Work- well, it's certainly not particularly onerous at this precise moment. This week's very quiet as most people are off on field trips, doing 'activities'. I'm sat here in a spacious office which have just moved into, playing music on my laptop and awaiting the return of an electricity supply. My job is to help the organisation sort out their documentation (mainly paper). There have been considerable changes of staff over the last year or so and the new recruits are finding it difficult to locate information prior to when they started. In addition, the overall numbers of staff have increased, [View Full Entry]

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Slight delay on the event as against the observational reporting, and am afraid not such untarnished fun. Saturday 20th April we went to Lilongwe in Malawi for the day. Malawi is in some respects similar to Zambia (lots of chitengis) but otherwise very visibly wealthier. Many of the roads in Zambia are atrocious and up to the border while it's OK (for Zambia) it is still a bouncy unmetalled road. The other side of the border it's tarmac all the way. Malawi is big on tobacco-growing and we saw the leaves drying on poles under thatched roofs with open sides. We [View Full Entry]

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There are two Catholic Sisters' houses in Chipata, mine and another, bigger one, where 12 live. However, I understand that what with all the other Christian denominations there may be as many as 5 or 6 convents, so Chipata is alive with prayers and good thoughts. As Chipata is a bit of a hub, there are frequently Sisters crashing over en route from somewhere to somewhere else, and it is not uncommon for me to come home and greet two or three people, feeling very guilty that I can't remember their names (especially in the dark), only to find that I've [View Full Entry]

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A very busy weekend- know you're waiting for my 'Life in a convent' but thought ought to get this one down before I forget the details. Saturday I went to a 'kitchen party', which is like a hen party but after the wedding. Am afraid I haven't got any photos of this; noone was taking any and I wasn't sure it would be appreciated. However think would have been OK if I'd have been a bit braver. A kitchen party is a women-only party for the bride after her wedding. The invites specify colours and you have to buy a present [View Full Entry]

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(NB tried to attach short video clips- hope works!) My first day here (Wednesday) was spent on a bit of an orientation. Was picked up and taken straight to meet the Bishop of Lusaka as he was having breakfast- very friendly chap, and was very nice to be introduced to him. Next stop was the town centre so I could pick up a new sim card, so I now have a Zambian mobile number. Was then taken to the office where will be working where had a short discussion and got introduced to a few people. Was taken back to the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday we started a fairly laid-back orientation process. We were given a wonderful massive equipment box with everything from pots and pans to a 20 piece dinner set (including a kettle and an iron !) so we wouldn't need to buy much. In the afternoon we took a taxi to an African craft fair at the local supermarket (lovely craft knicknacks, no prices, would like to go just before leave). Supermarket stuff we're accustomed to is very expensive, especially when considering our wages (£8/day which is a good local income). Fruit and veg are meant to be cheap though when we [View Full Entry]

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Departed a wet and miserable Milton Keynes coachway on Friday morning, very relieved that a) my tickets and passport had turned up in the nick of time, and b) that my BA flight hadn't yet been moved to Terminal 5. Met up with my co-STVs (short-term volunteers) in Zambia, Julie and Clare, at Heathrow. Clare came in on a connecting flight from Manchester via Terminal 5. Claire will be in Chipata with me, but working for a different consortium of organisations, and Julie will be travelling even further east to Lundazi. Smooth flight. Didn't sleep though was sat next to a [View Full Entry]

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This is where will be going [View Full Entry]

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