My Africa

Nabwela! I'm coming!

2008-01-21T15:12:00.000+02:00

Last day in Zambia. Where did all my six months go? It's so weird to be back to Finland soon.
Still a lot of things to organise at work and also at "home". Difficult to say goodbye to everybody, especially because I cannot yet say anything sure about when I'm coming back.

It feels that I've started a lot at work but finished only something. I would so much want to stay and complete everything. Well, fortunately KYP and ETVO are continuous programmes and thus, there should always be someone to continue from where the previous one finished.

Zikomo kwambili Zambia! It's been the journey of my life so far!
Tizaonana!

Me, Tuukka, some colleagues from KYP, our Zambian families and friends in the front of Mr and Mrs Veluka's house at our farewell party.

Family Veluka and other pictures

2007-12-28T16:25:00.000+02:00

The children of the family: Ireen (16), Rita (4), Buumba (11) and Vin (21). Coming from Arcades where we spent a Saturday afternoon bowling.

Our house in Chawama. Mrs Veluka and Rita at the door. We were going to Mrs Ngoma's House Mending Party. We have the privilege of a fenced yard which makes living at least psychologically safer.

In Chawama, a scene from our gate. It's wet! The roads are flooding, and since it's practically impossible to avoid stepping into the pools you just need to cope with your feet being wet all the time. Laundry doesn't dry for days, bed sheets are damp, everything is just a little bit uncomfortable and miserable. On the other hand, it's easy to forget these inconveniences since the people are so adorable and a lot of nice things happen all the time.

At the Finnish Ambassador's Independence Day party at the Residence on the 6th of December. On the left, the admirable Mrs Maki, the wife to the famous late Niilo Maki who brought neuropsychology into Finland. Mrs Maki is still involved in many research projects.

Religion is important in Zambia: at least the children go to church every Sunday, and we pray at every meal (I've got the honour to say the prayer a couple of times - the first time in Finnish since I didn't have any idea what to say :) This is the home church of the Velukas. Been there twice.

Three very Zambian things: in the front, man collecting Shake Shake cans. Shake Shake is a type of chibuku, grainy yeasty beer. Next, unsafe traffic: people speeding and driving without seat belts etc. At the background, a football match between Chawama and Chilenge (Chawama won! Yei!)

Mr Ngeto'o, an artist at KYP. Mr Ngeto'o is specialised in religious wood sculptures that are often ordered by the Catholic Church.

At the Munda Wanga Botanical Garden. As you can see, it is actually possible to find something beautiful in Lusaka. I took the kids to Munda Wanga Zoo the other day but liked the garden even better than the animals.

The family buys their meat and fish in Kafue, a couple of hours drive from Lusaka since Mrs Veluka thinks meat is purer there. The absolute favourite is offoss, cow's stomach. Haven't tried it yet. But I have eaten chicken kidneys!

We used to be KYPT.

Now we are KYP (or K.Y.P., they haven't really decided yet).

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T12:34:00.000+02:00

Sä tähdistä kirkkain nyt loisteesi luo
Sinne Suomeeni kaukaisehen!
Ja sitten kun sammuu sun tuikkeesi tuo,
Sä siunaa se maa muistojen!
Sen vertaista toista en mistään mä saa,
On armain ja kallein mull' ain' Suomenmaa!
Ja kiitosta sen laulu soi Sylvian,
Ja soi aina lauluista sointuisimman.

Wishing you happy and relaxing Christmas!

I would have added some pictures here but the antivirus programme in this net cafe ate the files from my flash disc... In Zambia, there's really nothing to be afraid of except for the crazy traffic and the computer viruses. Well, next time then :)

Pictures from along the journey part2

2007-11-26T19:54:00.001+02:00

1) In South Luangwa. Unlike in the Lion King, Pumba in real life is very shy. He (She?) is, anyway, leading a happy life with the Pumba family and wants to say hi to everyone.

2) At the night safari, we managed to see these cubs and mother eating a freshly hunted baby impala.

3) Vahiin kay ennen kuin loppuu. Victoria Falls in October. Wouldn't believe that this is one of the seven wonders in the world :)

Pictures from along the journey part1

2007-11-26T19:00:00.000+02:00

1) Two generations, on my first visit to Chawama in September with Victor.

2) Victor singing in the studio at Chawama Youth Skills Project. My dream is to record my own song there one day. I've already started writing it. Wish I had more time!

3) Children on a truck in Chawama. Could I take some of them to Finland with me? :)

4) The town centre of Lusaka. Don't be fooled by the towers, Lusaka in general is very flat. High buildings are found only in the centre, otherwise people live and work in one-story buildings.

5) Mrs Nyirongo, me and Mariska went to a wedding in September. These guys were obviously hoping that they would have been invited, too :)

6) And since we are muzungus, we couldn't avoid drawing attention to ourselves. Here, I suppose we are babbling something about Finnish wedding traditions.

7) At Sable Road, we had a movie night in September. We organised the seats out in the garden and projected to movie on the wall of Joanna's house. Ate hamburgers and watched Simpsons the Movie.

