Meet Sister Christina:

Nationality: Irish
Favourite Colour: Green
Time in Zambia: over 20 years
Favourite drink: Johnny Walker Whiskey

Sister Christina was one of the first people we met when we first came to Mongu. We had only been corresponding with emails and text messages prior to our arrival. We thought for sure that she was a young local girl from the funky way she wrote her text messages, but upon meeting her we realized she was an experienced Irish Nun!!

The Moya O Kenile house (meaning Holy Spirit in Losi, a local tribal language), was built 5 years ago with Sister Christina’s Magic. She first went and asked the traditional king for the land. This is something that most locals would never do, let alone a foreigner. Next she designed the compound and houses, down to the type of nails used for construction. There are fruit trees and vegetable gardens that supply most of the food for the convent. Sister Christina ensures that the compound is self sustaining and chooses to be economically friendly and global minded. They recycle and use a compost, which many Africans fail to do.

She is literally a jack of all trades. She can be found doing yard work, painting, mixing cement, and baking scones. Her guava jam is a staple in our household and we often find fruit and vegetables on our doorstep from our little angel. She is familiar with the cultures and traditions of Zambia, and more specifically the Losi people. We often go to her for advice ranging from how to wrap a chintenge (a traditional Zambian wrap skirt) to how to clap properly when meeting the Losi King.

So whether it is advice or just a cup of tea, Sister Christina is our girl. She makes our house feel like a home.

African Hip Shakin’….A.K.A pop locking

Lianne showin off her moves..see how they wrap cloth around your hips?? It's so you can shake em' good


Wowzas….On Tuesday night we were invited to a dance practice that the students hold. It is an opportunity for the Juniors to learn the traditional Losi songs and dances that they will perform at the graduation ceremony for the Senior students. As usually, we both took part in the dancing by showing off our amazing dance moves….However, we can not seem to perfect the gyrating hip movements those Africans can so well. We have never seen so many hips twist, bend, and pop, it looks like the hips are dislocating and then popping back into place. At first we were looking around the room, thinking to ourselves, “where will the music come from, I don’t see an electrical outlet.” Then we remembered we were in Africa, and all the music is created by the people. So the music was provided by two drummers, a man with a stick hitting a beer bottle, and the “choreographer” who had a whistle in her mouth. On top of all of this, the entire group (close to 100 students) all sang, clapped their hands, and created sweet sweet music.

The feel of the place went from a dark, dingy, dining hall to a vibrant African dance floor. Can you imagine what these people are capable. They can take something that seems worthless and turn it into solid gold! It is something that the developed world needs to learn to do.

We think it is important to note that this is what the students do every week, twice a week. They are a very close knit community, all living on campus. They spend most of their extra curricular time together either in dance, prayer, or sports. They must remain on campus, even on weekends, with very little time each semester to go to their homes. In fact, many of them are married with families and children and only get to see them a few times a year. They literally eat and breathe nursing. School is in session 5 days a week from 0800-1600 with an hour break from lunch. After these hours they spend the remainder of their free time writing out lecture notes and studying. Keep in mind that there are almost no textbooks, and they share the 1 copy of our lecture notes between all 50 of them (which they write out by hand).

Jess teaching about SCABIES....

We are really appreciative of all of our students, as it seems they have taken us under their wing. They invite to church, dance practice, and really seem to want to teach us about their culture. At lunch hour they show us how they cook their food and teach us the names of the local fruit and vegetables we don’t recognise. When we are in our office, they come and visit and want to see pictures of our home and families. They also enjoy hearing about nursing in Canada, and show a real eagerness to create change in their own country.

Our Senior nursing students

All in all, we are both learning from each other a great deal. And by the time we come back home we will be able to shake our hips and cook you a big pot of Nshima (the staple food here in Zambia)!

