Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

Nov 14th

I've been really bad at updating this thing lately, though there's been a
lot happening in the last month. Last weekend, we had a visit from the RTP
team in Lusaka. It was really special to be able to share with them what we
are doing up here. We organized a meeting for them to be able to meet some
of the important coaches in the camp. The girls were really interested in
how we run the program up here and I think learned valuable lessons about
empowerment and community ownership - two aspects of our program we've
worked hard to install. It was a bit weird because this was the first time
we've ever had visitors up here. I had to get used to preparing meals for
other people and occupying myself with making them feel comfortable. I'm not
used to having someone else in MY HOME, and it was a challenge to have them
around 24 hours a/day, even though I am the type who loves to have visitors.
The past week has been pretty busy. We finished the second of our two
workshops last week only yesterday. It's amazing what I've adjusted to over
here. The second workshop we ran was in a small Zambian village called
Mulungu. We conducted the training in a run down school house with no
floors, no windows, broken down benches and a roof that looked like it would
cave in. It goes to prove that one can learn in any environment.

Nov 15th

Tough going these days. I've been stuck in a little bit of a lazy routine -
no exercises, unmotivated my the work, not really enjoying the company im
keeping, finding myself having to push to go out and do things. I'm feeling
like I wanna just mope around the house. Think I need some coffee
Nevertheless, the work continues. In the camp today, I met with the
committee responsible for the intramural league. Some of the coaches were
more than a little concerned about cheating the had been going on amongst
the players. I guess students from one school had been playing on other
schools teams. I suggested coming up with rules that all the teams should
follow, so we developed a list of rules. We are trying to put the emphasis
on team work and fairplay, but unfortunately a lot of the players and
coaches are very competitive - im sure they don't get it from me.hah!
It's weird to think about how different and foreign things were to me when I
first arrived in the camp - everything seems normal now: the happy Congolese
children running unsupervised all over the camp - running away from you when
you step from the vehicle out of fear of white people; seeing woman lined up
a water holes at all hours of the day; kids as young as 4 or 5 working in
the fields (along with mothers with babies on their back); the only refugee
vehicle in the camp constantly cramped with jubuliant boys; school girls
having the time of their lives playing hop scotch and cats cradle. I get the
sense that the suffering and hardship of these people is overcome in the
everyday pleasures of life.

Nov. 16th

The RTP team from Kala came in for a visit today. Kevin has the funniest
stories ever, including teaching all the camp kids how to say "GO OILERS
GO!!" How can you be from Calgary and be an Edmonton fan? We decided we'd
shoot a video of the kids saying it when we go to visit their camp. I'm sure
We immediately started to plan our Christmas trip to Tanzania. We decided to
try to go to Rwanda for New Year's, but getting there is going to be a bit
painful. We'll have to start out from Dar Es Salaam on the 27th, and go
through Kenya, and Uganda before we can get to Rwanda. We were informed
there's no direct route through Tanzania to Rwanda, which means we'll have
to spend 3 whole days on the bus and go through 3 countries. The only good
thing about it is the stamps in our passports.

Nov. 17th
Long meetings with the Kala team today, going over their tasks for our camp
after we leave in January. We are expecting them to deliver equipment to our
camp every 3 months and to meet with our key coaches and volunteers. It
means that they really need to understand our whole program and meet
everybody involved. I think we've already overloaded them with work.
In the afternoon it was out to the falls. It was great to reminisce with
Kevin about home and even some common friends that we have in Calgary.
Kevin's partner Kim had been here for 3 months now and is starting to get
used to the lifestyle (although very slowly). She plans to start Med school
next year and is using this experience towards her application. A very
driven woman who will do well in this work and who will really learn a lot
from the experience. It's been great getting to know her.

Nov 18th

Off to Kawambwa today to visit the Kala camp. So much different in it's set
up to our camp but very much similar in a way to. The refugees here are more
of a rural population than at our camp and as a result the level of
education and French speaking is not as high. The PC"s here work through a
translator, though they have been working very hard to learn Swahili and
French. We were taken around for a tour in the camp and saw the bizarre two
story houses, the education department with 4 computers (very popular) and
all the schools and the health centre. We ended the day watching a
basketball game for a league that Kevin had been instrumental in setting up
and met a bunch of the community coaches.

Nov. 19th

We've been learning a little bit more about repatriation and what the UN is
planning for the next few months. I guess there are a lot of refugees
voluntarily returning back to the Congo, though many are not making to the
across the border as they seem to be waiting there until the situation is
safe. These people are very vulnerable as many are getting sick, going
hungry or being treated unfairly by the host Zambians. A lot of Zambians
don't like to see the Congolese fighting for the scarce resources that are
out there. In this light, UNHCR has decided that even though they don't
think the situation in the Congo is safe enough to return, they are going to
start assisting with transportation back to Congo in hopes that the refugees
who are returning voluntarily will have an easier trip back. The
organization for Migration is also getting involved and will be providing
the buses for return.
As we came into Kala camp, we were told that a registration exercise has
started to provide each refugee with photo ID and to get an accurate picture
of how many people want to return. The same exercise will be taking place in
Mwange next month.

Nov. 20th

Caught a ride with a little pick up back to Mporokoso today as the guy who
was supposed to give us a lift mysteriously didn't show up. It was an
interesting trip up through a local tea estate that produces a lot of the
Zambian tea. A HUGE, HUGE compound that employs almost 2000 people from the
local population and is owed by a local Indian man who ships the tea all
over the world. Three hours later we were back home and getting ready for a
busy week. Our boss who was supposed to come from Toronto in early December
has cancelled her trip and is sending her supervisor in her place. Seems her
father in law (she was just married 2 weeks ago) has fallen very ill and
therefore she can't come. We felt bad for her as we know she is very excited
to see where our program is at and has been very involved with the succeses
here from Day 1. Nevertheless, we are excited about the Officer in charge of
all of Southern Africa will be coming to see us and we've already started
setting up meetings and preparing. He'll be coming on the 2nd Dec.

Nov. 21st

Just in the office today, finishing off some translating and reporting. Our
vehicle is acting up again and the problems with our driver are neverending.
Head office has recommended that we let him go and try to find a
replacement, but that seems impossible given the project is ending in
January.
People are getting very worried about the weather. Everyone's crops are in
but there hasn't been rains for over three weeks. The weather is scortching
hot and if there's no rain soon, we could have a major drought on our hands.
This time last year, it had already been raining for a month. Pray for rain.

Nov 22nd

Well, we've come to a stand still in the driver situation. We aren't going
to let him go, even after all the lies he has told us. He has now been in 4
accidents in the past two months and hasn't been straight with us on any of
them. Granted, they haven't at all been major accidents, but it was the
lying that is really bothering us. Not only that, but he seems to have lost
initiative to work hard and the vehicle is having major problems. We've had
to send for spare parts in Lusaka but we're unsure if they'll make it here
in time for our trip to Kasama this weekend. World Aids day is taking place
on Dec. 1st and we are supposed to be picking up a drama group from Kasama
on Sat. to perform for all the refugees on Dec. 1. AHHHH!!! The stress is
building.

Nov. 23rd

I need a vacation.

Sept 24th

We’re getting ready for our trip to Lusaka next week. Looks like it’s going to be an insanely busy time in the capital. I hope to be able to spend some time with the RTP team there. I’ve become quite close to one of the girls named Doreen from Germany. They’re having a really tough time adjusting to their new team member that just came a month ago. It seems none of them are getting along. They’ve been put intot a tough situation where the two of them have been working together for the past 7 months and then have to change everything when a new person comes in. I hope they can work it out.
A couple funny stories have happened in the past couple days. At lunch yesterday, Sophie had the unfortunate circumstance of finding worms in her beans… The thing was that it wasn’t until she was almost finished eating that she found them. Getting “worms” in your stomach is a quite common thing here – she’s hoping she doesn’t get anything… These new cats have also become a huge nuisance. We’ve let them inside the house now, to see if we can train them, but it’s not going to be easy. They are pertrified of human contact and only come out of hiding when there’s food. We came back very late last night and as Sophie crawled into bed, she let out a scream!! Seems that when we were out, one of the cats “shat” in Sophie’s bed and she didn’t notice it until she was under the covers. Making it even worse was the fact that she had just washed her sheets… We gotta get rid of those cats…

Sept 25th

A relaxing Sunday today. I sat around for the morning practicing guitar, baking , watching movies and writing letters. I have a lot of letters to finish before we go to Lusaka including my grandma, mom and dad, sisters, Claire and Colleen.
I’m starting to think about what will lie ahead after I am finished this placement. So far, no decisions have been made. The first thing I’d like to do is get back to Calgary to visit with Sasha and Flynn, then I’d love to go to the coast to see Paige and friends, from there it would be over to Winnipeg to see the parents new job, house and my grandma and relatives. Though, something keeps tugging at the back of my mind to stay over there and get some more experience while I still can. I’d love to do another placement somewhere in Africa and mayber get another 6 months work experience in the field before going back to school in September. I was thinking about trying to do a masters in Public Administration or possible NGO administration, maybe even law if I can get my undergrad marks a little higher.
I would also really like to visit Europe on my way home. Possibly visiting friends in France, Switzerland, Denmark and Italy. I’ve promised my friend Claire a visit to Geneva on my way home. Just hope everything works out.

