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I finally made the decision to go to Africa for 6 months.. at the time I was happily married and I had a great job doing business development for a great staffing firm. Everything was stable and good. Now I've returned to Toronto... My husband and I have split up, he's moved out and I'm single after being together for almost 10 years and I'm navigating my way back into my old job... and I thought it would be interesting to take everyone along in the new adventure.. if you're interested in reading more about my trip you can see that blog at myvsoadventure.blogspot.com.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Batteries recharged

We got back 2 days ago from a 10 day vacation, we started in Zambia’s capital Lusaka. Lusaka is a very built up city, if you saw pictures of the city centre you would never know you were in a developing country. There are Mercedes trucks and the road is full or cars and people selling airtime and anything else you can think of on the side of the road, tomatoes, puppies, clothes, sunglasses.. but mostly airtime for cell phones.
We stayed in 3 different VSO volunteers houses while there, we had a great time enjoying city life that we miss while in Siavonga. On reflection though.. we crave city while here in Siavonga but a week into the trip I was thinking of “home” in Siavonga. There is something very nice about living in a small enough town to see familiar faces and know some of the local shop keepers where you shop regularly.
After being in Lusaka for 3 days we headed to Livingstone – 7 hours away from the capital and 10 hours away from Siavonga. We took a “luxury” bus that leaves from the city centre twice daily and costs 110,000 Kwacha.. which is about 22.00 cdn. The huge benefit to taking this bus was that it leaves on time. It was actually the most luxury we’ve seen since arriving in Africa. They gave us the newspaper and drinks and snacks while on the journey.. we even made a toilet stop.. you have to pay for use of the toilet but you need to supply your own toilet paper, just 1 of those things in Zambia I’ll never understand. 
Livingstone is a small tourist town..we stayed at Jollyboys backpackers.. owned by a Canadian couple who moved out here from Vancouver 2 years ago. It’s a great place to stay if you find yourself in Livingstone.. it’s very laid back and very reasonably priced.. they cater to people who want a chill out vacation. With a pit of pillows in the centre of the resort.. they have a very nice pool a very small and laid back restaurant and bar. They make a decent cup of drip coffee which is very hard to find here. For that alone I would stay there again.
While in Livingstone we went to walk the famous Victoria Falls.. it’s really beautiful, I had my doubts as a Canadian that they would be as impressive as Niagara falls but honestly I was more impressed because you can get closer to the falls and you can walk down 1km to the water on a stair trail. (great workout) and along the way you’ll see baboons and beautiful vegetation. It was a great day. Livingstone also has some really great lodges with art and jewellery for sale to benefit the local community.  They also have a market area with a line up of about 30 vendors selling similar stuff, scarves, earrings, carvings, paintings etc.. if you can fight your way through the vendors there is some nice stuff that`s not very expensive.
We did a lot of reading and laying at the pool, ate a lot of great food that we don`t get in Siavonga.. pizza and Mexican.
For Christmas eve we went to a volunteer couples house who live in Livingstone from Australia, and they had a few friends over in addition to our group, Mary, Ety, Joi and I. It was a really great time, nice to be with people who are fun to hang out with, and are like extended volunteer family.
We were due to have a crazy night out of dancing and drinking and it never happened but honestly it didn`t matter. We had a great time anyway.. Mary and Eti carried on to Chobe national park and Joi and I made the long journey back to Siavonga in 1 day.. 6 hours in the luxury bus and then 3 hours in what they call mini bus. This is really the only mode of public transportation that comes into Siavonga. It looks like a VW bus. They seat  8 people including the driver  but we were 12 and the conductor felt he could get 3 more in.
Ironically the police have set up check points along the route from Lusaka to Siavonga to check for more capacity vehicles... because all of us had some part of our ass on the seat so that`s no problem.
But we made it home safe and sound.. yesterday and today we went to our usual market to greet our community and buy some food and drinks.. all of our usual vendors asked where we had been and what we did for Christmas.. and of course most of them said Christmas was boring because they stayed in Siavonga.. when you ask them why didn't you go anywhere? the answer is always the same because Siavonga is my home.. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Namumu Orphanage

