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MartinsQuest.com Summary:
(700 words, 1.3 pages)
When I realized that the length of Mees' report might debar his friends from reading the correspondence, I
decided as a service I would attempt to abbreviate each new letter he sent.
Misagh has begun receiving your e-mails and will respond to each as he has time. He has made it safely to Zambia--after 2
days of traveling. He's serving as 'Assistant National Coordinator' of the William Mmutle Masetlha Foundation in the Health Education Programme:
responsible for building capacity in local Zambians by giving them knowledge, training, and skills in various health related matters, especially in
matters of preventative medicine. Mees is working on the Community Health Educator manual which is a highly successful, spiritually-based,
ever-expanding health manual.
His job is to learn about what it takes to develop, manage, and fund a grassroots development project, what it means to address
not only the scientific but also the spiritual needs of those we serve, to learn about the politics and strategies of NGOs, and to get a sense of the
lifestyle and health-care concerns of Zambians.
In his words he has met 3 "awesome girls, and we’ll all probably hang out more during the upcoming midterm break." So,
officially it has taken Mees all of 2 weeks...anyway. :) He goes on to say, "I’ve already been warned many times about how the girls will react around
me, being a young [attractive] male teacher. I’m not sure exactly how things play out, but needless to say I’m a bit nervous about it."
[]'s added by Martin
"I’ve come across dozens of varieties of dragon flies of all shapes and sizes, insects that jump, hop, crawl through feces, bite,
ants that are an inch long, grasshoppers that are 4 inches long with huge wings, two of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen in my
life--the bigger one almost the size of my middle finger, frogs that sound like laughing men, green lizards, small grey salamanders
that crawl on the walls, HUGE beetle-like things that fly and shed their wings on the ground, blood-sucking worm-like creatures, and of
course, snakes--garden snakes, and several varieties of poisonous snakes. including cobras!"
In Zambia right now it’s the hot season until November. Believe it or not, during the hot season, it literally doesn’t rain. Ever.
People here don't treat time and distance like North Americans do. Showing up 3 hours late or telling you something 5km away is just a block away is
not uncommon.
I eat most of my meals at the secondary school cafeteria, where they serve excellent meals. It’s an international school, thus they have to
provide international standards. They provide a variety of foods of all kinds for their meals. However, the food is certainly not what a typical Zambian
would eat. The staple food in Zambia is something called nshima. Nshima is made with ground up maize (mealie-meal as they call it) and
sometimes mixed with cassava root (which is a dry, bland root that grows in abundance here). I found my first nshima meal delicious and
satisfying. So far, I’ve eaten the kapenta fish (it took a lot of guts for me to be able to pop those things in my mouth, with eyes and all… just
imagine, thinking about what it might be like to crunch through eyes…)
Zambian culture is heavy on music, drumming, and singing. I’ve experienced some of it already, and I love it!!! ...Here,
everyone sings, and no one is expected not to sing because they may not have a nice voice.
Most of the country is very, very poor. The unemployment rate is around 75%. Many people, especially those in rural villages,
have basically nothing. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world. I don’t think one can describe poverty unless one sees it firsthand. And
even more, one cannot *truly* describe poverty until one lives it.
Mees ends with a lengthy description of a training trip he went on. The ride in a minivan was 14.5 hours--filled with intermittent
sleep and cramped conditions. The place he stayed was in ruins and filled with aforementioned vermin and insectae. People came from all over and from
far distances to take part in this training. The ride back was more pleasant.
Thank you for taking the time to read all of this! I look forward to keeping in touch with each and every one of you!
- Misagh
(abridged by Martin at MartinsQuest.com)
Uncut Correspondence:
(6,000 words, 10 pages)
Greetings everyone!
Many of you have sent me wonderful e-mails in the last week or so. As I was away, I was unable to respond to you sooner, but rest assured after I send
out this massive e-mail, I’ll respond to each and every one of you personally. I was so happy to receive your e-mails!
