The Downs and Downs of being in Zambia

It’s become apparent to me that my blog entries are getting further and further apart. I guess that was to be a little bit expected, although I probably need to a little more vigilant.

Anyway, as the title of my post indicates, things haven’t been running as smoothly as they could be. Everyday new challenges present themselves.

Work has definitely been an area of challenge for me. On one hand things have been going quite well. My organisation has been awarded a grant for a new over-locker machine to assist with our Sewing IGA and training, good timing considering our other machine has just about given up. We have nearly secured funding for an advocacy project to lobby for improved maintenance of sporting grounds in Livingstone (in support of the link between sport and HIV prevalence amongst youth). And we had a big win with a partnership being announced between ourselves and a USAID funded capacity building organisation here in Zambia. The new partnership will provide assistance in some much needed areas of the organisation and hopefully open the doors to other funding sources. All good right?!  Not really.

Sewing room used for training local women and producing curios to
sell to the local tourist market

More and more I am starting question the sustainability of the work I am doing here. Unfortunately I don’t think that VSO Zambia has explained the meaning of the title “Advisor” to its partners and so I am finding myself doing more and more of the work at my organisation. To my colleagues it seems I am just another pair of hands, but worse, the only ones prepared to do the hard work! I have had the obvious discussions of concern and made attempts to hand things over, however we are now starting to miss deadlines and opportunities. It’s increasingly frustrating and causing me to question if a two year tenure here is realistic (for my own sanity!).

Action items to be "shared" amongst the team; worked for a while but
the novelty seems to have worn off

Another issue I seem to be encountering on a more regular basis is that of the role of religion. In Zambia, as in most African and poorer countries, religion plays a key role in providing hope. I do think this is a good thing. However, being here in Zambia I worry about the way in which people here are taught to take the bible as “black and white”. People here are not taught to question, well, anything really, but especially their religious leaders. This is especially disheartening in the face of the HIV pandemic Zambia is facing and difficult for me working for an “interfaith” organisation.

And then there is the area of aid and development. I have touched on this briefly before and made reference to an “allowance culture” in Zambia. I think the two are without doubt linked, in that, people here are hesitant to do anything unless there is something to line their pocket first. I mean, I don’t blame them; why would you go to work if you can go to a workshop and be given a free meal, transport refund (regardless if the venue is next door to your office or not) and a “sitting allowance”, given just for being present. It is difficult, because in some cases these allowances are the only source of income for some individuals. However, this allowance goes right to the top and the wealthiest people, who not only get their regular salary, but these allowances as well. 

Development at work? Livingstone's first traffic lights!
Is the fact that it's an election year just a coincidence?

Take for instance the partnership launch that I attended in Lusaka last week for the capacity building organisation I mentioned earlier. I received a transport refund, meals and accommodation, which was all fair enough, as most of the attendees were from outside town. But then I received on top of that 100,000zmk per day for three days, just for my presence! In dollar terms it isn’t much, but here that is a lot of money and when given out to each attendee, really starts to add up. The nice hotel and meals should have been enough. I sat in my room and wondered if US tax payers were aware of how their taxes were really being spent, whether good intentioned or not?!

My hotel room while on a workshop in Lusaka

Outside of work things have been a little better, but again not without the odd hiccup.

Last month Mike and I set out on a safari trip in Chobe National Park in Botswana, only to discover in the middle of the park that our 4WD wasn’t actually 4WD at all! We got stuck twice in some very deep sand (unfortunately I didn’t get any photos), and I had to keep an eye out for elephants and lions while Mike attended to the car. Fortunately we both saw the humour in our situation a bit later on :-)

Getting stuck in the sand wasn't all that bad; we wouldn't have come
across this lioness on the way out of the park!

Mike enjoying a well earned Windoek and dessert

Further issues with sick puppies, with one of the puppies from the neighbouring property ending up on our door step as sick as, well, a dog! We were convinced he would die as he wouldn't eat, but then miraculously a few days later he started to get better. Then he went missing for nearly a week and we thought maybe he had died. But no, his owners had him chained up (again). After an escape attempt and seeing wire around his neck we decided to buy him. So now we have a new puppy, “Rambo” who will hopefully become the new property dog after Simba! Just need to toughen him up a bit, hence the name :-)

Wire that was tired around the puppy's neck.
Fortunately the rope wasn't particularly strong!

Rambo: Now a happy puppy with changed luck!

On a brighter note, the month ahead has a couple of trips; one to the capital Lusaka and the second, more exciting one, to Zimbabwe. Looking forward to both trips and a change of scenery!

If all else fails, there's always dessert :-)