Jessica “These hips don’t lie” Barker and Lianne “you ain’t got nothing on me Britney” Jones

Crossing Borders

So we are still on our professional development roadtrip at this point, but this blog was getting to be quite long so we thought we might break it up. It out well because on this professional development roadtrip we decided to check out a few of the neighbouring countries! Why not right? The next morning the group ended up deciding to go to Zimbabwe, since it is really close to Livingstone. Ok I know as soon as everyone reads that we went to Zimbabwe you are going to be worried. But we made it back safe and sound, and I was so glad the opportunity to see the country first hand. As usual we had to work our magic at the border crossing with the Immigration officials. They did not want to grant us visas because we could only pay in Zambian dollars. So to work our way around this little conundrum Lianne and I turned on the charm, and bribed them! The best part about it was we didn’t even need to use money but we gave them our pens, which by the way were a frog and butterfly that light up when you turned them on…it blew their socks off! Another interesting story about this side trip was when we tried to get our Zambian dollars changed over into Zimabwean dollars. We traded 20,000 Zambian dollars (which is worth about 7 US dollars ) for 60 BILLION Zimbabwean dollars. That’s right I said Billion..that is how much inflation is going on in the country right now. Here is the best part to this story…and shows how much we got duped! So after getting into Zimbabwe we learn that the actual exhange rate is 3500 (about 1 US dollar) Zambian dollars to 50 Billion Zimbabean dollars. So not only does that show how much we got ripped off….but it clearly shows how little the Zimbabwean dollar is actually worth. here is Mr.K with his 25 billion Zimbabwe Dollars. Worth 50 cents.....

At first I was really excited to go to Zimbabwe. I’m not going to lie, I wanted to be able to add it to my list of countries that I have visited on Facebook… I think this was one of the most valuable experiences I have encountered in my life so far. Reading about hardship in the news is nothing like witnessing it with your own eyes...not to mention what the people must endure on a daily basis. When we are in Livingstone there is always a larger lineup outside the grocery stores…why?? THERE IS NO FOOD IN ZIMBABWE. I have never, NEVER, walked into a grocery store with only 3 loaves of bread on the shelf. That’s it. 3 loaves of bread. The main shopping centre has entire rows of empty shelves. Men outside the store ask us to buy statues for 5 times what we would pay in Zambia, do you blame them? This is the small glimpse of what has happened in part of our world…A tiny taste of the monstrosities endured by millions of people living in a nation of crisis. I can not even explain the feelings that arouse from this priceless experience less than 100 kilometres from the border of Zambia.
Imagine walking into a Save On Foods, Safeway, or another major super makrket and finding this...
Just to add to what Lianne has said, it is so frustrating to watch how the government has shaped the country to what it is today. All the Zambians talk about how beautiful Zimbabwe used to be. It still is, yet nobody goes to visit anymore because of the political unrest. The town we visited was a ghost town, with absolutely nothing going on. We passed by huge beautiful lodges that are deserted, there is so much potential that is just going to waste…

Our trip to Botswana the following day was an uplifting experience. It was similar to a shopping trip to the US. We were able to get different foods and other tidbits that are unavailable in Zambia. Our first stop was at an African Costco…It was amazing!! Everything was in big bulk packages. We couldn't buy just one bag of rice, it had to be 10. Everyone went crazy buying boxes of food and so forth. We splurged and bought salad dressing (no more mayo dressing!!) olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a 4 foot long bag of cheezi’s, and much much more. Next we stopped by a chain of stores that imported goods from Asia. The women we were with can shop!! They bought 11 comforters…11. I was thinking how the heck are we going to get home with the boxes of food and 11 comforters. The packing begins, how many comforters are left?
I didn’t think we were going to be able to fit all of it in the Land Cruiser, but one thing everyone needs to know about Africans is that they sure know how to pack. Somehow it all fit and we started out for the border crossing back into Zambia. By this time it was already pushing close to 4pm, and the border crossing closes when it gets dark. So we were hoping for a short line up…but to my dismay as we drove up to the border crossing, there was the longest line-up of vehicles waiting for the ferry. I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that we would be spending the night at the border crossing, not something I was looking forward to!! BUT our fearless self-appointed Team Leader- Mr. Silumbu Mumbuwa (one of our teaching colleagues) decided he had a solution to this little problem. His plan was to be the ‘director of traffic’ and then just conveniently direct our vehicle ahead of everyone else’s so that we would make it on the ferry. Guess what…it actually worked! I can still see Silumbu in the midst of all these vehicles (I also need to add that he had a beer in his hand this whole time) saying ‘You…go over here…You drive this way..Stop..Stop…you must go this way!’ Somehow we made it back to Zambia that night. Thanks to our man Silumbu. All those bags plus all those people, wait someone is missing...

