Even more Interview with a Volunteer...
I just got back from a fabulous week and a half in Eastern Zambia and Malawi. While I struggle to find the time to write about it all, here are some more FAQ to tide you over!
Q: What do you enjoy most about living in Zambia?
A: Again, the people. It must sound cheesy, I know, but at the end of the day a place is just a place – people are what make it special. And people here are lovely (at least most of the time!). Zambians have a great sense of humour, and are always up for a good laugh - even when someone hassles you, if you can remember to laugh a Zambian will almost never refrain from joining in. And culturally speaking, people are fascinating: from their names (Wisdom, Innocence, Blessings, Punish, Loveness, Lovemore, Green, Fireman…), to the way they speak (“the problemy with thisy issue, fromu my point ofu viewy, isy…”, or “theny he bought this, whazis… thisy mobile…”, or my absolute favourite: “cooking and cleaning and whaat, whaat…”), to the way they dress (the ever-changing hairstyles, the toques, the chitenges), the people are what make it great.
Q: How do you get around Lusaka?
A: I walk as much as possible, a) because it’s cheap, but mostly b) because I like walking. Zambians think I am crazy - for a Zambian choosing to walk is akin to choosing to be punched in the face. And when it is a mzungu they find it even harder to comprehend as they assume you have buckets of money with which you could buy your own car or take taxis everywhere. Zambians also find the pace at which I walk somewhat crazy - many of you will know that I tend to walk like my pants are on fire, and compared to the leisurely saunter of a Zambian I must look quite strange… It has kept me from being pick pocketed though, a fate which many a volunteer has faced. And I have had a gentleman ask me if I would ‘ecscolt’ him everywhere as he thought keeping up with my pace might help him be on time!
When I can’t walk, it’s raining, or I’m just feeling lazy, I take a minibus. Minibuses are 16-passenger vans that carry 20+ people. They are all painted turquoise on the bottom and white on top, and they all engage in devout worship of the bumper sticker variety – a good thing given the fact that most of them are about one stop away from minibus heaven. Many have adverts painted on them reading “Best for Whites”, which, for quite a while, I didn’t realise referred to washing powder and was keeping my eye out for minibuses pronouncing “Best for Blacks”… (racial language has a whole different meaning here so it wouldn’t have surprised me to see it). Each bus has a driver and a ‘conductor’ who convinces passengers to ride his bus, collects money, and lets the driver know when to stop and start by banging a determined number of times on the roof: one knock for go, two for stop. There are designated stops where buses are constantly piling up while the conductors race around yelling out the names of their destinations and trying to convince passers-by to get in. The price varies depending on your negotiating skills (i.e. how well do you bat your eyelashes) but it comes out to between 30 and 60 cents per trip.
Taxis are expensive and can easily eat up half of our daily allowance with one ride. I succumb to taking taxis at night if I am not within reasonable walking distance from my destination. Official taxis are painted entirely turquoise, but are outnumbered by unofficial taxis: basically anybody with a car. I've even been picked up by a lawyer who figured he’d make a few ‘pin’ (thousand kwacha) by playing taxi driver. It's also not uncommon for there to be more than just the driver in the car with you - Mel and I took a taxi home a couple of weeks ago with a driver and two of his buddies, which turned out to be a good thing because the taxi needed to be pushed a few times…!
Q: What is a typical day like?
A: 6:45-7:40: wake up, make coffee and breakfast, get ready for work.
7:40-8:00: walk to work, which involves dodging a lot of mud puddles,crossing the train tracks, and saying “no, dzikomo” to a thousand taxi and minibus drivers, fielding shouts of “mzungu”, “hallo my sista” and “hi sweetie” - an eventful walk with lots of interesting activity to observe along the way.
8:00-13:00: work…
13:00-14:00: lunch. I try to pack a lunch, but when I am not able to bring something I eat a vegetarian Bean Burger at a café on Cairo Rd. Often I pass by VSO on my lunch break to check email, see if anyone has sent me a letter (hint, hint) or meet with programme staff.
14:00-17:00: work…
17:00-17:20: walk home, buy some fruit and vegetables along the way.
