Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

The festival for the Francophone Day ended up going really well. We started an hour late. The UN field officer (A Canadian from Toronto) made a speech and was practically jeered off stage because of the food distribution protest. The Ambassador ended up cancelling, but the theatre group did show up, though we didn’t really understand what the play was about at all as they didn’t speak loud enough. The best part of the day was the traditional dancing that went on. I got really embarassed when one dancer was doing his thing in front of me and got closer and closer and even started moving chairs away to get closer to me. People started putting money into their belts, but I didn’t have a clue what was going on and I didn’t have any money with me, so I was really embarrassed when somebody else had to put money in the guys belt!

After the performances were over, I spent some time meeting some people and asking stories about where the refugees came from and what brought them there. A lot of the people there come from cities and were business men, carpenters, teachers, store owners and entrepreneurs. They left everything behind when war threatened the lives of their families. One man I met had lost his parents to rebels that destroyed their village and he fled to Zambia. Some of the stories are really sad but it seems that they are starting over with a new life in Zambia. Most of them will probably never return home…

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 7:40 AM