as a public holiday in Zambia. To celebrate, women (and a few male allies – good to see) march through town under various banners in coordinated outfits. The march ends up at a central location for a variety of speeches and other activities. It was certainly a nice treat to have a day off for this.

This year, so I am told, the riots of the previous week had disturbed the planning for International Women's Day. So the march was pushed to Friday. Of course, I went out to have a look and add my support. Everyone appeared to be having such a great time that Friday became a de facto holiday as well. I returned to the office for most of the day, where it was nice and quiet for a change!

Ladies from the Council marching in the parade.

Dangerous driver

2011-03-11T07:55:00.000-05:00

After many months of walking, I rode a bicycle for the first time today. It was quite a liberating experience. However, after the first 200 metres, I wondered, "Why is that car coming directly towards me?" It was at that moment that I realized I should be on the left side of the road.

Old habits die hard...

An international audience

2011-03-11T04:25:00.000-05:00

The other day, I realized that I could check the statistics on how many people are reading my blog. I was really astonished to find that my blog has had over 5,000 visits since I started it up last year - an average of about 18 per day. Okay, perhaps that's not a huge amount of traffic, but I still find it interesting.

I was most surprised to see where my readers come from (South Korea and Ukraine were the most surprising). The top ten are shown in the column on the left.

Page views since inception - click to enlarge

Peter's Farewell

2011-03-10T08:49:00.000-05:00

Sadly, another farewell party. This one was for Peter, a Ugandan volunteer who has been working with the Council for the last two years. His placement was to assist in implementing the Council's Workplace Policy on HIV & AIDS. It's no secret that HIV & AIDS is devastating Africa and Zambia is no exception. Though I'm no expert on the issue, I have heard that the prevalence rate exceeds 15% here. Scary stuff.

Peter has made an important contribution to the Council's understanding of how to respond to the human resource aspects of HIV & AIDS. Most Council workers are affected by the disease in one way or another – either they are personally infected, or else family and friends are. This can result in missed work days due to illness or the need to take care of family members, inability to do certain tasks (particularly physical ones), and significant strains on household resources.

This post is not intended to dwell too much on the HIV & AIDS side of things (plenty of other resources out there), but I did want to point out that the personal nature of the work Peter has done really made an impact on people working for the Council. As a result, when we had the farewell party at the Council motel on Wednesday evening, it was touching to hear all the comments offered up by those in attendance. Each person had an opportunity to say a few words about their experience working with Peter. I recalled his friendly and unique way of greeting me each morning: “How are we?” and how he thoroughly entertained the University of Zambia students last December, all the while disseminating some very serious information on HIV & AIDS prevention. That's a talent.

After the speeches and formalities, we all tucked in to a tasty braii and found our groove on the dance floor! Peter will be missed by many.

Posing with the Planning Department (Peter: 3rd from right)

Posing with the Deputy Director of Planning and the Mayor

Peter imparting a few final words of wisdom to the Council and accepting a gift of appreciation.

All smiles!

Leaving Livingstone

2011-03-06T08:59:00.007-05:00

Two weeks ago, my friend Emily returned to England after her year as a VSO in Livingstone. To send her off, a bunch of us went down to Livingstone for a celebration. I saw a new and impressive aspect of the falls called the "Boiling Pot", which required a somewhat arduous descent into the canyon below the falls. Frankly, the hardest part was keeping a footing on the slippery path.

It was sad to send off another good friend but I guess this is just the way it goes.

Enjoying drinks (or about to, I guess) at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

Victoria and Andrew - all smiles!

Emily contemplating her next moves... in more ways than one. Best of luck!

The Boiling Pot below the falls and the Zambia-Zimbabwe bridge.

Posing at the Boiling Pot

We had to tread carefully around the mother baboon and her babies on the way up.

Juxtapositions 3: The Mazabuka Olympics

2011-03-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

The Mazabuka contingent of expats and volunteers has acquired a reputation as a party crowd. Befitting the reputation, we organized an Olympics party last weekend. Competitors vied for the medals in Darts, Ping-Pong and Billiards. Teams of two were drawn randomly, along with the country they were to represent. In a strange twist of fate, I was the only person who drew his own country – Canada! It was a close competition, but the Zambian team prevailed to snatch the gold medal.

Double 19 to win!

Refreshments between events!

Posing with Victoria

... later declared the bronze medalist from "Team Germany"

The gold medalists from "Team Zambia"

Juxtapositions 2: Birthdays

2011-03-06T08:48:00.001-05:00

Despite the tensions in Mazabuka, there are always reasons to celebrate... such as birthdays. My colleagues and friends Pami and Ennie celebrated their respective birthdays a few days ago and insisted that I take some photos. Camera ownership is not so common in Zambia so people usually find it a great novelty to have their snaps taken. Now that I've posted the photos, I'll need to make good on my promise to print them out for the ladies...

Posing with the birthday girl, Ennie

Ennie with Rob and Judy

Pami (2nd from left) and colleagues

Sweet treats

Juxtapositions 1: Modern Life in the Capital

2011-03-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

Upon leaving Mazabuka amid the protests, store closures and the general sense of unease, I came to Lusaka for a long weekend. My friends Helen and Dan have been generous hosts on short notice. It's always a pleasure to spend time with them.

I spent Friday morning at the VSO office catching up on some correspondence, updating my computer and informing the VSO staff about the situation in Mazabuka. In the afternoon, I went to the clinic for an overdue check-up (all fine), and then off to the mall to replace my decaying dress shoes (the uneven pavements and muddy roads have badly abused my shoes!) I tried setting up an appointment to see Habitat for Humanity, but seeing as it was short notice on a Friday, I got nowhere with that request.

As I sat at the mall enjoying a delicious cup of mocha java at Mugg & Bean, I couldn't help but think that this felt like such another world from the one I'd left the day before. A shiny new mall, a western-style coffee shop, and several styles of shoe to choose from...

Manda Hill reopened in November after a major renovation. Could be the Eaton Centre.

Not so different from Loblaws

Evacuated

2011-03-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, the situation in Mazabuka has escalated. The police were out again today allegedly looking for the protesters in the Nakambala neighbourhood.

This morning, my VSO Country Director wrote me an email asking how I felt about staying/leaving, and as I wrote my response to her, I heard new gun shots. And then some machine gun fire. The Deputy Director and I subsequently decided it was time to close the office and send everyone home. As we were leaving, a new crowd started to gather around the police station which is quite literally a stone's throw (or perchance a bullet's trajectory?) from our office. I understand there were at least two more deaths today.

While I probably wouldn't have been in any real danger by staying in my house, I took the first offer of a ride and came to Lusaka to chill out for a few days... with my passport, just in case. I would never have expected this excitement. I am safe, but I hope and pray that the violence ceases soon.

Senseless tragedy

2011-03-02T05:05:00.002-05:00

Around 9:30 this morning, a large and noisy crowd began to assemble on the street in front of the police station. Naturally, work ground to a halt and everyone went out to see what was going on.

Some of the mob started vandalizing the large stone planter in the centre of the town's one (pretty) roundabout intersection. From my vantage point, I could see that they were taking portions of the stone wall to blockade the road.

After a while, people started running away from the scene as the police began shooting canisters of tear gas into the street. My very open office is not more than 100 metres from the scene. I didn't even have to get out of my seat to see and hear what was going on. Or to feel the mild effects of the tear gas on my eyes, nose and tongue. I would not want a full dose of that stuff...

Police considering their next moves.

Once people fled the original scene, the street became rather deserted. However, the rioters obviously moved off in other directions, as there were still many shots (of just tear gas, I hope) in the distance.

So, what prompted all this?

It's no secret that there was a Manchester United vs. Chelsea football game on last night in the UK. It's also no secret that Zambians are crazy about football. Although the rest is third-hand information, here is what I understand of the situation.

There was a bar in one of the compounds where the football game was being shown on TV. There was a crowd of people at the bar, watching the game. Since the rules prohibit bars from opening past 21:00 on weeknights, there might have been a noise complaint from a neighbour. The police came and decided to fire tear gas into the bar. Three people died as a result of the scuffle - early reports said they suffocated due to the gas, but more recent reports say they died in the stampede to get out of the bar.

This morning, the people came to protest the deaths outside the police station. Apparently nobody came out to address them, so they started throwing stones and causing (minor) havoc. The police then sent out their people with more tear gas, Plexiglas shields and guns and essentially the town has been shut down as the forces mobilized to suppress the protesters. To make things worse, I am told that the tear gas suffocated a baby.

It's not the first time that a sporting event has led to havoc and deaths, nor unfortunately do I think this will be the last.

Rainy relief

2011-02-28T10:52:00.000-05:00

It turns out that those teasing thundershowers last Friday were the beginning of some more substantial rains. It has rained hard at times over the last few days and nights (though not as steadily as before). Consequently, many people are breathing sighs of relief.

Before now, I've never really been in a place where the threat of drought has had such severe implications. Droughts and famines are among those "tragedies" that we hear about from afar, but rarely experience for ourselves. By the time agricultural calamities reach Canadian grocery stores, the effects show up as temporarily higher prices or a few days where we can't buy grapefruit.

Here, lack of rain means that the main staples fail and people truly go hungry. Food for thought...

Weather worries

2011-02-25T07:36:00.000-05:00

It's now been over three weeks since Mazabuka has seen any rain. The situation is not yet a real problem, but everyone is becoming increasingly worried about the weather. The maize crops that sprouted so eagerly in December and January need some more water to finish maturing. Some of the plants are already starting to go yellow.

Today, we've had a few very light thunder showers which haven't done much but dampen the leaves and cool the air. A colleague said, "It's as if the rain is joking with us." Another colleague said a few days ago, "It looks like we're going from bumper harvest (2010) to hunger." It's a long way to the next rainy season next November if this is it!

I sincerely hope we get some rain soon!!

The Case for Planning in Mazabuka

2011-02-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

The following is a second article for the Mazabuka Times on the IDP:

***

In the January issue of the Mazabuka Times, we reported on the walking tours that were held with each of the Residential Development Committees (RDC) and Market Committees in the urban area of Mazabuka. The walking tours were popular among committee members, and they provided important insights into how residents live, work and move within their community. These “universal priorities” were: roads and drainage, markets, water service and waste management.

