Tada! A short photo tour!

And here it is folks, the moment you've all been waiting for (and the one that took me several hours and several thousand Kwacha at an Internet cafe to complete). PHOTOS! Yay!



The plan here is to take you on a mini-summary of what I've been up to so far. Enjoy the ride!



























The view from the South African Airways flight landing in Johannesburg at 6:50am. This is quite possible the longest and the largest sunset I've ever seen.

The gang spent a few days together at the Kuomboka Backpackers in Lusaka getting acquinted with life in Zambia. If you're ever looking for a nice cold beer and a friendly bartender, this is the place to go (plus they have a hot shower!).

<<>>

While in town we met with some important folks like the man in the middle here - the District Commissioner for Mazabuka District. Our photographer liked to take photos of us getting ready to take photos so I've included this one rather than the 'good copy' since it's actually better. e were also given some VERY yellow shirts (and hats, but Mary and I preferred not to wear those...).

And finally, a look at the place I call work. The Information Kiosk (or container as everyone has come to call it). I'm working on getting a name for this place though, something that captures what it is or could be, rather than just the facts that it literally contains things.

The view on the way into or out of (I can't remember) the bustling metropolis of Lusaka. I think these must be the suburbs...

More view, this time the sun setting near Mazabuka. The haze is a result of burning the sugar cane fields. The sugar cane doesn't burn itself, but all the snakes do, so it's safe for harvesting.






I think I mentioned this is a previous blog. Stacks and stacks of watermelons!! All the way from Lusaka to Chibombo (where Mary is working). They're also only about $1.50.

While in Chibombo Mary and I got to check out some pretty neat sites. Including this strange swampy place where lots of fisherman make their living...using mosquito nets to catch fish.

I eventually move to my village, Simwaba, where I share this house with Lindah. There are several more like this is our clearing, and a big one as well where most of the family sleeps.

This is Lindah, holding my chicken.

This is me (duh), hanging out shelling groundnuts to make peanut butter. Behind me you can see most of the big house as well as the small house that's used for storage and a broom.

This is our kitchen during sunset, and the tree that all the chickens and roosters sleep in. The tiny white line in the sky is the moon.

This is half of the inside of my house (the half with the bed). To the right is a small table that my bag has exploded onto, and on the right is where Lindah keeps her things. The pink and black fabric in the left corner is the divider between "bedroom" and "rest of house".

I am trying to wash my clothes. Lindah only lets me do the easy ones right now but I'm hoping to graduate to jeans soon. The fabric I'm wearing around my waist is called a chitenge (che-ten-gay) and is a stable for every woman in Zambia.

Right, count your blessings I had the patience to upload that many (a few of them several times). Hope that was a little more enlightening. Lemme know what you want to see next and I'll do my best to have the patience to upload it.

Thanks,

~Kate~

not your ordinary workplace

Another one worth writing down (at least if you're me, and you like goats).

I work in the middle of nowhere, or at least, what I would call the middle of nowhere. I don’t know what it is by Zambian standards but if small herds of goats go grazing by several times a day it definitely meets my Torontonian standards of “nowhere.”

I’ve always liked goats and living in close proximity with them (ours sleep about 15 feet from where I sleep) hasn’t dampened that fondness one bit. I’ve also had an opportunity to get a hold of their communication structure.

The rules are simple:
1. When you are a lost goat you yell out “blahhh?”
2. you hear a lost goat you reply with “blahhh!”

That’s it. Those are the only two things goats communicate. Translated into English it reads like this:
“Where?”
“Here!”
~repeat until united~

Now just the other day I was at work, in the middle of nowhere, working with two VCFs on some simple computer operations. As per a usual day at work, a small herd of goats go grazing by. And as per usual, a few get distracted by whatever distracts goats from following the rest and it begins…
“Blahhh?.........Blahhh?..........Blahhh?”

I generally tend to find loud noises, bleating and such, to be quite distracting while I try to teach someone how to use the computer so I eventually get tired of listening to the lost goats and take some action. I’ve seen where the rest of the herd went and start to walk behind the lost ones trying to direct them towards the rest. The lost few get a bit alarmed and up the pitch and volume of they’re bleating…
“Blahhh?!...Blahhh?!...Blahhh?!”

A few short minutes later from the bushes in the distance,
“Blahhh!....We’re here!” a goat replies.

The lost ones pick up the pace and scamper off into the distance. I return to my desk to continue on with the days work. Everyone is happy.

