Another Africa

I threw the budget to the wind this weekend and flew to J'bourg to see Lucky. I'd been told that South Africa would feel different to other parts of the continent, but wasn't prepared for quite how different. J'bourg is reminiscent of Dubai or LA - all highways and shopping malls. After 10 months of trying to figure out how to exist in a very different culture on a limited income it was a real treat to be somewhere that felt so familiar and to be taken to shops, restaurants and the new Harry Potter movie.

Not normally a mall rat, I've been trying to work out exactly why I liked the city so much more than other non-pedestrian friendly, Disneyland-esque towns I've visited. Apart from the novelty value, I think there's a certain mood of hope in South Africa because it's flourishing economically in a region that sometimes feels light-years behind the rest of the world. I know that I only visited the affluent parts of a country that has an extreme wealth gap, but the tone of the city seemed so optimistic. We visited the brilliantly curated apartheid museum, and it's astonishing to think how recently the country was divided when (the middle classes at least) now seem to co-exist with less obvious tension than some other places I've been to.

All in all an excellent weekend, and now only a week to go til the Christmas break. Work-wise last week redeemed itself slightly when my boss arrived back from a workshop on volunteer management, thrilled that he was able to say we have many of the appropriate procedures in place because I've been working on them. Not altogether flattering that he seemed slightly surprised to realise that I did know what I was talking about after all, but always nice to be appreciated!

Spoke too soon...

After last week's enthusiasm about work, this week has been incredibly frustrating again. Things often start late in Zambia, but I've now been waiting 4 days for the Monday morning meeting... Sigh!

I've spent some of the time starting to work on the leaving procedures for VSO as my placements ends in just over 2 months. Starting to work on my end of placement report, I was encouraged to see that I'd achieved more than I thought, and the pace of work has definitely taught me to be more patient! I've also had time this week to start looking for jobs in the UK and am reassured to see that there are some being advertised.

And meanwhile I'm continuing with the holiday experience. My friend Stephanee came down from Lusaka this week, and we went swimming in the Devil's pool, right on the edge of the Falls. You cn only do it at this time of year when the water's really low, but it was still utterly terrifying and not something I feel the need to repeat!

Work

It's been ages since I blogged again...unusually because I've been working pretty hard! It's quite frustrating that with only a couple of months to go I can finally see what I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm certainly not complaining to find so many staff and local volunteers busy in the office.

This last month has been hectic as World AIDS day is on 1st December and there were several events leading up to it, including a concert organised by my organization. On the day itself we marched in a parade (this seems to be how every day of significance is marked in Zambia...) with newly printed t-shirts. It's hard to work out if events like that, which require a lot of planning and considerable donor funding, actually have any impact om the epidemic. But it was good to see so many young people out for the event and a great chance for me to see what my colleagues can achieve when they're on form. We set up displays of the various awareness raising tools that we use to talk to young people about HIV, and lots of people were keen to look at them. (Although not as keen as they were to take away anything at all that we were distributing free, regardless of it's relevance..)

I'm doing my best to take advantage of everyone's enthusiasm and we're busy completing various funding applications to start new projects. My colleagues are very capable so mostly they're completing the applications and I'm considering how best to put together template proposals and answers to make their fundraising easier in the future. I've also started a monthly e-newsletter, which I won't inflict on family and friends, but if anyone would like to be added to our mailing list please do let me know. It'd be good to be able to show that I am actually achieving something professionally in between all the fun!

Another guest blogger...

I was lucky enough to have another visitor from home earlier this month and she's kindly sent through her blog post! Photos to follow when I get to an internet cafe... Thanks Sarah

A holiday to Zambia in November is a bit extravagant, but highly recommended! The weather was wonderfully hot and sunny (mostly), which is a very welcome change from UK frost. On the downside, Victoria falls are rather unspectacular at this time of year, and the mangoes are tantalisingly unripe...

During my week-long stay in Livingstone I was properly able to see the crazy variety in Emily's life. We spent the weekend relaxing in the grounds of luxurious hotels by the Zambezi river, and I particularly enjoyed the random passing zebras and a small troop of little monkeys. Then on the weekdays Emily went off to her tiny office, which is a world apart from the colonial tourist experience.

One morning I did my own tiny bit of exploring Zambian life by visiting the main Veterinary centre in Livingstone. Pets are a foreign concept, but there are plenty of livestock and every home has a guard dog. I think I'll stick to being a UK vet for now; in Livingstone there are no diagnostic facilities at all, and the risk of getting exotic disease from a patient must be pretty high.

Almost every evening of my visit, Emily and I went out for dinner with a variety of her lovely new friends. On my last evening in Zambia, I actually met Emily's Lusaka friends without Emily, and went to a very surreal bonfire night party. Watching fireworks in flipflops is excellent. Three hours later I was on a plane to Heathrow (via Harare and Nairobi), and very glad that I was able to have such a wonderfully varied Zambian experience.

Thanks for having me Emily!

Emily's first music festival

It's been ages since I blogged again, and the poor excuse is that I've been off on holiday again... To Malawi this time, for what was basically 3 little holidays back to back. Travelling with a group of 4 girls, we started off at the Lake of Stars music festival, I've never thought of myself as a festival-type, but with guaranteed sunshine and a chilled African atmosphere I loved dancing barefoot on the beach of Lake Malawi til 3 o'clock in the morning for 3 days.

To recover we retreated to the beach resort of Cape Maclear for snorkelling,kayaking, and yet more eating and drinking. After lots of lazing around it was time for some exercise and to give our livers a break, so we headed to the mountains of the Zomba plateau for some hiking. We made it up the highest peak, 2,900 metres, and the views were breathtaking. I guess it's not surprising that a continent the size of Africa is pretty diverse, but it never ceases to amaze me that in a few days you can travel from sandy beaches and bright blue fish, to pine trees, lakes and mountains. Zomba felt more like North America than stereotypical Africa.

Back at work now, and after 8 months I supported my colleagues to submit our first funding bid today! I'm not terribly optimistic about the bid but the project idea is good so I'm planning to look for other funders next week, in between entertaining Sarah Caddy who arrives from England this afternoon. I'm really looking forward to another chance to show off Livingstone, and also hoping that she's brought lots of goodies from home!

