Brian in Zambia

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2008-07-26T08:13:00.001-03:00

Shankumbila. A collection of mud huts, roofs of thatch & tin, pathways that diverge, wind, cross and converge again, savannah grasses dotted with anthill peaks, and a horizon accented with the tops of distant trees. Biking home I pass by the local football team as they practice for Sunday’s game against Mukobeko. Franco or “Coach” as everyone calls him, has them running laps round the uneven posts, as the children mimic the players’ every move on the sidelines, with the hope that one day they will be strong enough to play in the ‘Sunday Match’. Robert Sakala approaches along the narrow path, made narrower by his two oxen and makeshift cart filled with sacks of maize. Whitey & Patrick appear out of the tall grasses, taking the shortcut home from school (8km away), and Eva Chara is managing to carry a basket of goods on her head as two of her grandchildren frolic at her feet. The sun is quickly dissappearing as I pull off of the dirt path and onto the beaten grass that leads to the house of Harrison Sakala. His wife Anna has just started the fire and is heading to the open well to draw water. Harrison waves from the middle of his onion field, puts down his hoe, and leaves his work to come and greet me. Abel, making beds to transplant his tomatoes, also stops his work, and joins in the conversation.

The day had been sunny, and warmer than yesterday. The early morning frost, which we worried would damage the tomato seedlings, seemed to have no effect on the growing leaves. Harrison didn’t manage to irrigate his plot today, as the pump was out of fuel and he could not afford to purchase more. Harrison, Abel and Robert all share the new Honda engine pump (bought using credit from Micro-Bankers Trust) and they rotate the responsibility of purchasing the fuel. It just so happens that it is Robert’s turn to purchase fuel, which he forgot to do the day previous - thus explaining the ox cart heading to market with maize.

There is a feeling of comfort here. It is where I have spent the last 2.5 months, digging, irrigating, and plowing my way to further understand rural livelihoods in Zambia. I feel very much at home and at peace in this place. Its hard to believe that in one short month I will be leaving all of this behind. In the time I have left I want to capture as much of this experience as possible, squeeze every ounce of learning out of it, not only for myself, but for friends/family/chapter members in Canada. As such, if there is anything you have questions about, - my work, everyday life, the development/NGO sector in general, please let me know. Your questions are a way for me to reflect on what I have been seeing/hearing, and offers the chance to look at my surroundings with a new perspective.

Many people have been asking for me to share a 'day-in-the-life' type post (which I see many of the other JFs have also done). I will try and get on that ASAP. In the meantime photos of Shankumbila can be found HERE!

Happy Canada Day / Bonne Fete Du Canada!

2008-07-01T10:13:00.003-03:00

Happy Canada Day from the Sakala family in Shakumbila!

Back Row: Me, Abel, Shelly, Anna, Harrison, Harrison's brother-in-law, and Robert.

Front Row: Various children of / children related to Harrison and Robert Sakala.

Victory for the Chipolopolo Boys

2008-06-25T11:59:00.002-03:00

The Zambian National Football (soccer) Team, otherwise known as the Chipolopolo Boys, defeated Swaziland 1 - 0 in an African Cup / World Cup Qualifying match in Chililabombwe, Copperbelt province. Five mzungus were on hand to witness the event and take part in the celebration. (see video below)

Work Stuff - finally

2008-06-23T09:02:00.007-03:00

So, my apologies for keeping everyone in the dark. Its not from a lack of internet access, as I manage to check my email about twice a week, but more from a lack of time to actually put a post down on paper... er... on the computer. For my first order of business I will update you with my work at IDE, and give you a small sample of the challenges I am finding along the way.

For the first week or so, my work mainly consisted of office tasks; Updating the farmers database (which had been backlogged for about 2 months!), reviewing recent reports, etc. The office is not exactly an exciting place, though we do occassionally see a marching band pass by the window. One of the first things that struck me was the lack of a calendar in the office. I was really wanting to know what work we would have coming up so that I could get an idea of the weekly routines. I was also keen on finding out when I would be heading to the field, meeting the participants in the IDE programs. Since there was no established office calendar, I took it upon myself to create one, more for my own benefit, but it has been quite useful with my co-workers, Bernard and Buumba [say it kind of like moomba], using it on a regular basis.