A follow up meeting was held with the RDCs on December 16, 2010 to formulate actions regarding the universal priorities. The discussion was intense and productive; the results of this meeting will be key in developing the policies and strategies to include in the final Integrated Development Plan for Mazabuka.

While stakeholders need to work towards improvements on each of these priorities, there are a number of higher-level, strategic issues that need attention for the IDP to succeed over its ten-year planning horizon. The purpose of this article is to highlight a few of these issues:

Keeping pace with population growth and service demands

Mazabuka is a thriving and growing community. In the previous Census (2000), the population of Mazabuka district was estimated at about 240,000 people, with over 80,000 people residing in the built-up urban area of the community. Annual population growth at that time was estimated in the range of 4%. However, a more recent estimate stated that the population was 280,000 in the year 2008. The change between 2000 and 2008 implies that the population might only have grown at an average of 2% per year in that time.

If the population of Mazabuka continues to expand at a rate of 2% per year, the population of Mazabuka district will reach over 360,000 by the year 2021, with more than 125,000 people living in the urban area. However, if population growth accelerates to 4% per year, the overall results will be far more dramatic. Under the second scenario, the district population would approach 550,000 with nearly 200,000 people living in town.

Population projections can never fully capture what will happen in the future, mainly because we can never “know” the future. The importance of projections is that they can guide decision makers as they plan for future housing developments, new and upgraded infrastructure and expansion of community services. Population projections require regular monitoring to ensure that development keeps pace with the “new arrivals”, which consist of newborn babies or migrants from other parts of Zambia.

Economic opportunity and secure livelihoods

As the local population continues to grow, it is essential to create and foster the conditions which will provide opportunities for women, men and youth to create secure livelihoods for themselves. Secure livelihoods can mean many things but according to Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), “A secure livelihood means having access to the income and resources necessary to meet basic needs and survive shocks. It also means having more control over how [one's] living is made.”

The concept of secure livelihoods is central to the work that VSO and other organizations are doing in Zambia, and is fundamental to the practice of town planning. Vibrant and healthy communities depend on the success of local business ventures which are supported by a qualified and adequately paid workforce. Mazabuka is fortunate to host some major employers such as Zambia Sugar, Albidon Mine and several commercial farms, which provide jobs to many. However, it is also important to remember that the community survey for the IDP, which was completed in 2008, revealed that nearly 30% of the respondents are self-employed (e.g. operating a market stall, consulting, running a restaurant). A further 34% of survey respondents said that they are unemployed, which is a rather alarming figure. Mazabuka's future prosperity will therefore depend on creating economic opportunities to reduce such high rates of unemployment.

Protecting the environment

It is often easy to ignore the fact that humans are as much a part of the environment as are the trees, grass, birds and insects that surround us. But we can only ignore this fact at our own peril.

Town planning has much to do with environmental protection. For instance, it is generally good practice to set developments well back (e.g. 30 metres) from the high water mark of streams and rivers to avoid seasonal flooding to homes. Setting development back from the water's edge also benefits the stream, since pollutants from everyday human activities (e.g. using the toilet, washing laundry, disposing garbage) can be released into the water. These pollutants change the chemistry of the water, which can harm aquatic plants and animals. Since many among us eat fish and take water from the Kafue River, these pollutants can eventually harm us too!

Another example is that as we continue to buy manufactured goods, plastic-based packaging such as bags, bottles and wrapping makes its way into the community. Usually, these packages are designed to be strong and durable, which is great for transporting the manufactured item over a long distance. The downside is that these products don't easily break down once they've been used and later become waste. In Mazabuka, where many households either burn or bury their wastes in the yard, it means that we risk exposing ourselves directly to the chemicals that are released into the air, water and land. For these reasons, the Council is already working on new programs to collect waste from town, after which it can be dumped in a safe and properly designed waste disposal site.

Conclusion

Without doubt, town planning is an exciting and rewarding profession. However, it is no small challenge to integrate the needs of residents into one plan which addresses so many themes! There are many more to include in the eventual plan – the ones mentioned here are but a few issues to think about when planning the future growth and development of Mazabuka.

From the vault

2011-02-10T06:41:00.001-05:00

One of the things we need to do for the IDP is to have a proper dialogue with the landholders south of town to explain the Council's need for a by-pass road, and to secure land for future development. I consider this to be one of our most pressing tasks.

To proceed, it seems important to know the boundaries of all the land parcels to the south. Accordingly, I decided it would be a good idea to to have a look in the old map cabinet in our drafting office. It was a bit of an eye-opener.

After searching for some time, I never really found what I was looking for. However, I did manage to find the Mazabuka Development Plan dating back to 1977, plus a number of hand-drawn lot plans for various parts of town. In their current storage environment unfortunately, the mylar sheets are becoming quite brown and faded. It was interesting to see what was planned so many years ago. I do however wonder what will have come of the 2011 IDP, 34 years hence. :-)

The map cabinet

The Mazabuka Development Plan, circa 1977

The harvests continue

2011-02-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

As I hear of friends and family shivering in the -33C weather back in Ottawa/Toronto, I can't help but think how different my February looks.

Case in point: this evening as I approached my front gate, I found a small gaggle of children brazenly munching on the ripening guavas from the tree outside our wall fence. I'm not quite sure what the law says about trees in the boulevard, but Rob and I do feel some sense of ownership over the guava tree... and its fruit!

I wanted a few of the guavas too - just to try. So at my signal, the kids clambered back up in the branches and started pulling off fruit and throwing it down. They pulled at everything so I said, "Stop taking the green ones! Just the yellow ones!" Their reply was a bright and typically childlike, "Yes!" It was obvious that they didn't understand me very well. Eventually I asked them to come down and tried to explain that I didn't want them coming back to take ALL the fruit. I don't mind the kids taking some of them, but naturally we want a few (preferably ripe ones) to enjoy too!

Sadly, the mango season ended a few weeks ago. While we had far too many mangoes on the trees for our modest household to consume, I have a strong suspicion that the kids got into our compound and pilfered a few. There were so many and then suddenly very few. Where could they all have gone? I figure some might even have been sold in the market.

I'm actually rather amused about the situation. And on the upside, if we contributed some vitamins and income to some local kids, all the better!

D.I.Y. Utilities Inc.

2011-01-15T05:54:00.000-05:00

This morning, Rob and I woke up to find both the water and the power off. While it's a bit of overkill to get a generator, it's certainly no problem to harness the rains that so amply pour out of the sky.

Within a few minutes, I had three large buckets of water with which to do some dishwashing, toilet flushing, etc. If the situation persists for long, I'll pour the water through the filter and add some chlorine so that we have drinking water too. After all, the sky is where our drinking water comes from, isn't it?

The rainwater harvesting operation.

The fruits of my industry.

Rainy season

2011-01-12T05:42:00.001-05:00

This week, I finally received a Christmas card from my mother in which she asked whether the initial rains had been temporary. No, indeed they are not temporary or light by any means. I thought I'd show a few photos to highlight what is meant by “rainy season”.

If one didn't know that this was my street, they might mistake it for the Zambezi River.

The view from the office breezeway during one of the storms.

Freedom 55 Retirement

2011-01-10T05:31:00.001-05:00

For Councils in Zambia, the mandatory retirement age is an alarmingly young 55 years old. However, in a country where overall life expectancy is only 45, it is undoubtedly an accomplishment to reach 55. This contrasts starkly with the Canadian dream of retiring under the “Freedom 55” plan; it is clearly not the same situation here.

This past Friday, on my first day back at work, the Council held a retirement party to honour the four individuals that are departing to enjoy their “golden years”. My sense however, is that retirement at 55 can be a very uncertain event for those who are still able-bodied and of sound mind. Financially, retirement can also be an uncertain time for Zambians. With Council resources stretched as thin as they are, it is no secret that the Council struggles to pay the full lump sum retirement benefit that they pledge to their retiring employees.

Difficulties and uncertainties aside, the party was a fun time for everyone from directors to street sweepers to get together, dance and enjoy some laughs. I hadn't even expected to go to the party, but was asked to give the closing remarks on the fly. I kept my speech short and positive, and ended with a prayer-song written by my friend, singer-songwriter Pat Mayberry from Ottawa:

When you go from this place, be true.
May the blessing of life find you.
May the winds of the Spirit guide you,
Across the ocean of all your days.
May the seeds of your love, your life, adorn the way.

It took some courage to sing solo a capella, but the song was well-received. Many thanks to Pat for your inspiring words and music!

Matebeto

2011-01-09T05:45:00.000-05:00

Last night, my good friends Victoria and Lweendo prepared and hosted a group of us for a traditional Bemba dinner. I learned this week that the word for a buffet in the Bemba language is “matebeto”. All the dishes were quite tasty, though it took a leap of faith to try fried caterpillars for the first time. My favourite foods were the pumpkin leaves, fresh kapenta (2-inch long fish), beans and okra. It was a fun evening out with friends.

The justifiably proud hostess Victoria presenting her matebeto!


A little bit of everything. Naturally, no Zambian meal would be complete without a large lump of nshima to use as an utensil. Clockwise from the nshima: liver, okra, beans, kapenta, fried caterpillars, pumpkin leaves and spinach with pounded groundnuts.

Extension

2011-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

Though news has been getting around, I thought I'd take the opportunity to officially let everyone know that I'm going to be staying in Zambia a little longer than originally anticipated. My initial placement was designed for six months from July 15, 2010 to January 15, 2011 (yes, next week!), but to ensure that we get a bit more done, I've been asked to stay a few months more.

Consequently, I'll be working in Mazabuka until April 21, 2011, after which I'll travel a bit and then return home on May 15, 2011.

Incidentally, if any Canadian friends or family members would like to visit me in these next few months, let me know soon so we can arrange something before it's too late!