Reflections...

Funny week this week, I'm in Lusaka on behalf of the VSO volunteer committee to help out with welcoming the new intake of VSOs. It's so strange to be on the other side of the programme to 7 months ago! They seem like a nice bunch though, and it's all making me realise how relaxed and comfortable I am in Zambia now.

Not much news to report as everything is now basically 'real life' - went to work, colleagues there (occasionally!), went home, went swimming... but I did have my first experience of Zambian medical care this week. I know it's only for the very privileged few, so feel silly enthusing about it too much, but I think it's the best medical care I've ever received. I hurt my ankle about 6 weeks ago, and although it's not really painful it's still quite swollen. I decided to pop into the clinic here in Lusaka to get it looked at, and within 30 minutes had seen a (confortingly English!) Doctor, had an x-ray, collected anti-inflammatories and been fitted for an ankle support. And apparently it's fine to keep walking on it if it's not painful. So all good for hiking in Malawi next week!

Pictures

to illustrate Emily's previous post :o)

Birthday fun!

Oh dear, I guess the novelty of this life must really be running out, I haven't blogged for ages! It's been a lovely couple of weeks though. Jes and Tom came out 2 weeks ago, and we packed lots of touristing into the 5 days Jes was here. The best bit was just catching up, but another highlight was going over to Livingstone island and seeing the Falls from the top. Tom went for a swim but Jes and I decided that sounded a bit scary

Tom stayed on for my birthday, and we had a dinner party for a few friends. Lovely to get so many packages from home and some thoughtful gifts from my new friends who seem to know me very well already and chose nice new clothes and jewelry. Staying with tradition I had two cakes (and one more promised in the post!!) and generally felt very spoiled. The biggest surprise was one of Rabbit's friends and relations (my affectionate term for the vast extended family that all Zambians seem to possess) turning up at my office with a dozen red roses.

Meanwhile, work is slowly moving on and we even managed to fill in a funding application this week. This morning I texted all my colleagues to remind them to come to work and it seemed to have an effect and we got a fair bit done. It often feels like I'm just nagging, but my boss always laughs when I say that so perhaps I'm achieving more than I realise. I'm off to Lusaka on Wednesday for VSO Zambia's annual conference, which I've been helping to organise. It'll be great to catch up with all my friends and I have a couple of presentations to make which I'm geekily looking forward to. I'll also get chance to meet up with Tom again, who's spending a couple of days in Lusaka after a trip to Botswana and South Africa. So all go but I'll try to blog a bit more often, and will try to persuade Hilary, Ed, Tom and Jes to make a contribution from the UK!

Zimbabwe

Hilary and Ed were visiting last week, and I had a week off to travel round Zimbabwe with them. It's a strange time to visit, as there don't seem to have been any guidebooks written since before all the problems. It's peaceful now though, and there's food on the shelves, so a nice opportunity to see a country not overrun by tourists.

Victoria Falls are awesome from the other side of the border, you get much more of a sense of how long they are as you walk along 16 different look-out points in a straight line. The Livingstone side is more of a maze, and I still get disorientated about where I'm standing in relation to the river!

Driving down to Bulawayo we spent an afternoon in a lovely art galllery and then headed on to Kariba. Kariba is a stunningly pretty town overlooking the huge lake formed by the Kariba dam. Before the problems it was a big tourist destination, so there are lots of lovely hotels and lodges to choose from. There's hardly anyone around though, and everyone was so pleased to see us that we had a lovely couple of nights there paying well below market-rate for a lovely lodge overlooking the lake. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful and I'd really recommend it as a destination.

Back in Zambia the holiday didn't end well, with Hilary getting very sick and not being able to fly home as planned. As I write this they're finally in the air, but I'm starting to think my African holidays are doomed, the last one ended with my friend Dan breaking his leg. Hopefully when Tom and Jes arrive on Thursday all will go smoothly...

So that's the run-down of what I've been up to. I'm hoping that Hilary and Ed will add their comments and maybe some photos when they're safely back in the UK so watch this space.

Workshops galore

Much of the work of the development industry seems to be about holding workshops, and 2 weeks ago (haven't got round to blogging for a while...) my week was fairly typical of this. CTYA' biggest funding partner have finally delivered on the promised funding (about 6 months after the project was due to start), and as any self-respecting NGO would, we started the process with a 3-day orientation workshop.

The workshop itself was somewhat chaotic, with facilitators coming and going a lot, but it was good to get chance to meet the young people who will be carrying out peer education workshops in High Schools around Livingstone in the hope of bringing about the kind of behaviour change needed to stop the spread of HIV.

Young people in Zambia hear about HIV a lot, and research suggests that the level of knowledge that people have is mostly high. This cannot be translating into a change in behaviour though, as the disease is still spreading, especially among young people. It' very hard to change behaviour, but some of the activities that our peer educators will use are very creative. My favourite is giving participants some chewing gum, asking them to spit it out immediately into a single cup and asking them to take back gum chewed by someone else. Obviously everyone thinks it's gross, but might give less thought than that about sharing other bodily fluids with people.

Busy for the first time, I was also asked to facilitate a workshop for VSO the same week. It was nice to have chance to plan and present something myself. We were inducting the employers in Livingstone who will be receiving new volunteers in October. I asked them to imagine what it would be like to move to Iceland and asked them to please be gentle with their new staff! I'm excited about meeting the new volunteers, but it's strange to think that I'm starting to be an old hand when I still spend so much time confused about the world!

Lusaka again

I guess I should start this post by explaining that I've decided to stay in Livingstone and not take the job in Lusaka. Despite leadership problems with my organisation I think I'm helping them to become a bit more professional, even if it is very slow progress. And Livingstone is a lovely place to live, and very nice for hosting all the visitors who are coming in the next few weeks!

I've spent the last 10 days in Lusaka though, at various VSO meetings. I'm on the Volunteer Committee and it's nice to have the chance to do what feels more like a normal job, helping to organise VSO Zambia's annual conference next month. Last week was also a callback workshop for all the volunteers who arrived in February, and it was really nice to see everyone again and hear how other people's placements are going.