That’s it, that’s the whole blog. I just wanted to share “the day I went to work and re-united goats.”

Keep the questions coming, although I've done a good job of ignoring some of them (sorry). I'll work on that for the next blog.

~Kate~

a spot of tea in the village

I haven’t been keeping a journal since I’ve been here but there are occasional moments worth writing down. This was one of them.

Having found a decent enough routine I’ve gotten used to having tea in the afternoon between coming home from work and getting started on making dinner. Today, however, lunch was late (around 3:00) so come tea time the pot I’ve come to know and love is still dirty. I’ve been trying to do my share of the dishes but Lindah still thinks I’ll need help if she knows my pot isn’t clean. She even took a picture of my washing a pot yesterday while I called out “I wash pots at home y’know, this isn’t something new.”

Luckily for me, and not so luckily for Lindah, she was feeling tired and wanted to take a rest before dinner. Opportunity had struck! I announce I’m going to make tea knowing full well that my pot needs cleaning.
“But Ketty, the pot, it’s still dirty!”
“I know Lindah! But I can clean it!”
She hesitates, “…okay, you’ll find me here if you need help…”

“Triumph!” I think. Yet another opportunity to prove that somewhere, somehow I’m actually a fully functioning adult (my parents are laughing at this).

Now, this pot isn’t any kind of dirty, it’s freshly cooked nshima dirty. Nshima, for those who don’t know is made from ground corn kernels, meaning it’s very starchy. Meaning it can also be likened to glue…cooked to a pot and set out to dry.

Further complicating the issue my trusty cleaning utensils are as such: a tablespoon, a teaspoon, my fingers, and a dry corn cob minus the kernels. Cutting the boring details, 20 minutes later the inside of the pot is clean enough that my tea will only taste a little bit like nshima (I can’t be bothered with the outside for now).

Filling the pot with water, I head to the kitchen to make miracles happen. I’ve cleaned nshima from this pot before but only after a good twelve hour soak so I’m feeling surprisingly proud of my small accomplishment (while still happy no one else wanted tea and won’t have to taste the nshima-water that comes out of this pot). My stride to the kitchen gets arrogant, thankful I didn’t have to ask for any help.

But then, there it is, a fate worse than a dirty nshima pot – the fire has gone out and I will need to make a new one. Not wanting to come this far and then revert back to my child like status (although I think even the children could make a fire without trouble) I resolve to try to make my own fire. I’ve made the occasional fire in my lifetime but usually not without sometimes highly flammable to put in the centre like fire starter, or lighter fluid, so this is going to be interesting. Gathering all the necessities, grass, small sticks, medium sticks and big sticks I pile them up into what looks like something that might catch fire. The only advantage I’ve got here is that there are a few bits of charcoal still smoldering and I don’t have to do this from matches. Similar to cleaning the pot the in-between details are quite boring. It involved a lot of flapping with a pot lid and getting my hands quite sooty, but alas, victory was again mine. A fire was made. The water got hot. I had my tea. I’ve since made two other excellent fires and a few smoldering piles of grass as well.

I am happy to report though that I’ve gone from being offered help bathing in case I didn’t know how to washing some of my own clothes, heating my own bath water, preparing tea and relish (!) for nshima on my own and even cleaning the house I share with Lindah.

It’s been an interesting road learning how to get by at home, all the while I thought work was going to be the challenge. Turns out, it’s both.

Three and a half months sounds like a long time...

Three and a half months sounds like a long time, and for the most part it kinda is, but on the cusp on the day that marks exactly half way I can’t help but feel like I’ve only just gotten here and still have plenty to do before I go. In a way I think one could always feel like that here. The learning never stops so you’re constantly figuring out new things as you go giving you the feeling that you’re only just getting to know the place and the people. At the same time, you’re constantly seeing potential and possibility in the people you meet and the ways in which development could create change giving you the feeling that there’s so many opportunities for your organization to contribute that the work would never stop.

Then there’s the plane ticket in your bag telling you that you finish on August 26th no ifs ands or butts about it. It’s a strange dynamic to work with.

I’m writing this after my first day back at work after the mid-placement Junior Fellow Retreat in Siavonga (one of the most beautiful places I’ve been). The energy generated by ten Junior Fellows half-way through their placements is more than I can capture and those are days I won’t forget.

Now the real challenge is figuring out where to focus your energy to do the right things in the right way over the teeny tiny bit of time left.