Sept 26th

Riding to the camp today I’ve realized how truly lucky I am to be here; to be working with people from who I am learning so much and to who, I am hopefully giving back to. The people we are working with in the camp have thanked us on many occasions for giving to them a sense of identity within the camp of working with children and being able to teach others. Today, I sat down with one of the coaches, a man named Justin who has been with RTP since the beginning. He was explaining to me all the things he has learned from RTP, most of all giving him the courage to speak out and teach people in respectful way that others will listen. For my part, the biggest thing I have learned from the people here is how to be caring; how to communicate with people in a respectful way and honour commitments. Responsibility has always been something I’ve lacked in life. Gaining respect through interacting with people. It’s not that one has to be smart, or innovative or driven or tactful, it’s more important to be honest, dedicated, respectful and trusted; to care for others in a way that people will know that you realize aspects their life that make the biggest difference: family, friends, survival and respect.

Sept 27th

Life can be cruel. I was able to sit down today with one refugee lady in the camp, a very close friend of Sophie, who began telling me about her life. A single mother who lost not only her mother and father in the war, but also her husband. She traveled alone to the camp all the way from the DRC, as she couldn’t feel safe anymore in her home. It’s amazing to see how she is now. She is a young lady (maybe 28 years) who has become an important part of this camp. Not only is she a very active coach, she also is an employee at the community services where she carries out home visits to look up on sick people. Also, whenever there is an event in the camp, she is there to lend a hand in cooking, cleaning and serving. She also instructs dancing at the camp, to which Sophie attends the lessons whenever she can (it’s Congolese Rhumba dancing). It’s uplifting to see a person who can overcome such huge obstacles to live a normal, happy life.

Sept 28th

Down at the market today, I ran into the Mporokoso’s crazy lady. About 3 weeks ago, after begging for money at each time seeing me, I finally gave her some a 500 kwacha bill. At first I didn’t know what the hell she was saying. It sounded as if she was crying to me to save her life or something like that, it wasn’t until someone explained to me that she only wanted a bit of money. One day, as the market was at it’s fullest, she again started begging for money, actually yelling. It seemed the whole market turned around to witness the scene, so, after asking her to keep it down, I gave her the money. It seemed some huge weight was lifted of her head – im not sure what it was, but ever since that time, the woman has never bothered me, only nodding her head slightly whenever I go by…

Sept 29th

Our monthly meeting with HODI (NGO responsible for community services and education in the camp). It went ok, although the Project Manager was mysteriously absent, so we held the meeting with the Education Supervisor and the newly appointed HIV/Aids program coordinator. The Aids lady is so fresh to the experience that she really didn’t have a clue what was going on. Every suggestion that we made she just nodded her head and agreed with us. The other lady, the education supervisor, named Chiluba, is a good friend of Sophie’s and is a very smart lady. She’s a Zambian who speaks fluent French and English and has graduated from the University of Zambia. During this meeting, she didn’t really say much, except to ask us when it would be finished… It remains a struggle to work with HODI.

Sept 30th

Today was the September interagency meeting. It was great to see Kevin, who works for RTP in the Kala refugee camp again. He came with his new work partner Kim, who hails from Toronto and has been in the country about 2 months now. He caught me up on all the hockey news, including all the trades and the Flames being rated number one in the league by Sports Illustrated!!!
We talked shop for awhile and it was decided that we would like to organize an intercamp refugee Olympics, where a group of student athletes from each of our camps would come and participate in games in the others camp. We set a date for beginning December and have already began planning. I thought it would be a great idea as not only would it serve as a great time for the kids but some of them would also have the chance to meet friends and family that they wouldn’t have seen in years. It’s going to be a lot of work but when we see the look on some of the kids faces after arriving in the other camp, it will all be worth it…

Oct. 1st

Off to Lusaka today. Ill report when our trip is finished…

Oct. 2nd to15th

What a whirlwind trip it was. Two of the busiest weeks I’ve ever had in my life and I’m completely tired out. The first job was to have the vehicle repaired. This, of course, was a more difficult procedure then first planned. We also prepared Physical Education Manuals to be handed out to teachers as well as an Anti-Aids manual that we will give to the club.
I also wanted to look at job opportunities while I was there for February, but I couldn’t find much.
Also while we were there, our driver got in an accident when he ran into another vehicle, when the police showed up he tried to argue his way out of a ticket and was thrown in jail. We had to go there later on in the day to pay the ticket and get the vehicle out of impound. When you get a ticket here they make you pay it on the spot and if you can’t then they will impound your vehicle until they do. Most of the cops will also try to get something on the side and will there for tell you the ticket is worth a lot more than it actually is. IN this case, the officer said the ticket was 500,000 kw, when it was only actually 300,000 kw. It wasn’t until we asked for an official receipt that he resisicended the quote.
The trips there and back were surprisingly smooth. Only one break down!!!


Oct. 16th

Mporokoso… This place is really starting to feel like home. Can’t believe I’ve already been here almost 8 months (although time hasn’t passed too quickly)… As I walk down to the market for the hundredth time, everything is familiar. The kids yelling “HOW ARE YOU?” at me; the rusted out time roofing, the knee deep potholes, huge poplar trees, the heat, the run down guest house on the corner of market, the shopkeepers with their hellos, big smiles and hand shakes. I can sit on my front porch and name just about every neighbor within sight. Mr Muma lives to the left of us and works as an mechanic, he is always working on vehicles with family members standing around watching; down the street to the left and right is my friend Billy and my other friend Barry. Kitty corner to us is Mr Phiri, the Health supervisor at Red Cross, here since 1999, leaving his wife and kids to attend private school in Kasama… Ill miss the place…

Oct 17th

Learned today that UNHCR is going to start repatriation for the refugees back to Congo next year. This is huge news. It means that the UN has determined that the situation is stable enough for people to start returning home. They will begin the exercise of making sure people have homes to go back to, that there will be sufficient food, water and education back home and that they will be transported back to the regional capital of Lubumbashi. They are scheduled to start in the summer of next year with 5000 refugees, then more will follow. Most people here say that they will not go back until elections are held and there will be schools for their children to go back to. IN my opinion it may be a little premature for repatriation to start, being that there is still fighting in the northwestern Kivu region and based on the bureaucratic system that is in place and a lack of government in rural areas,

Oct 18th

In the camp today for some meetings. It seems the intramural league that we’ve worked so hard in setting up is going as planned. All the players and coaches are really excited to compete in the matches. The only problem I have with it is that it seems to be way to competitive. The losing team always looks really depressed and the winning team will mock the losing team. I feel bad for the lsing players and coaches. The other day, I saw something quite disheartening. In the aftermath of a basketball victory by Mwange D school (the court is usually surrounded by 100’s of hyper kids) one of the children started thowing sand in other players eyes. There was about 3 kids of the ground screaming in pain. All of the sudden one of the coaches came by and started knocking kids in the back of the head for throwing the sand. Corporal punishment is quite common here and children are quite often punished through violence. I felt like we were partly responsible for the violence on this day as it was a result of the excitement caused by the match.

Oct 19th

Taking my regular stroll over to a bakers house who sells me buns today, I again passed by the catholic church where there is always beautiful Zambian music coming from. I decided to take a peak inside the door to listen and stood at the back of the church for a good hour. I was enchanted by the sounds. It seems impossible that so many woman can all have such glorious voices and though I didn’t understand a word of the music, it sounded great all the same. When I finally arrived at the bakers house, I greeted his kids as usual and went through the usual formalities – asking how his day is going, then telling him how many buns I want, to which he always replies “Only 2 buns”, to which I reply “Yes only 2, but ill come for more tomorrow”, he wishes me a pleasant evening, I do the same and I walk back home. The buns are ready at 4 pm everyday, and the fresher you can get them the better. He always picks out the best buns for me. Haha…

Oct 20th

The handover of the project to the community is almost complete. We now have refugees facilitating every workshop and meeting with us only being present for support. So why is it we are still so busy? Today I was swamped with work and when I finally got home it was straight to bed. It seems hard to believe that I can’t sleep in here at all!! I’m up at 6 am every morning, when usually at home I can sleep all day. I think it must be the heat. Already by that time in the day it can be 30 degrees and ill never get used to that. I wonder if ill ever have the ability to sleep in again?

August 12-26: VISIT FROM HOME!!