The Cosy IDE Office.

Based on this newly created calendar of activities and meetings, I was delighted to see that on June 5th we would be having a meeting with farmers in nearby Mukobeko. Mukobeko, while geographically being close to our office in Kabwe, took quite some time to get to, showing one of the major challenges small-scale farmers face; That is, getting their outputs to the markets! The road, if you wish to call it a road (most of the locals do, though I would call it a trail), was narrow winding and filled with large washouts from heavy rains in January and February. It was a rough ride, but after some 30 minutes we had managed to navigate the 10km of ‘road’. Also of note: To get to the village we had to pass THROUGH the grounds of one of Zambia’s maximum security prisons. While most of the prisoners were behind giant walls and razor wire, some were in the fields working - I couldn’t actually see them working, just their hoe’s raising up above the surrounding tall grasses, and fully armed guards standing watch on large mounds.

A good section of the “road” to Mukobeko

After a quick prayer and introductions - I introduced myself in Bemba, which resulted in howling laughter from the 12 farmers who had gathered - Bernard quickly dove into business. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a ‘Zone Committee’. Because the project is supposed to involve up to 14,000 farmers, a communication structure needs to be in place for information to flow to and from IDE, between the farmers, between the farmers groups and all of the input suppliers and output markets that IDE facilitates links to. To put it in local context with IDE in Kabwe, currently we have 1337 registered farmers in 30 groups across a radius of 50km . Maintaining good communication with all of these farmers poses a challenge when you are operating with a full-time staff of only 2! Even if the field staff were to visit with each group once a month, they would have no time to develop the relationships with the input suppliers, output markets, deliver training, or handle reporting (a possible connection to the 2 month backlog in the farmers database?)

Cabbage field in Kato - Not a group I am talking about, but I wanted to show it. This field is irrigated by buckets from a nearby well. Not only this field, but 4 others just like it. Very tiring work. Also, as I was walking around I felt as though at any moment a lion could jump out of the grasses.

The idea of the zone is to mobilize several farmers groups under a ‘Zone’ with a committee made up of representatives from each of the groups. This committee could then bring information up from the individual farmers, through sections to the groups, and then to IDE, suppliers, output markets, etc. Likewise, information on credit links, potential markets for crops, bulk input supplies can travel down the chain, through the zone committee, to the farmer groups who can then spread the information amongst the different sections of their members.

Based on what Florin, Helen and myself had been told at the IDE office in Lusaka, it seemed as through this system of communication was up and running, or if not, was well on the way to being put in place. In reality, this has not been the case, as even though some groups are organized, they all have pre-existing heirarchies and systems of spreading information. There seems to be a desire to get the Zones organized, while at the same time there is still chaos within the group systems. Getting this system up and running has proven to be a challenge. Even in Kabwe, where farmers groups have been for the most part well organized, getting representatives of the groups together in one place at the same time is difficult.

Farmers at the Mukobeko ‘Zone Meeting’

Currently, on paper anyway, the 30 groups are divided amongst 8 ‘Zones’. This system of communication needs to work if the participants are to see any significant income improvement (the basis for the projects’ success). We have had some small successes along the way, showing encouraging signs that the system can work. For example, just today Freshpick (producer of canned beans) picked up over 740kg of sugar beans from our office. Information about the price and pickup time was sent from our office to a ‘Zone Committee’ in Chikonkomene (about 45km from our office). From there, the farmer groups in the zone were informed. Individual farmers sorted and graded their beans, and they arrived at our office in time for pickup. Small successes like this show that the system can in fact work, but with a lot of help along the way. But are the efforts of IDE in implementing this system actually having a significant positive impact on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers? - That I cannot answer.

I hope to update you next with my current living conditions in Shakumbila village, complete with a picture of my sweet wheels.

Also, I have started an online photo gallery where you can see these pictures (i'm SLOWLY adding them), and some others that have been taken along the way. Follow the link here, or on the right hand menu.

Thanks for all your emails, and I will try to respond to each and every one when I can. If you wish to join my mailing list, just drop me a line and I will gladly add you on.

