Just a note if anyone wants to read the blog for the company I have been working with, check out the link below!
http://mobiletransactionsinternational.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
South Luangwa Park
Described by lonely planet: For scenery, variety of animals, South Luangwa is the best park in Zambia and one of the most majestic in Africa. Impalas, pukus and buffalo wander on the wide open plains, leopards, of which there are many in the park, hunt in the dense woodlands, herds of elephant wade through the marshes, and hippos munch serenely on nile cabbage in the Luangwa River.
It was totally amazing! We went for 3 game drives, two during the day and one at night. We got ridiculously close to animals, probably too close for their comfort, but still really nice. Even the place we stayed at was absolutely filled with animals. There was strictly no walking at night without a guide, like between the restaurant and your tent, because it was filled with hippos, elephants and giraffes. They would come within 1m of tents at night! We could watch animals all day from the pool. Yesterday morning I was having breakfast in the open air restaurant, no walls, just pillars for the grass roof. My toast arrived and I went and washed my hands. As I walked back I saw a monkey jump on my chair and I shouted in futility as it grabbed my toast and egg, even though 3 other people were sitting at the table, and ran up a tree to enjoy it’s treat. They restaurant gave me another piece of toast and I started eating, watching for monkey’s this time. Preventing a “Fool me twice” incident. Suddenly a teenage elephant walked up about 5 m away and started eating plants. The staff shot it with a slingshot and it faced our table and started to come towards us. The staff shouted “RUN INSIDE!!” as they attempted to defend us with slingshots. As we ran I saw the monkey coming back, so I jumped back to my table, grabbed my plate and ran for cover. The elephant never came to our table but walked around so we could safely finish our breakfast watching it and 4 others, including a baby!
After a morning self drive (our friends from the hospital took us there so we went in their vehicle) we returned home. Just before entering the camp, there was a small pond with an elephant drinking water. We stopped and watched it drink, so quietly and peacefully. A nice ending to a wonderful morning. All of the sudden, 5 meters and maybe 1,500lbs of Nile Crocodile explodes from the water and grabs the elephant mid way up the trunk! The elephant ‘jumps’ back, lifting the croc out of the water, prompting the croc to let go. The elephant ran off with a sore and cut trunk and we saw a once in a lifetime attack!
The rest of the trip was really nice, but not as exciting. We saw most things you would hope to see, so rather than list them, I’ll list what we didn’t see. Cheetah, rhino, leopard, wildebeest. We even saw a pair of lions mating. During which a dumb tourist got out of the cab of their private pickup, walked to the back and got in the box…We were only about 80m away and apparently they are very dangerous when mating. The male half got up and really looked interested in that lady. I also liked seeing the birds of prey, we saw a few types of goshawks, harriers and eagles, including the Martial Eagle, which is the biggest species in the park. Apparently it has been recorded to prey on a 32kg (71lbs) Duiker!! (source Wikipedia)
The place where we stayed was right on the river. We could watch hippos, crocodiles, elephants and giraffes all from the swimming pool! An elephant even came one morning and drank from the pool, but not while people were inside.
All in all it was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves and our friends from St. Francis who joined us there.
It was totally amazing! We went for 3 game drives, two during the day and one at night. We got ridiculously close to animals, probably too close for their comfort, but still really nice. Even the place we stayed at was absolutely filled with animals. There was strictly no walking at night without a guide, like between the restaurant and your tent, because it was filled with hippos, elephants and giraffes. They would come within 1m of tents at night! We could watch animals all day from the pool. Yesterday morning I was having breakfast in the open air restaurant, no walls, just pillars for the grass roof. My toast arrived and I went and washed my hands. As I walked back I saw a monkey jump on my chair and I shouted in futility as it grabbed my toast and egg, even though 3 other people were sitting at the table, and ran up a tree to enjoy it’s treat. They restaurant gave me another piece of toast and I started eating, watching for monkey’s this time. Preventing a “Fool me twice” incident. Suddenly a teenage elephant walked up about 5 m away and started eating plants. The staff shot it with a slingshot and it faced our table and started to come towards us. The staff shouted “RUN INSIDE!!” as they attempted to defend us with slingshots. As we ran I saw the monkey coming back, so I jumped back to my table, grabbed my plate and ran for cover. The elephant never came to our table but walked around so we could safely finish our breakfast watching it and 4 others, including a baby!
