The 7 Month Mark!
on Postcards from Zambia (Zambia), 11/May/2011 07:48, 34 days ago
Time is finally moving a bit faster and we have made it to 7 months in Zambia. It feels like quite an achievement as there have been days when I have started to think that I wasn’t going to make it even this far.Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating Zambia or my placement, but it is challenging on a day to day basis and sometimes does get me down.Life has become somewhat routine, pretty much one of the things that I had hoped to get away from when I left Australia. It’s been very much work from Monday to Friday and fit in what we can on the weekends, on a very meagre budget.Weekend treat: Homemade burger with a refreshing cider toaccompany it!Work has been ok, quite busy actually. I finally completed one of my most important tasks, writing a Resource Mobilisation Strategy for my organisation, which I had never done before, and have had it accepted by the management and staff of the organisation. From there it has been full steam ahead as we refine some of our programme plans and ramp up the daunting task of fundraising for them. At work we were also successful in securing a donated vehicle (I did have misgivings about this, given the cost of fuel and maintenance, but it has already come in very useful) and have started a couple of smaller IGAs for our office. Baby steps, but we have to start somewhere!One of our office IGAs: The first of our vegetable gardens. The Toyota Hilux that was donated to ZINGO South from Pact ZambiaOur main programme which is currently running is Self Help Groups (SHG) for women, a programme that I feel quite passionately about and more so every time we do a site visit. The programme so far has 21 groups of women (approximately 15 per group), with our goal to reach up to 50 by end of this year. The programme focuses on group savings and loans, is a proven concept and is sort of based on the Grameen model, with less of a microfinance component. I love the focus on women and the concept of“Self Help”, something that Zambia often lacks. But I think I will write more on this programme in a later post.One of our women's groups at their weekly meetingSelf Help Group training at the ZINGO South office. The trainingcovered the SHG concept, book keeping and data collectionThe area of development and its place in Zambia has proven extremely challenging for me and from discussions with other VSO volunteers and expats, I’m not alone. At the moment I cannot see how Zambia’s aid dependency will ever be removed unless something changes significantly. It is a shame as Zambia as a country has a lot going for it; beautiful parks and wildlife and therefore great tourism opportunities; lots of minerals, predominately copper; it has a relatively cheap, oversupply of labour which if tapped properly could be used to attract foreign investment. Unfortunately, Zambia suffers from many of the same “governance” issues as a number of other African countries (albeit not all). It also has poor infrastructure which it needs to improve significantly being a land-locked country, a lack of incentives for foreign investment and an allowance culture where very little gets done without a personal incentive being offered first. Currently there are a number of countries pulling their aid money out of Zambia, which I hopeacts as a signal to the people and government here that things need to change. However I fear that I am being a little optimistic.Anyway, to break routine, Mike and I are endeavouring to plan more short trips and activities; after all, we shouldn't waste the opportunities that we have in the location where we are based with 3 borders at our doorstep. We are especially looking forward to our planned trip in September which will be nearly a month long road trip through Botswana and Namibia (which Mike has deemed as“Top Gear Bostwana 2”). I’m excited too because my Mum and her friend Reegena will be joining us.Before shot: This is Mike before I gave him a very much needed hair cutAfter shot: Mike exclaiming how much lighter and cooler his head feelsLast weekend we re-visited Victoria Falls, which are too amazing to try and describe. They have to be one of the coolest, if not the coolest, thing I have ever seen. Sooooo much water and power!Victoria Falls in MayThe mighty Mosi-o-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) The town of Livingstone over Easter was the busiest I have ever seen it, with“Mzungu’s” (white person) everywhere, great for the local tourism industry.Mike in front of Victoria FallsAnd at home we have had a puppy invasion, with puppies appearing from everywhere, much to the disgust of our resident dog, Simba (although we suspect that some of the puppies may be his). Mike has also been quite unhappy, with some of the puppies attacking his herbs and plants. Simba being followed around by the puppiesCould this be Simba Junior?So life continues here in Zambia, with its ups and downs, encouragements and disappointments, a real eye opener!Me at the top of Victoria Falls