Technical Support - Western Province
on Rob Wootton (Zambia), 11/May/2012 16:00, 34 days ago
An interesting week, my first time to go west and see parts of Western Province and Barotseland, which by all accounts did appear to be under developed. Mongu, the provincial capital, and around 8 hours from Lusaka, came across as smaller than Maz with much less going on. The reasons for all this, if enquired about, will generate hours of discussion and debate about who is to blame for this apparent backwardness. As for the work, there is not a huge amount to say really. I moved from one district to another, meeting with some familiar faces who attended the original training done. I probably sounded like a parrot, repeating the same mantra and words of wisdom again and again. The proof of whether it was all worthwhile will be in how people react and if they as a result of the additional training they do the work.   The travel was probably the most entertaining / interesting / frustrating (insert depending on the trip during the week) as I moved from bus to boat to car, got soaked with water one day, and on another covered head to toe in red dust. One place, Kalabo, could only be reached via a 3 hour boat trip with the boats being seen as an one the water version of Zambia’s blue minibuses, meaning that as many people and items are squeezed in as much as possible, and then only when some more squeezing has taken place do we finally leave. On the return boat journey we ran out of fuel – the frustrating bit – within sight of the harbour but being so heavy we could barely move. The crew of course did nothing, the passengers used mobiles to call for help and eventually an hour or so later another boat turned up to tow us in. Being honest, some of the places felt so remote, 3-4 hours from a main road and in the dry (i.e. the good) season, that I was only to bean overnight visitor and not stuck there for the long term