I am staying in a “compound” of Livingstone called Dambwa North [compounds are like neighborhoods]. It is not super close to “town” [the main part of L’stone], and probably takes about a half hour to walk. However, that’s where the joy of share taxies come in. A trip out to one of the compounds usually costs about 8000 Kwacha [about $2.20], however, there are certain locations you will find share taxies to one of the neighborhoods [each has a different taxi depot] and these taxies wait till they have four people ready to go and everyone pays 2000 kwacha. Then the taxi driver picks up people on his way back into town and it only cost 2000 kwacha no matter if you are the only one who ends up getting picked up or if the taxi is full. It’s a brilliant system, but as far as I know only L’stone does it, Lusaka runs on minibuses.
So I am staying with a Zambian family in Dambwa North. The head of the household is a fellow named Katalausha Shabeenzu [kat-a-loo-sha sha-baen-zoo], and he is a teacher at the Livingstone Primary school. He also is studying Math and Civics at the college here and wants to go to University of Zambia. He is married to Lidia, whose job it is to run the household. They have the most wonderful little girl [she turned two the day I am writing this] named Dorris but is more commonly reffered to by “Do-Do” [dough-dough]. But that’s not all! There is also Katalausha’s two younger sisters… Mutinta [both their names are Mutinta]. The older Mutinta has a couple of children also [Ruthie and Theresa] as well as Katalausha’s sister in-law, Sara [who is the oldest of the children]. Then throw in the mix the neighbours kids and well… that’s a lot of little Zambian girls running about underfoot. Also Katalausha’s cousin Brenda has been staying with us while she is selling fish here in L’stone. She has a little baby named Joseph… my namesake. Tyler is impossible for a Zambian to pronounce. Well, that’s not exactly true… they get something close eventually, but I am more commonly known here by my middle name [Joseph] as it is super easy. I usually introduce myself as Tyler Joseph and am just referred to as Joseph. However I didn’t do this at first so some people who have gotten used to the name Tyler won’t give it up. The younger kids in my family also call me uncle. So I have many names now! But basically I am Joseph Shabeenzu!
The family is absolutely fantastic. I really lucked out [credit to Josephine Tsui for finding the Shabeenzu family!]. I am slowly learning Tonga from them [Katalausha is from the Tonga tribe, Lidia is Nyanja]. The older women of the household like to say things to me in tonga/Nyanja [I can’t tell the difference unless I know what they are saying] and laugh that deep hearty laugh that so many Africans do when I am dumbfounded. The younger girls mostly just laugh when they have me wrap a chitenge [traditional piece of fabric worn around the waste like a skirt or, when dancing, folded so it is about a foot wide and wrapped around the hips] around my hips and they try and teach me the traditional dances.
The house does not have any electricity or running water. The previous renters ran off without paying the utility bills, so the property has an outstanding debt on it [something not uncommon here]. We get water from a hose from the neighbors house [with their permission… people take care of each other here]. There is a toilet [and not a squat toilet either] and we use a bucket to flush it. Baths remind me of when I was little and my family would go camping. We had these rubber basins that we would wash dishes in, and were also used to bath us little kids. Bathing here reminds me of that because it is done in basically the same size basins… only I am a lot bigger now! The sun sets around 18 hours [a.k.a. 6pm… Zambia runs on a 24 hour clock] so often I am having my bath by candlelight… how romantic! So if you were wondering how we deal without electricity… we don’t use flashlights [well I did but my MagLite bulb burnt out and I don’t have a replacement], we use candles. I still have the headlamp I brought, but I can’t remember the last time I used it. Candlelight is way more pleasant. And if you are just trying to find your way to the toilet in the middle of the night… the soft glow of the backlighting on my cell phone works just fine. Cooking is done on the brazier [its like a pot full of holes that you fill with charcoal and sit your cooking pots on top of]. And we eat lots of nshima. I will leave food for another post.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Random Bits of Life in Zambia
So there are a few things I want to share with you that stood out as odd to me. Ever see those shoe shining stations in malls, or on the streets [most of the time I see them it’s in a movie set in an American city]. I never understood it, who would bother making sure their shoes are always very shiny and polished? Well all of Zambia would. And it isn’t easy, let me tell you. The soil here is very sandy [and red] and so you basically are always walking through a thin layer of Zambian red soil-dust. But those shoes got to be shiny! So people carry around with them shoe brushes that they can stop as they are walking along and brush their shoes down. Sometimes they just use a small cloth.
