Another big load of material aid reaches Lusaka - by John

Recently we received a container load of material aid from MCC Akron, and have spent the last few weeks sorting and shipping it out to our partners.There is quite a bit of work involved in receiving a container, unloading it, sorting it and then getting everything off to our partners for distribution to the people who need it most.

Charlene and Siggi start the sorting process

Here is a synopsis of what we got and where it went.

AIDS Kits – AIDS kits, assembled by loving hands back in North America, consisting of supplies typically used by someone suffering from AIDS.Some non-prescription drugs like painkillers (Tylenol and the like), topical antibiotics and anti-fungal creams, soap, towels, bandages and so on are all bundled into a cloth bag. These kits are delivered by MCC partners to those suffering from HIV/AIDS in or to those people providing them care.

Figuring out what we received in which box. This is a box full of vitamins, which will be distributed to AIDS care givers.

Blankets: Blankets are also made by loving hands, then bundled and compressed into bales at MCC in Akron, and then shipped to us. In addition to our regular partners, we sent off a bunch of bales to North-Western province, where large scale flooding had affected a lot of people. See this link for the account of Stefan Epp delivering the bales.

Books: we received two pallet loads of school books, which we are in the process of sorting and will distribute to partner community schools. It’s an interesting process, deciding which books are suitable for which grades. Literacy at a higher grade level is not something you can take for granted, so some of the books which would be used in grades one or two in North America may be going to grades five or six here.

Computers:
We received 15 used computers from MCC via a group called Free Geek Pennsylvania.
These computers are well used, and about eight years old.
We blew the dust out and reinstalled operating systems and software, and installed them into two community schools (Aisha and Chimwemwe).<>Zambia. As soon as we set up the computers the students, teachers and even community residents started using them. We have learned that even though these schools are in very poor parts of the city, the people who want to use the computers are not unsophisticated, and are eager to start using email and the web.
Many Yahoo email accounts have been set up, and informal lessons about Spam have started. It was touching and amusing in a way to see one young man get his first spam, telling him that he had been specially selected to get a lot of money from someone in Nigeria. He was pretty excited, but quite downcast when I had to explain that this was a scam and that the people who sent him the email were liars.

Here are some students using the "new" computers.

Bicycles: We didn’t actually receive bicycles from North America, rather we used our budget to buy bicycles that HIV/AIDS caregivers will use when making their rounds out in the country. We bought the bicycles locally because it is much easier logistically, and it supports the local economy. The bicycles are rugged and simple to use and repair (no fancy multi speed mountain bikes here).We sent 100 bicycles to the BIC office in Choma on the back of a big truck with a bunch of the other supplies. It turns out that 100 bicycles take up a lot of room.

That's a lot of bicycles!

We had to use a separate truck to get the bicycles from the shop to the truck depot. We stacked them high!

Of course, after sorting and packing we had to send the goods to our partners. We loaded a big truck full to go to the BIC office in Choma (about 300Km south of Lusaka), and loaded a smaller truck to go to our partner CHD, who are in Lusaka.

This is the truck going to Choma. There was a LOT of stuff on this truck.

Riberia Monde, from CHD was happy to receive AIDS care kits.

Are these supplies making a difference? It’s easy to say that what we receive from MCC in North America is only a drop in the bucket, and in fact that’s true. But for someone receiving a care kit, a bicycle, or a blanket, that drop in the bucket is more like a cool cup of sweet water on a hot and thirsty day. On a human scale, the things we give people do make a difference, even if our gifts have an impact that may not be appreciable until far into the future. Clearly, pure material aid is not THE long term solution, but it is part of a solution.

Making Sausages, the Lusaka Way - by John

This week I was working with the Chiningi Women Development Enterprise (CWDE), which is working with disadvantages women, mostly widows affected by HIV/AIDS, to help them develop small businesses. These ladies generally have no real income, and scrape by, often not having enough food for more than one meal a day. CWDE is hoping to help them develop small businesses that will allow them to get some extra income and reduce their day-to-day struggles.

