Reflection: Volunteering and my time in Zambia

One year and six months in Zambia as a VSO volunteer; six months less than originally anticipated but the work I set out to do is more or less completed!

Before leaving Australia and starting out as a volunteer we are told about the ups and downs of volunteering and living in a developing country. And as much as you try to prepare for this, there are still moments when you wonder why you did it.

I’ve said before that volunteering in Zambia is like being on a giant rollercoaster and I have to say now, that it really is. There are some great highs such as meeting new people and forming friendships, visiting new and fabulous places, new experiences that you know you would never get at home and being challenged in a way you never thought possible. At the same time there are big lows. The obvious one, missing family and friends from home; really bad days at work when you question why you bother, the volunteer allowance which doesn’t allow you to do much at all and the unreliable services that come with being in a developing country (e.g. water, power).

Following on from my post on development aid, I must say that for many of my days in Zambia I have felt like I am exacerbating a problem just by being there; that being the reliance on foreign aid. I don’t believe that Zambia really has any excuse for the position it finds itself in given that it is one of the few countries not to have been impacted by civil war. It has plenty of resources such as copper, lots of fertile land, parks and animals, not to mention the beautiful Victoria Falls. It has been victim to poor government and public mismanagement as well as struggled with HIV and AIDS. Nonetheless, it is one of only a few countries to have actually gone backwards in the Human Development Index over the past 20 years with the other notable mentions being the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

I’ve given my time as a volunteer in Zambia a lot of thought and decided that I would list the things I will miss about Zambia and volunteering and the ones I won’t.

What I will miss:

• The terrific people I’ve met! The friends made in Livingstone as well as other VSO volunteers. And my two puppies, Rambo and Simba who were great guard dogs
• The über red, ripe tomatoes found in local markets; the avocados, bananas and mangos, all super cheap and tasty
• Freedom to make decisions or better put as absence of the “nanny” state, meaning being able to have 3 instead of 2 beers and then being able to drive home; not having high fences around something as beautiful as Victoria Falls to stop stupid people from getting too close to the edge; and being able to drive in parks with really cool animals
• Assisted pumps at the petrol station. I love this, I know I’m super lazy but I love being able to sit in the car on those wet or super-hot days while someone fills the car with petrol for me
• Being only hours away from safari!

What I won’t miss:

• NOT being able to drink water from the tap (we are so lucky in Australia)
• Smelling the meat at the supermarket to make sure its ok for purchase, or even worse, blocking my nose as I walk through the meat section
• Sporadic and unreliable water and electricity
• Poor customer service. We complain a lot about this in Australia, but just try banking in Zambia after working for a bank in Australia! Me: “The ATM just returned my card and receipt without the cash”. Standard Chartered Bank Staff: “Why don’t you just come back tomorrow and check then to make sure you have the correct balance”. Me: “No, how about you fix this for me NOW”. Standard Chartered Bank Staff: Blank stare……
• The vinegar tasting wine that South Africa exports to Zambia. I know South Africa has some great wines and that demand for it is probably still low in Zambia, but do they really need to send the garbage that they do?
• NGOs and aid everywhere! For the reasons already mentioned

I’m not sure what will happen to Zambia or where it will be in 10 years’ time. I do feel sad for many of the people that sit at the bottom of the heap and are relying on those at the top to simply do their jobs to help improve their situation. Last year a new government took over the leadership of Zambia and although not off to a flying start, I hope they can start to bring around some of the much needed change that Zambia needs.

As for me, I’ve learnt a lot about myself over the past 18 months and from my observations and interactions with people in Zambia, an awful lot about human nature, all of which I hope will have made this experience worthwhile. 

Livingstone Update

At Home

I haven’t lived in a small town since I was in primary school and living in Romsey, country Victoria, so I didn’t really think about how confined it can feel to live in small town. Still, I do like Livingstone and over the past month or so, we have managed to find different activities to keep ourselves entertained.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to head out to Livingstone Golf Course early on a Sunday morning, for a “round” of golf. We paid for nine holes, thinking that that would keep us happily entertained for a few hours. Only two and a half hours later and four holes down, we decided we’d had enough. Complete hack job! Fun but I think we’ll stick to running on the golf course in the future.

On the golf course at Livingstone Royal Golf and Country Club

Testing out my swing (& check out my cool pink golf bag
in the background!!!)

Bad swing

Complete hack

On a different weekend we brought out the Chinese vinegar we purchased on a recent visit to Lusaka to make pork dumplings. Our kitchen is not really equipped for Chinese cooking, but with our ingredients and “creativity”, our dumplings came out ok and quite tasty.

