It has to be said that my departure from Zambia did not go well. I started the morning by waking up with stomach cramps again. Fearing a repeat from the previous week I flung antibiotics and Imodium down my throat with gay abandon, the latter in excessive quantities. Having arranged to have my breakfast delivered to the room early, thereby allowing me to have time to eat it, I discovered that despite it being already included in the excessive rate I was paying for the Sunday night, I had to pay for the breakfast in entirety all over again! Now a charge for delivering it to the room I could accept, but paying for something twice does not sit well with me!! An argument was had at reception, but due to time constraints, I had to give in and pay for the darn thing (which, incidentally, I ate very little off).
However, unbeknown to me worse was yet to come. Having made it to the airport without having to ask the taxi driver to stop at the nearest bush, I sailed through the BA check in, probably because everyone else had checked in at a much earlier (more sensible) hour than me. I duly filled up my departure form and headed for the immigration desk, which is where the proverbial really began to hit the fan!! Immigration insisted I had outstayed my visa, based on the fact that they (not me) had written the date of 9/3/10 on my arrival stamp. This apparently was when they said I should have left and as I hadn’t left on that day I would have to pay a fine that was well in excess of £200. I pointed out that I was never leaving on that date and that I was more than confident I had put the correct dates on my landing /arrival forms. However when I suggested they should check said forms they informed me they couldn’t because that was in arrivals and this was departures. This in an airport you can jog round in 5 minutes!! I showed them my original booking confirmation with my flight dates on it, which they chose to ignore. Some more dialogue ensued, by which time, unlike my normal belligerent self I began to get quite upset, not to mention a tad panicky. More people were brought over who kept telling me it was my fault for not checking my passport (that would be the passport they handed back to me closed after I had a conversation with the lady processing my arrival that 3 weeks + was quite a long time to be in Zambia). They told me on several occasions I would have to pay the fine and on several occasions I told them I couldn’t as I had no money on me and had spent all my kwacha. Eventually I was marched off to a different part of the airport, well ok, not exactly marched as that would imply speed, shuffled would be more accurate. I then had to sit in a room with 3 people talking and laughing over me in Bemba having no idea what was going on with the clock moving rapidly towards my boarding time. In the end they handed me a form to sign which seemed to be an immediate deportation order and told me that they weren’t going to fine me as I had no money but that I had to leave immediately – like that wasn’t gong to happen!!
I have to say I felt a huge relief when those BA wheels left Zambian soil – with me on the plane!! But what a sad and unpleasant end to my stay and what a huge kick in the teeth considering I was there trying to help them. Lots of people asked if I would be coming back to Zambia to visit them again, and up until that point I always thought I might. Now – no chance!! The world is a big place, why would I want to go back to somewhere that treated me like a criminal after helping them!!
General opinion here back in the UK was that it was a deliberate scam to try and get money out of me, and considering they never once gave me the option to pay the fine by credit card that is quite possible. Who knows!!
Several days have past and I know one day I will look back and laugh about my departure debacle, but at the moment I am still not laughing!!
Thank you Zambia!!!
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The last post! At least from Kitwe
Well I am back at the hotel for my last night, working on the PC in reception, feeling like my right arm has been cut off without the laptop!
It was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone and I really did feel quite sad, almost tearful. It has been quite an intense time at points for a variety of reasons, so saying farewell, for what might be the last time ever did seem quite sad. And off course I had to leave the laptop behind - we have grown very fond of each other over the last month or so. :-)
Walking home I couldn't help but wonder if I had made enough of it, could I have done more, did I get the best out of my experience. I think I did, but it's hard to know. My one little regret is that we never socialised as a team. I know a few of us were meant to go out on Wednesday but my stomach put paid to that, but there was never any suggestion of us going out for a 'team' drink. Something which we would have done back home had we had a 'guest' worker with us. Not sure if it is just a cultural thing, either just something they don't do, or even was it up to me to suggest it. Whatever, its too late now to have that team night out!! Unless they all want to pop down to Lusaka at the weekend, as I might have some time on my hands to spare.
I believe BA are back in talks again, but the lack of information at my end and confusion is so annoying. I have tried and failed to get back through to BA in Zambia again for the last two days with the calls just going dead on me. That was until just after 6 pm tonight when I got through and got a message telling me the office was shut!! Excellent, BA is in chaos but the telephone lines still go down at 6 pm!! Why they refused to address my questions by e-mail is beyond me. I quite simply have no way of contacting BA in the UK - howe ridiculous is that!! A very stroppy letter will have to be written when I get back - assuming I do get back eventually.
Well I am off to do my packing - having searched my room for frogs first of all. Could end up finding one squished in beside all my dirty washing when I get home. And boy do I have a lot of laundry to do when I get home!!! I am almost, but not quite, running out of clothes!!!
\I am sure I will manage to find PC in Lusaka, unless BA call off the strike and I have no time.
Have a nice Friday at work everyone - whatever I am doing it won't be work!!
It was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone and I really did feel quite sad, almost tearful. It has been quite an intense time at points for a variety of reasons, so saying farewell, for what might be the last time ever did seem quite sad. And off course I had to leave the laptop behind - we have grown very fond of each other over the last month or so. :-)
Walking home I couldn't help but wonder if I had made enough of it, could I have done more, did I get the best out of my experience. I think I did, but it's hard to know. My one little regret is that we never socialised as a team. I know a few of us were meant to go out on Wednesday but my stomach put paid to that, but there was never any suggestion of us going out for a 'team' drink. Something which we would have done back home had we had a 'guest' worker with us. Not sure if it is just a cultural thing, either just something they don't do, or even was it up to me to suggest it. Whatever, its too late now to have that team night out!! Unless they all want to pop down to Lusaka at the weekend, as I might have some time on my hands to spare.
I believe BA are back in talks again, but the lack of information at my end and confusion is so annoying. I have tried and failed to get back through to BA in Zambia again for the last two days with the calls just going dead on me. That was until just after 6 pm tonight when I got through and got a message telling me the office was shut!! Excellent, BA is in chaos but the telephone lines still go down at 6 pm!! Why they refused to address my questions by e-mail is beyond me. I quite simply have no way of contacting BA in the UK - howe ridiculous is that!! A very stroppy letter will have to be written when I get back - assuming I do get back eventually.
Well I am off to do my packing - having searched my room for frogs first of all. Could end up finding one squished in beside all my dirty washing when I get home. And boy do I have a lot of laundry to do when I get home!!! I am almost, but not quite, running out of clothes!!!
\I am sure I will manage to find PC in Lusaka, unless BA call off the strike and I have no time.
Have a nice Friday at work everyone - whatever I am doing it won't be work!!
The final few hours
So the final meeting is over. I ran through what I had done my findings on existing systems and processes and the spreadsheets I had set up for control and reporting. It all was very well received and everyone seems pleased and enthusiastic to implement them. The only real immediate gap is the balance sheet and fixed asset ledger which I have not really tackled. Due in part to lack of time but also because I just don’t know what assets they have and how they have managed or recorded them in the past. They do have someone that comes in once a quarter to pull together so called Management Accounts and that does have a balance sheet on it and depreciation, but nobody is very sure where he gets the numbers from. In fact, given what I found on the accounts so far and the difficulty I had getting to the bottom of 3 months worth of expenditure, I am not sure where he gets any of the numbers and I am pretty sure he is not reflecting the cash that the guys donate themselves ‘unofficially’. I have suggested that Vivian is perfectly capable of producing the management accounts. Which just leaves us to sort out the balance sheet – I am hoping I can wrap that one up remotely once I get back home.
Jedone said he was very pleased and that I had obviously approached it like an audit, which I can assure you, was entirely unintentional as I had never done an audit in my accounting life!!! I had to say as I ran through my findings and all the spreadsheets I had set up I did for the first time actually think I had done not bad after all and, yes I do believe I have helped move them forward. Only the first little step, but we got there.
I had my little gift giving ceremony after that. I had bought a selection of items over from Scotland, all with a Scottish theme, and all wrapped up in tartan paper. It was like Christmas, with everyone opening up their presents and having fun. Especially asking me how you said some of the Scottish dialect written on some of the items – like the ‘Things tae dae’ notepad!! I had tartan ties for both Jedone and Gideon which they seemed well pleased with. And I gave Vivian the little teddy bear dressed up in a kilt with bagpipes that play a tinny version of Scotland the Brave, which seemed appropriate given we have had several conversations about men in kilts. I don’t think they get the concept over here, so I guess I just need to get a bunch of Scottish guys in their kilts over to convert them!! Although I don’t think either Scotland or Zambia are ever going to qualify in any major sporting event that will bring the guys and kilts out in force!!
Must get back to my last few hours of form filling and work. Can’t believe I won’t be here in this office tomorrow. It is raining really heavily again, so I may get flooded in for one final time.
Oh, gave the ladies at the reception desk in the office where I used their facilities every day one of the gifts - some Scottish fudge. It was the least I could do under the circumstances. Think they were pleased, but then they hadn’t tasted the fudge yet!!
Jedone said he was very pleased and that I had obviously approached it like an audit, which I can assure you, was entirely unintentional as I had never done an audit in my accounting life!!! I had to say as I ran through my findings and all the spreadsheets I had set up I did for the first time actually think I had done not bad after all and, yes I do believe I have helped move them forward. Only the first little step, but we got there.
I had my little gift giving ceremony after that. I had bought a selection of items over from Scotland, all with a Scottish theme, and all wrapped up in tartan paper. It was like Christmas, with everyone opening up their presents and having fun. Especially asking me how you said some of the Scottish dialect written on some of the items – like the ‘Things tae dae’ notepad!! I had tartan ties for both Jedone and Gideon which they seemed well pleased with. And I gave Vivian the little teddy bear dressed up in a kilt with bagpipes that play a tinny version of Scotland the Brave, which seemed appropriate given we have had several conversations about men in kilts. I don’t think they get the concept over here, so I guess I just need to get a bunch of Scottish guys in their kilts over to convert them!! Although I don’t think either Scotland or Zambia are ever going to qualify in any major sporting event that will bring the guys and kilts out in force!!
Must get back to my last few hours of form filling and work. Can’t believe I won’t be here in this office tomorrow. It is raining really heavily again, so I may get flooded in for one final time.
Oh, gave the ladies at the reception desk in the office where I used their facilities every day one of the gifts - some Scottish fudge. It was the least I could do under the circumstances. Think they were pleased, but then they hadn’t tasted the fudge yet!!
The uninvited guest!
Now I know I sometimes get a bit bored round the hotel at night – but that doesn’t mean I want uninvited guests in my room. I was sure I felt something brush past my foot when I got in and saw the flicker of something moving out of my eye – mouse was the first thing that leapt in to my mind. Silly me, it’s Zambia, not sure if you get mice in Zambia, but you do get frogs!! There it was jumping around my room like it owned the place. I opened the door in the hope of shooing it out, but it just hid behind the couch. Cleary not of high intelligence. I briefly contemplated just leaving it there for the night, but then I was unsure how high frogs can jump - could it jump on to my bed at night while I slept!!! Ok, so it would have to jump through a mosquito net, which I am sure would be beyond it, but still even if there was the slightest outside chance of this happening.......!! There was only one thing a girl could do – phone reception!! Well you didn’t seriously expect me to run round the room after it in my delicate state – and then pick it up!!!
A young boy was quickly despatched to my room – complete with a large broom, much to my horror. Now I hadn’t expected them to come along and try and employ animal psychology and coach it out of the room, but the sight of the boy whacking the broom around behind my couch was slightly distressing. And as ever, I am sure my screeches of ‘oh you’re not going to kill it are you’ in my best Scottish accent were incomprehensible to the said young Zambian boy, and most likely even more unfathomable to the now distressed frog!! Anyway the little frog (yes I was making a fuss over a fairly small frog, which I may have thought cute if viewed in its natural outdoor habitat) was eventually whacked out of my room, but I’m pretty sure it was still alive and aiding its evacuation by jumping. Order and calm was once more restored to my room.
