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Published: July 30th 2010
July 2010 - time flying!
It has been around a month since the last blog, and the time has really flown by. Work has been really busy - our office (and me) has a lot to do in not much time.
My home life is going well, better than I expected I guess. Probably the biggest things I am missing (besides Julia and family and friends!) are a good steak, and Friday nights at the duck and swan watching the footy with mates and with schooner in hand. That is probably a good sign - after all, it would be much worse if I was missing electricity or water! I was speaking to an intern in another office the other day and she told me she is living alone in a house with no fridge, running water only in the mornings, and constant blackouts. Compared to that, I am living it up big time.
I am still getting used to the food - particularly the concept of a heavy lunch - I usually eat eggs and toast for breakfast, beans, veggies and nshima for lunch, and similar for dinner. I thought I would be shedding the kilos over
here, but it really hasn’t happened. Maybe all the carbs from the nshima?? Probably more like all the Mosi’s I have drunk! In one exciting development I found avocados at the market the other day - they are the size of rock melons and are 1000 kwacha each (25 cents). One lasts me a whole week. Avocado on toast has made a stunning resurgence. I have been attempting to exercise regularly - usually going for a walk (if you jog people laugh at you) or playing football with the kids from the nearby school. It is difficult though, because it gets dark at 6 and you are not meant to walk around at night alone, which is fair enough.
There isn’t a terrible a lot to do in the evenings. I don’t have any more books to read (rest assured I will be loading up when I come back to oz in August), and there is absolutely nothing on TV. So lately it has been a mixture of my new mate Donald Draper (Mad Men) or listening to music and playing hearts/solitaire on the computer. Have been appreciating the latest National album, as well as the latest albums of
eddy current suppression ring, LCD sound system, local natives, beach house and the morning benders. If there are any good music releases I have missed in the past few months please hook me up. And if anyone can beat a score of 9000+ in timed 3-card solitaire, or score of 2 in hearts, I will do a lap of Kawambwa oval naked. You heard it here first folks.
In terms of the voluminous Kawambwa social scene - it was the long weekend from 2-6 July - so we had both the Monday and Tuesday off. Myself and Taban had thought about going on a trip to Mansa (the closest town with a supermarket and westernized shops), but in the end we decided to stay here and take it easy, as a few people pulled out (we needed a full car, because the fuel to go there would have cost over $100 US each way for a 2 hour trip - fuel is very expensive here - around $2.20 per litre). So on the Friday night we went to the ‘canteen’ bar to watch the Ghana v Uruguay Football World Cup Quarter Final. The hopes of the continent were resting
on the shoulders of the young Ghanaian team, and the bar was packed. For those who didn’t watch, Ghana took the lead early on, only for Uruguay to equalize, sending the match into extra time. At the end of extra time the scores were still level, with Ghana having one last corner kick before the match would go into penalties. Remarkably, a Ghana player headed the ball toward goal, only for a Uruguay player to deliberately bat the ball back with his hands, meaning Ghana had a penalty kick to win it, and would be going to the semi’s. The bar went crazy - it was awesome. We all started talking about how we needed to order more beer in to the bar to fuel our night long celebration!!! Sweet!!! Oh but then the Ghana player missed the penalty, and Uruguay went on to win the game in a penalty shoot-out. Talk about a let-down. I have got to say - the biggest problem with soccer is the concept of the penalty shoot-out. The best team does not necessarily win. They should just keep playing until someone scores. Can you imagine a NRL grand final being decided on a conversion
kick off? It’s ridiculous. Notice how I call it soccer when I am noting the negatives? Anyway, after the Ghanaians lost the game, the bar emptied quicker than you can say rangas rock, and we went home, the metaphorical tail firmly between our legs.
I was extremely fortunate to be able to attend a traditional wedding ceremony on the Sunday afternoon of the long weekend called 'Amatebeto'. It was an extremely special experience, to witness another culture so intimately, and the fact that I was invited to spectate (and be well fed!) shows just how generous Zambian people are. In terms of the event itself, basically the part that I attended involved just the women from either family, as well as the groom. It was signifying the bride’s family welcoming the groom into their family.
The ceremony started when about 20 women from the bride’s family arriving in a truck, bearing food and other gifts, whilst singing along with bongo drum playing. But before they were to enter the house, they had to negotiate with the women from the groom’s family, on how much they should be ‘paid’ to enter.
Once this process had been
done, and money handed over (small amount, more symbolic than anything else), they entered the house and the ceremony commenced. There was lots of singing and dancing, with each woman getting an opportunity to sing a song and dance, often aimed at the women from the other family. Some were celebratory, whilst others involved sounding one another out, making sure they were being taken seriously. It really was a spectacle.