8) One of my Hotel and catering students, Lumbenji, making pie dough during the Business in Action project.

9) Ladies' Club (that's the business name they chose for themselves) counting the money after the day - smiling :)

10) I took my tailor, Nancy (on the left) to visit my tailoring students in Kanyama on their entrepreneurship lesson.

11) I got my hair braided in October by lovely Mrs Priscar who has her small house at K.Y.P. premises. I was the first muzungu that she braided and she did good work! It took 4 hours and in the end, we were sitting in a dark room after sunset and a power cut while Tuukka was holding a torch to shed some light over my head.

12) In Chipata, I was invited to a Kitchen Party again. I thanked the matron for the invitation but politely refused since "I cannot leave my husband (meaning Tuukka; And no, we are not married)" and so the matron accepted that Tuukka could come to the party as well. Let me tell you, it usually never happens! Kitchen Parties are strictly women's parties. But we had a nice time and sure, there I am dancing for the screaming and clapping audience. Couldn't even hear the drums under that noise. Muzungu dancing is not to be seen every day.

13) In Chipata, on our way to the top of one of the mountains surrounding the town.

14) Still in Chipata, enjoying a fresh paw paw that we bought at the market place. Fruit in Zambia are awsome.

15) In South Luangwa National Park with the giraffe that we were looking for for two days and finally saw about hundred of them during one day.

Bwanji!

2007-11-26T18:28:00.000+02:00

Bwanji!

I have my own Zambian family now! I've been staying for a week in Chawama at Velukas. The family consists of Mr and Mrs Veluka and their four children from 4 to 21 years old. Mr Veluka works for an insurance company and Mrs has her stationary shop at the City Market. I couldn't be more fortunate, I'm so in love with this family.

I'm now "alone" here since Mariska left a couple of weeks ago. I've continued teaching, although now my students are fewer since the January intake has their industrial attachements (which means practical training). I'm almost through with the Microsoft Word exams, and have begun to teach Excel to some of the groups. I finished the business communication lessons, so no more waiting for the students bringing their CV's and job applications mailo mailo. Entrepreneurship lessons are going pangono (so and so), the students could be more active, but at least they have learned something, based on the assignments that I've corrected.

In the end of September, I organised a Business in Action project with the January intake Hotel and catering students. During that project, we developed a business idea and business plan and started to manufacture snacks (sausage rolls, meat pies, pulla and so on) and sell them at the K.Y.P. restaurant. The project was a slight success, at least we made some profit which was shared between the students. The students would have wanted to continue and also K.Y.P. management was hoping for continuation. I'm trying to organise a similar project for July intake as well.

The name of the organisation is now changed from KYPT to KYP What a fuss over one letter T, you wouldn't believe! But at least the board finally managed to make the decision so that we can now move on and begin creating the school a strong image. A name is quite essential when talking about image, so without a consistent name marketing the school has been somewhat difficult. I used to use this name issue as an example on my entrepreneurship lessons, and the list of names that the students came up with was long: some thought the name of the school was KYPT, some KYP, some K.Y.P., some Kanyama Youth Programme, Kanyama Youth Programme Trust, even Kanyama Youth Project. I used to comfort the students by telling them that if the management doesn't know the name then how could you :)

Lately, I've been analysing Training Needs Survey and writing a report on it, the idea is to find out the wishes and plans that grade 9 and 12 students have towards their future education and the knowledge that they have on KYP My next assignments will be developing a business plan for a carpentry workshop that is going to be built at KYP and designing a project for improving KYP restaurant business (which is kind of a continuation to the Business in Action project :). I'm full of ideas but the time is not on my side - only 2 months to go! Well, I'll do what I can. If only I could stay for a little bit longer, I would. The idea of returning to Finland in the end of cold January is not too fascinating.

I've really enjoyed my stay in Zambia. I'm already in panic when realising how little time I have left. Somehow having to adjust to a very different culture, environment and climate in a short time has had a huge effect on me. Now Zambia feels like the reality and Finland is a very abstract thing somewhere on the other end of the planet. It doesn't even feel real that someone could travel to Finland. I know this must sound silly :) But for example when Tuukka came here and went back to Finland, it was so unreal that he could actually move between these two worlds. And now he's even coming back in December. Having lived amongst these people for these intensive 4 months, I've somehow adopted the way of thinking, and travelling like that doesn't seem possible. I have no idea how I'm going to survive in Finland again. Am I going to get adapted there as quickly as I did here? I hope not! I don't want to learn all my old habits, I would like to maintain at least some of these new traits that I've found here. I have such mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Still alive :)

2007-10-19T18:03:00.000+02:00

Tuukka arrived in Zambia on the 2nd October and we've spent time first in Lusaka at KYP (Tuukka gave my students lectures on entrepreneurship, learned to play drums and made music with the artists and staff members of KYP) and then, travelling around the country.