I’ve just spent the most amazing past two weeks with a visit from my cousin Abbie, my sister Sasha and my brother-in-law Brian. I hadn’t realized just how much I was missing my family until the 3 of them walked through the gates at Lusaka airport. They survived a harrowing 2 days of planes and airport terminals complete with baggage carrier strikes in London, a jet fuel shortage in Harare and more than 40 hours on the plane to come to the middle of Africa in hopes of discovering what life is like on this side of the world (and to see me!). I expected them to be absolutely exhausted when they arrived but it turned out they were high on adrenaline (even with the 10 hour time difference) and were ready to take on Lusaka. The first of many crazy experiences came when we went to change money. The place where we had gone was just closing, but when they heard the amount of money we wanted to change, they quickly opened the door for us. It ended up being quite the sketchy situation where some dude had to run to a couple of different buildings to find our money and all accounting of our money with receipts and computers was thrown out the window. We were smart to count all the money a couple of times before we walked out of the place. Welcome to Zambia…
The next day, it was immediately off to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. After checking into our hotel, it was immediately time to set off to watch the sun set over the biggest water falls in the world. What an amazing, unforgettable sight. The falls extend for some 4 kilometers and fall over 300 meters. At times during the year, the mist from the falls is so dense that you’re soaked by the time you are through, though at this time of year, the water is low so that one can see right to the bottom of the gorge where the water comes crashing to the ground. The evening was spent with drinks back at our hostel, while I was updated about family and friends back home.
Day 3 was adventure day, originally thought to be filled with river rafting and bungee jumping, we decided to down scale our activities to hiking and a gorge swing (thought to be a little LESS scary). The hike turned out to be one of the best things we did (Brian particularly enjoyed it). A guide took us on a trail out over the top of the falls. We had to wade through some pretty strong currents, across a weir and over some slippery rocks, before arriving at a beautiful grotto right at the tip of the falls called “The Devils Armchair”. We swam, dove, laughed and relaxed on the tip of the falls, overlooking what seemed like the whole of Africa. If we only knew what we would be in for later on in the day…
The ride out to the gorge swing seemed pretty innocent. We met our charming instructor, strapped on our harnesses and joked about being nervous. When we looked out to the swing, it seemed pretty harmless: a cable secured across the length of a 100 meter gorge with another cable extending vertically down and a clasp attached to the end where the “swinger” was secured into place. I was imagining a giant school yard swing were one’s inertia pulls you back and forth. Abbie was chosen to go first and as she received instructions on what to do, we quickly realized that this was nothing like we had planned. They neglected to tell us that there was a 4 second free fall into the gorge before you were caught by the swing. My heart heaved when I saw Abbie take the jump… I started to think maybe this wasn’t such a good idea… then Sasha’s turn – hmmmm.. maybe we should go home now… Suddenly, I was next and at the edge of the platform, looking down to my death (or so it felt). I was ready to turn around when I heard the countdown. I couldn’t deny my family, so I jumped. I must say that’s by far the scariest thing I’ve ever done and I won’t be doing it EVER (EVER) again…
From Livingstone, we endured two terribly long bus rides to reach South Luangwa Wildlife Park. This brought us to one of the most comical points in the trip. We ended up arriving at the safari camp where we were booked very late at night. One of the managers met us at the reception and escorted us over to the tents where we were staying. We started to get a bit apprehensive when we heard loud roars and footsteps all around our tents and the manager began to explain that the camp had elephants, hippos, even lions walk through the camp on a regular basis, though he added that we wouldn’t have a problem if we didn’t have food in out tent, especially fruits. I looked down to what I had been carrying and saw the big bag of apples, a box of fruit juice and some granola bars. The manager saw them at the same time and just started shaking his head at me… We quickly went to stash the things in the food lockers. Needless to say, none of us slept very well that night, though we found out in the morning that the roars and footsteps we were hearing were a ways away. I’ll never forget our petrified looks that night as we all huddled in one of the tents while urging Brian to open the tent’s zipper to see what was outside, then running with Sasha to the next tent…
From the safari (yes, we saw every animal that you see in the National Geographic) it was off to Malawi, our destination being the Lake of Malawi to partake in some serious R & R before the fam returned to Canada. It turned out to be a beautiful destination. The beaches of Lake Malawi reminded me of Mediterranean beaches and the water was incredibly warm. We also were fortunate to stay at a cool beach resort that boasted great food, cold beer and a breathtaking view over the lake. I got a chance to spend an afternoon with my sister when we decided to take a day trip to the local village named Dwangwa. This turned into a truly African experience when after getting out onto the highway to look for a lift we hopped into the back of a large truck for the 15 min ride into Dwangwa. Upon arrival, the usual stares came from the people who don’t see many white faces and we were soon approached by an enthusiastic Malawian wanting to tour us around the village. We ended up becoming quite close with this man after a two hour walk around town and by the end we shared a drink with him at the local grocery store and exchanged contact details, promising to send him a photo of the three of us taken earlier in the day. The ride back to the resort was a bit more difficult, with Sasha and I squeezing into the back of a tiny pick up filled with bags of corn, chickens, sugar cane, ducks and bags…. Quite the cultural experience and I was glad Sasha shared it with me…
That night, as with every other night, Brian and I shared some beers while the girls stuck to soft drinks, though this night there would be a change of guard. The barmen had just received a couple of bottles of “local” spirit liquor, called Kichasu. This alcohol is the most foul, strong booze around and not for the faint of heart. Of course Brian had to try a little and I convinced him that it “wasn’t that bad”. The face he made after drinking the Kichasu told me otherwise…

From Lake Malawi it was back to Lusaka for them to get ready to fly back to Canada. We did the obligatory craft markets for statues, painting, carving, chairs and jewelry and went out to some nice restaurants for food. Brian was quite sick when we arrived back to Lusaka, we think from some bad food or water that he had taken, but I managed to get them off safely to the airport in good time to get on the plane. Hopefully the trip back home was smoother then the trip here…

April 29th
After a long refreshing vacation with the family, it was time to get back up to Mporokoso. I hadn’t been looking forward at all to the grueling 16 hour trip as this time I would be doing it by public transport. The first bus left at 3 am and I thought I was smart getting the front seat of the bus with lots of leg room. Little did I know the driver would have his window wide open blowing cold air into my face and the music pumping over a blown stereo. After arriving in Kasama, I was loaded into the back of a small pick up. By the time I arrived in Mporokoso, my ass was numb from sitting on a tire rim for 4 hours and I was covered in red dust from head to toe…
What a relief to be back home though. I was immediately greeted by friends and our dog and my heart leapt when I saw our house again. Our garden was in full harvest, our fence had been repaired and they had finally finished off our insaka. Things were looking up…

Aug. 30th

Up bright and early to start back at work in the camp. It was nice to see some of the refugees that I have become so close with and hear their happiness for my return. It was like I had been gone for years! I got started by going around to all the schools and distributing some sports equipment. I also wanted to meet with coaches and teachers that had participated in the sports workshop that I had given before leaving on vacation. The idea is that these coaches will be working to organize an intramural sports league between schools in basketball, volleyball and netball. As the new school season is supposed to start next Monday, I tried motivating these teachers to start meeting with each other to coordinate matches. They all seemed really encouraged to put in the work, which is a good sign.
I had a good laugh later on in the day, when I met the community services supervisor (Mr. Kasenge) to talk about installing new basketball hoops. I’m excited about these hoops because they are made out of metal with nice rims and solid backboards. All the sports facilities that we’ve built in the camp are made out of wood, so these hoops should last a lot longer. Mr. Kasenge asked me about my holiday and I started to explain to him how I had been all over to Victoria Falls, a wildlife park, Lusaka, Lake Malawi, etc. I saw him looking at me very confusedly and he said “You went to all those places within 2 weeks? How’s that possible? We haven’t set foot outside of this refugee camp since 1999.” I continued looking at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or joking, before we both burst out into laughter. It’s amazing how some of these people, who live in so desperate a situation can still keep a sense of humour and zest for life…

Aug. 31st

I’ve been spending the past few days chatting with Sophie, trying to get a sense of where the program has been heading while I’ve been away. Sophie’s launched some very good initiatives, including organizing for a theatre group from Lusaka to come and spend a week with the refugees teaching them drama. The people here really love animation, especially acting, dancing and singing. It’s a big part of entertainment and amusement in the camp. We have also started to make all the preparation for our project handover to the community. We’ve decided to replace all of the sports poles, baskets and nets with metal infrastructure, we’ve also started to create manuals for each school and all of the coaches that contains all of the things we’ve been teaching. They will use these manuals to facilitate coaching workshops in the future. We’ve also started to tell all of the other NGO’s that we will be leaving and meeting with them to see which elements of the project they can take over. We hope that HODI will support the coaches by including them in events but we are pessimistic as this NGO is extremely overworked and understaffed and has problems supporting even their own staff. We’ve also made arrangements with the Right to Play team in Kawambwa to deliver sports equipment to the coaches here on a bi-monthly basis and to come to Mwange camp while we are still here to meet all the key actors in the camp. We know that our level of commitment and hard work during these last 5 months is going to determine if what we are planning is going to work. That means complete dedication to the task at hand (probably good for me as there will be no time to miss home!!).

Sept 1st

New MONTH!! Had a phone call from the RTP team in Lusaka today. They are thinking about coming up to pay us a visit at the end of the month. It would be so great to have their company up here and for them to see our project. It’s a shame that we visit Lusaka and get to see what they’re up to in their project, but they don’t have any clue about ours…
Forgot to mention that there are 2 new additions to the RTP Zambia team. Kim has joined my buddy Kevin at the other refugee project in Kala and Glenn has joined the Lusaka team (there’s now 3 of them) as the communications coordinator. Kim is from Ontario and has graduated with a Kinesiology degree; she also speaks French, which will be a huge benefit for the team there. She seems like a great girl and is getting along well with Kevin, though we’ll have to see if she can deal with the remoteness of the project. Glenn is in the process of writing the thesis of his master’s degree in International Development Studies. He was hoping to be placed in Afghanistan (the topic of his thesis) and is a bit disappointed that he was given Zambia, but he knows tons about development and seems to work really well with people. We’ll see how he adjusts to living with and working 24 hours a day with two women!!

Sept 2nd

Stayed in town today and got some work done. I walked around town and took care of some errands like paying bills, going to the bank and visiting the welder’s shop. I ran into a man who farms here in Mporokoso but has spent a lot of time living in the UK. For some reason the conversation turned to my dating life and before I knew it the man was proposing that I marry his daughter! I quickly got out of the conversation, making some excuse about being late for an appointment.