As is the theme of my life, it felt like something of a holiday, being in a capital city and going to restaurants and bars that are more like London than Livingstone's tourist offerings. It was a real treat to see some live music, and eat Chinese food! Also nice to see the new boyfriend who is lovely if inconveniently located.

Spending the week with VSO made me a bit less cynical about the development industry than I've been of late, and it was good to have chance to think about how gender issues in particular could play a bigger part in all our work. So this week at least I'm feeling quite optimistic about work, and as I'm almost exactly 6 months in it suddenly feels like a year is an incredibly short amount of time to make any kind of impression. Most of my colleagues are away on workshops again this week (my favourite is one about longterm strategic planning, that we were given 2 days notice of) so progress is slow again, but I think I my be learning to accept that. This year will hopefully teach me some patience at least...

Testing my tolerance levels

Society in Africa is organised differently to Europe, and the greater reliance on favours and back-scratching, coupled with the more precarious financial existence of most people here, means that corruption is fairly endemic in most organisations in Zambia. To some extent I think I just have to accept that, as if I tried to take a zero-tolerance approach nothing would ever get done. It's a constant challenge trying to work out what is Zambian accounting and what's just plain wrong! So without saying any more, that's what I've been grappling with this week.

Meanwhile the rest of my life is a lot of fun. Most of my colleagues have been absent from the office this week, so I've had a fun week meeting people at Livingstone museum and sitting in coffee shops with wireless internet searching for funding that they might be able to apply for to improve the service they offer to visiting school groups.
It's been really interesting to work with the various academics there, and my efforts were rewarded on Wednesday when they offered to take me with them on their annual bird-counting survey at Livingstone's game park. We were allowed to walk around the park (tourists normally have to stay in vehicles) and it was great to be with people who pointed out kingfishers and other wildlife that I'd never have noticed on my own. We were looking for elephants (I'm starting to feel like I'm in the Truman show - I'm told by everyone I meet that elephants are everywhere in Livingstone but I've still not see one!) and didn't find them, but any Wednesday morning that involves spotting giraffes, hippos, buffaloes and zebra is definitely better than a good day in the office.

I've also had lots of VSO visitors this week which has been nice, and yet another excuse to play tourist. We went to the African tourist restaurant here that I hadn't been to before. I found it fairly cringe-worthy but lots of back-packers seemed to be having a good time learning traditional African dancing.

Monday is a bank holiday here so I'm playing tourist all weekend with high-tea at the Royal Livingstone this afternoon and hanging out by a pool with my friends somewhere tomorrow. Life is nice, and hopefully by next week I'll have something positive to report about work too!

No safety nets

I've finally made some cocktail-drinking girlfriends over the last few weeks, and feeling much more like myself now that I have people to talk about boys and makeup! Sarah and Mwape are new to Livingstone too, recently graduated from university in Lusaka and working as pharmacists here. We're working through the various tourist attractions and this weekend went to the crocodile farm and then the Royal Livingstone hotel to look at an art exhibition and watch the sun go down over the Zambezi.

All very pleasant, but various things this week have got me thinking about how much more precarious life is for Zambians than at home. There were few fences at the croc farm, for example, and we couldn't help wonder how safe we were in such close proximity to these seemingly indestructible creatures (they live about 150 years and are apparently immune to all diseases), most of whom had been put into captivity because that been causing a problem killing people in the communities they'd been found. Wandering round the Royal Livingstone we came across the small herd of zebras and giraffes who live there. There's a keeper who follows them round, who happily left them be and took us off to look for the impala. Definitely no risk assessment done for that, as zebras in particular are known to be a bit aggressive when tourists try to pet them!

Planning isn't a big feature of life in Zambia, and my colleagues regularly say things like 'if I have money I'll call you tomorrow'. I can't imagine what it would be like to live not knowing one day to the next if they will be money for food, and have been trying to remind myself this week to be more patient with my colleagues when they're not at work as they haven't been paid and are trying to source money elsewhere. And as we work, I'm trying to find the line between sensible caution, and teaching the concept of thinking about potential risks to new activities, with enjoying living in a society that sometimes feel a lot more free and less cautious than the UK. Where crocodiles are concerned though, I think maybe I'd be comfortable with a little more caution...

FunComm

I'm more confused than ever about the idea of moving now, as last week was my first ordinary week and weekend in Livingstone for a while and life seems particularly nice. I know there have been a few posts about this experience starting to feel like normal life, but I think this is the beginning of me feeling like not every week has to be an adventure.

Having said that, it was quite exciting that for the first time in a while a lot of my colleagues were in the office, planning for a new project in schools starting next month. I've finally managed to get together a Fundraising Committee (affectionately known as FunComm) and to start work on the resource mobilisation strategy that I came here to write. We were also honored by a visit from VSO Zambia's Country Director, who spent a long time meeting with my colleagues and me and helped to see how we could improve the organisation, and then took the Livingstone volunteers out for a very nice dinner.

It was also lovely to have the first Livingstone weekend in a while, a girl-y sleepover at a friend's house was my first chance in a while to watch some movies. And any lifestyle where an ordinary Sunday stroll with friends takes you to the Zimbabwe border bridge and yet another impressive view of Victoria Falls can't be bad!

Football fever

It's going to be a bit strange now the world cup's over, it's been a big part of life in Africa for the last few weeks. There's been a lot of pride about how well the tournament seems to have been organised, and it felt like the whole continent was holding it's breath during the painful last few moments of the Ghana game. I won't miss the constant soundtrack of hooting plastic trumpets though!

I went to Choma this weekend, a small town about 2 and a half hours north of Livingstone. Appropriately I was visiting a Dutch friend, who invited me to a dinner party (I think the nicest meal I've eaten in Zambia, lots of home-grown vegetables that I haven't had in months - who'd have thought broccoli would be something you'd miss?!) to watch the final. Much fun even if it wasn't the result we wanted. I'm sure Cat will put some photos up, her blog's much more pictorial than mine - www.catelijnelissen.blogspot.com

Choma is a lovely town, we went for a Sunday walk and managed to catch some live footie - Choma vs. Mazabuka in a Southern Province league match. And on Monday I visited a youth association there to get ideas for work here. It was great to walk into an office on a Monday morning and find lots of people at their desks working! I've come back with a few ideas, and will be trying to work with my colleagues to put them in place this week, before making a decision about the job in Lusaka. Watch this space...