And here’s the kicker, you’ve got to wade through the things you’ve been asked to do, the things you’ve identified you’d like to do and the things that need to be done in order to have any kind of organizational impact. Maybe some context would help…

There are several tasks, easily measured and relatively easily accomplished that I’ve been asked to do, and they’re going according to Zambian schedule. Included in that category is computer training for the VCFs, helping to facilitate meetings to develop community action plans and creating a template for project proposals for donors.

Easy enough, but I’ve added to the list myself as well. Some of my own goals include creating some kind of communication system from the field (thus far ‘weekly reports’) back to the head office in Lusaka, opening up horizontal communication channels with the other area in which this pilot project is taking place, and documenting our best practices and lessons learned so that future projects can benefit from past experiences. It would also be great if some of the VCFs had the capacity to do computer training on their own before I leave so that lessons will not have to stop, but this of course will require extra lessons and perhaps the development of a VCF-friendly computer training manual. And lastly (not that these sorts of ideas stop popping into my head) it would be very exciting to run some skill building sessions on facilitation since it’s one of the words in the title the VCFs have been given.

So there are some challenging tasks in there, but the challenge works as inspiration right now to keep trucking along knowing that should these things be accomplished I wouldn’t feel guilty about giving myself a pat on the back. But then, there’s the slightly more daunting task of ‘organizational impact.’ Working where I am, at the community level I sometimes feel a little removed from this, not that it’s not a goal, but that it’s slightly more difficult to achieve. Some of my other tasks aim to achieve this: fostering communication from the community back up the chain so it’s not always coming one way, documenting best practices for future projects, and building the local capacity as well. I’m relatively comfortable with these and excited to see them come through.

There’s another side to it though…what if your organization, your project just aren’t geared for success? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is how I feel about my own project, but there are definitely some difficulties to overcome not least of which being that the slow pace is wearing down the communities such that they’re starting to doubt the whole project themselves. They are scary questions to ask yourself –what if this model of community development was flawed from the beginning, what if it won’t work in this area, with this community? What then? And what kind of role do I play in all of this?

No answers on these yet. For now I’ve still got seven or so weeks to figure it all out.

~Kate~


And now the silly things you only read through my blog to find:

Other lessons I’ve learned:

Your arm doesn’t have to be right in the flame to singe the hair off.

The rocks that are used for the slingshot that the watchman of the Kiosk uses are great for holding down the corners of pages you’re reading or writing on.

And lastly, when looking through flipchart to find a blank piece, you have to be mindful of small scorpions because they like to hang out in between the pages.

a week in the village

It’s been just over a week of village living and I’m happy to report things are going well.

I’m living with a family, the Chiindas, of which there are 11, 9 of whom are currently at home, while two of the girls are away at school. I don’t yet have a photograph since it’s rare for everyone to be home at one time, but there’s Lindah my housemate, her parents, her brothers Felix, Shaft and Emmanual, her younger sisters Harriet and Maggie and her nephew Helali.

Our home is a short walk from the small vegetable market and shops where we go to purchase our groceries and such. It’s also quite close to the Information Centre where I work from which is also nice.

Inside there is room for our double mattress, my backpack, her suitcase of clothing, a small shelf and a bit of space where we sit to eat some days, and shell peanuts on others. We live right on the road that passes through the village (but don’t let the word road fool you into thinking that cars go by) which means there are many visitors, and I have made many friends.

Since being here I’ve been the recipient of much generosity, from two large bags of groundnuts (peanuts), to a huge bag of sweet potatoes, a bag of popcorn, some candies and a chicken! Lindah’s brother thought I was joking when I said, being a vegetarian, “but what do we do with the chicken??” Never having received a chicken before, and not possessing much knowledge of poultry rearing, I really wasn’t sure what to do with it. Naively asking if it could just mingle in with the chickens already at Lindah’s house I was quickly assured it would run away (not a bad deal for the chicken if you ask me). Knowing of a lady who ran a small restaurant near the tarmac Lindah’s sister set out to find out if she would be interested in buying my chicken. I resisted the temptation to name it, knowing that it would soon be someone’s lunch, but when we sold it for K13,000 (just under $4) I made sure to pet it’s head a little and say goodbye.

Lindah, my housemate, my saviour out here, has been wonderful to live with, to become friends with and to learn from. I’ve been persistent in my attempts to be less dependent on her for cooking, cleaning, and everything else that needs to be done, but she’s always telling me “Ketty, I’m okay!” when I offer to help. Not being content to spend time sitting around and being taken care of like the small children, I’ve managed to get some leeway on what she’ll allow me to do. Cooking is thus far my furthest advancement, where I get to prepare our relish (side dish) to eat with our nshima (staple food, eaten all the time, the texture of home-made playdough without much flavour, hence the relish). I’ve even been allowed to do most of the work required to make nshima, but still with much needed supervision.

