The 7 Month Mark!

Time is finally moving a bit faster and we have made it to 7 months in Zambia. It feels like quite an achievement as there have been days when I have started to think that I wasn’t going to make it even this far.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating Zambia or my placement, but it is challenging on a day to day basis and sometimes does get me down.

Life has become somewhat routine, pretty much one of the things that I had hoped to get away from when I left Australia. It’s been very much work from Monday to Friday and fit in what we can on the weekends, on a very meagre budget.

Weekend treat: Homemade burger with a refreshing cider to
accompany it!

Work has been ok, quite busy actually. I finally completed one of my most important tasks, writing a Resource Mobilisation Strategy for my organisation, which I had never done before, and have had it accepted by the management and staff of the organisation. From there it has been full steam ahead as we refine some of our programme plans and ramp up the daunting task of fundraising for them. At work we were also successful in securing a donated vehicle (I did have misgivings about this, given the cost of fuel and maintenance, but it has already come in very useful) and have started a couple of smaller IGAs for our office. Baby steps, but we have to start somewhere!

One of our office IGAs: The first of our vegetable gardens. 

The Toyota Hilux that was donated to ZINGO South from Pact Zambia

Our main programme which is currently running is Self Help Groups (SHG) for women, a programme that I feel quite passionately about and more so every time we do a site visit. The programme so far has 21 groups of women (approximately 15 per group), with our goal to reach up to 50 by end of this year. The programme focuses on group savings and loans, is a proven concept and is sort of based on the Grameen model, with less of a microfinance component. I love the focus on women and the concept of “Self Help”, something that Zambia often lacks. But I think I will write more on this programme in a later post.

One of our women's groups at their weekly meeting

Self Help Group training at the ZINGO South office. The training
covered the SHG concept, book keeping and data collection

The area of development and its place in Zambia has proven extremely challenging for me and from discussions with other VSO volunteers and expats, I’m not alone. At the moment I cannot see how Zambia’s aid dependency will ever be removed unless something changes significantly. It is a shame as Zambia as a country has a lot going for it; beautiful parks and wildlife and therefore great tourism opportunities; lots of minerals, predominately copper; it has a relatively cheap, oversupply of labour which if tapped properly could be used to attract foreign investment. Unfortunately, Zambia suffers from many of the same “governance” issues as a number of other African countries (albeit not all). It also has poor infrastructure which it needs to improve significantly being a land-locked country, a lack of incentives for foreign investment and an allowance culture where very little gets done without a personal incentive being offered first. Currently there are a number of countries pulling their aid money out of Zambia, which I hope acts as a signal to the people and government here that things need to change. However I fear that I am being a little optimistic.

Anyway, to break routine, Mike and I are endeavouring to plan more short trips and activities; after all, we shouldn't waste the opportunities that we have in the location where we are based with 3 borders at our doorstep. We are especially looking forward to our planned trip in September which will be nearly a month long road trip through Botswana and Namibia (which Mike has deemed as “Top Gear Bostwana 2”). I’m excited too because my Mum and her friend Reegena will be joining us.

Before shot: This is Mike before I gave him a very much needed hair cut

After shot: Mike exclaiming how much lighter and cooler his head feels

Last weekend we re-visited Victoria Falls, which are too amazing to try and describe. They have to be one of the coolest, if not the coolest, thing I have ever seen. Sooooo much water and power!

Victoria Falls in May

The mighty Mosi-o-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) 

The town of Livingstone over Easter was the busiest I have ever seen it, with “Mzungu’s” (white person) everywhere, great for the local tourism industry.

Mike in front of Victoria Falls

And at home we have had a puppy invasion, with puppies appearing from everywhere, much to the disgust of our resident dog, Simba (although we suspect that some of the puppies may be his). Mike has also been quite unhappy, with some of the puppies attacking his herbs and plants. 

Simba being followed around by the puppies

Could this be Simba Junior?

