Blogs from Chipata, Zambia, Africa - page 4

From Sarah: Candice and I had our all time horrific spider saga! It was the worst yet, it took us 3 rounds before it finally succumbed! When we got to the house the second night, there was a gargantuan sized spider, and that was only half of it, was poking its legs out, just taunting us. NOT COOL. So, Todd, Candice and I all tried to DOOM it and kill it, unfortunately for Candice it escaped. So we were getting ready to go to the hospital worship, when it decided to reapper, in her closet. I tried to smash it with the shoe a couple of times, but it would have none of it. It would just poke its beady eyes out and some of the legs. We decided we didn't have time for the games ... read more

Hello to all! Candice and I have arrived in Zambia and have made the trek from Lusaka to Chipata today. Amidst bicycles, cows, goats, and almost driving off the road to avoid the potholes. We are at an internet cafe right now and will be heading off to Mwami Hospital in the next few minutes. Hope all is going well with everyone. We have oodles of pictures to show, and will have it set up hopefully rather soon. Much love, Candice and Sarah... read more

Horribly early 6am departure necessitating getting up in dark at 4:20am. Zambia is a huge country. We travelled through beautiful scenery. There are vast landsapes of heavily wooded trees. The trees have huge varieties of green and occasional ambers/brown/reds. Every so often there are traditional villages but the population appears very sparse. At lunchtime we came upon an overturned Landrover with the driver just clambering out. He and the passengers appeared unhurt. With the assistance of a chain from the truck they managed to get it upright. At lunch someone offered some African children some sweets and they almost wrenched her hand off. We crossed a fairly large suspension bridge just down from the Mozambique border and were told to keep our cameras out of site because it is a sensitive area. We passed many ... read more

I thought it might be valuable for everyone to gain an appreciation for Zambian domestics but it seemed an overwhelming task since the term “family life” is about as close to nuclear as Canada is tropical. Canada itself, with the divorce rate at approximately 50%, has experienced major paradigm shifts in the past fifty years in the traditional definition. Add a fatal pandemic infecting between 20-30% of the population, intermarriage between 72 tribes in Zambia alone that haven’t always lived in harmony, and a dash of traditional social norms mostly absent in North America and you have the recipe for a distinctly different family milieu than Kevin Arnold experienced in those Wonder Years. There are countless other factors contributing to various family models here but overall, it’s safe to say that the typical in Canada does ... read more

The intention of this blog is to share my experience with development here in Zambia. I realise being only one person and here for only four months implies a limited perspective and time constraint but I think through my integration in the community and position with a prominent NGO (non-government organization) It is possible for you to fgain a valuable apprecation for the framework of development in Zambia, typical barriers and challenges encountered, and the livelihoods of those it is intended to benefit. Hopefully this will either spark some curiosity, awken a previously dormant in development, or stimulate an existing knowledge base. Regardless, any questions or comments are welcomed and if I don’t know the answer I’m sure I can schmooze someone who does. So enjoy and please (in the words of Van Wilder), don’t hold ... read more