On Monday we went to Namumu orphanage.. there are 60 kids living there, ranging in age from 2 to 18. Some are orphaned and some have family or parents who don’t have enough money to raise them so they have decided it would be better if Namumu raised them. In these cases children can leave and come back for visits and holidays if their like. The other kids live at Namumu all the time.
The kids in Africa specifically in Zambia are well behaved.. and generally take care of each other. There is not a lot of fighting or bullying they are friends and just want to play and have fun.
We went to Namumu in celebration of international volunteers day.. so SNG and their volunteers along with Celim and 1 other organization participated in making and serving breakfast to the kids and then we cleaned the orphanage from top to bottom and the remaining volunteers prepared lunch for the kids. The kids are used to eating Nshima and beans for most meals. The irony is that they eat 3 meals in the orphanage as opposed to most kids who eat 2 meals but they don’t eat a lot of protein.. and they have no variety in their diets.  So yesterday they got toast and tea and for lunch there was rice, goat, chicken and coleslaw.. they really enjoyed the food and I think they liked different people serving it to them J The event itself was disorganized but the afternoon was playing games with the kids and I had a great time. It was so nice to hear them all laughing and having a good time. We ended the day with lollypops for all the kids and new hair clips for the girls.  I was exhausted from the days events but it was really a great day.
We bumped into one of the volunteers who works exclusively with the kids at the orphanage and he said they had a great time and were talking about how great a day it was. So it was a huge success.
It’s Thursday today.. we leave for vacation on Friday afternoon. Tonight we’re having our Christmas dinner because it’s the last time we’ll all be together.. it’s funny how quickly you develop a family bond.. it’s only been 3 weeks but it feels like I’ve known these people for years; it’s a really nice feeling.
Adam received a chicken when he arrived in Siavonga.. he named it Christmas Dinner and we will be eating it for Christmas dinner. He is going to kill it under instruction of Elisa.. we’ll see how that goes.. my job is roast potatoes.. and we’re going to stuff the chicken. Yum yum..

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

amazing weekend after being stuck in the mud

Friday night last week we went over to my friend Elisa’s for dinner.. Adam brought steak to BBQ and a new friend Vanessa who owns a lodge. Vanessa invited us all up to her place to stay over Saturday night.. we are always looking for fun stuff to do over the weekend.
I made a bean salad and roast potatoes. Elisa made amazing grilled eggplant with olive oil and garlic... we had a great dinner with a few bottles of red and then we decided we should go to the only bar that stays open late in Siavonga.. it’s a locals bar that has a DJ on the weekend.. IT WAS FUN!
We walked in at midnight.. it was definitely an experience obviously when you’re 1 of 4 white people in the bar you attract attention. People we’re friendly and wanted to dance and  gave a good time, there was no tension or uneasy feeling.. we had a great time... just danced and had fun.
We set out Saturday to find Vanessa’s inn at around 1 in the afternoon.. it was supposed to be 1 and a half hours away. The main roads in town are paved.. just outside of town they are gravel and out in the bush they can be sand, mud/clay or gravel.. but they are bumpy and uneven. We got turned around a few times and made a few U turns to make sure that we made our way to the right place.. an hour into the trip we got stuck in the mud..
We all got out of the car to assess the situation and knew we were in trouble.. the sun was blazing down on us and we were 5 people in total.. not enough to push the car out of the mud ourselves.. and we were in the bush.. no one around, no cell phone signal and no idea of what to do..
So Adam bravely got into the mud and started to dig the tires out.. we went to search for some locals and it took a while but finally found some people with enough English they understood our problem and were going to help get us out..
2 hours later after pushing the car from the back, and the from the front, forwards and backwards, putting stones and wood under the cars wheels WE GOT OUT!
We had just over an hour before the sunset and we needed to find Vanessa’s place or we were going to be driving in the bush after dark.. that’ s not a good idea! We finally found the sign to Vanessa’s place, the road leading to her place is steep, rocky and you question whether or not it’s actually a road.. but we followed it anyway and made it to her inn.