We arrived back in Lusaka today just for a pit stop, we'll head to Livingstone early tomorrow morning. We spent a few days in Chipata, a drowsy and relaxed smallish town at the eastern border, and then, a few days in the South Luangwa national park on a safari. We have some awsome pictures of, for example, lions - we were only about 3 metres away from a lion family enjoying their meal in the dark park after sunset, sitting on a roofless jeep. At the same time, a few hundred metres away, there was a lion couple mating - again, in the darkness. It's quite a creepy feeling when you know that the kings of the jungle are present but cannot see or hear them.

I left some assignments for my students for the two weeks that I'm away. I haven't been totally able to stop thinking and worrying about them although I have tried my best to switch my mind into a holiday mode. I almost rushed to the school today after arriving on the bus station but managed to stop myself at the last minute. I hope they are doing ok, the computers are working properly and they still have the material for the assignments that I left in the computer class for them (all the material that I leave for them tends to disappear mysteriosly, let's hope that's not the situation now). I'm fearing that I will return into a chaos after a week... I think I need to call the students or Andrew next week just to hear how everything's going.

The Independence Day is coming closer, it's on the 24th October. There are already plenty of decorations all over Lusaka. Unfortunately we'll probably not be in Lusaka during the celebration - I don't know yet where we'll be. We might try to make our way to Siavonga at Lake Kariba after Livingstone, but we've kept our plans open on purpose.

Thank you for all the sms:s and e-mails! I'm thinking of you all the time!

Pictures

2007-09-18T16:12:00.000+02:00

Hi!
A lot has happened again and that's why I haven't had time to update the blog. African time can also be partly to blame since everything here tends to happen mailo (tomorrow) :) I try and write something soon. Meanwhile, here are some pictures for you!

1) These are my tailoring students on their computer skills lesson. They are usually studying in Kanyama but on Fridays, they come to City Campus since we don't yet have a computer class at the KYP center in Kanyama. On Tuesdays, I go to Kanyama to teach them entrepreneurship. The computers are working so and so, but there are only two computers for all the students (approximately 200 of them at KYPT), which is far from enough (I use my laptop on the lessons as an addition and still, cannot provide a computer for each of the students). Also some new mouses and keyboards would be highly appreciated here, since the current ones are not working properly.

Also a student library would be needed here since they don't have one yet. There have been plans of establishing a library in this computer class room but currently, the students are not offered any books to borrow or use for their assignments. I'm sure that books related to their vocational studies (carpentry, tailoring, automotive mechanics, auto electrical, power electrical and hotel and catering) would be appreciated, but also material on entrepreneurship (including everything from business ideas to record keeping and marketing), business communication and basic computer skills would come in need. I've been creating a comprehensive Microsoft Word and Excel instructions folder for the students but it is only a drop in the ocean of information.

2) Austin, whose mum is one of the hotel and catering students, keeps me company at my and Andrew's office. Under the piece of cake, that's my lap covered in chitenge. Gotta love this kid! He loves to press every button that he can find in my laptop and camera so I guess he has a bright future as an engineer ahead of him :)

3) On Friday 14th of September we had a Graduation Ceremony for the 2006 intakes at KYP. Aren't the graduands looking handsome and beautiful in their gowns! I was one of the planning committee members with Andrew and Mariska, we made everything from invitations and programmes to decorations. In the beginning of the Ceremony, we had some difficulties since we were late of the timetable and the PA didn't work properly but in the end, the event was simply beautiful and touching and I'm sure the graduands and their families got very good memories of the Graduation.

4) That's a jacaranda tree at Bishop Road in Kabulonga, shattering its purple flowers everywhere. I can't stop adoring the trees and flowers here, they are so colourful and beautiful.

5) Dancer girls at KYPT. They are certainly talented! They have been teaching Zambian dances for us Finnish as well :) Sharon on the right.

Lollipops and biscuits are popular sweets here in Zambia. People rarely eat the kind of sweets that we have in Finland: chocolate, liqourice, wine gums, toffee and so on. Especially chocolate (and other dairy products as well, including cheese and yoghurt!) is very expensive here. It's hard to find sweets even in grocery stores. It's just biscuits and lollipops everywhere. According to KYPT employees (and myself, too :), the number one biscuit is Chicco, they have those in different flavours.

6) Dance performance at Moto Moto garage yard in Kanyama a couple of weeks ago. Believe it or not, me and Mariska were performing as well!

7) In Livingstone, at Victoria Falls. A boy watching a girl swimming in the river.

8) And finally, from last Sunday, a picture of Leonard's family that I was visiting in Kanyama. They cooked me a delicious Zambian dinner with nshima, fisashi (pumpkin leaves with groundnuts), fish and beans. And sure, I got a glass full of fresh chibuku, too (Zambian beer that is white in colour and tastes strongly like yeast - I definitely prefer Mosi!). The head of the family, Mr. Chikoloma, is working in construction business. Like many of the people living in Kanyama, they don't have electricity or running water in the house.

Missing you!