Religion is huge here in Zambia. The missionaries certainly did their job! Zambian is extremely Christian, and there are is a large variety of churches here. I have found that in Zambia, you are nothing but the summation of the groups you belong to. I guess that’s really the case everywhere, but here the groups are more obvious while at home you are the summation of your interests/activities [for example: what types of music you like]. Here in Zambia you have your tribe, your church, your football [soccer] team. I can’t tell you how many taxies I have been in with a “This car is protected by the blood of Jesus” sticker on the dashboard where in Canada there would be a panel for the airbag. Somehow I don’t imagine the taxi has one and I hope the sticker is telling the truth! Up in the corner of the front window is usually a couple stickers proclaiming the drivers support for Manchester United, Liverpool, or Chelsea, etc. And you wear your groups on your sleeve, as it were, here. The churches have uniforms. Sometimes full outfits, other times just church chitenge’s [those traditional fabrics wrapped around to form a skirt. The political parties also have Chitenge’s]. Then within the one church there will be different groups that have gone through some sort of training so that they can better serve to go and visit people at their homes or hospitals. These groups have their own uniforms. I was told by some of the L’stone’ Bahais that on Sunday, people wearing different “uniforms” don’t greet each other [you have entire conversations with complete strangers here on a regular basis. It puts into sharp relief how little north Americans interact with each other].
As I mentioned in a prior post, L’stone is the tourist capital of Zambia. There are more Muzungos [ma-zoon-goos: “Englishmen” but now means “foreigner”] here than anywhere else in Zambia. You get so used to not seeing any white people that when I first got here I wanted to react like so many little Zambian children do… jump up and down, point, and yell “muzungo muzungo muzungo!”. But then I realize I’m white… and how white I am.
Another strange thing regarding religion… there are young Americans here to spread the faith. Seriously, there are Americans, who look roughly the age to be in University or backpacking around the world, who have come to an African country which is more Christian that the U.S. to try and convert people! I can’t wrap my head around that one.
EWB has volunteers all over Zambia. And there are many different languages [72 tribes in all] so we all end up learning different languages]. I am leaning Tonga, as are a 2 other Junior Fellows I believe, lots are learning Nyanja, some Lozi, some Bemba. As a result, OVs [overseas volunteers] end up adopting the tribe. Effectively making me a Tonga. Josephine [who is a long term volunteer based in Livingstone, but she is in Canada for a bit to visit family before she returns here] is Lozi. Tonga and Lozi are tribal cousins which makes it ok for us to make fun of each other [a tribal right]. So Josephine is my cousin, Katalausha [being Tonga] is my brother, and Lidia [being Nyanja] is my sister in law as she is married to a Tonga.
Religion is huge here in Zambia. The missionaries certainly did their job! Zambian is extremely Christian, and there are is a large variety of churches here. I have found that in Zambia, you are nothing but the summation of the groups you belong to. I guess that’s really the case everywhere, but here the groups are more obvious while at home you are the summation of your interests/activities [for example: what types of music you like]. Here in Zambia you have your tribe, your church, your football [soccer] team. I can’t tell you how many taxies I have been in with a “This car is protected by the blood of Jesus” sticker on the dashboard where in Canada there would be a panel for the airbag. Somehow I don’t imagine the taxi has one and I hope the sticker is telling the truth! Up in the corner of the front window is usually a couple stickers proclaiming the drivers support for Manchester United, Liverpool, or Chelsea, etc. And you wear your groups on your sleeve, as it were, here. The churches have uniforms. Sometimes full outfits, other times just church chitenge’s [those traditional fabrics wrapped around to form a skirt. The political parties also have Chitenge’s]. Then within the one church there will be different groups that have gone through some sort of training so that they can better serve to go and visit people at their homes or hospitals. These groups have their own uniforms. I was told by some of the L’stone’ Bahais that on Sunday, people wearing different “uniforms” don’t greet each other [you have entire conversations with complete strangers here on a regular basis. It puts into sharp relief how little north Americans interact with each other].