Urban Zanzibar: Stone Town

2011-01-06T12:09:00.001-05:00

The following day, it was time to say goodbye to Nungwi and hello to Stone Town. While the rest of my group moved in separate directions, I remained for a few days to spend time exploring the city and visiting with Wendy. It was quite an enchanting place to ramble around, with its exceptionally narrow and twisting streets, Persian-inspired architecture, and countless tasty smells wafting from the restaurants and stalls. The ubiquitous touts hawking anything from t-shirts to tours were a little annoying; however a polite and firm “No, thank you” usually did the trick. I quite enjoyed taking a spice tour to see how many of our exotic spices (e.g. nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, turmeric) and fruits (e.g. pineapples, breadfruit, jackfruit) are grown.

Middle Eastern architectural influence.

A stately entrance.

I've never seen a market that wasn't colourful.

Coffee with Wendy (centre) and Sine.

I loved the ornate Zanzibari doors.

And all of their details.

The way to get around in style.

Zanzibar seems to be a fashion capital.

This is a street. Pretty narrow!

The original meaning of the term "haywire."

Immature cloves.

Yep, it's a pineapple.

Annatto used as a natural lipstick or a colourant for tandoori curries.

Back in Stone Town after visiting the spice plantation, I took a sombre but moving tour of the Anglican Cathedral. The cathedral was built directly over the site of the former slave market, which operated until the late 1800s. The altar was built over the former whipping post where, as the name suggests, the slaves were mercilessly whipped to find out which were the “strongest” and therefore most valuable for selling. The guide explained that the position of the altar was symbolically chosen to represent the triumph of “good over evil”. Two of the former slave chambers remain in existence; conditions for the slaves were shockingly squalid. A powerful monument was erected outside the church to depict the brutality and inhumanity of this bygone era.

Anglican Cathedral built in the late 1800s using coral cement.

50 people were crammed into the smaller room.

75 slaves at a time were crammed into this room where nobody could stand.

Slaves were chained together next to other slaves that spoke other languages.

The morning after final sundowners and tasty cheap food on the beach, I said goodbye to Wendy and made my way back to Dar es Salaam and onwards to Lusaka. It was a splendid holiday that I will remember forever.

Another splendid sunset.

As I shuttled between taxis, ferries, trains, and planes on my way back to Zambia, I couldn't help but recall the lyrics of one of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs, Black Crow:

I took a ferry to a highway
Then I drove to a pontoon plane
I took a plane to a taxi
And a taxi to a train.
I've been travelling so long,
How am I ever gonna know
My home, when I see it again?
I feel like that black crow
Flying, in a blue sky.

The dawn of a New Year

2011-01-03T11:57:00.002-05:00

On the 31^st, we shifted north to the happening town of Nungwi. The beach there dropped off much more steeply into the sea so swimming was much easier than at Bwejuu. After a dip in the ocean, we all enjoyed the last sunset of 2010 sprawled out on the beach watching local boys making an aquatic jungle gym out of a small boat in the foreground. New Year's dinner was a fun affair at tables set out on the beach, although the service was rather poor. Oh well – something had to be imperfect.

Daladala #116 to Nungwi - a tight squeeze (28 people) but a cheap ($1) lift to the north.

Daladalas are basically pickup trucks with covered benches in the back.

We attended a beach party at a neighbouring resort, where we enjoyed fireworks and a bonfire on the beach. I had unfortunately hurt my foot a few days earlier and consequently was not in shape to do much more than hobble around on the dance floor. (Jan. 9 update: foot is still slightly sore but I can now walk properly). Christiane and I had a great chat on the beach which was essentially a farewell, as her placement has ended. It's a little unreal to send people off to different continents perhaps not to be seen again. I certainly hope not.

The ultimate New Year's Eve activity

Waiting for dinner with Christiane.

New Year's Eve festivities.

More New Year's festivities.

Having fun!

At any rate, it was the warmest New Year's Eve I can ever remember – it lies in stark contrast with outdoor concerts at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto or Place D'Youville in Quebec City!

New Year's Day was a relaxed affair; each of us seemed to want to do own own thing. I met up with my friend Wendy, with whom I'd trained at the CUSO offices in Ottawa. In a twist of luck, her placement is actually on Zanzibar, though it sounds even more challenging than my own placement from a professional standpoint.

The next day, several of us went snorkelling at Mnemba Atoll, where the waters took on utterly impossible hues of blue and green. The marvels under the water lived up to expectations and then some; the waters teemed with fish of every colour and size. The SCUBA divers on our trip came back with pictures of large sea turtles and other creatures. I wished I'd gone diving, but since it had been eight years since my last dive, I figured it was safer to stay nearer the surface. As part of our package, the crew prepared a delicious feast of grilled tuna and vegetables, with mouth watering mangoes and pineapples for dessert.

The final sunset of 2010.

A spicy destination: Zanzibar

2010-12-30T11:56:00.000-05:00

What can I say about Zanzibar in a nutshell? For one thing, it is every bit the paradise island that it claims to be with its white sand beaches, bath-temperature azure seas, exquisite seafood and a laid-back island culture.

Arrival in Stone Town

Upon arriving in Stone Town, I met up with the rest of our contingent that had travelled a few days earlier. Together we hired a van to take us across the island to Bwejuu, where we were planning to stay for a few days. About halfway through our journey, one of the tires blew out, so we waited for a while until a replacement was found. Naturally, there was no spare tire in the van – too easy.

Transportation difficulties.

Bwejuu was a great spot to spend a few days relaxing on the beach and getting to know everyone a little better. I enjoyed some delicious dishes, including grilled kingfish, octopus & spinach washa washa (spicy), and savoury pilau rice. One day, a few of us took part in a Swahili cooking demonstration in a village home, where we learned to make fish in coconut sauce and chapatis. The chapatis take a great deal more effort than one would think – to make a proper chapati, the dough needs to be rolled out, rubbed with butter, stretched, coiled like a cobra, rolled out again, and then individually fried in oil while folding the dough in various configurations. Despite the effort, the results were exceptionally tasty.

Learning to make chapatis.

Shredding coconut in the special coconut shredder seat!

The fruits of our labours. Divine.

The beach at Bwejuu was an enormous delight by night too. With the Indian Ocean stretching out into inky blackness and very few lights on shore to spoil the view, the clear skies revealed their starry splendour. However, since this is the Southern Hemisphere, I was a bit at a loss to identify constellations other than unmistakable Orion. Others pointed out the Seven Sisters, and I took an educated guess at the Southern Cross. From my experience, looking up at a field of stars can (and often does) provoke deep conversation; at one point, I found myself answering genuine questions about the birth and death of stars, the nature and number of galaxies, and details on what constitutes a shooting star. The contents of the “professor's lecture” were of course fully credited to the late Carl Sagan and his brilliant book, Cosmos.

My guess is that the cows came for the natural salt-lick!

Great place to read and relax!

My shirt was almost camouflage in this tropical paradise.

A little bit of nightlife!

Cosmpolitan Africa: Dar es Salaam

2010-12-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

Though I only spent a few hours in Dar es Salaam, I found it a very pleasant and interesting city. Dar es Salaam, while not the political capital of Tanzania, is most certainly a commercial and cultural capital. With a name bestowed by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1860 that means “Haven of Peace”, I also hope that it is a place where all people continue to get along.

Quite unlike Lusaka (sorry Zambia), Dar es Salaam has a proper, lived-in downtown, with a radial grid of streets centering on the port area. The streets positively bustle with pedestrians, hawkers, bicycles and and other vehicles. The centuries-old layers of cultural influence are readily apparent, with Swahili, Persian, Arabic and Indian shops lining the streets. Of course, it took some time to get used to the new greetings I heard – my Tonga “Mwabuka buti!” was rather useless in a place where everyone greeted me with a friendly “Jambo!” or “Mambo vipi!” Crap, what am I supposed to say now!?

Cool Art Deco architecture.

House of worship

Dar es Salaam City Hall

Within the most recent century, Tanzania has been both a German and then a British colony and those influences were also readily apparent as Christiane and I walked around downtown. The buildings from the German colonial period have retained a lot of their funky Art Deco-Bauhaus style, which I really enjoyed. The impressive St. Joseph's Cathedral, right near the waterfront, was built by German missionaries. In the harbour, it was also cool to see the hulking ocean-going ships loading and unloading their high stacks of colourful sea containers.


Dar es Salaam skyline.

Dar es Salaam is one of Africa's busiest ports.

After spending a fun (though admittedly rather hot) morning walking around, I boarded the sleek and sophisticated fast ferry to Zanzibar.

The Tazara Christmas Express

2010-12-26T10:53:00.002-05:00

Christmas had an entirely different feel this year. Not least of which was the temperature – I've never before worn shorts, t-shirt and sandals on Christmas Day. That was definitely a treat!

On December 24^th, I embarked on an enchanting and relaxing 51-hour train trip from Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with a small group of friends. The TAZARA (TAnzania-ZAmbia Railway Authority) train runs twice weekly between the two destinations, stopping in several towns and villages on its picturesque meander though the countryside. Our ultimate destination was to be the idyllic island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean; however the journey was almost as fascinating and alluring in its own right.

Home for 51 hours

Since we were travelling over Christmas, we couldn't ignore the need to celebrate. Friends Ben and Evelyn brought a gourmet spread of finger foods, along with battery-operated mini-lights and Christmas decorations, so that we could have grand little party in their compartment on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we broke out the iPods and battery-operated speakers so that we could belt out the Christmas tunes. I had “jokingly” been pre-appointed as Santa Claus, but I took the job seriously and brought a few highly appreciated presents for everyone. Christiane broke out her reindeer antlers so that she could partake in all the reindeer games, unlike poor Rudolph! At the train station in Kapiri Mposhi, we also met and “adopted” Amanda into our little family celebration. It was a Christmas celebration that I'll remember forever.

Christmas Eve celebration!

Christiane and Ben grooving to the music.

Evelyn displaying her Christmas castanets. "Feliz Navidad" ala Jose Feliciano simply needed more percussion in our view.

The rest of the ride was interesting and relaxing. The countryside changed a fair bit as we moved northeast from the highlands of Zambia toward the tropical coastline at Dar Es Salaam. I was really impressed with the farms in Tanzania, which seemed to be either neater or just more intensive than those in Zambia. As we passed through the various stops, the produce offered up to us at the windows also changed. At some point, coconuts and divinely delicious pineapples became available alongside the mangoes and bananas. Yum!