After a morning self drive (our friends from the hospital took us there so we went in their vehicle) we returned home. Just before entering the camp, there was a small pond with an elephant drinking water. We stopped and watched it drink, so quietly and peacefully. A nice ending to a wonderful morning. All of the sudden, 5 meters and maybe 1,500lbs of Nile Crocodile explodes from the water and grabs the elephant mid way up the trunk! The elephant ‘jumps’ back, lifting the croc out of the water, prompting the croc to let go. The elephant ran off with a sore and cut trunk and we saw a once in a lifetime attack!
The rest of the trip was really nice, but not as exciting. We saw most things you would hope to see, so rather than list them, I’ll list what we didn’t see. Cheetah, rhino, leopard, wildebeest. We even saw a pair of lions mating. During which a dumb tourist got out of the cab of their private pickup, walked to the back and got in the box…We were only about 80m away and apparently they are very dangerous when mating. The male half got up and really looked interested in that lady. I also liked seeing the birds of prey, we saw a few types of goshawks, harriers and eagles, including the Martial Eagle, which is the biggest species in the park. Apparently it has been recorded to prey on a 32kg (71lbs) Duiker!! (source Wikipedia)
The place where we stayed was right on the river. We could watch hippos, crocodiles, elephants and giraffes all from the swimming pool! An elephant even came one morning and drank from the pool, but not while people were inside.
All in all it was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves and our friends from St. Francis who joined us there.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Things need changing
This is my opinion of things that would be beneficial to change about Zambians.
1. Handouts
Things given out for free for too long and it’s total BS. Three people came up to me yesterday and said “Give me money”, not because they had done anything but simply because they are Zambian and I am white. Even children shout out to me as I ride by on a bike “Give us money!”
You can’t even hold a free training session without basically paying people to come (giving food and drinks)! People won’t do anything for free, even learn, if they think they’re entitled to something for their time. An expectation exists now that white people bring stuff for free, and it’s true, and it’s bad. It makes sense from the Zambians perspective though. Why would I go and spend my own money on an irrigation pump if I know that someone will come and give them out in my area?
The result is dependency syndrome, lack of ambition and a lack of association between hard work and results.
2. Pride in Work
I don’t understand this well right now. There is an idea that you should do work, like people will go and plant a crop of sunflower seeds just because you should be planting crops. People do work hard, especially women. The thing that is missing I think is a pride in working hard and in quality of work.
My grandparents wake up, and start working, cleaning, gardening, etc. just because they get a satisfaction from working. My mom will tell me how hard my grandmother is working and I’m expected to be impressed (I am). My brothers will call me lazy if I don’t work as many hours a day as they do and I’m expected to be embarrassed. Someone in school that answers every question in the textbook even though they were only asked to answer the odd numbered questions is regarded as doing something good. Something important to realize here is that all of these beliefs are cultural, not factual, hence the differences between Canada and here.
I think the reason there is a difference between here and Canada is that here, everyone has to do a lot of really hard work out of necessity, and the ones that are really respected, the rich, don’t have to do very much work, or it’s at least it’s perceived as being easier. In Canada, all of that respectable work that I just described is voluntary, or going above and beyond your job.
The result is low quality work.
3. Vertical Power Structure
There is a very absolute power structure here and it’s so important. Everyone needs to know what their place is so they can act accordingly. I’ve even seen people discern between two people in the same position of power by what type of company vehicle they drive. The one with the nicer vehicle is “higher up” than the other one.
It makes things more difficult to do because you have to work within this power structure, so to get your equal or someone below you but on a different power ladder to do something, you have to get their boss to tell them to do it.
There is so much respect that people also take crap when they shouldn’t. For example, I bet I could go to anyone that thinks they are in a lower position than me and just tear a strip off of them, berate and belittle them and most people would just sit quietly and take it. In Canada I think most people would stand up and tell me to go to hell or that I’m way out of line.