Sept 3rd

It’s becoming unbearably hot here. It must be getting up to 35 degrees by noon. I thought that I would eventually become used to the heat, but it’s been making me very drowsy and lazy… The people here are starting to prepare for the rains to return. The brush in the fields that has gathered since the last harvest has been slashed and burned and families are beginning to till their fields. The nights here have been the best time when the heat starts to dissipate and the bright moon shines over the glow of burning fields in all directions. My daily routine remains the same since I got here. Up at the crack of dawn to do some exercise, eat cereal, eggs or bread, sip tea while reading whatever material has been sent to me from Canada lately and then sit down at the computer to write this blog. From there it’s off to the camp or around town to the market, the post office or the bank. The evenings are usually spent at friends’ houses, watching movies or out for a beer. I enjoy the simplistic nature of life here. There’s no such thing as “extra-curricular” activities, personal development, clubs or studies. People here are content with looking after their families, farms and businesses. We take things for granted at home that would never be overlooked here. For example, these days the power is out every night. Life doesn’t stop but goes on as normal. Nobody has a phone, which makes those closest to you even more important. Nobody has any extra money to spare, which makes life constrained to your family, your community and your loved ones. People worry less here.
They’re not concerned with what’s going on in Iraq or the next development intitiative by the UN, they want to know about things that are most important to you… For all these things, I love living in this place…

Sept 4th

I was getting pretty sentimental in the last blog but these power outages are getting really annoying. Come home from a long day wanting a shower, a hot meal and to sit down in front of a movie, only to discover that the power goes out when your eggs are half cooked, your water hasn’t quite boiled and you can’t find out what happened at the end of the movie!!!
Mporokoso exists at “the end of the national grid” which means any interruptions to the power lines ANYWHERE in the system means we don’t get power. Not to mention if any of the major cities (Lusaka and Kitwe) are short power, then our power supply will be redirected so that the cities have power all the time!!

Other than that, today was a great day. Went out to the water falls again. This time accompanied by our driver’s little one year old girl named Joy. She’s the cutest little girl and has become quite fond of Sophie and I. Sophie has been teaching her to swim the past couple of weeks. It’s a shame that Zambia, being a landlocked country, most people don’t have a clue how to swim. Even the little girls Mom won’t go near the water. I was thrilled to take Joy into the water and help her kick her feet and blow bubbles into the water! Though it makes me miss my little one year old nephew at home!! Only a few more months till I see him again!!

Sept 5th

Back to work today. Sophie and I sat down for a long meeting to discuss our schedule for the next few months. We decided to go to Lusaka early next month as last time we went we didn’t get near enough sports equipment for the camp. In November our boss from Canada is coming to visit. This means working hard so that everything that we have been reporting to her on is in place in the camp. We also have a number of workshops to give in teaching refugees more about facilitating their own workshops and project management.

Sept 6th

A Section Leader meeting in the camp today. The talk was about refugees selling or trading their ration cards for either money or food. Normally, if a refugee leaves the camp, they are required to turn in their ration cards and therefore give up their refugee status. This is the only way that we can track how many people are in the camp; who’s staying and who’s leaving. You’ll find that one family has acquired 4 ration cards and that they are just selling the extra food that they get when it is distributed. There was also talk about refugees having friends and family come into the camp without registering them. A few days ago, a refugee was beaten up so badly that he was almost killed. He remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The person who beat the man up was a visitor in the camp and nobody really knew who he was. It is very easy for people to take advantage of these people who are in such desperate situations.
When the refugees were given a chance to raise their concerns, it was mostly about the state of the schools. It seems some of the teachers have repatriated back to the Congo and there are too many students and not enough teachers. Not only that, but some of the schools are falling apart: the benches that students sit on are breaking and corroding away, the chalk boards are falling off the walls and some of the brick walls are starting to fall down. Hopefully something can be fixed soon…

Sept 7th

Had a phone meeting with our boss in Toronto today. She confirmed that she’ll be coming to visit our project in late November. She’ll only come for a couple of days, just to see that everything that we have been reporting on is actually happening and to help us prioritize what we’ll be working on for the next few months. There have been a lot of changes at Right to Play head office in the past few months. It used to be that our boss was in charge of our project and others in Thailand, now they have changed it so that our boss is now responsible for all the projects in Southern Africa. That means that not only will she be coming to visit our project, but also the one in Lusaka and Kawambwa and projects in Rwanda and Uganda.

Sept 8th

I’ve been learning more and more about the situation in the Congo. I had been hearing that a lot of the refugees had been going back to their homes, thinking it was safe enough to return. It turns out that those refugees have been leaving the camp but have been stopping at the border before actually crossing into their home country. Most of them are just waiting for elections to take place before actually returning to their homelands. The elections had been scheduled for this year, and then were pushed back to next spring, now it sounds like they are at least a year away from holding them. It seems the current President Kabila (son to the former President who was assassinated by Rwandan Rebel troops 3 years ago) is trying to hold on to power for as long as possible while he grabs what’s left of the Congo’s natural resources. Not to mention that there is nowhere near the infrastructure in place to hold nation wide elections – last report said that there is not even any kind of federal election body existing. There is a large contingent of UN peacekeepers in the North East area of Koivu, who have been losing a battle to set up a regional government in an area dominated by Rwandan and Mai-Mai rebel forces.

Sept 9th

Homesick. Found myself staring at pictures from home for hours on end. My guitar and the stack of DVD’s that my brother in law sent over seem to be little comfort in missing out on my nephew’s first steps and first words. I’m also disappointed to miss my parents move out to Winnipeg and being able to support them in a bit of a stressful time. Not to mention our phone stopped working again and I haven’t been writing letters as I found out that a few that I had sent out had been lost in the Zambian Post… Hopefully things will improve next week when a friend from Lusaka is coming out for a mission here for a week… WHAHHHHH!!!!

Sept 10th

Another working weekend. Today was quite uplifting. We had certificate distribution day for a group of coaches that have attained their level 3 coaching training. The level 3 coaches are those that we are relying upon to continue the program after we are gone, and as such we have become very close to them. I ended up bringing my Polaroid camera along so that they would each have a picture with us from the ceremony. I couldn’t believe the look on their faces when they saw that the picture would be developed right away. They had never seen something like that before in their lives! It’s amazing how life can take such dramatic twists and turns and that the human spirit is the ebb and flow to which the tides of these movements flow…

Sept 11th

A boring Sunday… Spent the morning with my friend Barry. He’d asked if I can teach him how to use the computer, so we’ve set up times on Sunday so that he can learn. He’s planning on going back to school next year to study business, though I’ve told him he needs to know computers in order to be successful. Most people are pretty undereducated here and just graduating from high school is a huge achievement. Barry has a certificate in “purchasing and supply” and would like to continue into a diploma. He’s expressed interest in coming to Canada to study, so I’ve told him I’ll look into it for him if he’s serious…
Received some mail today – always very exciting… Thank you’s go out to Mom (she’s been writing me every week!!), Kate, magazines from dad, another postcard from Claire and a lovely letter from Colleen!! I love you guys… When I get to Lusaka in 3 weeks, I’ll be sending out replies…

Sept 12th

Today it was nice to see that the work on the road out to the camp is almost finished, though it has been a dreadfully slow process. One section of the road that was almost impassible during the rainy season has been fully restored and they have been replacing all of the drainage ducts. It should make things a lot easier when it starts to rain at the end of October. It’s weird being able to accurately predict when the seasons change here. It’s always the same time, whereas in Canada, you never know when the next storm is going to hit…
Work in the camp has been very interesting. With the handover of the program to the community, we are trying to install a sense of ownership of RTP into the refugees. The problem is that white people have been around running the program for the last 3 years, so this is what people identify RTP with. We’ve come up with a plan of trying to be in the camp less and less as January approaches and let the refugees run all of the meetings, workshops, events, and sports matches, but it’s really hard detaching yourself from something when it’s been such a big part of my life for the past 7 months. Definitely for the best though…

Sept 13th

I forgot to write about a wedding that I attended last weekend… Hahah… what a spectacle.
A lady who we trained as a coach last year was being married to a man who works at the local outreach branch of the Red Cross. One of Sophie’s good friends was on the organizing committee, hence the reason I was invited. Everything was going fine when we arrived. A gift had been organized, I put on my finest shirt and pants, even shaved and washed, then took the short walk to the community hall (I think that’s what it was though it looks more like an abandoned warehouse). I could sense disaster as I walked through the door. People scattered about, nothing looking organized and realizing that the MC would be a gentlemen known around town for being quite boisterous but wasn’t going to be speaking any English throughout the whole ceremony!
After the initial entry of the couple, dancing, singing, etc., the electricity died. A huge BOOO went up from the crowd, and then the waiting began. Apparently a generator had been brought in case of an outage, though nobody had thought to check if it actually worked (it didn’t) and a huge group of people ended up sitting on hard chairs, dying of heat in pitch darkness for over an hour. When the lights did come back on, half of the people had left and the other half of the people were sleeping and the party had officially died. It wasn’t until the DJ finally figured out how to work the sound system that people came back to life. I ended up leaving as soon as the customary greeting of the wedding party was out of the way and hurried back home before the evening got any worse. Hope there’s no more weddings scheduled in Mporokoso… phewwww!

