So it's my last day in Kafue town. I'm heading to Lusaka on Sunday morning, and presenting with IDE field staff/management on Monday. A few last-minute details of things to work out - my time since my village stay has gone SUPER well and everything has worked out, until today. Bah. I'm waiting on a few things that are taking longer than I had hoped. Things were going way better than normal, but now... ahh!
I'm getting a chitenge (african cloth) hoodie made, as well as a couple shirt and a dress for Julia. I'm also bringing a UVic EWB chapter gift home! But all of those things are delayed.. and it's my last day.. ahh!
My host mom made a tie-n-die chitenge for me - her woman's cooperative was taught to make them by Jairos!! So that'll become another sweet traditional shirt.
And all three of my Kafue girl friends have presents to give me, hehe.
A few weeks back, when Mike H came to visit, the internet cafe guys said that that Saturday would be my "special day" for being such a good customer (I come a few times a week, maybe 1-2 hrs/week). I put it off because it was the National Agric Show, but today I've learned what "my special day" is -- free internet!!
And it's saturday and it's fast. Or maybe they're shaping the bandwidth specially for me.
Melissa, my EWB coach, brought up relationships as one of my strengths during retreat (5 weeks into my placement). I haven't really figured it all out, but relationship building with everyone is pretty crucial. The armed (AK-47) guard selling scones on the street, shop owners, strangers that I pass, and of course farmers. I'm definitely (un)consciously incompetent with so many social functions - books could be written just about verbal and non-verbal greetings. But a good things are happening from me being myself, smiling, being open to greetings from people I don't recognize, whatever. Is this a strength? Is it due just to the friendliness of people accepting all the rude things I do (without being aware they're rude in Zambian culture)?
What am I trying to say? My connection to my host mom, my counterparts, and some farmers is just awesome. There are lots of people in town now that say hello when they recognize me, since I'm the only muzungu biking around town!
Every time I talk with other JFs, we swap some stories about our placements (good and bad happenings) and often I think we feel pretty jealous. I think everyone wants to have done things other people accomplished, and it's ALL good. In the end, our own choices and circumstances way beyond our control created valuable experiences for everyone.
Time to go. I've said my goodbyes to just about everyone I've wanted to - my host brother Aubree gave me a frickin solilique last night (he likes to talk, and boy, he wanted to say all the good things about my presence in Kasengele/Kafue). I'm sad to leave, but just about peeing myself excited to continue this adventure. My time in Kafue is up, but the experience continues! Lusaka until Tuesday, Malawi until Saturday, Nairobi/Amsterdam for a few hours on Saturday/Sunday, then Toronto until Tuesday. Then I'll be HOME on the 25th. God that's a scary thought.
This post is turning into more of an email. Or something.
Saturday, August 15
Thursday, August 13
Chikupi!
My JF placement has a portion of staying in a rural village for 7 days and nights, give or take. I chose to stay in Chikupi, which is about 20km from Kafue town (maybe 40km from Lusaka). I wanted to stay with a typical farmer with that IDE group, but I ended up staying with the chairman/lead contact farmer. He's far from the 'Dorothy' that EWB describes, which is a future topic of discussion.
Staying in the village was great! I even tried to keep a daily journal of activity. Around day 4-5, I got some really crappy diarrhea and even puked up breakfast by late afternoon (I had really enjoyed those sweet potatos, too). I think my GI system was just kinda stuck and waiting for me to flush out the latter parts. The family has an open shallow well - it's uncovered, and maybe 3-4m deep. They drink it untreated (they say they treat it in the rainy season). I definitely drank some of it untreated, or barely - tea, chibwantu, sometimes a glass of water after a meal. I try and treat my nalgene and only drink that.
There's also flies everywhere. Gross. Those probably made me sick, since they were impossible to keep off your breakfast and lunch (supper was after dark).
I spent a lot of time being a really terrible farmer. Mr. Mulilo (Mr. Fire!), the head of the household, gets up at 0600 to start working in the garden. Irrigating, digging, weeding, whatever. He calls me up around 0630, and I jump out of bed to join him. The cows needed to be milked (I'm awful at that, I never actually managed to obtain a useful amount of milk/in the bucket. But milk still warm from the cow is tasty!), then herded to graze. The petrol pump had to be primed and started after laying out the 2" PVC pipe where you wanted. The well is not deep because he hit some hard rocks while digging, so you can only run the pump for 15 minutes.
We stop for breakfast around 0900, and lunch around 1300-1400. In the afternoon we usually chill a bit, because it's hot, and people sometimes visit. Then more work until dark (1700-1800), supper in the sitting room inside, and bedtime after some tonga lessons!
In the garden is rape (organic and chemical fertilized), amaranthus, chinese cabbage (all vaguely similar to lettuce), eggplant, green pepper, orange trees (mandarin, washington navel, and something else), and lemon trees. He's got a drip irrigation system for the eggplant, which means you just fill a resevoir tank and open a valve. I spent a lot of time running around the 10x20m eggplants, adjusting the rows of microtubes.
Then there's the cattle - maybe 10, and a couple oxen for an oxcart (the bed from a small pickup truck). He fetches firewood with the oxcart, and rents out transportation services. There are about 30 goats, maybe 10 chickens, and a few dogs. In the rainy season, he has been growing maize, groundnuts (by his wife; it's a woman's crop), tomato, and cabbage.
Have you counted all the different income generating activities for the family?! Diversification is one of the tenets of rural livelihoods, but I never internalized the problems associated with it. 'Record keeping' is often touted as a reason for problems with [rural] smallholder success, but shit, for 10-20 activities it's intense! In canada, we usually have 1 or 2 income generating activities, and the paperwork can be done by someone else! All the sources also pay for different things - the cow milk was sold to pay for the farm labourer. What happens when there's a shock? What if someone in the family or next-of-kin dies? What if there's a flood? What if the engine has a breakdown?
This post is incomplete but I want to just push some thoughts out there. Mr Fire isn't in poverty, but he's not very happy about his situation and always working hard to improve. I've got a lot more to say about my experiences in the village.
Staying in the village was great! I even tried to keep a daily journal of activity. Around day 4-5, I got some really crappy diarrhea and even puked up breakfast by late afternoon (I had really enjoyed those sweet potatos, too). I think my GI system was just kinda stuck and waiting for me to flush out the latter parts. The family has an open shallow well - it's uncovered, and maybe 3-4m deep. They drink it untreated (they say they treat it in the rainy season). I definitely drank some of it untreated, or barely - tea, chibwantu, sometimes a glass of water after a meal. I try and treat my nalgene and only drink that.
There's also flies everywhere. Gross. Those probably made me sick, since they were impossible to keep off your breakfast and lunch (supper was after dark).
I spent a lot of time being a really terrible farmer. Mr. Mulilo (Mr. Fire!), the head of the household, gets up at 0600 to start working in the garden. Irrigating, digging, weeding, whatever. He calls me up around 0630, and I jump out of bed to join him. The cows needed to be milked (I'm awful at that, I never actually managed to obtain a useful amount of milk/in the bucket. But milk still warm from the cow is tasty!), then herded to graze. The petrol pump had to be primed and started after laying out the 2" PVC pipe where you wanted. The well is not deep because he hit some hard rocks while digging, so you can only run the pump for 15 minutes.
We stop for breakfast around 0900, and lunch around 1300-1400. In the afternoon we usually chill a bit, because it's hot, and people sometimes visit. Then more work until dark (1700-1800), supper in the sitting room inside, and bedtime after some tonga lessons!
In the garden is rape (organic and chemical fertilized), amaranthus, chinese cabbage (all vaguely similar to lettuce), eggplant, green pepper, orange trees (mandarin, washington navel, and something else), and lemon trees. He's got a drip irrigation system for the eggplant, which means you just fill a resevoir tank and open a valve. I spent a lot of time running around the 10x20m eggplants, adjusting the rows of microtubes.
Then there's the cattle - maybe 10, and a couple oxen for an oxcart (the bed from a small pickup truck). He fetches firewood with the oxcart, and rents out transportation services. There are about 30 goats, maybe 10 chickens, and a few dogs. In the rainy season, he has been growing maize, groundnuts (by his wife; it's a woman's crop), tomato, and cabbage.
Have you counted all the different income generating activities for the family?! Diversification is one of the tenets of rural livelihoods, but I never internalized the problems associated with it. 'Record keeping' is often touted as a reason for problems with [rural] smallholder success, but shit, for 10-20 activities it's intense! In canada, we usually have 1 or 2 income generating activities, and the paperwork can be done by someone else! All the sources also pay for different things - the cow milk was sold to pay for the farm labourer. What happens when there's a shock? What if someone in the family or next-of-kin dies? What if there's a flood? What if the engine has a breakdown?
This post is incomplete but I want to just push some thoughts out there. Mr Fire isn't in poverty, but he's not very happy about his situation and always working hard to improve. I've got a lot more to say about my experiences in the village.
Friday, July 31
Loans schmoans
At the beginning of July was Heroes Day and Unit Day - national holidays in Zambia. IDE also had some sort of holiday, so we only worked on Friday. Saturday was the provincial show for Lusaka Province. IDE Kafue office and Lusaka field offices attended/presented together.
I got a VCT! I proudly wear the yellow wristband. And I'm HIV negative.
The show was pretty chill but still fun. I rode in the back of a pickup truck back to Lusaka! Windy windy and uncomfortable with the truck packed with a desk and pumps and pipes and water barrels and stuff.
I spent the IDE holiday with the CETZAM loans officer, assessing 60ish farmers in Mungu, Chikupi, Muchuto, and Nutrition groups. I learned tons about growing irrigated vegetables! The farmers are first asked to create a plan for a small loan, to establish trust that they will repay. Then they are eligible for bigger loans. This is all contingent on their current assets - if they're a successful household, they are immediately eligible for larger loans.
