From Livingstone to Lusaka
on Postcards from Zambia (Zambia), 29/Feb/2012 16:28, 34 days ago
Our return from South Africa brought us back to complete craziness in Zambia. For the last couple of months of 2011 there was talk of Mike and I moving to Lusaka so that Mike could work on the implementation of a national database for the National AIDS Council. Momentum gathered in December and we thought that by the time we returned from South Africa we would have some clarity around this. But Zambia being Zambia, of course this was not the case.So the remainder of January was spent sorting our move out, only to have everything happen in the space of literally two weeks. A frantic two weeks! The car needed repairs, Selina (our cleaner) needed new work, Rambo needed a home, I had to work out a forward plan with my organisation and that was on top of packing and two trips to Lusaka (500km away) to move our stuff. Glad that’s all over!Leaving Livingstone has been difficult. Although it is a small town, sometimes a bit too small, we had met lots of great people and made some wonderful friends. Fortunately we had the opportunity to see most of them before we left at a small gathering at the Royal Livingstone Hotel where we had sundowner drinks followed by a lovely meal at Olga’s. Very Livingstone!Mike and I with beautiful Victoria Falls behind usLivingstone Farewell Drinks:The people who have made our time there so much moreenjoyable than it might otherwise have beenWe also made one last quick trip to Victoria Falls, definitely a highlight from our time in Livingstone. Super wet and now a tad cold, it was great to see them one last time.Pretty Victoria Falls- I will miss you!On the edge of the fallsTrying not to get wetI did manage to find a home for Rambo; he is staying with his dog friends and our landlord in Livingstone who will make sure he is fed. I felt particularly lucky that our house was receiving two new volunteers, two lovely girls, one who reported she loves dogs. They were also able to take on Selina as their cleaner, which gave us some piece of mind.Late January and early February were also filled with football fever as the Africa Cup of Nations took place. Think World Cup but on a slightly smaller scale, but nonetheless exciting. Zambia did make it to the final against Ivory Coast and against all the odds won! The atmosphere was amazing with people dancing in the streets, car horns, whistles andvuvuzela’severywhere.Taken during the Zambia v Ghana semi-final at VJs in Livingstone.Obviously Zambia wonHappy, happy ZambiansAnd now we are in Lusaka. Our new apartment is located in an area called Kabulonga, a nice area with a great coffee/ cake shop, handy supermarket, a few nice restaurants and bars. Am I still in Zambia????The Tuesday Market: A highlight of being in Lusaka with lovelyfresh vegetables, fruit, herbs and even tofu!One of Mike's favourite road rules, the four way stop signintersections; a case of first in, best dressed- SERIOUSLY, that isthe rule!Our apartment hasn't been quite as nice; it probably could be if we were going to be here longer than April and willing to put money into it, but we’re not, so it’s ok for now. Our biggest beef has been the bath/ shower. We don’t have a shower as the water pressure is so lousy so a bath/ bucket bath it is! And to top it off, the bath tub had been painted just before we moved in, but with the wrong paint, so sometimes we come out worse offthan when we got in. Not the ideal set up especially with long hair but I’m managing (just).Our new apartment in Luaska, top floorOur new lounge. Not super homely but loving our giraffe "mummies"in the backgroundDining area/ studyOur awesome bathtub..........and the even more awesome paint job they did!Mike’s project has finally taken off with funding and location issues sorted. When he is finished, Zambia will have a national online database of all organisations working in HIV/AIDS throughout the country, as well as a way of capturing data to monitor progress against the AIDS Council’s national targets in prevention, impact mitigation, etc.My situation has taken a bit longer to sort out. I still continue to support my Livingstone organisation who seem to have finally gotten things together. Just before moving we’d received $5k of office equipment and had two donor field assessments, having passed the desk assessments, each for $100k (Still awaiting the result of these). In addition to supporting my Livingstone organisation I’m also supposed to be working with another VSO partner in Lusaka, the terms ofthis still being sorted as I write. I also managed to get the opportunity to work with a large NGO here in Lusaka that I’d had previous contact with in Australia. They work in the area of education, especially for girls, something I’m quite passionate about and looking forward to helping them with when I start next week.The second of the two field assessments conducted at myLivingstone organisation before I left. Only 6 representatives at thisone; the first had 8 people assessing usMy Livingstone colleagues; hopefully they've learnt somethingduring my time there!And so the days to leaving Zambia are going down slowly. The planning for our East Africa trip is now in full swing along with the realisation that we need to get super fit pretty quick if we want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in June.Hurry up April!