Warning: This e-mail may be very lengthy! I have to somehow condense more than 24 pages of journal notes into this e-mail… so many details will be left
out, but alas, time is of the essence…
In case you may have been wondering, I did indeed make it to Zambia safe and sound. The trip was loooooong…. two days long to be exact. A few adventures
here and there. I had a humbling experience in the Amsterdam airport; I arrived at my gate early, and sitting there were a handful of African people. It
suddenly dawned on me that I’m going to *their* continent, *their* home, of which I knew very very little… I really felt like a foreigner. A wake-up
call of sorts.
I got a chance to ride on one of the new Boeing 777 aircraft. WOW! Aside from being spacious and brand-new on the interior, every seat had a small TV
and a nifty handset. During my 8 hour flight, I had a chance to select from over 40 movies, countless TV shows and documentaries, countless CDs and
radio stations, and you could even play video games alone or with a partner! Needless to say, I didn’t move from my seat the whole time. :D I also got
awesome views of the Alps, in beautiful interplay with clouds, and I saw some of the Greek islands in absolute clarity – no clouds. Beautiful!!
I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya for my stop-over for one night. I somehow managed to find my ride at the airport. I stayed at the home of one of the Baha’is
of Nairobi, who was a friend of a friend. It was nice to see the city as we drove by, and the home I was staying at was near a UN office and thick, lush
forest. It was a refreshing stop-over, and soon I was on my way to my destination: Lusaka, capital city of Zambia. Funny story for those of you who know
about my penchant for putting food and drink in my mouth without realizing what I’m eating/drinking: On the flight to Lusaka, we were served a lamb
meal, with what I thought was a green pea stalk on top of the food. So I bit into it and started chewing heartily. Turns out it was a jalapeño pepper… a
not-so-pleasant surprise.
I arrived in Lusaka, and somehow managed again to find my ride at the airport. A group of guys that work at the William Mmutle Masetlha Foundation, the
development foundation where I volunteer, came to pick me up in their van. One of these guys, Wallace Kakoma, is the National Coordinator for the Health
Educator Programme at this Foundation. He’s my “boss”, and since I’m his only employee, that makes me Assistant National Coordinator! Not a bad title,
eh?! Anyways, we picked up some more volunteers and employees who are at the Foundation, who were in town to buy groceries and such. The Foundation owns
a large piece of land about 1 hour outside of Lusaka. On this land, there is the Banani International Secondary School for girls (I will teach some
computer classes here part-time), the Banani Primary School, the National Baha’i Training Institute (which trains Zambians by giving them the knowledge,
skills, and capacities to be of service, in various ways, in their communities), the Capstone Program (In Zambia, many junior youth are unable to
qualify for higher education, such as high school, due to lack of educational facilities and staff in the country. The Capstone Program addresses this
concern by developing a series of junior youth literacy materials, that helps junior youth prepare for eventual secondary school studies), the Health
Education Programme (which is where I work…) and the offices and residences of the volunteers, staff, and employees of the Foundation. The land is
roughly split in two; one side is the ‘school’ (meaning the secondary school) and one side is the ‘institute’, meaning basically everything else.
So far I’ve been going chronologically, but now let me break up the e-mail into various categories…
The Health Education Programme is responsible for building capacity in local Zambians by giving them knowledge, training, and skills in various health
related matters, especially in matters of preventative medicine. In this way, the programme aims to supplement and compliment, rather than imitate,
government programs and systems. To this end, the programme has developed a series of health educator training manuals: the first is the Family Health
Educator Training Manual, then the Community Health Educator Training Manual, then a Women’s Health Training Manual, then an HIV/AIDS Training Manual,
and an Alcohol/Smoking Training Manual. Participants from around the country participate in small-group training sessions, whereby they go through each
of these manuals and learn the information and skills presented. At the end of the trainings, each participant receives a certificate showing that
they’ve completed the specific training and become a family or community health educator/worker. Government clinics or NGOs can then enlist the aid of
these people to do various activities in the community. None of the participants is paid or given anything like bicycles or allowances; what is
emphasized is the value of service to the community. These participants participate in the training, and serve as family health/community health
educators in their communities only for the sake of being of service, and not for gaining a particular title or receiving any material gain.