This is part of something bigger that relates even to how people think on a daily basis. In school a lot of emphasis is put on memorization, treating teachers like the holders of knowledge and students like empty vessels waiting to be filled. This passive learning leads to passive thinking. I don’t have full thoughts so it’s hard for me to put this into words but it’s different from the way I think. I think that there is often more than one correct solution to a problem, even many possible correct solutions with varying degrees of success. The world is an endless place of opportunities and possibilities to be explored, things to be discovered, maybe by me.
Does this make sense? I need to clarify though, because I’m describing a trend, not an absolute. There are lots of independent, creative thinkers here. My friend described it to me well. “We have been taught several different ways of thinking, thought processes, etc. It takes a genius to develop a new way to think, but anyone can learn it. We have just been exposed to so many different things”
If your boss tells you to do something, you don’t argue, you just do it, even if you don’t know why you’re doing it or you think it’s wrong. Under this structure it’s not your job to think for the boss, or help them think, just do your job. If there is a problem but you did what you were supposed to do, then it’s the boss’ fault, not yours. A lot of bosses complain of having to explain every little thing to their workers and having to think for them. They can’t just give them a job and let them figure out how to do it.
The result is a lack of responsibility and thought.
4. Trust
Not trusting the person you’re doing business with requires you to do so many things that hinder productivity! I’m not even going to explain this one. Just think about all the business interactions that you do on a daily basis that require trust and what you’d do if that trust was gone. You trust that your bank isn’t going to close shop and move to another country with your money. You trust that your doctor isn’t prescribing you medication just to get a commission. You trust that the medication you buy isn’t fake medication made in china (seriously, there is fake medication!), you trust police officers, teachers, friends and family. Imagine how differently you would act if you thought that everyone interacted with on a daily basis was a thief and was in the process of figuring out how to steal from you. Things aren’t that bad here, but they’re not good.
The result is slow and inefficient means of doing business.
5. Too resilient (will put up with too much crap)
Resilient Wanderer ?!?
Zambians are so hardy. They can put up with just about anything, which is amazing, and helps them in a difficult environment, but holy crap, they put up with some stuff that shouldn’t be put up with. I have been in so many situations where I’m steaming mad, in disbelief of “how ridiculous this is!” and everyone else just shrugs their shoulders and takes it.
This results in a lack of will for change.
6. Confidence
I’m starting to understand the dangers of paternalism. Zambians tell me “We’re poor. We’re struggling”. Of course it’s true, but what a terrible self image. I showed some pictures of modern farming from home, explaining that one field that can be cultivated and seeded in a portion of a day is what 10 families take the entire season to care for by hand. “These Whites. They have figured it out. Now if we can just do that.” The problem is, that attitude doesn’t breed creativity. Instead people wait for Whites to deliver a solution.
Example:
I tell a farmer that he should grow sorghum as well as maize because it is better to grow a variety of crops. He grows sorghum instead of maize in some places, but it doesn’t do that well. He blames me for telling him to do something that didn’t work. He doesn’t feel responsible to figure out why it didn’t do very well, what to change to improve it or whether it was just a bad idea to begin with. All of that is my responsibility. This is the epitome of dependence.
As a child your father is your hero. He can do anything, fix a car, build a house, maybe even lift a car! As you grow older you are shocked as you find out that, yes he can a lot of that stuff, but he can also make mistakes. If he’s wrong sometimes, how do you know when? At this point you are forced to start thinking for yourself. Every decision you make needs to be analyzed and the responsibility is yours. You made the decision, and if it fails, you need to fix it. As you become an adult, you realize that you needed to go through the learning yourself.
The result is a lack of responsibility for actions and lack of wiliness to create the solution.
p.s. Yes I just typed in the heading into google images and put pictures in
1. Handouts
Things given out for free for too long and it’s total BS. Three people came up to me yesterday and said “Give me money”, not because they had done anything but simply because they are Zambian and I am white. Even children shout out to me as I ride by on a bike “Give us money!”
You can’t even hold a free training session without basically paying people to come (giving food and drinks)! People won’t do anything for free, even learn, if they think they’re entitled to something for their time. An expectation exists now that white people bring stuff for free, and it’s true, and it’s bad. It makes sense from the Zambians perspective though. Why would I go and spend my own money on an irrigation pump if I know that someone will come and give them out in my area?