So life continues here in Zambia, with its ups and downs, encouragements and disappointments, a real eye opener!

Me at the top of Victoria Falls

Trip to Sioma

Over the Easter weekend we decided to take advantage of the 4-day long weekend and make a trip out to the Western Province of Zambia, to an area called Sioma. With us we had 3 other volunteers who came along for the adventure!

Sioma is located in the south-west corner of Zambia and remains very much untouched, lacking good roads and infrastructure and as a result is rarely visited by tourists. To get to Sioma you really do need a 4x4 as even in the dry season it is possible to become bogged in the sand; in wet season the going can be very tough and explains the lack of a tourism industry. This is a shame given how pretty the area is, especially along the Zambezi River.

"Ruth": Ready for our adventure

Our trip out to Sioma was actually ok. We found the road to be much better than expected although we were travelling in “Ruth” with her new suspension. We also found that work has begun on building a new road there, although this is still years away from completion.

New road being built by the Chinese next to the Zambezi River
on the way to Sioma.

Untouched: Typical village along the road side on the way to Sioma

We stayed at Sioma Camp, a site based on the edge of the Zambezi River. They have chalets and a campsite; being volunteers we opted for the more economical of the two and camped. Unfortunately, as anyone who knows me, I’m not the most seasoned of campers, however the site was actually very comfortable and even had hot water for showers! I was also relieved not to come across any snakes, as I’d been dreading coming across the infamous Black Mumba.

Sioma Camp

Our campsite with Mike and my tent in the middle

 We came fairly well equipped, however still managed to forget a few key items, such as a saucepan and pot for cooking. The staff at the camp were very kind however and lent us a tea pot for boiling hot water as well as chairs and a table to eat at. We were able to improvise a bit too using foil to create a frying pan for eggs and cooking pasta in the tea pot, which worked surprisingly well.

Mike preparing to cook dinner on the campfire

Improvisation: Cooking eggs on tin foil when there is no pan

Waiting for the water to boil

Sioma Camp was just what we all needed, very relaxed with beautiful views of the river and a restaurant/ bar where we could sit and read or enjoy a few quiet drinks while looking out onto the river.

The view from the Sioma Camp restaurant/ bar, looking out
onto the Zambezi River

Enjoying a quiet drink and company

One of the main reasons we wanted to head out to Sioma was to see Ngonye Falls, about 10kms north of our camp. The falls were seen by David Livingstone about 2 years before he saw Victoria Falls, Livingstone commenting, “the scenery was the loveliest I had seen”.

The entrance to Ngonye Falls: Where they tried to charge us
more than the cost of seeing Victoria Falls

Unfortunately we probably didn’t pick the best time of the year to go and see them with the Zambezi River very high following the wet season and the falls resembling more of a very large rapid (they are only 25 metres high when the water is low). Nonetheless, the “rapid” was still pretty amazing and the speed of the water in the Zambezi incredible. You definitely would not want to find yourself floating in the river.

Whirlpools and strong currents in the Zambezi River

Rough waters

We viewed the falls from both land and on the water. From land we couldn’t see much of the falls (even though they tried to charge us $5 each, local price to see them; it costs about $1.50 local price for Victoria Falls to put things into perspective. Needless to say that’s not what we gave them). On the water the falls were amazing and we were able to drive right up to them. It was a pleasant trip moving up the Zambezi on a lovely sunny morning with a beautiful view of the banks of the river and again, we were in awe of the speed of the river and the whirlpools that developed in the water.

View of the banks of the Zambezi River on the way to Ngonye Falls.
Very Africa!

Mokoro on the Zambezi River. This would be tough work.

Ngonye Falls: One large rapid following wet season

Mike and I with Ngonye Falls just behind us

More rapids on the Zambezi River

 Sioma was a lovely weekend away and reminded me again that I was in Africa, which is sometimes easy to forget when you live in Livingstone. Great spot on the river with excellent company!

Our group (L-R): Marjolijn, Elspeth, Phyl, Mike and myself