Week numero 3!

This past week has been the most productive week in terms of our needs assessment. We had meetings with the heads of the community centres (Bwafwano and Lupwa) and got a better idea of how we can help them be self-sustainable.

Bwafwano:  they’ve already purchased 550 chickens and after they grow up they will be sold for more. They will keep on buying and selling chickens and hope that the profits will help them with their expenses.

Lupwa: Many of their community groups live in rural areas and grow plenty of crops. Instead of having strangers take their crops and sell them for more, Lupwa would be that middle man. And to sell the idea even further, Lupwa would offer to pick up the crops from the homes (because at the moment the women have to pay SO much just to get their vegetables to the markets). And where do we come in? One of the issues brought up by the community was that the market isn’t reliable. So we’ll find one for them. We’re going to call hotels, embassies, and any other big market we can think of. If we can get them to sign a contract with Lupwa (the middle man), then the women who take care of these gardens (and produce kilos of veggies a week) will be guaranteed a sale and would not have to pay as much to take care of the gardens and sell them (because transportation would be covered). Lupwa would make money because they would buy the veggies for a certain price and then sell them for more. Hotels/embassies/large markets would benefit as well because they wouldn’t have to go out and seek vegetables from the regular market. They would just get delicious vegetables delivered to them for the same price.

So this is our project. Coordinating this. Talking to the communities, talking to Lupwa, and then finding big markets. It’s a big project but if we can start it and rely on people here to complete it then I’ll be more than satisfied.

How we interviewed the communities: We literally went there and asked them questions. In order to show respect, we had to wear  our chatanges (a skirt) which were given to us. Some communities were 40 minutes away by foot, 20 minutes and up a hill, or a 40 minute coach cart (with bulls pulling) away. These people live FAR but have awesome gardens and such lovely personalities. We were ALWAYS greeted with song and dance and then they bombard you with hugs. And when we sit on the tarp under the mango tree with them (it’ll vary from 8 community members to 40 members) we ask them various questions about their lifestyle.

A question that I asked them was if they had any help around the house or in their large gardens. One woman looks at me with her wide eyes and shakes her head. She puts her palms out for me to see all the calluses on her hand and proceeded to tell us that she does everything on her own. And all the other women nodded in agreement.

 My heart cried this week. I cry for the women who cannot afford to put their children in school because they can’t afford the school uniforms or the school fees. It saddens me to see that these women’s source of income is their gardens – which already cost them a fortune – and their baked goods. They live so, so far away that the only people that can buy their goods are the other women in the community who are in the same position. It hurts me to see that they single-handedly take care of their children, the house and their household income. Out of the 3 communities that we interviewed (about 60 people), only 3 of them were men. These women do EVERYTHING and they still maintain a happy disposition. They still sing, dance and laugh. This past week was an eye opener for me, and I can’t wait to be involved in their empowerment.

This is literally the whole house. Notice the little chalkboard behind her son's head (this 15 year old is teaching the kids). Ida is on the far right in the back.

One woman really inspired me. Her name is Ida and she has 4 kids. Her last born is about 15 years old and she can no longer afford to put him in school because of lack of uniform. This educated woman lives in a mud hut the size of my kitchen and takes the liberty to offer free school every day to the children in her community. Any and every child is welcome; spends her own time and money to buy any supplies necessary and food if needed. This woman understand the value of an education and will do anything under any circumstance to teach these children. Look at the picture and just count how many kids are in her house. She is the definition of amazing.

Weekend #2!!

Hey guys!!

If you want to see pics of the house, check out Tarun's blog at http://oneworldphilosophy.tumblr.com/

All he posts is pictures haha. So I'll just get him to do all the work.

We had a meeting on Saturday morning about what projects we want to do. Since the projects don’t yet exist, it was hard for people to make decisions. But the night before I was talking to Goodson and he really needs help with social enterprise. At the moment, both of the community centres are mainly funded by donors and are not self-sustained. My project would be looking at how we can create ways for the centres to generate their own income. For example, Bwafwano has a tailoring club and they sell some clothes to raise money. So far 20% of Bwafwano’s income is self generated. We want to increase that though. So more to come on that! I get to work with both community centres for now!

That afternoon Jason gave some of us a photography workshop and taught us about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. My camera isn’t that extensive but it was cool to know what these things do. Then I went over to practice taking pictures and somehow ended up playing with the kids. It was SO much fun.

We went to a concert that night which was fun. The power went out for an hour though haha. Good old Zambia. The woman was amazing though. She was like India Arie – SUPER amazing.

Today is Father's Day! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I LOVE YOU! Went to the market which was super awesome. Heavy bargaining going down.. but I didn't buy anything. Mom, did you want some wooden bowls for the house? If there are any requests from anyone, please let me know :) they have lots of stuff here lol

We're going to a crocodile farm this afternoon for Caro's bday :) I'm super stoked.

Have an amazing day everyone!! Love you all!

xoxo

My week continued

Internet here sucks.

I already wrote a whole bunch of stuff and then the internet crashed, so my Wednesday is going to be short and sweet haha.