Sept. 14th

I’m a few days behind in my blogging, so bear with me while I try to remember the events of the past few days.
We recently got some cats… Funny story. Zambians really don’t like cats, they are seen as bad luck and they associate them with witchcraft (?). After the disappearance of our two cats a couple months ago, we’ve been trying to get another one ever since. As Sophie was coming home the other day, she saw a few pairs of eyes hiding out under some bricks so we figured this would be a good chance to get some cats. The rats/mice in our house have been getting really bad ever since the demise of our cats. It was time for action…
The guards recruited a couple boys to go get them. Wish we knew how vicious and angry the cats were. It became a very difficult task getting the cats back to our place and trapping them in the insaka where they couldn’t escape. After that was achieved, it was up to the guards to keep them from running away… It seemed every time I looked out the window for the next few days, the guards (and some children helpers) were running all over Mporokoso trying to catch these devils. Remains to be seen whether the rat problem will be looked after…

Sept 15th

Out to the camp today to meet with coaches interested in coordinating some workshops on gender equality. Sophie had the idea of working with the community to show them just how strong the gender imbalances are in the camp. It has always been a challenge to involve women and children in our programs. Usually, at the tender age of 6 or 7 a girl is already expected to be looking after children, cooking, fetching water, cleaning and collecting firewood. All cooking is done with charcoal, made out of wood. Most of the women and girls have to travel many kilometers in order to fetch the wood; leaving at 3 or 4 am, to be back to the camp by 10 pm. Not to mention the fact that a lot of them are hurt while cutting down the trees – cut by the axes or having trees fall on them. All of these jobs are strictly seen as women’s work and a man will only do these jobs if the woman is sick or too tired to move. A lot of the women will be doing all this with a baby on their back as well… Anyway, we’re hoping that the gender workshops can help some of the community leaders understand why there are such major inequalities in gender and how reducing some of these inequalities can lead to a better quality of life for everyone.


Sept 16th

Distribution day today. Distribution happens on the 15th and 1st of every month. The refugees’ attitude towards sorghum consumption has dramatically changed as of late with almost 100% of the quantities being taken. In the past months they had only been taking 30 or 40%. This means one of two things, first a market has been found for selling the sorghum. A black market exists in the camp (it is officially against World Food Program policy for refugees to sell their food, but nothing can be done to stop it) where a few people will by up big portions of certain commodities to be sold to the outside population at a great profit. Secondly, it means the strategy of the NGO’s and UN agency has been working, which is trying to sensitize the refugees on how to eat sorghum. They’ve also been telling them that once the stock of sorghum has been consumed that they will be getting maize. I can’t stand eating either sorghum or maize. Glad I’m not a refugee…

Sept 17th

A working Saturday, again… Today we held a celebration lunch for all of the refugees who have been participating in our HIV/AIDS program. This is a very enthusiastic group who absolutely loves working with RTP. The work they’re doing is a fantastic example of empowerment. RTP has been able to give these people the tools to really help their community and at the same time gain a great deal of respect. Whenever a workshop on HIV/AIDS is held by this group, there is always amazing feedback and you can see everybody’s confidence, self esteem and happiness grow.
The lunch was a great success. The participants even sang us a Swahili song to show their enthusiasm for us. The words to the song were “This is only the beginning of our relationship. Sophie and Drew will always remain in our lives!!” I was extremely touched by the notion. Sometimes when you think everything you’re doing is not worth the effort, something like this happen to pick you back up. The celebration ended with me finally getting up to dance to the Congolese Rumba music, amid a mix of laughter, cheers and applause… hah! Wish I could dance…

Sept 18th

Lazy Sunday… Evening spent with drinks and dinner for a friend’s birthday. Billy turned 27. He’s a guy who just lives down street from us and is working for the Office of the President (OP). OP is the like the CIA of the Zambian government. The employees are charged with reporting to the president on suspicious activities, opposition parties and the general population’s stance on the administration. For this reason Billy keeps the details of his job extremely secretive. To this day, I don’t have a clue what he does at work, and I’ve learned not to ask many questions about it. Despite this we remain extremely good friends and he’s somebody that I can relate to, one of the few Zambians with a University degree and very smart to boot…

Sept 20th

Showed up to the camp today only to realize that nobody showed up to our scheduled meeting. That was ok as it gave me a chance to get a few little odds and ends done. I met with the refugee education supervisor who gave me the schedule of exams and vacations for the schools. I also met with a number of coaches responsible for setting up the intramural league which is scheduled to start Oct. 1. They’ve decided that all of the primary schools will compete against each other in basketball, netball and football. I’ve taken the responsibility of setting everything up, though in past years they’ve tried to set up a league and it has never worked, I think this year we’re a lot better organized.

Sept 21st

Another Section Leader meeting today. This time camp leaders were complaining about unpaid salaries. It seems some people from the World Food Program have not paid some of there workers for at least a few months. It’s funny because the representative for WFP who is there is this tiny little Zambian man with a really soft voice, who has all these refugees yelling at him. When it’s his turn to talk, he does a really nice job by averting every question to some other topic or simply not answering the questions. It’s a tough job being responsible for feeding 50,000 refugees in two camps. The meeting also confirmed that the refugees would stop receiving sorghum and would definitely be getting maize. You should have seen the relief on those people’s faces.

Sept 22nd

It turns out that the month of September has been the month for the largest number of refugees repatriating back to the Congo. This month some 800 refugees have gone back. I think it’s probably because this is the last month that people are able to travel before the rain starts. Also, the situation back in the Congo has been steadily improving. With the help of UN missions and peacekeepers, they are getting closer and closer to holding elections. The area of rebel activity in South and North Kivu, on the border of Rwanda has been a lot calmer as of late. Most refugees say that elections have to be held in order for them to consider going back to the Congo, though it’s not an easy route home. Most refugees will endure the 6 or 7 day journey back to their homes by foot with little to drink or eat. This is why the UN would prefer that people wait to return so that they can assist with the repatriation (transport, shelter, food, safety, etc.). The UN says the earliest that they would assist with this would be 2007.

Sept 23rd.

We were sad to hear of a close friend’s wife dying yesterday in Kasama. Robert is the UN Program Assistant at the Head Office in Kawambwa. Looks like his wife had a sudden heart attack and died on the spot… Our prayers are with him and the family.
Bad news again from HODI. Twenty more teachers have resigned their posts because of complaints of salaries, working conditions and number of students in their classrooms. The schools are more overloaded then ever these days. There can be up to 70 children in one classroom.
As for Right to Play, these days we have really been focusing on having the refugees take control of everything. Today we met for the first time with our newly developed “Coach Committee”. The committee will be responsible for organizing all the meetings, workshops and play activities after we are gone. It’s made up of 7 very dedicated coaches – Joseph, Kabete, Daphrose, Justine, Justin, Chelley and David. Today was a bit confusing as we tried to explain all of the things that we hoped they could achieve over the next few months. Already during the week we’ve asked them to hold two meetings, two workshops and begin to sensitize the community about their new roles.

Sept 24th

What a crazy day. Seems like our world was falling apart a little bit. The new cats that we got are completely nuts. They stay in the corner of the room completely petrified only to come stalking the entire house at night. One of them climbed into Sophie’s bed and “did his business” right in her covers. She didn’t realize what had happened until she was in bed, under her covers and smelt something strange. She spent the rest of the night chasing the cats all around the house trying to get them outside. I don’t think she succeeded. The next morning we awoke to have our breakfasts. As Sophie ate her cereal she saw something moving in her milk. Somehow worms had gotten into the milk and were eating her cornflakes. Of course she had to show me the evidence, disgusting as it was, and spent the rest of the day thinking that worms were infesting her stomach. Hopefully it didn’t have anything to do with the cats…

Sept 25th

First rain of the year last night and man, did it come down. The climate is different here than in the rest of the country. Being at a higher elevation, we seem to experience a longer rainy season and a more variable climate. Of course with the rain come problems. The power was quick to shut off after the rains started and tiny little beetles, bugs and insects started to appear. Seems the rains bring them out. There’s one insect in particular, a tiny little black beetle that is attracted to the lights in houses. When you try to kill it, it lets off this horrible stink that infests your house. I’ve decided it’s better to let them fly around the house than to cope with the smell. Never thought such a tiny thing could be so repugnant. Rains have also meant lightning, which has been quite dangerous in the area and even killed some refugee students in the camp last year. No one has lightning arrestors and being at such a high elevation, even houses are at risk… I’m glad we were able to get an arrestor last year.

Sept 26th

Monday… Met with coaches today who will be taking over facilitating our level 3 training. It’s so amazing to see their dedication to the program. They have incredible understanding of the topics and can really motivate others to partake. It’s so much easier and more reliable for locals to be running the workshops. They are of course culturally sensitized to how people can relate to sport and play with children and they can make the material of the workshop coincide with the situation in the camp. Also, the team of 6 of them really knows how to work together and support each other. The other day they were giving a workshop to section leaders on gender. The following evening they joined some of the section leaders for a meal. They explained to me that based on what these people had learned in the gender workshop, they were already started to implement changes. The same section leaders, who were yesterday not allowing their daughters to go play football with the boys, were now accepting that females had just as much a place on the football pitch as the boys. Now they only need to start doing the cooking and cleaning (yeah, right….).