The result is dependency syndrome, lack of ambition and a lack of association between hard work and results.
2. Pride in Work
I don’t understand this well right now. There is an idea that you should do work, like people will go and plant a crop of sunflower seeds just because you should be planting crops. People do work hard, especially women. The thing that is missing I think is a pride in working hard and in quality of work.
My grandparents wake up, and start working, cleaning, gardening, etc. just because they get a satisfaction from working. My mom will tell me how hard my grandmother is working and I’m expected to be impressed (I am). My brothers will call me lazy if I don’t work as many hours a day as they do and I’m expected to be embarrassed. Someone in school that answers every question in the textbook even though they were only asked to answer the odd numbered questions is regarded as doing something good. Something important to realize here is that all of these beliefs are cultural, not factual, hence the differences between Canada and here.
I think the reason there is a difference between here and Canada is that here, everyone has to do a lot of really hard work out of necessity, and the ones that are really respected, the rich, don’t have to do very much work, or it’s at least it’s perceived as being easier. In Canada, all of that respectable work that I just described is voluntary, or going above and beyond your job.
The result is low quality work.
3. Vertical Power Structure
There is a very absolute power structure here and it’s so important. Everyone needs to know what their place is so they can act accordingly. I’ve even seen people discern between two people in the same position of power by what type of company vehicle they drive. The one with the nicer vehicle is “higher up” than the other one.
It makes things more difficult to do because you have to work within this power structure, so to get your equal or someone below you but on a different power ladder to do something, you have to get their boss to tell them to do it.
There is so much respect that people also take crap when they shouldn’t. For example, I bet I could go to anyone that thinks they are in a lower position than me and just tear a strip off of them, berate and belittle them and most people would just sit quietly and take it. In Canada I think most people would stand up and tell me to go to hell or that I’m way out of line.
This is part of something bigger that relates even to how people think on a daily basis. In school a lot of emphasis is put on memorization, treating teachers like the holders of knowledge and students like empty vessels waiting to be filled. This passive learning leads to passive thinking. I don’t have full thoughts so it’s hard for me to put this into words but it’s different from the way I think. I think that there is often more than one correct solution to a problem, even many possible correct solutions with varying degrees of success. The world is an endless place of opportunities and possibilities to be explored, things to be discovered, maybe by me.
Does this make sense? I need to clarify though, because I’m describing a trend, not an absolute. There are lots of independent, creative thinkers here. My friend described it to me well. “We have been taught several different ways of thinking, thought processes, etc. It takes a genius to develop a new way to think, but anyone can learn it. We have just been exposed to so many different things”
If your boss tells you to do something, you don’t argue, you just do it, even if you don’t know why you’re doing it or you think it’s wrong. Under this structure it’s not your job to think for the boss, or help them think, just do your job. If there is a problem but you did what you were supposed to do, then it’s the boss’ fault, not yours. A lot of bosses complain of having to explain every little thing to their workers and having to think for them. They can’t just give them a job and let them figure out how to do it.
The result is a lack of responsibility and thought.
4. Trust
Not trusting the person you’re doing business with requires you to do so many things that hinder productivity! I’m not even going to explain this one. Just think about all the business interactions that you do on a daily basis that require trust and what you’d do if that trust was gone. You trust that your bank isn’t going to close shop and move to another country with your money. You trust that your doctor isn’t prescribing you medication just to get a commission. You trust that the medication you buy isn’t fake medication made in china (seriously, there is fake medication!), you trust police officers, teachers, friends and family. Imagine how differently you would act if you thought that everyone interacted with on a daily basis was a thief and was in the process of figuring out how to steal from you. Things aren’t that bad here, but they’re not good.
The result is slow and inefficient means of doing business.
5. Too resilient (will put up with too much crap)
Resilient Wanderer ?!?
Zambians are so hardy. They can put up with just about anything, which is amazing, and helps them in a difficult environment, but holy crap, they put up with some stuff that shouldn’t be put up with. I have been in so many situations where I’m steaming mad, in disbelief of “how ridiculous this is!” and everyone else just shrugs their shoulders and takes it.