So needless to say, we didn’t leave for Lusaka that day as we had planned. The following morning the plan was to make the trek back to Mongu, leaving at 8 am. After we pack all the food, comforters, luggage, and 12 people into the Land Cruiser..we finally leave at 11 am. (remember nothing ever happens as planned here). We are exhausted and have pressure ulcers from the ride when we drive into Lusaka (the half way point of our trip home) By this time it is now 8pm, but we decide to press on to Mongu. The driver is very tired, but agrees to drive us home..we all just want to be home by now. At about 1 am I wasn’t sleeping, and noticed that the driver was swerving off the road a litte, because he was falling asleep at the wheel. He pulled over to take a 3 minute “rest” so I offered to drive. So here I was, 1 am in the morning driving on the left hand side of the road through Kafue National Park. I enlisted Jessica as my eyes….We passed one elephant, multiple hyenas, bush deer, and one water buffalo on the side of the road. But nonetheless we arrived alive. TIA!!! After a 19 hour car ride we arrived safe in Mongu and hit the sack!

I just need to add that this was my personal record for the longest drive of my life. 19 hours!!! I am so glad that it is over. Also, just when you think me and Lianne can’t get any closer..we find ourselves sleeping on each other..while racing through the cold African night. Now that is a whole new level of friendship.

Clarification: we were spooning.

A new Type of Nursing

Ok so we really only taught one class each, then we actually peaced outta Mongu for the next week! Now I know everyone is thinking that it sounds like all we do is go on these little ‘roadtrips’, but this one was also related to school. Let’s just say it was for our professional development, because we headed off with our fellow teaching colleagues to research other schools of nursing in Zambia.
But first to give you a little more information, Lewanika School of Nursing has decided to apply to the General Nursing Council of Zambia to bring the registered nurse program to their facility (currently they only have a diploma course being offered over 2 years). So that is the reason the school decided to travel to Chikankata and Livingstone school’s of nursing to see how they have made the transition from certificate to diploma nursing programs. So on Tuesday the plan was to leave early at 5 am. Oh but wait..we are in Africa and nothing goes to plan here! So then we were told 10 am would be better. So we go to the school with our bags ready to go….and we waited. As we keep clock watching, 3pm roles around and we still aren’t gone. We discover they are fixing our vehicle, so it is decided that it would be best to leave at midnight …so at 10pm we leave. TIA (this is Africa my friends)!

So at first the ride is fun, all 11 of us plus the fish and baby are all crammed in together. This was good timing for us to be going on this trip since all of the instructors at Lewanika School of Nursing came. This was the perfect chance to get to know each other better. As we leave Mongu we are all having fun.singing and laughing..but then it starts to get cold, really cold. Yes it is shocking, but in Zambia right now it is so cold here at night. As usual I did not prepare for the cold..and begin to freeze…with only about an hour into the trip. This was the beginning of the longest trip of my life!!! So here we are driving through the african night…I am trying to sleep but have nowhere to put my head. But again I improvised and used my purse as my pillow (although fish juice leaked on it and it sure didn’t smell very nice) So now I am shivering with my head resting on my fishy purse. There is really no room to move, so I end up staying in that one position for hours on end. My butt is still recovering ..I may have developed a pressure sore from this trip from the lack of movement. The best part was when the baby was lying on me, because she kept me warm!

It really is that cold...And of course we did not pack right again, but we kept warm with the help of our friends, Jessica give me some of that blanket!

Jessica missed a few details…At first we shared the purse as a pillow. It was very cute and I think the others were talking about us. It seemed like we were the only ones in need of sleep. Those Zambians just went on for hours. I’m not going to lie, we both felt like we were going to die and we wanted to go home at this point (we mean home to Canada). But we pulled through and arrived at Chikankata in the morning. We had 30 minutes to freshen up and have a QUICK nap before the hospital/school tour. Our colleagues were very concerned about whether we were comfortable. They are very considerate and cared for us unbelievably well throughout this trip. The hospital and school tour was amazing. Chikankata is town that seems to be located in the middle of no where, yet it has surpassed the resources and training of Lewanika. This doesn’t make sense as Lewanika is located in the capital of Western Province, therefore should have more resources than a smaller, more rural town. Chikankata had new equipment, newer buildings, and the infrastructure wasn’t falling apart or broken. (Like most of Lewanika)
Chikankata Hospital with the help of Salvation Army.