2007-08-28T17:56:00.000+02:00

Monday, 27^th August

Days keep on passing by really quickly. A few weeks ago, however, time seemed to have stopped completely. I was suddenly feeling so homesick that I thought I’d never get over it. The feeling lasted for several days and made me ready to go to the airport and take the next flight back to Finland. I wasn’t prepared to experience those kinds of emotions, not this early anyway, since I thought I was as motivated for this journey as anyone could be. Well, eventually I got over the most powerful homesickness and have fully enjoyed my stay after that (Although hearing European/American music as I did last Saturday in a restaurant still brings too many memories into my mind and tears into my eyes…)

In Livingstone’s footsteps

A couple of weeks ago we (myself, Riikka and Mariska) spent a long weekend (from Friday to Monday) in Livingstone in southern Zambia just at the border of Zimbabwe. It was quite an experience, including 7 hours (one way, so 14 hours in total) in a bus entertained by gospel videos, Victoria Falls, old and new Zambian friends, partying, sunset at Zambezi River, crocodiles, baboons, the legendary Jollyboys backpackers’ lodge, true Zambian food and so on. I could write a long story of it, but I won’t this time.

Zim situation

Last time I promised to write something about the situation in Zimbabwe. When I compare the opinions and ideas written in Helsingin Sanomat (Finland’s leading newspaper) and in The Post (Zambian version), they look at Zimbabwe quite differently. Also local people here in Zambia, independent of their educational background, seem to have quite a different perception of Zimbabwe’s current politics and economy than do fellow Europeans. The comments that I’m going to write here are the opinions of Zambian, Zimbabwean and South African people that I’ve met and discussed the situation with. Thus, these must not be considered as my own opinions. I’m merely a neutral observer here, and since I have nothing to do with Zimbabwe, I don’t think I even need to have an opinion on its politics.

Here in Zambia, the situation in Zimbabwe is not considered very bad. In Finnish papers and magazines, a conflict and resignation of President Mugabe have been anticipated, but Zambians seem to think that what is written in the newspapers in Europe and America is merely Western propaganda. The Western countries have their own agenda for Zimbabwe and other African countries and so, they try to agitate conflicts in those countries in order to get them under their control. The president of Zimbabwe is a good fellow and is doing everything possible for his nation. At least his intentions have been good. He has been the leader of Zimbabwe for a long time and during his period the country has also had its days of glory. The Zimbabwean people leaving their homes and moving to neighboring countries every day should not be called refugees but immigrants since the situation in their home country is not truly threatening.

As my own observation, I can tell that the queue of Zimbabweans (at least some of them salespeople trying to do business in Zambia and them return to Zimbabwe, I guess) trying to get to Zambian side of the border in Livingstone is long.

On the other hand, some Zambians that have visited Zimbabwe recently have described the situation somewhat chaotic. There is said to be desperation among the Zimbabweans since not all of them are able to make ends meet anymore. For example, some taxi drivers may be quite aggressive in their attempts to charge visitors extra dollars (you are not given other options than to pay). Also some businesspeople importing goods from South Africa to Zambia via Zimbabwe had experienced that the trucks can get stuck in Zimbabwe for several days if they don’t agree to pay extra. Alternative routes don’t really exist, so they just need to cope with the situation.

Some Zimbabwean businessmen visiting Zambia denoted that the situation in Zimbabwe is not black and white. They acknowledged that there are people who are suffering (for example, there are families that no longer can afford AIDS medication) but added that there are also citizens who get along pretty well (including these businessmen themselves). When asked about the general opinion on Mugabe of Zimbabweans, they described there being two opinions: some are hoping for his resignation whereas some are very satisfied with his politics. Anyway, Zimbabweans don’t think there will be a conflict or a war.

Nourishment for the soul…

Last Saturday I went to a Seventh Day Adventists Church with my neighbor Ruth (a Zambian girl). What was different from Lutheran service was that there was much more singing and that the congregation really could sing beautifully in harmonies. The sermon was partly in bemba, nyanja and tonga, and was simultaneously translated into English. This week’s Sunday, I’ve been invited to a Roman Catholic service with another neighbor, Lawrence (or Kasongo, as his tribal name is). I’ve never been to a Roman Catholic Church before even in Finland, so it’ll surely be a nice experience. Religion is very important to Zambians and thus, the most common question that I’m asked after “Are you married” and “Do you have children” is “Do you go to church”. Luckily I don’t need to lie when telling I’m a Lutheran and can even answer some of their questions considering the religion.

…and for the body!

Kasongo promised we’ll cook a typical Zambian meal after church – I’m so much looking forward to that! Cooking local food is definitely one of the things that I would like to learn here and I’m already tired of admitting that I’m not even able to cook nshima yet (which is one of the easiest things to do in the world, as I’ve been told for soooo many times). I like Zambian food very much and am quite disappointed that Riikka doesn’t like to eat it too often. I’ve eaten local food only a few times, much more often we’ve eaten salads, wok, pasta, rice with sauce or pizza (not that I didn’t like those as well!). My favourite Zambian dishes so far are nshima with rape tops (cooked with tomato and onion), pumpkin leaves with peanuts and chicken in every form. I’m craving for more!