The dancing basically involves the person shaking their hips (and butts) often toward someone, while singing a song (I don’t speak Bemba so I don’t know what they were saying). The dancer always has a chitenge (a piece of patterned material) tied around her waist, which emphasizes the hip movement. Once the women had sounded one another out, and were comfortable, they then went and grabbed the groom who was in another room, and washed his feet, face and hands, I think to symbolize that his new wife would take care of him. The bride’s family also presented their gifts to the groom’s women, which they accepted, and then unwrapped with their teeth (not sure why). Then the dancing became more celebratory, and so the singing. The ceremony
then ended, and the bride’s women departed. All up it took over two hours, like I said, was a really special experience. I am very happy I got to experience another culture in such depth, something no tourist would ever get to do.
Can you imagine a stranger being invited to a wedding in Australia? Never.
After the ceremony, we were fed lovely food, and then we each had to ‘pledge’ some money to the family/couple as a token of thanks. As you can see, I took a lot of photos (I was encouraged to!). Such did the family welcome my spectating, that they invited me to their other son’s wedding in August. Unfortunately however I will be in Australia during that time. They also gave Taban and I a bucket of the traditional beer, made from maize meal, called katubi. We have let it ferment since, and then you mix with hot water and drink it. I didn’t get to have a crack at it unfortunately, because our house-keeper thought it was rubbish and threw it out. That is a pretty good sign of the fact that it is not much to look at. But
apparently 3 mugs will knock you out, which is really all that matters, right? So we ordered 5 litres of the stuff for an upcoming festival of a big tribe near by. The festival is called umutumboko. Can’t wait - have heard it is heaps of fun and lost of tourists travel up here to watch/enjoy it.
The rest of the long weekend we just relaxed, which was nice. We went to the local waterfall and had a ‘brai’ - a BBQ - which was great. We managed to convince one of the local bar owners to take a mobile bar out there, taking care of our alcohol needs. This was a great idea, until Taban and I got left with the bar bill at the end of the day, which hurt big time.
Another one of the guys had an awesome speaker set up in his car, and once we had invited 20 odd people to come, we had a party! It was a very solid afternoon, until I decided to rub my eyes with the hand I had just been using to rub fresh chilli seeds into the chicken. I couldn’t open my eyes
or see for 15 minutes. Everyone there didn’t know whether to be worried or to laugh! Most did both. Rookie mzungu error!
Since that weekend, I have been (largely) off the cans (beer) to try and get back within budget and improve my health. Feel much better for it. It also means I have knocked over the 3 seasons of mad men. For those who haven’t watched - I highly recommend as it is excellent. It is a drama basically about the birth of advertising and mass consumerism against the historical background of in America the 50’s and 60’s.
So yeah, home life has been good. I get along very well with Taban, my housemate. And it helps that he has a car so we can get around. The only problem is he is leaving in August, so I will be living alone from then on, which will be different. I am not really looking forward to that. Anyway it is good for Taban - he needed cheering up after the bomb blast in Uganda a few weeks back by Al-shabab terrorists - it was really shocking. Some of his friends were in the bars that were
bombed (although they were very lucky to survive). Anyway, we are having a going away party for him tomorrow night, which will be fun.
We visited the local orphanage a few days ago to visit the children - it was good to see their smiling faces. The orphanage receives most of its funding from a woman who fundraises in the Netherlands, but they are looking for donors to help them with some projects. As a result I am thinking of donating some of the money fundraised to assist in the construction of some classrooms for the children. Will keep you posted on that.
In terms of Zambian news, there has been a measles outbreak, which is to me is just crazy in the 21st century. It has killed around 100 children already. There is some talk about the election here in 2011, which some people are talking about, and there are some by-elections at the moment. I think Zambia is doing ok economically, compared to other countries in the region, but there are still significant issues with access to medical care, access to education, and access to employment. Most people I see in the countryside don't have jobs,
so they just grow their own food for their families and try and put their children through school. I was talking to a teacher the other day - she said that the standard class sizes are around 50 students here - man it must be tough to control that many students at once.
Anyway, Zambia therefore obviously still needs foreign aid and support to help it move towards meeting the millennium development goals. So if you are feeling charitable, go online and give to a charity, or encourage your local member of parliament to get the government to increase foreign aid to Africa. There was an interesting recent report on Africa as a whole with a focus on turning the vast natural resources into gains for the people here, rather than for foreign company’s profit margins. Find it here -
APR I would say that now, in terms of work, the honeymoon period definitely finished quickly! The past month or so was a bit tougher at work. A lot of the people in my team were away, and I was pretty much just left to myself. Although I do rate my ability to work independently
and self-prioritise (as all my current and former workmates can attest to!), it is a bit difficult when you don’t speak the language and you don’t really have any experience doing the things you are being asked to do. So I have largely been left to organise my own things (which is not easy). I guess I have really high expectations of being busy all the time getting all this amazing experience, and when it is not like that I get annoyed and feel like as a resource I am being wasted.