The first project CWDE has been developing is a small sausage making and selling business. Sausages are quite popular in Lusaka, and in the compounds they are sold in small packages for about $1.25 each (which is generally all you can afford to spend, it might be half a days income). Around CWDE there is plenty of demand for sausages, but generally the complaints are that the local sausage is more filler than meat, textured soy protein being a favorite meat substitute. The ladies thought that by making and selling their own sausages, they could control the quality and command a reasonable price. A group of Japanese ladies generously donated a freezer and some startup capital, and I have been working on the costing model, just to make sure we actually do make some money making sausages. Last Thursday was the big day when all our theories were going to be put to the test.

The first thing we did was to buy our meat. We went to Zambeef, the biggest meat producer in Zambia, and bought ground beef wholesale.

Mmmm, Zambeef

The alternatives, at a place called City Market, were more expensive and a whole lot less sanitary. We bought 40Kg and put it in this nice sanitary plastic bucket, which I insisted on (I’m a bit of a fussy westerner that way).

We've got 40Kg of ground beef, let's go make sausages!

When we got back to CWDE headquarters and sausage making room, we found out that mixing spices and other ingredients into 40Kg of beef is no small task. Good thing we had a couple of good strong young men to do the mixing.

Mixing up the Sausage mixture is hard work, especially if you don't have big enough containers.

After mixing for a while, we were ready to use the locally made sausage filler. Just put 10kg of sausage meat in one end, turn the crank, and sausage comes out the other end!

Filling up the Sausage machine

The first product!

… well, it didn’t quite work, the meat kept coming out of the wrong end. No worries, Zambian ingenuity at its finest fixed that problem with a couple of plastic bags to improve the seal.

Houston, we have a problem!

Trying again, turning the handle and …. The sausage started coming out! Except, the crank was harder and harder to turn, and eventually part of the machine got bent and it didn’t work any more. What to do, we had only used up about 5% of the total meat?!

Luckily, our sausage consultant had an old friend in the sausage business. We loaded up all the meat into the truck and drove down to the local sausage factory.

Now THAT'S a sausage machine, thank goodness for friends in the business

It was a little…primitive, but they had a sausage stuffing machine that worked, and in a little more than two hours we were back at headquarters with the sausages all stuff and ready for packaging.

Our happy sausage consultant and the finished product

An efficient production line was formed and 45 minutes later we had all the finished product in the freezer.

Ready for our costumer, $1.25 per package

The final verdict? After all the production costs, CWDE should be able to produce and sell sausages and make a bit of money. We will have to figure out how to fix the stuffer, or find money for a better one. It will be interesting to see how we figure out the next production issues, but I foresee that this could be a reasonably viable business, particularly since the product is good, and a bit cheaper than in the grocery store.

Chunga Boarding School

We are often asked “What kind of work are you doing?” I want to take an opportunity to explain one of the tasks we have taken on, and show you some pictures.

Our general task in Zambia is to work with local MCC partner organizations, to help them with their general organizational development. This can take very many different forms, it all really depends on what challenges they are facing. The first organization that we have worked with is “Full Proof Mission”, a name taken from the King James Bible (2^nd Timothy 4:5). Full Proof runs a drop-in centre for street kids, called Chisomo, right in the middle of Lusaka. Zambia has a growing street child population, for a great number of reasons, including the breakdown of the family unit due to HIV/AIDS. Chisomo, which is supported by MCC, has a great program for the street kids, including hygiene, feeding, education, and also re-uniting children with parents. . The ultimate aim of Chisomo is to reunite children with their families, if possible their mothers or fathers, or relatives. During the reunification process, Chisomo also tries to provide support for the families, because they are usually very poor, which is sometimes the reason the children left home in the first place. . My job with Chisomo is to develop a cost model and strategic plan and for growth, since they know that there are a lot more street kids out there that they could serve.

On any given day, about 50 street kids attend Chisomo, where they are clothed, fed, washed, and their clothes are cleaned up as well. If they want (and not all do), they can attend school, right on the Chisomo property in one of two classrooms. Some children become regulars at Chisomo, and some of the regulars are fortunate enough to be sponsored to go to Chunga Boarding School. I was lucky enough to go along on a trip to Chunga, which is about four hours west of Lusaka, right in the middle of a national park. The school was originally built for the children of the park rangers, back in the 60s.