Every time that I eat the tops (those green leaves) of rape, pumpkin, sweet potato or other plants, I must wonder how we can throw those away in Finland! They are proper food and tasty as well, believe me! On the other hand, when I eat local food I must wonder where they’ve forgotten all the fresh raw vegetables. Zambians only eat vegetables cooked, and are not familiar with salads. Of course that’s somehow understandable considering the hygiene situation.

African time at KYPT

African time here in Zambia is both a blessing and a nuisance. Blessing in that sense that you don’t really need to hurry anywhere since no one is expecting you to come on time, and nuisance in that sense that it makes planning your life quite complicated. For example, if a lesson is supposed to begin at 8.00 in the morning, the first three students arrive at 8.15 and the rest of the twenty not until 9.00. Each one of those who come late, knock on the door (even if it’s always open) patiently until I say “come in, please”. After that, they greet me good morning/afternoon and as they have seated themselves they start complaining “Madam, madam, we are behind”. Seriously, it cannot be very surprising to you since you’ve decided to come to the lesson one hour after I’ve started with today’s topic. When this procedure is repeated 10 times during the lesson, I’m totally confused and don’t remember what I’ve already said and what I was supposed to say next. I’ve heard that even some of the teachers don’t always come to their lessons on time or at all, and that’s probably one reason why the conception of time at KYPT has become such as it is now.

I’ve been quite tough with the students. Even if we are in Africa and thus, should respect local culture, I’m convinced that time management is one of the most valuable skills I’m able to teach these youngsters. That’s why I’ve encouraged them to come on time and refused to tell the same things again even if majority of the class would arrive late. I’m keeping records of the students that are present at the lessons. I’ve also instructed them not to knock on the door or otherwise disturb the lesson if they come in late. They are still coming late, but let’s see if the situation changes during these months if I keep on being consistent with my demands.

There are of course those students that are always on time and behave like prime examples in every other way as well, and I’m feeling really bad for them since all my energy and attention seem to go to those who don’t behave themselves. I guess these are quite universal reflections among teachers, huh?

Pics

1) Mariska, Riikka and me at Jollyboys enjoying our Mosis. (Mosi-Oa-Tunya is the original name for Victoria Falls.)

2) The Victoria Falls.

3) Zimbabweans queuing to get to Zambia.

4) Sunset over Zambezi.

Some more pictures

2007-08-07T16:41:00.000+02:00

1) That's Sable Road at about 18 hours (<- and that's the Zambian way of expressing what time it is). 2) There's the moon. I've become such a lunatic here, I've taken about 100 pictures of that cheese ball :)

3) Believe it or not, it's winter here. All the trees and bushes are blooming!

4) A lizard at KYPT yard. There are plenty of those here everywhere.

5) Neighbourhood in Kabulonga. The current president of Zambia has lived in Kabulonga as well, or so I was told by a local taxi driver.

6) The swimming pool (and the sauna building) at Sable Road.

7) KYPT Restaurant. Sometimes you can buy food there, but most of the time they have nothing to offer. That's where I had nshima for the first time. As you can see, Zambians just love to paint on walls/cars/everything.

8) That's where I'm at right now.

P.S. I've discussed the economic and political situation in Zambia and Zimbabwe with local people. It has certainly been interesting! I'll give you my report on that next time!

P.P.S. We (me, Riikka, Mariska) are going to Livingstone on Friday next week. I really want to see the Vic Falls now that there's some water left. In October, when I'm going there again with Tuukka, it will be rather dry and pathetic :/ But no worries babes, I'm sure it'll still be the most wonderful journey ever :)

Surprise, you’re a teacher!

2007-08-03T12:19:00.002+02:00

Wednesday, 25th July

My seven days in Lusaka have been full of adventures. You never know what happens – that’s the best and the worst of Zambia.

I had my first lesson (on entrepreneurship) on Wednesday, the 25th of July. I had just arrived from the Immigration Office, exhausted and without any notebooks or my laptop with me, as I was prepared to go back to the Immigration Office in a couple of hours. That’s when the hotel&catering teacher came to me and asked if I was going to have a lesson today. When I said that to my knowledge, I wasn’t going to have a lesson that day, he told me that a classroom full of students was waiting for me. What could I do? There I went, no time to be scared, and kept my first 1.5 hours lesson of entrepreneurship. Since that, I’ve been teaching every day. Besides entrepreneurship (which I wasn’t prepared to teach in the first place), I teach basic computer skills and business communication. I have eleven classes per week, each taking from 1 to 2.5 hours. In addition, I should give consultations to community groups (don’t ask me about that, it’s not clear to me, either) and participate to meetings and work in projects, whatever is needed.