One of the things I noticed was how the Chikankata Hospital and the School of Nursing are also funded by the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army is a large supporter…which is why they are doing much better than Lewanika. Our school is funded strictly by the government, and that is just not enough right now. I guess the lesson I learned was the Government = no money, while Internationally Funded Groups = lots of money. Ok back to the story… So in the morning after a looooooooooong and wonderful sleep we headed off to Livingstone! I was so excited because I do really love this city. This drive only took 8 hours, and the road was only terrible for about 2 of those hours. On the way we saw about 3 car accidents, all large trucks that crashed because they were overloaded with too many materials. No one was hurt thank goodness, but they were all very lucky. Once we got to Livingstone we went straight to work and toured the nursing school there. Again this school is much further ahead than Lewanika. There are many areas in training, human resources, and infrastructure where Lewanika has to be improved. My opinion on gaining funding from non-governmental sources was further strengthened when we toured Livingstone, as they have received funding from the Clinton Foundation and African Debt Bank for improvements in their school and hospital.

I am so worried, look at my face, it is a wonder no one was hurt.

My heart raced every time I saw one of those semi trucks laying on its side. Everytime I thought, ‘this is it Lianne you could see some bad stuff here.’ Luckily no one was injured, but I hated the thought about what was going to happen to the poor driver who was now either out of a job or in debt to the South African Company shipping goods to Congo. Regardless it was good to be back in Livingstone. I though right on; we were finally in a town that was familiar to us. After visiting a few guest houses we “found one” that was safe enough for us to stay in (I was not lying when I said they were protective). We easily could have stayed in a cheaper hostel with no complaints, but our hosts wanted us to be comfortable. We dined out one night at our favorite restaurant, a little vegetarian place on the main street. It is run by this sweet old man and the place has a “Nelson” feel to it. There is a library and a gift shop inside, and we sat on cushions around an African table. The food is phenomenal. When we finished we went next door to a restaurant where there was a local performance happening. We had just sat down when we were grabbed by two of the dancers to go dancing on stage with a large group of other Mizungu’s (white people). Jessica and I were the first two picked to dance. I feel bad for everyone else that had to follow our awesome dance moves!

tweaked nipples

Hello Hello our faithful followers…. This is a very exciting blog filled with many many events! We taught our first classes! It was very exciting, but felt very natural. The students seemed to enjoy the classes, but gave us a few pointers on the format they were used to receiving so we can adjust our next lectures. We were sitting in our office (yes it is true, we have an office!) and one of the students came in and said “we are very lucky to have you as tutors.” It was one of those moments where everything felt right in life, and it helped to alleviate some uncertainty about whether we were well received.

Now as usual you have to be ready for everything here in Africa. We came to Lewanika thinking that we would be delivering most of our lectures using Power Points (since that is what we are used to in Canada). So we both come prepared for the first lecture with our computers and LCD projector, only to have the power go out about 8 times during the lectures. But you know Lianne and me, we can improvise anything! So we did, and delivered our lectures in style, with a little laughter thrown in there. One of our lectures was on nursing management pertaining to disorders of the Nervous system. I was describing how to assess and unconscious patient, so I had pretended to be unconscious and asked one of the students to come up and practice their assessment skills. Now in Canada we would first try to rouse the patient by rubbing their sternum…but again here is a whole other story.. One I wasn’t quite expecting! So here I am lying down pretending to be unconscious (keep in mind this is in front of 50 students). And the student comes up and tweaks my nipple! Yes apparently that is how they do it here in Zambia. Needless to say we all laughed pretty loud when I reacted to this…

Yes, Jessica’s nipple pinch was one of my favourite moments. One of my least favourite moments so far was the 10 hour night ride in the back of a land cruiser with 11 people, fish, a baby, in the freezing cold! This is a whole other story we will get too… Now back to teaching. When we arrive into the class all the students stand up. Then they won’t leave the class until we do. We have told them many times that they do not need to stand when we arrive, but they insist. It is very humbling to be treated with so much respect. Jessica and I have decided to attend courses as well such as opthamology, tropical disease, and so on. It will be like free schooling!

I do need to attend a few other courses the students have to take. Subjects such as opthamology, tropical disease, and HIV are not really taught back home…because we often don’t see these diseases in Canada. But here in Africa they are seen so much and it nice to be able to broaden my knowlededge. So if any of you get malaria, tuberculosis or a worm at home, you know who to call. One of my favourite parts of teaching here happens before class even starts. The students always start out the morning with a song. It seems like every African man and woman was blessed with the gift of song, they all have such beautiful voices! And in the morning, the whole class sings. It is something I wish everyone could experience..it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. I will try to get a video and put it up on the blog…

Introducing...