But then I spend a day at the camp and the frustration melts away and I remember why I am here. An example is one day a few weeks back when I spent the day doing a workshop on the human rights of children, for young refugee women (aged 11-15). It was held at one of the schools at the refugee camp. We managed to tee up a generator, so we could have electricity for the projector and laptop - for a PowerPoint presentation. It made my presentation so much better - with lots of photos and activities keeping the kids engaged and interested. The children
don’t see a laptop very often, let alone a projector, so it was easy to keep them interested!
My own presentation mainly focused on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and also was intertwined with the wider theme of how children can protect their rights on a practical level. The kids were so enthusiastic, hopefully learning some valuable lessons (most importantly, that women and men have the same human rights! When we asked them the question at the beginning, most said that men had more rights than women). They were also fascinated to learn that Australia had a female Prime Minister (one for the rangas - go Julia!)
During the workshop, every hour or so, the teacher would get the kids to stand up and sing a song and dance, to make sure they were awake and concentrating. It was good fun, and they could not stop laughing whenever I would join in on the dancing! Days like those days are great, where my expectations are exceeded to the extent that it is difficult to put it into words. Even just one day a week like that is making this experience more
than worthwhile. And fortunately, as the weeks have flown by, I have found myself busier and busier.
In terms of other work - I have been doing best interest assessments for children. They have designated me as the ‘child welfare officer’ for our office, so it is my job to ensure vulnerable children are protected - they could be orphans, sick, disabled etc. It has definitely been a tough task emotionally, but also one which is obviously incredibly important. I basically visit the kids, interview them, fill out the form, and then convene a meeting of our child protection panel, who discuss the child’s predicament and make recommendations about how it can be improved. We recommend things like counseling, provision of clothing, assistance with education, transfer to other foster parents, etc. I am also doing a newsletter on our child protection work at the camp, which is a work in progress.
I work closely with our partner in community services - World Vision. When in Australia I had my doubts about World Vision as a charity to donate to - but I have witnessed firsthand here that they do vital work with refugees in Africa. They co-ordinate education
at the camp, have created a Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) centre, run a mobile court, coordinate a refugee leadership group, and have recruited and trained a team of social workers from the refugee community. That kind of empowerment is really good to see.
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the refugee camp that I work in is closing in December, so the refugees are being given the option to return home to Congo or to move to a different area in Zambia - around 1000km away. As a result, the main activity of the office is facilitating the movement of the refugees - either repatriation back to Congo, or relocation to the new settlement. We move around 500 people at a time in convoy’s of around 8-10 buses and about the same number of trucks - it is a huge operation and requires a lot of work - so I have been helping out most weeks with that as well. Refugees who return to Congo are given resource packages to help them integrate back into the community there - they are given a plot of land, tools, seeds, a bicycle etc by UNHCR. It really is
interesting to see how the ‘end’ of the refugee process works.
Anyway, as I am the person in charge of ‘vulnerable’ refugees (the proper phrase is ‘people with specific needs’) generally, it is my job (armed with the list of vulnerable people I have compiled) to attend all convoy departures and make sure people are looked after and no one is falling through the cracks. It can be a boring job at times, just watching the people being registered, but it really is important to make sure that people are looked after and are going to have a long-term solution if they return to Congo. For example make sure anyone who has a serious disease is going to have access to medical treatment, or an orphaned child is going to have someone to look after them, or a single mother is going to have a means of earning an income to feed her children. Without wanting to blow my own trumpet, it is important work (hopefully I don’t stuff up!)
So in trying to describe my past few weeks - that is what it is like. I have found it difficult to establish in my own mind what
I will get out of these 6 months, because my feelings about it keep changing. My role has really developed as the weeks have passed, and in a sense it has been good to find my feet and decide what I want to do. But that approach made the first 2 months very hard because at times I felt like I wasn’t doing anything and people weren’t making the best use of me. Anyway, I have no doubt I have already achieved my first objective which is to work in a refugee camp, see what it is really like for people, and gain an understanding of the issues first hand.
When I have work to do, someone around who I can ask questions if I am stuck, and the resources I need to do the work, then the internship is great. Well, better than great really - it is awesome. I love it, enjoy working with my co-workers, and especially with the refugees. Unfortunately that has really only been about 50% of the time. It just takes some time to get used to working in such an environment. This is partly because people are so busy doing their own
work, because the office is closing, and because my main co-worker, Isaac, has not been in the office for the past 3 weeks. But as time passes that % keeps going up, which is what is important. The past two weeks has been 100%.