Traveling through the Kilombero Valley of Tanzania.

Border town of Tunduma, Tanzania

Fresh fruit? Five mangoes for the equivalent of 20 cents? Yes please!

The border crossing was a bit of an event too. At the last station in Zambia, the border agents came on to put exit stamps in the passports. After the border agents came through, the money changers boarded the train to frenziedly exchange US dollars and Zambian kwacha for Tanzanian shillings. Fortunately Ben had checked the exchange rates before getting on so that we could negotiate better rates. The conversions took a bit of getting used to at about $1 for every 1350 shillings. Then came the cell phone agents to sell Tanzanian telephone numbers and air time – all part of the process.

The menu was not extensive, but the train food was surprisingly tasty and inexpensive.

Within a few hours of reaching Dar Es Salaam, we passed through the Selous Game Reserve (a World Heritage Site), and saw wildebeest, warthogs and a few graceful giraffes from the train windows. Very cool!

As soon as the train made its last lurching halt at the terminal in Dar Es Salaam, the porters and taxi drivers were immediately (and somewhat alarmingly) knocking at our compartment doors, trying earnestly to make deals to transport our bags and bodies to our hotel. We negotiated what we thought was a fair price but later discovered that we'd paid about four times as much as we should have to get downtown: 50,000 shillings equals about $35. Welcome to Tanzania!

Anyways, the rip-off was almost forgotten by the time Christiane and I tucked in to the excellent Indian food from the restaurant at our hotel. This was just the beginning of the great food adventure that awaited us in Zanzibar!

Compliments of the season!

2010-12-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

Though I've known for months that it was coming, somehow Christmas has taken me by surprise. I just can't seem to shake this feeling that it's July. Oh right, I'm in the Southern Hemisphere.

While we tend to say "Merry Christmas!", "Happy Holidays!" or "Season's Greetings!", the typical Zambian greeting at this time of year is "Compliments of the season!" I've tried it out a few times this week and received wide smiles and warm wishes in return.

A few snaps from Christmas week:

Celebrating with Stellah and family

Christmas tea with my neighbours.

Exploring Christmas crackers for the first time!

Ooh! The excitement of being royalty for an hour!

A lively dinner party crew.

The first taste of boiled tree sap from a faraway land. Definitely a hit. :-)

I wish everyone everywhere a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The running club

2010-12-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

After a somewhat stressful day, I was a bundle of nervous energy. From my experience, the best recipe to beat the stress-induced blues is to get some exercise. So, I decided to go for a run.

While I did get the intended benefits of my run, I got a few others that I hadn't counted on:

In my first 500 metres, I got an enthusiastic hug from a teenage girl. As I continued on, my new friend and her three girlfriends literally fell down laughing. I must truly be irresistible in this new beard...
In a vacant field at the edge of the neighbourhood, some ladies were busy breaking ground with their hoes so that they could plant maize. One called out, "Come and help us." So I did. I didn't stay long, but the sight of a "mukua" hefting a hoe caused further gales of laughter. After a short while they said, "Thanks, you can go." I thought I was doing a decent job but perhaps not.
At about the halfway point, two young boys called out, "Hey boss, wait up!" So I slowed down, let them catch up and then we ran together. With all the children playing out on the street, it wasn't long before our group of three runners became a dozen. The scene reminded me of one of my favourite scenes in Forrest Gump. Since I'm now relating the story, I obviously don't intend to keep running until my beard grows as long as Forrest's...

All in all, it was an unexpected and happy ending to a rather blah day. Moral: We should all run more often.

The urban barnyard

2010-12-11T04:12:00.000-05:00

Sadly, due to my suburban upbringing and subsequent downtown conditioning, I've not had much opportunity to observe barnyard animals too closely. In Zambia however, the barnyard comes to the city.

The rainy season is in full swing here. When it rains, it rains with gusto - I marvel at how the sky could possibly pick up that much moisture from the ocean and still have so much left to dump on Zambia. This past week I commented to a friend that I might have to grow gills and fins to survive my morning commute.

Anyways, with the arrival of the rains, the chickens that I see roaming around the grounds of the BOMA (British Overseas Military Administration) building where my office is located have proven that they are not as dumb as they look; they actually get out of the rain by hopping up on the covered breezeways for shelter. I am told that the chickens return to their owners at night however, so the limits of their intelligence stop at finding ways to keep dry. I figure a return to one's owner could spell a sudden and rather bloody end...


Chickens in the breezeway. Perhaps there is such thing as a free lunch.

Another barnyard phenomenon was discovered on one of my recent community walking tours. We actually found a small piggery in someone's yard. Though there were only two pigs in the enclosure, the place reeked of manure. Unsurprisingly, the neighbours were not too pleased about the situation. The owners promised to remove the pigs by December 2nd, so I suppose a follow up visit is in order.

A community nuisance, to be certain.

In one of the communities on the outskirts of town, we also saw some boys herding cattle through the street. Somehow, this seemed more appropriate than chickens or pigs, but it's still strange for me to see. With all the local produce and livestock around, I certainly feel closer to the origins of my diet.

Bovine pedestrians in Kaleya.

An unusual tourist attraction

2010-12-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

No, I've not gone batty. However, this past weekend, I traveled to Kasanka National Park in northern Zambia with a small group of VSOs to experience an annual rite of spring: the migration of thousands of straw-coloured fruit bats. The bats stop for a few weeks in November-December on their way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bats are quite large, with average wingspans of about 1 metre.

It was quite an arresting sight to see the bats take to the air, first to "warm up", and then to go out en masse to find food overnight. I learned from the bat walk (essentially a walking safari about bats) that these creatures feast on mangoes, water berries and a variety of other fruits. Unfortunately, the guide we paid for did not show up at the appointed time, so we were taken on the walk by our armed scout. Since he didn't provide a lot of detail about the bats, we later managed to get a discount on the walk. This certainly agreed with our volunteer budgets.


The trees are heavily laden with waking bats, who initially take to the skies around 17:00 for "warm up" exercises.

Warm-ups in full swing.

The search for food begins in earnest around 18:15.

We were treated to a lovely sunset on the first night at the park. Click on the photo to magnify.

I'm going to experiment a little and post a video of the bats. I hope it works for you!

The campsite at Kasanka was one of the best I've ever used. We had our own private toilet and shower facilities, plus a cute little hut to hide in in case it rained. Fortunately, we remained virtually unscathed by the rains. The skies certainly looked ominous at times, and we witnessed some very impressive lightning during our stay.

The hot bucket showers (yes, hot showers, courtesy of park staff!) were a real treat.

Our comfy campsite was a great place to lounge around during the day. I forgot how much I like camping (caveat: when it's dry).

Good friends: Dan, Helen and Estelle

Sights and sounds of the office

2010-12-02T03:41:00.001-05:00

The office I share with the Deputy Director of Planning is quite open to the outside world. While there's something very nice about being open to the fresh air and the public, it can be inconvenient and noisy at times. I took this photo from my desk, where you can see how close we are to the Great North Road. If I'm not disturbed by the trucks slowing down with their engine brakes, then it's by loud chatter in the breezeway, people coming in to discuss the allocation of their plot or roosters crowing out on the lawn. C'est la vie!

It's hard to pick out, but there is actually a flatbed truck rolling through on the Great North Road about 50 metres away.

Community connections

2010-11-27T03:42:00.115-05:00

I've had a bit of a planning dilemma over the last few months. One of the components of an Integrated Development Plan is to complete something they call the Spatial Framework. In essence, the Spatial Framework is the land use plan for the town. Since there is no official land use plan for Mazabuka, I believe that this will actually be the core component of the plan.

Over a year ago, some work was started on the Spatial Framework, which resulted in three hand-drafted "development scenarios" (I've not actually seen hand drafted land use maps in my previous professional practice!). I was told that there had been another workshop to determine which was the best scenario, but the records of that workshop have mysteriously vanished. At any rate, our team has looked at the scenarios, and we have proceeded to digitize them using GIS. Due to the time constraints, we're attempting to consolidate the maps into one scenario so that it's less confusing. It's evident (at least to me), that some of the land use assumptions have changed since the maps were first produced, so we'll need to do some additional consultations to determine the proper courses of action.

One of the draft Spatial Framework scenarios.

The digitized draft version of the Spatial Framework. (click on the map to enlarge)

Here's where my dilemma comes in: I found it hard to understand what to plan for without having visited each part of town in detail. For instance, I feel a bit uncomfortable with all the yellow "residential" blobs on the map, when I know that there are plenty of businesses in these areas, as well as other land uses. As a planner, I wondered what land use policies we should include for each category, since there was precious little detail in any of the previous documents.

With the Community Development section in the Planning Department, we organized a series of walking tours, led by the members of the Residential Development Committees in each neighbourhood. The process took two solid weeks, which was admittedly a bit tiring. My team responded enthusiastically, and we managed to do all the tours on schedule. The RDC members definitely were happy to have been involved in this way; it is my understanding that the RDCs have never been systematically consulted in this way. My only concern now is that we've fuelled high expectations to deliver what the communities have asked for.

In the last while, I've forged a relationship with the editor of the Mazabuka Times, which is a small community newspaper. The editor came along on one of our tour days, and together we collaborated on an article that will appear in the paper this week. Here's the text of the article:

It's been a while, but the Mazabuka Municipal Council has restarted work on its Integrated Development Plan, or IDP for short. As readers may remember, the IDP is a long range municipal development plan which integrates spatial, environmental, social, economic and financial issues into one document. The Council is aiming to prepare the document for Council and ministry approval by March 2011.

In support of the IDP, the Planning Department has initiated a series of walking tours with each of the Residential Development Committees (RDCs) and Market Committees in the urban area. The purpose of these tours, which are guided by the members of the RDCs and Market Committees, is to see the issues that are most important to each community. The project team expects to use the feedback from the walking tours to shape the policies of the plan and to identify priority projects.