Starting out in Kabwe

2008-05-31T07:20:00.003-03:00

"Meestah Briann?"

"ingileenipo mukwai!" - come in

"Mwashibukeni" - Good Morning

"Eya mukwai" - yes, mukwai (mukwai is like 'eh' - you just kind of stick it anywhere)

"Mwashibukashanni?" - how was your sleep?

"ahh, bwino, nga iwe?" - Fine, and you?

"haha, bwino, chisuma mukwai. I have come to tell you, that my mother has prepared your water"

"Ahh, natotela sana!" - thank you very much

That is the conversation that takes place most mornings between Ignasious, age 12, and myself. I tend to wake around 6:15am and do a few minutes of reading or writing until I hear the knock on the door from Ignasious. For the past week I have been living in Kabwe, Central Province, Zambia with my co-worker Bernard Sikatuuga, his wife (whose name i have yet to grasp), and their children: Agness - 8, Ignasious - 12, Stainly - 15, and Venon - 17.

Agness, Ignasious, Stainly

The Neighbourhood

They have a modest home at the edge of a neighbourhood, a 20 minute walk to the east of downtown. The neighbourhood streets, though once paved, are mainly dirt, with the odd surviving chunk of asphalt here and there. The small dirt yard is walled with shrubbery and the trees (2 of them being papaya and 1 orange) surrounding the house provide shade during the hot afternoons.

The mornings have been fairly chilly as of late, how cold exactly i don't really know, but cold enough that for the first hour or so I tend to keep a sweater on, which is why Ignasious' news of my water being ready is very exciting. I am greeted by a warm basin of water to start off my day fresh and clean. (note to Bryn: Your Canadian Flag towel from the EWB house is safely in Zambia and is being put to good use). Breakfast with Bernard consists of a few simple slices of bread with peanut butter, and some tea with an inconceivably high amount of sugar in it.
On our sugar kick, we head out the door after saying "twalaamonana" (see you) to his wife. Most of the kids have already left (they mysteriously just disappear in the morning - other than Ignasious), but we pass many more heading to school on our walk to the office. The office of my organization (International Development Enterprises [IDE]) sits on the 4th floor of a 5 story office building at the centre of town. The office is simple; one small room, 2 desks, a few chairs, and a demo treadle pump in the corner. The window of the office looks out onto part of one of the main streets downtown.

downtown Kabwe

Kabwe from the Office Window

I have spent my first week at the office, taking on the task of updating the farmer/house hold beneficiaries database with the information from the field that had been backlogged since the previous report. I type pretty much non-stop all day, while Bernard runs to meetings with farmers and irrigation technology suppliers in the immediate area, and Buumba (my other co-worker) has in the field meetings with some of our established farmers groups. Farmers who come to town stop by constantly to say hello, or chat with Bernard about their groups and possible trainings to take place in their areas.

I guess now would be a good time to more or less briefly outline the IDE program (or at least how it looks on paper). Currently in Zambia it is the dry season, meaning the maize crops have been harvested, and for the small-scale farmer their main source of income generation is over until they can plant more maize as the rains begin to fall again. Some options for increasing income are vegetable cropping (onions, rape, tomato, cabbage - all very common in Zambian diet) or groundnut (peanut) production, which can all be sold at local markets or to local shops/restaurants. To increase the success and productivity of these small vegetable crops during the dry season, some irrigation is needed, and to gain access to the technologies many farmers may need micro-credit/small-scale loans. So there is a need for irrigation, micro-credit, and market access: This is where IDE comes in, facilitating the linkages to the input suppliers and, if needed, to some local markets for the farmers' outputs. As of right now, I have yet to see how this actually looks like in the field. The current stage in the program is more about assisting farmers organize into functioning groups that can quickly spread information/knowledge and relay their needs back along the chain.

random picture of the countryside on the drive from Lusaka to Kabwe

This weekend I will be moving from Bernard's house to the farm of Mr.Tembe and his wife, just on the edge of town. I am planning on staying for about a week (as a trial) and see how things work out. I may decide to see if I can live with one of the farmers' groups, however the nearest group we have contact with is about 15km outside Kabwe. Eitherway, I think I will be purchasing a bike in the near future for my commute to the office in town. Sunday evening I will be heading back down to Lusaka for a meeting monday morning and to take care of some paperwork with regards to my work visa. I hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to send me a text (that's right, I have moved into the age of cellphones - and coverage here is pretty solid!) or say hello.