Decisions, decisions

Lots to think about this week. Following the preliminary review of my placement with VSO, they have been looking for other things for me to do when my colleagues are absent from work or able to get on with things without my help. A placement has come up in Lusaka with an organisation based at the Ministry for Community Development, helping the civil service to set up support for national volunteering across the country. I guess it would be the equivalent to working for Volunteering England.

The job sounds a lot more involved than my current placement, and hopefully would be a better use of the time I have left here. But there's a lot to think about as I'm not sure how I feel about moving to Zambia's bustling capital city. It's been a 4-day weekend here and I went to Lusaka to visit friends. It was lovely to see them, and also to be able to go to the cinema (Toy Story 3, it was excellent!), a couple of nice restaurants, and to go on a second-date with a new potential romantic distraction. But still not sure about how I'd feel about moving (my least favourite thing ever) and starting my life in Zambia all over again....all advice gratefully received!

Miss VCT

One of the things I read about life as a volunteer before I came away said that after about 4-6 months, your life starts to seem ridiculous. In the context of facing extreme poverty every day though, your old life will seem ridiculous too, and apparently the thing to do is shrug your shoulders and get on with it.

When the author said that life can sometimes feel ridiculous, I'm fairly sure they didn't have in mind that as a volunteer you'd find yourself sat in a nightclub at 3 in the morning, rating teenage girls on their cat-walking and smiling abilities, in the name of halting the HIV pandemic in Africa.

Livingstone has the highest rate of HIV in Zambia, 31%, and my organisation works with young people to try to reduce the number of new infections. This week saw our 'Miss Voluntary Counseling and Testing' pageant, where a beauty queen is selected as our ambassador for the year to work to influence young people to know their HIV status and to take appropriate care to stay negative or not to infect others. I was one of the judges, and the event was fun in a chaotic sort of way (advertised to start at 7,30, really we were hoping to start at 9, proceedings actually began at 11pm...). The concert went ahead the next day too, despite very limited planning and it was fun to meet some Zambian popstars.

It's very hard to know if any of these projects have a real impact on the prevalence rate of the disease, and it's felt like this weekend has been partying in the name of development. This week I'm hoping to be able to sit down with my boss and make some solid plans for the rest of my year. Now I've been here 4 months it feels like time to really start doing some work but there are big challenges at the organisation and I think it will be hard. Definitely reminding myself what VSO taught me at training all those months ago that no-one said development work is easy.

I also have a meeting with a different HIV organisation this week to see if they can make use of my free time so perhaps that will be another chance to do something useful while I'm here enjoying the sunshine, going to nightclubs and watching England mess up football matches!

Back to work...

After 3 weeks of tourism it's been back to normal this week, and work is increasingly frustrating. Against my advice my colleagues decided while I was away to plan in 2 weeks the kind of concert the would take a year to organise in the UK. It eventually became obvious that this wouldn't be possibly, (after I'd been sent to announce it at a town meeting), and the decision was taken to postpone it...by 1week! I remain unconvinced that a week will be long enough to pull everything together, but am sincerely hoping to be proved wrong. Watch this space, hopefully they'll be photos of a successful event on next week's blog!

Meanwhile I'm continuing to work on developing a more strategic approach to harnessing support from local businesses, but it's a challenge when it seems to be a particularly bad year for tourism, Livingstone's main industry. We're hoping to develop the youth centre where I work into somewhere that young people will want to spend their time and are trying to raise money to buy some sports equipment, as well as fit out some consultation rooms where young people can be tested for HIV in an environment where they feel comfortable.

One money-raising initiative that my colleagues have started is setting up a cinema where young people can come to watch world cup matches. Football fever has completely taken over here, as there's a lot of pride that the world cup has come to Africa. Even I'm getting into it a little bit and have watched England disappoint in their efforts! Fingers crossed for the last match...

Guest blogger....

This week I've had my first visitor from home, and this post comes courtesy of the lovely Luxmy!

My challenge is to summarise my experience of Zambia within a few words and even fewer minutes, so here goes...

A highlight was microlighting over Victoria Falls, which was like hang-gliding but with an engine. It was an enjoyable experience, considering the helmet was 3 sizes too big, so the fierce wind kept buffetting it against my head, and my hair almost got tangled up in the engine (the pilot didn't seem too worried), and I got incredibly airsick. My advice to you all: don't go for half an hour of microlighting when 15 minutes will do.

Safariing was amazing, with three leopard sightings and an even rarer sighting of a Luxmy at a campsite. The sounds of the lions and hyenas at night almost made up for the lack of amenities, such as running water. As further consolation, my second night of the Botswana safari trip was at a lodge where elephants come to drink outside your bedroom window. To make up for my lack of actual lion sightings, I went for a walk with lions back in Zambia, and lived to tell the tale and even get my hair braided.

Encountering the lions was less scary than the gorge swing, which Emily and I very sensibly chickened out of. It involves being thrown off a cliff attached to a rope – rather like bungee-jumping, but less controlled and with a higher risk of slamming your body to smithereens against the rock face. Instead, we went for the flying fox (you get to breeze across the gorge a la Peter Pan) and abseiling (Emily even did it backwards a la Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, while I ended up looking like a confused spider dangling in pain).

We enjoyed cocktails at sunset, as well as the most sumptuous high tea we've ever not eaten (we only managed 5 plates of cakes between us, and the plates were the size of buttons). Our walks around the Falls were beautiful, but also reminded me to work on my fitness on my return to the U.K.

I managed to dip a toe into Emily's real Zambian life by hanging out with her VSO colleagues and participating in a march against child labour (it involved a military band, waiting for speeches and a bit of marching).