A typical loan is for 1 to 2 million Kwacha - $212 to $424. A petrol pump might be 1.5 million, a treadle pump is about 1/2 of that. Barbed wire for 1 Lima (50m x 50m, a quarter of a Hectare) is maybe K300,000. Inputs for a Lima of vegetables - maybe tomato or cabbage, including fertilizer and pesticides - cost maybe K600,000. After 3-4 months, the farmers can sell their crop, with expected income of a few million.
They get a grace period of 2-3 months; however long it takes to start selling the crop. Then they are a charged a flat 4% per month, of the principal amount.
So... they apply for a loan and get an assessment of their assets and current vegetable activity. If accepted, they pay 10% of the total cost of what they're asking for, then receive items (not cash) asked for in the loan. Chemicals, pumps, seeds, whatever.. they are purchased wholesale by the loan institution, and the retailers handle distribution. I think.
After a few months, they begin selling. Say it takes four months to totally clear the loan - then they have paid 4*4% = 16% to access the loan, over a total period of 6-7 months. Not bad, considering lending institutions here start at like 20% per month, and don't work with smallscale farmers anyways.
That's the good stuff. There are a lot more details to the scheme, both known and unknown to me. So far, the plan seems to be good.. but implementation definitely is lacking. CETZAM and IDE are pretty new at this, but my field office has been dedicating a lot of time to help this initiative start. I understand that it's new, and there's a lot of learning for everyone involved during this period, but it's frustrating me so much. My field staff are being pulled from other duties to fill gaps in prior planning/lack therof.
Microfinance is virtually non-existent here in Zambia.. there's one other institution, Micro Bankers Trust. But besides MBT and CETZAM... farmers are pretty out of luck for credit.
I got a VCT! I proudly wear the yellow wristband. And I'm HIV negative.
The show was pretty chill but still fun. I rode in the back of a pickup truck back to Lusaka! Windy windy and uncomfortable with the truck packed with a desk and pumps and pipes and water barrels and stuff.
I spent the IDE holiday with the CETZAM loans officer, assessing 60ish farmers in Mungu, Chikupi, Muchuto, and Nutrition groups. I learned tons about growing irrigated vegetables! The farmers are first asked to create a plan for a small loan, to establish trust that they will repay. Then they are eligible for bigger loans. This is all contingent on their current assets - if they're a successful household, they are immediately eligible for larger loans.
A typical loan is for 1 to 2 million Kwacha - $212 to $424. A petrol pump might be 1.5 million, a treadle pump is about 1/2 of that. Barbed wire for 1 Lima (50m x 50m, a quarter of a Hectare) is maybe K300,000. Inputs for a Lima of vegetables - maybe tomato or cabbage, including fertilizer and pesticides - cost maybe K600,000. After 3-4 months, the farmers can sell their crop, with expected income of a few million.
They get a grace period of 2-3 months; however long it takes to start selling the crop. Then they are a charged a flat 4% per month, of the principal amount.
So... they apply for a loan and get an assessment of their assets and current vegetable activity. If accepted, they pay 10% of the total cost of what they're asking for, then receive items (not cash) asked for in the loan. Chemicals, pumps, seeds, whatever.. they are purchased wholesale by the loan institution, and the retailers handle distribution. I think.
After a few months, they begin selling. Say it takes four months to totally clear the loan - then they have paid 4*4% = 16% to access the loan, over a total period of 6-7 months. Not bad, considering lending institutions here start at like 20% per month, and don't work with smallscale farmers anyways.
That's the good stuff. There are a lot more details to the scheme, both known and unknown to me. So far, the plan seems to be good.. but implementation definitely is lacking. CETZAM and IDE are pretty new at this, but my field office has been dedicating a lot of time to help this initiative start. I understand that it's new, and there's a lot of learning for everyone involved during this period, but it's frustrating me so much. My field staff are being pulled from other duties to fill gaps in prior planning/lack therof.
Microfinance is virtually non-existent here in Zambia.. there's one other institution, Micro Bankers Trust. But besides MBT and CETZAM... farmers are pretty out of luck for credit.
'Cause baby, prevention is better than cure
So I haven't updated in a while. Yeah.
In the last couple weeks I've gotten to a much better point in my placement -- my relationship with Alice and Jairos is much deeper, more friendly.. just better! I'm starting to be able to push them a little on issues, we respect each others opinions, whatever. I've noticed my counterpart speaks much less formally and inserts more.. vernacular.
Jairos and I went to Chanyanya, I got to see Hans (an EWB Long-term OVS) and his commercial/small scale project with PROFIT. Wicked to see a center-pivot irrigation system up close and in action!! Less wicked to see how the small-scale farmers were doing, with cooporating on a commercial farm scale. Ah well, it's their first time.
Then we continued northerly and passed Kafue Sugar. Gigantic sugar plantation near the Kafue River, which uses massive electric pumps to flood fields of sugar. Hundreds of hectares, and a small community of homes to work in the fields/processing plant.
And onwards to a new group in Lusaka West. We were gauging their potential to join into IDE's program.. it was pretty neat to come along! The second time we visited, I really stepped up and took an active role in the conversation - a retired councilor (politician of some sort) was being a real jerk and I was doing a good job of getting back to root causes. Jairos was ok with it, he said he was happy to sit back and relax.
The next day we visited Lusaka supermarkets together to do some research on their vegetable purchasing. After returning back (and after a couple beers), we had ridden 350km together in two days! No wonder my back was killing me (the roads southwest of Lusaka are brutal).
Frick! My time here is almost up. I'm going to the National Show this weekend, I have a week village stay, a few days left with my field staff, a final presentation to HQ... and then I head home!ohmygawd ahh
I'm running out of time for so many ideas I had.. I guess it's part of the expected "you'll just get the feeling that your placement is going well, you're finally able to start having some impact, and it's time to leave". My nyanja and tonga are slowly picking up, I've got tons of good relationships throughout town, my family life is good, work is getting very good... yahweh.
What's my message in this blog? I don't know. But life is good right now.. just rushed.
In the last couple weeks I've gotten to a much better point in my placement -- my relationship with Alice and Jairos is much deeper, more friendly.. just better! I'm starting to be able to push them a little on issues, we respect each others opinions, whatever. I've noticed my counterpart speaks much less formally and inserts more.. vernacular.
Jairos and I went to Chanyanya, I got to see Hans (an EWB Long-term OVS) and his commercial/small scale project with PROFIT. Wicked to see a center-pivot irrigation system up close and in action!! Less wicked to see how the small-scale farmers were doing, with cooporating on a commercial farm scale. Ah well, it's their first time.
Then we continued northerly and passed Kafue Sugar. Gigantic sugar plantation near the Kafue River, which uses massive electric pumps to flood fields of sugar. Hundreds of hectares, and a small community of homes to work in the fields/processing plant.
And onwards to a new group in Lusaka West. We were gauging their potential to join into IDE's program.. it was pretty neat to come along! The second time we visited, I really stepped up and took an active role in the conversation - a retired councilor (politician of some sort) was being a real jerk and I was doing a good job of getting back to root causes. Jairos was ok with it, he said he was happy to sit back and relax.
The next day we visited Lusaka supermarkets together to do some research on their vegetable purchasing. After returning back (and after a couple beers), we had ridden 350km together in two days! No wonder my back was killing me (the roads southwest of Lusaka are brutal).
Frick! My time here is almost up. I'm going to the National Show this weekend, I have a week village stay, a few days left with my field staff, a final presentation to HQ... and then I head home!ohmygawd ahh
I'm running out of time for so many ideas I had.. I guess it's part of the expected "you'll just get the feeling that your placement is going well, you're finally able to start having some impact, and it's time to leave". My nyanja and tonga are slowly picking up, I've got tons of good relationships throughout town, my family life is good, work is getting very good... yahweh.
What's my message in this blog? I don't know. But life is good right now.. just rushed.
Wednesday, July 8
A Chat With Leon
Ok, one more crappy story before I return to more interesting/happier stuff.
Most of this week is a holiday in the office, but CETZAM needs to finish farm appraisals and I volunteered to come. But on Monday I couldn't, because the village's farmers are spread out and the CETZAM officer needs to carry someone on his bike to show him around. So I decided to hang out in the office after buying some ketchup, bread, and chocolate milk (2 of those I don't regularly eat!).
Early in the morning, a woman came into the office and asked for K5000, then K3000 ($1ish, then $0.75 ish), and I said 'no' and saw her young son was outside too. I kept the door a little more shut after that, but I think most passerby people see the white man regularly come to work here.
Around noon I sat outside to read some documents about marketing and farm record keeping. A young man came and sat with me and chatted. He indirectly asked for money every once in a while, but wasn't too bad. I learned some information from him and it's sort of hitting me now.
Leon Mukulolo is a Tongan in his early 20's. He's an orphan, but because of that the government paid for his secondary school (cool!). He has a brother in grade 9, and they are taking care of their grandmother in Zambian Compound. If you look at Kafue on Google Maps, that area is west of the railway switching yard - essentially Kafue's slum. I haven't been deep inside it yet, and I probably won't go there alone.He says he doesn't take alcohol or smoke, and I half believe him on the first -- he wasn't drunk by noon, and he was asking a lot of intelligent questions about Canada/USA. He did ask for money and said he hadn't eaten since saturday (meaning he hasn't had nshima since then). He showed me K2500 ($0.53 CDN) he made that morning of piece work of slashing (mowing grass with a curved blade), which I believed. He said he was wandering around asking for piecework. That's how our conversation started, actually.
In our JF retreat, one item we discussed was our return to Canada. It can be accompanied with a major low (worse than anything overseas) when 'shit hits the fan' (thanks Mike Kang). I've heard something similar to myself in other JFs - we're receiving this information from people and witnessing poverty, but storing it away and not processing it. And then it all comes out when we return to Canada. FML, what am I setting myself up for?
So back to Leon. I can honestly say I didn't feel very sorry for him. I feel angry for the situation he's in, and I abhor the ignorance and injustice of people in positions of power to fix this. Maybe I just empathised with his lack of power to fix his situation? He asked me for advice, and I thought pretty hard before we discussed some things. One of his root constraints was lack of capital, for which I didn't have a solution. Then he mentioned working for MBT!