I have more experience with the Community Health Educator manual, and in this manual one may find chapters on ‘Managing a disease outbreak in your
community’, ‘Preventing Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis’, ‘Making a Community Map’, ‘Counselling’, ‘Nutrition’, ‘Vaccinations’, etc. The materials
emphasize both a scientific understanding of the given chapter – including a description of the various players in the body’s immune system, and the
types of vaccines to give children and when they should be given – as well as a spiritual understanding related to the chapter. For example, the chapter
on ‘First Aid’ includes a very short prayer that can be said in times of great difficulty. Other quotes in the ‘spiritual understanding’ sections
elaborate on a particular spiritual theme, such as cleanliness, the importance of motherhood, etc. This programme was developed from the grassroots, and
the materials are constantly undergoing revision as new learning takes place and experience is gained. It was discovered that having this ‘spiritual
understanding’ section in the manuals gave the materials a unique distinction and helped participants really connect with the topics that they were
learning, topics which are often abstract and sometimes a bit dry. What’s more, the topics became more of a part of their daily lives. Perhaps this
aspect of the programme is one reason why this project is recognized by the Government of Zambia and was recently given a grant by a Norwegian
development NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) to fund the project for at least two more years. The learning that takes place at the Health Programme
in Zambia is taken to four other countries: Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and I think South Africa, and representatives from each of these countries meet
often to discuss ideas, share experiences, and together develop a common health training curriculum that addresses the needs of all concerned, but which
can also be tailored to the specific needs of each country.
So what do I do at the programme? I recently went on a training trip out to a village to get an idea about the deployment of the program and its
materials (more on this trip later in the e-mail!). Essentially, I’m responsible for effectively organizing and entering data into the computer from a
number of sources: these include a baseline health survey conducted in some communities recently and typing up translations of the health manuals from
English into any of the 7 native languages in Zambia. I provide technical support to Wallace, and I might eventually handle correspondence that Wallace
receives while he’s out of the office and coordinate training sessions from here at the Foundation office. I have had opportunities to give ideas and
suggestions to Wallace during the training session that I will tell you about later in the e-mail. But most of all, it seems, my job is to learn: learn
about what it takes to develop, manage, and fund a grassroots development project, what it means to address not only the scientific but also the
spiritual needs of those we serve, to learn about the politics and strategies of NGOs, and to get a sense of the lifestyle and health-care concerns of
Zambians.
I should mention that there are other youth volunteers from various parts of the world at the Foundation. They serve for terms ranging from a few months
to more than a year. Currently, there are 3 youth volunteers: Nastaran, from Australia, Gwendolyn, from Colorado, USA, and Jamila, from Statford, Ont.
Each of them serves at the secondary school as dorm parents, and do jobs like library and computer lab duty and accompanying the girls on field trips.
They’re awesome girls, and we’ll all probably hang out more during the upcoming midterm break. The Foundation community here is very tight knit,
everybody knowing everybody else. There are frequently activities done together, such as aerobics or trips to Lusaka to buy groceries and spend time in
the market. There are people who have moved here from various parts of the world and have stayed for up to 5 years.
One of the families that I’ve become close with are the Williams’. They moved here from Australia 3 years ago, and both the wife Mehrangiz and the
husband Vinod work as teachers at the primary and secondary schools, respectively. They are raising two small daughters here as well. Their home, of
course, is within the boundaries of the Foundation land. Incredibly, they have satellite TV! I’m over there almost every night watching TV with them and
chatting. They’re awesome people, very warm and hospitable.
