A Quick Update

I keep writing half a blog post, then failing to complete. Hopefully that won't happent to this one! Instead of trying to write anything deep, meaningful or profound, just some thoughts on Lusaka, and Zambia.

Lusaka is not the prettiest of cities. It is sleepy, flat and dusty (at least during the dry season). But people are friendly, and I am happy to be here and have made it home.

But there are parts of Zambia that are absolutely amazing! Almost a month ago now, Kate, Elena, Mardieh and I headed down to Livingstone, where we met up with former college roommate and fellow MPH-er (only at UMich), Kari, to see Victoria Falls. I can't think of anything I have ever seen that compares, and nothing anyone told me came close to preparing me for the wonder of seeing this natural wonder in person.

A few weekends later, I had the opportunity to go north of the city for a hiking/camping trip with some friend I have met since being here. While Victoria Falls was wonderful for the sheer amazingness (is that a word), this trip was wonderful for a whole host of reasons - the feeling of getting out of the city and being in the middle of nowhere, lying out under the enormous southern hemisphere night sky, hiking a mountain that has no map, and sharing a weekend with the kind of friends who's company you can enjoy even when you are tired and can't find the way down a steep mountain, and who's presence literally keeps you warm in a tent at night!

It would be nice if life in Lusaka didn't go beyond the enjoyment of weekend trips and Wednesday night game nights, but life is even better now that work has become busy. When I first arrived in Zambia, I knew that I'd be sharing the job description I applied to with my roommate and co-intern, and I knew I would be adding more technical work on top of that. The first month or so of work started out slowly, with a joint project that - while I'm sure is helpful to our organization - is, erm, not all that much fun. I am really excited about the project that I have recently started however, and it promises to make me very busy over the coming months.

The NGO wanted someone to look at the issue of resource allocation - particularly looking at how the allocation of monitoring and evaluation trips is done between our central and provincial staff, and if there is a way to improve that process. In taking on this task, it has been clear that the challenge is much bigger, with vast inconsistancies in quality and follow up of reports, and over the next few months I will be working - essentially giving technical support - with our provincial offices and compiling a manual of best practices in M&E. While this means I won't have quite as much time as I had hoped for weekend excursions, I am excited for the opportunity to visit various provinces of Zambia. Ultimately, the work of our organization is to improve the logistics systems that provide commodities (ie, life saving drugs) to people where and when they need them. By improving the process of M&E in the provinces, I will be directly impacting lives - making sure that districts and facilities that are not providing the commodities they should be are recieving the training and follow up they need so that stock outs don't occur. It's kind of cool when you think about it.

Out of Lusaka

Dear Friends, I'm sorry for the long period between posts - there have been a few nights this past week where I thought the evening would be perfectly spent writing a blog post, but unfortuntely we have had a bit of a problem connecting to the internet at home, and work has blocked blogspot (but strangely not facebook).

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Recently, I have been beginning to think that there is nothing to Zambia beyond the cement walls, dusty roads and occassional fields full of brown tall grass in Lusaka. It is not an all together unpleasant place to live, but it has certainly not matched the natural beauty of my homes in Monduli and Nyabyeya. Lucky for me (or at least my impression of Zambia), this past few days have given me the chance to explore the country a bit.

Thursday morning started of normally enough, working on a few projects and trying to figure out how to stretch them or who to talk with to come up with enough work for our full 9 and a half our workday. Around 5 of 11 our boss came to our desks for a quick meeting, then said he was headed out for the rest of the afternoon to Kabwe. In a moment of hope, I asked "could we come too?" Yep. We're leaving in 5 minutes. No problem! And so, we packed our bags, waited another half our until our driver could be located, and started heading north.

Kabwe is about an hour and a half north of Lusaka. It is the provincial capital of the Central Province (one of the 9 in Zambia). We were headed up there to check on the work being done on a large house that will soon be the 8th of our provincial offices. Work is behind schedule, and our job was to impress the contracters with how soon we wanted it done, and see if we couldn't get the to pick up the pace.