Sidestory -- Micro Bankers Trust had a partnership with IDE here in Kafue, and they would provide micro-credit/finance for farmer groups. After farmer buy-in and investment into the application process, something fell through. It broke some trust of the farmers with MFI and the field staff here, I'm sure.
Anyways, I said he should make some sort of proposal/plan for MBT to pay for capital of transporting village chickens. I really doubt he'll follow through on this, but it was the best I could do. The venture would be him going to nearby villages, purchasing chickens (they're sold for about K12,000 to K20,000), and then selling in town (Kafue or Lusakaa) for maybe K25,000 to K40,000. One or two chicken sales would cover the transportation cost. A bicycle trip (1-2 hours each way) would be much cheaper but needs higher initial investment.
So what am I setting myself up for? What lessons and stories do I want to share with Canadians? People have great potential, with some investment - but what activities are needed to do that? There are no silver bullets, but sure, some micro-finance methods can help.
How hard is reintegration going to be?
Most of this week is a holiday in the office, but CETZAM needs to finish farm appraisals and I volunteered to come. But on Monday I couldn't, because the village's farmers are spread out and the CETZAM officer needs to carry someone on his bike to show him around. So I decided to hang out in the office after buying some ketchup, bread, and chocolate milk (2 of those I don't regularly eat!).
Early in the morning, a woman came into the office and asked for K5000, then K3000 ($1ish, then $0.75 ish), and I said 'no' and saw her young son was outside too. I kept the door a little more shut after that, but I think most passerby people see the white man regularly come to work here.
Around noon I sat outside to read some documents about marketing and farm record keeping. A young man came and sat with me and chatted. He indirectly asked for money every once in a while, but wasn't too bad. I learned some information from him and it's sort of hitting me now.
Leon Mukulolo is a Tongan in his early 20's. He's an orphan, but because of that the government paid for his secondary school (cool!). He has a brother in grade 9, and they are taking care of their grandmother in Zambian Compound. If you look at Kafue on Google Maps, that area is west of the railway switching yard - essentially Kafue's slum. I haven't been deep inside it yet, and I probably won't go there alone.He says he doesn't take alcohol or smoke, and I half believe him on the first -- he wasn't drunk by noon, and he was asking a lot of intelligent questions about Canada/USA. He did ask for money and said he hadn't eaten since saturday (meaning he hasn't had nshima since then). He showed me K2500 ($0.53 CDN) he made that morning of piece work of slashing (mowing grass with a curved blade), which I believed. He said he was wandering around asking for piecework. That's how our conversation started, actually.
In our JF retreat, one item we discussed was our return to Canada. It can be accompanied with a major low (worse than anything overseas) when 'shit hits the fan' (thanks Mike Kang). I've heard something similar to myself in other JFs - we're receiving this information from people and witnessing poverty, but storing it away and not processing it. And then it all comes out when we return to Canada. FML, what am I setting myself up for?
So back to Leon. I can honestly say I didn't feel very sorry for him. I feel angry for the situation he's in, and I abhor the ignorance and injustice of people in positions of power to fix this. Maybe I just empathised with his lack of power to fix his situation? He asked me for advice, and I thought pretty hard before we discussed some things. One of his root constraints was lack of capital, for which I didn't have a solution. Then he mentioned working for MBT!
Sidestory -- Micro Bankers Trust had a partnership with IDE here in Kafue, and they would provide micro-credit/finance for farmer groups. After farmer buy-in and investment into the application process, something fell through. It broke some trust of the farmers with MFI and the field staff here, I'm sure.
Anyways, I said he should make some sort of proposal/plan for MBT to pay for capital of transporting village chickens. I really doubt he'll follow through on this, but it was the best I could do. The venture would be him going to nearby villages, purchasing chickens (they're sold for about K12,000 to K20,000), and then selling in town (Kafue or Lusakaa) for maybe K25,000 to K40,000. One or two chicken sales would cover the transportation cost. A bicycle trip (1-2 hours each way) would be much cheaper but needs higher initial investment.
So what am I setting myself up for? What lessons and stories do I want to share with Canadians? People have great potential, with some investment - but what activities are needed to do that? There are no silver bullets, but sure, some micro-finance methods can help.
How hard is reintegration going to be?
Monday, July 6
Lizard
This little guy was hanging out in my latrine, watching me do my business. I pulled him out with my camera case (he clamped on with his teeth). He was stuck in a crack from the other side..
Saturday, July 4
Impact Plan
I'm very uncertain of my plan for overseas impact. UVic's returned JF (many awesome coffee date discussions), Mark Brown, had a pretty unique placement as far as overseas placements go. This year, EWB has partnered 5 of its 7 Zambian JFs with IDE - it's partly an experiment to see the effect of directly working with field staff and building their capacity.
I'm still coming to terms with my position. I am like a field officer - I accompany them to the field and meet farmers and attend farmer group meetings, and I participate in office activities; at the same time I am like a consultant, critiquing the organization, working on methods to improve their resources or structure; yet I sit outside the hierarchal structure of IDE which presents more opportunities. I can relate to the field staff and their superiors; I can talk to clients of IDE and relate to them outisde of IDE, and maintain my own relationships with other market actors.
I've also got that 'white privilege', which is definitely useful. If I chat to someone, they'll want me to visit their factory/industrial plant/church/farm and get a tour from them. I haven't taken much advantage of this yet.
During the JF retreat, we discussed switching field offices for a day or two to see the differences. Then we discussed field staff doing the same - it costs a few days, but they would witness different approaches to field work, structure of farmer groups, organization/planning within the field office, and maybe build some more relationships. It could also be motivating.
If IDE doesn't like the idea (ie, cost is more than benefit), then EWB can possibly step in and fund it anyways. It's a little ballsy or bold of me to say this, but I like the idea.
Some of the southern africa OVS are thinking about touch typing software. If EWB buys a site license (unlimited copies), we can give them to all the people we work with. Right after reading this discussion, I was asked to type a couple documents for my field office. We were short on time and they had some handwritten pages, so I typed them. I guess I really impressed the staff because the next day they were asking me to help teach them how to type without looking at the keyboard, quickly, etc. (I have abhorrent typing skills.. I'm probably well into RSI and arthritis and all that good stuff from my poor hand position). Field staff spending less time bumbling on a keyboard = increased output = impact?!
Does an open source (free) touch typing exist for Windows, that's on par with standard ones? I used something in Grade 9 and it would work just as well in Zambia.
Ahh, I had a fanta, half a liter of water, and over half a liter of chibwantu ('mukoyu' or something in Nyanja) in the last hour. Chibwantu is amazing.. thickly ground maize, some sort of root, and a little sugar boiled together for a while. Tasty and chewy drink but damn am I urinating. Which reminds me.. does larium/mefloquine (my malaria prophylaxis) have a side effect of increased urination? Vicki and I both lamented this. It sucks to get up 2-3 times per night. My other diagnosis is diabetes from all the sugar and carbs.
What will be my office impact? After doing an individual assessment with my staff, individually, I might be able to coach them/link them to EWB resources on self-improvement. Possibly facilitate this or create resources. Maybe this will tie into my in-Canada impact (I'll save that one for another blog post).
I'm still coming to terms with my position. I am like a field officer - I accompany them to the field and meet farmers and attend farmer group meetings, and I participate in office activities; at the same time I am like a consultant, critiquing the organization, working on methods to improve their resources or structure; yet I sit outside the hierarchal structure of IDE which presents more opportunities. I can relate to the field staff and their superiors; I can talk to clients of IDE and relate to them outisde of IDE, and maintain my own relationships with other market actors.
I've also got that 'white privilege', which is definitely useful. If I chat to someone, they'll want me to visit their factory/industrial plant/church/farm and get a tour from them. I haven't taken much advantage of this yet.
During the JF retreat, we discussed switching field offices for a day or two to see the differences. Then we discussed field staff doing the same - it costs a few days, but they would witness different approaches to field work, structure of farmer groups, organization/planning within the field office, and maybe build some more relationships. It could also be motivating.
If IDE doesn't like the idea (ie, cost is more than benefit), then EWB can possibly step in and fund it anyways. It's a little ballsy or bold of me to say this, but I like the idea.
Some of the southern africa OVS are thinking about touch typing software. If EWB buys a site license (unlimited copies), we can give them to all the people we work with. Right after reading this discussion, I was asked to type a couple documents for my field office. We were short on time and they had some handwritten pages, so I typed them. I guess I really impressed the staff because the next day they were asking me to help teach them how to type without looking at the keyboard, quickly, etc. (I have abhorrent typing skills.. I'm probably well into RSI and arthritis and all that good stuff from my poor hand position). Field staff spending less time bumbling on a keyboard = increased output = impact?!
Does an open source (free) touch typing exist for Windows, that's on par with standard ones? I used something in Grade 9 and it would work just as well in Zambia.
Ahh, I had a fanta, half a liter of water, and over half a liter of chibwantu ('mukoyu' or something in Nyanja) in the last hour. Chibwantu is amazing.. thickly ground maize, some sort of root, and a little sugar boiled together for a while. Tasty and chewy drink but damn am I urinating. Which reminds me.. does larium/mefloquine (my malaria prophylaxis) have a side effect of increased urination? Vicki and I both lamented this. It sucks to get up 2-3 times per night. My other diagnosis is diabetes from all the sugar and carbs.
What will be my office impact? After doing an individual assessment with my staff, individually, I might be able to coach them/link them to EWB resources on self-improvement. Possibly facilitate this or create resources. Maybe this will tie into my in-Canada impact (I'll save that one for another blog post).