All said it probably better than being a mouse!!
A young boy was quickly despatched to my room – complete with a large broom, much to my horror. Now I hadn’t expected them to come along and try and employ animal psychology and coach it out of the room, but the sight of the boy whacking the broom around behind my couch was slightly distressing. And as ever, I am sure my screeches of ‘oh you’re not going to kill it are you’ in my best Scottish accent were incomprehensible to the said young Zambian boy, and most likely even more unfathomable to the now distressed frog!! Anyway the little frog (yes I was making a fuss over a fairly small frog, which I may have thought cute if viewed in its natural outdoor habitat) was eventually whacked out of my room, but I’m pretty sure it was still alive and aiding its evacuation by jumping. Order and calm was once more restored to my room.
All said it probably better than being a mouse!!
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
One day left to change the world - well CwFiZ's accounts at least!
A slightly dodgy start to the day again, meant I had to spend the morning working from the hotel once more, but after 3 Imodium and another couple of antibiotics I felt brave enough to venture in to the office for a few hours.
It was after all my second last day and Vivian and I still had the budget to do. Can’t believe tomorrow will be my last day in the office here in Zambia. I would have to say I will miss the people but sure as heck won’t miss the office itself!!
I have a lot to go over with Jedone and Gideon tomorrow – but particularly the new processes I have introduced for tracking expenditure, reconciliations, monthly reporting and off course the budget we have just about finished! (Tell you what it is the first time I have done a budget in half a day, will try and do the 4+8 forecast in the same timescale when I get back!)
Jedone was in the office for the first time in ages today – looking healthier than last time I saw him but decidedly thin! It felt almost strange talking to him as obviously we haven’t really had the opportunity to build up a relationship as I don’t think he has been well since I got here. Anyway, he should be in tomorrow so I can at least do a wrap up with him. Having said that I unearthed a form tonight that I was meant to fill in at the start of the assessment and agree objectives – oops!! I’ll be in trouble with AfID!! :-)
In truth I am not sure I have achieved everything I wanted to but then I guess I was coming in blind so not sure what I actually expected to achieve. I think I have moved them forward but I may never know for sure!! Not unless I come back and check up on them – and I will certainly leave them with that threat!! That said I have already told Vivian feel free to contact me if she needs to ask anything. If she does it when I am in the office I might be able to find someone who knows what they are talking about!! :-)
I was meant to be going out tonight for a few drinks with some of the people I have met since I got here, but decided it wasn’t a good idea under the circumstances. Might manage a quick one or two before I come back to pack tomorrow.
This is the last time I will be sitting typing away at the bar on this PC as I will become permanently detached from it tomorrow. I have grown rather fond of it so they may need to forcibly remove it from my grasp. And I just know it is going to miss me!!
I almost saw some Zambian firemen today – but didn’t quite get close enough to, what I think, was a fire truck. Mind you the state of the truck I wouldn’t give it good odds on getting to a fire without breaking down!!
BA are still driving me nuts. They promised to send me an e-mail detailing my changed itinery but haven’t and I can’t seem to get through to them here in Zambia today. At the moment they still seem to have me on two flights out of Zambia and one out of City. So somehow I need to fly out on the 20th and then come back and fly out on the 22nd!! I’ve been told I am meant to be on the one on the 22nd but...........!! I’m sure I will get home sometime, somehow!!! I know you are all dying to see me again!!!
It was after all my second last day and Vivian and I still had the budget to do. Can’t believe tomorrow will be my last day in the office here in Zambia. I would have to say I will miss the people but sure as heck won’t miss the office itself!!
I have a lot to go over with Jedone and Gideon tomorrow – but particularly the new processes I have introduced for tracking expenditure, reconciliations, monthly reporting and off course the budget we have just about finished! (Tell you what it is the first time I have done a budget in half a day, will try and do the 4+8 forecast in the same timescale when I get back!)
Jedone was in the office for the first time in ages today – looking healthier than last time I saw him but decidedly thin! It felt almost strange talking to him as obviously we haven’t really had the opportunity to build up a relationship as I don’t think he has been well since I got here. Anyway, he should be in tomorrow so I can at least do a wrap up with him. Having said that I unearthed a form tonight that I was meant to fill in at the start of the assessment and agree objectives – oops!! I’ll be in trouble with AfID!! :-)
In truth I am not sure I have achieved everything I wanted to but then I guess I was coming in blind so not sure what I actually expected to achieve. I think I have moved them forward but I may never know for sure!! Not unless I come back and check up on them – and I will certainly leave them with that threat!! That said I have already told Vivian feel free to contact me if she needs to ask anything. If she does it when I am in the office I might be able to find someone who knows what they are talking about!! :-)
I was meant to be going out tonight for a few drinks with some of the people I have met since I got here, but decided it wasn’t a good idea under the circumstances. Might manage a quick one or two before I come back to pack tomorrow.
This is the last time I will be sitting typing away at the bar on this PC as I will become permanently detached from it tomorrow. I have grown rather fond of it so they may need to forcibly remove it from my grasp. And I just know it is going to miss me!!
I almost saw some Zambian firemen today – but didn’t quite get close enough to, what I think, was a fire truck. Mind you the state of the truck I wouldn’t give it good odds on getting to a fire without breaking down!!
BA are still driving me nuts. They promised to send me an e-mail detailing my changed itinery but haven’t and I can’t seem to get through to them here in Zambia today. At the moment they still seem to have me on two flights out of Zambia and one out of City. So somehow I need to fly out on the 20th and then come back and fly out on the 22nd!! I’ve been told I am meant to be on the one on the 22nd but...........!! I’m sure I will get home sometime, somehow!!! I know you are all dying to see me again!!!
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Nobody said it would be easy!
Another test of my resilience today – between upset stomachs and BA and I did not have the best of mornings. I will save you the details of the stomach upset – suffice to say it was quite sudden and very embarrassing. The staff were very sweet though and the maids must have told reception who turned up with some sort of medicine for me, which they said was for diarrhoea. But decided to stick to my own and the antibiotics I was given by the Doctor to take in just such an event. It was either the ice in my G&T or the salad I had last night, especially if the latter was washed in tap water. Needless to say I did not go in to my toilet-less office today. Stuck very close to my room. Strangely though, apart from having some stomach cramps I didn’t actually fell ill as such, and the antibiotics seem to have worked. So I guess I did pick up a bacterial infection. Clearly the answer is more alcohol and less mixers! (Though perhaps not tonight!)
So while staying within a short gallop of my toilet I attempted to get in touch with BA. I have to say the UK end so far have been useless, and I have felt very deserted by them! All I knew yesterday was that the London to Edinburgh flight had been cancelled but nothing more. When I e-mailed BA in the UK previously I was told to call the UK office. Which if you have ever looked closely at the BA UK numbers, they very clearly state they can only be dialled from the UK – slight problem there then!! So clutching my stomach (ok so I’m milking it a bit) I made several attempts to call BA in Zambia – but ran out of credit on my Zambian sim just being kept on hold. Which, incidently, was the second lot of credit I had bought this morning, but I guess I can’t blame BA for the fact that instead of gently scraping away to reveal the validation number on the little card you buy, I used a key and made some of the numbers illegible!! Duh!!
Anyway I eventually managed to get an answer from BA in Zambia and to be fair the woman was very helpful and had very good English. She informed me that my flight out of Zambia had already been moved to the Monday (22nd) with my connection back to Edinburgh being from City. Visions of Bank tube station and all the steps you go up and down get to the DLR swarmed in to my mind. So I told her that there was no way I could get me and two bags of luggage across London on my own but she assured me that it was BA’s responsibility to get me and my bags there. That remains to be seen – but if worse comes to worse I will leave my bags for them to send later! I know I took a lot of stuff with me but I am sure I have left enough at home to survive!!
I am in my hotel room right now and we are in the midst of yet another absolutely horrendous storm. I can not believe how loud the cracks of thunder are or how bright the lightening. I would never have said I was scared of storms, but I have jumped on several occasions and when I see the huge big flashes of lightening I do actual tense and crouch down – entirely involuntary. The freakiest thing was that after one huge flash of lightening and big crack of thunder my bedside light switched itself on. It does work by touch – but trust me it was really freaky!! I hope the weather improves again for those days I am stranded in Lusaka!
So while staying within a short gallop of my toilet I attempted to get in touch with BA. I have to say the UK end so far have been useless, and I have felt very deserted by them! All I knew yesterday was that the London to Edinburgh flight had been cancelled but nothing more. When I e-mailed BA in the UK previously I was told to call the UK office. Which if you have ever looked closely at the BA UK numbers, they very clearly state they can only be dialled from the UK – slight problem there then!! So clutching my stomach (ok so I’m milking it a bit) I made several attempts to call BA in Zambia – but ran out of credit on my Zambian sim just being kept on hold. Which, incidently, was the second lot of credit I had bought this morning, but I guess I can’t blame BA for the fact that instead of gently scraping away to reveal the validation number on the little card you buy, I used a key and made some of the numbers illegible!! Duh!!
Anyway I eventually managed to get an answer from BA in Zambia and to be fair the woman was very helpful and had very good English. She informed me that my flight out of Zambia had already been moved to the Monday (22nd) with my connection back to Edinburgh being from City. Visions of Bank tube station and all the steps you go up and down get to the DLR swarmed in to my mind. So I told her that there was no way I could get me and two bags of luggage across London on my own but she assured me that it was BA’s responsibility to get me and my bags there. That remains to be seen – but if worse comes to worse I will leave my bags for them to send later! I know I took a lot of stuff with me but I am sure I have left enough at home to survive!!
I am in my hotel room right now and we are in the midst of yet another absolutely horrendous storm. I can not believe how loud the cracks of thunder are or how bright the lightening. I would never have said I was scared of storms, but I have jumped on several occasions and when I see the huge big flashes of lightening I do actual tense and crouch down – entirely involuntary. The freakiest thing was that after one huge flash of lightening and big crack of thunder my bedside light switched itself on. It does work by touch – but trust me it was really freaky!! I hope the weather improves again for those days I am stranded in Lusaka!
Monday, 15 March 2010
Aother plumbing crisis averted at the 11th hour!!
I am quite pleased with myself today as I got quite a few things ticked off on my ‘to do’ list. Although I would have to admit as the day progressed my work level got closer and closer to Zambian speed. It is so warm again today and there is not a breath of air moving in the office, it is so tiring just sitting in it!!
On the way in to work today I saw what was either the army or police all gathering, some in full riot gear (well helmets anyway, which is probably as far as the riot gear budget will stretch here). I assumed they were doing a practice, but apparently there was the threat of a protest in the town following the arrest of a catholic priest who had upset the Government. As was explained to me, he was arrested before for something similar, which then resulted in protests and riots in the street as this priest has quite a following here. Unfortunately, none of this was explained to me until I needed my first comfort break of the day. By which time all the shops had put up their shutters and offices had closed their doors – including the office where I avail myself of their functioning facilities! Never mind rioting in Kitwe town centre, I was having my own full blown crisis!! It had actually got to the point where I was thinking of going back to the hotel, which is either a 20 minute walk (may have been slightly shorter if I was forced to break in to a run) or a short taxi ride. I was actually on the verge of calling Kandu to come in his taxi and take me back to the hotel when I decided to venture out in the direction of the office. What a relief, the priest had been released on minimal bail and the town was open for business again, including the office that is my salvation at least twice a day!! Crisis averted (well at least for the next few hours).
