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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
The pictures are beautiful! can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteGlad that you're enjoying the photos. I have a ton of them to post from my recent trip to South Luangwa National Park.
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