Goodbye Zambia
on A Zambian Experience (Zambia), 11/Dec/2011 11:44, 34 days ago
It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post. Looking at the title of my last entry on the 23rd Sep, anyone would think that I was writing a script for the ending of an action thriller movie! Let's just say my experience in Zambia did not come to a sorry demise with gun shots and all is well…I promise.Looking back, I can’t believe how quickly time has flown and it’s true when you are about to embark on a month of goodbyes and last minute packing and travelling, you can get caught up in a whirlwind of events which take you away from the normal day-to-day life of being a VSO volunteer in Africa.I’ve now left Zambia and I'm currently writing this post from my home back in the UK. It’s a grey Sunday morning. I can hear the motor of the washing machine starting up as if it's about to take off from the floor and noticeably the weather is very cold. As I look back at some of the highlights of my last month in Zambia, I can’t help but feel that writing from England is a bit strange. I feel as if I’ve been transported back to a totally different world, where strangely everything around me has remained the same and that the experience of the last 2 years was all just a dream.As I recall the memories of my last couple of months in Africa– the vibrant colours of the landscape, the warm friendly faces, the leaving parties touched with fun and laughter, it’s easy to remember how part of the fabric you become whilst living overseas, particularly in Chipata.Here are some of the highlights from my last month in Zambia:-It’s Saturday 1st October and it’s my last day at Chipata Nutrition Group. I’ve gone into work on a Saturday to attend a final board meeting. Board Meetings always take place on the first Saturday of the month allowing my colleagues to attend to work in the week and Church on a Sunday, so naturally Saturday is the best day for everyone to meet.The meeting typically doesn’t begin on time, but an hour delay is actually very good and we all get started by 10am which often doesn’t happen. When I say 'we', not everyone shows up on time and some come a bit later than others. Nonetheless, I’m impressed by the attendance and I have a little frog in my throat thinkingthat it will be my last meeting with everyone in the office. It’s been a challenging time, but very rewarding and I will miss my colleagues very much.Typically the meeting starts with a prayer. As it’s read out aloud in the local Chinyanja language, I fail to catch anything of what is being said. Despite having picked up some key phrases of Chinyanja since being here, I’m slightly disappointed about my lack of biblical knowledge in the local language but nevertheless I shout a very loud ‘Amen’ (!) at the end,(as if I knew what was being said!)It was a great meeting summarising current plans and future recommendations. We even put together some content for the VSO final report and got a date in the diary for my leaving party. As I left the office on my bike and said a‘see you at the party’, I couldn’t help but feel a hint of sadness that it was all coming to an end.However, the party was great. Lots of speeches, some tears, lots of laughter and even some dancing. Here are some photos of the event which took place in my garden. All my colleagues came and also Florence Zimba from the Youth Magazine. They prepared some lovely food nshima, rice, chicken, vegetables and lots of cakes! The women had baked everything since 6am in the morning! They even decorated the location using recycled local resources (pink toilet paper as bunting, which went down a storm!) We exchanged gifts and said goodbye. Very memorable!!The night before I also had a leaving party with some local friends in Chipata (Zambian, British, American, Irish, Ugandan and Italian). The party’s theme was all things to do with Zambia so the majority of us were dressed up in our finest Zambian clothes, again the party was at my house where we prepared a braii (southern african term for Barbecue). It was a fun evening with lots of drinking, eating, dancing and singing and it didn’t finish until 2am. All the kids had fun dancing to some classic Zambian hits and Gordon, one of the Scottish Expats did his own rendition of Bob Marley, (an acoustic version) which went down a storm with the Zambians – I think that was one of the highlights of the evening!As I look back at those parties I can’t help but feel how lucky I am to have had such a great memorable experience, shared with so many close friends in Chipata. As a VSO volunteer you inevitably develop close bonds with people when you travel to far and distant places. However, as I look back at the memories, I think that distance is such a subjective concept, because no matter how far away you are, those ties and memories bring you closer to people, events and situations which result in you feeling that you are not that far away at all.