Monday, March 30, 2015
This morning I woke up with a very mild stomachache and headache that became slightly worse throughout the day. I decided it best to stay home for the day.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
In the afternoon, I start in Limulnga at Mbuywana’s home.
Mbuywana and me.
The drought that has taken place this year is soon to have a devastating outcome as it comes the time to harvest the crops that have not grown. “No rain: no rice,” as Waluka summarizes their situation.
After discussing the crops, which is now out of their control, we then talk about employment and having work. The conversation is amongst Waluka, Mulele, and me as we walk from the shops in Limulunga toward the school. During my visit here, they have both talked about waiting for work and waiting for opportunity, and I have reflected on their words and probable mindsets on the matter. I bring it up and tell them they can’t wait for work, that work is not going to come and knock on the door of their home as they sit inside. “Work won’t know the way from the road to where your home is to be able to knock,” I say, to clarify the personification I am trying to make so they will understand the point. They laugh.
I tell them they have to go and find the work, create their own opportunity, find the people that need things done, needing anything done. People don’t know who you are and what you can do, they won’t be coming to look for you, you have to go and tell people what you can do. It seems to be a new idea to them and Mulele seems to have an expression that would imply he can’t believe I am serious. I tell him I am and say that maybe you go and speak with 20 people and just one person has some small work for you to do, or maybe none of them do. But you won’t find out unless you ask, and even if there is no work to be done then, they may remember you in the future. I really hope that they think about this more.
At the school, I present on behalf of MacDonald-Miller, the company I was working for in Seattle, a donation to the Limulunga Scholars Scholarship Fund. The funds have come from the MacDonald-Miller Giving Fund, which supported a variety of great causes this quarter. The community school goes through grade 7 and is free to all students. After grade 7, the only option is to continue at a public school, all of which have fees. Limulunga Scholars was set up so there is a means to assist families in paying school fees so the students can continue their education. Many thanks from this community to the community at MacDonald-Miller!!
Head teacher Mutinta Musowani and grade 8 students Recent Lubinda and Maxwell Mando, two scholarship recipients.
It has been six year since the below photo.
Construction team members. January 2009.
And we take a new one.
Construction team members. March 2015. Back: Ngela Ngela, Waluka Mataka, Musasa Felix, Tyler Nelsen, Mwanalushi Muketoi, Mulele Ngela. Front: Angel Mubita, Mutemwa Mutumwa.
Now it is time to dig something up. Mutinta and I dig down to the top of two of the foundations for the water tank stand, as I couldn’t remember which one we needed to be at.
10 September 2008.
This was the day we finished placement of the first concrete for the school construction project, anchoring the water tank stand into the ground. This was a huge milestone for clean water and also the water needed for construction. I dated it then. We uncovered it now, to remember.
From the school, Mutinta and I take a mini bus into Mongu and he takes me to dinner.
Tonight I am staying at Aka’s house in Mongu. I had planned on going to bed early, but then one conversation lead to another. I learn about his time in politics, which started by accident. Besides his publications within his political career, Aka has contributed to other publications over the years as well as written several books, one of which he signs and gives me a copy.
I also learn more about his father, King Lewanika II. He met Martin Luther King Jr. at two different times during their lives, as well as exchanged correspondence over the years. Some of their correspondence is with the Martin Luther King Jr. Center. As well, the New York Times published a letter from King Lewanika II in 1961, which I have included below.
Distrust in Africa
To the Editor of the New York Times:
Like a cold wind the news from Alabama is blowing through Africa. Our rural and towns people are shivering before this new evidence that even the undisputed achievements of the black man in the West cannot protect him from the stigma of color – even in the United States of America, the land which has claimed to be the champion of anti-colonialism and the rights of man.
Many of my friends in Central Africa are saying, How can we trust the United States of America? Her offers of friendship and help are not really true. She wants us to be friendly to her but is not prepared to prove her friendship to us. Is it not true that in the United States of America men and women of our color have won respect and fame as doctors, lawyers, teachers, business men, scientists, soldiers, airmen, etc. Did not a black man first stand along with Commander Peary at the North Pole in 1907? Has not our brothers’ blood flowed with the blood of white Americans in the defense and the rights of man? And yet, in this same country, men and women are suffering because their skin is black. How can the United States of America speak for us in Africa?
Our hearts beat like yours, America. Oh, Alabama, be brief, be quick for once.
Godwin A. Mbikusita Lewanika
Member of Parliament for Luangwa, Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia
May 25, 1961
The New York Times
Published: May 31, 1961
Note: Northern Rhodesia, as listed at the bottom of the letter, is now present day Zambia.
In 1972, the letter was published in the book Talking back to the New York Times: Letters to the Editor, 1851-1971.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
In the morning, I board the bus heading to Lusaka. The door to the bus is held shut from the inside by a ratcheting tie-down strap, as the actual locking mechanism no longer works. And amazingly this bus has four seats across, instead of five. I knew they existed here, just only rode one a few times during 2008. It is lightly raining at times during the drive.
