The Falls

The intention was to hit the road and escape Mazabuka but this proved more difficult than it should have been as I spent over four hours waiting for a bus to Livingstone and then four turned up all at once. Emily, the VSO volunteer who I was visiting in Livingstone, was kind enough to let me in when I eventually arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning. It was all worth it to catch my first glimpse of Victoria Falls and to get soaked by all the spray coming off the Falls.

The local name for the Falls is Mosi-oa-Tunya (The Smoke that Thunders) and it certainly does not disappoint. Depending on when you visit – either during the wet or dry seasons – your experience of the Falls will be very different, and also the views differ on the Zimbabwe and Zambian sides. Some quick stats on this stunning natural wonder – it is 1.7km wide, 108m high (Angel Falls in Venezuela is around 7 (!) times higher) and has an annual average flow of one million litres per second. During the rainy season (March to May) the flow can be ten times higher. I think that I will be back a few times to see how it changes and also to sample the numerous adrenaline filled activities – white water rafting to the flying fox.

Relief effort

We have returned a number of times to Manyonyo during the week, and fortunately the sun shined and the rains stayed away which meant the flooding subsided, and selfishlessly the journey there got easier. At the start of the week the work was more assessment and trying to form small community teams so that they could report on the current problems caused by the flooding, as well as better inform the local council when any future disasters occur.  We also asked groups of locals to draw maps of the seven settlements that have been affected - this naturally caused much lively debate of where to place houses, land, schools, clinics etc.  Towards the end of the week the cavalry arrived in the form of tents, chlorine and mealie meal for the community; all these items had to travel by cattle and cart for the last 5kms because any vehicles would have got stuck.

Part of my role during the week has been to analyse all of the information that we collected, probably because I seemed to be the only one remembering to collect the data and also I have a laptop. So here are a few facts:

• we counted 250 homes had collapsed affecting over 1,000 people
• 585 cattle have been displaced with the main concern being the spread of footrot
• over 1,000 chickens have also been affected due to collapsed homes
• whilst it was difficult to measure the impact on the land much of the maize was dying due to the flooding.  

 

Field trip

The recent heavy rains had led to reports from some communities in the district of flooding causing signifcant damage to their homes and livestock. My organisation is one of the members of the local Disaster Emergency Team so one Sunday I was asked to join the team of around 15 officials (a mixture of council departments and NGOs like the Red Cross) to visit the communities, assess the damage and determine what support was needed. After much discussion about food and drink but also the need for raincoats and wellington boots (called gumboots out here) we jumped into two 4x4 vehicles and set off for a village called Manyonyo. The journey should have taken around an hour but the road worsened, got increasingly bumpy, muddy and flooded so we arrived sometime over three hours later. This included a couple of stops to push one of vehicles out after it had got stuck and led to most of us being sprayed with mud as we tried to get it moving. 

Manyonyo is a small farming community of probably 1,500 people consisting of settlements of 5 or more homes mainly made of mud. Whilst basic they are pretty self-sufficient with maize, sugar cane, sweet potatoes and ground nuts grown in the fields, and then animals like cattle, pigs, goats and chicken kept by the families. They seemed pleased to see us even though we arrived only to assess the damage rather than to provide any immediate relief. Through the chair of the community we explained our plan and then split up to teams of two, led by the locals, to basically count the number of homes and other buildings like toilets and chicken houses that had collapsed, people affected, livestock displaced and agricultural land affected. We left with promises of returning throughout the following week to make further assessments and to provide support. The vehicles managed to get stuck yet again as the dark surrounded us and it became difficult to spot the potholes.

Back in the old routine

On Saturday the Zambian Premier League season kicked off and I saw my first match watching Choma Green Eagles player the Power Dynamos. The season here runs from March until December with 16 teams. Choma are a military team, whilst Power are owned by one of the energy companies in the Copperbelt area. I was supporting Choma as over the last few days I have got to know the team whilst they were all staying at the same guest house as me in Mazabuka. They were friendly and an extremely polite bunch, who even gave me a lift to and from the stadium. Choma was the home team and only playing in Mazabuka because their home ground is currently flooded and a bridge on route to the stadium has also collapsed due to the recent deluge of wet weather in the Southern province.