Mechanical Engineering, Zambian Style
Required tools to repair anything mechanical in Zambia: a heavy blunt object (metal or rock), a sharp/pointed object (uusally metal), some stiff wire, maybe some soft wire, and occaisonally a screwdriver or pair of pliers or wrench. Bicycle maintenance/repair, doors, motorbike clutch cable, under-the-tree car repairs.. it's all covered.
Thursday, July 2
Why?
Something that's been really bothering me lately is the reason why I'm here. For over fifty years, Northern people have come to the South with the intention of direct, positive change (large or small), but the bigger impact always seems on making the Northerner a better person/learning. That seems greedy to me and I'm part of this culture. EWB wants to foster better leaders in engineering, in Canada, in development, wherever.. but is this just another resource being plundered from Africa? We're abusing the South's hospitality by taking our experiences home and making the North a better place.
I guess this is connected to how powerless I sometimes feel, here in Zambia. The institutional and government/international constraints are enourmous. There are just so many things that make this country a broken system, including past aid and current aid. Everyone may have their own opinion of how to fix Africa, but I sometimes feel like all our efforts and learning based on those efforts still are not leading us to that end goal.
I know that I can have a really small positive impact on the people I interact with, and who I work for/with. What does that accomplish? Is that all I'm capable of here? My IDE district is relatively successful, and I don't really know how to improve the field staff. They have their own challenges that I can help with, but blah! I'm a little lost. But just stuck in a rut that I'll work myself out.
I guess this is connected to how powerless I sometimes feel, here in Zambia. The institutional and government/international constraints are enourmous. There are just so many things that make this country a broken system, including past aid and current aid. Everyone may have their own opinion of how to fix Africa, but I sometimes feel like all our efforts and learning based on those efforts still are not leading us to that end goal.
I know that I can have a really small positive impact on the people I interact with, and who I work for/with. What does that accomplish? Is that all I'm capable of here? My IDE district is relatively successful, and I don't really know how to improve the field staff. They have their own challenges that I can help with, but blah! I'm a little lost. But just stuck in a rut that I'll work myself out.
Tuesday, June 30
IT Input
Why can't we volunteers share some access to technology? Decent Asus EeePC netbooks are around $500 CAD. A 4GB USB flash drive is $5-$10. Both of these take up very little space in a backpack, and can easily cost twice as much in Zambia.
I don't have the capital/time to resell netbooks, but I am working with Mike H to buy flash drives in Canada, ship them here (his aunt is visiting so it saves that cost), then sell to friends and coworkers at cost. I know there's an OVS in Malawi planning on doing something similar, but with netbooks from EBay.
This should almost be a policy for JFs!! Bring 5-10 USB flash drives - a couple for yourself and a bunch to sell. The local market sucks for them. It's a local impact on counterparts/friends/whomever, but not a big enough impact to circumvent the existing supply chain and businesses that sell them.
But that makes me consider the prospect of a Zambian doing this as a business. There's internet here (access to EBay or large North American retailers like Newegg, Tigerdirect, and NCIX), there's both postal service and courier (DHL is in Zambia), and definitely a market in Lusaka. Probably other cities like Kitwe and Livingstone too.
In a random shop in Lusaka, a 4gb flash drive was K120,000: $25. At cost, I can offer them for about half that. An enterprising Zambian could earn an easy profit margin with just a little startup capital. The capital might have to come from an MFI like KIVA, but it's totally possible!
I think the situation for laptops/netbooks is very similar.
Also what is needed: a USB condom. Fuck, infected computers are prevalent and USB drives are just like penises.
I don't have the capital/time to resell netbooks, but I am working with Mike H to buy flash drives in Canada, ship them here (his aunt is visiting so it saves that cost), then sell to friends and coworkers at cost. I know there's an OVS in Malawi planning on doing something similar, but with netbooks from EBay.
This should almost be a policy for JFs!! Bring 5-10 USB flash drives - a couple for yourself and a bunch to sell. The local market sucks for them. It's a local impact on counterparts/friends/whomever, but not a big enough impact to circumvent the existing supply chain and businesses that sell them.
But that makes me consider the prospect of a Zambian doing this as a business. There's internet here (access to EBay or large North American retailers like Newegg, Tigerdirect, and NCIX), there's both postal service and courier (DHL is in Zambia), and definitely a market in Lusaka. Probably other cities like Kitwe and Livingstone too.
In a random shop in Lusaka, a 4gb flash drive was K120,000: $25. At cost, I can offer them for about half that. An enterprising Zambian could earn an easy profit margin with just a little startup capital. The capital might have to come from an MFI like KIVA, but it's totally possible!
I think the situation for laptops/netbooks is very similar.
Also what is needed: a USB condom. Fuck, infected computers are prevalent and USB drives are just like penises.
Death
Death sucks. I see a lot of very young kids (under five), and tons of teenagers and older. It's hard to judge the age of older people, but I see a fair amount of people with white in their hair. My host mother is one example, and I think she's 59. I haven't seen many people with a full head of white hair.
In the ~1 month I've stayed Kafue, 3 or 4 people have died with some connection to me. One person was killed in a car collision, who lives near my coworkers, and my counterpart Jairos helped extract the body from the car (came back to the office with blood on his pants). The next day I saw a broken windshield in the ditch next to a broken sign from a seperate accident, as well as a lorry with a crushed front that apparently destroyed a small car. Every once in a while, you see a totalled wreck of a minibus.
My host brother Aubree is pretty well-connected in town. His friend's cousin died yesterday. He said that during the maize harvest, some boy came and helped him without asking any questions. At the end of the day, Aubree gave him some food as payment.. and then a few days after I moved into my permanent accomodations, Aubree said that boy had died.
I was doing something in town with my host cousin Chipuna, and a big truck passed with the back full of maybe 30 women singing. I thought it was kinda cool until Chipuna said it was for a funeral.
I was in church on Sunday with my host mom, Mrs. Maplanga (should it be Ms. because she's a widow? Mr. Maplanga died from an asthma attack), and they asked people to contribute to the funeral fund for a recently deceased pastor. Today she said she attended a funeral but I don't know who it was for. Maybe Aubree's friends cousin, or the pastor, or someone else.
High birth rate, large families, high mortality.
Death sucks.
My own risk of mortality has become part of my experience here -- I've adjusted, somehow. When I get on the back of the motorbike to visit farmers, I know that there's a high risk of injury or death. It used to scare me, but I've accepted that I'm pretty helpless as long as I continue to work here. It's still freaky when lorries loaded with cement blocks or copper roar past and force you closer to the non-existent/shitty shoulders.
Minibuses are another story. Officially, this major form of public transit seats 15 or 16, and that law is actually enforced in Malawi. In Zambia there's no such restriction, so it's common to get on with 20 people and luggage and chickens. There's little padding over the steel-framed benches, and no inner upholstery or seatbelts. In an accident, I think pretty much everyone dies. Maybe the driver and passenger seat are safest, due to seatbelts. I only need to ride them to get to Lusaka, or get around Lusaka - I ride my bicycle or walk around Kafue. I'll probably visit Livingstone in July and I've heard there are only taxis there.
Oh, and the nurses have been on strike for almost 5 weeks, and the government just promised to fire them all if they don't show up for work on Tuesday. I doubt they'll return. The government is trying to guilt them to work based on the morals of their profession. I'm sure they understand that already! So they must have a damn good reason to be on strike. I've heard that there are more people dying because of reduced healthcare. The issue is complicated by the union leaders not representing the nurses properly. And the knowledge that like 28 billion kwacha (5ish million CAD) had been stolen from the ministry of health via corruption - that must mean there's money now, so the nurses deserve better wages! That seems to be the nursing point of view.
In the ~1 month I've stayed Kafue, 3 or 4 people have died with some connection to me. One person was killed in a car collision, who lives near my coworkers, and my counterpart Jairos helped extract the body from the car (came back to the office with blood on his pants). The next day I saw a broken windshield in the ditch next to a broken sign from a seperate accident, as well as a lorry with a crushed front that apparently destroyed a small car. Every once in a while, you see a totalled wreck of a minibus.
My host brother Aubree is pretty well-connected in town. His friend's cousin died yesterday. He said that during the maize harvest, some boy came and helped him without asking any questions. At the end of the day, Aubree gave him some food as payment.. and then a few days after I moved into my permanent accomodations, Aubree said that boy had died.
I was doing something in town with my host cousin Chipuna, and a big truck passed with the back full of maybe 30 women singing. I thought it was kinda cool until Chipuna said it was for a funeral.
I was in church on Sunday with my host mom, Mrs. Maplanga (should it be Ms. because she's a widow? Mr. Maplanga died from an asthma attack), and they asked people to contribute to the funeral fund for a recently deceased pastor. Today she said she attended a funeral but I don't know who it was for. Maybe Aubree's friends cousin, or the pastor, or someone else.
High birth rate, large families, high mortality.
Death sucks.
My own risk of mortality has become part of my experience here -- I've adjusted, somehow. When I get on the back of the motorbike to visit farmers, I know that there's a high risk of injury or death. It used to scare me, but I've accepted that I'm pretty helpless as long as I continue to work here. It's still freaky when lorries loaded with cement blocks or copper roar past and force you closer to the non-existent/shitty shoulders.
Minibuses are another story. Officially, this major form of public transit seats 15 or 16, and that law is actually enforced in Malawi. In Zambia there's no such restriction, so it's common to get on with 20 people and luggage and chickens. There's little padding over the steel-framed benches, and no inner upholstery or seatbelts. In an accident, I think pretty much everyone dies. Maybe the driver and passenger seat are safest, due to seatbelts. I only need to ride them to get to Lusaka, or get around Lusaka - I ride my bicycle or walk around Kafue. I'll probably visit Livingstone in July and I've heard there are only taxis there.
Oh, and the nurses have been on strike for almost 5 weeks, and the government just promised to fire them all if they don't show up for work on Tuesday. I doubt they'll return. The government is trying to guilt them to work based on the morals of their profession. I'm sure they understand that already! So they must have a damn good reason to be on strike. I've heard that there are more people dying because of reduced healthcare. The issue is complicated by the union leaders not representing the nurses properly. And the knowledge that like 28 billion kwacha (5ish million CAD) had been stolen from the ministry of health via corruption - that must mean there's money now, so the nurses deserve better wages! That seems to be the nursing point of view.