For Vinod, the husband, it’s good to have another guy around; he’s surrounded by women most of the time. And for me, it’s good to have someone like
Vinod or Wallace around. Being a male volunteer at an all-girls school, at a Foundation where there are many female volunteers and staff, can be
challenging. Not to say that I don’t get along with women; however, for some of the grounds people and staff, and because of certain cultural realities,
it is not easy for guys and girls to freely mix outside of social settings. For example, if I was to walk alone with a girl in plain view of other
people, especially at night, assumptions may be made. For most of us who have lived in the West, there’s nothing wrong with a guy and a girl walking
together, in the sense that people would not necessarily jump to any conclusions. But here, it’s a different story. I have to strike a balance between
spending time with the female youth volunteers who are my age and who I can learn from, and not giving the impression that I’m promiscuous or that I’m
here to find a wife. As I mentioned before, I will be teaching part-time at the secondary school for girls. I’ve already been warned many times about
how the girls will react around me, being a young male teacher. I’m not sure exactly how things play out, but needless to say I’m a bit nervous about
it. Vinod and some of the youth volunteers have been giving me good advice.
New topic: insects and other wild-life. The first night I arrived at the Foundation, staying at someone’s home temporarily, I saw two of the biggest
spiders I’ve ever seen in my life, on the wall in the kitchen and bathroom. The bigger one was almost the size of my middle finger. I took some pictures
of them. They’re wall spiders, flat bodies, and they move soooo fast along the wall catching mosquitos to eat. At first I thought they were flying, they
were moving so fast. Apparently they’re harmless to us, and since they eat mosquitos, they’re a good thing to have around. In my travels so far, I’ve
come across dozens of varieties of dragon flies of all shapes and sizes, insects that jump, hop, crawl through feces, bite, ants that are an inch long,
grasshoppers that are 4 inches long with huge wings, frogs that sound like laughing men, green lizards and small grey salamanders that crawl on the
walls, and in between your feet when you’re taking baths outside (more on that later!) and some things that I have no way of describing. I got stung by
a wasp for the first time in my life while I was here. And apparently, I ain’t seen nothin’ yet… during the rainy season, due to start around the middle
or end of November, all manner of insect and amphibian life comes out to play, including HUGE beatle-like things that fly and shed their wings on the
ground, blood-sucking worm-like creatures, and of course, snakes (garden snakes, and several varieties of poisonous snakes…. including cobras!). Yikes!
Thankfully the school keeps a supply of anti-venom on hand…
Let’s talk about malaria. I bought a mosquito net, I have 23.5% DEET insect repellent, and I’m on malaria prophylactic. The doctors at the clinic in
Ottawa prescribed a relatively powerful prophylactic to me, known as Larium. Apparently it’s the best one for preventing strains of malaria that are
resistant to other medications. However, the side effect profile is interesting: severe depression, anxiety, vivid dreams (read: nightmares),
hallucinations, etc. Apparently these side-effects are rare; the few people I talked to at the Foundation who had either taken it or who knew people on
it reported that they all had these sorts of side-effects to varying degrees. Most of the volunteers here are not on any prophylactic. I decided not to
take the Larium. I still have it, and may sometime try it for a month to see how things go. At the first sign of bad dreams, I’ll go off it. It seems
the clinicians here in Africa know significantly more about malaria and its treatment than their Western counterparts; one of the staff, in consultation
with a local east Indian doctor, bought me a less harsh brand of prophylactic which I’m currently on called Paladrine. There are no side effects for me.
Mosquitos are really only a problem at night (which is why I cover up at night if I’m outside), and during the rainy season (since they love stagnant
water). Back in Ottawa, the doctor described Malaria as a “very serious disease” that is “potentially fatal”. This is true; however, those here that
have had malaria describe it as a fever, and that as soon as you’re tested and found to have malaria, you can start on medication to treat yourself and
recover. Only those that get the fever, and don’t get it checked (as often happens to those living in villages away from medical services) succumb to
the disease. Here, malaria is seen as almost a way of life, and not a dreaded plague as it was made out to be by the physician in Ottawa.
Are you still reading? Gosh, this is either really, really interesting, or you’re reading this out of courtesy, or you’re trying to get to sleep and you
need something boring to read!