Learning about Lupwa :)

We went to Lupwa, the other community centre which focuses more on long-term care and facilitating families by providing self-help groups and family circles. They try to stop the problems before they even happen, whereas Bwafwano is the immediate help. They're both SO important in the community. Goodson, the head of Lupwa, talked to us for an hour and a half and just motivated us to do good. I can see him as Zambia's next president. This guy is so wise and so passionate about what he  does. After getting an idea of what Lupwa is, we were invited to play soccer in this concrete floored, open area. No rules... it was like 30 kids on 15 of us. And a 'mama' in net. And they were all bare-foot. Sounds like an easy game right? WRONG. I've played my fair share of soccer because of my job at the community centre back home, but NEVER have i seen kids play like this before. THEY ARE AMAZING. These kids play soccer all day and all night. It’s all they know. They’re phenomenal. I had a really good time.

Thursday morning we had a workshop in the family room just talking about needs assessment and how it should be done. That afternoon we watched the Canucks vs Bruins game and we were highly disappointed. Half-way through the game (my attention span isn’t that long haha) I went to do some laundry. Let me just tell you about my experience. Mama’s house helpers, Francesca and Helen (nicest women ever) were doing the laundry outside. There are 2 bins – one with soapy water, and the other with clean water. And you pretty much soak your dirty clothes and scrub against your palm. I was failing with my socks and then Helen came to show me how to do it and after she was done, they were cleaner than before I had worn them. They’re sooooo amazing. And they don’t squat or sit or kneel. They stand, and then bend forwards with a perfectly straight back and they stay in a 45 degree position the entire time. I’ll take a pic because that probably didn’t make any sense haha.

After being disappointed from the game, we walked over to the Olympic youth development village to play some wheelchair basketball! This facility is less than a year old and it’s the only one in Zambia that provides athletes with a proper place to train. It’s better than anything Ottawa has haha. We met up with our friend Harry who is on the wheelchair basketball team and he taught us a few rules and tricks. My arms were so soar after playing with some of the guys from the team. We’ll be playing with them every Tuesday and Thursday! And the coolest part? If the government has enough funding, Harry’s team will be going to the paraolympics in London next year!!

Friday was a very relaxed day. We had a workshop on the World Bank and the IMF which was SUPER interesting. That afternoon we took the minibus to central park to go on the internet and to go to the supermarket.  I bought 2 L of juice and 2 water bottles and everyone else bought some junk food.

We got home and Isaac (Bwafwano’s head) and Goodson (Lupwa’s head) came over and we talked about potential projects. We all had dinner together.

My week so far :)

Monday was spent travelling back from Livingstone. We got home and had our first Zambian meal! It wasn’t too bad!

Tuesday morning we did some intense exercises thanks to Emilie, who’s in the army. It was kind of brutal lol. Then we had our first ‘class’ and went over the syllabus.

That afternoon we walked over to Bwafwano, one of the community based organizations in Chazanga. This is one of the community centres that we will be doing projects at. It is SO dynamic and one thing that I would like to share is how international affairs can really affect the citizens here.

The World Food Programme, part of the UN, provides support to countries that need food. This program supported the breakfast program at Bwafano to ensure that children didn’t learn on an empty stomach. Because elections are happening this year, the party that wants to be re-elected is telling its people that there is no food shortage and that they are in fact in a surplus to make the citizens believe that they are doing a good job – just so they can get re-elected. So because of this statement, the UN stopped funding Zambia and moved on to other countries that need the aid. So now Zambia, which was never in a surplus, is in even more of a deficit and Bwafwano is no longer being supported to provide the children with breakfast. Thankfully another program that had members visit last year stepped in this year and decided to support Bwafwano. Any, I just thought it’d be cool to share a little something of the vast amount of stuff that I’ve learned so far.

Ok that’s it for now! Later! Xo

My Weekend!!

So after returning from the internet café, we came home and made some delicious pizza and just hung around. We were all getting ready to go to Livingstone, south of Zambia and home of the Victoria Falls. After a 6 hr bus ride on Saturday, we finally got to our lovely hostel called ‘JollyBoys’ and got ready to see the largest falls in the world.

They were BEAUTIFUL. It was really wet and slippery when walking on the rocks but such an amazing experience. These falls are also, informally, the 8^th wonder of the world.  And now I understand why. We were fortunate to watch them while the sun was setting and Jason took us to the very top of the falls where the Zambezi river flows. We celebrated Julie’s (a classmate) birthday up there too! And on our way back we were able to see stars that are only visible if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere. I have never seen stars so bright either. On our way home in the cab, the cab driver stopped the car abruptly to point out some elephants ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!! There were about 3 of them standing together. It was wild. We had supper by the campfire that night and it was just a really nice night.

Sunday morning we got ready for 8:30 am to go horseback riding in the forest where all the animals live. We mounted the horses and it took me some time to control mine. He was a little crazy lol. But it was soooooo beautiful. We entered the forest and 30 seconds in we saw some zebras about 5 meters away from us. They were beautiful! We continued on our journey, crossed the street, saw some really cool trees that have cool facts associated to them, and rode along the water as well. We unfortunately did not see any elephants this time because they cross the river to Zimbabwe during the day. After horseback riding, we spotted a giraffe near the stables! We went closer to it and then the man who looks after their safety took us in to see some more. We were literally 3 steps away from zebras and giraffes. And one was pregnant! I think  giraffes are my fav animal now.