Friday, June 26
Retreat
I'm back from a rushed week of travels and learning and challenges and fun... our SA JF retreat! It was at the Wheelhouse Marina, Senga Bay, Malawi. I think that place runs programs for street kids or something. But it was sweet to be able to swim every morning, drink full-strength unsweetened coffee, cook a crazy variety of food, and share stories of the last month. Sending letters with the JFs was done by a couple other chapters, but I think UVic's are the best. Not that the JFs have shared them.. just a gut feeling. EWB UVic rocks.
So where am I at? At the retreat, we discussed the future of EWB and the returned JF role. We are planning an event for late September - UVic, SFU, and UBC JFs doing a presentation tour of the three universities! Since Victoria has a bit of a moat around it, we might host Andrew, Annelies, and Mike for a night! Annelies is in Burkina, Andrew is in northern Malawi, and Mike is in Pemba (about 2-3 hours from me). I'm thinking it will be good to contrast our placements - our work, what we do in spare time, our counterparts, host family, stories..
What else? We discussed our summer plans. I plan on posting some general questions on my blog, which could be answered or researched by anyone. They might be good starting points for my chapter to explore, or anyone to answer. I also might be creating some training modules for my field staff in areas related to leadership, communication, coaching... sounds like good EWB resources! Hopefully this will tie into chapter work.
There were also monkeys! First time I've seen monkeys in the wild. They're so entertaining to watch...
My personal impact plan is to take some initiative with our field office and market research/linkages. Maybe they're waiting on me? Maybe I can show them it's something they have plenty of time to do..
I also want to research some of the other actors in Kafue. The treadle pump manufacturer Chokwadi, the fertilizer company Nitrogen Chemicals Zambia, the market welders that make rope and washer pumps, the distributors of chemicals to farmers... there's a lot of learning about them.
I'm not 100% on where I should focus my main impact. Previously, the JF program had monthly reporting and a final collated report that nobody (asymptote) read. EWB is experimenting with dropping that requirement, and instead allowing JFs to create some tool or resource for use within EWB - maybe chapter learning, maybe something else. I'm pretty excited to create some case studies for future use. There's a cool farmers group that has some sort of government-sponsored water storage tank, allocated land, and electric pump for irrigation. There's a group with nearly 300 farmers, and a group of 30 farmers. The other players in the supply chain and value chains are also pretty interesting.
Mmm personal story of too much alcohol..
On our final night, we had a booze crooze on the lake, anchored and swam at a little island. Lots of crazy fun. A few beers later, I think we had another few crazy game of jenga (foot jenga, mouth jenga, blind partner jenga..) and some other shenanigans (I had about 6 carlsbergs in me). Then the Chibuku chug-off... team Zommmmmbia, Malawinners, and Oh Oh Oooh (OVS!). The Zambians had a pretty low turnout of four guys wearing wifebeaters (other teams had 6), but we maybe... tied? Hard to say. Enthusiasm died once people tasted the delicious, vinegary, way over fermented, chunky, milk-looking maize and sorghum beer. I loved it enough to drink another 1 and a half cartons. Then we hung out around a beach fire - me with about 3L of chibuku - and I guess made our way back to bed. I somehow missed our treefort-ish dorms, and I woke up around 4am on my back in the parking lot and still very drunk. I stumbled back to my bed in front of the watchman, and woke up again around 7am (still drunk). The day's hangover was not bad at all. Maybe because chibuku's 3-4% alcohol? I'd still do it again though.
Questions regarding NGO actors in Zambia, working with Agriculture Value Chains:
What is PROFIT doing here? Hans Hesse, a long-term OVS, is working with them and both IDE and PROFIT have clients (farmers) in a certain village. I'm hoping it's not a conflict of interest for IDE to be promoting farmer groups and collaboration with other groups for marketing, when PROFIT is running some other program...
What is the SMC project in Zambia? I heard it was run by USAID. When did it run? Where? What were the results?
What is CLUSA?
What is technoserve?
What is CETZAM? Christian Empowerment Trust.. Zambia. IDE Zambia is partnering with them and I'm very curious about their previous and current work. Are they international? Who funds them? What is their development theory?
So where am I at? At the retreat, we discussed the future of EWB and the returned JF role. We are planning an event for late September - UVic, SFU, and UBC JFs doing a presentation tour of the three universities! Since Victoria has a bit of a moat around it, we might host Andrew, Annelies, and Mike for a night! Annelies is in Burkina, Andrew is in northern Malawi, and Mike is in Pemba (about 2-3 hours from me). I'm thinking it will be good to contrast our placements - our work, what we do in spare time, our counterparts, host family, stories..
What else? We discussed our summer plans. I plan on posting some general questions on my blog, which could be answered or researched by anyone. They might be good starting points for my chapter to explore, or anyone to answer. I also might be creating some training modules for my field staff in areas related to leadership, communication, coaching... sounds like good EWB resources! Hopefully this will tie into chapter work.
There were also monkeys! First time I've seen monkeys in the wild. They're so entertaining to watch...
My personal impact plan is to take some initiative with our field office and market research/linkages. Maybe they're waiting on me? Maybe I can show them it's something they have plenty of time to do..
I also want to research some of the other actors in Kafue. The treadle pump manufacturer Chokwadi, the fertilizer company Nitrogen Chemicals Zambia, the market welders that make rope and washer pumps, the distributors of chemicals to farmers... there's a lot of learning about them.
I'm not 100% on where I should focus my main impact. Previously, the JF program had monthly reporting and a final collated report that nobody (asymptote) read. EWB is experimenting with dropping that requirement, and instead allowing JFs to create some tool or resource for use within EWB - maybe chapter learning, maybe something else. I'm pretty excited to create some case studies for future use. There's a cool farmers group that has some sort of government-sponsored water storage tank, allocated land, and electric pump for irrigation. There's a group with nearly 300 farmers, and a group of 30 farmers. The other players in the supply chain and value chains are also pretty interesting.
Mmm personal story of too much alcohol..
On our final night, we had a booze crooze on the lake, anchored and swam at a little island. Lots of crazy fun. A few beers later, I think we had another few crazy game of jenga (foot jenga, mouth jenga, blind partner jenga..) and some other shenanigans (I had about 6 carlsbergs in me). Then the Chibuku chug-off... team Zommmmmbia, Malawinners, and Oh Oh Oooh (OVS!). The Zambians had a pretty low turnout of four guys wearing wifebeaters (other teams had 6), but we maybe... tied? Hard to say. Enthusiasm died once people tasted the delicious, vinegary, way over fermented, chunky, milk-looking maize and sorghum beer. I loved it enough to drink another 1 and a half cartons. Then we hung out around a beach fire - me with about 3L of chibuku - and I guess made our way back to bed. I somehow missed our treefort-ish dorms, and I woke up around 4am on my back in the parking lot and still very drunk. I stumbled back to my bed in front of the watchman, and woke up again around 7am (still drunk). The day's hangover was not bad at all. Maybe because chibuku's 3-4% alcohol? I'd still do it again though.
Questions regarding NGO actors in Zambia, working with Agriculture Value Chains:
What is PROFIT doing here? Hans Hesse, a long-term OVS, is working with them and both IDE and PROFIT have clients (farmers) in a certain village. I'm hoping it's not a conflict of interest for IDE to be promoting farmer groups and collaboration with other groups for marketing, when PROFIT is running some other program...
What is the SMC project in Zambia? I heard it was run by USAID. When did it run? Where? What were the results?
What is CLUSA?
What is technoserve?
What is CETZAM? Christian Empowerment Trust.. Zambia. IDE Zambia is partnering with them and I'm very curious about their previous and current work. Are they international? Who funds them? What is their development theory?
Sunday, May 31
Catching Up
So, what's up with me going to Africa? I've got a bunch of audiences of my blog - friends from Ladysmith, UVic/Victoria, the EWB (the UVic chapter, connections across Canadian university and professional chapters, National Office, past and present Junior Fellows, the Long Term Overseas Staff..), my family, my extended family (there's like 50 of you, jesus), work friends, acquaintances, anonymous internet browsers...
On top of that, I have gone through a rigorous workbook of documents and activities for the Junior Fellowship, and a week in Toronto for pre-departure sessions. This has has changed my perspectives and attitudes on the global community, the notion of aid, and my role in all of it.
So it can be difficult to write anything publicly since it will be read by various audiences with different interests and knowledge. Hopefully I can publish enough for everyone to be a little satisfied!
So why the heck am I in Africa? Maybe it starts with why I joined Engineers Without Borders. It was a whimsical decision for more volunteer experience by joining the newly-founded UVic EcoCAR team. I dedicated my time to EWB once I realized how much the organization appealed to me; the culture of continuous self-improvement, reflection, critical thinking and feedback is refreshing, and the desired efficiency of time, money and other resources, and increase in understanding and effectiveness appeals to my engineering mindset.
EWB has semi-autonomous chapters across Canada, both in cities and universities. Each chapter can send one or multiple Junior Fellows to Africa for a 4 month placement, with the understanding that it's really 16 months. There's 4 months of preparation through foundation learning, about 3.5 months overseas (4 with pre-dep and debrief and travels), and 8+ months spreading knowledge, experiences, and stories with the home chapter. The overseas portion is relatively small for actually implementing changes overseas. I expect to have a minimal impact on my partner organization and staff, but perhaps we will both learn from each other.
In Southern Africa (SA), EWB works in the Agricultural Value Chains (AVC/agric) and Water & Sanitation (watsan) sectors. I'm part of the agric team in Zambia. The JFs in this team are all partnered with International Development Enterprises in Zambia, or IDE-Zambia. This organization seeks to fight rural poverty in smallholder farmers through profitable farming.