Not sure which of my limited choices I will be having for dinner tonight. I was presented with a special Sunday night menu yesterday, which was a list of meat which could be flung on the barbeque they had set up earlier that day. When I said to the waitress I was vegetarian she asked if I could not eat the chicken, to which I pointed out that chicken was in fact meat. Undaunted, and eager to please, she obviously thought she had the answer when she suggested that perhaps I could try the Pig on a Stick. Even thinking of it today still conjures up the image of being proudly presented with a full sized pig skewered on a (very large) stick at my table. Ok, so granted it was probably only going to be part of a pig, but I was still obliged, yet again, to politely decline and point out that the said pig would once upon a time have been alive and kicking and therefore classed as meat. (Unless off course it was a soya substitute pig – but I didn’t go there!!!). They eventually agreed they could give me the vegetable casserole off the usual menu! I may be tempted to get a carry out Pizza on my way home one night.
On the way in to work today I saw what was either the army or police all gathering, some in full riot gear (well helmets anyway, which is probably as far as the riot gear budget will stretch here). I assumed they were doing a practice, but apparently there was the threat of a protest in the town following the arrest of a catholic priest who had upset the Government. As was explained to me, he was arrested before for something similar, which then resulted in protests and riots in the street as this priest has quite a following here. Unfortunately, none of this was explained to me until I needed my first comfort break of the day. By which time all the shops had put up their shutters and offices had closed their doors – including the office where I avail myself of their functioning facilities! Never mind rioting in Kitwe town centre, I was having my own full blown crisis!! It had actually got to the point where I was thinking of going back to the hotel, which is either a 20 minute walk (may have been slightly shorter if I was forced to break in to a run) or a short taxi ride. I was actually on the verge of calling Kandu to come in his taxi and take me back to the hotel when I decided to venture out in the direction of the office. What a relief, the priest had been released on minimal bail and the town was open for business again, including the office that is my salvation at least twice a day!! Crisis averted (well at least for the next few hours).
Not sure which of my limited choices I will be having for dinner tonight. I was presented with a special Sunday night menu yesterday, which was a list of meat which could be flung on the barbeque they had set up earlier that day. When I said to the waitress I was vegetarian she asked if I could not eat the chicken, to which I pointed out that chicken was in fact meat. Undaunted, and eager to please, she obviously thought she had the answer when she suggested that perhaps I could try the Pig on a Stick. Even thinking of it today still conjures up the image of being proudly presented with a full sized pig skewered on a (very large) stick at my table. Ok, so granted it was probably only going to be part of a pig, but I was still obliged, yet again, to politely decline and point out that the said pig would once upon a time have been alive and kicking and therefore classed as meat. (Unless off course it was a soya substitute pig – but I didn’t go there!!!). They eventually agreed they could give me the vegetable casserole off the usual menu! I may be tempted to get a carry out Pizza on my way home one night.
A reconciliation too far!
Well here I am starting the last four days of my assignment and suddenly I feel a bit stressed about what is left to do. Therefore, as much out of necessity as anything else, I have at last given in and admitted defeat in trying to reconcile cash withdrawals to payments/expenditure. It is just not going to happen. I have therefore opted to highlight the differences identified and to do a report on the current situation and issues and propose revised procedures. On the positive side they have actually spent more money than they have withdrawn from the bank, no doubt reflecting the amount of money the members of the foundation themselves donate unofficially to the charity. However, even it is of the best intention it doesn’t make for good accounting practices. I will need to sit down with Jedone (if he is well enough), Gideon and Vivian to reach agreement. I just hope they take my advice on board! I did some work on the report over the weekend and will hopefully have it finished today. I have no idea how it will be received and not 100% convinced they will implement the changes.
I think this week I will need to make sure I get Vivian working with the new spreadsheets I have set up to make sure she understands how they work and the benefits she can get from them. There needs to be a lot more coaching and a lot less doing from me this week!! That is my mission!! Having said that it is now 8.15 am and only Hester from the reception and myself are in!! Something not quite right about that given I am the volunteer. Hey ho, such is life!!
The weekend was quite dull for me. I did go out for a walk on Sunday morning but was somewhat hampered by the lack of maps over here and the fact that most of the streets don’t have their street names on them. So when I found myself staring over at the ZNBC offices where I had been early in my stay and thinking I am sure it took us ages to drive here last time, I realised I was most definitely not where I wanted to be and decided to give up and retrace my steps. So after just after over an hours walking and sweating buckets in the heat at just 10 am I was back at the hotel. Incidentally I think that is the most exercise I have done since I left the UK. Boy am I going to struggle when I hit the gym back home!!
I still have no idea when I will get back, hopefully I will hear today if my flight is going or not. I e-mailed BA to see if I could change my flight and they were most unhelpful. They told me I had to phone the UK booking office. Maybe they missed the bit about me being 5,000 miles away in Zambia!!! Can you imagine the bill after at least 10 minutes of button pressing and being on hold listening to bland music!!
Anyway no time for chat, lots of work to do!!
I think this week I will need to make sure I get Vivian working with the new spreadsheets I have set up to make sure she understands how they work and the benefits she can get from them. There needs to be a lot more coaching and a lot less doing from me this week!! That is my mission!! Having said that it is now 8.15 am and only Hester from the reception and myself are in!! Something not quite right about that given I am the volunteer. Hey ho, such is life!!
The weekend was quite dull for me. I did go out for a walk on Sunday morning but was somewhat hampered by the lack of maps over here and the fact that most of the streets don’t have their street names on them. So when I found myself staring over at the ZNBC offices where I had been early in my stay and thinking I am sure it took us ages to drive here last time, I realised I was most definitely not where I wanted to be and decided to give up and retrace my steps. So after just after over an hours walking and sweating buckets in the heat at just 10 am I was back at the hotel. Incidentally I think that is the most exercise I have done since I left the UK. Boy am I going to struggle when I hit the gym back home!!
I still have no idea when I will get back, hopefully I will hear today if my flight is going or not. I e-mailed BA to see if I could change my flight and they were most unhelpful. They told me I had to phone the UK booking office. Maybe they missed the bit about me being 5,000 miles away in Zambia!!! Can you imagine the bill after at least 10 minutes of button pressing and being on hold listening to bland music!!
Anyway no time for chat, lots of work to do!!
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Hot stuff!
Wow, it’s hot today. I think we are now moving out of the wet season here in Zambia to the very hot season!! I am however being very good and limiting the amount of time I am actually in the sun. I did get a little bit burnt the first weekend I was here so don’t want a repeat of that.
My first batch of sun seeking took place after breakfast, when I figured the sun might not be quite so hot. However, the hotel also decided it was a good time to cut the grass round the premise, including the pool. There I was flopped out at the opposite side of the pool on a towel, trying to drown out the sound of the mower with my iPod and wondering what they were going to do when they came to cut my side. Which obviously took a long time, not because there was a lot of grass on the other side, far from it, just because, well, because it’s Zambia. It did have some feelings of similarity with back home, with one bloke cutting the grass and another apparently standing back and watching (from under the shade of some trees). Off course, it was not completely like back home, as if it had been in the UK there would have been at least 2 blokes watching but they would have had the sense to have been at least leaning on some tools to pretend they were working. Anyway, they eventually got round to my side and then asked me to move. To be honest I was feeling most grumpy about it as by now it was 11.30, if they had been cutting the grass at 8 am and I was in the way I might have deemed it acceptable to kick me off my patch – but 11.30 am!!!. So huffing and puffing about being a paying guest and it being nearly lunchtime (none of which the bloke would have understood) I reluctantly moved myself over to the other side. Now I swear it was a full 30 minutes after that before a single blade of grass was cut on my original side. I figure they were waiting for the grass I had been lying on to fluff up again – just so they could be sure of not missing a blade or two. Then there was the point when the electric cable was trailing its way through the pool. The plug bit was still outside the pool but I was lying there thinking, water+electricity – not good!!
I went out for a second blast of sunshine later in the afternoon. The pool is at the back of the hotel and I practically had it to myself. So there I was with the iPod stuck in my ears again, lounging about in my bikini when a bride, groom and entire wedding party, all suited and booted turned up round the pool. I did feel ever so slightly under dressed and a tad embarrassed. Thought I was going to have to move again to let them take photos, but they disappeared down among some trees. Although I think some of the wedding party were more interested in me than the bride and groom!! Will feel strange to be back home and not be stared at wherever I go!!
Some brave young chap turned up later and actually went in the murky waters of the pool, head under the lot. I will never know if he lived to tell the tale!!
I have been intrigued by tropical bird noises coming from the trees near the bottom of the gardens here, but could never see any birds. I had just come to the conclusion that the owners had put recorded music in the trees just for affect, when this little fella popped out and started heading in my direction. Thankfully, he decided not to go as far as shaking claws with me which I was actually relieved about. Not all that keen on birds truth be told, I find all those flapping wings and beaks slightly disconcerting. I guess I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds too often as a kid!!
My first batch of sun seeking took place after breakfast, when I figured the sun might not be quite so hot. However, the hotel also decided it was a good time to cut the grass round the premise, including the pool. There I was flopped out at the opposite side of the pool on a towel, trying to drown out the sound of the mower with my iPod and wondering what they were going to do when they came to cut my side. Which obviously took a long time, not because there was a lot of grass on the other side, far from it, just because, well, because it’s Zambia. It did have some feelings of similarity with back home, with one bloke cutting the grass and another apparently standing back and watching (from under the shade of some trees). Off course, it was not completely like back home, as if it had been in the UK there would have been at least 2 blokes watching but they would have had the sense to have been at least leaning on some tools to pretend they were working. Anyway, they eventually got round to my side and then asked me to move. To be honest I was feeling most grumpy about it as by now it was 11.30, if they had been cutting the grass at 8 am and I was in the way I might have deemed it acceptable to kick me off my patch – but 11.30 am!!!. So huffing and puffing about being a paying guest and it being nearly lunchtime (none of which the bloke would have understood) I reluctantly moved myself over to the other side. Now I swear it was a full 30 minutes after that before a single blade of grass was cut on my original side. I figure they were waiting for the grass I had been lying on to fluff up again – just so they could be sure of not missing a blade or two. Then there was the point when the electric cable was trailing its way through the pool. The plug bit was still outside the pool but I was lying there thinking, water+electricity – not good!!
I went out for a second blast of sunshine later in the afternoon. The pool is at the back of the hotel and I practically had it to myself. So there I was with the iPod stuck in my ears again, lounging about in my bikini when a bride, groom and entire wedding party, all suited and booted turned up round the pool. I did feel ever so slightly under dressed and a tad embarrassed. Thought I was going to have to move again to let them take photos, but they disappeared down among some trees. Although I think some of the wedding party were more interested in me than the bride and groom!! Will feel strange to be back home and not be stared at wherever I go!!
Some brave young chap turned up later and actually went in the murky waters of the pool, head under the lot. I will never know if he lived to tell the tale!!
I have been intrigued by tropical bird noises coming from the trees near the bottom of the gardens here, but could never see any birds. I had just come to the conclusion that the owners had put recorded music in the trees just for affect, when this little fella popped out and started heading in my direction. Thankfully, he decided not to go as far as shaking claws with me which I was actually relieved about. Not all that keen on birds truth be told, I find all those flapping wings and beaks slightly disconcerting. I guess I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds too often as a kid!!
It’s Saturday night and I am that bored I think after my dinner I might go back to reviewing Gideon’s funding report. I tried watching a Guy Ritchie film last night on the TV – had no idea what was going on half the time so gave up, had never heard of it so maybe it was one of his earlier ones (not that I can actually name any Guy Ritchie movies). Oh how I miss Coronation Street!!
Friday, 12 March 2010
Is anyone out there???
