Rants and Motorcycle Escapades

(Written Friday, Sept 4, 2009)
Mwalyeni bwino!
(this is a common greeting in Bemba- it means “Are you eating well?” And in turn, you respond “kulila mulelya” which means “provided that you are eating well!”)

Hence, I hope you are all eating well! I know I am. On a more interesting note I am beginning to lose my sanity a bit. Well, not really, but I definitely need a break from Lusaka. I was hoping to get to a town called Siavonga this weekend but that didn’t really work out. Dan was going to come with me but he has things to do this weekend. I’ll just have to be patient.
Work is sadly becoming a bit of a grievance. Two weeks ago, I thought that I had accumulated a lot of tasks to complete but it didn’t really work out that way. I mean, I technically have a lot to do, but I also have a lot of time to do it. So, work is slooooooooooow. I was really upset about this but have decided just to get over it. I have to remember that my NGO is only running on one grant, so its not like we’re running a lot of programs at the moment. Also, my NGO has only been up and running for 2 years and we don’t have a lot of activities set-up for the moment. Additionally, virtually no one is interested in health policy because so many people are pre-occupied with HIV/AIDS, and malaria, and TB which is understandable. HOWEVER, this also makes me angry because (in my opinion) instead of simply creating band-aid solutions to these issues, its much more effective to work to change things at the policy level so that they have a long-term, sustainable and national impact. BUT, donors are afraid of the word “policy”. It would mean that they would actually have to get involved in Third World politics, support exceptionally long term projects and get their hands dirty instead of “measuring” and “evaluating” the technocratic solutions that they design to solve social problems. Ok, enough. My rant is over.
Where was I? Right, my job. So, I was very upset about how slow things are. However, today I skyped Shannon who reassured me that this is ok and normal for interns. The important thing is that I make sure that I learn. And I think she’s right. I knew before I came that I would not be making a world-changing impact; this is instead a learning experience. This really helped me to gain perspective and remember why the heck I decided to come here in the first place. I wanted to learn about health policy in a “development” setting, and man, have I learned a lot just by watching and listening. And its not like I’m not doing anything at all. I did find that grant in July and spear-headed the proposal writing project; I have an amazing research opportunity (to be reviewed by ethics this month! That’s right, I finally got the forms in), I’ve met fantastic people that have changed me deeply, I get to sit in on some interesting meetings with some seriously dedicated health activists and I’m in a beautiful place. Its going to be OK. The lack of activity (Shannon reassured me), is not a reflection on who I am, it is a reflection of what’s taking place on the ground.
On a lighter note, Dan, Kate and I found a MASSIVE grant that the NGO is actually eligible for! By MASSIVE, I mean its worth almost 15 million dollars. If the executive director decides that we should actually go through with this, this could be big for our NGO. However, the proposal is due by October 9th and we would be required to collaborate with at least 3 other institutions to carry-out this kind of project. It’s a research grant for “evidence in heath” which is right up our ally. Anyways, we’re having a meeting on Monday about it and I am praying that the Executive Director decides that we can pull it off. I’ve brainstormed certain institutions that we could collaborate with already. Wish me luck!
Last weekend was rather interesting. I wanted to go to a market in town to buy some chitenge (wax-print) cloth but couldn’t go alone, so my friend Roger took me. This market was wicked! All the stalls were essentially VERY tall shacks with cloth draped all over them. The stalls were squeezed together, so to walk along the market path you had to practically walk sideways. To top it off, the pathway had a lot of bumps and holes, so there were wooded planks that you had to walk on in certain areas. After 45 minutes of looking for cloth and 3 marriage proposals later (“Muzungy baby! Marry me I love you!”), Roger and I emerged from the market victoriously with 3 chitenges in hand. It was a proud moment for me to say the least. I also spent my Saturday afternoon at Tom’s house getting a cooking lesson from his mother, and watching Arsenal lose to Manchester United. Tom’s mom is a fantastic cook, and I got to watch as she scaled a fish, made nshima and cooked cassava. It was a pretty delicious meal. I’ve been invited over for another cooking lesson in the near future, and this time, I will be the one scaling the fish! Look out, it could get messy. My weekend had a grande finally; On Sunday, as usual I was the only muzungu on a minibus from Great East Road to town. Suddenly, three muzungus got on at a random stop and sat near me. Never, have I ever been on a minibus with another muzungu, so this was big. AND, it turned out that these particular muzungus were not only Canadian; they were from Toronto! I know no Canadians here, so (for those of you who take anthropology), Anderson’s theory of Imagined Community came in to play and we bonded instantly over a national camaraderie.
On the subject of minibuses, I’ve noticed that I don’t get heckled on them like I used to. This isn’t to say that people don’t give me a hard time (they can) but I think I carry myself differently and walk with much more confidence here than I did before; I know the drill so to speak. And I swear, people can smell fear amongst foreigners. I especially noticed this change earlier this week when a conductor put me on a wrong bus to city market instead of to Lima Tower (major bus stop). I had to walk through town for the first time by myself in order to find a minibus that would take me back to my end of town. And almost no one said anything to me. Well, I am sure that people talked about me in Nyanja or Bemba at some point but no one screamed “muzungu” or stared at me openly. I am making progress! This was also a big boost for me; I feel like I’m a bit more independent now. There are definitely some places for me were going alone is not an option, but walking through town on my own made me feel like I’d conquered the world or something. I can do it when necessary as long as I walk with confidence and purpose.
In other news, in a matter of days I will no longer be the only IDS student on placement! In the next two weeks IDSers will be heading to several parts of the globe; Burkina Faso, Bolivia, India, Malawi and Botswana. Good luck guys! And a special shout-out to the folks heading to Malawi and Botswana- good luck as you pass through Johannesburg and Nairobi, lock your bags. Seriously. Stay positive, and remember; we’re all alone together.