That afternoon me and some girls signed up for a ‘walking safari’. So pretty much you walk in the forest where all the animals are with a guide (who carries an  AK47). THIS was probably the coolest experience. We saw zebras, giraffes, a huge spider, termite castles, buffalo (which almost chased us. I was terrified), a cool lizard, baboons (rafiki), warthogs (pumba), and zazu from the lion king !! It was so, so beautiful. It was probably my favourite day ever. I had seen and done so much.

Friday the 10th

The picture is of a fresh avocado in our backyard. We made some killer guacamole.

I woke up a few times last night but then got right back to sleep. It's weird sleeping with a net - I'm always scared I'm going to ruin it.

Woke up to the sound of roosters and kids which was nice. It was a nice relaxing morning where we just had breakfast together (corn flakes + milk and a banana -- the mini ones). Some people went to the Bwafano community centre early morning but I decided to stay home and not exhaust myself as I was still a little tired.

Me, Emilie, and Jason went out to get some tomatoes and bananas at around noon. This was probably one of the most valuable experiences this far. Kids are ALWAYS saying hi to you and running up to you with  huge smiles asking to shake your hands. And they will say to you, in English, "how are you!? ". They are SO cute. And they aren't really supervised so they all look after each other. You'll see 8 year olds carrying 3 year olds and keeping an eye out for each other. It's very sweet. And they're all so STRONG! They'll pump their own water, carry things around, etc. Always helping out .

We bought 2 tomatoes and an onion for $0.20 (1,000 kwachas). Everything is local. I had a fresh Guava from the tree in front of our house. The bananas are miniature and grow around the area. It's so nice. And I feel SO at home. The people are amazing, the house is comfortable, and the food is great.

I'm writing this in the internet cafe in Lusaka at the Arcade Mall - a place mainly for tourists. I just exchanged all my money and we're going to tour in the market for a bit. There's also a subway here haha.

Tomorrow we will be  taking a 6 hr bus ride to Livingstone to see the greatest falls in the world - Victoria Falls. We'll be staying at a hostel for a night and then make our way back on Sunday evening. So far I'm having a blast :)

You'll hear back soon!

xo Jill

ps- this is me writing this right now haha -->
And I haven't gained weight. It's just the way I'm sitting lol (1 hr of internet for like $2. It's awesome lol)

My first day here :)

I have landed safely!! J Our plane left on Tuesday at 11:50 pm and we finally arrived in Zambia on Thursday at 8:30 am (Canada time). Yes, it was a very long journey but we had time to step out of the Heathrow airport and enjoy London for a few hours. The train to Piccadilly Circus (the Hurdman of subs) took us 48 minutes from the airport- but it was so worth the ride. We went to the Trafalgar Square, walked over to the Big Ben, and got to see the Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. We also got a real taste of London’s weather. Rain for 20 minutes, sun for 20 minutes, and then rain again, and so on and so forth. Luckily I was dry by the time we got back to the subway to head back to the airport. We met so many people on the subways who are also travelling (one guy did med school in England and was on his way to Nepal for 3 months!).

The rest of the plane rides were long – Ethiopia airlines did not impress me. It was a very old plane with very little leg room and gross food.

We finally landed in Zambia and got our visas. Thankfully no one had their luggage lost! As soon as we walked out of the airport we had Jason (the prof) and Caro (past student) greet us with some of their African friends J The ride home was lovely. The area reminds me a little of Lebanon (the way it smells and the way the buildings kind of look) however there were differences that I found intriguing. Little kids with no shoes, women with loads of vegetables carried in a basket on top of their heads, and all the red dust. Yup… that’s when I finally realized that I was truly in Africa. But I don’t want to make you thing that it all looks like that. On the contrary. There are SUCH beautiful houses here (and I am lucky enough to stay in one) as well as gorgeous scenery. Everyone is happy here and smiling. It’s such a lovely environment.

When we entered Chazanga, all the little kids would look into the bus and go “MUZUNGUS! HI!!” Muzungu is the term used for ‘non-Zambian’; or if directly translated: white person. It was funny.

So Mama’s house is BEAUTIFUL. There are avocado and mango trees in the back and 2 bbqs. There are a lot of bedrooms – I didn’t bother counting. I’m sleeping in my own bed with 3 other girls, and there are 4 girls sleeping in the bedroom upstairs. The boys are sleeping upstairs in their own room. It’s a very comfortable environment and  we are extremely lucky. There’s also full satellite here for us to watch at night (we’re not allowed out of the house after sunset. So pretty much we can’t leave the house after 6pm), so the TV will come in handy.

We had bbq’ed chicken for supper with a pasta salad, carrot and squash soup, as well as guacamole. It was delicious! The rest  of the night was our ‘free time’ where we all unpacked our clothes into the closets and showered. My shower was in cold water and lasted me 5 minutes. I guess I better get used to it. 

Goodnight!