How ‘bout that weather… in Zambia right now it’s the hot season. It will continue to be the hot season until November. Believe it or not, during the hot
season, it literally doesn’t rain. Ever. Every day is sunny and hot. Sometimes there’s wind. Sometimes (but not often) there are clouds in the sky that
may block out the sun. Usually there are no clouds at all. The ground is parched; most grass is dry and withered. Gardeners are employed here at the
Foundation to help keep some of the grounds and home gardens watered and looking pretty. When the rainy season starts, there are days where it gets
super hot, and then it starts pouring rain. The rain can be brief, or it can last for a day or two non-stop. I haven’t experienced it yet, so I’ll tell
you more about it in future e-mail dispatches. Most days, the temperature has been between 25-40 degrees Celsius. HOT. But, folks, most of the day I’m
either inside, or wearing long sleeve shirts and pants, so if I don’t come back with a tan, please have mercy on me J At night it sometimes gets cold.
Last night I needed two blankets on me to keep myself warm. But then today, it’s maybe 30 degrees outside. There is also a period of cold, which I think
is in June and July and part of August. It actually does get cold, perhaps down to 10 degrees during the days. By Canadian standards, that would
constitute spring! I should mention too that the sun rises at around 5:30 or 6, and sets around 12 hours later. So by the time 4:30 or 5 pm is rolling
around, things are getting pretty dark. Makes it seem like the days are going by quickly.
The concept of time and space. If you ask someone here, “How much longer until we get to such-and-such?”, the response you’ll likely get is, “Oh, it’s
just 15 minutes away.” An hour later, you’ll find that you still haven’t gotten to where you need to be. If you plan an event for 12 noon, people may
show up at 3 pm. The concept of time is very different in some parts of the country, especially in villages. People often have to walk or bicycle great
distances to get to places, and it’s not always easy to know when one will arrive someplace. Similarly, with distance: “How far away is our guest
house?” “Oh, maybe a kilometer that way…” 5 km later, you’re still not there. Takes some getting used to. As a friend of mine advised me before coming,
I should just accept some things as “Well, that’s just the way it is…” and be patient and resigned to it. That advice has gotten me through many
adventures.
Food. Hehehe… Misagh’s adventures with food. I eat most of my meals at the secondary school cafeteria, where they serve excellent meals. It’s an
international school, thus they have to provide international standards. They provide a variety of foods of all kinds for their meals. However, the food
is certainly not what a typical Zambian would eat. The staple food in Zambia is something called nshima. Nshima is made with ground up maize (mealie-meal
as they call it) and sometimes mixed with cassava root (which is a dry, bland root that grows in abundance here). They mix the mealie-meal powder (and
cassava, if applicable) in a large pot with boiling water, until it becomes a thick pasty substance. The paste cools, and it becomes the consistency of
play-dough. So, imagine a huge glob of play-dough-like nshima on one side of your plate. A typical glob may be the size of a medium sized cantelope. On
the other side of your plate, you’ll find ‘relishes’ for your nshima. One such relish is a local vegetable called ‘rape’. It kind of looks like celery
leaves or spinach. They rip it into thin strips, and boil it. They may mix it with a bit of onion and tomato. Another common relish is chicken, beans,
or fish. Fish may be taken, thrown on the grill, and served as-is, head, scales, eyes, and all. Or, you may have the luxury of having ‘kapenta’ fish;
one variety are very tiny, no more than an inch or so in length, dried until they’re almost flat and eaten as is. Head, eyes, and all. I have a thing
about eyes; I can’t eat them, touch them, poke them, etc. It wierds me out. And I usually don’t eat fish at home; I’m not a big fan of it. Especially
when you have to open them up, fish out the bones, peal off the scales, stare at their face as you eat them, etc etc. But moving along… so you take a
ball of nshima in your hand from the main glob, you roll it around in your one hand until it’s spherical, and then you flatten it and grab with it your
‘rape’ or chicken/fish. You essentially use it as a utensil. You put the whole bundle in your mouth (See attached photo). Everything is eaten by hand.
