Saturday

What a contrast today has been! It's the weekend so no PC installations (or building work for the others) but instead we visited a large craft fair in the grounds of the Dutch Reformed Church. As well as a multitude of people selling their crafts people were selling vegetables, flowers and there were stalls selling food and drink. Much haggling went on and I came away with some bargains - I have to admit that Mannie (the pastor's son) helped me so I'll make sure he benefits from the savings that he made for me today so he can get more books for college.

After lunch we had free time, and while some people stayed at the base to chill out the rest of us visited a modern shopping mall (a South African enterprise) to chill out in the air conditioning (it's around 35 degrees in the shade)! Some people stocked up on chocolate and biscuits, and the rest of us had a relaxing coffee and cake (not that we could have been hungry!).

The visit to the mall really showed the contrasts that are here in Zambia – only about 10% of the population can afford to shop somewhere like that, and a lot of the people who I saw/heard were obviously not Zambian (Japanese, Indian, Zimbabwean, South African, American, and of course us). One sight reminded me of a shot in Slumdog Millionaire – a handfull of very scruffy, dusty boys were standing in the Mall at the foot of the escalator. They weren't there for very long, and I wondered where they had come from (maybe they didn't really come from anywhere in particular if they are living on the street) and how they were moved on; I'll never know.

The evening finished with a splendid sunset!

Friday

As we began to wake up this morning I was aware of a large number of people shouting in the road outside the compound – it didn't sound threatening or unrestful, but no-one knew what it was about.

This morning the Rewired team was working in Kiine School – the building team helped carry the equipment from the cottages where we are staying to the classroom prepared for the IT suite, and we were soon setting up the PCs.

It didn't take us long before we were installing software, and we completed in about an hour.

We had frequent visitors from children as they changed classes, and also from Cosmas. It was clear how excited they all are about this new facility and how important it will be for them. 

 Unfortunately the security wasn't quite good enough, so at the end of the day we made a return visit to dismantle the kit and bring it back. At least the software has been installed now and all we'll need to do is put the kit back together again, hopefully before we leave.

After lunch we drove over to Gripse which is a very poor area with high numbers of people with AIDS/HIV and who the Home Care project are supporting with visits (to make sure medication is being taken) and food, and anything else that they can identify will make life easier for them. They are supporting between 30 and 40 family units, most of whom are extended families with adults caring for nephews and nieces whose parents have now died.

With one carer and 3 others from this team we first visited Susannah who lives in a mud brick house about 3x3m, with a corrugated tin roof, with her 2 surviving children (a third died before he was a year old). Susannah is HIV positive and doing well on the medicine. She showed us photos of her family, and I gave her some post cards showing my part of England, as well as some Yorkshire snow. She is remarkably optimistic and hopes to be able to set up as a small trader once she gets enough money to fund her initial supplies.

Our second visit was to Martin who lives in a house not much larger than Susannah's. This belongs to his sister who he lives with, along with 8 others. It is hard to imagine where they all sleep, or how their meals get cooked. Again, he is HIV positive and doing well on the medicine. He sometimes gets work as a garden labourer, but this has dried up. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to come & collect food later in the afternoon because his bike is broken, so Pete had a look at the bike and identified the problem and how Martin could fix it without taking it to an expensive repair place.

While we waited for the others I watched life going on around us while Penny from the Mission Direct in-country team gave some more background. It is a desperately poor area, and many of these people go to bed hungry. Most of the adults are caring for the children of their own brothers and sisters now that they have died. Some of the women who are looking after us back at our base live in this community, and the income makes a huge difference to them, although at least one of them has sponsorship for a child to go to school, which indicates things aren't completely good for her. Most of the children go to either of the 2 local schools, including Kiine which is a lengthy walk away.

 

Later in the afternoon we shared in the distribution of food at the church to the people that Home Care is supporting. The biggest challenge I could see was getting the 25kg bags of mealy meal back home - one woman had a wheelbarrow, most carried it on their head, and some dragged it home. None of this is ideal for someone who is sick.

All of what I saw this afternoon was thought provoking – I think the main thought is the importance of education and the other benefits that the children get from their schools, and I feel privileged to be helping the schools provide this.