Cleaning is another matter. I’ve managed to get into a regular pattern on contributing to sweeping our yard every morning. However, when it comes to the house, I’m still quite incompetent. The blowing dust always defeats me and the house is never as nice as when Lindah does it. More progress to come though, I’m sure of it.

Coming back to a question I received earlier on bugs and temperature – where I am staying there are no mosquitoes, literally, none. I don’t know why but they’re just not here. Part of the explanation comes from the answer to the second half of the question though I’m sure – at night it is really, really cold. I sleep with pants, a sweater and socks on under two wool blankets, and still it’s really cold. Thinking it moderately silly at the time I none the less brought a toque as my packing list suggested and have happily been wearing it the past few nights before I go to bed.

Now, getting to the most important part of the village – the people – I have met many amazingly friendly and kind and spirited people in the past week alone. As I mentioned above I’ve been the recipient of many gifts and even more visits, not even counting the invitations I have yet to fulfill. I have been welcomed into more homes and fed more food in the past week than I can recall and I know it will continue for the rest of my time here. Whipping out the small map of Canada and the world that I bought right before leaving has been a wonderful way to open up to people and talk about our two countries. Talking about life in Canada has also been a fantastic way to get into conversations about life in Zambia, the challenges of living in the village, the government, NGOs and development. These conversations have been rudimentary thus far and I’m still in the process of digesting what I hear but it has been a great experience getting to know my community and it is one of the things I am most excited for in the coming months.

So there it is in short. It’s a tough experience to summarize so send me questions please and I can include the things you would like to know.

Thanks for reading,
~Kate~

to answer a few questions...

This blog entry was written last Friday before I left for Simwaba village to stay with Lindah and her family…

Also, again apologies for the lack of photos. It seems that uploading photos takes a substantially long time. If and when I have a faster internet connection I will see if I can remedy the lack of imagery.

I received a few comments and questions regarding what I will be bringing to A2N and more specifically the community I will soon become a part of. Still thinking from the outside of the community and having spent three weeks getting ready I have some ideas, but I know they will change. As per a request from Dr. Temba, and of its own necessity Mary and I have put together work-plans for the next three months. They are ambitious and as Dr. Temba said, “let’s see if we can get half this stuff done.”

A large part of what I will be doing will focus of ensuring the usefulness of the Information Kiosk” that is currently not being used to its full potential.

The Info Kiosk is quite a neat little place. It is equipped with one (soon to be two) computers, a World Space Radio (for downloading info), a cellphone + charger, and a solar panel to run it all. The Village Community Facilitators (VCFs) have been using it as their office, its intended purpose, but the plan is to make it more accessible and friendly to the larger community. From computer training, to downloading information on goat-rearing and other income-generating-activities, to using the phone to check the price of maize in other provinces, this little box has quite the potential…so our job here is big.

Other parts of our work-plan include activities like establishing connections with stakeholders in the community (NGO and government types), facilitating discussions around the issues that come out of the profiling and how the community can and would like to address these, contributing to articles and project proposals to obtain funding so they community can actually address these issues, and all the while trying to enhance the replicability* of the project in other areas since this is after all the pilot and we want to learn something from it (and not to mention writing really long sentences).

As far as what I specifically bring to the project, already my presence has been a bit of a motivator for the community, and having a muzungu (foreigner) around definitely draws attention and interest to the project. Beyond that one of my biggest goals is to really motivate the community to see what they’ve accomplished already and use that as the driving force in pushing for more. There is a fine line to walk between the community depending on me and them really having ownership of the project and it’s a challenge I’m very conscious of. I’m not sure how this will manifest itself in the coming weeks so wish me luck I guess… :\

Another one of my more tangible contributions will hopefully be in assisting the community in putting together their project proposals and creating a framework for how to really express how much work they’ve put into this project, and why stakeholders and donors should be interested. These will also be kind of cool for me to look back on too. :)

Now to address a few other comments that I received…

Culture – While I have been here for three weeks and definitely witnessed Zambian culture, probably offended a few people, and definitely made a bit of an ass of myself, I’m not sure how much I’ve learned about culture here. Witnessing it is one thing, but understanding is definitely another. Here are a few rudimentary remarks based on experience and observation:

There is always room for one more person on a minibus because personal space is pretty tiny, but mostly in a good way. It’s an expression of friendliness and closeness that pretty much pervades everything I’ve seen. Small children call me auntie, because every female adult is their auntie, and they like to hold your leg, or your hand with no sense that you are a stranger. Everybody you meet wants to be your friend, and shakes your hand when you meet and when you part. This closeness can occasionally cross my personal space but that space gets smaller with exposure and for the most part it is quite endearing.