Sept. 27th

It’s been a great pleasure getting to know the wife and child of our driver. Their little daughter, named Joy, is 1 year 9 months. She is so full of energy, every time I go over to their place she is running around the house, making me play with her and causing a ruckus. I’ve been over to their place quite a bit lately to eat N’shima and chat about their lives. They’ve been married just over a year and the husband has one other child with a different lady. It seems I’ve been adopted by the family as I’m now known as “Uncle Dew” to Joy (she has a little trouble with the R’s…)

Sept 28th

It’s so uplifting to see how much Right to Play really influences people’s lives here in the camp. The fact that the people we work with don’t expect anything in return really says something about what we are doing. The reason for this high level of dedication seems to be based on the fact that these people are for the first time seeing the impact of sport and play and what it can do for them and their community. These people have never been able to consistently access sports equipment, infrastructure and training back home in the Congo and some people now count on RTP for their very livelihood. People in the community associate them with RTP. One of our coaches named Leon has been instrumental in setting up the intramural program in schools this year. He really lives for RTP. Today he provided me for with the yearly schedule of games, he organized all the referees, scorekeepers and coaches, he’s gone to all the fields that will be used and made sure they’re ready to go. Come Saturday, when the intramurals begin, we’ll see if his hard work has paid off.

Sept 29th

Wow, was it hot today. Must have been up around 45 degrees. It’s like you can’t move without breaking a sweat.
We’re planning on leaving for Lusaka in 3 days. Exciting because I can finally check my email and chat with friends and family. I’m afraid my email account may be shut down as I haven’t checked it in over a month.
A call to anyone reading this with a big heart. I’m really, really missing reading material – especially magazines. If anyone has recent magazines they want to send over, I would be forever grateful: again the address is:

Drew Gardiner
Right to Play
c/o UNHCR Field Office
Box 470148
Mporokoso, Zambia

Oct 1st

First day of intramurals today and it went off with a bang. Everyone showed up who was supposed to - and more. I decided to referee the basketball game and it was a good thing because some of the rules were being missed. It seems a lot of the players have practiced too much netball and therefore do not dribble the ball, only pass. I kept on yelling, “DRIBBLE, DRIBBLE!!” but my calls went unheard… They also don’t really get the concepts of free throws yet. Every time there was a foul, I had to show them how to line up in the key and which players went where. It got really annoying after awhile.
It was funny to see one of the coaches trying to motivate their players through candy. He sat on the sideline waving candy in front of their faces and threw it onto the court if they scored a basket… weird…
It turned out the team that won were very bad winners. Their fans started mocking the other team and pointing at them and singing songs about losing. These people are extremely competitive and it really came out today. The winning team ended up leaving the court all in a group, singing and dancing as they went. The losing team gathered together to pout and complain. I quickly took control of the situation and made them all line up and shake hands. I hope that smoothed things over a bit and taught both the players and coaches a lesson about sportsmanship.

Today, I was approached by a friend asking if I would consider going on a weekend trip to some nearby waterfalls. I had been talking about doing a trip with this friend (a lady who is in charge of food distribution at the Red Cross named Victoria) for the past few months, but nothing had ever been done. We made the decision that we would incorporate the trip to the waterfalls with attending a traditional Outumbouko ceremony in a place called Kazeme, close to Kawambwa. I was so glad that we went. It ended up being 11 of us that went – my friend Barry, Victoria’s child and her sister and brother, the resettlement officer from the UN (a Danish lady named Rakell), and a few other friends. We first proceeded to the ceremony which is done every year to celebrate the life of the chief. Sacrifices of goats, chickens and cattle are made, the chief is honored with gifts, speeches and food, and finally the chief dances in the centre of the ceremony while people jump around him, praising him and firing off gunshots (fake) into the air. It was really something else!

It turned out that the RTP team from Kawambwa was also there, so I ended up linking up with them. It was great to see Kevin again (the guy from Calgary who got placed here and that I had attended youth group with in Calgary for years – what a small world) and we chatted for a long time about how things were going. Sounds like he’s really enjoying himself here and is looking forward to the year. He gave me the complete hockey update on all the trades that were going on after the lock out ended. Seems the NHL is getting shaken up!! Im SSOOOO out of the loop!!
The night was spent at the RTP house. Rakel, the lady from UNHCR ended up coming and staying with us. She is up here working at the refugee camp to work on settlement cases. Every year, the UN resettles a number of refugees into different host countries like Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, etc. Rakel gets to decide which refugees get to go where. To do this, refugees make applications and from those applications Rakel chooses people to go through interviews.

The second day of the Netball training today. I invited members of the girls netball team from the secondary school to come out and demonstrate the drills and activities that I would like the coaches doing with their students. It was really hot today and even though it is supposed to be the cold season, the temperature was up around 35 degrees. I felt bad making the participants run around and do the drills and I had promised to bring them water but, of course, I forgot…

It turned out that everyone was happy with the session and they were already making plans to start their own training sessions with the girls from the school.

In the afternoon, it was day 2 of the special needs workshop. Today the topic was stages of child development. The model of development that I showed them was based on children without special needs, so the participants were concerned that the model wouldn’t apply to these students. I had to explain to them that the model wasn’t in stone and that it could be adjusted based on the maturity level of the students and their specific disability. The teachers reminded me how flexible, open and assertive you need to be with special needs children. I’m always amazed by such insight into life these refugees have.

Today, I started another workshop for teachers who work at the special needs school. I had been working very hard in the past few days to develop the lessons, as all the material I had on children with special needs was in English. After hours of translation, I finally finished it off and wrote all the materials out onto flipcharts. It was great to see almost all of the teachers come out, even one pregnant lady who is expecting any day!! The session covered how to communicate, supervise and work with special needs and blind children. Some of the participants have worked closely with these children in the camp and know so much more than I do about their development, so I let them do a lot of the speaking and question asking. I think im learning a lot more than them from doing the workshop.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with the project manager from HODI who, of course, didn’t make it to the meeting. It seems they have the director of HODI in from Lusaka and she is taking all of their time. Hopefully I can meet him before I go to Lusaka to talk about working with them in starting Anti-AIDS clubs in each of the schools.

Attended another Section Leader meeting today. There was also a RTP workshop going on and it was encouraging to learn that one of the coaches felt comfortable facilitating the session, which meant I could go to the meeting. The big issue in the meeting was once again about Sorghum. Everyone came to full attention when the head man from the World Food Program walked into the meeting. After discussing with the refugees a bit, he let everyone know that once the stock of sorghum was consumed by the refugees, their would definitlely be something different coming afterwards. He noted that what they would be getting would not be maize grain (corn) but would be a milled product (like flour, but another kind of cereal). Now the problem arises that the UN has gone to a lot of trouble to install hammermills in the camps that crush the cereals and turn them into flour. What are the going to do with these hammermills if the grain that they receive is already milled? Regardless, by the end of the meeting, the leaders seemed upbeat that there would be a change and explained to the UN that they would be encouraging their people to begin consuming the sorghum. We’ll have to wait till the next food distribution to see if this holds up.

Up to my ears in work this week, which is meaning absolutely no time for socializing. I’ve been getting to know our new driver better and he seems like a really good guy. It was funny to learn that his father lectures at the University of Zambia as a Physical Education professor and has worked closely with Right to Play in Lusaka.

He has a wife and two children that he left in Lusaka, but he hopes that they can come to join us in Mporokoso and we will bring them back with us next time we go to the city. It seems like he misses them a lot, but he’s enjoying life in the bush. The whole refugee camp and living in a remote area is all new to him, so it’s taken some time to get used to it, but he’s met some friends and he’s learning a lot, so I’m comfortable that he’ll continue with us.

Today, I was at the UN offices for a meeting with all of the NGO heads in the camp. The boss at the UN decided to start these meetings so that NGOs could work more closely and hear what each other is doing. The best news that I found out is that the work on the road out to the camp has finally begun! That means the road will be a lot safer by the time the rainy season comes and we can make it to the camp a lot faster. Right now we’re taking an hour to drive 38 kms to the camp..!! We also discussed the issue of refugees returning back to the Congo. It seems there’s been an influx of returnees with the problem being that they are not telling the authorities that they are leaving. When you leave the camp, you have to hand in your ration card (the one that you present at food distribution), but what most of the refugees do is sell the card or give it to one of their family members before they go. In most of the cases someone from the family is sent ahead to find out if it is safe to return, or if the fighting is still going on in the area. We’ve got a number of reports that the conflict is over in the Congo, with just a small portion in the Northwest corner still at war. In that region, scores of Rwandan Hutu troops, who were kicked out of their country after the genocide, moved into the Congo to begin military operations for gold, diamonds and oil. The rebel groups were often supported by other regional governments vying for control of the area. The latest I heard is that Congo was scheduling elections for sometime early next year, and the issue will not be resolved until then.

Had to cancel the workshop that was supposed to happen today as most of the participants were busy doing other trainings with FORGE (the American students). I’ve been learning more and more about what they’re doing in the camp. As I mentioned, the biggest thing they’re doing is building a library. The refugees have been thrilled that this is being done and the work is almost complete. The Americans invited children from the primary schools to come and paint murals on the wall and decorate the inside. They’ve also been holding interviews to hire a librarian and guards to look after the place. Also, the piano that they ordered has finally arrived (US $6000 later and 3 weeks late) and they’ve ordered furniture for a sitting room in the library. I’ve never seen the people in the camp so happy with what’s being done. It’s just too bad that the Americans know almost nothing about development and most of their projects are not at all sustainable, a lot of the refugees are only working with them because they’re getting a free notebook, but I think all in all, it’s good for the camp.