Whilst I can't do justice to the Livingstone experience in my current state of sleepiness, my lasting impression will be Emily's surreal world of two halves: of an austere VSO existence against an exotic holiday backdrop.
(And, wow, this post avoided a single mention of the World Cup. Except that one.)

Finally, thank you to Emily for admitting some Luxmy chaos into her Livingstone lifestyle.

An actual holiday

It felt a bit strange going on holiday from such a tourist-y town, but absolutely lovely to get away for a couple of weeks and see some more of Africa. I'm just back from driving round Botswana and Namibia with some British VSO friends. 5,000 miles in 2 weeks and I feel a bit like I've come back to work for a break, but absolutely amazing.

Far too much excitement for one blog post really, but highlights included elephants at Chobe national park in Botswana, rhinos at Otosha national park in Namibia, a flight over the Okavanga Delta, sandboarding down beautiful sand dunes and seeing the sea for the first time in 3 months. We were mostly camping, and African campsites are brilliant - I got to test my Guide skills with proper fires, and when you wake up in the morning nothing's damp!

Institutional development

I read an article about how development fails once that told of a girl who had become ill after receiving the same vaccination from 3 different aid agencies. The current trendy thing in development seems to be for funders to also provide some organisational support to grassroots NGOs with a view to helping them be sustainable when the particular fund comes to an end. In theory this is a good idea, but this week I attended my 4th institutional development workshop with CTYA. I've only been here 3 months (and my job is to represent yet another NGO helping CTYA to do institutional development...) and I can't help but think the amount of time spent considering the state of the organisation is disproportionate to the amount of time spent on work!

It's been quite a good week though, work has been busier in terms of time spent in the office, and I'm starting to see small changes in how we work that I think will make the organisation more successful in the long-term. One highlight of the week was being the guest speaker on CTYA's weekly radio programme, discussing the upcoming Miss VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV) beauty pageant.

I've also been busy preparing for my holiday. We leave early tomorrow morning and I'm very excited, especially as I should finally get to see some elephants! Hopefully not in too close proximity to my tent though.

Pomp and ceremony

It's been so strange being away this week and missing out on the election furor. The ash cloud seems to have interrupted my supply of Guardian Weekly and I'm currently reading the 23rd April edition... Lots of Zambian friends and acquaintances have been keen to update me though (they have TVs and radios, and seem to be very interested in British politics) and are mostly big fans of David Cameron's. I've pointed out to a few people that he seems to me to be more style than substance, and this has caused some confusion. Style is incredibly important in Zambia, although it appears to me that this is sometimes at the expense of content.

This week Kenneth Kuanda, the first President of Zambia and generally-considered father of the nation, came to Livingstone to a discussion on how multiple concurrent partnerships are driving the HIV epidemic. As the event was being hosted by one of CTYA's funders, myself and a colleague were given VIP tickets to the event. There were lots of local and national dignitaries, and much focus on pomp and ceremony. Over the course of a 3-hour discussion led by 9 panelists with much audience participation, every single speaker sent 5 minutes stating how honoured they were to be in the presence of Dr. Kuanda. As the event was running late due to a power cut, this used up what was quite valuable time! The discussion was very interesting though, especially as there were 3 chiefs involved, talking about how traditional leaders have a role to play in the fight against HIV. What I found slightly strange is that the event closed with Dr. Kuanda giving the audience a slightly tuneless rendition of a lovesong that he had used to court his wife... very stylish I suppose but not what you expect from a dignified statesman!

Lots of my work seems to be a fight for substance over style. This week I've been working on updating the constitution for CTYA, which I now realise was copied straight from a different organisation, who have a totally different structure to us. The board are apparently elected by our members, but we don't actually have members, and our branches aren't included in the constitution at all despite operating under our name. The whole task is making me miss the NAS a bit, but I'm grateful that I've got some ideas and experience to fall back on as we work on finding a practical solution to our governance issues.

Other than that, this week's been pretty quiet with some frustrating days where not much work was done. I've been working to organise some Nyanga language lessons though which should be interesting, and am busy planning for my holiday. I leave for 2 weeks in Botswana and Namibia next week with some British friends, and can't wait to finally see an elephant at Chobe safari park. Maybe I'll even take some photos...

Home Sweet Home

It's really nice to be back in Livingstone now after a mammoth trip round Zambia over the last couple of weeks. I guess somewhere doesn't feel like home until you go away!

The trip was really interesting though, and after so much moving around for the NAS it's been an adjustment to be in the same office every single day. After last week's workshop I went to visit a volunteer friend in her rural hospital placement. I was really looking forward to catching up with Lena and seeing a different type of VSO life, but was expecting to come back very grateful that I live in such a nice town. Actually, the rural setting was so lovely I could imagine being happy there, and Lena is really enjoying herself. It was a lot of fun catching up, and making yukka (vodka lemonade) with lemons from the tree in the garden! Being shown round the hospital felt like being in a Comic Relief film, and I couldn't help but be a bit envious of the staff who are making an obvious and instant difference to people's lives. Very different to my attempts to save the world through meetings and HR policies!

From Minga I waited 4 hours for a bus (!) an headed East to Chipata, a large-ish town where lots of VSO volunteers are based. I've joined the Volunteer Committee, a group of volunteers responsible for working with the Programme Office in Lusaka to co-ordinate volunteer lives here, and my first meeting was being held in the Eastern Province. After the delayed journey I didn't get chance to see much of the town but it was lovely to see some other volunteer friends, and the meeting was interesting and refreshingly British in style as it's chaired by my British friends Dan and Helen!

To travel from Chipata to Livingstone is a complete mission, we set off at 7.30 in the morning, got to Lusaka around 2 so I had time to visit the VSO office before dinner and then I got the night bus to Livingstone. Arriving at 3 in the morning and going to work the next day wasn't loads of fun, but I was really looking forward to seeing everyone and had a nice day catching up with colleagues.

Today I'm awake again, and very distressed to be missing what looks like it might be the most exciting election of my lifetime! I'll look forward to reading about it in Guardian weekly in a week's time I guess...