The thing with nshima is that it’s among the cheapest food you can buy here (although, for many Zambians, it’s still relatively expensive), and it’s
very filling. The nutritional value, of course, is poor. My first experience with nshima was here at the Foundation. There is a cafeteria for people
working at the Training Institute/Health Programme/Capstone, which is separate from the cafeteria at the secondary school, and this cafeteria serves
only nshima and other traditional Zambian food. I ate lunch there one day, in anticipation for my road-trip out to a village. The lady that was serving
me asked me if I wanted the head or body of the fish; I wanted to say “Neither!” but I just said “body”. Before coming on this trip, I knew I may
encounter things that I didn’t usually want or like to eat, but that I’d force myself to try them. So I got the fish body. I didn’t know that nshima is
eaten with your hands, so I was wondering in my head where the utensils were. The lady brought me a fork and spoon, and, relieved, I went and sat with
some other staff at the Institute. I noticed that none of them were using utensils… they were grabbing the nshima with their hands and digging into
their fish and rape. Not wanting to look more like an idiot, I put away my fork and spoon, and decided to give it a whirl. The guys there showed me how
it was done, and we all had a good laugh watching me try to eat without making a huge mess of myself. Today, I can eat nshima without any major problems
of messiness. Eating the fish was difficult, as I didn’t think I liked fish and I didn’t want to end up eating the bones and all that. But you know, I
found the fish to be pretty good. And now that I’ve had more than my fair share of fish with nshima, I don’t find fish that bad. I found my first nshima
meal delicious and satisfying. So far, I’ve eaten the fish, the kapenta fish (it took a lot of guts for me to be able to pop those things in my mouth,
with eyes and all… just imagine, thinking about what it might be like to crunch through eyes…), and goat. Goat meat tastes like lamb or beef. I ate
nshima for 10 days during my village trip.
A brief comment about singing. Zambian culture (and the culture of many African peoples) is heavy on music, drumming, and singing. I’ve experienced some
of it already, and I love it!!! Hopefully I can learn some songs and share them with you when I return… the people here are not shy about singing, no
matter what their voice may be like. It’s been said that in the West, there’s a “performance” attitude among some people, in that if you think you can’t
sing well, you won’t sing and you’re not encouraged to sing, either alone or when a group is singing. However, here, everyone sings, and no one is
expected not to sing because they may not have a nice voice. No one is shy about it, at least not that I’ve seen so far. Invariably, even if you don’t
have a nice voice, when you’re singing some of these songs with everybody else, it sounds so awesome!! The harmonies and rhythms mixed together are
splendid!
I’d like to talk about poverty, before I dive into my narrative about my experience in the village. Most of the country is very, very poor. The
unemployment rate is around 75%. The local currency is called the ‘kwacha’. Approx. 5,000 kwacha’s make 1 US dollar. Every 1,000 kwacha is referred to
as ‘1 pin’. So, 5,000 kwacha would be 5 pin. A large sac of mealie-meal to make nshima may end up costing you around 7 pin, from what I remember. I’ll
have to confirm with Wallace. But that sac can feed you for many weeks, and can feed a family for perhaps close to a month, according to my estimates.
Every 1,000 kwacha goes a long way. Even 500 kwacha – somewhere in the area of 10 cents – is significant. Now I know how some of these charity TV
programs come up with the figure of “So-and-so is living on less than a dollar a day.” It didn’t always used to be this way; in the 70s, there was a
time when 1 kwacha was worth 1 US dollar! Zambia was one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. That was when the price of copper, of which Zambia was a
major exporter, was good. Now, the price is very poor, and the country is struggling. There is a nation-wide petroleum shortage. Many people, especially
those in rural villages, have basically nothing. Zambia is now one of the poorest countries in the world. I don’t think one can describe poverty unless
one sees it firsthand. And even more, one cannot *truly* describe poverty until one lives it.