Some of the housing at Chunga Boarding School

Now, when I think boarding school, I tend to think of rich British boys in short pants in a very large mansion type place. This school is not like that! First of all, there is no electricity. Second of all, these kids are almost all very poor. The tuition is about 350,000 Kwacha per term, which includes the boarding fee. That’s about C$70. By the time all costs are figure in, it costs Chisomo about 2 Million Kwacha (about $C400) a year to place a child in Chunga. The conditions are a bit primitive.

The “dorms” are concrete block rooms, only some of which have beds, and there are between six and eight kids to a room.

The cooking is typical Zambian fare, lots of Nshima (Maize pudding, like white corn polenta) and “relish”, which is usually something like cooked up greens or cabbage and tomatoes, which the Nshima is served with. (Zambians love this stuff, they eat it two or three meals a day, and declare that they haven’t had a meal until they have eaten Nshima.)

Mmmm..25 KG of Nshima, just enough for lunch

The primitive conditions hide the fact that this school is very successful. Zambia has a national grade seven and grade nine exams, and exam pass rates are a reasonable indication of how good a school is. This school had a grade seven exam pass rate of over 70%, which puts it near the top for Zambian schools, especially government schools. You could tell when talking to the headmaster how dedicated he was to his school, and I guess his dedication also shows in the test results.

Our trip to Chunga was to check on the kids from Chisomo who were enrolled there. They were having a great time, and were keen to take the grade seven exam, which was a very good sign that they understand the value of an education, and also developing goals beyond living on the street. I think the boarding school setting, which is much more structured than living on the street, provides a safe place for these kids to be kids again and to give them a second chance. The kids I talked to really loved it and wanted to stay.

Checking in with the Chisomo Kids.
The older fellow is Aaron Chilunjika, the Chisomo director.

Of course, since Chunga is in the middle of a national park, there are also lots of wild animals (including big cats). After dark, the kids are not allowed to leave the dorms because the animals walk around the campus. I guess that is a strong disincentive to running away.

Not your average school playground

When life gives you lemons…

Make lemonade! Life has given us lemons, loads and loads of lemons but we are not speaking figuratively. We are approaching the end of rainy season and every time it rains we think this might be the last precipitation we’ll see until November or so. This was the week of storms, Monday night was the first time we’ve seen hail on this continent and it was refreshing to see something cold falling from the African skies. Monday’s storm was very heavy but quite short followed by sunshine and a rainbow. Thursday there was another storm also very heavy for a short period of time but we are sorry to say that our lemon tree that has been faithfully bearing fruit for us did not survive the storm. This morning our gardener arrived with a hatchet and proceeded to chop up our tree and haul it away but before he did, I managed to pick any of the fruit that had even a glimmer of yellow on it. This morning was filled with making lemonade, lemonade syrup, concentrated lemon juice, lemon rind and all things lemony. The next item on the menu is lemon meringue pie for tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to invite a few friends to join us.

This is the view of Monday's rainstorm from our verandah and the picture below was of the lemon tree while it was still upright.

I still can’t get away from expecting different seasons with appropriately corresponding weather but it just doesn’t happen that way here. Our winter will be here in about 3 or 4 months so this should be fall but every day the temp has been hitting the mid-thirties. My body is craving the feeling of the cosy clothes that are being shown in the stores in anticipation of the cold weather but it just isn’t cooling down.

In other news, next week is the end of the second term of school and Danica and Erin will be off for 2 weeks. No plans as of yet but I’m sure some things will come up. Erin is participating in an end of term gymnastics performance at assembly on Friday. Danica was under the weather for a few days due to some side effects from her anti-malarial medication she was taking. The doctor insisted on complete bed rest, a diet of only carbs and sugar and 5 types of medications. We may not have followed the doctor’s orders precisely but she is feeling fine now anyway. Her valid point was “How am I supposed to lie still after eating all this sugar?” Good question.

Last Sunday was John’s birthday and we celebrated with breakfast in bed, a lunch out at a nice outdoor German restaurant and then company over for dinner.

My Lusaka Barber - by John

Well, it was time for me to get a haircut and so I decided to go to the neighborhood barber shop. I could have gone to the local mall to the “salon” where other Muzungus (white folks) go, but I thought I would go for a bit of local experience, so I went to “Smart Barber Shop”. I’m not sure if that means that the Barber is smart, or if you come out looking smart, or what.