The day ended with a “pub quiz” using questions that Laurie had sent me – the winning team got prizes of a bar each of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate.


Afterwards I had an attempt at photographing the moon - it's new, lying on its back and there was earthshine on it. I regretted not bringing my taller tripod, but I decided that this time the trip had a different emphasis.

Thursday

Today began with a bird glug-glugging in the distance – I remember hearing it in Kenya, and still have no idea what it was.

After devotions in the shade of some trees in the compound, and then breakfast (porridge again to keep the builders going until lunch time – I had bran flakes to keep me going...) we all headed off in the minibus, first to Garden Hill School where the building team spent the morning for a Zambian version of rendering (more like splatting on the walls) and where we were all greeted by some very excited children (“Uncle Geoff!! Uncle Geoff!!! Uncle Geoff!!!”) and I was taken over by a swarm of them who all clamoured for me to take their photos so they could see themselves on the camera. 

The Rewired team then went on to Crown of Life School where we were met by the amazing Dorothy and her daughter Deborah – Dorothy set up the school 10 years ago for local orphaned and vulnerable children, with a vision of something much bigger. 

With a lot of help from Christchurch St Albans and some from Mission Direct Dorothy is beginning to see her vision come alive – she now has a block of 3 classrooms and some toilets, and another block of 3 classrooms and a PC room that is almost completed – apparently it wasn't there 3 months ago, so some serious building work has been going on! By the time we had been greeted and introduced to the children and staff we had around 45 minutes left to get the 6 laptops ready to hand over to the school – we just about did it by the time the bus came to collect us, although we did need a few extra minutes. 

 The Rewired team have really become very productive – we have each found our own niche and get on with the job. I've created a checklist to help with the work in the next schools, and to use on future trips – it can be updated as we go along and find more things to add to it. I've been trying to print it off on a printer that we've got for the Internet Cafe, but it doesn't work on any of the laptops that we've got here – hopefully it will work on a desktop because that's what they've got at the Internet Cafe.

 After lunch Cosmas (the director of Kiine School) came to talk to us about the child sponsorship scheme that is run through International Needs – for less than the cost of a pub meal each month a child can be supported through their schooling – books, uniform, and sometimes breakfast. I had a look through the details of the children seeking sponsorship but in the end asked Cosmas to find me someone particular – he is sure he can find me that girl. Actually, since then someone else looking through the details found Ruth who is exactly the child I was hoping to find so I'll ask Cosmas if I can support her.

We then wandered over to the church near the school to hear about the Home Care scheme that is run by this church, to support sick people in the nearby Kaunda Square community, mostly with HIV/AIDS. This introduction was to prepare us for our visit tomorrow with the Carers to some of the people they are caring for. The Home Care scheme provides these people with basics such as shima (a basic that every Zambian meal has to have – a bit like very fine couscous), medicine and emotional and spiritual support and encouragement.

Afterwards Barbara and Benson showed us the chickens that their son Emmanuel are rearing and selling to fund his way through college – this is a very popular way of generating income and Fountain of Hope are also hoping to do this. They buy in 250 day-old chicks and put them under UV lamps and give them care, food & water, and after a few weeks they are ready to sell on and new chicks can be brought in to continue the cycle.

Finally, after a bit of a hectic day we had some free time, although Rewired had a brief discussion on how we improve our process (not much change needed) and I went for a lovely swim in the cold swimming pool – so welcome at the end of a very hot day. There is a huge frangipani tree hanging over the pool and the air smells delicious at the end of a hot day. 

Before dinner the Bishop of Lusaka (Bishop Paul) came to tell us about Zambia, especially the potential implications of the recent elections and change of president. His very strong sense of social justice came through. Pastor Benson & his wife Barbara shared dinner with us, and I was glad to be on the same table as them so we could hear more about the work of their church – when talk came around to UK politics I decided it was time to make a skype call!

We've had a very brief lightening storm and a little bit of rain – enough to freshen the air and hopefully not too much to make life miserable for anyone on the streets or in the shanty towns tonight.