Ok guy's what's happening! Where are all my funny little comments I got to read when I logged on in the morning? Have you all deserted me and stopped reading my blogs. :-(
Here I am in the almost pitch black sitting outside the bar at the hotel typing this up and what do I get back?!? Silence!!! Give me a break, I don't have a lot for entertainment out here! :-)
I would also like to point out, that although the hotel has wireless it doesn't appear to work in my room. If I hold the laptop up to the back window of my room I can get a couple of bars on the wireless signal, but nothing else. So I am forced to have to come out here, with all the mosquitos and drink wine, just so I can blog to you all, and for what?? Pah!! I have been deserted. More wine required as consolation!!
P.S Have now acquired lots of mosquito bites. Seemed to go 2 weeks without any, and then suddenly I am the major food supply for all mosquitos in the area. Lots of really big bites- so glad I have got my malaria tablets.
PPS. May be late home due to BA strike!!!
Here I am in the almost pitch black sitting outside the bar at the hotel typing this up and what do I get back?!? Silence!!! Give me a break, I don't have a lot for entertainment out here! :-)
I would also like to point out, that although the hotel has wireless it doesn't appear to work in my room. If I hold the laptop up to the back window of my room I can get a couple of bars on the wireless signal, but nothing else. So I am forced to have to come out here, with all the mosquitos and drink wine, just so I can blog to you all, and for what?? Pah!! I have been deserted. More wine required as consolation!!
P.S Have now acquired lots of mosquito bites. Seemed to go 2 weeks without any, and then suddenly I am the major food supply for all mosquitos in the area. Lots of really big bites- so glad I have got my malaria tablets.
PPS. May be late home due to BA strike!!!
Oh the joy!!
Comfort at last. Booked in to the Sherbourne last night and joy of joy I didn’t have to spend my first night in the annexe on the next street and didn’t have to move rooms on Friday, but even better they can take me for the rest of my stay!! Not that they actually told me they could take me right through to the 19th, despite having said to them about 3 times to let me know if some vacancies came up. But I had already figured I was going to have to ask them every day to check – it just doesn’t work the same way out here!! But what the heck, I was so happy I could have hugged the receptionist – but obviously restrained myself like the good stiff upper lip Brit I am!! And look at my bed – so big, and so comfy.
And ask for the bathroom – look it has a bath with a plug and not a bucket in site!! The toilet has a seat, and I have a separate shower. Ok so it’s not a power shower but it is hot!
Such luxury, and it was so good to unpack after spending the last few days living out of a case, well ok 2 cases, but that didn’t stop me loosing things! In fact it just made it all the more likely!!
I had such a comfy sleep last night followed by a hearty breakfast of cereal, omelette, beans and toast. Yum!! Had quite a spring in my step as I walked to work this morning in the sun, even if everyone else was on holiday today, but I figured it’s not a holiday back home so I should be working, that and I have sooooo much still to do!!
It is apparently National Youth day today, which is why there is a holiday. Stumbled across some of the youths getting ready for a march. There were lots of people with official looking uniforms on milling around and I am sure I read somewhere that you weren’t meant to take photos of military officials over here. Risked a couple of surreptitious photos, (nothing like living dangerously) but when I wanted to get a proper one of the band I decided to ask an official looking uniformed man if it was ok. He seemed to think it strange I had even asked – but then one doesn’t want to risk getting flung in jail does one!!! There were lots of minibuses turning up with youths hanging out the windows, chanting, singing, clapping and well generally making a lot of noise, none of which I understood, but I think they were having fun!!
And ask for the bathroom – look it has a bath with a plug and not a bucket in site!! The toilet has a seat, and I have a separate shower. Ok so it’s not a power shower but it is hot!
Such luxury, and it was so good to unpack after spending the last few days living out of a case, well ok 2 cases, but that didn’t stop me loosing things! In fact it just made it all the more likely!!
I had such a comfy sleep last night followed by a hearty breakfast of cereal, omelette, beans and toast. Yum!! Had quite a spring in my step as I walked to work this morning in the sun, even if everyone else was on holiday today, but I figured it’s not a holiday back home so I should be working, that and I have sooooo much still to do!!
It is apparently National Youth day today, which is why there is a holiday. Stumbled across some of the youths getting ready for a march. There were lots of people with official looking uniforms on milling around and I am sure I read somewhere that you weren’t meant to take photos of military officials over here. Risked a couple of surreptitious photos, (nothing like living dangerously) but when I wanted to get a proper one of the band I decided to ask an official looking uniformed man if it was ok. He seemed to think it strange I had even asked – but then one doesn’t want to risk getting flung in jail does one!!! There were lots of minibuses turning up with youths hanging out the windows, chanting, singing, clapping and well generally making a lot of noise, none of which I understood, but I think they were having fun!!
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Where is the time going.
I can’t believe I have just over a week left until I leave. I feel I am going round in circles trying to get to the bottom of 2 ½ months of expenditure. Still haven’t reconciled back to the actual cash withdrawals. Although I am hampered by the fact they often redirect cash withdrawals to other expenditure than originally intended, or use their own money!! The latter even to pay staff salaries sometimes. I am still determined to finish this reconciliation – may still be doing it when I get back home at this rate. But, more importantly, I have now started to compile a report on the issues in the current process and the changes that are required to make it more efficient and accountable. Gideon has also asked me to review a funding proposal he has just done and I have carte blanche to change anything I think needs to be changed. Ok, so I can do the reports, just can’t do the numbers!!! :-) Friday is yet another national holiday here, Monday was Woman Empowerment Day – not sure what this one coming up is. Needless to say I don’t think I will be taking the time off as I have too much to do in the next week.
Not having the internet is driving me nuts at work. It is a bit intermittent at the moment - so off course I have to keep going to the bar at the Sherbourne at night so I can get the wireless connection!! Yeah, good excuse eh!! Actually moving in to the Sherbourne today (Thursday) and am so excited about it! The Pamo lodge was pretty grim. They didn’t clean my room on Wednesday – apparently it was because I took the key. I mean what hotel doesn’t have a spare key for every room – hotels in Zambia obviously! I do now have my own personal taxi driver on call – have to pay him off course , but he works for a friend of Gideon’s so it is nice having one that you know and can trust.
As my departure date for the UK looms ever closer I actually have mixed feelings, although I am looking forward to getting back to my home comforts, and even office comforts, which primarily means, no ants, no big spiders, running water and flushing toilets – I am a simple sole at heart really (oh and Starbucks for a decent cup of tea!!). On the other hand there is part of me that would like to stay on for longer – mainly because I don’t like walking away from a job before it is finished – there is still so much more I could do to help them here.
Molly the Schools coordinator came in to the office today. She wanted to talk to me again about her problems at home. Apparently after her husband died his family (I think by his first wife) moved in to her house. Under Zambian law they are allowed to do this and as she doesn’t really get on with them it is a bit of a nightmare for her. She is ever so sweet but does seem weighed down with unhappiness. She keeps saying if she could only get herself a plot of land to get a new home all would be well. I am not sure if she wants to talk to me about her worries because she thinks I come across as a sympathetic person – or if she thinks I will buy her a plot of land!!! Everyone out here does tend to think I am very rich, now I know it is all relative, but they haven’t seen my credit card bills, which are growing by the minute while I am here!! Having said that I have booked in to a 5 Star Intercontinental hotel in Lusaka on the Friday before my flight home. They have a pool amongst other delights, so have decided to get down there early so I can have a little bit of me time and some luxury for my last day in Zambia! I think I have earned it! It’s a pity I don’t have time to go over and see the falls, but it is about a 4 hours drive from Lusaka. Maybe next time!!
I am meeting Moffat today to get something organised for the school twinnings, something else on my to do list I have not got round to yet. I am hoping that will work out, but as Moffat has said, the kids at the school here don’t even understand how to write a letter! But it should be an excellent learning tool for them. He asked if the kids over in Scotland knew how to use computers – the fact he even asked the question said it all!!
The sun is shining and it is very warm – hope it keeps up for the weekend, I am still about as white as when I came!
Have a good day!
Not having the internet is driving me nuts at work. It is a bit intermittent at the moment - so off course I have to keep going to the bar at the Sherbourne at night so I can get the wireless connection!! Yeah, good excuse eh!! Actually moving in to the Sherbourne today (Thursday) and am so excited about it! The Pamo lodge was pretty grim. They didn’t clean my room on Wednesday – apparently it was because I took the key. I mean what hotel doesn’t have a spare key for every room – hotels in Zambia obviously! I do now have my own personal taxi driver on call – have to pay him off course , but he works for a friend of Gideon’s so it is nice having one that you know and can trust.
As my departure date for the UK looms ever closer I actually have mixed feelings, although I am looking forward to getting back to my home comforts, and even office comforts, which primarily means, no ants, no big spiders, running water and flushing toilets – I am a simple sole at heart really (oh and Starbucks for a decent cup of tea!!). On the other hand there is part of me that would like to stay on for longer – mainly because I don’t like walking away from a job before it is finished – there is still so much more I could do to help them here.
Molly the Schools coordinator came in to the office today. She wanted to talk to me again about her problems at home. Apparently after her husband died his family (I think by his first wife) moved in to her house. Under Zambian law they are allowed to do this and as she doesn’t really get on with them it is a bit of a nightmare for her. She is ever so sweet but does seem weighed down with unhappiness. She keeps saying if she could only get herself a plot of land to get a new home all would be well. I am not sure if she wants to talk to me about her worries because she thinks I come across as a sympathetic person – or if she thinks I will buy her a plot of land!!! Everyone out here does tend to think I am very rich, now I know it is all relative, but they haven’t seen my credit card bills, which are growing by the minute while I am here!! Having said that I have booked in to a 5 Star Intercontinental hotel in Lusaka on the Friday before my flight home. They have a pool amongst other delights, so have decided to get down there early so I can have a little bit of me time and some luxury for my last day in Zambia! I think I have earned it! It’s a pity I don’t have time to go over and see the falls, but it is about a 4 hours drive from Lusaka. Maybe next time!!
Molly and I in the office
I am meeting Moffat today to get something organised for the school twinnings, something else on my to do list I have not got round to yet. I am hoping that will work out, but as Moffat has said, the kids at the school here don’t even understand how to write a letter! But it should be an excellent learning tool for them. He asked if the kids over in Scotland knew how to use computers – the fact he even asked the question said it all!!
The sun is shining and it is very warm – hope it keeps up for the weekend, I am still about as white as when I came!
Have a good day!
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
On the move.
I decided it was time to move out of Jedone’s . Not just because of the washing out of a bucket, though lord knows I was getting fed up with that, but I just didn’t think the home stay was what it should be. I think if Jedone had not been ill it would have been a bit better but as Jedone was more and more out of the picture, I was feeling more and more isolated. His brothers and kids didn’t speak that much English and I got a bit of a mixed response from them. I also felt that boundaries from a professional point were also getting blurred, particularly from the money side. I seemed to be dipping in to my own money quite a bit over and above the personal donation I gave them to cover my expenses - including buying food for the entire family on several occasions. I have been in turmoil a few times about the right thing to do, but I think moving out is for the best, I did feel that volunteer support was turning in to a way for Jedone to help support his family, which is not really how it should be and puts mental pressure on the volunteer, aka me!!
In some ways I am still glad I did stay there, as it certainly gave me an insight in to the real Zambia. (Lots or people was out of buckets here and don’t have toilet seats!). Would I do a home stay again – hmmm, probably not! Although my advice to anyone who was thinking of working abroad would be if you do want to see a bit of the real life in that country then do give home stay with a local a try if you get the opportunity, but make sure you have a get out clause! I would suggest booking accommodation from e.g. at least half way through your stay, that way if it is not working out you can move on with ease, and if it is working you can always cancel your reservation.