Our attempt at Chinese pork dumplings

Not pretty but they tasted alright

We have made a couple more visits to Victoria Falls, this time at night, to see the Lunar Rainbow. The rainbow occurs when there is a full moon and is truly amazing. It is difficult to really capture it in words, or photos for that matter, although my best effort is below!

Lunar rainbow at Victoria Falls, Livingstone:Difficult to describe
and not sure if the photo really does it justice. Truly amazing!!

Last weekend we headed out with friends to Nina’s Fishing Camp, a lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River in Western Province, Zambia, a couple of hours before Sioma camp where we camped a few months ago. We had an awesome weekend so much so that I have written a separate post for that weekend.

Cruising on the Zambezi River

And as the hot season approaches, we have started to encounter frequent power cuts. They are a regular feature of life in Livingstone but do get worse as the weather warms up. However, we are now well equipped for these cuts and despite making it difficult to cook dinner (bring on the tuna salad!), having a room filled with candles can be kind of nice.

Lights out: Another blackout in Livingstone, but all is ok with our
candles and puppies

Tuna salad for dinner

At Work

What to say about work?!! Perhaps I can say that it continues to be challenging. As I previously mentioned we were fortunate enough to be awarded a partnership with a US aid funded organisation that capacity builds smaller organisations. That process has now begun, starting with an organisational assessment which involved everyone in our organisation from staff to volunteers, the board and beneficiaries. The assessment itself was quite a painful process, but I was happy to see that the areas that I would have identified as needing to be focused on came out as high priorities, e.g. Monitoring and Evaluation of programmes, planning, etc.

Our organisation assessment in progress 

The assessment was definitely a long process

Following the assessment a series of trainings have started to build the capacity of existing staff within the organisation, so the office has been rather quiet (a recent 2 week “absence” of electricity also contributed :-)). Truth be told, I'm a little bit sceptical on the value of these trainings given that there is a belief in Zambia that people require “refresher” trainings on exactly the same subject only 1-2 years later. My personal belief is that if the trainings were of value in the first place or should I say “valued” by the recipients, then refresher training shouldn't be necessary; perhaps mentoring or re-reading up on the subject, but not re-doing the whole of the training again. But I digress…

Anyway, with the trainings and capacity building process in progress, the time required to focus on our existing donor funded programmes and our resource mobilisation effort has diminished, leaving me feeling a tad stressed. I only hope this process is all worth it in the end!

Over 10 months in Zambia

The months, I’m please to say, are passing much faster now and we are fast approaching the one year mark.

How clever! Our new braai for camping, on the back of Ruth's
spare tyre

Only a few weeks to go until my Mum and her friend Reegena arrive, and another week after that until we set off on our first and long awaited big drive through Botswana and Namibia. Pretty much all plans are in place as we make last minute purchases for “Ruth” and camping. Now just counting down the weeks and days :-)

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: A country I never thought I’d get to visit. Infamous for all of its political issues and crazy leader, many people are scared off by all of the trouble that gets reported in the western media. However, after being in Zambia for 8+ months and getting feedback from other volunteers and friends, Zimbabwe started to sound not quite so scary and definitely worth a visit.

So, with that said and a long weekend in Zambia, we decided to head over the border to see Zimbabwe for ourselves.

On the way to Bulawayo: Eating lunch roadside

Our trip took us from Victoria Falls just over the border, down to the country’s second largest city Bulawayo where we spent our first night, followed by a night in Matobo National Park (about 40kms west of Bulawayo), back north for a night in Hwange National Park and then back to Victoria Falls for our final night. Not a long trip, but it gave us an idea of what Zimbabwe is like.

Map of our trip

Our first stop, Bulawayo (meaning “Killing Ground”) was very civilised for an African city (especially when compared to a city like Lusaka). It was easy to drive around, well set out and planned and had everything you need from a city. For the first time in a while I felt like a minority with not a lot of muzungus (white people) to be seen, however the people in Bulawayo, and all of Zimbabwe for that matter, were lovely! Very welcoming and seemingly very happy to have us there. Our first night we had a drink at a bar tasting the local brew “Lion” beer; wasn’t a fan but the atmosphere was cool. We also learnt that like Livingstone, Bulawayo is subject to frequent and long power cuts, when we were rudely awakened by the power generator at our accommodation as they tried to prepare breakfast for their guests.

One of the main streets in Bulawayo

Beautiful old buildings in Bulawayo show the old colonial
influence; this one is a shopping area

From Bulawayo we headed to Matobo National Park, listed as a world heritage site for its rock formations and ancient cave drawings. It is also the place where Cecil Rhodes was buried, although not knowing a great deal about Cecil Rhodes, some of the importance was lost on me.