Well I think that it’s about time for me to introduce myself: my name is Cameron O’Connor and that’s me in the middle down there.

Note: I'm going to be posting more or less random images of me from here on out

Now, because my lovely compatriots have decided to put up blogs updating all of you on what we’ve actually been doing, I am in the enviable position of having to write about pretty much anything I want. Thus I have decided to spend the next ten pages detailing the use of sepharose-glutathione columns in the purification of GST-fusion proteins expressed via E.Coli transfected with the pGEX6P-1 plasmid.

Did I scare everyone off yet? That was essentially a long winded way of letting you all know that I’m a biochemist by training. In fact I got my degree at the good ‘ol University of Alberta just before heading off on this fantastical adventure in Zambia. When I’m not threatening to bore people to death with technical explanations of standard modern biochemical techniques, I’m busy being a 22 year old guy that was born in Kingston Ontario before moving to Mississauga and then Kelowna where I went to school from kindergarten to grade 12 before leaving it all behind to go to the aforementioned institution of heavy drinking/higher learning.


Instead of ripping off a bunch of boring lists detailing my likes/dislikes/top ten X/most underappreciated cheeses/etc., I’ll jump right to talking about my personal thoughts about the trip thus far, leaving you, good reader, to parse out exactly what kind of a person I am, not by how I would describe myself, but how I describe my surroundings. Now, without further ado...

The setup sounds like what would happen if the Discovery channel decided to start a sitcom: three single young people, two female nurses and a male biochemist, go to Zambia to teach at a nursing college. Wackiness ensues! As it turns out, that description may be somewhat apt. I came into this project without ever having met Jess or Lianne, my only prior contact with them being a few short phone calls and a handful of e-mails, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. As it turns out, I think that we make a pretty good team. The vibe has been good and we have yet to hit any real snags, so it’s pretty hard to complain. In fact this trip has been pretty great thus far, and I’ve been extremely lucky to have two people with some travelling experience with me. Since this is the first time I’ve ever done any travelling without either my family or a large group of people, where pretty much everything was taken care of, it’s been great to have some people around that can let me know when I’m about to do something wrong/life threatening (just kidding mom, relax). Looking back on it, I must have been at least half cracked to agree to go on this trip: I had never met my companions, whom already knew each other quite well, had no clue where I would be staying or how I would be eating, had no experience whatsoever in teaching, barely even knew where Zambia was and could very well have been going in way over my head in pretty much any area that I could end up working in that you care to name.

What I’m really trying to say is that I really should have had more reservations than I did.

Regardless of what I “should have done”, I agreed to come and I haven’t looked back since. One of the big reasons I decided to do this trip was to learn some things, and I can most certainly tell you that I have done exactly that, possibly too much of that actually. It feels good to be doing some travelling, but I must admit that I’m anxious to get to work. All of this fun stuff has been, uh, fun, but it’s definitely time to do something constructive.

Still, it’s hard to not look at this next picture without wanting to go back to Victoria Falls.

I don’t want this to go on for too long, as I have a tendency to ramble, so I’ll finish up here. To all of Jess and Lianne’s family and friends: we’re staying safe, getting along swimmingly and I’m doing my best to watch out for them (although most of the time it seems like it’s them watching out for me as I get the hang of travelling). To my family and friends: I’ll be in Kelowna soon, but I’m seriously thinking about taking out a loan and coming back after spending a week or so at home.

We’ll see.

Well, it’s way past my bedtime. Good night!

Kalabo

These past few days have been a great introduction and reminder of the rural population in Zambia…and very representative of the rural way of life for so many people in Africa. The estimation is that 65% of the Zambian population lives in a rural area. Now when we hear the word rural back home in Canada….life doesn’t even compare to here. The rural way of life has a whole other meaning in Africa. Rural often means extreme poverty, and it is poverty like I have never seen. It is shocking to see that so many people in this world are living this way.