IDE is composed of six field offices throughout Zambia, and a head office in the capital Lusaka. There's around 35 employees in total (that number is inaccurate!), and each field office has 2 or 3 field staff. My office has Jairos and Alice, and a student intern Elijah who's doing his practicum. The current project, the Rural Prosperity Initiative (RPI), focuses on six areas (listed with some examples):
Inputs:
Credit -- linking farmers to micro-credit
Inputs -- seeds, fertilizer
Irrigation Technology -- linking farmers and suppliers of treadle pumps, drip irrigation
Production:
Capacity Building -- horticultural practices, best methods for planting and irrigation
Gender -- empowering both genders within households
Outputs:
Markets -- establishing links between farmers and markets that do not currently exist
My impression (naive - I'm new) is IDE is very good at establishing farmer groups, so that (eg.) 50 farmers can elect a few representatives that communicate with a field staff member, and they act to disseminate knowledge and practices. That's how a field office with 2 or 3 employees can manage over 2000 farming households. I'm very impressed with their progress and effectiveness to date. Additionally, they understand that NGO intervention must be facilitated, not forced. Otherwise any change will not be sustainable for the long-term.
My role here is to work with the field staff in their daily tasks and accompany them to the field (riding on the back of a motorbike woot). Once I am more accustomed to general practices, I am to help the field staff improve their effectiveness of market facilitation. So, they have many farmer groups that are producing more diverse crops and higher yields with lower production costs (through the first 5 areas of RPI listed above), but current markets are not favourable. One potential role of IDE is to link a food processor to smallholder farmers by facilitating meetings between the farmer groups and the processor, helping to negotiate a contract, and possibly following up on the progress and learning best practices. I can perform my duty by applying EWB tools such as the Personal Development Plan (PDP, and coordinating with other Junior Fellows working with IDE.
Another role is identifying and analyzing the effectiveness or challenges of IDE and the AVC sector as a whole. This is more my job with EWB, but it could also benefit IDE immediately - for example, having the various field offices meet more regularly and/or more informally. I'm not sure if that's a good idea and it's just something I've been considering in the last day or two.
So far, I am very impressed with how appropriate the treadle pump and dripkit irrigation technologes are. The former can be manufactured locally, and the latter is inexpensive to mass-produce and ship (extruded plastic hose, pipe, and fittings). The returns on investment are relatively fast and significant - indicated by high support among farmers! I've heard that uptake within Bangladesh and India of similar technology is ridiculously higher - in the millions. Understanding the reasons and consequences of the disparity may be of great value to EWB.
That's work. What about life?! A big portion of the EWB placement focuses on integration - we live on <$14/day, but I think that could be reduced further. We are encouraged to live with a family and try and become a temporary family member - cook and eat with them, attend church, clean, ..., where appropriate. I want to learn as much Zambian culture and language (chinyanja, language of the Nyanja tribe) as possible. I'm living in a large town which will bring a different experience than someone in a city or a village.
My town! It's about an hour south of Lusaka on the main highway. Kafue is just at the border of the Lusaka and Southern provinces, and beside the Kafue River. There's a hydroelectric dam nearby that powers Lusaka and maybe some of the copperbelt as well. There's also a dam far to the south that also powers Zambia.
I don't know how many people live in Kafue. Area-wise, it might be like Victoria, BC. Maybe 200,000 residents? It's very hard for me to estimate. There's a downtown core of shops, a heavy industrial area (Zambian Nitrogen Chemicals, Zesco power, and Kafue Steel Plant), many schools and churches, another area of shops and buildings, lots of light industry/commercial industries like machine shops, and plenty of markets and living regions. There's a railway that runs through the town and across the river, but rail transit/transport kinda sucks here and it isn't used much.
I think the proximity to Lusaka and all the businesses between them provides a lot of employment. I'm very new though and I don't know what's what!
In the future, I will post about life here - currency, buying things, environment, weather, people, language, food, transportation, attitudes, economy...
I can also talk about my direct work with the field staff, and my EWB role of the bigger picture. I left contact details on the left side of my blog. Please don't hesitate to phone, email, or comment!
Love.
On top of that, I have gone through a rigorous workbook of documents and activities for the Junior Fellowship, and a week in Toronto for pre-departure sessions. This has has changed my perspectives and attitudes on the global community, the notion of aid, and my role in all of it.
So it can be difficult to write anything publicly since it will be read by various audiences with different interests and knowledge. Hopefully I can publish enough for everyone to be a little satisfied!
So why the heck am I in Africa? Maybe it starts with why I joined Engineers Without Borders. It was a whimsical decision for more volunteer experience by joining the newly-founded UVic EcoCAR team. I dedicated my time to EWB once I realized how much the organization appealed to me; the culture of continuous self-improvement, reflection, critical thinking and feedback is refreshing, and the desired efficiency of time, money and other resources, and increase in understanding and effectiveness appeals to my engineering mindset.
EWB has semi-autonomous chapters across Canada, both in cities and universities. Each chapter can send one or multiple Junior Fellows to Africa for a 4 month placement, with the understanding that it's really 16 months. There's 4 months of preparation through foundation learning, about 3.5 months overseas (4 with pre-dep and debrief and travels), and 8+ months spreading knowledge, experiences, and stories with the home chapter. The overseas portion is relatively small for actually implementing changes overseas. I expect to have a minimal impact on my partner organization and staff, but perhaps we will both learn from each other.
In Southern Africa (SA), EWB works in the Agricultural Value Chains (AVC/agric) and Water & Sanitation (watsan) sectors. I'm part of the agric team in Zambia. The JFs in this team are all partnered with International Development Enterprises in Zambia, or IDE-Zambia. This organization seeks to fight rural poverty in smallholder farmers through profitable farming.
IDE is composed of six field offices throughout Zambia, and a head office in the capital Lusaka. There's around 35 employees in total (that number is inaccurate!), and each field office has 2 or 3 field staff. My office has Jairos and Alice, and a student intern Elijah who's doing his practicum. The current project, the Rural Prosperity Initiative (RPI), focuses on six areas (listed with some examples):
Inputs:
Credit -- linking farmers to micro-credit
Inputs -- seeds, fertilizer
Irrigation Technology -- linking farmers and suppliers of treadle pumps, drip irrigation
Production:
Capacity Building -- horticultural practices, best methods for planting and irrigation
Gender -- empowering both genders within households
Outputs:
Markets -- establishing links between farmers and markets that do not currently exist
My impression (naive - I'm new) is IDE is very good at establishing farmer groups, so that (eg.) 50 farmers can elect a few representatives that communicate with a field staff member, and they act to disseminate knowledge and practices. That's how a field office with 2 or 3 employees can manage over 2000 farming households. I'm very impressed with their progress and effectiveness to date. Additionally, they understand that NGO intervention must be facilitated, not forced. Otherwise any change will not be sustainable for the long-term.
My role here is to work with the field staff in their daily tasks and accompany them to the field (riding on the back of a motorbike woot). Once I am more accustomed to general practices, I am to help the field staff improve their effectiveness of market facilitation. So, they have many farmer groups that are producing more diverse crops and higher yields with lower production costs (through the first 5 areas of RPI listed above), but current markets are not favourable. One potential role of IDE is to link a food processor to smallholder farmers by facilitating meetings between the farmer groups and the processor, helping to negotiate a contract, and possibly following up on the progress and learning best practices. I can perform my duty by applying EWB tools such as the Personal Development Plan (PDP, and coordinating with other Junior Fellows working with IDE.
Another role is identifying and analyzing the effectiveness or challenges of IDE and the AVC sector as a whole. This is more my job with EWB, but it could also benefit IDE immediately - for example, having the various field offices meet more regularly and/or more informally. I'm not sure if that's a good idea and it's just something I've been considering in the last day or two.
So far, I am very impressed with how appropriate the treadle pump and dripkit irrigation technologes are. The former can be manufactured locally, and the latter is inexpensive to mass-produce and ship (extruded plastic hose, pipe, and fittings). The returns on investment are relatively fast and significant - indicated by high support among farmers! I've heard that uptake within Bangladesh and India of similar technology is ridiculously higher - in the millions. Understanding the reasons and consequences of the disparity may be of great value to EWB.
That's work. What about life?! A big portion of the EWB placement focuses on integration - we live on <$14/day, but I think that could be reduced further. We are encouraged to live with a family and try and become a temporary family member - cook and eat with them, attend church, clean, ..., where appropriate. I want to learn as much Zambian culture and language (chinyanja, language of the Nyanja tribe) as possible. I'm living in a large town which will bring a different experience than someone in a city or a village.
My town! It's about an hour south of Lusaka on the main highway. Kafue is just at the border of the Lusaka and Southern provinces, and beside the Kafue River. There's a hydroelectric dam nearby that powers Lusaka and maybe some of the copperbelt as well. There's also a dam far to the south that also powers Zambia.
I don't know how many people live in Kafue. Area-wise, it might be like Victoria, BC. Maybe 200,000 residents? It's very hard for me to estimate. There's a downtown core of shops, a heavy industrial area (Zambian Nitrogen Chemicals, Zesco power, and Kafue Steel Plant), many schools and churches, another area of shops and buildings, lots of light industry/commercial industries like machine shops, and plenty of markets and living regions. There's a railway that runs through the town and across the river, but rail transit/transport kinda sucks here and it isn't used much.
I think the proximity to Lusaka and all the businesses between them provides a lot of employment. I'm very new though and I don't know what's what!
In the future, I will post about life here - currency, buying things, environment, weather, people, language, food, transportation, attitudes, economy...
I can also talk about my direct work with the field staff, and my EWB role of the bigger picture. I left contact details on the left side of my blog. Please don't hesitate to phone, email, or comment!
Love.
Wednesday, May 27
Packing list
Things I wish I brought:
Pictures - family, friends, Canadian things like farms/markets big and small, cities, the Gulf Islands, transit, homeless people, pollution, food, ...