It’s a pretty small place, enough room for one chair, a small bench where you sit and wait your turn, and the barber.

Here’s a picture of me getting comfortable. The basic question is not “how would you like your hair styled?”, but rather “short or short short?”. I chose “short”. Zip zip zip go the clippers, there were no combs, scissors or other fancy-shmancy beauty salon accoutrements in evidence, just the clippers and a mysterious bottle of stuff they called “spirits” which got spritzed on my hair after the cut.

Here I am forking over the cash. The haircut cost me 5000 Kwatcha, which is about $1.25. Nice look, eh? It may not be the absolutely best cut in the world, but I’ve had worse for twenty times the price. It was worth it for the experience.

I learned to sew today! by Erin

Today my dad was making buns, my sister was studying and my mom was sewing so I decided to sew too. I made two pillows in an afternoon. (my mom taught me how.) I made the design out of newspaper. Then I cut out the fabric, pinned it, sewed it, and ironed it. When that was finished I made the back and stuffed it. I enjoyed doing it and now I am very proud. Maybe I will take after my Aunt Shari!

This is me with my two new pillows.

This is my mom's project for today. The pillows are actually a dark purply colour but you can't tell.

Two Zambian Experiences

It’s time for an update, so we thought we should tell you about a couple of different experiences we’ve had in Zambia on a short trip we recently completed to Choma, Macha and Livingstone.

Choma and Macha are both small towns in southern Zambia, Choma is on the main highway(the comment was made, "It's like Steinbach, only dirtier!"), and is much bigger than Macha. Macha is way out in the bush, about 70km down a bad dirt road from Choma. People get back and forth by foot, bicycle, on the backs of trucks or on small buses. It takes about 2 hours to drive between Choma and Macha. It’s interesting that while population density is relatively low, there are people living everywhere, so that it’s difficult to go more than a kilometer without seeing some kind of dwelling, farm or person walking down the road. Despite its relative remoteness, Macha is well known for its hospital. Macha is the place where the Brethren in Christ mission was founded in 1906 and is also the home to a couple of BIC schools and a nurses training institute. We toured the hospital, it was very interesting in a way that hospitals in North America aren’t. Families of the patients camp just outside the hospital, and cook meals for the patients, because the hospital food isn’t so great. They are doing a lot of good work with some relatively simple equipment and a few dedicated staff. Outside of the hospital and the schools, there is a world class Malaria research station in Macha, sponsored in part by Johns Hopkins, a big medical center in the States. It’s sort of jarring to see the relatively simple hospital, with wood fired cooking facilities and then see a whole bunch of satellite dishes next door at the Malaria place.

Just miles of bad road between you and Macha

There are MCCers working in both Choma and Macha, and we had a good time visiting with them. Here's a picture of Mark and Amanda, doing their best "Zambian" poses.

"From here, you can see the future"

Grade One in Macha - this really is the future

Livingstone is the “Tourist Capital of Zambia”, and one of the main border points for goods coming up from South Africa. Of course the big attraction is Victoria Falls, which are truly spectacular. This time of year the falls are at the high water mark, which means there is a LOT of water going over, so much so that when you take the trail to see the falls, you get absolutely soaked.

Never before seen sights:

• A truly full rainbow making a complete circle, visible from the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  
• A man going down the highway on his bicycle with an adult-sized coffin attached sideways on his bike rack
• Men holding out live chickens and dead fish at arm's length as we go down the highway at 120 km/hour. I guess the thought is that it will be so tempting that we'll slam on the brakes (on the 2 lane highway with no shoulder) and buy some supper.

Unlike Macha, there is a lot to see and do in Livingstone, including a lot of “adventure sports”, like bungee jumping, microlight flights over the falls, rafting and so on. These are great if you are a rich tourist, but cost about three months wages if you are an average Zambian. It’s easy to get cynical about rich white folks here, there is a lot to get cynical about. However, the falls are still an unbelievable experience, and if you ever get a chance, get to see them.

Here are the falls, only one tiny part, they actually stretch out almost 2 Km.
We all got very wet because of the spray, it's like standing in a shower on full blast

Here is the upside down part of the rainbow, it actually made a full circle