Development

I know that I haven't been blogging much about work, which is partly because it's a bit more mundane than some of the other things I've been up to and partly because it's so different to work in the UK that it's hard to describe in a soundbite. I think some of the differences are because I'm not used to working for a small organisation, but some of the frustrations are definitely contextual. The lack of resources here is chronic. Last week the one computer in the office was being used when my boss and I were supposed to work on the operational plan (a plan that should have started 1st April...) but someone else was using it. He suggested that we devise the plan manually and type it up later. I agreed this was a good idea, and we stood up to go to our office. He then turned to me and said 'oh wait, you've got a pen, right?'

This week I've been learning a lot about the development industry as I've been at a week-long 'workshop' at a hotel in Lusaka. Workshops are a very common feature of work here, and frequently take my colleagues away from the office for a week at a time. I've been fairly vocal (I know that anyone reading this who's worked with me will find that hard to believe...) in questioning whether this is the best use of everyone's time, and my boss decided that I needed to experience one to confirm my criticisms.

In some ways it's been a really informative week, as I've met lots of interesting people, including several DACAs (District AIDS Co-ordinating Advisors, the local civil servants responsible for working on the HIV/AIDS effort) and people from organisations like mine across Zambia. It's also been useful to spend some time with the accountant from my office and we've made some good plans for when we get back to the office. I'm the only westerner on the course, and it's been a really useful insight into work culture here as my organisation is so small that it's not very representative. Some of the speakers have been interesting, but I can't help but question whether 6 nights in a pretty nice hotel (my bathroom has a jacuzzi), and a generous sitting allowance (across the development sector, participants are paid to attend training sessions like this one) is really the best use of money donated by the US government to help reduce HIV in Africa.

I'm looking forward to working with my colleagues to implement some of my learning when I get back to Livingstone on Wednesday, but will miss Lusaka a bit as it's been a lovely week hanging out with my friends here. A highlight was definitely attending a couple of zumba classes, a cross between aerobics, African dance and any other kind of dancing from night-clubs around the world.Much fun, and good to find some time to socialise even in the first 40-hour working week that I've done since I've been in Zambia!

A day in the life...

There's absolutely no such thing as a typical day here, and I never know what's going to happen tomorrow, but Friday morning this week seemed to encompass a lot of what is typical about my life in Zambia. I woke up to a torrential downpour, the likes of which we rarely see in the UK, but which is pretty bearable as there's no wind so an umbrella's a pretty effective. I left the house early to pay my water bill on the way to work.

I stopped to get cash out of my Zambian bank. You get charged to use the atm, but it's a bit cheaper at your own bank so I went there. The atm was broken so I tried the Barclays one and it swallowed my card. Barclays told me it was illegal for them to do anything other then cut it up, I said that I really needed it and please could I have it and they said okay come back at 1 o'clock. All this required several conversations with Barclays and my bank, and I texted my boss to tell him I was running late. He texted back to say he wouldn't be going to work til the rain stopped (I knew none of my other colleagues would be in the office either, rain here has the same effect as snow back home). My boss asked me to go to an internet cafe while I was in town as we had an urgent e-mail from a funder. Unusually for a rainy day, the internet was working and I managed to download the e-mail and walk to the office. The rain stopped, so we walked back to the internet (a 20-minute walk, 30 minutes at Zambian pace) to reply to the e-mail. By this time all my colleagues were attending to personal errands, so I went home to open the best parcel ever (thank you!) and then to the bank. I managed to retrieve my card, although no-one knows why it was swallowed in the first place so I don't know if it will work again.

It's good that I have more free time here, as seemingly simple things always seem to take an entire morning!

In other news, I've been away this weekend to visit volunteers in Mazabuka, a small town about 5 hours drive north of Livingstone. It's a nice town, and it was good to see a less tourist-y part of the country and catch up with volunteer friends. I'm away from home for 10 days now, and should have more chance to blog this week so I'll update on my travels soon.

Sunday update

I had another visitor this week, a Welsh volunteer visiting the Falls at the end of her placement. (If you want to follow the life of a volunteer in a less tourist-y haven, her blog is much better than mine - http://www.tina-in-zambia.blogspot.com ) It was lovely to have her here, and also to see my life through her eyes. She loved our beautiful house, and it made me realise that we have gradually made it into a home.

Other than that, the week has been what Zambians would call 'just okay'. Work was really great at the start of the week, and I felt like I understood what was going on. By the end of the week I seemed to be having a sort-of argument with my boss which I didn't really understand, and I've no idea what Monday will hold! But all fun and games, this week we're supposed to be finally writing the operational plan in the hope of setting realistic fundraising targets for the coming year. That's been the plan for every week since I've been here, but I'm optimistic that it will happen this week before we head to Lusaka to attend a week-long workshop on how to make an organisation sustainable.

The weekend has been perfect, slightly more like a normal one and less like a holiday, in a good way. Friday night my friends held a braii (bbq), and I received lots of lovely post from home! Thanks Mum, facewash and some bits to replace what was stolen so much appreciated!

I had my first Zambian clothes-shopping venture Saturday, as I'm starting to believe people who tell me that they really do have winter here and I'm going to need some warmer things... To buy clothes here the best option is DAPP, a NGO that sells on second-hand clothes donated mostly from Holland. A Dutch friend took me exploring, and you have to have patience but it was fun. And I'm now the proud owner of one jumper!

Right now it's still glorious summer though, and today I've been eating ice-cream and sitting by a pool. So maybe it is still a bit like a holiday...

Instant gratification

The first time I visited Africa, a good friend warned me that I might come back a Conservative. He meant that in many ways African countries can seem to be very inefficient, and that in some ways it is no mystery why the economic and social structure seems so chaotic. A few days in the Gambia in 2002 didn't really give me chance to explore the idea, but as I get to learn about Zambian culture I've been thinking about it more.

In many ways things do seem very inefficient here. My colleagues seem to spend a lot of time talking on the mobile phones, which is very expensive (impoverished volunteers always text, which is very cheap) and then don't have credit to communicate important information like their absence from the office. The 'short-cut' that they insist on taking when we walk from the office into town is in fact a windy and much longer route, albeit a more pleasant walk. Generally as we're working it's clear that we think very differently and have different ideas about how to achieve our goals.