I suppose this would be a good segway into my narrative about my trip to a village in the northern part of the country. Brace yourselves folks, this may
get lengthy. Hahaha, the text of this e-mail is already the size of a photo attachment! Oh well…
So on the fourth day after I arrived, Wallace is scheduled to go and facilitate a training session for the Community Health Educator manual in a village
called Mbereshi in the north of the country, right next to the border with the Democratic Repub. of Congo. It was decided that this would be a good
opportunity for me to see what the programme is all about, and to have a chance to chat with Wallace about the programme. So, not even a week into my
Zambian experience, I was to be baptized by fire, in what was to go down throughout the ages as: Misagh’s Village Adventure.
Our intrepid hero packs a backpack full of supplies, as well as a sleeping bag, for a two week trip. We leave the Foundation premises at around 4:15 pm.
We had to take a mini-bus to Lusaka, about an hour’s journey. Mini-buses commonly drive on the main road that connects us to Lusaka. These 15-seater
vans are usually packed with people. On our particular trip, there were 17 adults and 4 children. And groceries, bags, our luggage, etc. An interesting
experience, with the mini-buses randomly honking at people on the side of the road; if the person wants on, he’ll whistle really loudly or make a
gesture, and the mini-bus stops there to pick them up. We get to Lusaka, and stay at Wallace’s friends place, which is one of the rooms in the residence
building at the University of Zambia. This 4th yr student shares a room with another student; the total floor space for this student’s half of the room
is 4 of my feet wide by 13 of my feet long. The entire building was noisy… people yelling, music blaring, hustle and bustle… even late into the night.
The washroom didn’t have a light bulb, the toilet didn’t flush, none of the taps (including the ones for the shower) worked, there were lizards crawling
on the walls, and the sinks and mirrors were in a state of complete disrepair. I couldn’t believe students could actually live here. We got a bite to
eat (I ate at Subway! I got a meatball sub… didn’t taste entirely like a meatball sub back home, but it was close enough). We had to stay at the
residence until about 12:30 am, until which time we had to catch a taxi to get our shuttle bus at the station at 3 am. There are so many details of this
night, I wish I had time and disk space I mention them all!
Our shuttle bus didn’t leave until about 4 am. This was, by far, the most grueling road trip I’ve ever been on. First off, I had asked how long the trip
would take; I was told it would take about 10 hours. The trip ended up taking 14.5 hours. I slept maybe 20 mins every hour, but it was a rough and
interrupted sleep. There was no space for my bags in the overhead bins, so I had to keep them at my feet. My feet were more or less immobile.
Unfortunately, the sun was on my side for many hours, making it unbearably hot. I read a little bit, tried to keep myself occupied. Throughout the 14.5
hour trip, the bus driver was blaring Zambian secular and Christian music; most of the population is Christian, and Christian Gospel music seems to be
very popular. Again, I wish I had the time to write about the many adventures of traveling by coach! The pushing and shoving, the people selling goods
from the street to people in the bus through the windows (including such items as water, cola, and… fresh fish?!), the meaningless police stops and
delays, etc. etc.
We arrived at the village of Mbereshi, which apparently has a population of over 300,000 people. Yet it still has village status, because of the state
in which people live. After having a much-sought meal at a guest house, we trekked 6 km to the guest house where we would be staying. It was dark at
this point; the moonlight helped us walk without losing our way. I came to appreciate moonlight on this trip; it’s nature’s lamp at night, and it’s
quite effective. Wallace and I shared a room in the guest house. We couldn’t open the windows, because there was no screen on the window, so the room
got very very hot during the evenings. 24 hours a day, for the duration of our trip, I was sweating; either from the hot sun (this village is located in
a valley, making it much hotter than Lusaka), or from walking 2 km everyday to get from the guest house to the training place, or from sleeping in the
hot room.
