Zambia Journal - Aug 11, 2005
Today (Thursday) we got off to a late start because our bus driver is having difficulty finding diesel. It has been in short supply since we got here and the queues at the diesel stations are 2 days long – yes days. He has to go and buy the stuff on the black market. This is one of the joys of living in Zambia, which you wouldn’t normally be thinking twice about. The other fun development is that Charlie our treasurer is having difficulty getting enough money to supply the needs of the large group. One day he visited 7 different banks, a few bureau-de-change and a couple of ATMs. He was able to get something out of each one either, kwacha or American dollars which are easier to change into kwacha than travelers checks. And the exchange rate varies by 10% depending on where you go and when.
The morning was spent at a Family Support Home in Mandevu operated by SWAAZ (the Society of Women for Aids in Africa – Zambia). These support homes feed children of all ages, provide a form of education to prepare young kids for the government schools, give extra help to struggling older kids and act as a community center for the whole compound. This is a common model for all of these compounds. Community for Borders tries to help kids when they graduate form these preschools by paying their educational needs. One of outcomes of what I am seeing is the need for us to get involved earlier and help in these Family Support Homes run by SWAAZ or the community centers being set up in places like Garden by ZANCOB.
I had found out that our driver, David, was from this compound so I asked him what he thought about this crazy group of Americans he has been driving around. He gave the answer that seems to be pretty common amongst the people we talk too “We’re so happy just to know that people care”.
Again we were greeted with lots of singing and dancing by the children and caregivers. This was a special meeting that had been arranged by SWAAZ so a few speeches were given and three media reporters were in attendance. We were then able to take photos of all the kids that CWB is sponsoring in the Government school to bring back to the US. Especially for the Watertown Health Center who is the main community connection with this compound. We also took 2 trunks full of clothes and books that were distributed. Not the way we would have preferred because of the press but lots of kids and adults looked very happy with a new piece of clothing.
In the afternoon we paid a visit to the compound in Mtendere, not because it is one we support but because it is one we perhaps could support in some way. We saw three short plays put on by a youth group and the caregivers about the problems in the township. The youth are actually an award winning theatre group that put on these educational plays all over the place. They have a dream of bringing them to the U.S. to provide publicity to the plight of their home and it just might we a possible project for our youth to take on when we get back. The SWAAZ Mtendere people think they may be able to get funding if they can pair up with some organizers in the US.
I befriended or was befriended by a very jovial Agnes Banda, one of the caregivers. We talked a lot and eventually I was comfortable to ask her if she would show me her home. She was only too glad and dragged my by the hand a couple of hundred yards to where she lived. She had been left the land when her parents had been able to get enough money together to build her own (10 by 10) cement block home after her husband had died from meningitis. She lives in this place with her eight children and all of her worldly possessions: a small charcoal stove, a rush mat for sleeping on, a 2x3 table, and precious little else except for the children’s school backpacks hanging on hooks and her books of classroom notes. She let me take her picture and I gave her a few kwatcha. Some of this stuff is very tough to take. We’ve all been in tears a few times.
Today we got adventurous and decided to eat lunch at one of the two local malls about twenty minutes walk away from Mulungushi. They are just like a little piece of US overabundance planted in the middle of all this grinding poverty and hand to mouth living and dying.
Tomorrow we are off on a road trip for three days. The laptop’s staying here.
The morning was spent at a Family Support Home in Mandevu operated by SWAAZ (the Society of Women for Aids in Africa – Zambia). These support homes feed children of all ages, provide a form of education to prepare young kids for the government schools, give extra help to struggling older kids and act as a community center for the whole compound. This is a common model for all of these compounds. Community for Borders tries to help kids when they graduate form these preschools by paying their educational needs. One of outcomes of what I am seeing is the need for us to get involved earlier and help in these Family Support Homes run by SWAAZ or the community centers being set up in places like Garden by ZANCOB.
I had found out that our driver, David, was from this compound so I asked him what he thought about this crazy group of Americans he has been driving around. He gave the answer that seems to be pretty common amongst the people we talk too “We’re so happy just to know that people care”.
Again we were greeted with lots of singing and dancing by the children and caregivers. This was a special meeting that had been arranged by SWAAZ so a few speeches were given and three media reporters were in attendance. We were then able to take photos of all the kids that CWB is sponsoring in the Government school to bring back to the US. Especially for the Watertown Health Center who is the main community connection with this compound. We also took 2 trunks full of clothes and books that were distributed. Not the way we would have preferred because of the press but lots of kids and adults looked very happy with a new piece of clothing.
In the afternoon we paid a visit to the compound in Mtendere, not because it is one we support but because it is one we perhaps could support in some way. We saw three short plays put on by a youth group and the caregivers about the problems in the township. The youth are actually an award winning theatre group that put on these educational plays all over the place. They have a dream of bringing them to the U.S. to provide publicity to the plight of their home and it just might we a possible project for our youth to take on when we get back. The SWAAZ Mtendere people think they may be able to get funding if they can pair up with some organizers in the US.
I befriended or was befriended by a very jovial Agnes Banda, one of the caregivers. We talked a lot and eventually I was comfortable to ask her if she would show me her home. She was only too glad and dragged my by the hand a couple of hundred yards to where she lived. She had been left the land when her parents had been able to get enough money together to build her own (10 by 10) cement block home after her husband had died from meningitis. She lives in this place with her eight children and all of her worldly possessions: a small charcoal stove, a rush mat for sleeping on, a 2x3 table, and precious little else except for the children’s school backpacks hanging on hooks and her books of classroom notes. She let me take her picture and I gave her a few kwatcha. Some of this stuff is very tough to take. We’ve all been in tears a few times.
Today we got adventurous and decided to eat lunch at one of the two local malls about twenty minutes walk away from Mulungushi. They are just like a little piece of US overabundance planted in the middle of all this grinding poverty and hand to mouth living and dying.
Tomorrow we are off on a road trip for three days. The laptop’s staying here.
posted by Rodney | 5:07 PM
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