This results in a lack of will for change.
6. Confidence
I’m starting to understand the dangers of paternalism. Zambians tell me “We’re poor. We’re struggling”. Of course it’s true, but what a terrible self image. I showed some pictures of modern farming from home, explaining that one field that can be cultivated and seeded in a portion of a day is what 10 families take the entire season to care for by hand. “These Whites. They have figured it out. Now if we can just do that.” The problem is, that attitude doesn’t breed creativity. Instead people wait for Whites to deliver a solution.
Example:
I tell a farmer that he should grow sorghum as well as maize because it is better to grow a variety of crops. He grows sorghum instead of maize in some places, but it doesn’t do that well. He blames me for telling him to do something that didn’t work. He doesn’t feel responsible to figure out why it didn’t do very well, what to change to improve it or whether it was just a bad idea to begin with. All of that is my responsibility. This is the epitome of dependence.
As a child your father is your hero. He can do anything, fix a car, build a house, maybe even lift a car! As you grow older you are shocked as you find out that, yes he can a lot of that stuff, but he can also make mistakes. If he’s wrong sometimes, how do you know when? At this point you are forced to start thinking for yourself. Every decision you make needs to be analyzed and the responsibility is yours. You made the decision, and if it fails, you need to fix it. As you become an adult, you realize that you needed to go through the learning yourself.
The result is a lack of responsibility for actions and lack of wiliness to create the solution.
p.s. Yes I just typed in the heading into google images and put pictures in
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Kulamba, Nyau and Juju
At the end of August there is a festival called Kulamba held in Katete, my home town. It’s one of the biggest cultural festivals in Zambia and is often attended by the Presidents of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
I’ll start by saying that I don’t actually know anything. I went and asked questions and took a lot of pictures, but what I’m going to tell you is just what I gathered from asking friends and observing, so there’s a good chance that a lot isn’t true. That being said, it would be interesting to see how far off I am, since Zambians are very reluctant to say “I don’t know” and prefer to offer their best guess, I could be WAY off!
Every year for a few hundred years chiefs from all over the Chewa fiefdom would bring some of their harvests and reports of the year to the Paramount Chief, Kalonga Gawa Uni ( something Divider of Land) a retired engineer for the government run electricity company. They would tell the paramount chief about all of their troubles and if some areas had small harvests he would redistribute from other areas. I don’t think this really happens anymore because instead of harvest being brought, money, coffee tables and LG washing machines were brought. Then after their reports comes the Nyau, traditional dancers, representing religious spirits. It’s technically against the law to say that they are people dressed as animals, they are animals. I thought they were just regular people who would come and dance on special occasions, but they are full time Nyau, some taken from as young as seven years old! They live separately and don’t have jobs and apparently, if you go to where they train, they will either kill you or make you become a Nyau for the rest of your life. They sleep in graveyards and have something to do with witchcraft, leading to missionaries enforcing a total ban of the Kulamba festival from the 1930’s to 1984, until it was restarted by the current Chief Gawa Uni. There are no women Nyau, just men.
The Nyau dancing was pretty cool. Rarely always coordinated as a group or rehearsed, they come onto the stage and dance for about 5 minutes to drums and then they’re off. There are people who lead them as they walk and dance, I didn’t know why until I saw how small eye holes were in masks, if they even had eye slits! Some would just come and dance, some climbed tall poles and danced on the poles, balancing on their bellies on top! Some were full animals, goats, cattle and unknown things. Then the real highlight for me was when one Nyau climbed a pole and got on a metal wire tied between the pole and a nearby tree. He sat on the wire, straddling it between each legs, making me and about 4,000 other people really cringe as he flossed. Then another Nyau got on the other side of the wire and that’s when it really got interesting! They both lay down on the wire facing each other, then slid towards the middle until they were face to face where they paused. This is where I thought it would end. Much to my surprise, one animal smoothly slipped underneath the wire and then they continued moving, climbing over, past and through (?) each other until they had switched sides on a 3mm metal wire!! Pretty incredible to see!