As I mentioned in a prior post, L’stone is the tourist capital of Zambia. There are more Muzungos [ma-zoon-goos: “Englishmen” but now means “foreigner”] here than anywhere else in Zambia. You get so used to not seeing any white people that when I first got here I wanted to react like so many little Zambian children do… jump up and down, point, and yell “muzungo muzungo muzungo!”. But then I realize I’m white… and how white I am.
Another strange thing regarding religion… there are young Americans here to spread the faith. Seriously, there are Americans, who look roughly the age to be in University or backpacking around the world, who have come to an African country which is more Christian that the U.S. to try and convert people! I can’t wrap my head around that one.
EWB has volunteers all over Zambia. And there are many different languages [72 tribes in all] so we all end up learning different languages]. I am leaning Tonga, as are a 2 other Junior Fellows I believe, lots are learning Nyanja, some Lozi, some Bemba. As a result, OVs [overseas volunteers] end up adopting the tribe. Effectively making me a Tonga. Josephine [who is a long term volunteer based in Livingstone, but she is in Canada for a bit to visit family before she returns here] is Lozi. Tonga and Lozi are tribal cousins which makes it ok for us to make fun of each other [a tribal right]. So Josephine is my cousin, Katalausha [being Tonga] is my brother, and Lidia [being Nyanja] is my sister in law as she is married to a Tonga.
Where the Devil is Tyler???
Greetings to everyone who checks my blog. I am sorry for the delay in posting anything. But here I am now… so let’s get started.
For those who don’t know where I am…
I am based in Livingstone, Zambia. Livingstone is the tourist capital of Zambia, and was established after Dr. David Livingstone “discovered” Victoria Falls [a.k.a. the local people showed him]. Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and is absolutely breathtaking. Livingstone is 10km away and I can see the mist from here.
I am working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives [the Zambian government] on a project to rehabilitate dams. About 8 years ago, as part of another program, a number of villages applied for the construction of earth dams. Anyone who doesn’t know what an earth dam is… well it is exactly what it sounds. They pile a big mound of earth into an embankment across a river/stream and then you create a level spillway off to the side at a certain level so that when the water level gets too high, the water flows out over the spillway and does not overtop your dam [which would be very bad]. It is a bit more complicated than that as there are soil mechanics involved… but that is the basic idea. I had just finished reading a book called “When the Rivers Run Dry” which was all about how humanity is messing up the water cycle by diverting rivers into dams and for irrigation and rivers are no longer reaching the ocean. Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” scares the hell out of me, but I can’t say with certainty that it is scarier than “When the Rivers Run Dry”. Pick it up, it’s a good read. Why am I mentioning it out of nowhere like this? Because it made me feel like a total jerk being as I am working on dams! But the end of the book is rather hopeful [optimism that is long overdue, before you get to that point you are convinced it’s the apocalypse because the author is so unrelenting] and talks about a bunch of things that are happening around the world, often going back to old traditions, which are really working. One of these things is rain water harvesting. And fortunately that is exactly what my project is. The streams that have been dammed are annual streams [they only flow in the rain season]. So instead of all that water being lost in a quick rush to the Zambezi and over Vic Falls, a small lake is formed. Farmers have water for their gardens, crops, and livestock. Also, the sitting body of water recharges the water table so boreholes near the dam don’t dry up! Very exciting. I wouldn’t be surprised if boreholes that had dried up before the dam are now working again [but I can’t substantiate that claim]. So I am building dams right…? Actually no. The dams are already built, as I said, about 8 years ago. But unfortunately earth is not very durable [especially when you throw water in the mix] and consequently the dams need maintenance. The catchment area needs to be undisturbed so it does erode and silt up the dam. The embankment needs to be protected from animals and people walking on it, and trees putting holes through it. My project is based around this problem… no one was doing any maintenance. So what I will be doing, as a continuation of Nick Jimenez’ Junior Fellow placement last year, is work with the Technical Service Branch [TSB] of MACO to mobilize communities to maintain their earth dams. Nick and the TSB developed a methodology and produced a rough copy of a manual detailing that methodology during his placement. There was no previous methodology for a participatory mobilization of communities with regard to Earth Dams, so aside from actually mobilizing the communities, the another aspect of the project is to refine the manual. This is all be conducted in the Kazungula/Livingstone Disctrict around Livingstone.