Leaving Lusaka, I was struck by how much of the city I have yet to see. With my daily walks to work and morning runs from home, and weekly excursions to friends houses, grocery stores, and evenings out, there are certain parts of the city that I have become accustomed too. Most of them are in sections of the city that are home to the ex-pats or wealthy Zambians, and thus are thus walled off by cement fences reaching 10 feet high with shards of glass or electric wire at the top. As you walk or run down a street, you find it takes on a bit of a tunnel appearance, a paved (or not) street, with brown sand on the side serving as a sidewalk, and brown grass that eventually turns into a brownish-gry cement wall. Some of the walls are painted to look like billboards, with advertisements for everything from cell phones, computer equiptment, or vacuums.

On our way out of the city to Kabwe, the cement tunnels turned to rivers of color as we left the expat sections of town and arrived on streets that are populated by the 1.5 million Zambians who live in Lusaka. We stayed on the main road, which appeared to be the western end of a city in and of itself. Lining the street were cement and sometimes mud houses, with small yards fenced in with stick and shrubs. In their small yards were men and women; sitting in groups, cooking, or washing clothes. There were children playing, dogs and chickens pecking about for scraps of food, and lines of hanging clothes. Every few houses there was a dirt road - sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, leading into what seemed like an endless city. And unlike the streets that I frequently travel, where there is a steady, but narrow stream of people, these streets were full of people walking - in every direction and every color.

My time is up, but more natural beauty (and pictures) to come. Thanks for reading.

Friends

At this point, I think I can say that I have travelled quite a bit - sometimes with friends, but often independantly. Both have their pro's and con's - travelling independantly means that you see and do what you want; you have to immerse yourself in culture and make new friends. Still, it can be exhausting and lonely. Travelling with friends can be great - you get to share a common experience with people you already know and love, but it can also be tiring and lead to frustration and tension, as the burden of spending 24 hours with someone takes its toll.

I think I have the best of both worlds here in Zambia. In my apartment I have my own space, my own life. I am here in Lusaka for long enough to join activities and make new friends. And yet, I am lucky enough to get to share that with friends from home - people I already know and who's company makes me smile, laugh, relax and feel at home.


thanks to Elena for the photo credit on this one!


Over the course of the past week, my friends Elena in Kate arrived from various other parts of Africa where they have been working/doing research since the end of spring semester. It has been wonderful to continue to explore Lusaka with both of them. I am sad they will only be here with me for the next 5 weeks or so, but excited to have that time! Within the next few days, 5 more BU students will be arriving to begin work for BU's Center for International Health and Development Zambia. Although they will not all be working in Lusaka, I am excited for the chance to visit friends from time to time. Safe travels, and see you soon!

Routines

Last Sunday, I had the perfect blog post planned out in my mind. All I needed was the photo to complement it, and then, it would be ready to see the light of the internet blogosphere. But fate intervened and since Sunday night our apartment has been without internet. Yesterday, after a long discussion with the landlord, the internet has returned, however the orignial blog post concept no longer feels appropriate. This morning as I sat absently in front of my computer, nothing came to me.

And then, as I stood over the stove, pouring eggs over the vegetables I had prepared for breakfast, I realized how quickly all of this has become. I find it rather remarkable how quickly something completely new and different can become familiar and comfortable. I now walk around my neighborhood of Lusaka knowing the streets, and if I get lost on a run I know which direction I should point myself in order to find home. I can recognize the sound of the landlords car revving at the gate, or the vuvezelas signaling soccer matches at the nearby fields. Portico's has quickly become a favorite location for meeting friends to watch world cup games, and I can always tell you who is playing and at what time.

Some things I am still discovering and learning, like which direction to walk in to find the nearest purple vested hawker selling airtime for my phone, or where I can find a small vegatable stand nearby my apartment. I am still busy finding activities and making new friends. Work, too, is a new adventure, and my days are busy with meetings and reading documentation to try to understand the scope of work, structure and goals of the organization. These, too, I'm sure will soon be familiar.

New Beginnings

48 hours of travel is more than enough for anybody. It makes me really glad that I am settled for the next six months - even if I am not fully unpacked yet. The travel was mostly uneventful; I met my wonderful new roommate (for the next 6 months at least) at Heathrow; even though we didn't manage to make contact until the end of the layover. I especially appreciated the view we had of northern Tanzania during the last leg of our journey, including a great view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru peaking through the early morning clouds. In some ways, the travel was even longer than the two full days of airplane flights and layovers, with my baggage not arriving until this afternoon - though it did arrive fully intact. The wonderful admin assitants at work happily made the trip to the airport to pick it up for me, then deliver us safely back at our apartment together at the end of the work day today.