Getting somewhere to stay is proving a bit troublesome, well at least getting somewhere nice is. All the best places (off which there are not many) are booked up. The place I wanted to stay, which is one of the more expensive places, the Sherbourne, can only take me for about 5 of my remaining nights. I have a couple of nights in the Pamo Lodge first – but it is a bit grim, the only plus point is it has hot running water and a shower – yippee. Had my first shower today for about a week and a half and boy did I enjoy it.
I spent some time in the bar in the Sherbourne last night on the way back to my current lodge - only off course so I could take advantage of their wireless internet and nothing to do with the lovely glasses of chilled white wine I could get!! However, I had just got to the point when I thought I ought to make my way to the Pamo lodge, which is only about 5 or 10 minutes away, when the thunder and lightning started – followed by the torrential rain. So I gave up and decided I may as well have dinner there. Veggie choices, as with everywhere in Zambia, were not brilliant, but I ordered a vegetarian curry, and off course another wee glass of vino. I all but licked the plate. I think it would be fair to say that it is the only meal I have actually really enjoyed since I got here. I can’t begin to say how many dull bland meals I have literally forced myself to keep eating, just because I needed to eat. Then there was the time when I was literally spitting out bits of glass, which supposedly had been in the beans they had made at Jedones. He did complain to his brother about buying cheap beans, but other than that it seemed like it was a pretty normal occurrence to have glass in your meal!! Unfortunately as a consequence of the food I have taken to filling up with rubbish! Biscuits galore, crisps and so much coke – I hardly ever drink coke at home but think I am becoming addicted to it out here!! So think I have just lost out on the opportunity to lose a few pounds!!
Anyway I digress (think I have also become obsessed with food as well as plumbing and hygiene since I got here!). So when the rain eventually dies down a bit I go back to my latest abode and go to my room. There is a TV in the room, with a two pin plug and only a double 3 pin socket which was already in use for the fridge and air conditioning unit (and of course was hanging out of the wall as is standard here). There are cups and tea bags but no kettle and there were no towels. So, feeling decidedly fed up and fuelled by 3 glasses of oh so lovely wine, I toddle (or was it more of a march) over to reception. Now I have to say I have met some wonderful welcoming people in Zambia, but they just don’t do customer service very well. I had only got to the bit about moaning over a TV you can’t plug in when she sighed and said in a surly tone” I will come and plug it in for you”. Like – do I look like someone who can’t plug a TV in!!! Anyway off we went back to my room, and surprise, surprise there was nowhere to plug the TV in. So off she disappears, eventually returning with an extension lead (still 3 pin but they often ram two pin plugs in to 3 pin sockets over here). The kettle and a towel (notice the use of the singular for the towel, no going mad on laundry out here) arrived about 10 minutes later. By the time she had returned I had discovered, the TV only had one channel, which the receptionist informed me was controlled by them at reception. I mean what is the point....!!!!!
Reluctantly had to pay for another night this morning - roll on the luxury of the Sherourne. Although I may be found hanging around their bar again tonight – to use the internet of course!!
In some ways I am still glad I did stay there, as it certainly gave me an insight in to the real Zambia. (Lots or people was out of buckets here and don’t have toilet seats!). Would I do a home stay again – hmmm, probably not! Although my advice to anyone who was thinking of working abroad would be if you do want to see a bit of the real life in that country then do give home stay with a local a try if you get the opportunity, but make sure you have a get out clause! I would suggest booking accommodation from e.g. at least half way through your stay, that way if it is not working out you can move on with ease, and if it is working you can always cancel your reservation.
Getting somewhere to stay is proving a bit troublesome, well at least getting somewhere nice is. All the best places (off which there are not many) are booked up. The place I wanted to stay, which is one of the more expensive places, the Sherbourne, can only take me for about 5 of my remaining nights. I have a couple of nights in the Pamo Lodge first – but it is a bit grim, the only plus point is it has hot running water and a shower – yippee. Had my first shower today for about a week and a half and boy did I enjoy it.
I spent some time in the bar in the Sherbourne last night on the way back to my current lodge - only off course so I could take advantage of their wireless internet and nothing to do with the lovely glasses of chilled white wine I could get!! However, I had just got to the point when I thought I ought to make my way to the Pamo lodge, which is only about 5 or 10 minutes away, when the thunder and lightning started – followed by the torrential rain. So I gave up and decided I may as well have dinner there. Veggie choices, as with everywhere in Zambia, were not brilliant, but I ordered a vegetarian curry, and off course another wee glass of vino. I all but licked the plate. I think it would be fair to say that it is the only meal I have actually really enjoyed since I got here. I can’t begin to say how many dull bland meals I have literally forced myself to keep eating, just because I needed to eat. Then there was the time when I was literally spitting out bits of glass, which supposedly had been in the beans they had made at Jedones. He did complain to his brother about buying cheap beans, but other than that it seemed like it was a pretty normal occurrence to have glass in your meal!! Unfortunately as a consequence of the food I have taken to filling up with rubbish! Biscuits galore, crisps and so much coke – I hardly ever drink coke at home but think I am becoming addicted to it out here!! So think I have just lost out on the opportunity to lose a few pounds!!
Anyway I digress (think I have also become obsessed with food as well as plumbing and hygiene since I got here!). So when the rain eventually dies down a bit I go back to my latest abode and go to my room. There is a TV in the room, with a two pin plug and only a double 3 pin socket which was already in use for the fridge and air conditioning unit (and of course was hanging out of the wall as is standard here). There are cups and tea bags but no kettle and there were no towels. So, feeling decidedly fed up and fuelled by 3 glasses of oh so lovely wine, I toddle (or was it more of a march) over to reception. Now I have to say I have met some wonderful welcoming people in Zambia, but they just don’t do customer service very well. I had only got to the bit about moaning over a TV you can’t plug in when she sighed and said in a surly tone” I will come and plug it in for you”. Like – do I look like someone who can’t plug a TV in!!! Anyway off we went back to my room, and surprise, surprise there was nowhere to plug the TV in. So off she disappears, eventually returning with an extension lead (still 3 pin but they often ram two pin plugs in to 3 pin sockets over here). The kettle and a towel (notice the use of the singular for the towel, no going mad on laundry out here) arrived about 10 minutes later. By the time she had returned I had discovered, the TV only had one channel, which the receptionist informed me was controlled by them at reception. I mean what is the point....!!!!!
Reluctantly had to pay for another night this morning - roll on the luxury of the Sherourne. Although I may be found hanging around their bar again tonight – to use the internet of course!!
Up town in Lusaka - or was it downtown!!
After the wedding we headed off to a pub called Rhapsody’s somewhere in Lusaka. Was pretty much like a lot of pubs you could find back home – and most importantly it sold wine!! An interesting observation I made was that at some point during the night my nose was assaulted by the smell of smoke – and it dawned on me it was the first time I had smelt cigarette smoke since I left home. I turned round and was not surprised to see it was a white person puffing away on the ciggie! Zambians don’t actually smoke very much, although I did see one or two of them that night, but I guess it is too expensive for them. Which is a good thing, as they have enough things shortening their life span out here, they don’t need to add lung cancer to the list!!
We went on to a sort of night club a bit later where I got to do a bit of boogying to some Zambian music. I quite liked some of it. It sounds a bit like reggae. It was all going well and we were having fun until some plonker decided to talk to me. He was coloured but said he was from London originally. Anyway shortened version is he said that I was wasting my time coming over to work for a charity here as it wouldn’t make a difference. I couldn’t even be bothered to reply when he asked what difference I thought I had made already (in a sarcastic you will have done nothing sort of way). I didn’t bother to tell him about the books and how happy the children and teachers were to get them – it wasn’t worth the breath or the effort of shouting over the music! He finished by telling me that they didn’t need a white girl like me coming over thinking she could make a difference. I was pretty shocked and I have to say it smacked of racial discrimination – which I can assure you does not feel pleasant at all. I am however glad to say that his reaction is in stark contrast to what I usually get. With most people thinking it is wonderful I have given up my time and come over here to try and help them. So Saturday night up town in Lusaka is not that much different from Saturday night up town in the UK - you are always going to be accosted by at least one idiot wherever you are in the world! Glad to say I am well over the upset now!
Have added some photos for your amusement, which to most of you will seem much more like the Valerie you know! Although I am sure you will be keeping the ones of me with the kids as collector’s items! Yep it really was me!
In the pub!
We went on to a sort of night club a bit later where I got to do a bit of boogying to some Zambian music. I quite liked some of it. It sounds a bit like reggae. It was all going well and we were having fun until some plonker decided to talk to me. He was coloured but said he was from London originally. Anyway shortened version is he said that I was wasting my time coming over to work for a charity here as it wouldn’t make a difference. I couldn’t even be bothered to reply when he asked what difference I thought I had made already (in a sarcastic you will have done nothing sort of way). I didn’t bother to tell him about the books and how happy the children and teachers were to get them – it wasn’t worth the breath or the effort of shouting over the music! He finished by telling me that they didn’t need a white girl like me coming over thinking she could make a difference. I was pretty shocked and I have to say it smacked of racial discrimination – which I can assure you does not feel pleasant at all. I am however glad to say that his reaction is in stark contrast to what I usually get. With most people thinking it is wonderful I have given up my time and come over here to try and help them. So Saturday night up town in Lusaka is not that much different from Saturday night up town in the UK - you are always going to be accosted by at least one idiot wherever you are in the world! Glad to say I am well over the upset now!
Have added some photos for your amusement, which to most of you will seem much more like the Valerie you know! Although I am sure you will be keeping the ones of me with the kids as collector’s items! Yep it really was me!
In the pub!
Well I had to do some dancing at some point on the trip!!
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
The Zambian Wedding!
Don't panic mum it wasn't mine!!!
Yippee I got to go out and party for the first time since I got here. We started off by going to a Zambian wedding. Vivian’s father had a slight stroke recently and was not up to going out so Vivian, 2 of her brothers and little old white me went to represent the family. The actual wedding itself had been in the morning so this was just the evening reception. Vivian told me it started at 18:00 (they use the 24hour clock over here a lot). So I toddled off to get the dress on and make myself presentable for a wedding and was duly ready before 6 pm – we left the house just before 8pm!! Zambian time yet again!! Although apparently the wedding didn’t start until about 7.30 pm so just as well we were late!
The reception was not dissimilar to an evening reception at home. Although most of the speeches happened before the meal, well I say speeches but basically the father of the bride seemed to hog the limelight, with no one else speaking at all, not even the groom. The cutting of the cake ceremony took a while. It started with a small girl doing a dance down the hall with the knife. I wasn’t quite sure about a young girl in a short skirt doing a slightly provocative dance waving a knife around. It just felt wrong on so many levels!!
Then the groom had to escort the bride to the cake – which as you can see was quite large (the cake that is not the bride).
Then they eventually did cut it. This was then followed by the bridesmaids and best men (there seemed lots of them) doing a dance with the cake around the room. And then, well... I don’t know what happened to the cake as we never even got a bit of it!!
There was more dancing by the extended bridal party around the room which was quite fun to watch. Then the bride and groom did get up and shuffle around the dance floor, mainly underneath her veil, which looked quite peculiar. The guests themselves were only invited to the dance floor once. Then it was the presentation of the presents when everyone had to line up and give their gifts to the bride and groom and wish them well. We didn’t have any gifts so we left! There was some food flung in somewhere along the line – but pretty much a non event for me as it was very meat orientated – oh and we got a bottle of coke each as it was a Christian wedding so no free alcohol!! (Although we cheated and bought some). We did do a toast to the bride and groom at some point but it just seems fundamentally wrong to toast someone with a glass of coke!!!
