Zambericans

After meeting with WaterAid on Thursday, we hurried back to the hotel after lunch in order to meet a group of Zambian youth from different organizations. Scrambling into the conference room late, we found them dressed in suits, collared shirts, and generally nicer clothes. I remember looking down at myself with a t-shirt and jeans and felt embarrassed, hoping that I didn’t seem like the typical American, rude and sloppy. We sat down, and started talking to each other loudly, laughing together in the previously quiet room. That probably didn’t really lessen the contrast between the Americans and the Zambians.

We began with introduction of names and ages. I was slightly intimidated to learn of the age gap between the two groups. They put our names and ages up on the board. On one side were our ages, 13-18, and on the other side were theirs, 20-23. There were youth from several organizations, though they all seemed to be linked through a common facilitator, Walu. We conducted an ice-breaker (three truths and a lie), then another from the Zambians, which involved one person generating a random question, then a random answer. After, we opened it up to a question and answer session between the two groups.

One thing that came out immediately was how everyone on the Zambian side was Christian, and strongly so. the American side there was a high percentage of religious people (most Christian, to the best of my knowledge), but not all of us. To point out the difference between us, the Zambians were surprised we had not started out the meeting with a prayer. Also, another thing that was apparent from the introductions and even the ice-breakers was that the other groups’ focus was on HIV/AIDS. Their strategy on prevention seemed to stem from abstinence rather than condom use, which is different than the teaching methods I’ve been exposed to. Although, as a disclaimer, I’ve read that there are many programs that advocate abstinence in the U.S.

The last activity we did was a discussion about views about the other country. The Zambians put what conceptions they had about U.S., and the Americans put what misconceptions they had about Zambia. I wish we had actually done this before the Q and A session, because it opened up a lot of discussion, especially about their views of the United States. Unfortunately, the talk about our previous misconceptions about Zambia didn’t bear much fruit since we listed and they addressed the things that we’d already found to be untrue, like that Africa is all desert, that most people live in tribes, etc.

I was very glad to meet with them. Even though they weren’t precisely our age, they were also youth and just exchanging information about our different lives with them was incredibly valuable in learning about other lives.

Busy busy busy busy

I am now, officially, horribly behind on my blogging. Five days have passed, and I’m going to rush through them so I can put down the latest and most vivid recollections before they fade away.

Wednesday, four days ago, we went to a microfinance fair in the village of Chongwe. It was designed to be a celebration of the microfinance funded by the United Nations Development Programme, as well as a place where groups funded by the microfinance program could sell their products. We drove in serenaded by a group of women singing who continued even after we exited the van. There were at least one or two hundred people in the audience, though practically all were women. Men weren’t there perhaps because they were working or just weren’t interested in coming, since I saw plenty of men and boys on the drive in. That just highlighted how microfinance has focused a lot around women, due to their historically higher rate of fiscal responsibility, and also women’s cultural position of staying home and creating crafts that they can sell.

The microfinance fair was interesting, though they had to switch between the local language (Tonga, I believe), and English, which was difficult to understand because of the accent and because were in the back, and also because we were distracted by the mass of children who had surrounded us.

The kids, for most of us, were the highlight of the microfinance fair. Our attention drifted off as the kids giggled and we began to play with them. There ages ranged from about four to eleven, and we had fun as we took pictures of them and then showed the images to them. Grayson was behind me showing them how to do “American handshakes”, and others were throwing around a ball. We tried to pay attention to the presentation in front of us, but the kids were extremely distracting (although in a good way.) We did, however, watch as there were dances and a singing group, a short skit about how microfinance saved one woman’s daughter from prostitution, and two women who presented about their experiences. A representative from the Grameen Trust was there (one of the original microfinance groups, based in Bangladesh), and talked a bit. We were also able to browse the wares of the entrepreneurs funded by microfinance, and we bought from a few as well.

