Arrival!!

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Welcome to Zambia!

I arrived to Lusaka, Zambia safe and sound, two days ago. The flights went surprisingly well, and I took the opportunity yesterday to catch up on some sleep and settle in to the guest house (Gossner Mission Guest House). The guest house is a lovely little place, with a friendly German couple running it. All of their profits go toward running two schools for disadvantaged children nearby, which is obviously great to hear. The only issue I have faced so far is getting around (to the shops etc), so I have had to make friends with a cab driver very quickly! The country has a pretty safe feel to it at the moment.

I started work at UNHCR today, which is Monday 7 June 2010. This morning I have commenced my induction, and have a security briefing this afternoon with the UNDSS (United Nations Department of Security and Safety). Should be interesting. I have met some wonderful people from the UNHCR, including some fellow interns from Finland. Everyone has been friendly and have given me some useful tips already.

After the rest of the week in Lusaka I am going on a trip to a Refugee camp in the north called 'Kala'. There are around 10,000 refugees in the camp, most of whom are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - formerly known as Zaire. Many of those refugees came to Zambia over the past two decades, fleeing a brutal civil war and persecution in their home country (The International Rescue Committee (IRC) estimates that 3.9 million people have died from war-related causes since the conflict in Congo began in 1998, making it the world's most lethal conflict since World War II. Read more: .

As the status in their home country as improved, UNHCR is focusing its resources at the Kala camp in organising repatriation for these refugees to their home country. I will be assisting with that work in the coming weeks, as well as some other refugee-rights based work.

Thanks for reading, I will give an update in a week or so.

Joe

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Comments

[Peta]

Glad to hear you've arrived safely. Look forward to hearing about your work and some pics if you get a chance. Keep safe. Peta x

[Agatha]

Goodwork
Hi Joe, its good that you came to Zambia to do some work among the refugees. I would like to find out how you will help especially the orphans and the youth among the refugees. I hope to hear from you soon!