17:20-22:30: what I do in the evenings varies, but I seem to be a lot busier than I anticipated I would be. Tuesdays is Nyanja class, Wednesdays all the VSOs get together for a drink, and most weeks the other nights are spent hosting or attending dinner parties. When I do have a night at home there are usually neighbours visiting, chores to be done, or work that I have taken home, so I don’t find a lot of time for R&R!
Weekends: vary, but can involve: a trip to the market, grocery shopping, hanging out with the neighbourhood kids, going to the pool, attending church, going out for dinner, drinks and dancing at a bar, a party (usually hosted by wealthier mzungus from the UN!), doing laundry (although last week we caved and we now have someone in who cleans and does laundry twice a week), reading, going for a walk, hanging out with friends, watching movies….
Q: How do you perceive the impacts of HIV/AIDS on Africa?
A: A difficult question to answer without one lifetime to observe and another to do a proper analysis… I must admit that, having done a Masters in Development Studies, I considered myself ready for the challenge of analysing what I see ‘on the ground’. Unfortunately, now that I am on the ground I am so immersed in the day to day of working in HIV/AIDS that I find it difficult to step back far enough to be able to analyse what is around me.
It is clear, however, that HIV/AIDS is having a huge impact on the lives of Zambians and the ability of the nation to develop. There is literally no family that has not been affected by HIV/AIDS somehow, and the virus alters the course of many lives. The elderly (grandparents) have been hit especially hard as they are responsible for caring for huge numbers of children whose parents die of AIDS and often have no source of income whatsoever. It is unclear just exactly what will happen in one generation when today’s adults, 20% of whom will have become infected or died from AIDS, form a heavily depleted group of grandparents who will have an ever growing number of orphans and ill family members to care for…
One of the major problems I see with the approach to preventing the spread of HIV is simply how complex an issue it is. Since HIV here is mainly spread through heterosexual activity, mitigating its spread requires changing the sexual behaviour of the population. Thus far, NGOs and government have attempted to do this by promoting ‘A,B,C’: Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom. While this is perhaps not making the situation worse, it is proving to be an overly simplistic way to deal with an problem driven by the complexities of the human psyche. In addition, the power of Christianity in Zambia (and in donor nations...) often hinders the increased use of condoms, or the ability to deal with sex in an open, honest and realistic way.
That's all for now, but if you have any more questions, feel free to send them my way!
Q: What do you enjoy most about living in Zambia?
A: Again, the people. It must sound cheesy, I know, but at the end of the day a place is just a place – people are what make it special. And people here are lovely (at least most of the time!). Zambians have a great sense of humour, and are always up for a good laugh - even when someone hassles you, if you can remember to laugh a Zambian will almost never refrain from joining in. And culturally speaking, people are fascinating: from their names (Wisdom, Innocence, Blessings, Punish, Loveness, Lovemore, Green, Fireman…), to the way they speak (“the problemy with thisy issue, fromu my point ofu viewy, isy…”, or “theny he bought this, whazis… thisy mobile…”, or my absolute favourite: “cooking and cleaning and whaat, whaat…”), to the way they dress (the ever-changing hairstyles, the toques, the chitenges), the people are what make it great.
Q: How do you get around Lusaka?
A: I walk as much as possible, a) because it’s cheap, but mostly b) because I like walking. Zambians think I am crazy - for a Zambian choosing to walk is akin to choosing to be punched in the face. And when it is a mzungu they find it even harder to comprehend as they assume you have buckets of money with which you could buy your own car or take taxis everywhere. Zambians also find the pace at which I walk somewhat crazy - many of you will know that I tend to walk like my pants are on fire, and compared to the leisurely saunter of a Zambian I must look quite strange… It has kept me from being pick pocketed though, a fate which many a volunteer has faced. And I have had a gentleman ask me if I would ‘ecscolt’ him everywhere as he thought keeping up with my pace might help him be on time!
When I can’t walk, it’s raining, or I’m just feeling lazy, I take a minibus. Minibuses are 16-passenger vans that carry 20+ people. They are all painted turquoise on the bottom and white on top, and they all engage in devout worship of the bumper sticker variety – a good thing given the fact that most of them are about one stop away from minibus heaven. Many have adverts painted on them reading “Best for Whites”, which, for quite a while, I didn’t realise referred to washing powder and was keeping my eye out for minibuses pronouncing “Best for Blacks”… (racial language has a whole different meaning here so it wouldn’t have surprised me to see it). Each bus has a driver and a ‘conductor’ who convinces passengers to ride his bus, collects money, and lets the driver know when to stop and start by banging a determined number of times on the roof: one knock for go, two for stop. There are designated stops where buses are constantly piling up while the conductors race around yelling out the names of their destinations and trying to convince passers-by to get in. The price varies depending on your negotiating skills (i.e. how well do you bat your eyelashes) but it comes out to between 30 and 60 cents per trip.
