I discovered that the public transport system in Zambia runs on economical lines rather than schedule timetables. Therefore the 10am bus sits at the bus terminus until it is full and I mean full..! Every available space is filled, the seats are filled with the travellers, the overhead storage is crammed full of anything from suitcases to vegetables and the aisles by carpets, giant fans, sacks of grain …basically anything that the travellers are transporting to Chipata. So the 10am bus finally pulled out of the station a little after 2pm! The eight hour journey to Chipata was, at long last, underway. My immediate travelling companions were Franklin, my new colleague at YDF and Jackson who is a volunteer at YDF when his studies allow. The driver, who to my knowledge, had been sitting at the wheel for four hours then drives for a further 8 without a break and, in an obvious attempt to lessen his own journey time, he drove like a maniac! Out of respect for my hosts in Zambia, I won’t discuss the ‘toilet’ break en-route, nor the unwelcome crawling ‘guests’ that accompanied us..! About halfway into the journey we passed an upside down articulated lorry that had clearly just gone off the road and was lying in a ditch …its wheels were still spinning as we sped past. Many locals seemed to be rushing to the accident on foot which will probably explain why our bus didn’t stop (!!)


Finally at 10pm we pulled into Chipata where I was warmly greeted by my new boss, Chinoya. Arriving at my new home in the dead of night, I was a little apprehensive. It’s a very basis three bedroom house and has, by way of furniture, only two beds, two small sofas and two lounge chairs. Nothing and nowhere to empty my cases into so I’m still not able to unpack  There is a sink in the kitchen and that’s it. I immediately discovered that VSO has supplied a mosquito net but nothing to hang it with. Franklin was a star and using an old sack we found outside, managed to make string and an improvised hanging device was implemented!! I hung curtains in my bedroom; two towels held in place by bottles of water on top of the pelmet …who says this is not a learning experience!! My first night in Chipata was me, a bit scared, in an empty house …but at least I was under a net. Being very tired, I wasn’t too terrified about it, especially as I knew that fellow new VSO’s Francis and Alan (a married couple from Oxford) would be joining me the next day - we are to house share.

Saturday morning I got my first daylight glimpse of Chipata and my home. Its in a walled compound, we are one of three houses – the other two are occupied by Zambian families. The ‘friendly’ cockerel from next door tried to wake me a 5am but I was having none of it! Franklin came by to show me around and help me buy some essentials from the shops. The shops have pretty much everything anyone would need, however, as I am living on a volunteer’s salary, other than basics, luxury’s such as shampoo is way too expensive.

N,Cwala Festival

My arrival in Chipata coincided with N’cwala, an annual thanksgiving festival which is an important part of Zambian culture. It is attended by many tribal Chiefs, and Politicians…. Franklin and Jackson insisted that I go and although I was thinking it would be better if I stayed home and got settled in, I am so glad that I went. It was incredible! There were easily 50,000 in attendance. Many are dressed in traditional tribal dress, most as warriors in animal skins. Central to the event is an arena which although jam packed, we were lucky enough to get into. The public are seated and standing around the arena, the tribal Chiefs are seated in special areas. VIP’s, one of whom was Zambia’s First President, Kenneth Kaunda, were all there to watch the events unfold. Speeches from dignitaries were followed by amazing tribal dancing – many different groups treated us to wonderful sessions of dancing and singing …these ritual dances are 100’s of years old and I am privileged to have been there to watch it.

The next bit is not for the faint hearted ....

(Natalie, Sophie & Caitlin : skip to next highlighted section,  please)

While the anticipation and excitement of the crowd grows, a traditional Warrior takes centre stage in the arena and kills a bull by twisting its horns until its neck breaks. Accompanied by much cheering, the bull is stabbed with a spear and his blood collected in a large wooden bowl which is ceremoniously carried to the seated King who drinks it. After drinking the blood, the King gives thanks for past and future harvests. Because I was there, I almost forced myself to watch but must admit that when it came to the actual ritual killing of the Bull, I didn’t look – it was quite easy not to as all around me was a frenzied with everyone jostling for a decent view. On reflection, I liken the whole event as being similar to our Harvest Festival with the addition of tribal dancing and a ritual killing!!

Natalie, Sophie & Caitlin can join back in now...

Saturday evening was, by contrast, a much quieter affair… Francis and Alan had by now arrived at our house (yay!!) and we were invited out by five other VSO’s who live and work in Chipata. A pleasant evening was spent at a local restaurant where myself, Francis & Alan quizzed the experienced volunteers to within an inch of their lives!
Loving acronyms as we do, we have decided that Tina, Alan & Francis shall be known as ‘TAF’ (I believe there is a nod toward my Welshness there too, but could be wrong!). Anyway, Sunday morning saw TAF learning how to turn ordinary tap water into drinking water. After our struggles with a five minute rolling boil followed by the ceramic candles of the filtration system, I shall forever-more grateful for the luxury of the simple action of turning on a tap and being able to drink the water! There are many and varied challenges in my new environment. For instance, as we don’t have a washing machine, sorting out the dirty clothes is a task and a half. After taking a bath, I used the water to hand wash my clothes (bonus points for our sustainability though, eh Brendan?!). The heat (around 30˚) makes these simple tasks totally exhausting so we treated ourselves to a slap-up lunch of boiled egg butties – well, we are still getting used to cooking on our two ring/grill/oven combo!
TAF spent the rest of Sunday relaxing, showing our respective family photos to each other, recalling happy home memories and crying…big ahhhh please!!!