For those who don’t know where I am…
I am based in Livingstone, Zambia. Livingstone is the tourist capital of Zambia, and was established after Dr. David Livingstone “discovered” Victoria Falls [a.k.a. the local people showed him]. Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and is absolutely breathtaking. Livingstone is 10km away and I can see the mist from here.
I am working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives [the Zambian government] on a project to rehabilitate dams. About 8 years ago, as part of another program, a number of villages applied for the construction of earth dams. Anyone who doesn’t know what an earth dam is… well it is exactly what it sounds. They pile a big mound of earth into an embankment across a river/stream and then you create a level spillway off to the side at a certain level so that when the water level gets too high, the water flows out over the spillway and does not overtop your dam [which would be very bad]. It is a bit more complicated than that as there are soil mechanics involved… but that is the basic idea. I had just finished reading a book called “When the Rivers Run Dry” which was all about how humanity is messing up the water cycle by diverting rivers into dams and for irrigation and rivers are no longer reaching the ocean. Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” scares the hell out of me, but I can’t say with certainty that it is scarier than “When the Rivers Run Dry”. Pick it up, it’s a good read. Why am I mentioning it out of nowhere like this? Because it made me feel like a total jerk being as I am working on dams! But the end of the book is rather hopeful [optimism that is long overdue, before you get to that point you are convinced it’s the apocalypse because the author is so unrelenting] and talks about a bunch of things that are happening around the world, often going back to old traditions, which are really working. One of these things is rain water harvesting. And fortunately that is exactly what my project is. The streams that have been dammed are annual streams [they only flow in the rain season]. So instead of all that water being lost in a quick rush to the Zambezi and over Vic Falls, a small lake is formed. Farmers have water for their gardens, crops, and livestock. Also, the sitting body of water recharges the water table so boreholes near the dam don’t dry up! Very exciting. I wouldn’t be surprised if boreholes that had dried up before the dam are now working again [but I can’t substantiate that claim]. So I am building dams right…? Actually no. The dams are already built, as I said, about 8 years ago. But unfortunately earth is not very durable [especially when you throw water in the mix] and consequently the dams need maintenance. The catchment area needs to be undisturbed so it does erode and silt up the dam. The embankment needs to be protected from animals and people walking on it, and trees putting holes through it. My project is based around this problem… no one was doing any maintenance. So what I will be doing, as a continuation of Nick Jimenez’ Junior Fellow placement last year, is work with the Technical Service Branch [TSB] of MACO to mobilize communities to maintain their earth dams. Nick and the TSB developed a methodology and produced a rough copy of a manual detailing that methodology during his placement. There was no previous methodology for a participatory mobilization of communities with regard to Earth Dams, so aside from actually mobilizing the communities, the another aspect of the project is to refine the manual. This is all be conducted in the Kazungula/Livingstone Disctrict around Livingstone.
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