So far, residents have responded enthusiastically to the presence of the planning team and have been eager to show off the best and worst of their communities. Common discussions have focused on the quality of roads and drainage systems, the availability of clean water, waste disposal and collection, and access to markets.

ROADS AND DRAINAGES
In several parts of Mazabuka, residents pointed out that roads have not been graded for some time. The lack of grading over time has resulted in conditions where water drains to the centre of the road, rather than to the drainage ditches at the sides of the road. In many instances, culverts (the pipes or passages under driveway entrances) have also become blocked by dirt and other debris, which causes storm water to back up during the rainy season. It is evident that both the Council and area residents have important roles to play in clearing drainage ditches so that they function as they were intended.

Typically, water should run off the centre of the road to the ditches on the sides. Here it appears that the ditch and the road are the same thing.

More roadway erosion due to poor grading and drainage.

WATER
The planning team heard several stories from the RDCs and Market Committees about the lack of clean water in their communities. Sometimes water service is the responsibility of SWASCO; however in several cases (e.g. Ndeke, Kaleya), the community operates its own water system. In such community-run systems, the RDC is responsible for collecting water-related fees from residents and carrying out regular maintenance to the pumps and water lines. By diligently collecting revenue and sensitizing residents about the importance of paying for water, communities in Mazabuka will enjoy improved access to clean water.

Discussing a community-run water pump with the members of the RDC.

WASTE DISPOSAL AND COLLECTION
The RDC members have had a great deal to show and tell about waste disposal in their communities. The team witnessed a number of undesirable waste management practices, including the creation of garbage pits in the road allowance, and the accumulation of garbage heaps in “green spaces” at the edges of the community. For its part, Mazabuka Municipal Council is working on the waste problem. Current efforts include the design of a new waste disposal site and plans to scale up waste collection operations to the communities.

The nascent waste collection system operates in only a few places in Mazabuka, and collection frequency is sporadic. The result: green spaces and drainage ways get quite clogged with refuse.

The Council constructed a few of these waste collection bins that they call midden boxes. This one is actually in rather decent shape, but some have been quite severely vandalized. Collection is sporadic at best.

MARKETS
Where do the majority of Mazabuka residents go to buy milk, vegetables, charcoal, talk time or even a custom-made table? Overwhelmingly, the answer is “the market”. It is therefore evident that some attention needs to be focused on the state of Mazabuka's markets. One of the key desires expressed by the marketeers across Mazabuka was to have proper market structures to display and store their goods. Many marketeers currently operate from makeshift shelters that are exposed to the elements and that cannot be secured during the night. Effective solutions to these issues are invariably ones that will involve the participation of the Council and the members of the market committees.

The markets are vibrant places, but marketeers would appreciate having some permanent structures to keep their wares away from the elements.

Folks here seem to love posing for photographs - it's quite a novelty. This lady was selling beans, kapenta (small dried fish) and the tree root used to make chibuantu.

This current series of Community Walking Tours has provided a rare opportunity for the locally-elected committees to show Council workers the best and the worst features of their communities. All in all, it appears that the Community Walking Tours have provided a rewarding learning experience for Council workers and the local committee representatives.

I hope you've enjoyed this quick tour of Mazabuka, as much as I've enjoyed writing about it. :-)

Candy currency

2010-11-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

Some things are just too "sweet" to be true.

Tonight, for the second time since I arrived in Zambia, I received candy as change at the cash register. The 50 and 100 kwacha notes (worth about 1 and 2 Canadian cents respectively) can sometimes be in short supply. So, when making change, the cashiers sometimes just throw in some "penny candy" to keep the customers happy.

The smoke that whispers

2010-11-23T11:09:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Livingstone for a braii (barbeque) for all the Southern Province volunteers. Though it was a long trip for some food and fun, it was still worth going. It was good to reconnect with all the volunteers that have been in country for a while, as well as to get acquainted with the large batch that arrived in October.

On Saturday afternoon, I went with my housemate Rob and our friend Dan to visit Victoria Falls. As my loyal blog followers might remember, I also visited the falls in July. What a difference a few months makes!

In July, I got thoroughly soaked by the spray from the might Mosi-oa-Tunya, or "smoke that thunders". On Saturday, I only got a little wet from a few raindrops. The thunder has since quieted to a mere whisper.

July


The water tumbles over the edge of a very long "gash" in the earth. It's hard to see the other side for all the spray.

Walking across the bridge is a very wet and slippery affair.

November

Victoria Falls: a dramatic canyon, nonetheless.

The same bridge, now bone dry. In July, the water tumbles over the rock face at left.

There's still lots of water falling over the edge, it's just spread out a bit more along the canyon now.

Standing in the river bed, where mere months ago I would have been washed into oblivion.

Ok, this is really just to show my new look.

Good friends in a world famous location!

Garden fresh: Part II

2010-11-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

The newest garden-fresh delight is butternut squash! Naturally, we're quite delighted with the results.

Tasty roasted vegetables. Yes, we know its crazy to roast vegetables when it's +35C.

Sprawl, sprawl, ubiquitous sprawl

2010-11-13T07:43:00.001-05:00

Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy writing about all the fun experiences I'm having outside of work. But since this is not exactly a tourist visit to Africa, I do feel compelled to write a bit about the work side of things from time to time. As I've said to folks in various emails, it has taken time for me to understand the workings of Council and the meaning of planning in an African context. It was difficult to know where to jump in without first becoming familiar with the landscape and layout of Mazabuka, and to make a few contacts in town. Now that the “getting to know you” phase is over, I feel we're well set to make some progress on the IDP.

There are more than a few urban planning issues to write about, but I will focus on the state of development at the fringes of the existing built up area, as well as the proposed truck by-pass road. To help illustrate my notes, I've included a map of Mazabuka, which I produced in a handy little GIS program called Quantum GIS. It took some getting used to, but it basically does all the same things that ArcGIS can do for about $3,000 less. Yes, it's a freeware program.

As I've reported before, numerous trucks pass through the urban area of Mazabuka, sometimes with disastrous results as they try to negotiate the turn near the Shoprite supermarket. For quite some time, people have talked about building a by-pass road to divert a major share of the trucks from the centre of town, but nothing concrete has been done to make it a reality. As a result of my urging (and ultimate legwork), we did manage to organize a trip to Lusaka this week to meet with the national Road Development Agency. The meeting had a positive outcome though obviously a lot of work remains to be done before any tarmac is laid. If the Council can arrange to survey the necessary right of way by mid-late 2011, the RDA agreed that construction of the road could be included in their 2012 budget. Good news if the conditions can be met.

In order to understand where the road should pass, I visited the area with the Council surveyor/draughtsman last week. We made some interesting findings. I had heard of some informal developments occurring in the area but the extent of the area was really surprising. Despite the large extent, the development occurring there is not particularly intensive or dense. I am told that the farmers who own the land have been busily carving out plots for people to build homes. Nothing new, I know.

What is a bit alarming is that the Council seems to have little control over the subdivision and allocation of these lands. Naturally, there is also a legitimate demand by the new settlers for the electric and water companies to extend some degree of service to these unplanned areas. Unfortunately, I sense a somewhat blasé attitude toward the settlers, which goes something along the lines of: “They're illegal settlements. We can move them.” Technically and legally, this may be true, but in the end who will step in to play the bad guy when people have earnestly cobbled together some money to acquire some land and build their homes using their own labour? It's not a job I would savour.

On the map, which you can click to produce a larger version, I've attempted to illustrate the extent of the new development areas, as well as the proposed route for the by-pass road. In total, the coloured areas encompass nearly 400 hectares (995 acres) and all at very low development densities. The yellow line was the original concept route for the by-pass, which we quickly discovered would be difficult to build. Notwithstanding the rapidly advancing settlements (including a planned settlement called Kabobola Extension), there is also an elevated rocky outcrop in the centre of the area, which would require lots of expensive blasting. So we drew another potential route on the map in orange. The total length of the “preferred route” is just over 7 kilometres.

Planned and informal settlements at the fringe of Mazabuka. (click on the map for an enlargement)

In conclusion, I just want to say that sprawl isn't confined to North American or European cities – it happens everywhere. For a Council that already struggles to build and maintain basic infrastructure, these new development areas could prove to be extremely expensive in the long run. I am now left scratching my head about how I might get the message across to the decision makers...

A lesson in making someone's day

2010-11-07T10:33:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is Rebecca's birthday. In case I haven't mentioned her before, Rebecca is the daughter of Stellah, the lady Rob and I have hired to come and clean the house. Stellah is simply stellar and we have very quickly bonded with her. And by extension, with her family. We have since met Stellah's older daughter Jumbe, and more recently her middle son, who lives with his aunt in a neighbouring town.

A few weeks ago, Stellah mentioned that Rebecca's fourth birthday was coming up. I asked what is typically done for birthdays and Stellah said that if there's money, usually a party (naturally, what else!). So Rob and I discussed the situation and agreed to sponsor a party. It turns out this is the first time Rebecca's birthday has been celebrated in this way.

Our friend and fellow VSO volunteer, Judy, agreed to deal with the logistics. Judy determined that the best way to handle the party was to have it as part of Sunday school. Today was the big day, and it was a smashing hit. It was great to see everyone smiling and having fun, especially Stellah!

One, two, three... blow!

Rebecca and her cousin Andrew

Rob and I with Stellah and the birthday girl.

A "not small" Sunday school class. Kudos to the teachers!

Pastor Tom, Judy, and the rest of us as the festivities wound down.

If you're interested, Rob has written a bit more about Stellah on his blog at: http://robwootton.blogspot.com/2010/09/stella.html

Barometric changes

2010-11-01T07:59:00.000-04:00

With one loud clap of thunder at 12:36 on Sunday October 31, the skies opened and the rainy season in Mazabuka officially began. Moments earlier, I had been out in the garden with the sun shining; it looked like it was going to be yet another beautiful day. The storm whipped up a fair bit of wind, which in turn sent some of the mangoes to clatter loudly onto the metal roof. The rains continued on and off and with differing intensity for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. The cool breeze prompted me to put a living room chair out in the covered porch to read, which was lovely.