Saleni Bwino (stay well)

Lusaka

2008-05-23T09:24:00.003-03:00

On the first full day of in-country training (Sunday), we were given a scavenger hunt to complete. It would take us throughout Lusaka, and give us a chance to practice both bartering and interacting in the local language (Nyanja). The entrance to Soweto market off of Freedom Way is a small break in a long corregated tin wall. You enter narrow passageways with small stalls selling anything and everything you can imagine. Florin, Mark and I were teamed up to look for several items in the market, and to pick up some items for our team supper later in the evening. We had attracted three younger guys who were following us around, helping us find things in the market. Alex (x2) and Emmanuel were all around our age and helped us to find the things we were looking for, and then left us after we shared some Fanta with them, and we offered about 5pin (5000 kwacha = $1.50) for their services.

For supper we picked up nkuku (chicken). Mark had the pleasure of carrying it home, little did the chicken know it was to be our supper. That evening we went to the house of EWB Long-Term Hans Hesse, where nshima, chicken and a whole array of relishes were prepared for us. The chicken we had purchased earlier in the day was very delicious, with very little fat, but the most flavor I have ever had. Walia, a girl from down the road, stopped in to say hello, and was our entertainment for most of the evening. I believe she was 11 years old, but she asked many questions which made us all think and reflect on our own lives. “What is your tribe?” she asked to Madavine. We then had to explain how Canada doesn’t really have tribes but people from all over with many different backgrounds. She told us that she had travelled to all the provinces in Zambia, a fact she was very proud of, especially when I mentioned I had only been to 6 of Canada’s provinces. She recited poetry she had learned in school, and had a dancing competition with Trevor Freeman... I think there are a few videos floating around somewhere of it.

On thursday, I departed from Lusaka and the comforts of the Kuomboca Backpackers hostel with Nsangwa - part of the Monitoring & Evaluation team for IDE in Lusaka, and travelled to Kabwe, where I will be based for the next 3.5 months. I have been greeted very warmly by the house of one of my co-workers (Mr. Bernard as his wife calls him) until I can find a place to permanently move to. While Bemba is the main language in Kabwe, there is a strong presence of Nyanja here, as well as Tonga in the rural areas - meaning language will be more complicated than I had previously anticipated.

I have spent most of today waiting in the office with Buumba (one of the field workers) and a research student from Holland, as Mr. Bernard is away in Livingstone. We have been waiting since 10am for a group to show up for a meeting (it is 2:30pm as I write this). I am slowly starting to understand the idea of ‘Zambia time’. The roads were bad, the car had trouble, these were the phone calls we are receiving from the group. I have taken most of the morning to familiarize myself a little bit with IDE’s Monitoring and Evaluation strategies and their anticipated outcomes of the project. Right now it is a bunch of words on paper, but I am hoping to gain a greater understanding of what the project means in reality when I being to travel on field visits next week.
All the best from Kabwe.

Twalaamonana (see you!)

We Arrived!

2008-05-19T11:34:00.005-03:00

From Saturday, May 17th

Leaving Nairobi Airport, we were among the last to board the plane. Again I was stuck in a middle isle, heartbroken that I would still not be able to view the African countryside from above. I did however get to experience my first, and probably only African rain, as it pounded on the plane sitting on the tarmac. I sat next to a man checking his cell phone text messages while glancing through a Kenyan newspaper. He asked, in very clear english, “what brings you to Kenya?” I quickly responded that I was just passing through after a flight from Toronto & London. He laughed as he noted my tired, unkempt and most likely smelly appearance. He worked in corporate finance for one of “the big four” - Price Waterhouse, Deloitte, etc - He was traveling to Lusaka on business, a flight he says he makes every few weeks. We got into a conversation about perceptions of Kenya in western media and his views on Kenyan social & economic progress. He noted that while recent political strife was in fact real and a daily threat to some of the population, it was blown out of proportion in the west. He said, “The views in the west of Kenya and all of Africa, are shaped far too much by the media, and not by those who have actually travelled there and talked to the people so that they may see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears”. He quickly moved to saying how Nairobi (where he is from) was fortunate to be the center of much investment by foreign corporations - though don’t drive on the surrounding highways, even he won’t risk his new toyota on the crumbling pavement.