After the Chongwe Fair, we went to the Grassroots Soccer group in Lusaka. We thought it was odd that it was called soccer when it was based in South Africa, where the term is football. But we learned that it was a non-profit started by a student from Dartmouth, focused on teaching about HIV/AIDS through a curriculum of games and activities. We played a few games, many of which were surprisingly similar to Tam drama activities (CTE). They were name games, although with forty or more people, it was nearly impossible to remember everyone’s. Afterwards, we did one of their curriculum games, where we created two lines of people and passed a ball, which represented HIV, behind our backs so the other team didn’t know where it was. Each line had to guess where the ball was in the other person’s line. There were three lessons behind the game: you can’t tell outwardly who has HIV, the only way to know for sure is to go for a VCT (voluntary counseling and testing), and where you could go to get a VCT.

Afterwards, we played football (soccer) with the Zambian youth. We were split into separate teams, mixed Americans and Zambians, and played. Firstly, I rarely play football. Secondly, they were really good. Needless to say, I was destroyed and humiliated for my lack of football skills. But either way, it was exhilarating and fun to play football with Zambian youth underneath a vibrant sunset… even if I did fall multiple times and my passes were completely out of luck. We all left, excited and satisfied, although all a bit embarrassed by our lack of football ability.

Thursday, three days ago, we visited multiple non-profits and projects. The first we visited was the Malaria Foundation in Zambia, which was the umbrella organization uniting the multiple efforts against malaria in Zambia. This was the first malaria organization we’d met, and it highlighted the need for efforts to roll back malaria. They stressed the use of awareness programs and ITB, or insecticide treated bednets, as well as early recognition and treatment. Malaria is a disease caused by the parasites in the female anopheles mosquito. It is transmitted when a mosquito feeds off an infected person then feeds again off another, who will then become infected.

Next, we visited a PlayPump at a school in Lusaka. PlayPumps are being touted as a cutting-edge tool in providing clean water access to schools and communities. While it is a simple mechanical pump, it also acts as a game for children. PlayPumps are wheels like those in parks that children can spin around. PlayPumps, however, pump water into a water tower while the children are playing on it. This is a simple but effective tool that eliminates the tedious hand pump. When we went inside, we were able to see pictures of when Laura Bush visited to see the PlayPump in action. We also played with the children at the school on the PlayPump wheel, spinning around with them until everyone was dizzy. (I admit, when I spun them the Director had to mention to Jenny he didn’t want them going that fast.)

WaterAid Zambia was our next stop. Unfortunately, all the senior officials were out touring the projects with a group of people from the U.K., so our meeting was conducted by one of the project monitors still being oriented to the program. He seemed to be a little intimidated, but he immediately brightened up in answering whenever we asked a question. I feel we did gain some valuable information, like how WaterAid Zambia focused more on sanitation, since there seemed to be a lot of efforts going towards clean water access already. This involved setting up latrines in villages and promoting hygiene awareness programs.

I’ll put the rest later, so that’s what I have now.

Into the new frontier

Before I start droning on about the day, I’ll start with my quote colletion so far on the trip.

“Satchel, no running with spears!” – Jenny

“Mom, you’re so hyper.” – Weezie

“Are they speaking Spanish?” – John

“Are there snakes in Africa?” – John

“Don’t look at the world through a laser beam view.” – John

“I’ve never lost an argument in my life.” – (yes, it’s…) John

Last Monday, two days ago, we departed from Johannesburg, South Africa, on the way to Lusaka, Zambia. Funny story: I was checking my baggage at the airport, and I greeted the man at the desk with a “hey”. He looked at me hesitantly and said, “I have a question for you.” I waited. “How… how do you great people in your language?” I was a little puzzled, since it sounded as if his English was quite good. “Is it just a hello?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I told him, “just hi or hello.”

“Oh.” He paused and looked down for a second. Then he looked up again. “And what does sheh-sheh mean?”

I was completely perplexed for a moment before I realized what he was talking about. I laughed.

“I don’t speak Chinese,” I told him. “But I think it means thank you.”

“Oh.”

It’s even funnier because I had handed him my American passport a few moments before. I wasn’t offended, just very amused, and now I have a funny story to tell.