(September 13 2009)

Hi everyone! Life is going pretty well. I thought I would have been able to get my forms into ethics by now, but that hasn’t happened. I sent them to U of T but one of my supervisors called me unexpectedly and wanted me to make some more adjustments! I am frustrated, but trying to hold it together. Hopefully I’ll have it in soon. These are circumstances beyond my control unfortunately.
Last weekend was a lot of fun. Tom invited me to go to his friend’s montevello. A montevello
Work is moving along. The multi-million dollar grant had captured my boss’s attention and so I’ve been spending the last few days working closely with him and Dan. This has been big for me, as I’ve noticed that my boss is seems keen to hear my thoughts and opinions -I’m taking this as a good sign. This week, the goal is to get forms into ethics and start doing a bit of background research and get a rough draft of the proposal done.
Monica has left for Spain  I’ll miss having here around but was glad to have met her!
Michael’s parents are in town and staying with us. They’re very sweet people and are very enthusiastic about their stay- they’ve been on safari, gone to the ‘village’ (slang for the countryside) and checked out Lusaka. They gave me a bottle of Amarula as a thank-you/ nice to meet you gift- very nice of them.
This weekend has been great so far. I was desperate to get out of Lusaka (I haven’t left since my trip to Livingstone) so Dan and I took a mini motorbike trip to Mumbwa to visit his cousins in the village. Mumbwa’s a small town but there’s a bunch of smaller ‘villages’ outside of it. The bike ride down was great. Dan usually gets a lot of strange looks when he’s on the bike, as its pretty rare to see one like his around here, but having me riding on the back definitely added to the local shock factor. It didn’t help that we were wearing jumpsuits because of all the dust. We were the absolute height of fashion! We stopped to visit his aunt first in Kanyama; a shantytown part of Lusaka before we left. All along the road to Mumbwa, people would stop and stare, so I’d ham it up a bit and wave- usually I received a smile and wave in return.
The road to Mumbwa was interesting. Lots of huts, goats, cows, kids, men carrying maize and farming supplies on bicycles and chickens. I haven’t been on a bike a lot before, so we had to stop a few times because my butt was absolutely killing me! When we got to Mumbwa, we ate some nshima, chicken, bream and then headed over to visit Dan’s family. Dan’s cousins live in a small village next to a military base. We all went for a walk so that I could see the sights- cows, chicken coups, etc. I think I was the first muzungu that a lot of the kids there had ever seen, so during our walk, people would stop what they were doing and watch in awe, which was pretty funny. Kids followed me everywhere! I’m going to try and post some photos of Dan’s cousin’s kids- they were pretty enthusiastic about my digital camera and insisted that I take photos of them (although they only really speak Tonga, kids have a knack for picking up on these kinds of things). They even put on a little show for me by dancing and drumming, This was definetly the highlight of my trip! On our way back home today, I also witnessed a pair of monkeys crossing the road. And last but not least, I finally got the chance to sample some bush meat- impala to be specific. Tastes like beef.
That’s all I have to report! Zikomo (thanks) for listening.

---

---