We landed briefly in Lilongwe, Malawi to let passengers off and pick up those looking to head to Nairobi via Lusaka (the aircraft does a triangle between the three). It was during landing that I was able to sneak a peak past Brett (sleeping beside me), and then past Florin, Mark & Helen, who all were on the side isle. Outside I caught my first glimpse of the country side - scattered with fields, several villages and dirt roads winding along side streams. Picture a typical African postcard picture - without the zebra’s, giraffes and elephants. Pretty surreal. The plane sat in Lilongwe for about 30 minutes before climbing one more time - it was the final leg of our 32 hour journey.

Stepping off of Kenyan Airways in Lusaka, I was greeted by a comfortably warm and sunny afternoon. Once inside, the JF team (along with Eli Angen, JF Support Staff for EWB’s Southern African programs) was met by long-term volunteers Hans Hesse and Trevor Freeman. We gathered our baggage and packed ourselves into a mini-bus for the trip to the hostel where we would be staying. Along the way we passed by many fields, as our roadway turned into a four-lane highway. We passed by the “Muzungu Stores” ,as Eli and Hans call them, (a few malls on the outskirts), that were home to fine establishments such as Subway (i’ve seen 2 of them here), Bata Shoes (there are at least 4) and several fried chicken places, just to name a few. The hostel is a quiet place (save for the Zambian/Western hip hop that comes from the bar) but fairly removed from Lusaka as it is behind a concrete wall (with electric fencing) and set back off of the main roads. Extremely tired, but hungry, we decided to set out into the city in search of a late afternoon meal.

We left our compound at Kaunboka Backpackers out onto one of the roads leading towards the centre of Lusaka. Naturally, a pack of 13 muzungus attracted attention. We passed by the Zambia Central Police station - hidden behind a high fence and razor wire and the Lusaka bus station - an area of chaos and more mini-busses than you can imagine. Hans led us through the narrow passageways of a market, hearing the calls of many of the vendors “muzungu, how are you?”. We came to a tiny stand in the centre of the market where we squeezed around a tiny knee-high table. We ordered nshima with chicken, beans, vegetables (rape, tomato, onion) and fish side dishes. Nshima A sizable crowd gathered round outside the stall where we ate to watch. It is not common for a muzungu to eat nshima, let alone a large group of muzungus eating in the center of a dense marketplace.   

There was something uncomfortable about that first trip into the market. Not being able to understand the environment and language around you, yet knowing that everyone was looking at and talking about you - a lot different than how I felt earlier in the day. Actually stepping out into the environment, rather than looking at it from behind the ‘comfort’ of the minibus. I feel it was very much a small representation of what this placement will be for me; that is a chance to view Zambia from the ground and not sitting within my western bubble, observing from afar.

-pictures to come

Where Am I Going?

2008-04-15T11:43:00.003-03:00

In addition to welcoming Helen Brennek from Western to the IDE team, we have been informed where exactly within the great country of Zambia we will be! (again this could change - I've learned to cope with the ambiguity of it all). Time to bust out the travel books and wikipedia and see what sort of trivia I can dig up!

Florin will be working out of the field office in Livingstone, learning Tonga as a language as well as some Nyanja. He also gets to have the great fortune of being close to Victoria Falls!

Helen will be working out of the field office in Kafue, just to the south of Lusaka (Zambia's capital). Nyanja will be the main language here, but because of its position along the Great North Road (linking its border with Zimbabwe in the South to Lake Tanganyika in the North), there will most likely be some Tonga. Looking on Wikipedia, I discovered that Kafue sits on a shelf overlooking the Kafue River. Here a strip of small farms and gardens separates the town from a bend of the river which is about 300 m wide in the dry season and 1.3 km wide in the rainy season, sometimes inundating a floodplain 10 km wide on the opposite bank!