Though I'm happy to see the rains since the land and the plants look so dry, I am however alarmed to find that my right knee now appears to function as a barometer. I woke up yesterday morning with a slight ache in my knee which grew to be quite uncomfortable by noon. Perhaps I shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly, but since I haven't done anything injurious to my knee recently, this strange ache does seem to suggest that I've acquired an “old person trait”. Life marches on.

Garden fresh

2010-10-29T13:41:00.000-04:00

I'm getting used to this climate. Happy late October! :-)

Fresh spinach salad, hand picked from the garden out back.

Jingle bells, jingle all the way!

2010-10-28T19:23:00.006-04:00

On a superficial level, I'd say Christmas is going to be pretty much the same as in Canada. I believe the Zambian retailers might even be one step ahead of Canadian ones since Hallowe'en is a non-issue here. Come November 1, I imagine my Canadian friends will see ol' Ebenezer Scrooge hawking cordless drills and Mixmasters on behalf of Canadian Tire. This is one year I'm happy not to have a TV!

Santa hats!? Has the Manager sampled the temperature outside?

A distinctly northern Christmas motif adorns the checkout counters at the supermarket.

Build first, ask later

2010-10-20T17:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the boss came into the office I share with the Deputy Planning Director bearing building plans for a new branch of the First National Bank. He asked my colleague to review the plans prior to issuing development approval.

Judging from the progress of "preliminary site works" as photographed this evening, it appears the bank is on the "build first, ask later" plan.

FNB looks ready for a grand opening next week!

Family ties

2010-10-19T12:36:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday, I arranged to meet the family of my Zambian-born friend Bibiana in their village near Choma. It was quite a special experience.

To get there, I took the bus to a town (or rather, a small agglomeration of buildings along the highway) called Muzoka, where Bibiana's brother John met me with a great big smile. From the smile, I could instantly tell that he was Bibiana's brother! From there we travelled in his friend's car along a small dirt track to the village, which was about 8 kilometres away.

Upon exiting the car, I was greeted with a high-pitched “yodelling” and big hugs from the women, as well as hearty handshakes from the men. From the elder brother Paul down to the littlest granddaughter (or great granddaughter?) Esther, I guessed that there might be 40 people there. Some of the kids were quite shy and even fearful near me; it was explained that many of them had never seen a muzungu this close up!

I was shown around the farm, where the family is in the process of planning a small-scale pig farming operation to generate some additional income. City slicker that I am, I had to ask a lot of questions about pigs, goats, chickens and the functions of certain structures on the farm.

Trying my hand at milling maize.

We had a lovely lunch of village chicken (tastier than standard broiler chickens), rice and a cool drink called chibuantu. The drink is made with coarsely ground maize, a certain type of pulverized tree root and water. The taste is somewhat tart and the bits of maize in the bottom reminded me of bubble tea. I was also offered the chicken gizzard, which is an honour typically reserved for the head of the household. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I managed just fine.

Welcome to the family!

John and his elder brother Paul.

At the conclusion of the visit, I presented the elder ladies with new chitenges, which were a big hit. Back at the highway, John and I had to flag down a bus; to my surprise, we got the first one to stop. I bid John farewell and thanked him for his family's wonderful welcome.

Madge, Miriam and Margaret modeling their new chitenges.

Chipata and onwards to Mazabuka

2010-10-16T12:26:00.000-04:00

I soon discovered that the bus to Lusaka departed the following day, so came to the realization that I would have to spend overnight in Chipata. Though definitely not my shining moment of courtesy, I called Frances and Alan, who are a VSO couple in Chipata to see if I might be able to spend the night with them. While surprised by the impromptu request, they were nevertheless quite hospitable.

A view of Chipata's market area.

Unfortunately, their day couldn't have been busier. As part of Frances' project, she had been out to a rural village in the morning and was on duty to entertain the Finnish ambassador and her entourage in the afternoon. Alan was busy chasing around the city buying supplies for a school-building project. I somehow got slotted into Alan's plans; late in the day, we travelled up to see the school site. The site is a bit remote, up in the picture-perfect hills west of Chipata along a very bad road. It was a day of bad roads!

At any rate, the project is the vision of a very kind-hearted and determined Zambian couple: Chris and Trina. I don't have the full story, but I did find out that they recently started teaching pre-schoolers at their home under the shade of a mango tree. As the school project gained momentum, they asked for and were granted some neighbouring land from the chief. Alan has somehow made connections with a Welsh education charity that will help to fund the project, so things are now moving along quickly.

The original classroom.

Trina and her three daughters.

The setting up in the Chipata hills.

The next day, I headed to the bus station for the 7 a.m. bus to Lusaka, which actually left at ten past nine. After a long, hot bus ride I arrived in Lusaka around 5:30 and bought a ticket for the next bus to Mazabuka – got home just before 10 p.m. Despite the heat and the length of the journey, I still enjoyed the ride – it was great to see the countryside and to get some serious reading done. At the halfway stop in Nyimba, I bought a hand of their famous bananas for K2,000 ($0.45) – they were probably the best bananas I've ever tasted. I also had a lovely chat with an older gentleman named Wisdom on the leg from Lusaka to Mazabuka. He lived up to his name. :-)

Zambia, the achingly tough reality

2010-10-15T12:24:00.000-04:00

After the serene sanctuary of Wildlife Camp and the park, I was faced with the difficult decision of how to get out of there. The options included:

Flying back to Lusaka for about $250;
Hiring a taxi to Chipata for about $100;
Taking the one and only daily minibus to Chipata at 1 a.m. for about $8; or
Hitching a ride.

I deliberated for quite some time and ultimately chose option 2. For such a key tourist attraction, I assumed that there would be some sort of proper bus service, but alas, no. Although $100 seemed like a steep price to pay, it turned out to be a good decision. The minibus was definitely last on the list, not least because I didn't want to travel at night with so many dangerous animals (especially elephants) in the area. Hitching could be a dubious prospect if I could even find a ride. Though I love flying, I realized I wouldn't see much of the country to return the same way.

So, the taxi ride...

Interesting is a good way to describe it. Moses and his friend Chris picked me up promptly at 7:30 on Thursday morning, as agreed. It is not often that things occur at the appointed hour here in Zambia so I was encouraged. The Toyota sedan had definitely seen better days but I didn't have much choice at that point. I moved toward the trunk of the car to put my bag away, but was told that it would go in the backseat because the trunk was full.

As we drove away from the camp, Moses asked if it would be ok if we picked up other passengers en-route. Seeing how difficult it is to arrange transportation, I agreed. For the first hour or so, it was just the three of us in the car. Initially we talked about the differences between Canada and Zambia and got into some discussions about the serious poverty issues affecting the area, as well as the necessary political leadership to make things better. Moses asked me a very interesting and difficult question at one point: “Why is it so difficult for our people to get visas to Canada or America, but so easy for your people to come here?” I'm not sure I answered the question very well.

Apparently, politicians have been promising for years to improve the road from Mfuwe to Chipata but virtually nothing has happened. And it showed. The road is a rutted and potholed mess for almost the entire 300 km. We passed many picturesque, but obviously dirt poor communities along the way. It was good for me to see this. Judging by the condition of the road, I was delighted that I hadn't cheaped out and gone in the minibus overnight. It would have been an uncomfortable and hair-raising ride.

After an hour, a group of ladies and children appeared at the side of the road, waving frantically. Moses stopped to find out what was going on. One of the children was very sick and needed to get to the clinic in the next town, about 45 minutes away. Naturally, we found room for the sick child and his grandmother. As we drove on, I asked Moses how much a clinic visit would cost – about K10,000 ($2). At the clinic, the grandmother and grandson got out and I offered her some money to pay for the clinic visit and the trip back, for which she was quite grateful.

The experience made me feel rather humbled about having had a vacation in the first place. It gave me an entirely different perspective on my worries about which form of transportation I should be so lucky to opt for. It's clear that most people have no options. We picked up a mother and son in Mambwe after dropping off the grandmother and child. My bag at this point was sitting across the knees of the backseat passengers. This was another tough moment of guilt for me, which I tried to rationalize based on the fact I'd paid 90% of the fare for the journey. Not necessarily the best justification, I know.

Part way along, we stopped for some assistance to refill and re-seal the radiator, and to refill the gas tank using Moses' jerry cans, which were stored in the trunk. Anyways, after more than five solid hours on the road, we reached Chipata. Hungry for lunch, I might add. I mentioned stopping somewhere to get lunch and Moses said something along the lines of, “And for us too”. Why not? We found a typical Zambian restaurant where I treated Moses and Chris to nshima and chicken and a Coke. After blessing the meal, we wolfed down the food with great gusto. We parted ways and I wished them well for the journey back to Mfuwe.

"The monkeys got away with the cat food!"

2010-10-14T12:02:00.000-04:00

No, I wasn't playing a good ol' game of “Telephone” to reminisce about childhood days.

Last week, I arranged some holiday time to visit the legendary South Luangwa National Park in eastern Zambia. Boy, did it ever live up to expectations and then some!

Though it doesn't look that far away on the map, I took the advice in my guidebook and arranged a flight from Lusaka to Mfuwe, the small town just outside the park. After an exciting one hour and ten minute ride in a small propeller plane, we landed at Mfuwe (International) Airport. It was strange to see an international airport in the middle of the bush, but that's what the sign said. Though it had been warm in the plane, I was not fully prepared for the baking heat that awaited outside. It was easily 45C; a temperature that I had never before experienced.

I was met at the airport by staff from Wildlife Camp. They drove me to the camp in a big, open Range Rover with a canvas canopy. With the wind in my face the whole way to the camp, the heat became a bit more bearable but it was still “hot hot”.

My ride to the park - classy!

My chalet

Wildlife Camp premises

Upon arrival, I was warmly greeted by Dora, a Swiss lady who has been co-managing the camp for the last seven years. She showed me to my comfortable and breezy chalet and then to the dining area where I was promptly served lunch – a delicious lasagne and green salad. Later, over afternoon tea (how civilized!), Dora explained the rules of the camp, which included: 1) staying inside the chalets or in the dining/bar area after dark; 2) asking to be driven between different parts of the camp after dark; and 3) not leaving any food inside the chalets. All of the rules were designed to protect guests from the animals including elephants, hippos, baboons and monkeys which regularly wander through. It was even recommended to leave valuables in the safe lest a baboon or monkey should break in to the chalet to make off with one's gold watch or Visa card (not that I have a gold watch to steal). I gather it has happened before.