Teaching is really demanding with all the planning of lessons and exams, assessing assignments, gathering material for spicing up the lessons, planning the timetables and so on. Especially when I don’t have any templates to apply for I haven’t taught these courses ever before: My first job here was to plan the curriculum of each course. Sometimes I’m really tired and stressed out. Our chief saw my timetable and noted that I had some free space there (as I had scheduled only the lessons, not all the administrative work) and suggested that we could add some work there… I feel hugely responsible for providing the students with accurate and appropriate knowledge and skills in order for them to cope with whatever comes in the future. The students are really sweet and enthusiastic, and my worst nightmare would be letting them down. I can’t believe that I came all the way to Africa to search my peace of mind and this is what I ended up into. I’m hoping I can loosen up a little as time goes by.

Commentators on the streets
I was prepared to hear a lot of comments on the streets because of my skin colour. I’d heard that I was probably going to be called a muzungu, Mary, my wife and so on, on a regular basis. However, the problem is not as big as I had anticipated. Especially here in Kabulonga, where I stay, I can walk on the streets almost in peace. I’ve noticed a clear connection between the socioeconomic status and the way the person behaves him/herself. The educated population is discrete, but the citizens with lower SES can be rather aggressive in their attemptions of gaining my attention. Anyway, the people shouting their comments to you don’t usually mean harm but just want your attention and perhaps have a chat and make friends.

The servant
At Riikka’s place, my “home” here in Lusaka, we have a servant – I guess you could call Wilson that. I don’t feel wholly comfortable with the situation. Wilson works at Riikka’s house three days a week and in other Finnish residents’ houses two days a week. He washes laundry, irons, does the dishes, cooks food, does it all, basically. He comes at 8 a.m., so you have to make sure you have some decent clothes on by that time. For example, this morning I was leaving for the Immigration Office not until 9 a.m., and it was somewhat uncomfortable to hang around in the house when he was trying to do his job there. On the other hand, I have to admit that when I came home from work, exhausted, it was nice to get warm and tasty n’shima and vegetable sauce á la Wilson.

Tuesday, 31st July

The party outfit
Last day of July, almost two weeks (= half a month, OMG) gone already! The African summer is only about to begin, I can’t wait! Today, I went to the tailor’s (Nancy) to design my traditional chitenge outfit for the Kitchen Party on Saturday. (Nancy complemented me for my hips – big hips are appreciated in Zambia J) Kitchen Party is a women’s party that is organized when a girl/woman is getting married. Something like polttarit in Finland, that is. The guests bring all kinds of kitchen equipment and textiles as gifts, and dancing and eating is naturally included to the party night.

It’s bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
Today we also ate fresh bananas from our own garden at Sable Road! Spectacular!

Lovable students of KYPT
Teaching is still such tough work… but rewarding as well. On one of my courses (business communication) for the automechanics students, I’m now teaching debating. I organized a brainstorming session today for the students to come up with topics to debate about. I was amazed about how smart and deep these youngsters are! The topics were just great, concerning gender differences, self-employment vs. working for someone else, the value of education etc. I obviously need to give them more chances to express themselves during the lessons!

Tomorrow, I’m going to meet my ‘Singing Class’ again. It’s the hotel & catering class in which, as I found out on our first lesson, everyone likes singing. They gave me a sample of that last time, and they are, in fact, very talented. I hope we could organize some kind of a concert for them some day. I’m sure they will play along!

The newspaper
Lately, I’ve been helping in the Community Voice Newspaper office by editing their upcoming issue. I’m loving it! I’m secretly planning on strategies of how to switch to their side and work full-time in the editorial office. They say I should become a journalist – I don’t think it’d be a bad idea J

African rhythms
Oh, I haven’t yet mentioned my latest hobby – African dancing! It’s great: we dance once a week at the KYPT school yard, with three drummers and plenty of audience. Gift, the KYPT secretary, teaches us. He also coordinates dancing and theatre activities to a bunch of kids (Children International is the organization, if I remember correctly – go and Google). The dancing consists basically of rocking your hips and stomping your feet, it’s really flirty and so much fun!

Finnish reggae in Zambia
Last Saturday, we had a farewell party for a Zambian reggae artist (Izaizai, perhaps) who is going back to Finland to his family. As I talked to him, I learned that he’s played with Soul Captain Band and Jukka Poika – go figure! If you took a look at my music collection that I’ve got with me here in Zambia, you’d find Soul Captain and Jukka Poika there. Actually, I’ve only got five CD:s (in mp3 format) of music here of which the two are by Izaizai’s bands – so talking about coincidences!

Pictures
1) Sable Road, my home street
2) Lumi the Cat at our swimming pool
3) Children International kids rehearsing at the KYPT school yard
4) One of the KYPT school buildings. That's were I'm teaching.
5) Children's acrobat group rehearsing at KYPT school yard

In Lusaka

2007-07-21T13:52:00.000+02:00

After an exhausting 31-hour journey, I arrived in Lusaka, Zambia on schedule on July 19th. I had a wonderful welcome committee at the airport: the other Finnish volunteer Mariska, the chief of KYPT Mr. Kafuli and the secretary of KYPT Gift. And of course taxi driver Joseph. I got accommodated at Riikka’s (a Finnish embassy worker, not a UN worker as I for some reason had assumed) luxurious house in Kabulonga, the posh neighbourhood of Lusaka. I’m a bit ashamed of living this fancy but on the other hand, I’m secretly enjoying all the facilities that we have here, including a washing machine, toaster and a bath tube. I would still be happy to live in a true Lusakan family, and I’m hoping it will be possible during this journey.

