Fire, Fire, pour on water, pour on water

But tragically there was little water. Back in Maz again, catching up with Stefan and Ayano, I wandered along on Saturday morning to get my haircut at my usual place, Uncle Sams, which aside from providing a fine haircut typically involves some good football and political banter with the customers. However, I found chaos and dejection as a few hours earlier a fire had destroyed 11 shops in a complex which housed Sam’s little place and also a salon, boutique, laundry and other shops selling stationery, computers, books and mobile phones. The fire started sometime around 0400hrs, possibly caused by an electrical fault in one of the shops and was further compounded when the fire engine twice ran out of water. As a result, and with no personal insurance, Sam and many of the other shopkeepers lost all of the tools of their trades.

Clocking up the kilometres and the hours

A summary of the week in Western Province, mainly to show that getting around just one province in Zambia can be a lengthy, time consuming and bumpy task.

1. Lusaka to Mongu: 8 hrs by bus (passed through the centre of Kafue National Park but no animals in sight)
2. Mongu to Kalabo: 3hrs by boat but first a 3hr wait for the boat to fill up with passengers
3. Kalabo to Mongu: another 3hr wait after buying the ticket and this time the return trip by boat was longer, around 4hrs, as we ran out of fuel within a few kilometres of Mongu harbour and then had to wait to be towed in by another boat
4. Mongu to Kaoma: should have been only 2hrs by car but took 3 as we got a puncture along the way
5. Kaoma to Lukulu: 3hrs along a very bumpy road which meant we got covered in dust
6. Lukulu to Mongu: 5hrs, more dust and bumps
7. Mongu to Mumbwa: 6 1/2hrs by bus which was to be expected
8. Mumbwa to Lusaka: 1hr waiting time followed by 2hrs by minibus and then a taxi ride home.

And finally 30 minutes spent metres away from my house waiting whilst the taxi driver went searching from house to house for some change.  He was definitely not going to get a 100% tip so stubbornly I waited and waited.

Technical Support - Western Province

An interesting week, my first time to go west and see parts of Western Province and Barotseland, which by all accounts did appear to be under developed. Mongu, the provincial capital, and around 8 hours from Lusaka, came across as smaller than Maz with much less going on. The reasons for all this, if enquired about, will generate hours of discussion and debate about who is to blame for this apparent backwardness. 

As for the work, there is not a huge amount to say really. I moved from one district to another, meeting with some familiar faces who attended the original training done. I probably sounded like a parrot, repeating the same mantra and words of wisdom again and again. The proof of whether it was all worthwhile will be in how people react and if they as a result of the additional training they do the work. 

 

 

The travel was probably the most entertaining / interesting / frustrating (insert depending on the trip during the week) as I moved from bus to boat to car, got soaked with water one day, and on another covered head to toe in red dust. One place, Kalabo, could only be reached via a 3 hour boat trip with the boats being seen as an one the water version of Zambia’s blue minibuses, meaning that as many people and items are squeezed in as much as possible, and then only when some more squeezing has taken place do we finally leave. On the return boat journey we ran out of fuel – the frustrating bit – within sight of the harbour but being so heavy we could barely move. The crew of course did nothing, the passengers used mobiles to call for help and eventually an hour or so later another boat turned up to tow us in. Being honest, some of the places felt so remote, 3-4 hours from a main road and in the dry (i.e. the good) season, that I was only to be an overnight visitor and not stuck there for the long term

All on my own

Technical IT genius Mike has left the building, or he would probably say escaped. With a huge amount of jealousy on my part Mike, and his girlfriend Lauren, have embarked on a great adventure – driving overland from Zambia to Ethiopia with a few countries, potholes, borders and amazing experiences in-between. Lucky buggers! Selfishly, the E-Mapping website better not crash, be attacked by some virus or hacker (again!), or anything else happen to it, as without Mike there could be a few problems. For now we are ticking along nicely though I will miss them both.