Gender is definitely a factor, but I have yet to figure out exactly what that means. It is hard to generalize because my experience thus far has gone in different directions and as I mentioned, observing culture is one thing, but understanding is definitely another. Sometimes the women I meet seem very shy and reluctant to speak to me, especially in comparison to some of the men, but sometimes they do not. As it has been a mixed experience I’m not sure what factors are at play here. At community meetings there is also a divide between the men and the women. Usually the men sit on chairs or benches, while the women sit close together on a grass mat. Again, though I have yet to understand the consequences of this and question why it is so. While it is common to assume that gender issues categorically disadvantage women, I feel as though there may be ways in which some of the cultural norms make create advantages for women in certain ways. I hope to explore this idea in the coming months.

So those are the two obvious ones that stick out in my head. I hope I can include more about culture in a more integrated way in the rest of my blog, but if there are specific questions that can help my frame my observations and writing, please let me know as it can be hard to explain culture without reference points (for example, try defining Canadian culture…).

Next question: Bugs and temperature. Without making the Junior Fellows currently in Ghana jealous, neither one of these is much of an issue (yet). Lusaka is pretty un-buggy and I haven’t gotten a mosquito bite yet. Others have, and mosquitoes consider me a delicacy in Canada so I don’t know what the factor here is other than luck. The village may be another story.

Also, it is “Zambian Autumn” so I’m told it’s currently cold, but it’s a bit of a joke to me, because it feels just like “Canadian Summer.” The coldest and driest month is July which means temperatures between 5-10 degrees at night so I’ve got a wool blanket and a toque ready just in case it actually feels cold. Most of the days here and nice and warm during the afternoon, while in the evenings it is preferable to have pants, socks and a sweater. I also have not seen one drop of rain, although it was cloudy one day and I thought it might happen.

So that’s my pre-village update. Posted rather late, but hopefully interesting.

In the mean time, safe journey,
~Kate~

*I know this isn’t a word, but it captures what I mean. Suggestions on a real word that means this are welcome, except “duplicability” since that sounds silly.

An Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my first Zambian blog. It's been 20 days since pre-departure training started but the amount of activity that has taken place since May 7th seems like it fills a much larger time frame. I will try to condense it here for those interested in knowing what I've been up to, but it's tough to summarize. If anyone has more specific questions on any of the details of what I'm doing, Zambia, or me I can certainly try to answer those in my next blog- just post them below!

**my apologies on the lack of photos. I planned poorly and don’t have them on the same flash drive as I had my blog entry saved. I’ll double up next time, so for now use your imagination. :)

After the whirl of seven days of 'pre-departure training', which got renamed 'pre-departure learning', but should really be called 'pre-departure giving you lots of things to contemplate overseas and questions to try and answer about development, EWB and yourself-ing' we set off from Toronto for Lusaka. I never did the math but heard it was 32 hours of travel time – all I can remember is two red eye flights, two layovers, lots of airplane food, and an amazing sunrise over eastern Africa as we landed in Johannesburg, then one hop, skip and another two hour flight and we'd made it to Lusaka, 2:00pm local time.

Since we arrived I've spent most of my time in Lusaka but got to venture out into rural Zambia for a business/road trip as well. The first few days were spent getting to know Zambia a little better, learning from the long term volunteers and trying out our basic Nyanja (language used mostly in Lusaka, Eastern Province and Malawi). The first trip to one of the markets of Lusaka proved to be more of an experience rather than actually obtaining things on the list, but it was quite the experience. It's difficult to describe the market but it's something like an outdoor flea market however, much more organic in nature with hundreds of people, piles of food, flip flops and fabrics, minibuses, cabs, wheelbarrows, and lots of yelling. Overcome by the friendly nature of people it was a little intimidating at first, but several trips later it's the place to go for almost anything you need. One woman we spoke to outside of the market even said we were brave to go to there, haha, but I found it to be a pretty amazing mix of things in one place and it's WAY cheaper than buying food anywhere else!