Today, I decided to take on a project – building a scoreboard for the sports teams to use at the camp. What was supposed to only take a morning, ended up taking a whole day… I went to see the carpenter who was building the board and spent a half hour haggling over the price, then to the market to buy the paint and the brushes. Mporokoso is funny because when you go to buy something, you never really know where to go. The shops are rarely consistent in what they have in stock and sometimes nobody has what you’re looking for. So, I ended up going to 4 or 5 shops before finding paint and brushes. What can make the process even more time consuming is that in each shop, you can be expected to greet the shopkeeper and have a bit of a chat, though this time I managed to get out of the shops with nothing more than a “Mulishani” (how are you) and a “bwino” (I’m fine).

Not to say that I don’t like this way of life. People are really friendly here and almost everyone knows my name. It’s a really relaxed lifestyle, with people just going about their business. Everyone you pass on the street says hello – not like the capital of Lusaka where you try to go from point A to point B with the least amount of human contact possible. I’m starting to think that maybe rural living could be the choice for me…. (well…).

Day 2 of the sports training. Ran into some trouble today as it was so windy and dusty that we could barely do anything. By the end of the day, I was caked with dirt and grime and all my clothes were filthy. Since there is no pavement or concrete in the camp, when it becomes windy, you can’t do anything. Red dust erupts into little tornadoes all around the camp and you’re lucky to be able to see anything.

It was great to see one of the refugees named Kabete come out to the training. He is a disabled man that contracted polio when he was in Congo and now walks with a severe limp. It’s amazing what this man can do despite his disability. He’s always engaged in community activities including sports and games and he is the most motivated member of the Anti-AIDS club, always singing, dancing and yelling out his messages!

I was pissed at the end of our session, when HODI, the NGO that is responsible for paying the teachers yet hasn’t done so in the past 3 months, interrupted our workshop to call all of the teachers into a meeting. They didn’t even have the respect to ask me if it was all right. I ended up telling them that NO, they couldn’t leave the workshop, but when the participant teachers got word that they might be paid, everyone trickled away to where the HODI vehicle was heading.

In the camp today inviting participants to the PE teacher training that will start later this week. Early in the morning I went to check up on the Anti-Aids club that is giving a workshop to Zambian youth from a local primary school. Whenever I attend these workshops it’s amazing how enthusiastic and motivated these people are. I like to think that it is because of RTP that this is the case. When I came into the room, the workshop was in the middle of performing skits about HIV/AIDS. The skits involved how youth deal with sexual approaches and the right things to say to avoid sex. After the skits, the group broke into a song and dance about youth empowerment. They even tried to teach me the lyrics, which was a difficult task. At the end of the session, I said that I would answer a few questions from the group. I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into. The first question was about masturbation and if it was a sin. They asked if it was normal to ejaculate during your sleep and if masturbation was a substitute for sex. I had to be very careful in answering the questions as masturbation is a very touchy issue in that most groups don’t accept it. I answered that it is quite normal to have “wet dreams” and that it is one’s personal choice whether they want to masturbate or not. People shouldn’t discriminate against you if you do… Afterwards, I hoped that I had answered the question in a way that the youth could relate to…

Late last night, I found out that all the NGO heads from the two refugee camps were required to attend a security briefing in Kawambwa. I didn’t know what to think when I heard this. Was there some kind of security threat in the camp? Were the refugees rioting or protesting about something? It turns that the training was only to review UN procedures for emergency security situations. The man who came to give the briefing showed us a film that portrayed different security situations that could potentially arise and how to deal with them. It turns out that the same man was the one who played a leading role in the film, so I was joking with some other guys that this was the only reason the briefing had been given (probably true). While in Kawambwa, I got a chance to visit with Erin, who is on the RTP team at the Kawambwa camp. She only has two weeks left in her contract, so she’s getting really excited to return home. I also had a chance to meet the new UNHCR head for the area. He is from Sierra Leone and speaks both Swahili and French, not to mention his two doctorates and two masters degrees. This man should be infinitely better suited for the job then the last man, who was a former officer in the Sudanese military and barely spent any time in the camps…

In the camp for a meeting today. Participation in these meetings has been a little difficult these days as kids and teachers are on vacation from school. That means that people leave the camp to go do business in the surrounding villages; travel long distances to visit family or prepare their fields for the next farming season.
I could really feel the desperate situation of starvation as I was speaking to people today. A man named Gilles came up to me explaining that he and his wife and their two little babies didn’t have enough food to eat. He asked me for US$ 100, that he offered to pay back. The brutal part was that this man was somebody that I have seen in the camp everyday and who has been really great to me. That made it even harder to explain that I wasn’t in a position to help him. He finished our conversation by letting me know he and his family would be leaving back to the Congo.

Later on in the day, I found out that an official from UNHCR head office in Lusaka would be coming into the camp to select candidates for UN sponsored resettlement. This means that if a family is selected, they are moved to a host country in the developed world like Australia, Canada, or England. Refugees are selected based on age, skills, education level, etc. It was nice to see that the same man that had asked me for money earlier that day would be one of the refugees that would be considered.

Swamped with work already… It’s tough not having Sophie around these days as all the things that she used to do and that I took for granted I’m having to learn how to do. For example, getting around in the camp. It’s tough because everything looks the same and you never know which direction you're pointing. The houses are all made from mud bricks and thatched roofs, the only buildings that have metal roofs are the schools and that’s how I often orient myself. What make it even harder is that our new driver doesn’t know where the hell he’s going either and we’re both too stubborn (or too male) to ask for directions…

After getting back from the camp, I had a phone meeting with Toronto. They FINALLY confirmed my vacation time for next month, so I'm counting down the days till my visitors arrive. ONLY 3 weeks left!! I became more excited for their visit when I called them this evening to wish my little nephew a happy birthday (he turned 1 today!). They’ve gotten all the vaccinations and are sore from all the needles!

The first day to relax since coming back from Lusaka - or so I thought. I ended up going to the camp in the afternoon to enjoy the opening game of the camp’s football league. Wow, are those guys good!! The games are played on the central sports field, which is not so much a field but more like a clay tennis court. What’s even more amazing is that most of the guys play in bare feet. Last time I tried to play bball in the camp with bare feet, I ended up with huge blisters on my feet after only 15 minutes of play. Dunno how those guys do it… While watching the game, I ran into the American student group, FORGE. We chatted about happenings in the camp, etc. But it’s not easy talking to them as they always have a huge swarm of kids following them around all day. One of the guys, Johnny, wants to help out with some of the sports workshops we’ll be holding in the camp in the next week. I’m a little skeptical about this as the guys don’t speak any French or know much about how Right to Play works within the camp…

After the game, we ended up going over to the FORGE house, which is located just next to the camp,and is where all the American students are staying. Before they came, they realized that they didn’t want to be driving in and out of Mporokoso each day, so they found this big, vacant house about 10 min from the camp. As there’s no power in that area, they equipped the house with solar panels, painted it up, installed a toilet (outhouse) and shower (portable) and made the house livable. Now, all nine of them live there and they’ve employed locals to do the cooking and cleaning. We stayed for a dinner of chicken, potatoes, rape and buns. I had to laugh when the conversation turned to the girls complaining about all the spiders, mice and bugs in their house and would run away when they saw a spider and get their driver to kill it…. Welcome to Zambia…

Helped at a coach meeting today, though the turnout wasn’t amazing. As all of the kids are on vacation right now, the teachers who are coaches are harder to track down. Seems a lot of people are outside of the camp for business, seeing familiy or traveling somewhere. It’s been frustrating too because I don’t know my way around the camp so well, though we never get lost for too long.

It was great to see some familiar faces at the meeting, especially Joseph Kabobo, probably the most active coach and someone who I’ve been quite close too. The coaches are planning to organize a football tournament between the different sections in the camp.

Finally had a chance to stay in Mporokoso today and get caught up on some much neglected administration issues. I’m feeling the pressure of running the project alone. Seems everywhere I turn, somebody else is asking me for something. I can’t keep all of the things I need to do straight, which is why Sophie is so important to me and this project. She is definitely the organized one. Let me think of all the things I have to do tonight – make photocopies of a “Human Rights” manual for the anti-AIDS club; set up meetings with the special needs teachers, the coaches who are giving a child development training session and the HODI project manager; repair a broken stereo for the refugee scout leader; prepare materials for the next Anti-AIDS workshop; do my daily log, monthly budget and monthly report for head office; lastly, GET SOME SLEEP!!!

Was over at the FORGE group's house tonight for dinner. It was interesting to hear about their backgrounds and their reasons for coming to Mwange. Being the only other Westerner in the camp, they grilled me with questions about my experiences with the refugees. I felt like some kind of authority on camp politics as I tried to explain to them the situation. I only wished that Peter and Sophie could have been there as she knows far more about the camp then I do. The night finished off with a few too many beers and a long ride back into Mporokoso. Tommorrow’s not going to be fun…

Quite the commotion in the camp these days as 9 American students from Harvard University are giving workshops in the camp. I don’t think the area has ever seen so many white faces! The group is from an organization called FORGE, and will be giving training sessions in things like music, poetry, the environment, reading and peer tutoring, for the next 5 weeks. It was a big shock for them when they first came to the camp as they realized that what looked good on paper back in the States was not necessarily going to work here. For example, they had a library built in the camp without knowing what kind of books to bring. When they showed up with their books, people started asking for other subjects… They also decided to bring a piano into the camp, unfortunately there is nowhere that the piano can be placed where it will be safe (though the piano hasn’t arrived on schedule and nobody really knows where it is)…

They’re also having trouble with communication as none of them speak French and thus have to rely on translators. The problem is some of the words don’t translate into Swahili – the guy giving guitar lessons is having trouble because words like “treble” or “half step” or “bass” don’t have any meaning in Swahili.