On the subject of the plentiful and playful primates at the camp, while enjoying my lunch on Tuesday, I overheard Dora exclaim to her staff, “The monkeys got away with the cat food! I don't think we have any more.” Upon hearing her tone of utter exasperation, I knew I had the title for my blog post.

As part of the full-board package I had booked, I was eligible for go on two park trips per day (morning and evening), and to have all meals provided. Wildlife Camp is one of the cheapest options at the park, so I expected spartan accommodation and food. In reality, I was quite spoiled with superb meals and a lovely chalet. What's more, the camp is operated in association with the Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia; since about 60% of the proceeds go to the society, I felt good staying there.

The forays into the park were, without any doubt, the true highlight of the visit. I think that my visit to South Luangwa might rank as the best trip I've ever taken. The landscape was beautiful at all times of day, from the early morning light to the red-orange light of sunset, and into the nighttime hours when the crescent moon and zillions of twinkling stars filled the sky. I can't say enough about the expert guides at the camp; they were truly excellent! They told us so many things about the fascinating ecology of the Luangwa Valley and were quite adept at finding the animals that have always inspired my imagination about Africa.

All told, I made five trips into the park: three evening/night drives, one morning drive and a morning walking safari. Each trip was an entirely new experience filled with interesting facts and beautiful scenery. Speaking of which, here are some photos.

Impalas staring at a lioness calmly waiting at the side of the pasture.

A deadly predator - the Nile crocodile.

Elephant crossing! Isn't the baby cute?

Two stately Thornicroft giraffes posing for a snap.

The zebras at South Luangwa are an endemic subspecies with stripes all over. Most zebras have white bellies.

A colony of gorgeous carmine bee-eaters.

Hippos wallowing in the river - it's what they do.

It was awesome to see this elephant reach way up to grab some grub.


This former mopane forest was devastated by the voracious appetites of the elephants.

How can guinea fowl look both elegant and funny?

Can you feel the love tonight?

Enjoying a break to catch the sunset.

One pretty kitty sleeping in a tree.

Oops, we woke her up. After a quick stretch, she went off to find some dinner.

Expectant Spring

2010-10-10T12:01:00.000-04:00

Since I have been hearing of Thanksgiving turkey, cooler days, and technicolour forests back home, I thought I might take a minute to report on the blossoming of spring here in Zambia. Make no mistake, it's much hotter than any spring I've ever experienced in Canada – I do not under any circumstances need a spring jacket. The days are consistently around 35C during the day, and I have read some digital gauges as high as 43C. Yes, the inside of my body is apparently cooler than the air outside, which explains why these days I'm downing two or three glasses of water in about 20 seconds flat.

So it's hot. But I seem to have adjusted to my new climatic reality and am actually enjoying it. I prefer it to bundling up in sweaters and fall jackets. The thought of the coming Canadian winter makes me shudder a bit with its down-filled parkas, boots and toques. Zambians wonder with genuine incredulity how we manage to move anywhere with a metre or more of snow on the ground. They try hard to picture the big machines I describe which are used to push the snow off the road, but I get the sense it's often too much to imagine. Sorry to bring that up folks... but it is coming.

Anyways, this post is intended to be about Zambian spring, not Canadian winters.

Everywhere I look, there seems to be another tree or plant coming into bloom or displaying ripening fruit. It's really quite lovely. I am particularly excited about the two large mango trees in the yard that are positively dripping with ripening fruit. By late November or early December, we should be able to cut open our first tree-ripened mango. Mmm...I can hardly wait!

Elsewhere in town, there are many other flowering trees, including my favourite: the jacaranda. These trees (and many others) lost all of their leaves some time ago, but now they are covered in beautiful purple flowers, which put off an intoxicating scent. It's similar to passing by a lilac bush back home. In some respects, I find it hard to believe that anything here has leaves, flowers, or fruit since there hasn't been one drop of rain since before I arrived three months ago. I am told that the rains should start by the end of the month or early November, which will of course be good for the land. There are many other plants, but I don't have many other tree names on hand – I hope you will nonetheless enjoy the photos.

Displays of orange, magenta and purple along the walk to work.

The flowers on these trees look like crocus.

A very exotic looking flower.

Bougainvillea abounds in all sorts of colours.

My favourite: the jacaranda

Things we don't see every day - the sequel

2010-10-07T10:21:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, I reported that a truck had not quite made the sharp left turn at the bottom of the hill into town. That truck simply turned over on its side and tossed its load.

Yesterday, a much more dramatic and disastrous event occurred in the same area. A fully-loaded transport truck drove right through the intersection, mowed down the iron fence in front of the supermarket and then ploughed right into the deli kitchen of the store. Unfortunately, the transport collided squarely with another smaller truck and pushed it even deeper into the store. A mini-bus was also involved in the accident.

When I walked to work, a huge crowd was gathered around the front of the store to inspect the damage. It was quite a sight. I am told that there were some fatalities, including at least one person inside the store. No further proof is necessary that the intersection is dangerous and that a by-pass road is needed; I do however suspect that lax truck inspections are also partly to blame.

Naturally, the incident has been the talk of the town today. I even heard it on the radio: (words in Tonga)... Shoprite... (words in Tonga)... minibus...

The spectacle of the day in Mazabuka

The minibus spun around and ended in the ditch.

The dusty-looking chap in the centre is the transport driver, descending from the wreckage.

Old news... last week's stories

2010-10-05T22:20:00.032-04:00

I'm happy to report that there haven't been any more snakes.

What I had been trying to write about the other day, was the annual VSO conference in Lusaka. Every year, VSO puts together a conference for all volunteers to get together and chat about experiences, work, the meaning of life and so on. Naturally, it's a great opportunity to socialise too!

In transit from the hostel to the conference venue.

On the first day, everyone was split up into their programme areas to participate in what VSO calls the sector workshop. The Programme Manager for the Governance sector (mine), asked everyone to do a presentation on their work. While it was great to hear about everyone's work, the day was a little too heavy on PowerPoint for my liking. I co-presented with Ros, who is also working as a planner in Choma.

Shelley delivered an excellent presentation on inclusion and disability. Her passion and energy were needed toward the end of a long day.

The second day of the conference brought us all together to get some interesting insights on leadership in the Zambian context, the potential implications of next year's national elections, and how to rear goats. Yes, that's right... how to rear goats. For some of the VSO volunteers, their placements involve working with small organizations to help them develop Income Generating Activities (or IGAs in NGO-ese). The goat rearing presentation was delivered by the Director of Youth Development Organisation in Choma where they successfully developed a goat-rearing scheme to generate funds for their core activities. Some things I never knew about goats:

Mature goats can reproduce every five months or so
Goats are tastiest at the 8-month mark
If you cross a female from southern province with a male “plateau goat” from northwestern province, you'll probably get twins
Goats rarely get sick; if they do, most of the herd will catch the bug and die
Goat milk is not commercially viable except to the muzungu (white) population; superstition has it that Zambians' hair will turn brown if they consume goat milk products (I say bring on the goat cheese and feta – I already have brown hair).

The leadership presentation was funny and highly insightful. The presenter was a real live-wire. He started out by asking the few Zambians in the room (the VSO staff) if they could come up with an equivalent word for “leadership” in their native language (keeping in mind that there are 72 languages in Zambia). Apparently, there exists no equivalent word, which explains some of the troubles getting leaders to lead in the way that Westerners often expect. There is also no equivalent word for maintenance, which Mr. Simataa surmised was the reason that Africans drive their cars without thinking to change the oil. Hey, he said it!

The VSO Zambia contingent (about 40 volunteers).

After all that meeting, talking, sitting, thinking, (dozing off in a warm room), etc. it was definitely time to let off a little steam. Naturally, a beach toga party was in order!

On Saturday, a fairly sizeable group of us headed off to Siavonga on the shore of Lake Kariba to relax and have a great time. The setting on the beach was fabulous – we were all put up in little screened in cottages lined up along the beach. Although the temperatures in the valley were close to 40C, I didn't venture into the lake for fear of tangling with a crocodile – the pool was an adequate substitute. I am told the risk is relatively low along that part of the shore, but zero risk is more to my liking. Charles' slingshot would have been inadequate in this application.

Another great weekend!

Beach bums doing what they do best

Rather idyllic, no?

Volleyball continued... aquatic style


Toga time!

Happy people!

More happy people!

Enjoying good conversation with Chris.

Roman-esque people chatting.

Slingshots... beyond child's play

2010-10-03T15:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight while dinner was on the stove, I decided to sit down and write about the past week. However, upon writing the first few lines, our night guard came to the door to ask if I could come outside with my flashlight...

... to help him kill a cobra in the yard. Great. Of course. I can do that...

Despite the 30C+ temperatures, I quickly threw on some long pants, socks and shoes and timidly exited the house with my flashlight. We headed toward the back of the lot, where the vegetable patch is coming up very nicely. Come to think of it, I was out there earlier today watering the garden in my shorts and sandals. Super.

At a “safe” distance, Charles pointed at the snake but I didn't see it straight away. Fortunately he had his trusty slingshot with him which he deftly used to stun the snake. As it started to slink away (much more slowly than I thought it might), Charles expertly guillotined the snake with the garden hoe. Crisis averted.

It wasn't that big (maybe 2 feet long) but the fact that it was a cobra made me more than a little nervous. Unfortunately I am told that the rainy season, which is only a few weeks away, brings out more snakes. I have a distinct feeling that I'll now be extra jumpy when I hear things rustling in the leaves.

This late breaking news seemed more important than tonight's planned storyline. More to follow, but here's a teaser:

Pondering the meaning of life and other philosophical topics.

P.S. Mom, you shouldn't have read the bit about the cobra. Sorry.