Taxis are expensive and can easily eat up half of our daily allowance with one ride. I succumb to taking taxis at night if I am not within reasonable walking distance from my destination. Official taxis are painted entirely turquoise, but are outnumbered by unofficial taxis: basically anybody with a car. I've even been picked up by a lawyer who figured he’d make a few ‘pin’ (thousand kwacha) by playing taxi driver. It's also not uncommon for there to be more than just the driver in the car with you - Mel and I took a taxi home a couple of weeks ago with a driver and two of his buddies, which turned out to be a good thing because the taxi needed to be pushed a few times…!
Q: What is a typical day like?
A: 6:45-7:40: wake up, make coffee and breakfast, get ready for work.
7:40-8:00: walk to work, which involves dodging a lot of mud puddles,crossing the train tracks, and saying “no, dzikomo” to a thousand taxi and minibus drivers, fielding shouts of “mzungu”, “hallo my sista” and “hi sweetie” - an eventful walk with lots of interesting activity to observe along the way.
8:00-13:00: work…
13:00-14:00: lunch. I try to pack a lunch, but when I am not able to bring something I eat a vegetarian Bean Burger at a café on Cairo Rd. Often I pass by VSO on my lunch break to check email, see if anyone has sent me a letter (hint, hint) or meet with programme staff.
14:00-17:00: work…
17:00-17:20: walk home, buy some fruit and vegetables along the way.
17:20-22:30: what I do in the evenings varies, but I seem to be a lot busier than I anticipated I would be. Tuesdays is Nyanja class, Wednesdays all the VSOs get together for a drink, and most weeks the other nights are spent hosting or attending dinner parties. When I do have a night at home there are usually neighbours visiting, chores to be done, or work that I have taken home, so I don’t find a lot of time for R&R!
Weekends: vary, but can involve: a trip to the market, grocery shopping, hanging out with the neighbourhood kids, going to the pool, attending church, going out for dinner, drinks and dancing at a bar, a party (usually hosted by wealthier mzungus from the UN!), doing laundry (although last week we caved and we now have someone in who cleans and does laundry twice a week), reading, going for a walk, hanging out with friends, watching movies….
Q: How do you perceive the impacts of HIV/AIDS on Africa?
A: A difficult question to answer without one lifetime to observe and another to do a proper analysis… I must admit that, having done a Masters in Development Studies, I considered myself ready for the challenge of analysing what I see ‘on the ground’. Unfortunately, now that I am on the ground I am so immersed in the day to day of working in HIV/AIDS that I find it difficult to step back far enough to be able to analyse what is around me.
It is clear, however, that HIV/AIDS is having a huge impact on the lives of Zambians and the ability of the nation to develop. There is literally no family that has not been affected by HIV/AIDS somehow, and the virus alters the course of many lives. The elderly (grandparents) have been hit especially hard as they are responsible for caring for huge numbers of children whose parents die of AIDS and often have no source of income whatsoever. It is unclear just exactly what will happen in one generation when today’s adults, 20% of whom will have become infected or died from AIDS, form a heavily depleted group of grandparents who will have an ever growing number of orphans and ill family members to care for…
One of the major problems I see with the approach to preventing the spread of HIV is simply how complex an issue it is. Since HIV here is mainly spread through heterosexual activity, mitigating its spread requires changing the sexual behaviour of the population. Thus far, NGOs and government have attempted to do this by promoting ‘A,B,C’: Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom. While this is perhaps not making the situation worse, it is proving to be an overly simplistic way to deal with an problem driven by the complexities of the human psyche. In addition, the power of Christianity in Zambia (and in donor nations...) often hinders the increased use of condoms, or the ability to deal with sex in an open, honest and realistic way.
That's all for now, but if you have any more questions, feel free to send them my way!
posted by ash at 6:50 PM
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