Gene Krupa (one of our colleagues with the Zambia Health Initiative) has been sponsoring children with World Vision for about 20 years. Now I will admit that many times I have seen those ‘World Vision commercials’ on TV..with malnourished children and flies all in their eyes. You also see how far they have to walk to get water, and how little they live off for food. You also see how the whole family (and that includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers..etc) live in one small mud hut, and all sleep in the same bed. Well it is all true, but don’t let that be the only thing we know about them.
This past weekend we had the privilege of visiting a village sponsored by World Vision.
The area we visited was around the very small town of Kalabo, World Vision uses this town as a base. One thing I learned about World Vision is that they choose their communities very wisely, based on needs. They plan to be in the community for 10 years, and have a 3 year plan to phase out. The one thing I like about World Vision’s philosophy is how they work to improve the whole community, including areas in agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, infrastructure development and capacity building. They also keep in mind that all these projects have to be sustainable, so that means when World Vision pulls out..the people of the village are still able to carry on with all the projects on their own. Makes sense..doesn’t it?

Now Kalabo is a village that is only accessible by water. Currently there is no road access, for reasons I don’t quite understand. So that means we had to go by boat…but not any boat…we got to take the World Vision Speedboat!

The boat ride took about 2 hours along the Zambezi River. On the way we passed scattered straw homes along the banks of the river. It was great insight into how the river people live. I felt like the Queen the whole time because every single child we passed waved to us. That is why I love Africa.
We stayed the night at a guest home in Kalabo, then the next day took a few 4X4 LandCruisers to Namatendi. A small village within the catchment area of World Vision’s Kalbo project. It also happens to be where Gene’s sponsor children live. It isn’t often that outsiders come to visit this village..so we were quite the spectacle!
As soon as we arrived the whole village was out in the village square ..there was drumming and dancing to welcome us. Lianne and I even got in on a little dancing…

Then we toured around to the homes of Gene’s children. It was very special to see the difference he is making in their lives. The fact that these kids can go to school..is huge! I think my favourite part of this whole trip was walking around the village. Everywhere we went we had a HUGE trail of children following us.

Now both me and Lianne always have to have fun with the children. Lianne even brought a fake microphone so we were all singing. Even a rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston was busted out! There is just something about the kids here in Africa..so happy all the time...i just love em. I really hope that we can get back here to visit. People were so gracious and thankful that we would come all the way out to Namatendi to visit their village..as no one every comes due to the lack of transport.

All in all it was a very special visit, something that I will never forget.

Jessica

Senanga (aka senannnnnnnnngahh)

This is for my mama, cause she likes to give out Canadian tattoos as well. There was a lot of laughter from the location of this tattoo!!

Western Province feels like home to me. Not literally, but we are finally settled in with some familiarities of home. For instance, we have a garbage for compost, recycling (ok you caught me, we burn the paper products), and then a garbage for plastics that we bury. We had our first family meal in the new house and organized the pantry. It feels good to be moved in. I have to say that the Sisters we are staying with are the craftiest ladies I know. They have literally recycled almost everything into something. For example, the loofah in our shower is an old onion bag (you know the orange kind) and it is amazing next to the rock that doubles as a pumice stone!
Our first week at the school was filled with meetings and getting to know the staff. We sat in on a lecture the other day, and I finally feel that I can do this. The classrooms are smaller so it is an intimate setting with the students, which I like better than larger lecture theatres. I have to get me one of those nursing hats that all the students wear! It is the ultimate souvenir. Next week is the projected start date of our lectures, however, all of our teaching tools are in Lusaka awaiting a trip to Mongu (they were suppose to be here last week, need I say doing laundry is a must with only a few pairs of underwear!). There was a glitch in communication and we are still waiting for the remainder of our luggage.
The class we sat in on started off with a prayer (as almost event/task does in this country) and the most beautiful song I have ever heard. The spirituality and faith here is portrayed with a multitude of songs and dances. It is unreal how harmonious a group can sound at such an early hour of the morning.
Last week was a long weekend, so Monday and Tuesday were holidays (I am not sure which ones, I am sure Jess will mention it though). We spent the weekend travelling around Western Province with Gene and Mubita (Margaret’s husband). Before I get into the details, I have to say that everyone has been commenting on how much I look like a Losi. The other day two guards at the visa office said I look Losi and gave me a Losi name, Limpo (meaning “gift”). My Losi is coming along nicely too I must add, I know at least 7 words now….
Ok, back to the trip. We travelled for just over an hour South West from Mongu. A company from Japan was paving the road. When Gene travelled to Senanga last year, he said it took close to 3 hours. Thanks to the new road, the trip took us just over an hour. When we first arrived in Senanga we fell in love. It is a quaint, cosy little town, and…there was a fishing derby! Dad this is where you need to pay attention. There were teams that each had a boat and over 60 people in total. The fishermen consisted mainly of South Africans, and other mukwas (white people) from the surrounding areas. The two main fish in the Zambezi are Bream and Tiger fish. Bream are very tasty. In fact while we were visiting Mubita’s village, Tamoona, we had the local dish nshima (buhobe in this area) and bream.