Make a joyful noise

2010-09-26T15:12:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I am a regular member of First United Church in Ottawa. For my fellow church goers, I think you understand how special First United is to me. Among the reasons I go to church: great people, great music, deeply thought-provoking sermons, a wonderful sense of openness, and a welcoming environment where it's safe to explore big questions about life, love and God. I usually come away refreshed and invigorated to pursue another demanding week of work and “what what” (see yesterday's post).

I'm not sure I've ever written publicly about my views on church and yet I'm just scratching the surface. It's not my style to be public about religion. I even feel a bit apprehensive penning these words today. Perhaps it's a Canadian thing (respecting others' traditions, etc.) but in the end, perhaps it's just me.

In any event, what I want to relate today is about the importance of church life here in Zambia. Believe me, it is important. In fact, one of the most common questions a newcomer (e.g. Andrew Sacret) is asked is “Are you a Christian?”. Almost invariably, the follow-up question is, “What church do you attend?" There are so many to choose from here. The Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal, and Catholic Churches appear to be the most prevalent in Mazabuka specifically, however there are many more including the United Church of Zambia and the Anglican Church plus others that I'd never heard of before.

I am increasingly certain that it helps me to relate to local people when I can answer the first question affirmatively. People brighten right away and are eager to discuss more (to my quiet delight). To the second question, I answer, “I attend the United Church of Canada.” People then ask, “Do you know that we have the United Church of Zambia?” As a matter of fact, I do.

It was a little strange at first, but I'm now used to the fact that people will then proceed to invite you to their church. I have taken up a couple of invitations, which have been “interesting”. The first church service I attended here was on invitation; I won't say exactly that I regretted it, but it certainly wasn't what I'm used to. We met in a burlap/plastic tent for four and a half hours and the speakers were turned up to full blast. As a guest, I was ushered to the front row and made to stand so everyone could welcome me. The music was very energetic. The preachers were very energetic. There were many words spoken about sin and evil and Satan (in Tonga and English). Despite this, I admit that it was still a spiritual experience. I've since attended another church on invitation but I'll spare the details.

My own choice is the Anglican Church for one outstanding reason alone: the CHOIR!!! Can these folks ever sing! The group is not big (maybe 20 people) but they make a huge, beautiful, harmonious sound - and all of it a cappella. They mostly sing in Tonga or Nyanja, so naturally I don't have a clue what the lyrics are. The hymns are in either English or Nyanja and fortunately there are hymn books available so I can follow along. I must say it feels great to sing again even in an unknown language!

Today, I asked the choir director about joining. He said yes enthusiastically, then told me the choir practices all day Saturday. Um... er... well... you see...

Whether or not I actually decide to join the choir, at least I know why they make such a joyful noise. :-)

Wishing you peace and blessings on a warm and breezy Sunday in Mazabuka!

Zambian expressions and buzzwords

2010-09-25T10:35:00.002-04:00

Every culture has distinctive expressions – Zambia is no exception. All professions have their share of jargon too. In this post I thought I'd introduce you to some of the common expressions and buzzwords that make me either smile, laugh, frown or shake my head.

Are we together? = Do we agree? (or when said with authority: “This is settled. Next.”)

this side = somewhat close to where we are (e.g. I think the office is this side).

that side = somewhat farther away than where we are now (e.g. “Where is so-and so?” “Oh, he's gone that side.”)

just now = very soon

now now = now

“...and what what.” = and so on, and the like, and such.

“How did you move?” = “How was your trip?”

“Progress” = “Let's move to the next issue”

“What is the way forward?” = “What are the next steps?”

sensitisation* = public education and awareness building (sadly, projects appear to remain at this stage for years)

“Gender balance!” = an exclamation of “unfairness” made by some man in a meeting when women appear to be gaining some infinitesimal advantage for once (you can tell how much I love this one).

empowerment = at best: a concept Council would eventually like to embrace whereby disadvantaged people have some say in municipal decisions; at worst: the term some Council officers use to describe the generous sitting allowances they receive for meetings.

personal emoluments = salaries and benefits

mainstreaming (e.g. issues of gender, HIV/AIDS, environment) = making certain issues part of everyday policy discussions/decisions (in practice, often means that there is no clear lead person/department on the issue).

* The third "s" in sensitisation is not a spelling mistake in this former British colony. :-)

Check your shoes!

2010-09-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

Friends warned me to check my shoes before putting them on. I now see why.

This morning, I nearly stepped into a spider. I haven't any clue whether this is a dangerous spider, but I was not interested in finding out.

I am currently staying at a guesthouse outside the "lovely" town of Monze. I have been dragged somewhat reluctantly onto the municipal budget team and therefore find myself on a budget retreat with representatives from each municipal department. We start the days early and finish late. The first scheduled tea break yesterday morning became a "working tea break" and it's all been downhill from there.

The guesthouse is definitely not a luxury property but it's habitable. However, I can hear little creatures scurrying around above the ceiling of my room, which I suspect may be bats. As long as we can maintain our respective levels of privacy while I occupy the room, I'll try to ignore the fact that they're there.

Incidentally, my roommate Rob recently had an experience at his office that involved bats; I would prefer not to repeat it here at the Mayfair Lodge. After years of building neglect, the bats had pooped enough guano onto the upper surface of the ceiling (the floor of their "cave"), that the ceiling collapsed into the office. I think the mess has been largely cleaned up now, but the stench was noticeable all around the BOMA for days after the incident.

Best alarm clocks ever

2010-09-14T06:33:00.002-04:00

If you have difficulty waking up in the morning, I highly recommend buying a rooster and putting it directly outside your window. They wake up faithfully before your target time so you won't miss it. If the rooster doesn't work, I recommend disabling the hot water supply when you go to take a shower. I guarantee you will wake up, plus you won't waste any time luxuriating in the shower. Combine both approaches for maximum effect.

(Experiences drawn from this morning at the guesthouse selected for the Mazabuka Municipal Council Budget Retreat. Definitely not a Fairmont Property.)

Some real work for a change

2010-09-09T15:10:00.000-04:00

I've heard of these beasts before, but not having worked directly in a municipal government, I've never helped to assemble “the Budget”. Until now.

Before you doze off or move to the next blog in your list, let me say that it's not that bad.

Perhaps a bit of history is required before I launch into this. In addition to VSO, which has placed a number of volunteers at the Council over the years, the German-based organization GTZ has been working with the Mazabuka Municipal Council for several years. Part of GTZ's mandate is to revamp Council management and budgeting practices. As part of this mandate, they have created a number of manuals, guidelines and training programs on several topics like Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Service Delivery and so on. Though it does sound a bit dry, it's all important stuff and I'm very impressed with the kind of work that they have done in Zambia and in Mazabuka specifically.

At any rate, I was asked to help in developing the Council Strategic Plan and the budget. This year, the Council is going to attempt a new type of three-year budget process that they call the Medium-Term Expenditure Forecast, or MTEF, which is to be based on the Strategic Plan. Unfortunately, there has been a of procrastination on these two initiatives; the budget needs to be completed by the end of September so that it can go to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing for approval by year end. For such a complex project, they should have started preparing in earnest much earlier in the year. As for the Strategic Plan, well, that one will just have to wait a bit longer.

There is more to the story but I won't bore you with that stuff. What I do want to say is that I have been conducting a series of workshops with the staff of each of the Council departments over the last few days. The discussions have been fruitful but our overriding dilemma is that there is so much material to cover in so little time. At least it's a start.

My observation is that many staff, particularly those at the lower rungs of the ladder, have never really been asked about what they should be striving for. Often it seems that the management either ignores or simply fails to recognize the efforts and talents of the people that actually get the work done. One of the participants today confirmed my suspicion; he admitted that he'd never been asked about his views on how his unit works, despite having worked for the Council for 3 years. I can definitely see the value in participatory methods, which form the basis of VSO's approach; they do indeed work and those who are included invariably appreciate being heard. Yesterday, though we didn't finish all that was on the agenda, one of the participants came up to me afterwards and paid me a very nice compliment. He said, “Andrew, you're a very good facilitator. I want to learn from you.” It doesn't get much better than that.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some of the “real work” that I was brought here to do.


Discussing the "objectives" for the Planning Department with the assistance of my lovely counterpart Victoria.


Developing strategies to ensure better coordination with other development agents.

A day's output. I think it makes sense to us. :-)

The Muzungu CAN dance!

2010-09-07T16:48:00.000-04:00

This past weekend marked another “muzungu convention” (i.e. party weekend) here in Mazabuka. Every time we get together, the group seems to grow. In total, we were close to 30 people this time.

The reason for the get together (if there has to be a reason), was to attend the annual Radio Chikuni Festival in the nearby, yet still somewhat remote village of Chikuni. In convoy, we travelled down to Chikuni on Saturday morning to take in a variety of Tonga music and dance. We all had an excellent time!

Fun music and dancing at the Radio Chikuni Festival

All were welcome - young, old, muzungu, etc.

Ilene and Jerry enjoying their first taste of raw sugarcane. It's much juicier than it looks on the outside.

At the end of the day, I bought two CDs of Zambian music for 25,000 kwacha each ($5), which seemed like “a song” (sorry, I just couldn't resist the pun). The two bands I really liked were Green Mamba and Mashombe Blue Jeans. I have yet to open the CDs though, so hopefully I'll still like the recordings.

These guys seemed to be engaged in some sort of friendly dance competition.

One thing that really surprised me was that the audience hardly moved at all. With all the rhythms, melodies and dancing emanating from the stage, it only seemed natural to move with the groove. This muzungu caught the dancing bug, which prompted lots of smiling and snickering among many of the Zambians near us. I tried to encourage others to dance but mostly they just smiled wider!

While waiting for some members of our group to catch up just before we left the festival, I took some photos of more kids... an activity which is fast becoming my favourite pastime in Zambia. All in all, it was another great weekend.

The girl in the foreground made me laugh - I loved her expressions!

One of my favourite photos so far in Zambia.

Saddle up!

2010-09-02T14:52:00.000-04:00

If these cockroaches get any bigger, I'm going to start riding them to work! Between the cockroaches, the geckos and the mozzies, we've got quite the zoo here in the house.