Blogs from Lusaka, Zambia, Africa - page 16

Mel, The African Discovery AdventureMel Grice Here's to hoping all things happen in three's!! 1. Chicken Food Poisoning 2. Mushroom Food Poisoning 3. MALLARIA 4. there better not be, or I’m getting a helicopter off this continent! So why go to Africa without experiencing everything, that’s my theory. So to put it into practice i was fortunate enough to pay the lovely hospital another visit. This time things were a little more scary as Mallaria's not something you really wanna play around with. Although if nipped in the butt early it can pass without too much trouble. However stubborn Mel, who thought it would pass without visiting hell (thats my nickname for the hospital) prolonged getting treatment. Well needless to say that turned out to be a big mistake. Mallaria takes over your whole body, and ... read more

Forgot to add in that for those of you that have been trying to contact me for the past few days.. Reception in Malawi is shaky.. you dun get reception at times... and Singtel does not have roaming agreements with the telcos in Zambia.. so, you won't be able to contact me till Zimbabwe.. which is this Saturday... not sure about Zim.. if still no roaming, then Tues i'll be in Botswana.. And another shit thing.. the data in my 8GB flash disk is corrupted!! i think i tried to plug it into the computer at the internet cafe earlier.. w/o realizing they using Win98.. and then a msg popped up to say that "your disk is not formatted.. you want to format it now?" horrors of horrors!! so i came to another place... and they ... read more

Woa! Quest trip over! Feels like it flew by! It's been the most fantastic experience and if I could do it all again I would. SO what's happened in Zambia? We arrived at a place in Livingstone called Fawlty Towers backpackers on the 2nd May, where we were faced with SO many options of activities that are run around the falls (Livingstone is next to Victoria Falls). Unfortunatly due to unavoidable ATM trouble - in that NONE in Livingstone accepted my card, I could only do the one activity - the bungy! Still can't quite believe I did it! It took me a long time to take the plunge, alot of fretting on the edge was involved! It's the worst feeling having your feet so tightly bound and having to hop to the edge of an ... read more

Today, March 1st, is EWB Day. EWB chapter members all across Canada will be pulling off fantastic feats of outreach to promote this year's EWB Day theme: Be Change. Please go to playyourpart.ca to show your support and learn more about it. In commemoration of EWB Day, here is a short story about beer and integration in Zambia. "Chibuku Shake Shake: The One that Gives You Respect." That's the tagline to my favourite TV commercial. It's for a locally brewed Zambian beer. The premise of the commercial is that real men drink Shake Shake. Men of respect drink Shake Shake. And even if you're not a man of respect, pretend that you are - by drinking Shake Shake. I must admit it, though - it took me almost eight months to try the local brew. Shameful ... read more

I spent 2 1/2 days working in Lusaka from February 6-9. Although I didn't do anything special, it was personally interesting to visit the city again after 20 years. While living for three years in Nairobi in the mid 1980s, I visited Lusaka several times in conjunction with my work. My overall impression is that the Zamiban economy is doing better now than it was the last time I visited. The country seems to be getting more foreign investment than previously which is evident in many new buildings and businesses. I stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel where I had usually stayed in the 1980s. It is still the same basic hotel, but an outdoor restaurant, swimming pool and fitness center have been added, making for a much more pleasant stay. Some of the change in Zambia ... read more