There was one more excitement before the end of the festival. Zambians are afraid of snakes, REALLY afraid, and for good reason, Steph has seen lots of people lose limbs to snake bites, but it’s more than that to Zambians. They are also associated with evil spirits. Well all of the sudden a snake appeared somewhere in the crowd of several thousand people and all hell broke loose! Everyone stood up meaning no one could see anything and everyone starting shouting “SNAKE!!!” and trying to move, but of course you couldn’t because we were all packed like sardines in the arena. Nobody around me knew what was going on, and I guessed that a wild snake had accidentally found it’s way into the ceremony. It turned out it wasn’t one snake but three, and they were all part of the dance with the Nyau.
Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi entered in a massive procession to his “throne” (Lazyboy Recliner) at his “Royal Palace” (fairly modest house). He was dressed all white in the middle of a massive procession, followed by about 5 large ivory elephant tusks. He remained in his throne, mostly inactive until the end of the ceremony, at which point he got up and left, with his procession, marking the end of Kulamba, what a day!!
I walked out with a good friend. I had previously told him before that I didn’t believe in Juju, witchcraft, witchdoctors or any of that other stuff. He turned to me and said “See Benson, after seeing those Nyau, can’t you believe in magic now?”
I’ll start by saying that I don’t actually know anything. I went and asked questions and took a lot of pictures, but what I’m going to tell you is just what I gathered from asking friends and observing, so there’s a good chance that a lot isn’t true. That being said, it would be interesting to see how far off I am, since Zambians are very reluctant to say “I don’t know” and prefer to offer their best guess, I could be WAY off!
Every year for a few hundred years chiefs from all over the Chewa fiefdom would bring some of their harvests and reports of the year to the Paramount Chief, Kalonga Gawa Uni ( something Divider of Land) a retired engineer for the government run electricity company. They would tell the paramount chief about all of their troubles and if some areas had small harvests he would redistribute from other areas. I don’t think this really happens anymore because instead of harvest being brought, money, coffee tables and LG washing machines were brought. Then after their reports comes the Nyau, traditional dancers, representing religious spirits. It’s technically against the law to say that they are people dressed as animals, they are animals. I thought they were just regular people who would come and dance on special occasions, but they are full time Nyau, some taken from as young as seven years old! They live separately and don’t have jobs and apparently, if you go to where they train, they will either kill you or make you become a Nyau for the rest of your life. They sleep in graveyards and have something to do with witchcraft, leading to missionaries enforcing a total ban of the Kulamba festival from the 1930’s to 1984, until it was restarted by the current Chief Gawa Uni. There are no women Nyau, just men.
The Nyau dancing was pretty cool. Rarely always coordinated as a group or rehearsed, they come onto the stage and dance for about 5 minutes to drums and then they’re off. There are people who lead them as they walk and dance, I didn’t know why until I saw how small eye holes were in masks, if they even had eye slits! Some would just come and dance, some climbed tall poles and danced on the poles, balancing on their bellies on top! Some were full animals, goats, cattle and unknown things. Then the real highlight for me was when one Nyau climbed a pole and got on a metal wire tied between the pole and a nearby tree. He sat on the wire, straddling it between each legs, making me and about 4,000 other people really cringe as he flossed. Then another Nyau got on the other side of the wire and that’s when it really got interesting! They both lay down on the wire facing each other, then slid towards the middle until they were face to face where they paused. This is where I thought it would end. Much to my surprise, one animal smoothly slipped underneath the wire and then they continued moving, climbing over, past and through (?) each other until they had switched sides on a 3mm metal wire!! Pretty incredible to see!
There was one more excitement before the end of the festival. Zambians are afraid of snakes, REALLY afraid, and for good reason, Steph has seen lots of people lose limbs to snake bites, but it’s more than that to Zambians. They are also associated with evil spirits. Well all of the sudden a snake appeared somewhere in the crowd of several thousand people and all hell broke loose! Everyone stood up meaning no one could see anything and everyone starting shouting “SNAKE!!!” and trying to move, but of course you couldn’t because we were all packed like sardines in the arena. Nobody around me knew what was going on, and I guessed that a wild snake had accidentally found it’s way into the ceremony. It turned out it wasn’t one snake but three, and they were all part of the dance with the Nyau.
Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi entered in a massive procession to his “throne” (Lazyboy Recliner) at his “Royal Palace” (fairly modest house). He was dressed all white in the middle of a massive procession, followed by about 5 large ivory elephant tusks. He remained in his throne, mostly inactive until the end of the ceremony, at which point he got up and left, with his procession, marking the end of Kulamba, what a day!!
I walked out with a good friend. I had previously told him before that I didn’t believe in Juju, witchcraft, witchdoctors or any of that other stuff. He turned to me and said “See Benson, after seeing those Nyau, can’t you believe in magic now?”
Bricks and Basic School
One thing I dread about coming back home is trying to explain what I’ve seen and done. It’s not that it’s so special or that it takes a special person to do it, because anyone can move to another country and become comfortable in daily life. The difficult thing is that it’s something you can only learn experientially. So I’ve had this amazing experience, learned so much and probably changed without knowing it, and then I will come home and be speechless trying to explain what I’ve seen and done, probably because it needs to be seen and done to understand, not explained. Africa is such a different place. I’ve been to every inhabited continent on the planet, not extensively, but Africa is such a different place from any other. The way things work, what people say, WHAT THEY THINK, how they react, it’s so SO foreign.
You have to leave the bubble for so long just to learn simple things. There is a combination of reasons:
1. Things are different and complex here
2. Whatever word means more than subtle, that can be used to explain Zambians
Zambians are so indirect. I sent a friend to interview for a job with another one of my friends. After the interview there were 4 of us in the car and I asked “So Michael, what did you think of my friend you just interviewed?” There was a pause and then the driver said “You Canadians are so direct! You ask such short questions that really make people think and you go right to the point! Ha ha ha” Now that type of question is normal in Canada, but here it’s very uncommon and leads to a difficult environment to learn in!
Example:
March: I saw a small building that was being constructed, it had brick walls about 1.5m high at this point. Some of the parents had contributed money but (most) that didn’t have money had come and helped in construction first hand by making bricks.
April: I was walking with a friend who didn’t speak great English named Mr. Phiri. We were near his house and I saw an area cleared of trees that had about 8 different 2mx3m holes dug into the ground filled with water.
Ben: What are those holes from?
Phiri: They’re for the basic school?
B: What do you mean they’re for the basic school?
P: They’re for the basic school?
B: Why did they make holes in the ground?
P: To help with the school
At that point I gave up.
July: I visited a friend in the village Mathius Mwale and he was building a new house so we went to view the construction. There was a guy knee deep in mud in a hole in the ground, he took a brick form, dipped it in the mud and then carried it out and over to a row of drying bricks where he dumped it.
August: I drove past the same place where the mysterious holes were and then suddenly realized they were holes dug to make bricks by parents for the basic school!!!! I was so happy I figured it out and it only took 5 months experience!
You have to leave the bubble for so long just to learn simple things. There is a combination of reasons:
1. Things are different and complex here
2. Whatever word means more than subtle, that can be used to explain Zambians
Zambians are so indirect. I sent a friend to interview for a job with another one of my friends. After the interview there were 4 of us in the car and I asked “So Michael, what did you think of my friend you just interviewed?” There was a pause and then the driver said “You Canadians are so direct! You ask such short questions that really make people think and you go right to the point! Ha ha ha” Now that type of question is normal in Canada, but here it’s very uncommon and leads to a difficult environment to learn in!
Example:
March: I saw a small building that was being constructed, it had brick walls about 1.5m high at this point. Some of the parents had contributed money but (most) that didn’t have money had come and helped in construction first hand by making bricks.
April: I was walking with a friend who didn’t speak great English named Mr. Phiri. We were near his house and I saw an area cleared of trees that had about 8 different 2mx3m holes dug into the ground filled with water.
Ben: What are those holes from?
Phiri: They’re for the basic school?
B: What do you mean they’re for the basic school?
P: They’re for the basic school?
B: Why did they make holes in the ground?
P: To help with the school
At that point I gave up.
July: I visited a friend in the village Mathius Mwale and he was building a new house so we went to view the construction. There was a guy knee deep in mud in a hole in the ground, he took a brick form, dipped it in the mud and then carried it out and over to a row of drying bricks where he dumped it.
