| Jenn 的个人资料Stories from Zambia照片日志 |  工具  帮助 |
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8月24日 Zambia Chapter 2Mwabuka buti!! (Good morning), We travelled to a place called Kazungula in the back of a pick up truck. It was highway driving for about 30mins., and then onto a dirt road that had some of the biggest potholes I have ever seen. Sitting in the back of that truck, I thought how handy a 'booty' would have been!! The further away from the highway we got, the smaller the roads became. There were so many paths through the bush that I was surprised we didn't get lost. Once we arrived at the first village, we got to talk with the head man about his crop failures and his desire to grow sorghum. The village consisted of about ten mud huts, each home to probably a family of 10 or more. The head man himself was responsible for 15 people! The children were so curious about us. They loved having their pictures taken with the digital camera since they could see the image immediately afterward. The farmer took us to see his fields. They were completely barren. He hadn't been able to harvest even 1 bag of food this year. He showed us his storage bins. They were completely empty - not even a single cob of corn existed. When we asked him what he was going to do until next year, he didn't seem to know. He was a luckier farmer then most others since he had some cattle. But I learned that people don't like to sell their cattle because this is a status symbol, and will often only do so in desperate situations. Getting back in the truck to move to the next village, I started to cry. I had known that people didn't have food, but I never truly realized what that meant. These people were 25 km from the highway, and then another 60 km from Livingstone. They don't have vehicles and most don't have any type of transportation except for their own 2 feet. This was a jolting experience....
On Tuesday, I accompanied Mike and the CARE team to a food aid distribution. Many people who had been affected ny the drought qualified to receive a 50kg (110lbs.) bag of wheat per household to try to help them until they could find alternatives. There were 465 people entitled to receive food at this particular distribution point. It was very organized. The people had already been told who qualified for the aid, and everyone waited patiently in the 30 C weather for over 5 hours. People had walked as far as 20km, that's right, 20kms! in order to receice their food. I saw women with babies strapped to their backs carrying these bags on their heads without shoes, making the 3 hour trek back to their homes. And I found out that these bags would sustain the average family for only 1 week before it would run out. I'm still not a huge advocate of food aid (it tends to create dependency by the people receiving it), but I do agree that it's needed in certain situations, especially when the government of Zambia refuses to acknowledge that there is a food shortage. I held a lot of admiration for these people, especially the ones who had sincerely tried to grow their own food but had been unsuccessful due to lack of rain.
That's it for now. I, myself, am doing well. It's still unkown as to when I officially start work, but I'm going back to Lusaka. I miss you all and I really enjoy hearing from you. It's comforting to know that I haven't been forgotten out here in Africa ;) Lv from Zambia, Jenn 8月14日 Zambia Chapter 1
I’m going to start you off with my embarrassing/funny story first. On Thursday, Natasha (the Canadian that works with me) and I went to a tiny restaurant near our office. We had been there already, and I really liked the owner and the food – nshima, rape, and groundnuts (sorry Russ, no meat yet!). As I was paying, I decided that I would give her a small tip to show that I appreciated her kindness and good service. So I reached into my wallet and hauled out a big 100kwacha to give her. She looked at it, then looked at me and asked, ‘Do you know what this will buy in my country?’ I said I wasn’t exactly sure yet. She said ‘One bubblegum’ and then burst out laughing! I was horrified. I did manage to stammer ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you’. She said that she was going to keep it to remind her of this funny moment. It turns out that tipping her 100kwacha was equivalent to tipping someone in Canada a dime. Real classy. How do you say unconscious incompetence??
Zambia has treated me extremely well since I’ve arrived. From the wouldn’t-pass-inspection-in-Canada cab that transported me home from the airport to the cramped-but-I-always-end-up-getting-someone’s-number bus that I am now comfortable riding, these past few days have been quite an experience. Everyone that I’ve spoken with has been really friendly and helpful. I’m still wary about those that may have ulterior motives when asking for my number or when I can hang out with them, but I’ve decided that I’ll give the people who seem most sincere the benefit of the doubt and decide from there. This is an added dimension to meeting people and becoming friends. At home, this isn’t really something one often needs to consider, although a friendship is always a give and take relation. One thing that I’ve found very interesting about the people I’ve met is that most, if not all, know at least 2-3 languages. I’d already decided that I would learn one well, and now I’ve decided that I want to try to learn another at least fairly well. I’ll let you know how that goes. A surprising and inspiring aspect of life here is the amount of people who have chosen to become ‘entrepreneurs’ as opposed to beggars on the streets. Everywhere, there are people selling everything. From oranges to shopping bags or bricks, so many people are trying to earn a living by being resourceful. Who knows, maybe some have tried their hand at asking for money and obtained less than successful results. Maybe others feel too proud to venture down that avenue. All I know is that without any type of safety net, government programs or otherwise, many people have realized that they are the ones who are going to improve their own livelihood (this pertains to those who choose to spend their earnings on food, education, clothing, etc. as opposed to alcohol/drugs – not sure about the percentage).
Well, that’s all for now. I hope this message helps you to have a clearer picture of my experience so far. I haven’t started work yet with WaterAid, an NGO focused on the provision of water and hygiene and sanitation education, but I’ll keep you updated on the project once I do.
Take care, Jenn |
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