Quick Update...

Sitting in the VSO Programme Office in Lusaka, waiting to be given my bits & bobs to go off to my placement proper.  Slightly frustrating as I should have got the 10am bus to Chipata (which is an 8 hour journey) and yet I'm still hanging around waiting ... Hey-ho, thought I'd log on and give a quick update:

So Wednesday and Thursday were full-on learning days.  We were given workshops on the Culture, History and another on HIV/Aids.  The culture and history ones were brilliant, giving a real insight into Zambia.  The family structure is interesting and different to ours.  For example your Fathers brothers are also your father, and your fathers brothers children are your brothers and sisters.  You reverse it so that your Mothers sisters are your mother and so on.  So one person can have 12 fathers and 12 mothers and if those 'parents' have lots of kids, you could potentially have 100 brothers and sisters.  Cool huh?  The History is fascinating too but too little time to go into it here ...will bore everybody to death with it when I get home.  One-in-four in Zambia have HIV/Aids which takes some getting used to.  Of course, with the great availability of ART's it is not immediately apparent so it was good to have the training and we were priviledged to have two HIV positive people come and give their personal perspectives ...a sobering time, I can tell you!

Met my new employers yesterday, a great young man called Franlin and lovely young lady called Fatness ...we spent a good couple of hours putting together our work-plan and I have much more confidence now that I will be able to do a fairly good job while I'm here.

Last night we were treated to a drinks reception at the British High Commission - each was personally greeted by the High Commissioner, a lady called Carolyn something (sorry, just too many names to rememeb).  Anyway, she was most gracious and very welcoming.  The official residence was something to behold but not a Ferrero Rochet in sight...! 

Must go now, or the bus to Chipata will be leaving without me..... xxxxx

Tuesday...

Nothing exciting to report on today ...so far!  Food wise, its been pretty normal although I am getting addicted to Nshima which is a cornmeal product and a staple food in Zambia. It's made from ground maize corn flour known locally as mielie-meal.  It looks exactly like solid (yet squishy) semolina pudding - its served with every meal and I'm liking it more each day.  Of course the great thing about being here on training is that I am provided with three meals a day ...it will be a different story when I am in Chipata cooking my own meals.  VSO provide a recipe book so I'll try making Nshima but will give the 'Inswa' (flying ants) a miss! 

For anybody interested, here are the instructions (honestly):

1. Switch on the lights outside to which the ants are attracted
2. Catch the insects as they flock to the light with your whole hand and plunge into the water so they can't escape.
3. Fry the ants dry (they have fat in them) and pick over carefully to remove stones and wings
4. Fry again with a little salt.
5. Serve as relish or snack

Good luck everybody!!!!

Became a millionnaire and ate a caterpillar...!

‘Tis true! In only one day I have both become a Millionnaire and a Caterpillar eater!!! But before my daughters get too excited, I am a millionaire in Zambian Kwacha. VSO gave my monthly allowance which is an incredible 2.2 million Kwacha. This is the monthly amount that all VSO volunteers in Zambia receive and from speaking to existing volunteers, its fine to live on short term but those who are here for up to two years find it quite difficult to live on it because invariably, they need more than just food.


So, the training began in earnest; we will spend every day this week learning how to cope in our new environment. We were treated to a visit to the VSO programme office which broke up the day but the rest of the time it was education, education …education!!! My head is spinning from it.
So what about the caterpillar I hear you ask…. The visit to the VSO office included lunch which had lots of Zambian dishes for us to try. All were lovely EXCEPT the caterpillars; they were exactly as you’d imagine deep fried caterpillars to look, legs and everything! My thinking was if I’m to fully embrace the culture, I should try everything offered. BIG MISTAKE! They tasted like ….well, deep fried caterpillars!! It was a real ‘I’m a Celebrity’ moment – but unlike Katie Price, I’m afraid I had to spit mine out …dis-gus-ting!!!
Hey-ho! Tomorrow is another day and at least I am getting more accustomed to the creepies that I don’t have to eat!!!