There were many firsts on this trip; first bucket bath (one or two buckets of water, you naked in a stall or outdoor shelter made of straw, and soap),
first time since I was a young lad using an outdoor pit latrine/#2 in the bush, first time eating kapenta and goat, first time sleeping in a mosquito
net, first time seeing a bat fly around the room, first time seeing various insect and amphibian life (including a long line of large ants crossing the
main road in single file), first time speaking Bemba (one of the local languages), and other firsts.
The training took place at the village’s Baha’i centre, which was a very simple structure with a tin roof. The structure measured 25 of my feet in width
and 40 of my feet in length. There were 9 windows, the walls were made of cement and were bare, the floor was concrete and dirt, there were 5 benches
that were recently purchased that the participants sat on, and there were mats on the floor. During the days, I would sit in on some of the training
(which took place in English and Bemba), read some books, talk with locals, walk around the bush, and laze in the hot weather.
There were local people who had traveled 10 km or more to be at the training. One woman had infant twins and a 7 year old daughter, and luggage, which
she brought with her. She lives more than 10 km away from the centre! Similarly with an older man, 69 years old, who walked that same distance (without
shoes) to get to the training. That same man did manual labour such as fetching water from the furrow, biking to the nearest shop to buy supplies, or
replacing the straw in the bath shelter. One man there, 58 years old (the fellow in the picture eating the nshima), once biked 200 km (yes folks, 200 km
one way. That’s not a typo) to go to a town where some of his family was staying. And biked back. In case you’re wondering, it took him 15-17 hours one
way. As I mentioned before about the concept of time here, it’s not always easy to be on time for events when we’re talking about such great distances.
Incidentally, this same man once stayed at the Lusaka bus terminal for 4 days waiting for a bus to take him back home (the same 14.5 hour trip I took)
after he had a meeting here at the Foundation.
Anyways, more about village life. I remember the smells; burnt bush, the smell of jack-fruit (a spiky green fruit with little water but is very sweet),
and the interplay of smells created by the various trees and shrubs that managed to survive the dry season. People are friendly, they have next to
nothing in terms of material possessions, but they seem to be happy or at least content. Children were everywhere, playing and staring at me. Whenever
Wallace and I would walk by a hut with children around, they’d yell out “Hello!”, probably the only English word they knew J They would practice their
English on me, so I’d practice my Bemba on them: “Mwa po leneh!” I’d respond (it’s basically a greeting). I learned a few words and phrases in Bemba
while I was there. All the locals got a kick out of hearing me speak Bemba. I played with many children, taught them some of my stupid human tricks
(like that snap I do with both my hands, some juggling, etc.) I played soccer with some children (see attached photo); we used several plastic bags
wrapped in tape as a ball.
I really got a chance to understand the training process, and to chat with Wallace. He filled me in on many aspects of development work, and how
development projects work. Wallace is an invaluable resource. I got a chance to see how these local people could be agents of change in their
communities, and they were all wholeheartedly participating in the training process.
There is SO MUCH more to tell you about the trip to the village, but perhaps I’ll tell some of you on e-mail or in person more about the details of my
experiences. We ended up staying in the village for 10 days. The bus ride back was much like the first except it was much more comfortable, shorter, and
I felt more rested. I arrived back at the Foundation yesterday afternoon, and began moving into my new residence. It’s a small singles living quarters.
It has a washroom and kitchenette (but no fridge or stove, just a sink), and a living room and bedroom. There are lightbulbs missing, the toilet doesn’t
flush, there’s no shower curtain, there’s holes in the window screen, the walls are paper-thin… but hey, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like
home! And this place has air conditioning with a built-in heater! I’m happy here, and I’m starting to settle in nicely. I have lots of help around me,
and these minor inconveniences in my place will probably be fixed by tomorrow.
Well folks, I suppose that’s it. Tune in next time when I send you another dispatch full of stories and anecdotes about my adventures in Zambia. Thank
you for taking the time to read all of this! I look forward to keeping in touch with each and every one of you!
- Misagh
Attached Pictures:
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