The pitch was hard and bumpy on a hot hot afternoon. There was a small splattering of a crowd with the 'posh seats' consisting of concrete blocks for maybe around 50 fans. Both sets of fans sat together with plenty of good humour and banter during the game. The match ended 1-1 and was a typical game of two halves. Choma took the lead in the first minute through a corner and had the better of the first half. They tired after the break, Power started dominating and equalised sometime around the 70th minute. It was enjoyable but I am missing my Watford, especially as our form is so poor at the moment.

Youth Day 2010

Another vibrant and noisy day in Mazabuka! This time the youths were in charge as they first marched through the streets of the town before settling at a local school. Strangely there was a more political presence at this event than at International Women’s Day with banners of a number of the main political parties being paraded and cheering depending on which politician was speaking. The schools from the area took their turn in singing, dancing or performing a sketch or poem; or in some cases doing all of them. The sketches were the most interesting with dramas – some by quite young children – on HIV and AIDS, rape, incest and violence providing a powerful message to the audience. The poems talked about respecting and listening to the voice and demands of the youth in Zambia.

Internation Women's Day 2010

As I am discovering with Zambian timings everything starts a bit later than planned but once the day got underway most of Mazabuka could hear the sound of the marching women. The women wore colourful chitengas (brightly painted skirts), which differed depending on which group they belongd to i.e. Police, Health workers, Zambia Sugar, Council staff, a local restaurant etc.  They were accompanied by the Salvation Army band and marched to the tune of Equal rights, Equal opportunities, Progress for all. There were shouts of "Viva women" and "Go women go", and lots of screaming of aeiiii, aeiiii, aeiiii (or something like this which is a sign of agreement and happiness).  When the marching stopped there were speeches by local dignatories such as the mayor, district commissioner and local MP followed by each group of women taking their turn to dance and voice their support for their rights.  It was very enjoyable and colourful, and a local man who befriended me acted as by guide in explaining all the rituals and dancing.  The only downside was whitey me getting a bit sunburnt!

Mazabuka ART Centre

During our first week of induction to work at the District AIDS Task Force (DATF) we have met with a number of stakeholders from the mayor, town clerk and district commissioner to various NGOs like World Vision and Plan. The most disturbing visit by far was a trip to Mazabuka District hospital and in particular the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Centre. For such a small building it was packed with people receiving HIV and AIDS screening, testing, counselling and treatment. There were rows and rows of people - some with children next to them - sitting on benches, spilling over into the hallways; sitting or standing in any space available. There was a low hum of noise throughout the building as people waited patiently for their turn, barely whispering to each other. Just too many sad, sad faces.

Zambian customs #2 - The handshake

If you are greeting people from afar, who you are simply saying hello to rather than intending to speak to, then clasping your hands together on your chest and sometimes doing a mini clap is the way to go.

A much friendlier greeting which takes place in one movement starts by shaking someone’s hand, moving the hand upwards so you are almost shaking their thumb and then back to the handshaking. Sometimes this can be quite swift, though more often than not the last bit of the handshake continues whilst you are talking.

Tradition

Young and old come together under one roof; parents taking their children along though often the younger ones do not want to be there; the facilities may differ but there is always lost of passion, sweat and tears; shouting and screaming; people are there in good times and bad; lots of leaders but only one person is really in charge; smiles, cheering, friendliness, rhythm . . . Church at the weekend in Mazabuka (and the short session lasted for four hours!)

The sweetest town in Zambia . . . Mazabuka

First impressions of Mazabuka:

• Things never quite go to plan meaning that our accommodation is not ready yet so we are staying in a local guest house for the time being – a nice place with friendly staff but want to get settled here sometime soon
• Not quite a quiet town in the middle of nowhere as Maz has two supermarkets and a couple of cafes/restaurants which is definitely something to crow about!  Finding a working internet cafe is proving to be much harder
• Wide tree lined streets and small enough that you will see the same people again and again during the course of a day
• If you are not walking then 4x4s are everywhere as the main roads are fine but everything else is bumpy with rutted earth crumbling away, which gets worse the harder it rains
• Lights out around 7pm as away from the main high street it is pitch black after dark
• Agriculture dominates here with fields and fields of sugar cane and maize.  This is great for the local economy but also a good breeding ground for mosquitos and malaria, and the buggers have started biting away at me already
• Like other parts of Africa that I have visited the men are football crazy – Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United dominate with strangely no Watford fans!
• The importance of religion with churches everywhere.