I would also have to say that all the way through the ceremony the bride barely cracked a smile and the groom didn’t look much happier either. Vivian and I speculated as to whether it was a shot gun wedding!! Interestingly though they have a very high divorce rate over here in Zambian which, due to their strong religious beliefs I am surprised at. Although living together is still very much frowned upon.
So having experienced a Zambian wedding it was time to find a Zambian pub!! Woo Hoo!
Yippee I got to go out and party for the first time since I got here. We started off by going to a Zambian wedding. Vivian’s father had a slight stroke recently and was not up to going out so Vivian, 2 of her brothers and little old white me went to represent the family. The actual wedding itself had been in the morning so this was just the evening reception. Vivian told me it started at 18:00 (they use the 24hour clock over here a lot). So I toddled off to get the dress on and make myself presentable for a wedding and was duly ready before 6 pm – we left the house just before 8pm!! Zambian time yet again!! Although apparently the wedding didn’t start until about 7.30 pm so just as well we were late!
The reception was not dissimilar to an evening reception at home. Although most of the speeches happened before the meal, well I say speeches but basically the father of the bride seemed to hog the limelight, with no one else speaking at all, not even the groom. The cutting of the cake ceremony took a while. It started with a small girl doing a dance down the hall with the knife. I wasn’t quite sure about a young girl in a short skirt doing a slightly provocative dance waving a knife around. It just felt wrong on so many levels!!
Then the groom had to escort the bride to the cake – which as you can see was quite large (the cake that is not the bride).
Then they eventually did cut it. This was then followed by the bridesmaids and best men (there seemed lots of them) doing a dance with the cake around the room. And then, well... I don’t know what happened to the cake as we never even got a bit of it!!
There was more dancing by the extended bridal party around the room which was quite fun to watch. Then the bride and groom did get up and shuffle around the dance floor, mainly underneath her veil, which looked quite peculiar. The guests themselves were only invited to the dance floor once. Then it was the presentation of the presents when everyone had to line up and give their gifts to the bride and groom and wish them well. We didn’t have any gifts so we left! There was some food flung in somewhere along the line – but pretty much a non event for me as it was very meat orientated – oh and we got a bottle of coke each as it was a Christian wedding so no free alcohol!! (Although we cheated and bought some). We did do a toast to the bride and groom at some point but it just seems fundamentally wrong to toast someone with a glass of coke!!!
I would also have to say that all the way through the ceremony the bride barely cracked a smile and the groom didn’t look much happier either. Vivian and I speculated as to whether it was a shot gun wedding!! Interestingly though they have a very high divorce rate over here in Zambian which, due to their strong religious beliefs I am surprised at. Although living together is still very much frowned upon.
So having experienced a Zambian wedding it was time to find a Zambian pub!! Woo Hoo!
Hey spot the glasses of wine - such luxury!!!
Saturday morning -- far too early!!
On Friday night after a lot of hassle and half the family being involved I eventually managed to book a taxi for 6.30 am on Saturdayto get me to the bus station. This did however highlight my need to buy a Zambian sim card as it must have cost me a fortune between texts and calls to explain to the taxi guy what I wanted and when!
I thought I was having to get up at silly o’clock as it was on Saturday to get to town but I was up even earlier than that with Gideon banging on my door at 4.00 am (much to my confusion as I thought I must have slept in). Jedone had taken a turn for the worse and they had phoned Gideon to take him to the hospital. They wanted to know if I had k300,000 which I think was needed just to get him in the door of the hospital. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much and needed to keep my bus fare as well so could only give them K100,000.
Anyway didn’t get back to sleep after that. Much to my surprise though, they actually turned up back at the house again about 6 am. I had thought they would have kept Jedone in but he was apparently not ill enough - by Zambian standards - for that. He looked awful to me and it was obvious turning up for the donor meeting had been too much for him. This is his third bout of Malaria in the last two months, and if he had been in the UK I am pretty sure he would not have been sent home. After all you can die from it!! I did ask if there was anything I could do and if they wanted me to stay. Fairly futile really given my nursing skills are pretty poor and I am sure Jedone doesn’t really want a stranger fussing round him!
Not surprisingly they said no so out I went to wait for my taxi, and wait and wait and.....Eventually it turned up at about 6.50 – after Clemet had to go and try and find them as they were lost. Not flipping surprising though with these streets. And just to make matters worse after turning up 20 minutes late they stopped for petrol on the way. Argh! I would have said something but felt there was no point and I didn’t want to run the risk of having to get out and push the taxi, as I know they only tend to fill up in small amounts!
Off course we were meant to be going for the 7 am bus, but unbeknown to me at this point I was fretting over nothing having thought I was going to make us miss it. Reason one was because Vivian works to Zambian time and turned up at 7.40 am. Reason two was a bus had just filled up and was leaving so we had to get on the next one – and they don’t go until they are full. So we sat on the darned thing for a full hour before we even left the bus station!! Can you imagine the chaos if the buses and trains did that back home. Trust me, next time your bus or train is delayed by 10 minutes or so just be glad it turned up at all! [Which maybe doesn’t go for Debbie whose trains sometime don’t turn up. :-)]
So if you consider that I was ready to leave at 6.30 am and didn’t get to Lusaka until about 2 pm that was a heck of a lot of travelling time for a weekend. It didn’t take much longer than that to fly from London!! We also had to get our 30 minutes of preaching on the bus before we left the station – preaching in a very loud voice I may add, such that my iPod could not drown it out! Most of it I didn’t catch although there was some mention of dying, which I thought was most encouraging when I was just about to travel 450km on dodgy roads in dodgy public transport!!
But we made it to Lusaka and to Vivian’s family, who were all very nice and welcoming and a whole range of brothers seemed to keep turning up to shuttle us around Lusaka – but I still had to wash in a bucket!!
I thought I was having to get up at silly o’clock as it was on Saturday to get to town but I was up even earlier than that with Gideon banging on my door at 4.00 am (much to my confusion as I thought I must have slept in). Jedone had taken a turn for the worse and they had phoned Gideon to take him to the hospital. They wanted to know if I had k300,000 which I think was needed just to get him in the door of the hospital. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much and needed to keep my bus fare as well so could only give them K100,000.
Anyway didn’t get back to sleep after that. Much to my surprise though, they actually turned up back at the house again about 6 am. I had thought they would have kept Jedone in but he was apparently not ill enough - by Zambian standards - for that. He looked awful to me and it was obvious turning up for the donor meeting had been too much for him. This is his third bout of Malaria in the last two months, and if he had been in the UK I am pretty sure he would not have been sent home. After all you can die from it!! I did ask if there was anything I could do and if they wanted me to stay. Fairly futile really given my nursing skills are pretty poor and I am sure Jedone doesn’t really want a stranger fussing round him!
Not surprisingly they said no so out I went to wait for my taxi, and wait and wait and.....Eventually it turned up at about 6.50 – after Clemet had to go and try and find them as they were lost. Not flipping surprising though with these streets. And just to make matters worse after turning up 20 minutes late they stopped for petrol on the way. Argh! I would have said something but felt there was no point and I didn’t want to run the risk of having to get out and push the taxi, as I know they only tend to fill up in small amounts!
Off course we were meant to be going for the 7 am bus, but unbeknown to me at this point I was fretting over nothing having thought I was going to make us miss it. Reason one was because Vivian works to Zambian time and turned up at 7.40 am. Reason two was a bus had just filled up and was leaving so we had to get on the next one – and they don’t go until they are full. So we sat on the darned thing for a full hour before we even left the bus station!! Can you imagine the chaos if the buses and trains did that back home. Trust me, next time your bus or train is delayed by 10 minutes or so just be glad it turned up at all! [Which maybe doesn’t go for Debbie whose trains sometime don’t turn up. :-)]
So if you consider that I was ready to leave at 6.30 am and didn’t get to Lusaka until about 2 pm that was a heck of a lot of travelling time for a weekend. It didn’t take much longer than that to fly from London!! We also had to get our 30 minutes of preaching on the bus before we left the station – preaching in a very loud voice I may add, such that my iPod could not drown it out! Most of it I didn’t catch although there was some mention of dying, which I thought was most encouraging when I was just about to travel 450km on dodgy roads in dodgy public transport!!
But we made it to Lusaka and to Vivian’s family, who were all very nice and welcoming and a whole range of brothers seemed to keep turning up to shuttle us around Lusaka – but I still had to wash in a bucket!!
Friday Update!
What a long day Friday was. The representative for the Stephen Lewis foundation eventually turned up at 9.30 am and the whole office effectively just stopped working the entire day. I was asked to be in most of the meetings but in true British style I kept thinking shouldn’t someone be doing some work!! But when in Zambia!
This is a photo of Jedone, Vivian and me at the presentation. Don't I look enthralled. But give me a break I had help rewrite it, put it on to PowerPoint, animated it, proof read it and then went through a trial run with Gideon. Not exactly new to me. Although I think Gideon did a very good job of presenting.
It was quite late in the day before she spoke to Vivian and I about the finances and in true auditor type style when she was challenging us about the systems in place she pulled out the one large cash withdrawal that Vivian and I still haven’t matched all the payments to. We do know that some of it was used for the car hire for meeting me at the airport, some was used for customs, some for fuel, some for office bills, some for staff salary advances some for........well, who knows!! You have to pay for a lot of things in cash over here and you don’t always get given receipts which does make things a tad difficult in terms of audit trails!! Anyway had to try and flip that one around and discuss how we were going to improve our controls in that area. Think we might have got off with it!!! She seemed quite sympathetic about the difficulties and was particularly shocked to learn that they didn’t always have enough money to pay the staff their salaries! It’s a whole different world out here!
I have never been in that type of meeting so difficult to say how it went. Fingers crossed they get their funding. They need it! It was quite amusing when she went to leave as it had yet again been chucking it down and we were flooded again. So Gideon had to get the car right up to the door to try and get her out of the office, the poor girl nearly slipped while trying to step over in to the car. Not sure what her ending up soaked in mucky water would have done for the funding proposal!!
This is a photo of Jedone, Vivian and me at the presentation. Don't I look enthralled. But give me a break I had help rewrite it, put it on to PowerPoint, animated it, proof read it and then went through a trial run with Gideon. Not exactly new to me. Although I think Gideon did a very good job of presenting.
Although Jedone, Vivian and Gideon do look a bit more animated in these ones!
I have never been in that type of meeting so difficult to say how it went. Fingers crossed they get their funding. They need it! It was quite amusing when she went to leave as it had yet again been chucking it down and we were flooded again. So Gideon had to get the car right up to the door to try and get her out of the office, the poor girl nearly slipped while trying to step over in to the car. Not sure what her ending up soaked in mucky water would have done for the funding proposal!!
Unfortunately it also meant that as Gideon drove her back to the hotel we were all trapped in the office. Needless to say it resulted in Vivian and I having to postpone our trip to Lusaka until Saturday morning. At the time I couldn’t understand why we just didn’t get the bus down and arrive late at night. But now having experienced the bus service I do.......!!!
So it was back to Jedone’s and as they had no food for me I had to go shop for my dinner first and then cook for the family again - on the two little rings. Fortunately we actually made it through a full night with power!! Not sure this is what I bargained for when I said I would go for homestay though. Not really the mothering sort am I!!!
Thursday Update!
This is what I would have posted on Friday if the internet had been there. Something was apparently struck by lightning and knocked it out. It is back now (Tuesday) but only intermittently and very slow!
Wow, we are having the most amazing storm at the moment (i.e. Thursday afternoon). Thunder, lightning and rain that could knock you out. Never heard such loud crashes of thunder – and it was beautifully sunny not 30 minutes ago! Weather is about as changeable as back in Scotland. Moffat has just told me that I will probably need to take my shoes off and wade through the water to get out the office – and I just looked and he is not joking!!
Needless to say the internet has crashed, so yet again I am preparing this in word.
