Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

Day two of the workshop. Today was the first day that I was in charge of the session. I felt that I did a pretty good job, though my French was a little shaky and I was visibly nervous. The workshop was on “Planning” and “a resume of RTP in the camp” and I'm sure everyone gained something from it. I tried to teach in a way that involved all the people and I really tried asking them lots of questions and making them feel that they were teaching me something as well (which they did)! At the end of the day, we did a group exercise where the coaches had to plan a sport practice for a group of girls that had never played before. They all did a fantastic job! We’re decided to hold a banquet for all the coaches upon completion of the workshop. I’m really excited for that!!

I spoke to a couple of women today who were passing by the classroom where we were working, in hopes that they could teach me a few words of Swahili. The women couldn’t stop laughing at me as I tried to pronounce some of the words! I still heard them chuckling to themselves as they departed for the fields with their hoes and the pots that they carry on their heads. I was pretty embarrassed…

There was also a community leader meeting held today for the UN to discuss with the refugees what was happening in the camp. The refugees are still upset with the fact that they’re not getting the proper type of food. Upon the last food distribution, they only took 7% of the food that was being offered. This means that a lot of people are going hungry. A funny moment came when the Field Officer from the UN offered the shirt off of his back to one of the refugees and he started to take it off before he was halted by one of his co-workers. These meetings tend to get a little heated…

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 1:15 PM