Some of the rock formations that Matobo National Park is famous for

The resting place of Cecil Rhodes

Cave drawings in Pomongwe Cave: These drawings have been
carbon dated to be around 2000 years old

Pomongwe Cave: Part of a World Heritage Site

We spent a night in the park, which I wasn't particularly keen on to start with and less so when we were subjected to freezing cold temperatures, with an icy wind coming off the nearby lake. We came extremely well prepared (or so we thought) but freezing temperatures and an air mattress makes a nice recipe for hypothermia. Anyway, Mike’s scout training kicked in and saved the day and despite a nearly sleepless night, we made it through.

Sunset: Matobo National Park rock formations

The lake by our camp-site in Matobo National Park: Making a cold
night even colder!

The next day we headed to Hwange National Park, via Bulawayo where we purchased additional camping supplies, well worth the money spent! On the way we encountered the usual police stops without any problems, but one police lady did tell Mike (and I think she was serious) that a dirty car “was an offense”. No fine for that one but probably time to get “Ruth” washed. 

Much warmer! After our new camping purchases we had an air mattress,
rubber mats, sleeping bags and three blankets to keep us warm

Setting up camp at Hwange National Park Main Camp

Hwange National Park was awesome. After a much better night’s sleep we travelled through the park and its very varied landscapes. We saw a lot of different animals; zebra, impala, giraffe, elephants, etc., but the highlight without a doubt was the male lion hiding behind some bushes with the previous night’s kill. Unfortunately it was difficult to get a really clear photo despite being no more than 3 metres away, but exciting to see.

This Giraffe just loved being photographed!

View from the road as we moved through the park. Was just like
Autumn with the beautiful coloured leaves

Zebra enjoying the sun

Elephant skull: A reminder of just how big an elephant is

Hippos down by the waterhole

Male lion protecting a dead buffalo, the previous nights kill. We were only a few metres away, unfortunately the scrub between us made
it difficult to get the perfect photo!

 Our last night in Zimbabwe was spent in the town Victoria Falls. One of the things we noticed there were the number of overland trucks and backpackers; they were everywhere! I’m not too sure what Zambia and Livingstone is doing wrong, but they should be looking to cash in on this revenue stream in much the same way that Zimbabwe is obviously doing.

Lots of overland trucks stationed at Victoria Falls Rest Camp; Zambia
and Livingstone need to get in on all the action

We didn’t do a lot in Victoria Falls. We checked out the Victoria Falls Hotel, which is a beautiful old colonial building, surrounded by green lawns and the most amazing view of the Victoria Falls Bridge. We walked around the town a bit, a small town very much focused on tourism. We had then planned to visit the Falls themselves to see how they look from the Zim side, but the $20 entrance fee for SADC members (i.e. Southern African Development Community) we felt was a tad steep, given we pay the equivalent of $1.40 (7,000ZMK) on the Zambia side. We have been told the Falls are even more amazing on the Zim side, but nearly $19 more amazing??? Probably not.

Check out the awesome view of Victoria Falls Bridge just behind me

The Victoria Halls Hotel: Beautiful, old, colonial building

The front of Victoria Halls Hotel

All in all we had a pretty good trip to Zimbabwe. I’m not sure what I was expecting to be honest, but what I found was a country of people who are just getting on with it, are welcoming to visitors and continuing to build their country’s economy up as best they can, and not doing too bad a job of it either! One can only hope that the elections to be held there later this year don’t take the country backwards, because the people there certainly don’t derserve that.

Stopping traffic: Two cows fighting on the side of the road 

But I’m not going to end this post talking about Zimbabwe; instead I think the story about Mike and I getting fined on the Victoria Falls Bridge for the below photograph is a much better ending. As we entered back into Zambia, we thought it would be nice to get a photo of “Ruth” on the bridge. So with no cars or trucks behind us, I jumped out of the car for not more than 15 seconds and got the below photo, not realising that stopping on the bridge was illegal. Opps. As we approached the end of the bridge a very angry Zambian gate minder pulled us over, taking Mike’s license in the exchange. Warning Mike it was a $500 fine for stopping, he was also willing to accept 50,000ZMK ($10) for the offense, which we were more than happy to pay if it meant avoiding a $500 fine. Probably encouraging the wrong behaviour, but $500 for a 15second photo stop, really? Anyway, the below photo will now have be appreciated all the more by us!

Our infamous photo: 50,000ZMK later.......