Wednesday

Today the rewired team returned to Fountain of Hope to carry on installing the Internet Cafe and begin putting desktops into a classroom. We had constant visits to the Internet Cafe from boys asking if they could try it out, but it's not connected yet so they'll have to wait, probably until Monday – they are so looking forward to this. I've put a web cam onto one of the PCs and will put Skype onto that as soon as I can get onto the internet.

On the way back one of the team bought sunglasses at the traffic lights, paying just as the lights turned green and our minibus was pulling away – Oakeys for around £4.50 instead of the £50 ticket seen in UK high street shops – bargain!

After lunch Pastor Benson came to talk to us about how the church is using the Jesus film as outreach – this team will be taking part in one of the showings with some of the team sharing their stories during it.

We then had free time so I investigated the swimming pool, which is an unexpected luxury which was deliciously welcome because it's become rather warm (probably high 80s).

Later in the afternoon the whole team went over to Fountain of Hope where we were made very welcome by the boys (and some girls too) and team members – the leading lights of this place are Vasko, Kenny and Vincent who have such huge hearts for these children, and such patience – sometimes the children return to their old ways, but they are still cared for year after year. Vasko himself came from the streets – he has no idea when he was born so has to guess at his age. During our visit it was so evident how much love, nurturing, stability and confidence the team gives to the children.

We were shown around the complex (including a splendid art room and library that have been styled as typical African round houses). The tour included a visit to the vegetable garden and the kitchen, which was really clean but lacking in a cooker (they cook outside over an open fire, either with charcoal (when available) or plastic bottles (when charcoal isn't available). 

 (this is Vasko in the vegetable garden)

We also paid a visit to the clinic, run by Fida who is a lovely warm motherly lady and who holds clinics for the Fountain of Hope children, other street children, and under-5s in the community. Her dream is to be able to hold anti-natal and post-natal clinics, and although she has a room that can be used for this it still needs a treatment bench and a foetoscope (if that is how it is spelt!). I was given a very generous donation by 2 ladies (retired nurses) from Romsey Abbey, and I feel this is the right place to take that donation – I can imagine them in that clinic with Fida.

After a while we went into the library round house and sat in a circle in a specially made sunken area – a child sat in between the visitors, so we were alternating, and then we took it in turns to say our name, where we are from, our age (ahem) and what we want to do when we are grown up – everyone then gave a “kilo” (a bit like hip hip hurray, but with a special call and action at the end, which varied from person to person – my call was honey because I said I'd like to keep bees & hens when I grow up (if that is a gauge of when I grow up I suspect I'll never grow up! But it's good to have a dream). We then had time to play with the children. I was so hoping that I wouldn't have to play football or basketball, and was relieved when a little girl called Sandra took me under her wing. We played pat-a-cake and some strange game involving gravel and bottle tops, and I taught her noughts and crosses in the dust.

We got called back into the library again where the children (and then us!!) were called into the circle to recall a memory verse with it's meaning, with (of course) a “kilo” for each person. Then it was dinner time, sharing with the children in the dining hall. An older boy came to sit next to me – he had only been at Fountain of Hope for 4 days, having come there from another town to take himself away from the spiral of nightclubs and parties that were distracting him from his studies. We chatted about the political situation (especially Greece & Euros), the recent elections, and his hopes to become a musician and writer – he especially wants to focus on political raps. After dinner all the children lined up outside along our way to the minibus, and shook our hands or hugged us as they bid us good bye and God bless – on our journey home we had plenty to talk about, including thoughts of improving the kitchen area while we are here as an extra gift to Fountain of Hope.

The place is astonishing and has some awesome leaders who provide a father figure to the boys - and hope.

Tuesday already!

The morning started early, listening to the day waking up around us - birds twittering, people beginning their day.

The Rewired team set off in the minibus for Fountains Of Hope at around the same time that the building team left for Kiine school where they were painting a couple of classrooms (including one which we'll be installing PCs into). The journey to FoH took us through the centre of Lusaka along good roads, past the court of judiciary where the new president was sworn in last week. At traffic lights men tried to sell us sunglasses, Zambia football shirts, news papers and SIM cards.