We arrived and it was more beautiful then I ever imagined.. her place is called Vanessa’s Place. It's listed in the Brandt Zambia guide book under "Village Point" If anyone needs her contact details let me know.
She is on a lake.. and as far as the eye can see it's water and green lushness around you. She has a gorgeous open air kitchen.. everything is cooked over wood. An outdoor dining area.. a bar, a few sitting areas all quaint and cozy, all with  outdoor fire places. We had a drink and she has her staff were already hard and work preparing for dinner. We hung out and enjoyed the view. They showed us to our rooms. They are incredible.. open air.. cabins that were built by Vanessa and her husband. The showers are heated by firewood, which meant I had my first hot shower in 3 weeks. Her place is tranquil and filled with the best nature has to offer; it’s beautiful and romantic.. I definitely want Bob to come and visit this place with me.. I had a few moments where all I wanted was him and to have everyone else disappear... But we had an amazing dinner and retired to the boemer which is a concrete structure that’s open air with a very big fireplace.. continued our cocktails and enjoyed the fire.
Usually Vanessa charges 200,000 kwatcha a night per person and that includes dinner and brunch the next day.. which works out to $40.00 a night an amazing price or $80.00 a couple per night.. She charged us much less because we brought our own food and drinks..
On Sunday we did a bush walk so that she could show us how a real village works.. the village held 1 chief who has 4 wives, lots of kids, dogs, goats and chickens.
They showed us how they collect water, dry the fish they catch, mill their own grain. They were happy and very welcoming people. It was a really nice experience.
A fantastic weekend! This will be my last week at work before our holidays so I’m just trying to get as much done as possible before the break.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Community

We have 2 hours for lunch, every day we stop by the bakery and pick up some roll, sometimes they make these donuts with cream inside. They are oily but delicious and Joi orders fish pies (which is like a beef patty with fish in it! I haven’ t had a chance to try them yet. Then we walk up to the market..check the womens’ stalls  see if there are any new vegetables to be had.. today we found corn on the cob.. we bought 1 for each of us and we’ll see if they are any good. Last week we had fresh green beans, we ate them last night and they were great.  Everyday on the way back from the market I can’t believe it takes us 2 hours to do our route.. it’s actually amazing that I used to eat my lunch at my desk in 15 to 20 minutes at most and now it takes me 2 hours to get my few little tasks done.
Most people have been sending me email asking what the community is like and what the people are like.. This isn’t easy to answer. The community is small and close knit.. and I’m still an outsider to them. I am welcome here and most people are extremely polite and friendly after being introduced by a common friend.  The people who I have gotten close to are my fellow volunteers, not necessarily from  VSO but from other organizations.  I have gotten to know a few white native Zambians; it’s funny before I got here I fantasized about making close friends with the natives.. and for me that meant black Zambians’. The truth is it’s difficult to suss out who wants to be your friend and who is looking for a handout... The native who really took an interest in getting to know me wanted me to become a Jehovah ’s Witness! (Everyone goes to Church, be it on Saturday for the  7 day Aventis or Sunday) They love to sing and dance.. and in the morning you see 30 people in a pick up truck on the way to work, singing in perfect harmony.  For the most part they are simple god fearing people, although most people aren’t able to feed their families everyday there is almost no violence or theft here in Siavonga.. We have a house boy who does the laundry, sweeps and irons all of our clothes. (there are small bugs that lay eggs in your clothes while they are drying on the line) so everyone irons their clothes to ensure those eggs have died because if not they get under your skin and hatch under your skin!)  He is so kind and sweet, what teenage boy do you know that would be happy to do that kind of work.. he is really happy with his job and is appreciative of everything. 
 I think i’ll be lucky to make 1 or 2 black Zambian friends who are really friends. As it stands now I don’t have any.. I want to be clear it’s not that every white person is rich and every black one is poor. The white Zambian’s I’ve met however are comfortable.. they are lodge owners; and it’s been a family business for generations in some cases. They are wonderful and welcoming and very generous! There are Black Zambian’s who are comfortable as well, they are typically pastors, and some shop owners. I hope long term I’ll be able to meet some native Zambian’s who I can get to know better and be friends with.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Things are moving along as they should be