Travel aside, my first 24 hours in Zambia has been wonderful. On our arrival in Lusaka, we were taken to the most beautiful and luxurious apartment, where we met a few more staff from work. One wonderful colleague had taken charge of outfitting our apartment with all the necessities, so we walked in and found a living room with plush couches and chairs, and a large TV, a dining room table that very comfortably seats 8, a kitchen with oven, stove, a bright teal refridgerator, and all kinds of appliances - including a sandwich press (!), and two bedrooms, each with a queen sized bed and matching sets of leopard print sheets, pillows and comforters! Each room of the house has its own climate control with an air conditioner/heater, and today we recieved three very exciting additions - a microwave, cable TV, and INTERNET! Remember how I told you that living in Lusaka I would likely have access to more luxuries than in Richmond Indiana? Well it turns out I am living more luxuriously than any other apartment I have ever lived in (or will likely live in anytime soon).

In case our apartment doesn't sound nice enough already, it also has a pool! The sparkling blue water is extremely tempting, especially during the late afternoon when it is actually warm enough to consider taking clothes off, but the pool is unheated, and I think it might have to wait for a few months, an unseasonably warm day, or a day of temporary insanity to be used. Still, I hear that by October it is quite warm out, and I am looking forward to jumping right in!

It is easy to just talk about our living arangements since they are so nice, but we did get a chance to go into work for the first time this afternoon. Most of this week will likely be orientation, especially since our immediate supervisor will be in the Livingstone office until the end of next week. The office is a 15-20 minute walk from our apt, and today we chose our cubicals and met many of the 140 staff members, as well as recieving a breif orientation to the different projects currently being undertaken. Hopefully within the next few days we will get an opportunity to learn more about what we will be doing for the next 6 months. The general idea is that there is a job description with three tasks that must be accomplished, which between the two of us we will be responsible for doing, and then I will get a chance to do more technical work in quantification, while M. will be doing more technical work in monitoring & evaluation. The great part is, that since we will be living together and working next to eachother, we will also have the opportunity to learn about what eachother are doing! I am eager to get to work, and excited to get a chance to learn more about the current projects!

In Transit

I am currently parked on a stool along a busy thoroughfare of New York's JFK airport. The recent realization that my flight to London has been delayed by a little over an hour was mildly ameliorated by the fact that I found it out using a free wi-fi connection provided by a super-overpriced health food stall. And so, my now 6 hour layover can be spent writing a blog post for you, my dear reader.

It is hard to believe that I am actually on my way to Zambia. As I packed my daily planner today, I found the calendar I drew for myself back at the end of March. At the time, the three months until this departure date seemed an endlessly long time to wait. But over the course of the past few months, I crossed off squares with black "x' marks, one day at a time until I reached the first section highlighted in yellow - my trip to Uganda - with such a big trip and so many things to do, even then the second highlighted area seemed impossibly far off. And yet, it has snuck up on me. Despite my disbelief its actuality, June 20th arrived with the anxiety, excitement and tears that heralded the realization that I really and truely am leaving.

And despite the fact that I am going to miss home like crazy while I am gone, I am so excited for this new chapter and adventure. It is humbling to realize that there are many things that you don't know yet that you don't know, and really scary to decide you want to find out what some of them are. I have tried my best to prepare myself for that by packing the comforts that will get me through the hard and challenging moments; Ghiradelli chocolate chips, warm fuzzy slippers, and board games (Cranium party in Lusaka!). While I hope that these will lessen the moments of frustration, I know that they will never completely blunt the occassional (I hope) feeling of "what on earth am I doing here?" Of course, these are also the most important of moments, because when you recover, you know just a little more about who you are, why you are doing what you are doing, and what you still have to figure out. That is the adventure I am really excited for. The adventure of becoming me.

Home Again (Briefly)

It is 3am in Boston, and I have been awake for well over an hour. Travelling for 24 hours is never fun, but there is always something peaceful about the early morning hours that suddenly belong to you when you are seriously jetlagged. The next week and a half will be busy recovering, visiting, and planning to leave again. It seems somehow cruel to have such a short period of time at home, but I am happy to have it.