August: I drove past the same place where the mysterious holes were and then suddenly realized they were holes dug to make bricks by parents for the basic school!!!! I was so happy I figured it out and it only took 5 months experience!
The Fairy Tale Princess
I read a really great book called “The Fate of Africa”, which told the history of Africa since independence. Really interesting, a very easy read I recommend it! Well I thought about all the hatred and anger towards these “African Big Men” from my own culture, dictators who killed opponents, opposed democracy, waged wars of greed and pride, exploited the country’s natural resources for their own riches, extracted taxes from peasants so they could buy ridiculous luxuries which they didn’t deserve, were immensely corrupt giving positions of power both in government and business to family and tribe members, using state money as their own personal bank accounts. We hate these people, almost everyone on earth does, and rightly so, they are terrible greedy people.
No Canadian girl dreams of marrying one of these men when they grow up, fantasizes about living in their mansions, or has dolls of their daughters. Instead Canadian girls think about princesses from medieval times. I’m asking, what’s the difference aside from time and geography? I hate the double standard that exists, that Africans are so corrupt and evil but the same people that were corrupt and evil from our culture are worshipped in books and movies. Queen Victoria held the “most colossal and expensive meal in world history” during a 7 day celebration in India on her ownership over a land the British had stolen and occupied by violence. During this 7 day party, 100,000 locals starved to death. King Henry killed not one but TWO of his own wives by cutting their heads off! The list goes on, and is not just British.
Look at my list of the horrible things African dictators do, is there one there that European Royalty isn’t guilty of, but for hundreds and hundreds of years instead of just 50?
No Canadian girl dreams of marrying one of these men when they grow up, fantasizes about living in their mansions, or has dolls of their daughters. Instead Canadian girls think about princesses from medieval times. I’m asking, what’s the difference aside from time and geography? I hate the double standard that exists, that Africans are so corrupt and evil but the same people that were corrupt and evil from our culture are worshipped in books and movies. Queen Victoria held the “most colossal and expensive meal in world history” during a 7 day celebration in India on her ownership over a land the British had stolen and occupied by violence. During this 7 day party, 100,000 locals starved to death. King Henry killed not one but TWO of his own wives by cutting their heads off! The list goes on, and is not just British.
Look at my list of the horrible things African dictators do, is there one there that European Royalty isn’t guilty of, but for hundreds and hundreds of years instead of just 50?
Is it possible to deserve something?
When a doctor works very hard for decades and helps lots of people, even saving lives, does he deserve enough money to buy several houses, luxury vehicles and boats? What about when an African farmer puts in as many hours work as the doctor over several decades and is equally intelligent but was never able to afford university, lives in poverty his entire life, 4 of his 7 children die of easily preventable causes. What does he deserve? He worked as hard as the doctor for as many hours and is equally talented mentally and physically. Does he deserve a Porsche, lake house and boat? More? Or maybe nothing.
I feel really bad because I believe I’m a person filled with love, and I want to live a life of love, but every time I sit and write what I’m thinking, I’m writing things like this. Things that are negative. It’s not that I don’t love the doctor, or think that his hard work should be rewarded. I know a lot of doctors who are much more disciplined, intelligent and harder working than me and they absolutely deserve something, more than I deserve without a doubt. I guess I just feel like we live in a distorted world, where we are oblivious to the greater community we live in and because of that lack of balance, we expect things that shouldn’t be expected by anyone, at least now.
It’s not that I don’t love the doctor, it’s that I also love the farmer, and how can I sit and write about how great everything is when someone I love suffering so much?
I feel really bad because I believe I’m a person filled with love, and I want to live a life of love, but every time I sit and write what I’m thinking, I’m writing things like this. Things that are negative. It’s not that I don’t love the doctor, or think that his hard work should be rewarded. I know a lot of doctors who are much more disciplined, intelligent and harder working than me and they absolutely deserve something, more than I deserve without a doubt. I guess I just feel like we live in a distorted world, where we are oblivious to the greater community we live in and because of that lack of balance, we expect things that shouldn’t be expected by anyone, at least now.
It’s not that I don’t love the doctor, it’s that I also love the farmer, and how can I sit and write about how great everything is when someone I love suffering so much?
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