Valued . . .?

Now I am not surprised but still somewhat disappointed. To explain, and therefore have a bit of a moan, there are two things on my mind. Firstly, I left my role at the Mazabuka DATF three weeks ago now and since then there has been a lengthy silence from my former colleagues. Admittedly my departure from Maz was swift, yet despite pressing them and various reminders my offer of some form of handover and skills training session has failed to happen. This is despite phone calls from some of the same colleagues when problems have arisen, which would not have been problems in the first place if they had made time for us to meet. The ball is firmly in their court as the Executive team in Maz have much more to gain, and also lose, than I by us getting or not getting together. All the documents, reports and other bits of information that I have would be useful to them. The silence leads to questions such as where did I go wrong, what did I not do, was the last two years a waste of time, was anyone actually listening to me . . . and so on.This is the first disappointment.

Secondly, and this is of less importance, I would have liked some sort of goodbye from my work colleagues. I accept that I left quickly for Lusaka because of the new work with NAC and knowing their mindset they will be thinking that I have not actually left the country yet so they still have time. However, to counter such excuses, I do feel unappreciated. The life experience here has been unforgettable, greatly rewarding and enriching, but as a volunteer I gave up a lot of time (two years), money (am trying not to count how much!) and (loss of) personal time with friends and family to work in Maz. Of course I did this willingly but given the time and effort that I have put in the lack of any form of a goodbye is the second disappointment.

Welcome braii for the new vols

Tradition dictates that a welcome braii is always held for the new VSO volunteers, organised by the current ones. Hopefully, the existing volunteers provide a few friendly faces to the new vols after they have only been in the country for 24hrs. With limited options in Lusaka we decided to have the braii at my new house, trying to squeeze in something like 45 people into the place. If the rain had come then we would have been in trouble and sat like sardines but luckily the weather stayed dry for a few hours so people could spill outside; so my house survived the invasion of so many people. And it was a success – lots of tasty braii food, cold beers and much excited / nervous chatter and questioning about life as a volunteer in Zambia. A good start for the new vols on the block and there was enough food leftover for the current vols to have another braii the following evening!

Welcome to the neighbourhood

A week into my stay in Lusaka and a tenants’ meeting for Courtyard 2D was called. Our little courtyard consists of 4 cottages and 2 single room bedsits – all tenants were politely asked to attend. The meeting bore a remarkable resemblance to workplace Zambian meetings, meaning that: we started late (around an hour); it lasted much too long (something close to 2½ hours) because people rarely stick to the point; the discussion was good but few actions or responsibilities were actually agreed in the end (I admittedly kept my head down as much as possible). The main issues were the reporting and duties of the night guard, use and also mis-use (i.e. people sending him on errands that last hours) of the day guard, parking, rubbish collection and paying bills on time. Now these are important things but it was still pretty tedious and I was glad to escape when the meeting concluded. Fortunately no specific date was agreed when to hold the next meeting!

Champions of Africa

It is a very good time to be in Zambia. The mood and atmosphere around the country feels even friendlier and happier than usual and all because Zambia beat the Ivory Coast late last night in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. The game went to penalties and the less well known Zambian players held their nerve to win. For hours after the game the streets of Lusaka thronged with smiley, happy, flag waving people – high on the victory and more than likely after a few drinks as well. The noise of the vuvuzelas did not stop all night, nor did the honking of car horns, and both could still be heard in the morning. The day after people were still wearing their football shirts and cars were adorned with flags and chitenges showing the national colours. I doubt much work was done as people chatted about the night before and where they were, watched the highlights and reports on the game, and also remained glued to the TV waiting to find out when the nation’s new heroes would be returning home. Zambia is now on the map and in peoples’ minds for all the right reasons – everyone is happy and proud.

New addresses

In case you want to do a bit of searching around Lusaka on Google maps then my new house can be found here (stick Nsunzu road and Lusaka into Google and you will be able to see where I am now living)

Flat 2D

Courtyard 2

Nsunzu Road

Civic Centre

Lusaka

But please don't send any post there as I would be very very surprised if it actually made it. The best address to use is the one for VSO which is

VSO Zambia Programme Office

Mukuba Pension House

4th Floor

Dedani Kimathi Road

PO Box 32965

Lusaka

All packed up and on the move

So this is what all my belongings look like, expertly squeezed on to the back of a small canter and tied together to make sure that nothing was lost along the bumpy road to Lusaka.

Progress at last

All of sudden it is full steam ahead and we need to be working in Lusaka from yesterday, or maybe even before that. The good news is that VSO (many thanks to Jackie) has found me a house. The place seems fine, needs a bit of work and the landlord has promised to get on with it. The house is obviously much smaller than my previous palace in Maz but I will still have plenty of space. There are two bedrooms plus a third smallish room. The kitchen is small but fine for cooking, and then there is a separate dining room and lounge area. In the middle of the house there is a small courtyard and then a nice little garden at the front. I will be in a compound with another 4 other similar cottages and the neighbours so far have been friendly and knocking on my door to welcome me and say hello.

The area seems ok though not a one that I am familiar with. I will be within walking distance of both the VSO office (about 15mins) and the NAC office (around 30mins) which is helpful. The shops are a bit of a walk but not too bad. I just need to find out where I can buy all my fresh fruit and vegetables. I also need to find a gym or at the very least start running again to avoid coming back from Zambia fatter than when I left!