First day back in the camp. It was so good to get home and restart the routines of daily life. I was also really missing the coaches in the camp who I had worked so closely with for the past three months. The coaches were shocked to see us with a new vehicle and new driver. Peter had forged a special relationship with some of the people in the camp over his last two years in Mwange and it was touching to see him say goodbye for the last time. The day was a little bit hectic as Mr Kakua (the new driver) gained his bearings in the camp. As Peter and Sophie had always directed us around the camp, I didn’t know exactly where all the locations were where we had to visit – a bit/lot frustrating.

A funny moment came when we were accosted by this old drunk/crazy lady in the camp. She latched onto our vehicle and started cursing us and demanding money. She wouldn’t let go of our vehicle and was still screaming as an interested crowd started to gather. I got out of the vehicle to remedy the situation when the lady came running over to me and started slapping and kicking me, demanding money. It was all I could do to shield myself and get back in the car, but not before she had left a couple of welts on my back. It’s really hard when people see you with so much to give but don’t understand that we have not come here for that.

Well, I’ve finally returned to Mporokoso after a near months trip to Lusaka. Things got really complicated while in Lusaka. Nothing was going my way. Examples - The insurance agent that was processing our accident claim seemed to be eternally out to lunch; our headquarters in Toronto (who were in the middle of training new RTP recruits) seemed to forget about us people in the field; the government department where we were supposed to have our new vehicle registered had a line of people coming out from it the same length as the wall of China; the mechanics where we were having our new vehicle looked at apparently thought they could get away with charging us 4 times the normal costs of maintenance work; and finally, who woulda thought that Zambia could get so friggin’ cold during this season? Two t-shirts, a pair of shorts and sandals just wasn’t cuttin’ it…

Anyway, needless to say, the trip was one gigantic hiccup – although there were moments when I was really enjoying myself…. I went to a traditional Zambian wedding with one of my friends from Mporokoso, who had a cousin getting married. Unfortunatly, I came at the wrong time. When I arrived at the venue, I heard that there was this ceremony going on called a “Kitchen Party”!! Little did I know that this event is only for women. The new bride is taught all the “moves” to please her man in the bedroom, by the older women in the family. Men are strictly forbidden from the gathering. Guess they could have told me that before inviting me. You should have seen the looks I was getting when I walked into that place…

While in Lusaka, I stayed with the Right to Play team that is co-ordinating a project within poor communities in the outskirts of the city. It was intriguing to be able to help them out in their work a little bit and to even visit some of the slums and housing projects where they are working. They have trained an incredibly motivated group of coaches within these areas. I couldn’t believe the huge amount of time and work that these coaches put into working with kids, as well as their amazing capacity to communicate with them. While on a tour of one of the compounds, called Kamanga, I became quite close with a man called Watson. As we approached the playing field, we saw all of the compound kids involved in an intense soccer match. It was shocking to hear that most of the kids were street kids, involved in drugs, not going to school and some with no parents. It seemed that playing football was one of their only escapes from life's burdens.

When our new vehicle finally arrived, it was a huge relief, especially after our accident of a few weeks back. I had been getting really tired of Lusaka, especially since I didn’t know too many people there or know my way around the city, so it was nice to see the end was near. Two days later I would start off on the 15 hour ride to Mporokoso.

As we started on the long journey, we were accompanied by our new driver, Mr. Jimmy Kakua. A very nice man, though not very outgoing or sociable. We hired him as he has extensive mechanical knowledge and he is willing to work in a remote location. It's still yet to be determined if he’ll work out…

It was nice to be able to join a basketball team in Lusaka, even though it was for a very short time (I only got to play two games and two practices). The level of play over here is not so good. I was playing in the top (and only) men’s league and there are no professional teams. One of the major problems is the infrastructure, there are only 4 indoor courts in all of Zambia. Of those 4, only two are in decent condition. The gym where we were training had almost no lighting and one of the hoops had recently fallen on a player and is now only tied to the wall with some thick wire… In my first game, it was a definite reality check to be the only white face on the court and to see the fans looking a little confused as to who I was. Luckily, I made a good impression as we won our game, the first win that the team had had all year. What was even better was I made some great friends, especially a guy named Brian who works at the state insurance company and is a great ball player. I ended up hanging out with him for the rest of my stay in Lusaka…

Also had a chance to organize my sister, brother-in-law and cousin's visit. It turns out that one of my really good friends has a cousin who owns a safari camp in the world famous South Luangwa Wildlife Park. We decided to rough it a little bit and reserved safari tents to stay in while we are there. Apparently the tents are right on the Luangwa river and you can see elephants roaming down the game trails from our doorstep! Just gotta make sure that we don’t leave any meat out… We also plan to see Victoria Falls and maybe white water raft down the Zambezi or bungee jump in Livingstone…

As a birthday present to myself, I went golfing today. The course I went to, called Chainama was quite nice, though not very green and well kept. Originally I had wanted to go to a course that was closer to the house, but little did I know that it was a private course and my t shirt and shorts were against the rules.

When I showed up at the second course, I was immediately accosted by caddies wanting to carry my bags. They couldn’t fathom the thought of me wanting to carry my own bag. As I teed off, one of the caddy’s started following me and giving me tips, and I eventually caved and let him carry my bag. He even played the back nine with me and man did he kick my ass. He had been a caddy at the course since 1972 and his game was amazing. I think he pared or birdied every hole!

After the game I went to a market in a housing compound right beside the course. I made a quick decision to have my haircut in one of the local barbers. Little did I know that the guy only had a razor for cutting and the guy had never cut a white man's hair before. I ended up cutting half of the hair myself, though it was worth the 50 cents I paid for the haircut. It was cute to see most of the kids in the area come to see the Muzungu have his hair cut and laughing at me the whole time… very funny (so is the haircut)…

BIRTHDAY!!

Crazy that Sophie and I have the same birthdays… So, we baked a cake and fired up the bar b q and opened some presents… Thank you Mom, Dad, Paige, Brian, Sash and AB for the wonderful presents!!

It wasn’t all good news today though. We found out that we’re going to have to stay here in Lusaka for awhile and get the vehicle sold. It could take awhile because we have to have the vehicle appraised by a garage, and the vehicle can’t sell for less than the appraisal. Also, there has to be at least 3 offers made on the vehicle before we can sell it… I’m angry with head office because I don’t feel it’s our responsibility to be dealing with these issues. They need a country manager here in Lusaka to deal with these types of things. Because of this, the workshops we had been scheduling have to be delayed and the other commitements we made to the coaches in the camp will have to be broken. We’re also running low on money due to all the vehicle maintenance, so we can’t buy near as much sports equipment as we had wanted.

After reviewing the submitted applications for hiring our new driver, we knew we were in trouble. The applicants had little to no driving experience, though we managed choose four of the guys for interviews. We think that our lack of quality applicants was because of the remoteness of Mporokoso. A lot of people living in the city have never been outside of Lusaka and don’t want to leave it.

The first guy we interviewed was miserable. After he admitted to us that he had just received his license some 6 months before and had been driving illegally without a license before that time, we said our thank yous and quickly ended the interview. The second guy was almost as bad as he had absolutely no knowledge of engines and the mechanics certificate that he presented us with looked forged. He was dismissed quite quickly as well. The third guy was a lot better, quite personable with an excellent knowledge of engines and superb English. The only thing we didn’t like was that he was a bit cocky and had a bit of an attitude, but we plan to give him a chance to show us his driving skills. The 4th guy, who was a lecturer at the automotive college, was older and a little cold, but he had driving experience and he came recommended from one of our contacts at the UN. So it is between those two guys – we’ll decide after we give them a road test…

A chilled-out day. Walked down to a café called the Black Knight where they (unusual for Zambia) serve coffee, baguettes and croissants. On the way there, we pass by the President house and other humungous mansions, making me realize the extent of the problem of income distribution in this country. Seems you're really, really rich or really, really poor, with nothing much in between. All the fences, gates, barbed wire, security guards, guns and surveillance cameras still give me the creeps. I don’t think I'll ever get over that…

Not even 24 hrs in Lusaka and I'm already in over my head. I offered my services for helping organize an HIV/AIDS event at the UN with my RTP Lusaka colleague, Doreen (a girl from Germany that I know quite well from the RTP training in Toronto before our placements). It turned out to be a great event with different UN agencies and NGO’s setting up booths to advocate their contributions to the fight on HIV/AIDS. The situation is quite bad in Zambia, with some 28% for the population who have contracted the disease. In Lusaka, organizations such as the ones represented at the UN today are doing a lot to combat the disease, but not enough. What makes the problem so tough is that people have not yet accepted it as a problem, or they think that it is never going to reach them. In Mporokoso, the magnitude of the problem really hits home. We constantly hear about how people are sick and dying and even though the words are not spoken, we know that it is AIDS. One of our friends who works as program officer at the UN has a wife that is very sick and we fear the worst….

That’s not to say steps aren’t being taken here to address the problem. Antiretroviral drugs have recently become free to any Zambian suffering from low white blood cell counts; also, infected people are starting to come out and share their stories as treatment and counseling becomes readily available and they start to learn that they can live healthy lives with the disease; another aspect of the improvements is the commitment of the government to fighting the disease. The President is pushing for World Bank and international debt relief (which tallies around US$ 30 million), and some countries are starting to catch onto the idea. For example Canada recently cancelled all of Zambia's debt with hopes that other nations will follow suit – let’s hope so…