Tasty looking aint it!!

The fishing derby attracted many locals that would drink and watch the fishermen come in. Tragically, one of the boats lost control and hit a local fishing boat (like a canoe). The fishing derby boats are speedboats, so when they collided, a small local boy was killed. In Canada the fishing derby would have stopped, but the fishing derby went on, as did the celebrations.

Lianne

MONGU!!

here is one of my many rashes!! OK just joking, it is an attack from the mosquitos in Livingstone...No Malaria yet.

I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel being in Mongu. It finally feels like a place to call home. We can start to get settled, get to know the area and start to learn Losi, the local language. I already have 4 words down and it has only been 24 hours. Here is your first word to learn….mulumele ( pronounced mooloomelly) which is the local greeting.

As we were driving closer to Mongu I started to get more excited as things started to lose their urban feel. I am trying not to compare….but it was definitely like moving from Accra (Ghana’s capital) to Tamale. You start seeing less development and a trend towards simple living such as ox drawn carts and so forth. However, with a lack of development you also see a trend towards poverty. Children were everywhere walking without shoes and torn shirts. At the same time they smiled more and yelled out mukuwa which means white person. The children stole my heart at once. I will tell you more about this later down the page….

The flood plains in Mongu. The picture just doesn't capture the 50km span that is flooded in the rainy season!

So we get into Mongu, its dark, and we had just watched the most amazing sunset ever. We find living arrangements for Gene and Mubita at the Cheshire House for Physically disabled children (they stayed in the visitors residence), then continued on to Moya O Kenile House which will be our home for the next 6 months. I have to admit, I was frightened at first not know what to expect. The electric fence followed by the voice of Sister Christina was a little worrisome at first. Within the first 30 minutes or so following the introduction I could not have asked for a better place to stay. Sister Christina is Irish and a bucket of fun. She has a sarcastic sense of humour and a very effect take charge personality. The place is spotless and just gorgeous. Jessica and I are staying in the Convent with the Sisters right now (2 of them) and then will move into the guest house later this week when Brian (another Irish man working on building schools and their education system) moves out. The two Irish folks are the funniest people ever!! On top of it all, the sisters have been cooking our meals while we are staying in the convent and it is delicious. Get this….we had spaghetti last night with soya product rather than meat and EVERYONE had a beer. I love Irish nuns!!! They make the best baking as well. I have snooped around and the guest house is great too. It is close to the convent and has a sink in each room. The kitchen comes with 2 pantries and there is a large sitting area. I am sure we will post pictures later.

Lianne, Sister Mary, Jessica, Brian, Sister Cathy, and Cam.....Our favorite Nuns.

So the first few days is filled with networking as usual. It is still intimidating to walk to Lewanika College and know that people`s education relies on you! Here is what we have learned about Mongu so far…. Mongu district has a population of approximately 200 000 people, with on 60 000 living in the town of Mongu. It is part of the Western Province, the least developed province in the Country. Lewanika Nursing School has only 2 tutors (professors) for close to 100 students!!! There is a great demand for nurses as there is world wide, so the ministry has recommended an increase in uptake numbers for new nursing students. However, the demand on the teaching staff is already stretched, proving a need for human resource in all sectors (nurses, students, and staff).

In the health sector, we have learned that HIV/AIDS is the number one killer in this region, followed by TB, malaria, then pneumonia. Interestingly enough, Malaria was the highest on the mortality list 3 years ago until a malaria campaign was introduced. This included introducing a new line of drug (coartem), distribution of mosquito nets, staff training, and introduction of rapid diagnostic test. In addition the HIV/AIDS rate has increased. www.lewanikageneralhospital.org

Here we are meeting with the Permanent Secretary (equivalent to the Premier) of Western Province.

