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.