As for me, I will be to the North of Lusaka, again along the Great North Road, in the Capital of Central Province - Kabwe.

Kafue is a city of about 200,000 people based around a large mine where lead, zinc, silver, manganese and other heavy metals were extracted. Originally named Broken Hill upon its founding in 1902, Kabwe came about meaning 'ore' or 'smelting', referring to the mine. The mine, which closed in 1989 (yet still has some smaller industrial operations taking place on site), was rated one of the top 10 most polluted places in the world by the Blacksmith Institute, due to the mine tailings leaching into local water sources.

For anyone interested in pre-historic stuff, Kabwe was the site of the discovery of the 'Rhodesian Man'. In 1921, a human skull was found at the Broken Hill mine. It has been dated to be between 125,000 and 300,000 years old!

In politics - In 1960, in the then Northern Rhodesia, nationalists who had broken away from the Zambian African National Congress wanted to convene a conference under the banner of a new party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), on future directions and how to achieve independence. A site was chosen on a rocky area by the Mulungushi River north of Broken Hill (Kabwe) where up to 2000 participants could meet in the open air. The conference led to the UNIP, under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda, becoming the major party of the successful independence movement. Thereafter, the Mulungushi Rock was used for UNIP party conferences and for major policy speeches. Later it became known as the 'Mulungushi Rock of Authority' and it has been used by other political parties for their party conferences and major speeches

Also, as you can see on the google earth image, there happens to be a golf course. Who knows, maybe I can fit my clubs in my bag and work off some of the rust from years of not being used.

Well, this is enough trivia-like information for now. I'm off to work on a paper!

Cheers!

Brian

N is for nshima... and News about my placement!

2008-04-09T19:21:00.005-03:00

It's 15 degrees, the sun is shining. We've managed to shovel off the deck, fire up the bbq, and crack a few cold ones in celebration of a beautiful day that just so happens to mark the end of classes here at UNB.

28 days... That's my time left here in New Brunswick before I hop on the plane to Toronto for pre-departure training, and then onto Zambia. I figured I would update everyone on what I will be doing once I arrive on the ground. Please note this is not 100% confirmed and could change anytime between now and when I touchdown in Lusaka:

International Development Enterprises (IDE) was on of EWB's first partners in Zambia. They have been helping farmers in developing communities for more than 25 years, with a focus on moving farmers out of subsistence agriculture through market-based, micro entrepreneurship projects. As an international non-profit organization they currently have field offices in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and of course Zambia.

Zambia was IDE's first African country program, and has been working on implementing affordable and appropriate technologies that fit with the context of the lives of local farmers. IDE as also worked to facilitate linkages between smallholder groups and local markets and well as several export/output markets.

The current project focus is on a 4 year value chains project that is looking to raise farmer income with modular/adaptable irrigation and vegetable crops. The project has approximately 14,000 beneficiaries. Within this project context I am going to be looking at improving the Monitoring and Evaluation that is happening one of the field offices (which one has yet to be determined) but it will be in one of 5 provinces (Lusaka, Copperbelt, Central, Eastern, Southern). Another Junior Fellow, Florin Gheorghe (UBC), is also partnered with an IDE field office (again, TBD) so we will be collaborating on and off throughout the placement, sharing thoughts and ideas, best practices, etc.

A bunch of info on monitoring & evaluation practices

I had the privlidge of having a conference call today with Hans Hesse, an EWB LTOV who has been in Zambia since late February working with an organization known as PROFIT. He has also been engaged with Monitoring & Evaluation work so Florin and I have been teamed up with him as our "learning buddy" on the ground. He saw the monitoring and evaluation process as having two distinct roles:

1) Gathering of critical numbers for the organization and its donors

2) Facilitating the Learning Loop - facilitating the synthesizing of knowledge from the field workers, to the field/head offices, and then transfering that synthesized knowledge back out to the field workers. Hans also spoke of the 'most significant change' technique and identifying what the beneficiaries are feeling is most valuable in the interventions/changes that are taking place as key parts of the process.