Back to the children....I can’t even tell you how much they bring joy to my day. Every day as we leave the convent, there is a line of 5-8 children waiting to say “hello, how are you” to the truck of white people driving by. This is some of the only English they know as most children in this region cannot afford the school fees. Then there is the Chesire House....This is a place where children with physical disability go after surgery for rehabilitation. I was in the vehicle waiting for Gene and I watched a small child crawl for a couple hundred meters with two casts on his legs. I wanted so badly to pick the child up and carry him to his room, but we were on our way. The home is doing amazing work and had some volunteers there as well. This may be a good opportunity for me to volunteer in the future!

This trip is such a learning experience. I bought some textbooks from the bookstore in Lusaka and have been learning so much about tropical medicine. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to work abroad to do it. It is so rewarding to work with the people of developing countries as well. It can definitely be trying at time, but in the end teaches you to be a more patient person. I just finished reading this book called “Hope in Hell.” It is about expats working with MSF (Doctors without Borders), it describes many of the feelings that I feel. One point in particular I enjoy is the aspect of how it is difficult to relate to expat work. It is a great read if anyone is interested, I would be glad to hear what you think!!

Lianne

The Road to Mongu

On Wednesday, the day finally arrived..we left for Mongu! Yes it was a long time coming, but really it all worked out. We were graciously escorted by Mubita Maimbolwa. He is the husband of Margaret Maimbolwa, a Zambian whom with we have been working with very closely over the past 6 months. She is currently the Assistant Dean of the School of Medicine at UTH. She is another amazing women, and has been added to my growing list of heros. She makes the list because she has accomplished so much (including becoming a midwife, plus gaining a Master’s and a PhD, on top of writing research papers, and advocating for the rural people of Zambia)..and somehow in there she managed to have 5 kids!! See why she made it to my hero list?

Ok now that I have properly introduced Margaret, I will next introduce her husband Mubita Maimbolwa-our personal escort to Mongu! He also has quite the resume too. He was the former Permanent Secretary of the Western Province (which is where Mongu just so happens to be located) This is more or less equivalent to being Premier of British Columbia! He also worked for a few different ministries within the government, and still has strong political ties. He was also born and raised in Western province so that makes him the perfect person to introduce us to the Western province. (Since this is where we will be spending the next six months)

Another bonus piece to Mubita driving us was we got to ride in his government vehicle..which just so happens to be a brand new Land Cruiser. It just gets better and better..I know! The drive to Mongu takes about 6 hours, the road is very very straight so makes for easy driving. The one hazard is wild animals, because we actually drive through Kafue National Park (Which is one of the largest parks in Africa). We heard rumours of elephants along this road….and it is true! We spotted lots of animals including elephants, impala, antelope, seble, cranes, stork, warthogs. Not bad hey?

So now here we are in Mongu, I will stop now because Lianne will blog about our first couple days here. Just know that life is good here in Mongu. Indeed we are living with nuns. But wait here is the best part…they are Irish, and they drink beer and whiskey. (they also do yoga!) This should be an interesting few months.

Jessica

What It Means To Be Canadian

This is how Canada Day should be...

The three musketeers all ready for Canada Day

Today we celebrated Canada Day in the capital city of Zambia, Lusaka. See we are still trying to make it to Mongu..and we were supposed to leave on Tuesday, but since that was Canada Day the executive decision was made to celebrate our nation’s birthday in Lusaka.

We were invited to a party thrown by the Canadian High Commission. It was held at the house of the development coordinator at the High Commission called Laurie Rogers. Man was it ever fun. They had a good old traditional BBQ, hot dogs..hamburgers, kebabs, and lots of salad. Now for someone back in Canada this may not seem that out of the ordinary…but for us…it was exactly what we needed to remind us of home. Did I mention that there was also an open bar??
So the beer was again flowing (seems like we have been drinking quite a bit at all these social dinners, they never let your glass go empty here!). We weren’t drinking any Pilsner though Dad… It was local beer, (Mosi or Castle are the brands here) but still good enough for me. So with all that beer flowing so were the conversations. Since pretty much every Canadian here in Zambia is working on one development project or another.. this was again another perfect networking opportunity.

Being away from the country on Canada Day only strengthened for me how proud I am to be a Canadian. In the development world, Canada continues to be a leader in affecting positive change in so many developing countries. The presence of Canadians is very much appreciated by the Zambian people. As Mr. Maimbolwa put it’Canadians are held in very high regard’. Around Zambia we have been introduced to many projects that Canadians are contributing to..you name it and they are doing it.So just know….all those other Canadians out there around the world really are doing a good job to represent our country..so be proud to be a Canadian!

Jessica