Getting to know Zambia

We're staying in rooms at the Commonwealth Centre which is part of the University of Zambia which is a mile or two from Lusaka town centre.  VSO have arranged for us to be fed and watered daily so it was a bit of a surprise when we all gathered at the dining room at 7pm last night only to be advised that there had been a mix-up and actually there was no dinner arranged for us..!  There was a bbq where we could buy food but I had noticed earlier that they were grilling fish on it so daren't have anything! 
My room-mate Judith is lovely; being a very experienced volunteer who has spent a good few years in Africa, she is struggling to get used to me shrieking at everything that moves!  I opened the fridge in our room and a little cockroach scuttled out ....!  A few more instances like that and she was starting the get the measure of me but when we got into our room and I screamed at seeing a lizard running up the bathroom doors she said, a tad exasperated, Oh, don't you like ghekko's either!!!  I decided to hide my fears in future and fell asleep to the beautiful sound of insects outside in the grass and a rather loud group of singers who were belting out in the Church which backs onto our room.  When I awoke and commented on the singing, Judith said she had not been able to hear it over my snoring!!  I was mortified.  I have come up to do my blog now so that she can catch up on her sleep!!  Am considering gaffa tape over my mouth tonight in an attempt to stem the snoring and let Judith get a decent night sleep! Fingers crossed everybody..!

Today, VSO took us on a bus tour of Lusaka.  We saw the National Assembly building which is covered in copper, as Zambia's biggest export.  We saw where the President lives which has the very unglamorous address of 'Plot One' and we went to the National Museum.  Up until then I had been thinking that Lusaka was a wealthy city as we had seen lots of shopping malls etc however, we then visited what our VSO host called a 'High Density Area' ...it was what I would call a shanty town.  The level of poverty was palpable.  I didn't take any pictures, it seemed inappropriate to do so.

Later we were taken to the home of a VSO volunteer called Alber who lives in Lusaka ....what a warm welcome we received.  A wonderful bbq and lots of lovely people - VSO volunteers from across Zambia had come to welcome us.  I met two ladies who are based in Chipata, they said it is a great place - I just want to get there now as I still geel very much like I am in transit.

Here at last...!

Its Saturday lunchtime which is day one of my Zambian experience:
After many fond and some tearful farewells, I finally boarded the aeroplane at 6.30pm yesterday.  The flight was awful..!   I have never liked flying and yesterdays was no exception.  10 hours hurtling through the sky is not my idea of heaven - it was very bumpy too!  Still, needs must and I'm here now :-) 
There were 13 VSO's on the plane but I only managed to find 3 before departure.  Arrived very promptly at 6.30am after a flight where I got to know a lovely Zambia lady called Doris who told me a little about what I could expect.  As predicted by Doris, it was raining when we arrived ....its the wet season for the whole time I am here ...but the rain is warm!  The 13 new volunteers were welcomed by Glenda a Lusaka based VSO officer - she took our passports and arranged a swift passage through customs.  Onto a waiting coach and we were off to, what is to be our home for the next 6 days, The University of Zambia.  A lush green sprawling campus; we are based in the Commonwealth department.  We were given a brief introduction to the training we will receive, some cornflakes with nice hot milk and then it was off to our rooms to sleep.  I am sharing with Judith a media expert from Leeds - she was a VSO volunteer in Lusaka for over two years around 5 years ago so is able to give me loads of advice (yay!)  Not really going to unpack as I'll be moving onto to my placement proper on Thursday but was pleased and delightedwhen I did open my bags to get my special packages from Natalie - an amazing arrary of envelopes, all with messages telling me when to open them ...there is one to open every Friday and a few more for good measure ....what a fabulous girl...!!
Its just after 1pm now, the rain has stopped and I am in sandals and tee-shirt ...its a lovely, fresh, warm day -hope it has stopped snowing at home?!!!!

Ready for the off.....

Well, what a frantic couple of weeks getting ready to go.  Tying up all the loose ends in work has been challenging but seeing all my friends and having an endless round of 'farewell' parties has been exhausting!  Not that I'm complaining!!!

My work colleagues gave me the MOST amazing send off last Friday ..the office was decked out in banners, balloons & posters - there was beautiful African music playing and everybody was just so kind.  .    Even though this picture looks like there were 12 of us, I assure you there were 13 (which I hope isn't ominous), the delightful Howard Jones decided to hide behind Gunther for this pic - naughty Howard! 

The lunch was lovely but was nothing compared to the wonderful gifts that I was given - a great big, huge thank you to all for them.  A special thank-you to Jude and Caitlin who must have worked for weeks planning and preparing the gifts ...I've still not 'recoved' from feeling so happy - thank you both!!!  There were other gifts too ...a special delivery from The Reception Girlies ...and, I was even sent my very own Africa Cake ....absolutely awesome!!!

The weekend followed in pretty much the same vein ....Partying with Gaynor & Colin on Friday night and then lots of friends around to mine on Saturday for the final party.  Buoyed on by the amazing rugby in the afternoon, we all partied into the wee small hours.  Big thanks to :  Geraint (of course), Natty & Steps, Gaynor & Colin (again), The Bridgend Massive, My Johnnie and the funniest of all, Maggie & Mike ...what a pair of stars!!!  Thanks all, once again!!!

Now onto packing of the essentials ..... does anybody realise how much shampoo and conditioner I will need to last me two months???!!!!!