Jedone is still not very well. He came in later for about an hour today but had to go home again. We have a big presentation for funding to the Stephen Lewis foundation so I think he is really anxious to try and get in for that. But I would imagine if you had malaria back home you would probably be hospitalised and resting at home for a good while after that!
So I had to be brave and get the minibus in to town all on my own. Well ok, his brother walked me up to the stop, not that it is actually a stop. You can basically just hang about anywhere and they will stop for you. However, I was very impressed with myself when I managed to recognise where to get off. Not sure how I am getting back, think I may go mad and spend k20,000 on a taxi (about £3!).
I was helping run through the presentation with them today (the one I prepared before I left on PowerPoint). It’s looking good if I may say so myself! They have borrowed a projector so I am setting up a file of photos to run as everyone gathers (very professional off me!). Having said that I don’t seem to have done much accounting today and only tackled the pile of paper and invoices briefly. But the presentation is very important so a justified distraction. Vivian and I need to talk to the representative tomorrow about Finance – so I shall go in to full blag mode about all the wonderful controls that are already/will be in place!
Vivian has invited me to go down to Lusaka with her this weekend to stay with her father. I haven’t dared asked about what his home is like (i.e. does it have running hot water and flushing toilet) but I am the eternal optimist and live in hope. Have even bought a new towel especially for the occasion. Could not possibly go visiting with smelly week old used towels. Most impolite! Apparently I am going to a Zambian night club on Saturday – woo hoo!!
So my blog may be a bit quiet over the weekend – and you will just have to wait in anticipation until I get my update to you on Monday!!
Now if I go back to the village and the power fails again tonight I may just be forced to throw a hissy fit!
And this is what I had to try and get through to get out of the office!! We were eventually rescued by some very kind gentleman who brought his car up to the door for us to step in to – no idea who he was but I wasn’t refusing the offer!!
Wow, we are having the most amazing storm at the moment (i.e. Thursday afternoon). Thunder, lightning and rain that could knock you out. Never heard such loud crashes of thunder – and it was beautifully sunny not 30 minutes ago! Weather is about as changeable as back in Scotland. Moffat has just told me that I will probably need to take my shoes off and wade through the water to get out the office – and I just looked and he is not joking!!
Needless to say the internet has crashed, so yet again I am preparing this in word.
Jedone is still not very well. He came in later for about an hour today but had to go home again. We have a big presentation for funding to the Stephen Lewis foundation so I think he is really anxious to try and get in for that. But I would imagine if you had malaria back home you would probably be hospitalised and resting at home for a good while after that!
So I had to be brave and get the minibus in to town all on my own. Well ok, his brother walked me up to the stop, not that it is actually a stop. You can basically just hang about anywhere and they will stop for you. However, I was very impressed with myself when I managed to recognise where to get off. Not sure how I am getting back, think I may go mad and spend k20,000 on a taxi (about £3!).
I was helping run through the presentation with them today (the one I prepared before I left on PowerPoint). It’s looking good if I may say so myself! They have borrowed a projector so I am setting up a file of photos to run as everyone gathers (very professional off me!). Having said that I don’t seem to have done much accounting today and only tackled the pile of paper and invoices briefly. But the presentation is very important so a justified distraction. Vivian and I need to talk to the representative tomorrow about Finance – so I shall go in to full blag mode about all the wonderful controls that are already/will be in place!
Vivian has invited me to go down to Lusaka with her this weekend to stay with her father. I haven’t dared asked about what his home is like (i.e. does it have running hot water and flushing toilet) but I am the eternal optimist and live in hope. Have even bought a new towel especially for the occasion. Could not possibly go visiting with smelly week old used towels. Most impolite! Apparently I am going to a Zambian night club on Saturday – woo hoo!!
So my blog may be a bit quiet over the weekend – and you will just have to wait in anticipation until I get my update to you on Monday!!
Now if I go back to the village and the power fails again tonight I may just be forced to throw a hissy fit!
And this is what I had to try and get through to get out of the office!! We were eventually rescued by some very kind gentleman who brought his car up to the door for us to step in to – no idea who he was but I wasn’t refusing the offer!!
Thursday, 4 March 2010
The answer to the plastic bag issue.
These ladies were walking in front of me yesterday - clearly doing their bit for global warming!! I can just see me wandering back from Tescos like this!
Although you should see the fumes the ancient cars, minibuses and trucks pump out!
Although you should see the fumes the ancient cars, minibuses and trucks pump out!
Paper, Paper Everywhere!
Well yesterday was quite a busy day as I got stuck in about all their invoices and payments. It really was back to basics for me with a pile of receipts, invoices, cheque requisition forms to name but a few! They tend to pay for a lot of things in cash so tracking the audit trail back to the cash withdrawals and tying it all up was proving a little difficult. So some process improvements are required there, which I am already formulating – I think! Poor Vivian was feeling quite weary even by lunchtime after all the questions I was asking her. She has actually only been in the role herself for a few weeks so she has only just learnt one system for me to come along and tell her she needs to change it!! Poor girl.
I am actually back in the village typing this on word again – in the flippen dark again! It has to be said I am not feeling the least bit humorous about it this time. (Not that I was splitting my sides last night either). I had my dinner made for me tonight, before the power cut, which was some sort of fish, some tomato and onion sauce which they call soup and their infamous nshima, which is a bit of a cross between a lump of hard porridge and semolina. They keep making me two big lumps and I keep politely eating about half a lump! If you are lucky I will bring some home for you all for a treat!! Anyway this time I had eaten but I had just flopped down on the couch to relax in front of some America home show rubbish on TV when the power went. I hope those South Africans are enjoying our Zambian power!!!
I was feeling quite tired but fairly positive on the way home tonight and decided I definitely need to come in to Kitwe during the day on Saturday to try and see more of the town – not that there is a lot to see. I thought I might even ask Vivian to come along – not sure if you can ‘do lunch’ in Kitwe though. There are lots of dodgy fast food shops but not much else. I am also contemplating a trip down to the falls, although it is quite far and not sure how I would get there, or how much it would cost but for sure I would be booking in to a really nice hotel for a couple of nights!! Oh just think, running hot water, hopefully a shower, no exploding power sockets!! The luxury of it! Might need to take all my laundry with me! Although I am probably going to have to try and boil wash my towels at the weekend – only brought the one set!! Ugh! :-( Well I guess that is something to look forward to!!
Just need to keep reminding myself this is what it is all about!! This little chap got some money to get the things he needed to go to school here in Kitwe. He had been given a place at one of the Government schools but his mother couldn't afford to get the clothes and jotters he needed, so without them he wouldn't have been let in. His mother was given the money to buy the stuff and should have come back with the change. But apparently she spent it on cooking oil! As Vivian said - what am I meant to do? Hmmm, how do you put that through the books??
I am actually back in the village typing this on word again – in the flippen dark again! It has to be said I am not feeling the least bit humorous about it this time. (Not that I was splitting my sides last night either). I had my dinner made for me tonight, before the power cut, which was some sort of fish, some tomato and onion sauce which they call soup and their infamous nshima, which is a bit of a cross between a lump of hard porridge and semolina. They keep making me two big lumps and I keep politely eating about half a lump! If you are lucky I will bring some home for you all for a treat!! Anyway this time I had eaten but I had just flopped down on the couch to relax in front of some America home show rubbish on TV when the power went. I hope those South Africans are enjoying our Zambian power!!!
I was feeling quite tired but fairly positive on the way home tonight and decided I definitely need to come in to Kitwe during the day on Saturday to try and see more of the town – not that there is a lot to see. I thought I might even ask Vivian to come along – not sure if you can ‘do lunch’ in Kitwe though. There are lots of dodgy fast food shops but not much else. I am also contemplating a trip down to the falls, although it is quite far and not sure how I would get there, or how much it would cost but for sure I would be booking in to a really nice hotel for a couple of nights!! Oh just think, running hot water, hopefully a shower, no exploding power sockets!! The luxury of it! Might need to take all my laundry with me! Although I am probably going to have to try and boil wash my towels at the weekend – only brought the one set!! Ugh! :-( Well I guess that is something to look forward to!!
Just need to keep reminding myself this is what it is all about!! This little chap got some money to get the things he needed to go to school here in Kitwe. He had been given a place at one of the Government schools but his mother couldn't afford to get the clothes and jotters he needed, so without them he wouldn't have been let in. His mother was given the money to buy the stuff and should have come back with the change. But apparently she spent it on cooking oil! As Vivian said - what am I meant to do? Hmmm, how do you put that through the books??
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Morning Traumas
Mentally, the mornings are always the hardest as I grapple with boiling the kettle enough to get myself washed and filling buckets. We have suspended the deliveries of buckets of hot water to my bedroom as I figure the kettle boils quicker than the metal one on the stove does. Feel a bit guilty though as I have taken their electric kettle away from them, which is no doubt deemed a bit of a luxury. Come to that, I now feel guilty I am in Jedone’s room when he is not well. I assume he is sharing with one of the boys, not sure which or if more than one! And as sorry for him as I feel I am not offering to swap!!
So the morning is usually when I have all the little conversations in my head (yep, it’s official I am now going slightly bonkers). It’s the time when I think I didn’t really sign up for this part of it and I don’t really need to wash out of a bucket to do my job! Then I also think I am glad I did do the home stay with Jedone as it made me appreciate what I have back at home (oh how I dream of my en suite and shower ). And of course if I had stayed in a B&B all the time I would have been sheltered from the real Zambia.
However, following on from last night’s power outage we had another electrical drama this morning when the hairdryer blew up, despite it being plugged in via a surge protector. Not sure if it had anything to do with the socket being overloaded as it is the only one there, or the fact that the socket is hanging out of the wall a bit! Anyway, once I got over the shock (i.e. screaming and dropping the hairdryer), I decided the world really was crashing down round my ears if I couldn’t dry my hair!! I mean a girl has to make an effort, even if she is roughing it a bit! Eventually Jedone’s brother appeared at my door, clearly not understanding the severity of the situation. However, I said the fuse had probably blown and he seemed to understand and disappeared off with my precious dryer. Wasn’t sure I would ever see it again, but 10 minutes later he returned and amazingly it had been resuscitated and was working again. Crisis averted at the last minute. Hair drying could resume and I stopped packing my case. :-)
Now that I have caught up with my blogs and let the outside world know I am still alive I really must get back to work!
Have a good day everyone!
So the morning is usually when I have all the little conversations in my head (yep, it’s official I am now going slightly bonkers). It’s the time when I think I didn’t really sign up for this part of it and I don’t really need to wash out of a bucket to do my job! Then I also think I am glad I did do the home stay with Jedone as it made me appreciate what I have back at home (oh how I dream of my en suite and shower ). And of course if I had stayed in a B&B all the time I would have been sheltered from the real Zambia.
However, following on from last night’s power outage we had another electrical drama this morning when the hairdryer blew up, despite it being plugged in via a surge protector. Not sure if it had anything to do with the socket being overloaded as it is the only one there, or the fact that the socket is hanging out of the wall a bit! Anyway, once I got over the shock (i.e. screaming and dropping the hairdryer), I decided the world really was crashing down round my ears if I couldn’t dry my hair!! I mean a girl has to make an effort, even if she is roughing it a bit! Eventually Jedone’s brother appeared at my door, clearly not understanding the severity of the situation. However, I said the fuse had probably blown and he seemed to understand and disappeared off with my precious dryer. Wasn’t sure I would ever see it again, but 10 minutes later he returned and amazingly it had been resuscitated and was working again. Crisis averted at the last minute. Hair drying could resume and I stopped packing my case. :-)
Now that I have caught up with my blogs and let the outside world know I am still alive I really must get back to work!
Have a good day everyone!
And then there was darkness!!