As the bus is cruising along at a good pace in an area without potholes, the bus hits and kills a dog. It is actually fairly common as the general rule with small animals on the road is to not swerve because you can leave the road, lose control, and end up killing yourself. It did make me sad when it was hit, it may have been a stray dog, or one kept by a family, either way was not fun to see it from the front row right before it was hit.
After about five hours, the bus crosses over the Kafue River and makes a stop. I depart the bus and load my bags into the vehicle that is there waiting for me. We take a short drive towards the river and arrive at Mukambi Safari Lodge, where I will be staying for the night.
The lodge is directly on the river, and just on the other side of the river is the national park. The property is quite nice and right in the middle of the land of wild animals, even having a ‘friendly’ hippo in the area that can be heard from the dining area. At times they have had just about every animal come through the property of the resort, including lions, leopards, elephants, and hippos. Because of this, the guests cannot be out alone on the property after dark; a guard must escort them because animals can come here anytime.
I let Mbuywana know that I will be staying a night here at the lodge. Mbuywana still has quite the sense of humor at age 70.
In the evening, I went on a boat ride to view animals from the Kafue River. Also on the ride with me were two women from Denmark along with their daughters who were each about twelve years old. We saw many hippos, birds, a few monkeys, and some elephants. As the dusk set in, the reflection on the water of the bank, trees, and clouds was magnificent.
Mukambi Evening Boat Ride Photo Gallery
Once ashore, I check my phone and have a text from a number I don't know. The message thanks me for the work done in Limulunga and extends love to my family. At the end: "Ambassador Inonge Lewanika." We have never met. But I have a good idea on how she has come to have my phone number.
Before dinner, I have a drink at the bar just as a fairly heavy rain begins to come down. Interesting people are about everywhere in this world. I meet a man from Stow-on-the-Wold, England. (I in fact had never myself heard of the place before.) He is here in Zambia to teach anti-poaching training and has an extensive military background. In addition to teaching, he recently completed anti-piracy training to have a position that can support him so he can make the trips to Africa to teach anti-poaching, which is what he really wants to be doing.
Over dinner I have some thoughts, in fact I’ve had them even before arriving today. I’ve had them while out on the boat, and now they continue as I sit at dinner. I am sad to have left Limulunga after spending time with the men that were previously my workers. I think of those that don't have work, can't pay for food, have crops that have not survived this year due to the drought, and cannot afford to pay their children's school fees. This one night here for me is the same cost as what I treated the small group from Limulunga to when we went to Senanga. I realize that most people would say that to make that comparison is not fair on myself. But it is my thought.
I know I have done much for the community I have just visited, with time, encouragement, and financial giving. But I still think about the numbers, and what they represent. I struggle with the topic and what numbers are going where, what I am spending on myself now and throughout this year. I don’t doubt my own generosity, but I still question my ability to do more.
I could have stayed in Seattle this year and given the total budget of my travels to those in need. Here, home, anywhere there is need. I also know I could have stayed home and bought the new vehicle I would like or soon made a down payment on a home. In those cases I know that I would not think anything about spending on myself the savings I have accumulated. But being here, there is nothing between me and immediate, obvious need.
So, I struggle with the thought of these different items and the numbers and what they mean and what those numbers could mean for the others. I don't have the answer, and I know there isn’t necessarily a right one or a wrong one, or that the answer is the same for anyone else, or that the answer can’t change. I know I never will feel okay while thinking about these items, and maybe that is the point.
I go to the high lounge to look out over the Kafue River and see the show provided by the lightning. The rain drips off the thatched roof, dripping down in front of me as I watch through. The rain has actually lightened now. I look down to the river and see my very shadow, cast by the light behind me. Also down on the flat water are the bar stools and railing I am leaning against.
The lightning flashes, lighting up the river as if it was midday. At times the flashes are so bright, and in direct view, that my vision has to readjust after, as if I looked at the sun or the arc from welding. The thunder cracks heavy and the rumble continues across the sky, passing from east to west above me.
I feel I don't deserve to be here. I don't feel that anyone really does, to experience something like this. Or maybe we all do.
After the rain has nearly stopped, I have a guard escort me to my chalet.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
It has rained nearly all night, stopping some time before 4:30am, when I awoke and could hear a hippo. I’m up for the day at 5:15am to meet at 6:00am in the dining area, after being escorted there by a guard. We take a boat across the river to the other shore and from there go in two trucks with seating mounted in the bed of each. I am in a truck with the same people from Denmark that were on the boat yesterday afternoon.
We see many animals and birds as well as fresh lion paw prints at two locations that were from different lions, the size of the prints indicating so. We do not spot either lion, but we were very close as the prints were very fresh, the rain having stopped not very long ago.
