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.

Siavonga chilling

Simple ingredients for a relaxing weekend – good friends, gin and tonics, tasty food, warm weather, silly games, smiles, laughter, and a bit more to drink. Happy days!

Itezhi Tezhi

A great sounding name for a town but initially the discussion went something like this . . . So what’s there to do in Itezhi Tezhi? Well, not entirely sure, it has a dam and a lake, and . . . . How do we get there? Good question, better find out . . . And what do we do when we get there? Relax . . . ok I am convinced, let’s it the road. 

Along came another long weekend in Zambia and not being sure what to we chose to explore somewhere different and headed to Itezhi Tezhi, which has an almost mythical name in my book. The journey there was fun, the nice smooth tarmac disappeared far too soon and then we felt the bumps of basically a dirt track. Our 4x4 was fine though other vehicles were getting stuck even now in the dry season, so come October and the rains this route will surely become impassable. After using a pontoon to cross the Kafue river we then hit sand, which was much faster and more fun to drive on. 

And then came the relaxation as we pitched our tent in a simple but friendly and cosy campsite, got the braii started and enjoyed a beer watching the sunset over the lake. The rest of the weekend did not involve too much more effort – a lazy morning swim in the pool followed by a trip in a speedboat to explore the lake. We spotted a few animals along the way (hippos, crocs and antelopes) though the fun came from the fresh air by being on the water and the boat bouncing along (occasionally hitting the odd hidden tree stump which was slightly worrying). After all the training, the hotels and the dull food it was very good to get away.

  

 

Testimonies

In case you are interested here are a few quotes from replies that I received from the DACAs. It is nice when people say nice things, particularly when you least expect it. 

"Thanks for the documents and most importantly for your much needed support that could not have come at a better time than now! The workshop was so enriching to me and will ever appreciate you people"

"Thanks a million for the documents and support"

"Thanks we have started to collect the stakeholder information.  It is very interesting and stakeholders have appreciated the SARF" 

"Thank you for the information, we had a stakeholders meeting yesterday and the response was good. Stakeholders were very happy with this new development. 27 stakeholders attended and we had a fruitful discussion. Each stakeholder was interviewed and was happy. We wish to thank you and your team. If anything, we shall keep in touch"

Looking back at the training – highlights and low points

The positives . . .

• The enthusiasm and interest of the DACAs for taking on, testing and using the E-Mapping tool – generally showing appreciation of what we are trying to do 
• Our preparation was good, the IT stuff worked well and we had left little out 
• As a training team Mike and I rock! Ok we did quite well 
• The DACAs listened, very few mobiles went off and newspapers were put away – basically people paid attention 

The negatives . . .

• Zambian food and having to eat the same meals (bland and overcooked) again and again. Given the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables available along the roadside and at markets the lack of both at all the workshop venues was disappointing
• And don’t get me started on the quality of the service. The starting principles seem to be the customer is generally wrong and just smile nicely if the customer complains but don’t do anything 
• The attention and involvement of some of the staff from NAC (best say no more).