I can’t believe that it’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve been here. On 1 hand it still feels brand new and on the other it feels like I’ve been away from home for so long now.  I have semi- settled in to a routine here and it feels nice knowing what’s coming next.  Just as I’m settling in it’s time to change it up.. next Friday marks the beginning of our winter vacation. As you all know we’re headed to Livingstone and if I’m lucky to Botswana as well; maybe we’ll even spend New Years there, you can never tell.
Last night my roommate and I were talking about what we would like to see happen over the next several months.. . SNG does a lot of work within different communities educating women’s groups on AIDS, farming, alternatives to Nshima (which is corn porridge that they eat with every meal) , and the benefits of breastfeeding.  SNG has so little money that it’s difficult to get the volunteers into the field to teach; so it’s a vicious cycle. Adam (another volunteer at SNG) has a lot of pressure on him to bring in some funds so that 2011 can be a more productive year. Adam worked at raising money for cancer for more than 13 years so I’m certain he’ll get the job done.
Because we are expats we’ve had the benefit of speaking to a lot of white lodge owners, some of them second generation.  We as volunteers have been questioning why the people of Zambia don’t want to take responsibility for making their lives better. There are a lot of theories on the subject.. I’ll save them for another day because I haven’t made my mind up as to what I believe just yet.
Our market is very small and a lot of the vendors sell the same things.. so as an example there are at least 8 women who sell tomatoes.. and at least 4 who sell mangos’ but no one does anything with the produce.. So they haven’t yet come up with a way to preserve their crops ... so they have money in harvest time and then starve the other 8 months of the year.. The problem is deeper than that as well.. they don’t seem to have the drive to decide they want something different from themselves. There are at least a dozen women who sell Jitenge (a 2 metre piece of brightly coloured fabric that we use for curtains, skirts and tablecloths) no one in the market has taken the initiative to make shirts, skirts etc out of them. They have at least 2 tailors in the market who could do it.. but they haven’t taken the next step.
I mentioned earlier that SNG has no money, so we were trying to think up new initiatives that SNG could be initiating right here in town. 
 There are 4 restaurants in the market and 1 that we’ll eat at!  The other 3 are dirty and don’t have very good light and aren’t clean.  SNG is responsible for teaching people about nutrition so why don’t we get involved to change this. I joked with a colleague yesterday about opening a restaurant. .. and then talking about it further with Joi; We decided that we’re going to investigate opening a community restaurant.. that way we can supply the ex pats with good clean food while teaching the area how to keep a clean kitchen;  and we can do workshops from there and also make a profit...  it would be something interesting to take on... down the road if it was successful we could have people farm specifically for the restaurant  and use the farm as a teaching facility.
Although there are many problems in Zambia and across Africa, it’s very easy to plant an idea and watch it grow.. there is very little red tape and if you have the funds there are lots of people willing to help out.
I feel as though a lot of my time has been spent thinking about what we can do to help and not knowing where to begin.. but a community restaurant is a beginning.
Ben, 1 of the other VSO volunteers along with another volunteer named Alistair, built a school with the help of some scouts in the UK, the scouts had the money and Ben is an engineer and Alistair did the business side. Their efforts resulted in 43 kids being educated this semester and not having to walk 2 hours each way to their old school.. it’s really inspiring!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Holiday Trip is booked