On the other hand, it is often easier to get quick results here than at home. This week we decided that we needed to do some market research among schools in Livingstone before submitting a funding bid. With 2 days til the deadline, I couldn't believe that any school would spend the time filling in our survey about their student populations, much less distribute a questionnaire to whole year groups asking detailed questions about students' sexual behaviour. I was completely wrong though, and all the schools we asked were happy to meet our requests in line with the deadline. This instant response also applies to my domestic life – I can't imagine getting a plumber to come out in London on same-day notice, especially not when I used my best bargaining techniques and negotiated him down to a labour charge of 25,000kw (about £3.50), which is only slightly above market-rate.

So perhaps Africa, or Zambia at least, isn't inefficient, just differently efficient. The walk that my colleagues favour is more shady and thus easier, and texting doesn't work if the recipient doesn't have talk time to call you back! I'm certainly having to adjust my London sense of planning, and to get used to not knowing what the next day will hold. But it's liberating and relaxing in some ways not to have planned my weekend until friday. It's turned out perfectly, swimming at one of the posh hotels with a new Zambian friend and indulging in some much-needed girly gossip, and making a very English Sunday lunch for some other VSOs. I'm sure things will still be frustrating at times, but it's been a really encouraging week at work and I'm definitely in a positive frame of mind!

Easter in the wilderness

I know that every post talks about feeling like a holiday, but this weekend was my first actual holiday in Zambia. I went camping with a group of 8 people, mostly VSO vounteers from Lusaka in my new tent, and had great fun toasting marshmellows and getting to know some new people.

The weekend started off somewhat surreal-y, as Helen and Dan (a British VSO couple in Lusaka) invited me to stay at their flat. They have been keeping a video blog for VSO, and I'd taken a virtual tour of their flat when I was still in London. Odd to be spying on your friends before you've met them, but lovely to find out that they're even nicer in real life than on screen!!

Apart from an epic journey (the drive ended up takng about 15 hours after a couple of punctures, not many places to buy tyres on Good Friday, slight route mistake and a lot of potholes, and the fact that after we turned off the road it was another 25km into the campsite!) it was an incredibly peaceful weekend, exploring a very different side of Africa. Typically I took hardly any photos, but it looks exactly like on the website http://www.mutinondozambia.com Highlights included swimming in waterfalls, canoeing, and climbing a hill to see probably the biggest landscape I've ever seen. Incredible to see for miles in all directions and not be able to glimpse a single road or building.

Back in Livingstone now and work's really interesting this week. Frustrating today trying to get a proposal sent, but will be great news if it's successful and may even lead to internet in the office........please keep all fingers crossed!

Lazy Sunday and manic Monday...

This week definitely constitutes the end of the beginning. The guys at work now know me well enough that I'm included in the fairly aggressive criticism in team meetings (I'm trying to see this as a positive thing!) and they send me home when they realise that I'm too hungry and grumpy to be useful. The hungry problem will hopefully be rectified soon as we're going to cook lunch together in the office, solving the problem of everyone going home when they get hungry and me being the only one who goes back for the afternoon!

This weekend I got chance to show off my new hometown to a visiting volunteer based a few hours north of here. It was fun to realise that I'm now pretty at home here, as well as yet another opportunity to feel like I'm on holiday. We went to see the Falls, and walked right down to The Boiling Pot (river-level) which I hadn't done before. It's a pretty tiring climb but made very interesting by the number of baboons who share the path! They're apparently known for snatching things from tourists, but I guess they were feeling lazy this weekend as they were completely disinterested in us and mostly hung out picking fleas off each other and letting us take photos. We also went to see a Zambian friend of mine performing in a dance show for tourists, at the very posh Zambezi Sun hotel. The show's put on by a small NGO that helps local young people into full-time employment in the arts. They were all very talented, and we got chatting to the directors afterwards who kindly gave us a lift home and introduced us to the cast.

After a typically lovely lazy sunday, hanging out in the pool at my Australian friends' new home, today has been a typically frustrating Monday. Lots of work to do but no-one quite sure how to get started so we all got sent home early after a slightly confusing argument. Thought I'd take the opportunity to go and blog, but the whole town centre seems to be without power so no internet. (Or supermarket so can't buy chocolate!) And I don't really fancy doing aerobics cos I was bitten to death my mosquitoes at the weekend (stupidly went to an open-air restaurant without my deet) and the only way I'm managing to not scratch my legs is by wearing long thick trousers!

Roll on Thursday, I'm adding a couple of days to Easter weekend and heading off on a camping trip with a few other volunteers. After the relative ease of living in touristy Livingstone I'm looking forward to a few days in the bush being a very different kind of tourist!

Working hard and playing hard

Following on from last week's theme, this has definitely felt like a more normal week! Getting into a routine at work and starting to understand what I'm supposed to be doing. We've been visiting local businesses for sponsorship this week, and during a fairly serious work conversation with a collegaue in a taxi I saw a baboon and got very excited. Hopefully I haven't lost all professional respect by being basically a tourist!

Also slowly establishing a social life. My Australian friends are back in Livingstone this week and we've been out for dinner a couple of times with various visitors. Also went to listen to a talk about elephant orphans, which was accompanied by some cute pictures!

Weekends are definitely feeling like holidays, as I've made friends with a lovely British lady who runs a guest house and has kindly told me to treat her pool as a second home. It's an idyllic spot for spending sunday afternoons! I also went to the museum last weekend. It's good, if a slightly confused tone, celebrating colonialism and also celebrating freedom from colonial oppressors.

And the most exciting news since last blog, a friend of Shelley's (my housemate) took us out on his boat to watch the sunset over the Zambezi last weekend and I saw my first hippo!

So all much excitement here in Livingstone. Against my better judgement I am slightly missing TV though, and my radio was stolen so I haven't heard any news for a month. Please someone let me know if world war is declared, or if anything dramatic happens on Eastenders. Meanwhile I will continue to read lots of books...

A normal weekend...

Finally feeling settled enough that this is a proper weekend! It's really nice to wake up on a Saturday morning for the first time in about 6 weeks and feel at home.

