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This blog will be an account my life working in a Refugee camp in Northern Zambia called Mwange. For the next year, I will be working for Right to Play, a sport and development organization based out of Toronto. What follows will be a life altering experience. Stay tuned....
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
July 30th-31st
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.
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.