Maple syrup - Zambians hella love sugar, and this would be so perfect. It was foolish not to take this. My counterpart's family wasn't too impressed that I didn't bring it, once I described it.
Jacket - riding a motorbike requires this, but the temperature is dropping every day...
Toque - Julia knitted such a nice toque :(
Dress socks - why the f can't I find a decent pair here?
Jeans - see jacket. What EWB says about handwashing sucking for jeans isn't a good enough reason to leave them in Canada.
USB, SD memory - you can never have enough. Or enough redundancy in case of failure/theft/African mysticism. Hopefully I'll survive with 512mb for pictures, and 4gb USB. The USB can hold more pictures than I'll take.
Things I shouldn't have brought:
Sleeping bag - wtf was I thinking? UPDATE: Actually, it's totally required for my current place. So it was good to bring after all (saves me the hassle of buying a blanket..)
Laptop - definitely not essential. All I use it for is typing blogs/emails when I'm not near the internet cafe, but the office has a nice computer I could use for that task. At least my laptop is not bulky.
Things I'm glad I didn't bring:
Outlet convertor - it's like they're a necessity in market stalls. In the words of an OVS, there must be a standard kit they give to all small market businesses including candy, groundnuts, talk time, and misc. tools and outlet/power convertors.
Cellphone - Buying one is a hilarious experience. "Hi! Where can I buy a phone?" "Here, I'll sell you mine!"
In the end, the adage "what you leave behind builds character" holds true. My point of this post wasn't to complain but to hopefully help future people going overseas.
Pictures - family, friends, Canadian things like farms/markets big and small, cities, the Gulf Islands, transit, homeless people, pollution, food, ...
Maple syrup - Zambians hella love sugar, and this would be so perfect. It was foolish not to take this. My counterpart's family wasn't too impressed that I didn't bring it, once I described it.
Jacket - riding a motorbike requires this, but the temperature is dropping every day...
Toque - Julia knitted such a nice toque :(
Dress socks - why the f can't I find a decent pair here?
Jeans - see jacket. What EWB says about handwashing sucking for jeans isn't a good enough reason to leave them in Canada.
USB, SD memory - you can never have enough. Or enough redundancy in case of failure/theft/African mysticism. Hopefully I'll survive with 512mb for pictures, and 4gb USB. The USB can hold more pictures than I'll take.
Things I shouldn't have brought:
Sleeping bag - wtf was I thinking? UPDATE: Actually, it's totally required for my current place. So it was good to bring after all (saves me the hassle of buying a blanket..)
Laptop - definitely not essential. All I use it for is typing blogs/emails when I'm not near the internet cafe, but the office has a nice computer I could use for that task. At least my laptop is not bulky.
Things I'm glad I didn't bring:
Outlet convertor - it's like they're a necessity in market stalls. In the words of an OVS, there must be a standard kit they give to all small market businesses including candy, groundnuts, talk time, and misc. tools and outlet/power convertors.
Cellphone - Buying one is a hilarious experience. "Hi! Where can I buy a phone?" "Here, I'll sell you mine!"
In the end, the adage "what you leave behind builds character" holds true. My point of this post wasn't to complain but to hopefully help future people going overseas.
Monday, May 25
First look at Kafue
The IDE team spent the longest time together - 2 days of in-country sessions in Lilongwe, Malawi; 1 day of travel; 1 day of learning Lusaka; and 2 days of IDE sessions on markets and linkage facilitation at their head office. My field office staff attended the sessions which offered a nice introduction.
The head office is wicked! Wifi and a gazebo with power. Our backpacker's hostel place was also very comfortable, where we took a lodge for ourselves (EWB) and had a few beers there every so often.
I've been in Kafue for 6 days now. I have only lived with my counterpart, Jairos, and his family. He's got a few brothers and sisters, a wife, and 4 kids. The accomodations have been pretty comfortable - there's no sinks and the kitchen tap only has water for certain time periods during the day, but there's a toilet (no seat) and I have a nice bed/blanket in a big room I share with a brother, Henry.
In my search for permanent housing, as is standard with EWB volunteers, I tried to push the requirements on the field staff. It's a careful balance of personal health and safety versus their trust of other people and situations. The fist place my counterpart showed me was pretty slick. A retired, 1-legged railway worker (maybe a foreman) had a nice house possibly given to him as severance lived in the central district of the town with a wife and grandkids. Full bathroom, my own bed and room, ~20 minute walk to the office, a big yard and chicken coop (their source of income). I'm sure I would learn a lot from this family especially through helping with daily tasks. They're such a sweet and nice family that it'd be pretty hard to refus, but perhaps buying a bicycle will increase my options. I've heard there's a woman's group about 5km south of town. In any case, by the end of today, I will know where I'm staying!
Tuesday, May 19
Categorization
I decided to divide my blog into 3 categories:
Partner Work - I am directly assisting IDE-Zambia in Kafue. I work with the field staff and help where possible as according to my Terms of Reference - helping build capacity for market facilitation. My stakeholders include the smallholder farming households, the field staff, and IDE-Zambia as a whole.
EWB - I am working for Engineers Without Borders to see what development looks like and to apply critical analysis on it, such as what IDE is trying to accomplish, their constraints, and how it could be improved. Additionally, I want to bring as much knowledge and experiences back to Canada to increase EWB's impact on development overseas and in-Canada. This will support their 3 pillars.
Life - I want to bring stories and events back to connect with Canadians - the EWB chapter at UVic, other Junior Fellows/Long Term Overseas Volunteers, friends from home, and my family. Being here creates a story a day. Nah, 5 stories per day. I think I can easily write a paragraph about some interesting/funny/stupid event every day, so I should make that a goal.
Partner Work - I am directly assisting IDE-Zambia in Kafue. I work with the field staff and help where possible as according to my Terms of Reference - helping build capacity for market facilitation. My stakeholders include the smallholder farming households, the field staff, and IDE-Zambia as a whole.
EWB - I am working for Engineers Without Borders to see what development looks like and to apply critical analysis on it, such as what IDE is trying to accomplish, their constraints, and how it could be improved. Additionally, I want to bring as much knowledge and experiences back to Canada to increase EWB's impact on development overseas and in-Canada. This will support their 3 pillars.
Life - I want to bring stories and events back to connect with Canadians - the EWB chapter at UVic, other Junior Fellows/Long Term Overseas Volunteers, friends from home, and my family. Being here creates a story a day. Nah, 5 stories per day. I think I can easily write a paragraph about some interesting/funny/stupid event every day, so I should make that a goal.
Sunday, May 17
Arrival to SA
Hello my friends! What is your name? What is your number? Come come, let me show you some good (shirts, shoes, potatos, cellphones, wrenches, vegetables, ...)! You are my friends and I will not charge muzungu prices!
We've finished our two days of in-country training in Lilongwe, Malawi. What a place! What amazing people! I'm sure that being in the city definitely brings a different experience than more rural areas. I've seen maybe 10 azungas (white people... singular muzungu) that I didn't know - there are 13 JFs and ~6 OVS chilling out here. And Melissa!. After a couple sessions on safety and culture, we split into groups of 2 or 3 and went on a scavenger hunt! Another JF and I took a dive into the culture and wandered down to seek some Kwacha (malawian currency), The Nation (newspaper), cell phone and sim card, traditional healer medicine man/medicine, information on testing and treatment for malaria, a random list of items like chibuku... we did not complete nearly all of them, but we sure learned a heck of a lot very quickly. My goodness, Chibuku is my new friend!
One OVS, Rob, set the bar pretty fricken high by building a stovetop oven and baking buns (garlic and lentil, and honey) and banana bread. We were also supplied with some delicious Mzuzu coffee and coffee making implements. It is terrific coffee and an excellent initiative from what I've heard.
On the subject of mosquitos - I am here for winter (dry and cold season), and there are very few mosquitos. Even near Lilongwe River (our nearby market), there are not many. I am taking mefloquine as a prophylaxis, and I'm fairly certain I won't become psychotic. It sounds like the Western Africa team in Ghana and Burkina Faso have a much rougher time. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the bednet procedure - tapping the headboard, shaking out the net, tucking it in, climbing inside, sealing it... and our guest house has blue nets!
Our second day consisted of more sessions - the history of EWB overseas programs in Southern Africa, the role of JFs and the big picture of where we are, and sector-specific stuff. Our IDE team got a chance to chill with Thulasy, the team lead. We also had a very insightful session from a Malawian doctor who now volunteers his time for HIV/AIDS work. He seemed very optimistic about the epidemic, at least in Malawi.
At the end of the day we had a big indian-styled dinner and pulled some shenanigans. A very good introduction to Lilongwe and Malawi!
We've finished our two days of in-country training in Lilongwe, Malawi. What a place! What amazing people! I'm sure that being in the city definitely brings a different experience than more rural areas. I've seen maybe 10 azungas (white people... singular muzungu) that I didn't know - there are 13 JFs and ~6 OVS chilling out here. And Melissa!. After a couple sessions on safety and culture, we split into groups of 2 or 3 and went on a scavenger hunt! Another JF and I took a dive into the culture and wandered down to seek some Kwacha (malawian currency), The Nation (newspaper), cell phone and sim card, traditional healer medicine man/medicine, information on testing and treatment for malaria, a random list of items like chibuku... we did not complete nearly all of them, but we sure learned a heck of a lot very quickly. My goodness, Chibuku is my new friend!
One OVS, Rob, set the bar pretty fricken high by building a stovetop oven and baking buns (garlic and lentil, and honey) and banana bread. We were also supplied with some delicious Mzuzu coffee and coffee making implements. It is terrific coffee and an excellent initiative from what I've heard.
On the subject of mosquitos - I am here for winter (dry and cold season), and there are very few mosquitos. Even near Lilongwe River (our nearby market), there are not many. I am taking mefloquine as a prophylaxis, and I'm fairly certain I won't become psychotic. It sounds like the Western Africa team in Ghana and Burkina Faso have a much rougher time. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the bednet procedure - tapping the headboard, shaking out the net, tucking it in, climbing inside, sealing it... and our guest house has blue nets!