Well here I am typing away by candle light on to a word document which I can copy over tomorrow, keeping an eye on the battery on the computer in case it runs out.
Gideon gave me a run home, which got me out of the trauma of getting the minibus on my without Jedone. As if there was even the slightest chance of me getting off at the right place!!!
When I got home nothing much was happening in the kitchen and as ever I couldn’t see that much food around (perhaps they are hiding it from me as they do keep producing meals). Jedone didn’t appear, but then why would he the poor lad is ill. So I thought I may as well play mom for the night and start cooking. Fortunately, I had picked up some stuff at the supermarket the other day with the intention of making a vegetable chilli one night (with soya mince no less). So I decided tonight would have to be the night.
Now do bear in mind the kitchen is not very big and all they have to cook on is two electric rings sitting on top of what looks like a microwave, and the rings themselves only have two settings – off or on!! But undaunted by all this and the fact I was cooking for 6 (as opposed to my normal 1) I ploughed on with the preparation. The soya mince didn’t look much like the stuff I used at home, I wasn’t sure we had enough vegetables to pad out the soya and there was no rice, but adaptability is the word out here and there was a big bag of pasta! Jedone’s youngest brother was keeping me company in the kitchen. His English is not very good and my Bemba is nonexistent so conversation was a bit stilted, and to be honest it felt a bit strange at times having him sit in the corner watching me. Felt like I was on master chef or something (I’d like to see what they could make with some weird looking soya and some dodgy electric rings)!! But we conversed as best we could, with him just smiling and nodding at me, which is an improvement on the reaction I normally get from kids back home, who, well just stare at me without the nodding and smiling.
All was going well, the chilli was a bit runnier than I wanted, but it just needed a bit more boiling time, when bang, we were plunged in to darkness. At which point everyone (except Jedone) seemed to appear in the kitchen. Now I don’t mean to be in the least bit rude, but it was very dark and they are all very dark, so I was finding it a bit disconcerting as I stood in front of my two little rings in the pitch black, with lots of people shuffling round, and me thinking well that’s dinner ruined!! I tried to ask if they knew why the power had gone off and was told it was because it was Tuesday – silly me, why else!! Estimated time for the power to be out seemed to be something between 1 hour and 20 hours (or maybe they said 2 hours). So having felt my way along the walls to my room, tripped over my handbag in the bedroom, knocked umpteen things of the table, I eventually found my torch. Boy was I glad I had lashed out those kwacha’s on that little life saver!
I then stared forlornly with my torch in to my pots of food, wandered aimlessly around the house, popped my head outside, wandered back inside, muttered to myself a bit. All with absolutely no point to it whatsoever other than I didn’t know what else to do. If I was American I would say I was regrouping, but I’m not, so all I was doing was fighting off one of my flaky, what the heck am I doing here, moments. Another successful flaky battle won I strode purposefully, torch in hand, back in to the kitchen. Nearly burnt my fingers lifting the metal lid with the metal handle, off the pot (excellent invention that one). Decided the pasta was now cooked and the chilli would just have to be runny so dinner was ready!! All I had to do was find someone who wanted to eat it!!
Anyway, eventually everyone ate pasta and runny chilli, even Jedone dragged himself out of bed for it and said it was good, in fact it was the most I have seen him eat since I got here. He explained that the power outage was because there was not enough to go round as they had to sell it to South Africa (why they can’t get their own I do not know) so they just randomly shut it down in areas every so often.
Jedone soon shuffled back off to bed and I was left to bat off the mosquitoes and listen to the fridge beside me slowly defrosting as I type by candle light!!
And just as I am getting to the end of this diatribe the power has come back on. Although in reality it doesn’t actually increase my options on what to do tonight with no internet and the kids in control of the remote. Another early night reading my book by torch light under my little mosquito net tent I think!! Life on the wild side in a village in Kitwe! Maybe I will go do some press ups or something!!
And I know there are no photos with this one, but your options were a plate of runny chilli or a picture of darkness!!! Vote using your buttons now! :-)
Gideon gave me a run home, which got me out of the trauma of getting the minibus on my without Jedone. As if there was even the slightest chance of me getting off at the right place!!!
When I got home nothing much was happening in the kitchen and as ever I couldn’t see that much food around (perhaps they are hiding it from me as they do keep producing meals). Jedone didn’t appear, but then why would he the poor lad is ill. So I thought I may as well play mom for the night and start cooking. Fortunately, I had picked up some stuff at the supermarket the other day with the intention of making a vegetable chilli one night (with soya mince no less). So I decided tonight would have to be the night.
Now do bear in mind the kitchen is not very big and all they have to cook on is two electric rings sitting on top of what looks like a microwave, and the rings themselves only have two settings – off or on!! But undaunted by all this and the fact I was cooking for 6 (as opposed to my normal 1) I ploughed on with the preparation. The soya mince didn’t look much like the stuff I used at home, I wasn’t sure we had enough vegetables to pad out the soya and there was no rice, but adaptability is the word out here and there was a big bag of pasta! Jedone’s youngest brother was keeping me company in the kitchen. His English is not very good and my Bemba is nonexistent so conversation was a bit stilted, and to be honest it felt a bit strange at times having him sit in the corner watching me. Felt like I was on master chef or something (I’d like to see what they could make with some weird looking soya and some dodgy electric rings)!! But we conversed as best we could, with him just smiling and nodding at me, which is an improvement on the reaction I normally get from kids back home, who, well just stare at me without the nodding and smiling.
All was going well, the chilli was a bit runnier than I wanted, but it just needed a bit more boiling time, when bang, we were plunged in to darkness. At which point everyone (except Jedone) seemed to appear in the kitchen. Now I don’t mean to be in the least bit rude, but it was very dark and they are all very dark, so I was finding it a bit disconcerting as I stood in front of my two little rings in the pitch black, with lots of people shuffling round, and me thinking well that’s dinner ruined!! I tried to ask if they knew why the power had gone off and was told it was because it was Tuesday – silly me, why else!! Estimated time for the power to be out seemed to be something between 1 hour and 20 hours (or maybe they said 2 hours). So having felt my way along the walls to my room, tripped over my handbag in the bedroom, knocked umpteen things of the table, I eventually found my torch. Boy was I glad I had lashed out those kwacha’s on that little life saver!
I then stared forlornly with my torch in to my pots of food, wandered aimlessly around the house, popped my head outside, wandered back inside, muttered to myself a bit. All with absolutely no point to it whatsoever other than I didn’t know what else to do. If I was American I would say I was regrouping, but I’m not, so all I was doing was fighting off one of my flaky, what the heck am I doing here, moments. Another successful flaky battle won I strode purposefully, torch in hand, back in to the kitchen. Nearly burnt my fingers lifting the metal lid with the metal handle, off the pot (excellent invention that one). Decided the pasta was now cooked and the chilli would just have to be runny so dinner was ready!! All I had to do was find someone who wanted to eat it!!
Anyway, eventually everyone ate pasta and runny chilli, even Jedone dragged himself out of bed for it and said it was good, in fact it was the most I have seen him eat since I got here. He explained that the power outage was because there was not enough to go round as they had to sell it to South Africa (why they can’t get their own I do not know) so they just randomly shut it down in areas every so often.
Jedone soon shuffled back off to bed and I was left to bat off the mosquitoes and listen to the fridge beside me slowly defrosting as I type by candle light!!
And just as I am getting to the end of this diatribe the power has come back on. Although in reality it doesn’t actually increase my options on what to do tonight with no internet and the kids in control of the remote. Another early night reading my book by torch light under my little mosquito net tent I think!! Life on the wild side in a village in Kitwe! Maybe I will go do some press ups or something!!
And I know there are no photos with this one, but your options were a plate of runny chilli or a picture of darkness!!! Vote using your buttons now! :-)
Back to School - but not as we know it.
Couldn’t blog much yesterday, the internet went down half way through the day and didn’t come back again until early this morning. Such is life over here.
Poor Jedone has malaria again so he had to go home yesterday after the doctors. He has some pills to take but they definitely don’t take it as serious over here as we would, but then I do believe they have a much greater resistance to it than we do. Mainly I think because they are repeatedly exposed to it.
However, Gideon, Moffat and I did fight our way through the torrential rain to get to the school that they support in this area. The school is just basically a disused outhouse building. Which if it had been in this country would long since have been knocked down and new flats built on it! (Well maybe not given the area it is in!). The kids are all in this one large room and put in to different groups, based more on where they are in the education cycle than on age. In terms of equipment – well there’s not a lot. Only benches, which double up as desks and only two makeshift blackboards. Some of the kids have to sit on the floor so they rotate them round the benches and blackboards during the day!
The books went down a storm as you can imagine, both the new Teejay Maths books and the ones donated by Castlepark primary in Irvine. Although initially I think they were as fascinated by me as the books. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the first time some of them had seen a white person up close and for real!!
Needless to say lots of photos were taken, and I know these will receive a torrent of sarcastic comment from you guys back home. Yes that really is me surrounded by lots of little people!!
The teachers (all volunteers) thought I was just great for bringing the books over and were getting excited when they came across things they were teaching at the moment.
The arithmetic Xs table poster went down really well (courtesy of Carol’s sister at Greenwich Library) as they are obviously working through them just now.
And as ever the most important observation – they were all well behaved!
So how many pictures do you want to see of the kids? I have loads!
Work felt slightly neglected yesterday so will need to make up for it today although I did set up some new spreadsheets! However getting back in do the work did prove to be a bit of a challenge!
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Hey look I'm on TV!
It all started well, with Gideon the programme manager looking very relaxed and happy!
The audience (all 15 of them), brought in especially to whoop and cheer in real Gerry Springer show style, were all lined up in their assorted plastic seats (ok, so it’s not BBC). But the technology still refused to work. More people huddled round to offer their (expert!) opinion.
The presenters did a quick rehearsal with much hilarity as someone tried to convince them they were actually live. Well I guess they had to do something to entertain the audience. Then even more people huddled round the laptop. The very unhappy looking tall woman on the left was one of the ZNBC people!
Then it was all too late and attempt number 3 at doing a live selection failed! Then, after the cameras were no longer rolling and the lights were off, Norman turned up on his white charger. Well it was Gideon’s sister’s slighly dilapidated car actually, but hey! So after a bit of button pressing by Norman and muttering and mumbling within the assorted crowd still left, the selection programme was running. Just a pity it was too late! But apparently we are on again for Saturday - and I think they are taking Norman with them to the studio!
What got me was that everyone seemed quite relaxed about the fact that they had just failed to make a life transmission over the Country’s main network!! Can you imagine that back home!
Unfortuntely I think George Clooney left before I got there! :-(
We didn't get back to the village until about 8 pm last night so quite a long day and Jedone went straight to bed after his tea, so it was just me and the kids fighting over the remote - I won, but then I am the elder!
I was all ready to go to one of the schools today, but Jedone is not feeling very well. He had Malaria a few weeks back so he thinks it might be that again and needs to go to the Doctors, so doubt if we will make it to the school. I am not surprised he is not well, he works really hard but hardly eats anything. I have been saying to him since I got here that he doesn’t eat enough. Zambians also appear not to drink very much either, which is surprising for a hot country. Although there may be a direct correlation between that and the toilet situation over here! And let’s not mention the fact that I have yet to come across any soap in a toilet!! (Even the ZNBC ones didn’t flush and had no soap!). I soooo just don’t want to think about it!!
Hope Jedone is going to be ok though.
I guess with the school not happening today I really ought to get on with some work. Will continue to work with Vivian today setting up things on Microsoft. I also need to finish doing the animations for the Power Point presentation for the Stephen Lewis Foundation later this week.
It has been quite sunny recently but is absoulutely tipping it down today and the skys are dull. I could almost be back home.
Have a good day.
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