It feels really natural to be here, I feel belonging here. At the same time, however, this is like living in a dream. It’s hard to believe that this amazing plenty of colors, noise, people, and scents really exists. Everywhere I go my brain is in an overload mode for seeing, hearing and experiencing so much at once. Did you know that in Lusaka, the soil is red and the moon is upside down? Did you know that the busses are REALLY tiny in this city of a million inhabitants (16 people squeeze in, almost sitting on each others laps), and they don’t have line numbers? Did you know that you can walk into your MP’s office anytime you like? Did you know that when you meet a Zambian, you should say “How are you?” “I’m fine, how are you?” and make a special three-parted handshake? Everybody’s shouting as us: “Hello Madam!” or “Mzungu!” or something that I can’t quite understand. That’s OK, I knew beforehand to get prepared for this. But the thing I feel very uncomfortable with is when strangers touch me on purpose, it feels kind of threatening to me.

On my second day in Lusaka, I went to KYPT in the city center with Mariska and met everyone. Levy (Mr. Kafuli) took me also to the other KYPT center in Kanyama. The marketing manager, Andrew, showed me his photos of Livingstone and played me some songs that he had composed on a computer, partially in Finnish – believe it or not! We ate at the KYPT restaurant where the hotel and catering students had their final exams including preparing and serving three course meals. I had nshima (a white porridge-like dish made of corn) with beef stew. Embarrassingly, I first wondered where my fork is until I was told that you eat nshima with your (right) hand! I used my own fingertip technique in rolling small balls of nshima which was very interesting to the Lusakans who laughed and took photos of me. It was a very messy and creative dish.

We are planning on a KYPT stand for Agricultural Exhibition to be held on August 2^nd to 6^th in Lusaka. Me and Mariska will be there for three days presenting KYPT. The automechanics, autoelectric, power electric, catering, and tailoring students are going to manufacture some items to be presented and sold at the exhibition. It is a really big event in Lusaka, everyone is going there. I’m so much looking forward to it!

The students have been on holidays but will be back to school next week. That is when I’m supposed to begin teaching them business communication and Windows Office tools. I’m as excited as you can imagine! I was given a desk at Andrew’s office where I can plan the lectures. Luckily I brought my own (or Tuukka’s, to be exact) laptop, it will be useful.

There are a few computers at KYPT, some of them quite new and modern. However, there are not enough computers for the students to practice with (only two very old and slow ones). At least the operating system they are using is Windows XP instead of some old one. They also have two laser printers one of which, however, was out of ink and the other one out of paper today. In two of the computers, they have access to the Internet via dial modem which can be rather slow.

The weekend has now begun, so I guess I’ll be wandering around in Lusaka and enjoying the sunshine before the darkness abruptly falls down on the city at six p.m. And after sunset we’ll probably head to a bar with the other Finnish girls. Until next time – bye bye!

The pictures: 1) First sight to Lusaka from the airplane. The massive green circles are fields. 2) Riikka's house by night.

Bye Finland!

2007-07-17T14:06:00.000+02:00

We'll head to the airport early in the morning. I must admit I'm a little scared of travelling on my own... let's hope I'll find my way to Lusaka eventually! Everything's such a mess here, I'm still packing and both of us are quite stressed out. Hope life is less hectic in Africa.

It's sad to leave loved ones behind :/ Luckily it's only 6 months until I'll be back.

I've been humming Enya's May It Be all day. A bit melodramatic, huh? :) Gives a certain sense of peace, anyway.

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way

Bye everyone! See you soon again!

What to pack?

2007-07-13T01:28:00.000+02:00

Here's some pharmacy stuff that I'm going to take with me:

- Lariam
- disinfectant
- antibiotics
- anti-diarrhea drugs
- pain killers (paracetamol)
- plasters
- mosquito repellent
- tweezers
- sun lotion
- aloe vera lotion

Clothes:
- t-shirts
- long-sleeves
- jacket
- a couple of long skirts
- trousers
- underwear and socks
- scarf
- comfortable sandals
- tennis shoes

Sleeping bag

Laptop
Camera

Some material for teaching (psychology, marketing, IT etc.)
Map of Zambia
Guidebook

Finnish stuff to give away:
- Moomin book
- Finnish music on CD:s
- a couple of magazines
- candies and xylitol chewing gum
- rye bread
- luminous tags
- photos

It's a rocky road to Zambia

2007-07-06T15:28:00.000+02:00

Did you think it would be easy to become a volunteer worker in Africa? Well, it's not. The preparations for the journey will take time and energy, and can be nerve-wracking, especially if you are working full time (doing your practical training) and writing your Master's thesis at the same time as you're planning your stay. Nothing about getting to Africa seems to be easy and simple.