Our second day consisted of more sessions - the history of EWB overseas programs in Southern Africa, the role of JFs and the big picture of where we are, and sector-specific stuff. Our IDE team got a chance to chill with Thulasy, the team lead. We also had a very insightful session from a Malawian doctor who now volunteers his time for HIV/AIDS work. He seemed very optimistic about the epidemic, at least in Malawi.
At the end of the day we had a big indian-styled dinner and pulled some shenanigans. A very good introduction to Lilongwe and Malawi!
Thursday, May 14
Almost there..
To the UVic EWB chapter,
Kawamba! Or rather, wawa from Lilongwe! I hope that finals (or coop reports..) went well, and you're succeeding in whatever venture (or adventure!) your summer brings you.
My Junior Fellowship placement with EWB Canada has been a whirlwind of preparation. The last 6 months have definitely changed me and I have learned more about myself and this globe than 3 years of UVic.
I'm writing this email on a flight from Nairobi to Lilongwe (our last leg!). Most of the rest of our 13 Southern Africa JFs are passed out and pretty messed up with the timezones and such. It's radical being part of a group of people that share similar interests in development and EWB's approach, yet can continually challenge themselves and each other to keep improving. Everybody brings different strengths and weaknesses and it's a truly special component of EWB.
I ended up bringing my XO-1 OLPC laptop, but having a laptop is not a big priority or necessity. My town, Kafue, has internet somewhere that I will probably visit once per week. Power isn't a requirement for my living situation. I've got some big plans as far as chapter communication through blogs, email, twitter, and phone calls go, so stay tuned!
The National Office staff are pretty impressed by how much EWB-UVic has grown in just 8 months, but they're also very excited for the future! Having both Pam Schmitt and Mark Brown at the helm will be terrific for summer. At least I think that's what is happening.
My impression is that the NO is currently coalescing ideas for the redesign of chapter-chapter and chapter-NO relations. I feel that they're pretty right to be doing this - how connected are we regionally to UBC, SFU, and Vancouver Pro? How connected are we to other chapters with similar resources and membership and activity? How much do we collaborate, and how much do we compete? How much do we innovate versus go through the motions with supplied documents and activities?
On the overseas side, a similar process was undertaken to refocus into sector groups - agricultural value chains (agric or AVC), and water and sanitation (watsan). Then there are regional groups too for the various countries. I'm entering the agric team and it feels like a suitable and appropriate system.
For now, please be patient while I undergo some sleep recovery and establish a few baseline blog posts and tweets.
Looking out the window as we're approaching Lusaka just confirms what is mentioned periodically - Africa is definitely the dark continent. A few smattering of lights here and there, but it is dark. Next stop, Lilongwe!
Kawamba! Or rather, wawa from Lilongwe! I hope that finals (or coop reports..) went well, and you're succeeding in whatever venture (or adventure!) your summer brings you.
My Junior Fellowship placement with EWB Canada has been a whirlwind of preparation. The last 6 months have definitely changed me and I have learned more about myself and this globe than 3 years of UVic.
I'm writing this email on a flight from Nairobi to Lilongwe (our last leg!). Most of the rest of our 13 Southern Africa JFs are passed out and pretty messed up with the timezones and such. It's radical being part of a group of people that share similar interests in development and EWB's approach, yet can continually challenge themselves and each other to keep improving. Everybody brings different strengths and weaknesses and it's a truly special component of EWB.
I ended up bringing my XO-1 OLPC laptop, but having a laptop is not a big priority or necessity. My town, Kafue, has internet somewhere that I will probably visit once per week. Power isn't a requirement for my living situation. I've got some big plans as far as chapter communication through blogs, email, twitter, and phone calls go, so stay tuned!
The National Office staff are pretty impressed by how much EWB-UVic has grown in just 8 months, but they're also very excited for the future! Having both Pam Schmitt and Mark Brown at the helm will be terrific for summer. At least I think that's what is happening.
My impression is that the NO is currently coalescing ideas for the redesign of chapter-chapter and chapter-NO relations. I feel that they're pretty right to be doing this - how connected are we regionally to UBC, SFU, and Vancouver Pro? How connected are we to other chapters with similar resources and membership and activity? How much do we collaborate, and how much do we compete? How much do we innovate versus go through the motions with supplied documents and activities?
On the overseas side, a similar process was undertaken to refocus into sector groups - agricultural value chains (agric or AVC), and water and sanitation (watsan). Then there are regional groups too for the various countries. I'm entering the agric team and it feels like a suitable and appropriate system.
For now, please be patient while I undergo some sleep recovery and establish a few baseline blog posts and tweets.
Looking out the window as we're approaching Lusaka just confirms what is mentioned periodically - Africa is definitely the dark continent. A few smattering of lights here and there, but it is dark. Next stop, Lilongwe!
Friday, May 8
Pre-dep rush
Day 2 of pre-departure sessions. The last few days are quickly blurring together and I expect that the 6 days in Toronto are going to become a mash of learning and excitement and challenges and enthusiasm like national conference. Good vibes are flowing!
Our JF house is packed with the 23 JFs (10 Burkina Faso, 7 Zambia, and 6 Malawi) as well as a couple guests. Sharing the utilities (1 shower, two toilets, one kitchen...) is a little cramped but being managed.
It's hard to believe most days are rolling to 10+ hours of activity -- it doesn't feel that long. I'm digging the "learning journal" time is a valuable end to each day with everyone splitting up and reflecting. My journal is growing by at least a page a day! Sooner or later some insights will appear here.
Sunday, April 12
Books
Here is my booklist of items related to global society, poverty, international development, or Africa, in no particular order:
a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
ishmael beah
Pretty wild account of experiences as a child soldier. The brutality and horrors in Sierra Leone of the 90's is described with a blunt honesty that really drew me in.
Out of Poverty, What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail
Paul Polak
This book is written by the founder of IDE - when I bought the book from Paul, I had no idea I'd be working for that NGO! The author describes the formation of "development as a business" with the initial hurdles and successes, and offers reasons for the success of technologies like treadle pumps throughout Bangladesh. His philosophy seems to be that all development should be economically sustainable for some technology or service that improves livelihoods. He also offers some advice for marketing and sales to high volume, low profit enterprises like eyeglasses.
Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future
George B.N. Ayittey
On my to-be-read list! Written by a Ghanaian economist - based on the first couple chapters, it's an explanation of why Africa is where it is now, and suggestions of what is required to get out of the mess.
The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair
Martin Meredith
On my to-be-read list! I've only read the first few chapters, and skimmed a few more (it's a big book!). Offers an extremely detailed yet succinct account for every African country during the transition from colonialism to present day (~2005).
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe
One of the first books written by an African that was successful worldwide. Describes a fictional village in Nigeria, around the beginning of the twentieth century, when christian missionaries penetrated the traditional tribal life. Very good account of how different beliefs, culture, and societies can interact (negatively).
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
On my to-be-read list! Fictional account of events in Congo during the 50's and 60's.
Friday, April 10
First post!
Hi there! Welcome to my first foray into the blogosphere!
I've dabbled with a few personal websites for previous interests - a few remnants exist at http://mangospoon.com. I guess I was keeping a weblog before they were cool, but there wasn't much content, enthusiasm, purpose, or interest. Kinda like what I've seen of Twitter..
You can see my profile in the page for more details about me. Right now, I've been a member of EWB for 8 months, and the ideals and approaches resonate with me. At the University of Victoria, BC, I am the Junior Fellow for 2009; I will be partnering with IDE in Zambia. In the coming weeks before my pre-departure, I'll be posting more thoughts and opinions I've been recording in a journal. As a warning, I can be blunt to the point of insult, in a freely expressed rant...
So who and what is EWB? There are Engineers Without Borders/Ingénieurs Sans Frontières groups throughout the world - some are part of EWB-International, and some are not. EWB-Canada is not a member, but we share many of the same goals and approaches to other non-members such as the UK or Australia.
How are we similar? We leverage the asset of engineering students and professionals within non-profit societies. We dedicate our resources to poverty reduction, generally in the Global South. Appropriate technology and sustainability are typical constraints.
How are we different than EWB-I? We focus on finding the root causes of poverty, and provide long-term solutions, whether its focus is technological or not. We focus on championing leaders in Canada among university students (especially engineering students), and engage the public about domestic policies regarding international issues - ie, our role as Canadians in the world. From what I've seen, EWB-I focuses on short term, technical projects that are extremely engineering-specific. With our current state of education, that means strongly technical projects. The overseas component of EWB-USA is typically a 2 to 3 week project, where faculty or P.Engs lead a group of student engineers in constructing some project.
EWB-Canada has a very dedicated team of LTOVS - Long Term Overseas Staff - who spend 1-2 years in Africa. In addition, roughly 40 JFs - Junior Fellows - spend the summer (May to August) overseas. There, individuals live and integrate as much as possible into a community, and partner with an existing NGO for capacity building. This could be improving Monitoring and Evaluation within the NGO, Operations and Maintenance of water points, or Behaviour Change for sanitation/hygiene.
The token statement of EWB-Canada, from the official site (www.ewb.ca):
Who We ArePoverty is not about weakness. For the 800 million people who go hungry each day and the one billion who lack access to clean water, poverty is an absence of opportunity.Engineers Without Borders is responding to this urgent need, helping people in developing communities gain access to technologies that will improve their lives. We believe that technology, when appropriately incorporated into each community's social, cultural, economic and political context, can drive extraordinary change.We promote human development through access to technology by:
- Partnering with developing communities to help build the capacity of their technical sector
- Raising awareness among Canadians about how they can make decisions that positively impact communities overseas
- Encouraging the Canadian government to become a model global citizen by taking on a leadership role in poverty alleviation
What does this mean? Well, I'd suggest taking a look at ewb.ca and exploring. For now, I invite all comments, constructive or critical! Challenge me!
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