Mukambi Morning Drive Photo Gallery
After lunch, I head back to the Great West Road and wait for today’s bus going from Mongu to Lusaka. This driver is crazy. We come so close to being in several accidents as he passes vehicles. The odometer does not work and rests at zero. For the last two hours or so, an alarm buzzes periodically. Not sure what it is for, perhaps neither does the driver, as he continues to ignore it.
The last two hours were not the best either. After arriving in Lusaka, the traffic is so incredibly, unimaginably bad that it takes three hours to go just a few miles to the bus station. As my bags are under the bus, and the bus is close to vehicles on either side of it, there is not a chance of getting off early with my bags, as the doors would have no way to be opened for the bags to be removed. I never saw traffic this bad when I lived here. Vehicles start to run out of gas and then are being pushed, making it all worse. A car hits another car.
The three-hour traffic delay has quite affected my evening, which is now having the order flipped. I take a taxi to a restaurant and what should have been a 15-minute drive in traffic takes about three times as long, the driver even deciding to go down a street in the wrong lane for an uncomfortable distance. Once at the restaurant, it is another hour before Patrick arrives, as the entire city is barely moving.
Patrick lives in Mongu and was a great help to me when I lived there. While I have been in the Mongu and Limulunga area, he has been in Zimbabwe. He arrived back into Lusaka yesterday, but since I was staying one night at the lodge, he waited to go back to Mongu and stayed an extra night in Lusaka so we would be able to meet here. Patrick was a friend and great help to me so it is great to be able to see him.
Having dinner with my friend Patrick. He was a great help to me when I lived here in 2008
It is late by the time we are done with dinner, but I am quite set on fitting in all my plans despite the delay caused by the horrendous traffic. Patrick is using his brother’s car for the night so drives me to my next stop, where we arrive at about 10:00pm. He drops me off and we say our goodbyes until we will meet again some day.
Tonight, at an unordinary hour for such an event, I meet the ambassador. Princess Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika. She is the older sister of Mbuywana and Aka. She retired in 2012 after have been the ambassador to the United States, as well as 18 other countries in the Americas. Prior to her work as an ambassador, she served in other rolls in politics as well as humanitarian aid. She has a home in Mongu now and stays with a friend when she is in Lusaka, the home we are at now. They have stayed up for my arrival since I was so delayed. Inonge comments that even at 72 years old, she is still a night person.
Inonge shares about her careers in humanitarian aid and politics. Due to who here parents were when she was little, and then what her careers have required, she has travelled and flown all over the world for decades. She jokes a bout living on the go, in planes and in airports. She has not flown in a year now, the longest time in a long time. Now retired from politics, she is working with many different humanitarian aid efforts as well as doing leadership training with youth. She says she is busier than ever before.
Thank you very much to those who made donations made toward the school repair projects! They were sufficient to complete the needed repairs at the school, as well as some extra that will pay school fees for students continuing beyond grade 7.
I believe in education and I believe in the construction of the school that took place here. Although money was donated, what was given was the gift of education. Education to enable individuals to better themselves, to rise above their current circumstances, to progress and excel. To enable them to do what every human has the capacity and desire to do.
If you would like to support the community school, funds would be greatly appreciated to support students and teachers in ways listed below.
Limulunga Scholars Scholarship Fund
The community school is free and has classes through grade 7. For grades 8 through 12, the only option is a public school, all of which have fees. $75 covers the cost of school fees, books, uniforms, and supplies for an entire year for one student. That means $375 provides a student with a high school education! (*$75 is the average, as fees vary based on school.)
Teachers Compensation Fund
The teachers effectively work on a volunteer basis, frequently receiving no pay for many months when there are no funds available. A public school teacher here earns 3.5 times the amount that the community school would like to be able to pay their teachers. What is amazing is that some of the teachers could be working at a public school and be paid but they choose to stay and teach at the community school for free! $138/month is what the community school would be grateful to be able to provide to a teacher. – Three people donating $46/month would provide one teacher’s salary.
Tax-deductible donations can be made HERE. Scroll to the bottom to find ‘Zambia Support,’ which is only for the community school. If you would like assistance setting up a reoccurring donation, please send me a MESSAGE.
The school construction project had a larger outcome than education for children. It was monumental for the workers in what they learned, the focus they developed for the future, and being productive as an individual and member of their community. It has been exceptional to return and hear the stories as I have sat in homes and to see their businesses and projects.
As I have learned about the history of Barotseland, I have realized that I am part of the story of one community, and they are part of my story as well. I now don't just have better bookends for my past experience here: I have the best bookends.
Check out the map of Zambia to see the locations where I have been.
New photos have been added in each of these galleries:
Limulunga Community School Photo Gallery
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." – Mark Twain
Author. November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910