Drew's African Odyssey - Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia

As our driver is in Kasama for the weekend, I didn't go to the camp and instead did some chores around town, or thought I was going to do chores around town. Little did I know that everything is closed today, as it is labour day.

I had some long conversations with our other guards about Mr. Davis. We are trying to remember him as best we can, though it is hard as everyone in the community is saying bad things about him for committing this terrible act.

Now we have to start thinking about hiring somebody new, though this is hard to think about after just losing someone, but we'll have to do a call for applications and interviews - a lot of work.

I also spent the day preparing a workshop that I will start tomorrow in the camp. Ill be working with the basketball team and coaches from the secondary and primary school and teaching them games, rules and teamwork. It will run over 3 days, then I will do three days on netball to accomodate the women athletes in the camp.

We've also just completed our end of month financial records that need to be sent back to Toronto. Seems the numbers just aren't balancing for us and there's some money unaccounted for. We think the problem lies in converting the money to Zambian Kwacha, but we're still trying to figure it out. Any accountants out there?

As for the personal life these days. It's been a struggle as of late, just trying to make friends and figure out who is truly genuine and is trying to get to know me as a person and not just because I'm white (I know that sounds bad but people here see white skin and automatically know that you have so much more than they do, so some people will grab on and not let go). It's hard to make relationships here as I don't know the local language and the cultural barriers are so big. As an example, sometimes when I'm having a conversation with somebody, I just don't know how to get my point across and in what way to do it. A lot of people just pretend they know what I'm talking about, so that they won't feel inferior, when actually they have no idea what I'm talking about. It's tough to explain. Also, things that might seem normal at home are not at all normal here. For example, it's not seen as normal to eat or drink in the street, also, you would never look an elder in the eye as this would be a sign of disrespect. Other things - when you're eating, you don't use cutlery and you should always eat with your left hand, as your right hand is the one that you wipe your ass with. Lastly, you always shake a persons hand when you meet them, but if you're hand is dirty or wet, you give them your wrist to shake!!

What makes things even harder is that customs are completely different in the Congolese culture of the camp. Still more traditions to learn.

Posted by: Drew Gardiner / 11:57 AM