On a side note, we found a guy in the airport who looked exactly like Dan. I managed to capture the imposter on camera.

Upon arriving in Lusaka, Carson and I discovered our bags had gone missing due to some earlier pre-flight chaos. I was so tired that I treated it like a huge joke. (We got them back last night, fortunately.) Then we arrived at the Protea Hotel, slightly tired but happy to have a bed to sleep in.

The next day, yesterday, was one thing after another. In the morning, we went straight to the YAPYA Youth Investment Trust in Zambia office, and there we met leaders and representatives from different microfinance groups for half an hour each. These groups included AMIZ, HARMOS, Junior Achievers Zambia, and Africare—all different microfinance groups with different strategies and targets. They described their groups and we asked them a few questions about their work. For instance, AMIZ was an association of microfinance groups in Zambia, which worked to facilitate discussion and information sharing throughout different groups. HARMOS worked in rural areas to provide microfinance loans to help businesses, though they seemed to focus a lot on collateral and payments. Junior Achievers Zambia took a completely different strategy and worked with students to create businesses, usually services like gardening, and then have other students invest in them, all using real money (kwacha). Then there was Africare, which, rather than giving loans, gave training and grants to promising groups of youth in the form of equipment, like a press to make peanut butter faster. All of these programs focused on achieving sustainable and profitable growth in businesses.

From there, we hopped into the bus and traveled to visit different projects. The first we visited was a farm market, where they sold produce and other goods. Two youth staffed the stall with a laptop computer, with which they used to calculate finances on an Excel spreadsheet. However, they also had two empty buildings they had built in the back which they planned to turn into a take-away food stall and a community center. They told us that they had guests come from foreign countries every few months and teach a few community members skills. For instance, a welder came and taught a few young men to weld, and they created the bars that adorned the windows. Another group had actually created the bricks for the two buildings as well.

The second project we visited was an orphanage. As we entered, the man showing us around pointed out the cassava growing along the side of the road which had been planted by the children there. Cassava is one of the growing alternatives to the staple crop of Zambia, which is maize, or corn. We entered through the gates to see a group of young men and women husking (?) the corn, taking off the kernels and tossing the husks. Their machine was a simple sieve upon which they placed the dried corn cobs. They then pounded it with a stick in order to loosen the kernels. I asked one woman what they used the husks for since there was such a large pile, and she said they were feed for the cows.

Inside the orphanage, the children were sleeping, unfortunately, and we didn’t get to meet them. We did, however, get to meet a woman named Kimberly who was a missionary from the United States and who was one of the “mothers” in charge of the orphanage. She and her husband had moved to Zambia two years ago after hearing about this project from their church. Her children were in the back room, though I didn’t get a chance to see them. As we were leaving, I noticed a nice rug in the front of the house, so I asked her about it. Kimberly talked about how the rug was actually made by some of the local women in the crafting groups, how it was made of woven plastic bags and bits of rag. They also made small handbags as well, which they sold for income. Unfortunately, we had to leave before we could go more in depth, but it was a very interesting conversation.

We rushed back to the YAPYA office to meet Ambassador Lewanika, the Zambian Ambassador to the United States. She and her daughter had traveled with Jenny and Weezie when they came to Zambia in 2004. Afterwards, we went out to dinner at Rhapsody’s.

That day was hectic and long, but it was also a revealing first day in Zambia. Just traveling the streets showed it was a lot different than South Africa. People would walk up to your window and try to sell things, and coming in at nine o’clock, the streets were abandoned. But one thing that surprised me was, while there were still corporate ads, there was a high amount of HIV/AIDS awareness ads that were posted all over the walls that lined the roads. The awareness ads were especially concentrated around the schools. But it was obvious that there the financial situation in Zambia was flourishing less than South Africa’s. On that note, Zambia’s GNI per capita is about 490 USD (less than two dollars a day), compared to South Africa’s 4960 USD. Both are spectacularly low compared to the United States’. Unemployment in both groups is high as well: 25% for South Africa, and 50% for Zambia. It’s these numbers that the microfinance groups are trying to roll back, and we’re here to learn how.