Not much else to report really. Yesterday was Youth Day, (the second public holiday in a week!) so my organisation was out marching with all the other young people's groups in Livingstone. It was interesting hanging out with my colleagues, and listening to all the NGOs fight for the attention of young people as they try to promote male circumcision, condoms, abstinence and VCT.

VSO came down to Livingstone on Thursday and took me out for lunch, which was nice as I was the only person in the office. As we don't have the internet, everyone spends a lot of time in town in internet cafes, or in meetings at the bank. It's still hard to know exactly what I'm going to be doing, but I have taught myself to use Access this week, so hopefully that'll come in handy if we ever get round to setting up that fundraising database...

Finally thought I'd share some pictures of my room, kept beautifully clean by the lovely Selina who comes in to do our laundry and clean the huge house. Tamsin, hope you're pleased to see that Dora made it onto the wall! I'm going to give the height chart to Kathy, my boss's 4-year old daughter. Hopefully she'll be able to make better use of it than me!

Neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring

Being a volunteer in a small town is fun, as I don't fit into any particular group so have been meeting lots of different people. Apart from a few other VSO volunteers in town and across Zambia (who will no doubt all be down to visit the Falls at sometime soon) I don't immediately fit in with any one group.

This week I've met the ex-pat community, who are a lovely and very interesting. Everyone's been keen to help me to settle in, and one couple have even offered to donate some curtains to my ongoing efforts to make our huge house more homely and secure. I've also been invited to join an aerobics class which I think I'm going to try next week.

Most of the ex-pats I've met work in the tourism industry, and it's been a dramatic week for them. Apparently the torrential rains of last week are unusual here, and were more dramatic than I'd realised. A lot of people have lost their homes, and some serious damage has been done to some of the hotels and other buildings. Also this week the Zambian government have announced a massive increase in tax on the tourist industry, which has big implications both for my new friends' businesses and also on corporate sponsorship opportunities for my NGO.

Work is very different from the ex-pat lifestyle, and I'm really enjoying getting to know my new colleagues. My boss took me and another Livingstone newcomer down to Victoria Falls last weekend, and it's absolutely amazing by daylight. They're huge, and you get absolutely soaked walking to look at them! Totally amazing, and apparently they change a lot during the year so it will never get boring.

Everyone at CTYA is about my age, and I think it will be a fun social group once I'm settled in. This has been my first proper week at work, and I'm slowly working out what I'll be doing with the rest of my year. There's a lot to do, but it all seems fun. Yesterday we wrote a project-plan for VCT (voluntary counselling and testing for HIV) campaigns month in June. Today I'm starting to get my head round the idea of setting up a fundraising database from scratch...not entirely sure that my boss has understood my databasing skills, but I'll have a go. At least the sun is back, so it feels a bit like a holiday again!

Highs and lows

Well, nearing the end of my first week in Livingstone and it's never boring! The house that I'm sharing with one other volunteer is enormous and beautiful. It has a mango tree in the garden, and plenty of space to hang laundry inside so we won't have to iron everything to keep the flies away!

Unfortunately the first night we arrived, it was about midnight and as we had no furniture we decided to stay with some volunteers who already live here. During the night someone broke into our house and went through all our luggage in minute detail. So upsetting to lose so many things after all the careful attention to packing! It was also very strange - the thieves opened up individual tampons, but kindly left Cala's neatly wrapped presents intact.

Apart from that, there have been lots of highs - most spectacularly, we went to see the luna mist over Victoria Falls, which is a rainbow that forms at full moon. Hard to describe and even harder to photograph but absolutely awesome.

I haven't started work properly yet, but did have a great introduction meeting with the staff and volunteers. Everyone's lovely and very enthusiastic, and they've achieved so much already I'm starting to wonder what my role is! I'm hoping to develop a volunteers policy though, Jane if you're reading this I could use a copy of the NAS one...

Think that's it for now, it's hard being away from home and learning that Grandad is so ill. It's also been raining torrentially for 24 hours which is not exactly what I signed up for. But keeping my spirits up, and tonight I'm going to take my first Livingstone taxi and meet some volunteer friends who are down for a conference. Pizza and a glass of wine will be very welcome!

Still nomadic...

Today is the day I move out of the CommonWealth Institute and down to Livingstone. It's been a whirlwind of a week - in no particular order, I've:

1. Become a millionaire
2. Made lots of new friends
3. Had a bizarre 2 hours in the home counties, at the British High Commission
4. Acquired a Zambian work permit (the photo is particularly gormless)
5. Met my boss, who is lovely and seems to be hoping that I'm also an HR expert...

And I haven't...

1. Bought any equipment for my house (it doesn't have furniture yet...)
2. Learnt any Zambian languages (apparently 4 are spoken in Livingstone)
3. Worked out exactly how I'm getting to Livingstone (but I leave in 20 mins...)
4. Had time to be homesick!

Hopefully the journey will be okay, I can't wait to see my house.

More from Livingstone!

Arrived safely!

The flight was uneventful, spent chatting to another volunteer and watching Where the Wild Things Are.

I'm now staying at the CommonWealth Institute on the University of Zambia campus for a week, sharing a room with Lena, a girl I met on one of my UK training courses. So far everyone's friendly, VSO Zambia were very efficient at whisking us through the airport and Lena and I wandered into town to a very ex-pat mall and bought sim cards. My phone is now working with a Zambian number - 00260974258224. So feel free to text, or calls cost about 1.4p a minute on skype. A few people have asked for a postal address - you should be able to send things to my new office at Contact Trust Youth Association,PO Box 61050, Livingstone, Zambia.

Nothing else to report except that it's finally stopped raining, and it's now a lovely sunny day!

Last day...

Boxes packed and carried to my wonderful grandparents': 20

Call centres spoken to: 4 million and 6

Leaving parties: 5

Lovely presents and cards: Too many to count

Plane tickets received: 1

Next blog post from Lusaka!!!

Leaving party!

Thanks everyone for coming along on Saturday. It's wonderful having everyone you like in the same place at the same time, I think I might move to Zambia more often!

As you can see, Ted also had a great time, and is looking forward to his Highgate adventure.