After our basic Zambia intro it was time for Mary (from York) and I to meet with our partner organisation, the Africa 2000 Network (A2N) - the same organization Mama Adisa from the Conference was the head of in Ghana but the Zambian version. A2N is quite new to Zambia and has been working on their pilot project for almost a year now. They are working to 'localise the millennium development goals' through mobilizing communities to develop there own actions plans that they can then submit to the government and donors for funding - pretty neat stuff if you value participation in development!

Mary and I will be working in two different communities where A2N has worked to organize and train a group of Volunteer Community Facilitators (VCFs) that are currently in the process of profiling their communities through questionnaires. They are also creating maps of their villages for better record keeping and to complement the profiling. Once a sample of information has been collected it can be analyzed and potential areas for projects can be selected. From here the community can put together a Community Action Plan (CAP) for how they will address the areas they identified. From our meeting with A2N, my placement will involve working with the VCFs to help compile the information, provide some computer training so they can continuously update their information, assist with mapping and putting together an action plan. It all sounds very interesting and I'm curious to see what the VCFs and I can get out of the next three months together.


The Monday following our meeting with A2N we set out on a five-day trip to both of the communities that A2N is working with – Mazabuka and Chibombo. I will be working from Mazabuka in the Southern Province of Zambia (and trying to learn Tonga) while Mary will be in Central Province with the Chibombo folks. The community in Mazabuka is made up of twelve smaller villages, each with their own facilitator whom I got to meet on Monday. The welcomed me to the community by naming me Mutinta, which I'm told means something like the only child/special in some way/different from the group, so I think it's a compliment, haha, but am not sure yet. The VCFs erupted in laughter when it was suggested which I'm hoping was a good sign. :)

The rest of the time in Mazabuka was spent getting an update on how the team is doing with the mapping and the profiling of communities, meeting with all sorts of important people in town from the police to the District Commissioner to other NGOs in the area. A forum organized by A2N has also been set up on June 14th for NGOs working in that district to come together and identify common goals and eliminate overlap that may be taking place.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to meet Lindah, the VCF that I will be living with for the duration of my placement. Her family, totaling 11 people, live in a small clearing in three clay brick houses with a few pens for their pigs, goats and chickens. I will be living with her 13 year old sister and Lindah one of the small houses which really just has space for sleeping (and hopefully unpacking my backpack!) There are some small plants framing her doorway and a larger tree in the open space between the houses, as well as fields of cotton growing all around that makes for a very nice view and very big skies!

Early the next morning we set out for Chibombo – about an hour north of Lusaka, but about 2.5 hours from Mazabuka. The ride was long but I've never seen so many watermelons in all my life. It was really impressive the way the women selling them managed to make such sturdy piles five watermelons high on top of a table at the side of the road. Anyway, our trip to Chibombo was very similar to Mazabuka – meeting with the VCFs and community stakeolders as well as getting an update on where the project was.

The challenge for the coming weeks for Mary and I is to locate where we fit into all that's happened thus far and what needs to happen in the next three months. We will be working with our Zambian counterparts, Dr. Joseph Temba and Happy Mbulo to put together workplans for the summer as well as get as much information about what's come before us as we can this week in Lusaka before we're left to our own devices in our respective communities. So wish us luck! :)

Hopefully that gives you an idea what I will be up to for the summer – although I'm sure it will be altered and revised and altered again as I learn more about A2N, my community and where I fit into it all.

I’m hoping to share stories about the people I work with, the community where I’m living and the experiences I have in the next few months over this blog, but comments and questions about what you’d like to know are always welcome.

I can also be reached at katebowers@ewb.ca, or by cell at 260 978 117 206 (text messages most welcome). I can even receive some letter mail at the Africa 2000 office in Lusaka, although I might not get it for months. The address is:

Kate Bowers c/o Africa 2000PO Box 310201, NRDC Campus
Off Great East Road, ChelstoneLusaka, Zambia

Thanks for reading!
~Kate~

And now for the things you’ve really been dying to know:

Three things you never knew about Zambia and wouldn't think to ask about:
1) the currency (Kwacha) contains no coins and the smaller bill I've seen so far is a 50 – if your change is something other than this, they round but since tax is always included in prices most things work nicely

2) cars always get the right of way, and they’re on the opposite side of the road, which makes for a lot of triple and quadruple checking before you dash across the street

3) toilet paper comes in lots of colours like purple, pink, green and blue (all pastel)