So nervousness is kind of setting in, but in a good, anxious kind of way I think. I've had the fortune of sampling what will most likely make up my main dish for most of the summer, nshima... basically corn flour and water, served with a relish (so far cabbage has been my favourite, with groundnuts & spinach coming in at a close second).

I've started adding some links from other members of the 2008 JF crew, so look for more additions there as time rolls on.

Anyways, I guess some burgers are on now.

Cheers!

Brian

Team 'Z' and New Foods!

2008-02-02T00:48:00.000-04:00

Well here is a quick pic of the grand crew of folks with which I will be travelling to Zambia. Where each of us will end up has yet to be determined, but needless to say I am excited to run off of the plane in Lusaka and begin our Zambian adventure together.

(back row: Brett - Alberta, me, Vera - McMaster, Cherie - Calgary, Mark - UVic, Florin - UBC. Front Row: Madavine - Guelph, Mina - U of T, Olivia - Waterloo, Helen - Western)

I spent last weekend trying out some new foods. Returned junior fellow Holly DeRoche prepared a delicious Ghanaian dish known as 'red-red'. It smelled very spicy and I was skeptical of my ability to eat it (I don't do spicy foods well). However the smell was misleading and it was filled with many wonderful flavors.

I have a few thoughts about what I have been reading lately in preparation for my placement, however I think I'll share them at a later date. Mainly the point of this post was to share the picture of 'Team Zambia'.

Cheers!

and so it begins

2008-01-21T23:03:00.000-04:00

- I find it rather funny how attempting to return to a routine after a week away can be so frustrating and very unproductive. One can either dive right back into the work feeling as though they are dragging a thousand pound weight behind them, or procrastinate and ignore the work at hand for other things of ‘greater’ significance…. This blog is an example of the latter.

A Brief Introduction

My name is Brian Magee and I am a third year Political Science/International Development Studies & Secondary Education student at the University of New Brunswick. This summer I will be living in Zambia as a part of the Engineers Without Borders junior fellowship program. My exact location within the country is not yet known, so I will update that at such a time when I myself know of the details.

My interest in knowing more about the world around me can most likely be attributed to my grandparents giving me maps to read at a young age (any of you who have expressed that I know too much geography for my own good can direct your feelings towards them). I think this may have actually made me think that the world was a hard-covered, homogeneous place, defined only by country names, capital city stars and basic geographical features. It wasn’t until a grade 12 Environmental Science class (which happened to dabble in food production and random facts/happenings from around the world) that I realized there was more to know about the world than I could find by flipping through the pages of my Canadian Oxford World Atlas. There were people living along these latitudes I was looking at, and with each class, the little dots (and all the ‘blank’ areas in between) suddenly became more significant and very much interconnected in a human family.

Yet the striking images we in the west see of the world’s poor and marginalized, do not seem to affect us. In 2001, 44%, or 2.7 Billion of the worlds population (6.1 Billion on this date in 2001, and rapidly approaching 6.8 Billion today) live off of less than $2 USD a day*. We realize these people exist in the world yet we don’t act. We have this view that they are helpless, lacking wealth, lacking willpower, and so we in the west inject money, and projects WE feel will work. The reality is, that many of these people are not helpless. They are hopeful, energetic, and ready to create a better world for themselves. What they lack is opportunity, and sometimes the capacity to translate this hope and energy into sustainable action.

There is only so much one can learn from the statistics, and theories we read in textbooks. I hope this blog will be a place where I can reflect on what I learn/have learned before I leave, and where I can share my discoveries and quite possibly unveil a different reality from on the ground in Zambia.

Currently Reading:

- Change In An African Village

Currently Listening:

- Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings

What I should be doing:

- Reading reserve articles for class discussion tomorrow

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* The World Bank defines those living off of less than $2 USD a day as being ‘moderately impoverished’.

Note: Although I don't leave until some point in late April/early May, I left the EWB National Conference in a state of critical questioning and thinking/reflecting, as well as being incredibly tired from having about 12 hours of sleep over four nights. Right now I do not want to be doing school work at all (I have a week of work to catch up on). I ended up reading blogs of other past Zambian JFs and just felt the urge to stake my corner in the blogging realm of cyberspace.