So, at times, it has been a bit of a case of learning on my feet, which as a trade union lawyer I have got to say I am a bit used to - but in another country with another culture has been a huge challenge. Unfortunately, my supervisor (Wanjiku) has left - she is taking up a post in Thailand, which is great for her but a big loss for me. I am not sure if or when they will be replacing her, which is going to create more challenges for our office as a whole and definitely me personally. On the positive side it does mean that there is a lot more work to do in the protection unit, which will keep me very busy.
Anyway, that is a ‘real’ picture of where my head has been over the past month, and what I have been up to. I am really looking forward to coming home in a week and then coming back over here to finish what I have started. I am really glad I am here for 6 months - it would be frustrating to leave now that I have really settled in and am feeling confident. Anyone who is thinking of doing an internship or volunteer work - I really would recommend doing a 4 month stint as a minimum - to give you the time to achieve things in your own right.
I leave Kawambwa on Monday 2 August and will be in Lusaka for that week until my flight to Australia on 7 August. Taban and I are thinking of going to Victoria Falls for that week instead of hanging out in Lusaka - which will be awesome. I have been reading up and apparently you can do a hang glider flight over the falls for 100 bucks! And apparently it is only a 5 hour drive from Lusaka. Will keep you posted. I will be in Australia from 8 August until the 16th, so hopefully I will catch up with as many as you as possible. I have then managed to organize with our head office in Lusaka for me to work there for 2 weeks from the 16th onward - which will enable me to get some different experience. I especially am interested to see how the appeal process works when the government denies someone refugee status - as this is what I have experience doing back home.
Unfortunately I won’t be home for the election. As most of you already know me to be a relatively political person, I will allow myself to make this brief comment, and I promise this will be it! Although in a two horse race most of you know I would favour the party led by the ranga - there is no doubt that both parties have terrible policies when it comes to refugees. The Liberals are a disgrace in their approach to refugees - but Labor is not much better, as they are afraid that there is no political advantage for them appearing to be “soft” on refugees.
The result is that the most disadvantaged people in our world get kicked around by political parties who lack the courage to show some leadership and take the ‘right’ path.
Consider this - Australia, as a rich country, accepts about 13,000 refugees per year (at a maximum). Since 2001, the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat has never exceeded 4 per cent. About 4500 asylum seekers arrived by boat in the past year (and are then processed), the same as in 2000 and in 2001. Compare this to the approximately 200,000 new permanent residents (non-refugees) we accept each year and the about 50,000 visa overstayers from such places as New Zealand, Britain and the US who remain in the country. Clearly, refugees have become the easy target. In contrast to Australia, a poverty stricken nation like Kenya hosts around 500,000 refugees currently (and has around 7,000 Somali’s arriving every month), it is ridiculous to think just how big a political issue it is in our country.
Surely, if people took a step back and looked at it objectively, and the media stopped whipping up border protection hysteria, we might realize that allowing all refugees who arrive on our shores the opportunity to get legal advice and have their cases considered in a speedy and proper manner (and not be locked up while they are waiting) really is the right thing to do. If they are not refugees, if they are just people looking for a back-door passage into the country, then their application will fail and they can be deported. But all this talk of turning boats back or setting up processing centre’s in Indonesia (a country with an appalling human rights record) are just stupid short-term policies designed to make it someone else’s responsibility, when it is ours. And we are not talking about many refugees here, when you think about the numbers of people other countries have (and the fact that we currently allow 200,000 people into Australia per year on ‘skilled migration’).
As a rich country we have a fundamental responsibility to protect and help people who are not fortunate as us, and we undoubtedly have the resources to do so. And don’t forget, we have signed the Refugee Convention after all, and we have a proud history of taking refugees before and having those people make valuable contributions to our country - the Vietnamese after the Vietnam War, the Europeans after World War II - the list goes on.
Anyway, I will stop now, apologies for the ranting. I guess personally witnessing a poor country like Zambia be prepared to host 80,000 refugees, and for it to not even be an issue for the locals - whilst in a rich county in Australia it is a huge issue for us to have a few thousand arrive by boat - has got me thinking. And let’s be clear - I am not telling anyone how to vote - I just think if our leaders showed some leadership (heaven forbid) and all Australian's looked at such issues objectively, then we would realise that people are over-reacting, and things would be much better for everyone.
Richard Ackland wrote an excellent article in the herald a week or so ago - if you are interested, I suggest you read it -
ARTICLE On another note, as I correctly predicted Spain to be in the World Cup final, I will continue my sport tips. Get on the Broncos to win the NRL grand final (despite being robbed by the Roosters Monday) and the Hawkies to win the AFL. Throw a hungy on the double.
Thanks for reading, hopefully see most of you in a few weeks!
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Steph
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Joe, I am so happy you are getting to teach the kids and be around kids. You were so good with my students. It sounds like you are having such an amazing experience. Love reading about your adventures and the good work you are doing for less fortunate people than ourselves. So glad they have you to rely on. :)