I have to say I have never been more excited to travel before. We are leaving Siavonga Saturday or Sunday December 18th or 19th. We'll stay in the Capital of Zambia (Lusaka) for 2 days and then we'll take a 7 hour bus trip to Livingstone to stay at Jollyboys backpackers.. for $12.00 US a night you get a room with 4 beds and a private bathroom. Each of us gets a bed, with mosquito net and a bathroom with hot water!
After being in livingstone for 6 nights we'll decide if we are going to make the trip to Botswana. We'll be having Christmas dinner at 1 of the volunteers houses in Livingstone.. I don't usually celebrate christmas as you all know but it will be fun to have "family" time with the other volunteers.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Having fun in the sun

We are currently in the rainy season here in Zambia, which means heavy rains usually at night and then the sun comes out during the day, it also means with each heavy rain a new insect appears in large numbers.. they stay for a day and then disappear.At the end of last week it was what they call flying termites.. they are a delicacy here.. a great source of protein and easy to catch and prepare. Last nights rain brought beetles..we also had a large number of frogs and no electricity.. so as I write this the power on my computer is depleating.. but it's worth it!
So todays work day may be cut short.. because of our power situation.. we'll see how long that lasts.
This week we were due to celebrate international volunteers day by going to an orphanage and spending the day cooking and cleaning for the kids.. and then having a few hours to play games with them.. I am super excited to visit. it's called N'muumuu.. and there are 2 VSO volunteers stationed there who are super great.
They do everything from find the funding to keep the orphanage going to overseeing all of the programs they do. However when in Africa everything runs behind schedule... so we got the budget approval for this day on Friday afternoon but the funds won't be here from VSO until tomorrow and we need food and cleaning supplies so we're waiting to find out if the event will have to be postponed.
Saturday night my friend Elisa hosted a great party.. 25 people came to her place to have some drinks and a bry (that's a BBQ) a great time was had by all. Sunday we had anticipated going to the beach but the weather didn't cooperate so we went to see the Dam between Zimbabwe and Zambia.. so technically I've been to Zimbabwe because you can walk around the border!
It was pretty cool to see a working dam in Africa, the waterway is really beautiful.
Lastly I'm off work between Dec 17th and Jan 3 so I'm going travelling with my roommate and a few other VSO volunteers. We are going to start in the capital (Lusaka) and then lead to Livingstone.. it's supposed to be really nice.. lots of cafes and stores to buy local crafts from.. (that's something Siavonga is seriously lacking) and then if I can get my work permit sorted out we're going to head to Botswana..there is a game park very close to the border that we are going to check out.

sending sun from Zambia :) xoxo wendy

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Today is my 1 week celebration... I've been here for 1 week and survived

Today is my first week celebration..I’ve been here for a week and  I’ve survived... so these are the things I’ve learnt..
1.       All that will be eaten are carbs here.. I will be a vegetarian for the next 6 mths.. with a few cans of tuna and some eggs thrown in for good measure.
2.       The work I have to do at Siavonga Nutrition will not last me 6 months.. but there are a lot of agencies who can use help.. one of them being Celim.. it’s out of Italy and they are doing amazing micro-loan work here.
3.       It’s hot and I will have the best suntan of my life while living here..
4.       I will miss my husband more than worlds can express.. and although I can still have fun it’s always at the back of my mind.
5.       I will have diarrhea for the next couple of weeks.. and I’ll just get used to it.
6.       I will forever be changed by this experience and will have made new friends for life
7.       I will never be afraid of bugs again.. so far we have spiders, ants, flying maggots (which are a delicacy here.. very nice lightly fried) centipedes, a hybrid spider/moth, geckos and of course mosquitos.
8.       I will not see hot water for 6 months but it doesn’t matter because it’s really hot and we don’t need it!
9.       A cell phone is key to a good social life.. everyone sends texts all the time, it’s cheaper than taking.
10.   Zambia is beautiful in her own way.. there are some very beautiful parts and some not so nice parts but in everything there is a little bit of beauty (that sounds so cheesy but it’s really true).