If you want to find out more about their adventure then click on their blogs Mike and Lauren, or if you fancy copying them and buying their car at the end of the trip then go here.

Photos from Ennie and Henry's big day

Part 1: The salon


Part 2: The Church
 

Part 3: Posing for photos
 

Part 4: The Civic Centre

Part 5: The reception
 

 

Ennie and Henry get married

Weddings can be exhausting and I was only taking the photos! Today, and many congratulations to them both, Ennie and Henry got married. Hooray! As Ennie is a good friend from Maz, and because I have bored her previously with loads of photos from my Zambian travels, she asked me to photograph her every move. 

It all began with me finding the ladies at the salon around 0800hrs, hair being straightened, curled, lengthened, make-up being added, and lips pursed. I then caught a few glimpses of them all getting dressed up before we headed to the church. The service was simple with plenty of big smiles emerging once it was all over. Next came the official posing of the wedding photos which took place in the gardens of one of Lusaka’s smarter hotels. After that it was a trip to the Civic Centre as more officialdom was required – signatures and a bizarre talk from the registrar who focused more on what the bride and groom should do if they should decide to separate or divorce and little on the anticipated joys of marriage. At last everyone could relax and take it easy for a bit as the main members of the wedding party escaped to my house for some late lunch. The groom definitely needed a drink by this point. 

Last up was the main wedding reception in the evening which was being held in the grounds of the Zambia National Service; not army, not air force but something military which was almost a disaster for me. No one had realised that foreigners are not allowed on the base without written permission beforehand. Hence, the armed security at the gates refused me entry, even though they appeared to be doing little checking of the other guests. They are obviously so well trained that even at night they can tell the difference between someone from Zambia, Malawi, Angola and so on . . . you get my point. Anyway after calling to higher and higher officials, pleading from members of the wedding party, checking all my documents and convincing them that I was in fact the official wedding photographer I was let in under armed escort. And then closely watched for the next few hours. 

Parts of the reception were similar to back home, others interesting and different. The wedding cake was shared out – one layer each to the parents of the bride and groom, one kept for their first born child and one divided up for all the guests. Ennie and Henry also had to through a very public display of feeding each other chunks of the wedding cake, followed by another first kiss (the third one I think after the church and civic centre). Then it was all over, sometime around 2200hrs and as soon as the happy couple left so did everyone else.

Technical Support - Southern Province

Time to get out and about, and push a little to get some of the people that we trained to move along a little bit quicker with the E-Mapping work. First stop was taking to task some familiar faces in Southern Province, starting with the districts of Mazabuka, Monze and Gwembe, who are all perfectly capable but easily distracted (if I am being polite!). So we spent a few hours together, running through the key bits of the work again, checking what they have been doing and how they are using the website, making mistakes and trying again, and generally pushing them to do more. The small group work was – from my perspective – quite enjoyable as I could provide more intensive, tailored help and support, and I think they appreciated it too. 

The last bit of trouble shooting for this week involved a trip to Siavonga. A friend had kindly lent me his car for the other visits, whereas for Siavonga I had to rely on the local minibuses. The journey there was bearable, only three hours tightly squeezed into a minibus. However, on the return leg, and barely 30mins after leaving Siavonga, we suffered a puncture. The good news was that they had a spare tyre in reasonable condition. The bad news that they did not have the right tools to remove the wheel nuts. And so we waited by the roadside, numerous cars and minibuses came and went, none of them also had the right tools, before eventually we got lucky some 80mins later. 

Two things for me stand out from this little episode, which at least reflect some of my experiences of Zambian culture and behaviour. Neither the minibus driver, nor the ticket boy, said anything to the passengers; no apologies or explanation. The passengers were also (annoyingly) accepting of the situation, a few whispered moans, but little real anger or unhappiness was shown. Instead, it was patience and a belief that all will be well in the end; other nationalities would not have been so quiet and kind.