Firstly, I was unable to get contact to KYPT (Kanyama Youth Programme Trust; my host organization in Zambia) for a couple of months. Then, I participated in a Kenkku meeting of SYL (National Union of University Students in Finland) and learned that the chief of KYPT had been changed. Just like that, without informing me or KEPA/ETVO. The funniest part of the incident was that the e-mail address of KYPT had not been changed. So, the only thing I had to do was to change the first sentence of my e-mails from "Hi Lewis" (the ex-chief) to "Hi Levy" (the new chief), and so, I started to get responses again.

Of course, by the time that I got the confirmation of the date of my arrival from KYPT, the flights with a reasonable price had already been sold out. Eventually, I had to postpone the departure by two weeks and yet, the tickets cost 100 € more than the original ones.

For going to and staying in Zambia as a volunteer worker, you need to:
a) get flight tickets (about 1400 euros), for which you might need an international student card (10 euros; a passport-size photo is also needed)
b) get a business visa for which you need to send your passport with all kinds of papers to the Zambian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden (postal fee 10 euros). These papers include two filled-in application forms, two passport-size photos (5 euros) with signatures, an invitation letter from the Zambian employer, a letter from KEPA/ETVO, a receipt of the visa payment (50 euros) and 9 international stamp coupons (13 euros).
c) get a work permit in Zambia (100 euros) for which you need professional certificates and the invitation letter from the employer.
d) get an insurance for the whole period in Zambia (for under 26-year-olds, for 6 months, about 200 euros)
e) get a medical certificate of your health (69 euros)
f) take about 8 different vaccinations (in total, about 250 euros),
g) begin taking anti-malaria drugs two weeks prior to the departure (about 160 euros for the whole 6 months)
h) buy medicines including everything from antibiotics to anti-diarrhea drugs (in total, about 150 euros),
i) I also needed to buy eyeglasses (130 euros) as I don't think it's safe to wear contact lenses under conditions where you can't always wash your hands with clean water
j) get copies of your passport, insurance documents, invitation letters and so on
k) cover all the living expences in Zambia including the rent (100 euros per month), food, commuting and so on...

All this costs something that is, taken together, a huge amount of money for a student. Don't expect to find any estimates of the total costs of your journey anywhere. Surprising money holes will just appear every now and then as you do the preparations. Naturally, most of the offices that you need to call or go to in order to get all the documents that are needed, are open only on office hours, so if you're working full time, it's a bit complicated to get everything done.

Believe me, I've been just about to give in for a couple of times. I've been playing with the fascinating thought of getting the money that would be needed for the volunteer work period in Africa (somewhere between 6000 to 7000 euros, I guess) and going on a luxurious 2-month holiday or on a backpacker trip somewhere far away with my boyfriend and just to ease my mind. However, in Finland we have this thing called sisu ("to have the guts/stamina/stubborness"), so I have kept on dispite the difficulties. Now it's less than two weeks till the departure, and almost everything is done. So I'll just lay back and enjoy the beautiful Finnish summer before getting to Africa, the continent that I've been dreaming of for so long!

The flights

First, I'll fly to London on Wednesday morning on July 18th (let's keep fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly in the security checks). Then, I'll fly all night to Nairobi, Kenya, and finally, will arrive to Lusaka on Thursday midday. I'll be staying at a Finnish UN worker's apartment in Lusaka. Naturally, I'm a bit dissapointed for not beeing able to crash into the Zambian culture by living in a family, but I'm sure it's not a bad idea to have an easy start in Lusaka with someone who speaks your language and has an indoor toilet :)

Back to the Roots

2007-04-15T20:08:00.000+02:00

I've spent all my life in Helsinki, Finland. Although I've travelled in Europe and made a short visit across the Atlantic Ocean, I began to be more and more assured that the world that I had seen was not all there is. I needed a new perspective, and somehow I just knew that the destination would have to be Africa.

It took me a couple of years to get anything concrete done. But eventually, I took the final steps in a fairly short amount of time. In the fall 2006, after deciding that ETVO (http://www.etvo.fi/) would be the programme to turn to, I called there to learn that the deadline for applications for volunteering in that year would be on the same day. I was told that even I was planning on leaving not before fall 2007, it would be appropriate to apply now. I spent four intensive hours filling in the application form with multiple pages and then literally ran to the ETVO office to leave in the application only 15 minutes before the closing time. I was chosen, first for the interviews and finally, as one of the volunteers.

Now, setting my feet onto the ground of Africa is only three months away. I’m about to return to the cradle of the human species, the origin of my genes – perhaps even to the origin of all languages, as hypothesized by some (see Tieteen Kuvalehti, 05/07, 62-67). Not to mention the home of the beloved Lord Greystoke, my idol Pumba the Warthog, and Gorillas in the Mist – the book that shook my world at the age of ten.

I’m craving for a culture shock. I’m eager to get infected by the African lifestyle, the African conception of time, the African order of priorities, by Africa! Just wait and see – I’m already half-way there.