FoH is a centre supporting boys who live on the street – they have a school, clinic, and activities at the centre to support and build these boys, and outreach teams who go out to support the boys where they are. The Rewired team is installing an Internet Cafe which will generate revenue that is desperately needed for their work, as well as provide a computer facility for the boys and internet access for the wider community. This evening 3 of the FoH workers came to talk to the whole team about their work, and they were so incredibly excited about the Internet Cafe and so incredibly grateful for what they are being provided with. For me this has already made the whole trip worthwhile. So we arrived at FoH and were shown into the room where we would be working – all of us had a “wow” moment when we saw the booths that have been made by the boys, under the instruction of Colin from the 2011 main Mission Direct team – they are perfect – a large square table with 8 separate booths. 

We quickly started to unpack the PCs and set them up, and I began to tidy up the desktops and make sure they are easy to navigate and standard. It quickly became clear that our team is just such a perfect mix – we have Martyn who is the visionary and without whom this simply wouldn't happen. I am very much a details person and a coordinator at heart, Roger has made some very good suggestions on using the D: drive, Chris gets on and does things, and Jon is having fun trying the educational software and making sure we cut no corners. Every now and then boys came in and made sure we were working hard, and before we left we had a visit from a member of staff who had a go. This was just part one – we don't yet have the hub so we'll be returning soon to complete setting up the internet cafe software, which I am intrigued to see – we are considering 2 options so it'll give me a chance to have a look at what each offers.

What a contrast this afternoon has been – first we visited House of Moses, which is a rescue centre for abandoned and vulnerable babies, from brand new to 18 months old. After a presentation we were split into 2 groups; my group spent time first with the older babies, from around 6 or 8 months, playing with them, feeding them and cuddling them... oh, and being pee-ed and poohed on, but it was delightful. I first fed and cuddled a lovely little boy until he stretched out his arms to a lovely lady who is one of the team of carers, when I found a little girl to cuddle and play with, and later the boy came back to me. I didn't want to move on when the time came to go upstairs to the tiny babies, so I stayed until I could hand over the cuddling to someone else from the team who had been with the tinies. Upstairs one of our team gave me Mary to cuddle, saying she was a wriggler – that baby is such a dancer!! She loves being jiggled and is so active and attentive to her surroundings, so I spent my time dancing with her. Everyone on the team enjoyed our visit, the men as much as the women. House of Moses is an incredible place, run by amazing people – they really care for each baby as individuals and give them such huge respect. Each baby was dressed immaculately (and in the right colour too!) and were very settled with the loving care of the team. Unfortunately, with each nursery having a team of 4 or 5 carers and 15 babies (current numbers – the capacity is higher) the care and love has to be spread out widely.

Our second visit was to Bill & Bette Bryant's, which is where the babies “graduate” if they haven't been placed with family or adopted by 18 months. To be honest, I was emotionally drained by the time we got there and wasn't looking forward to this visit. But I found a little girl (Blessing with a twin brother whose Zambian name also means blessing) who wasn't responding or playing – she has only just “graduated” and seemed not to have grown accustomed to her new surroundings yet. I do like a challenge, so stuck with her trying to get her interested in a few toys around her. Eventually she would let me pick her up.... and clung to me so tightly I think I could have let go and wouldn't have dropped her. After a long time of wandering around the garden (watching 2 of the men giving rides to children in 2 supermarket trollies cunningly set up with ride-in cars at the front – at times getting quite manic!), cuddling and whispering into her ear I sat down with her and began to play “this little piggy” with her toes until she began to relax and stopped clinging to me. By the time we had to leave I was able to leave her happily playing with the toys around her.

But this visit caused me so many questions – with so many short visits by strangers what does the continual separation do to these babies? To balance that, they do get the extra cuddles and attention that the staff simply don't have time to give (although they definitely have the love and care for them), and the staff get encouragement from the fact that people are willing to take time out to visit them. I could easily spend the rest of this holiday at both of these homes.

So if I was feeling emotionally drained after the first visit, you can imagine how I felt after the second, and I was not on my own - it was a subdued team who walked to the bus for the return journey.

This evening we had an interesting session for reflections on all the visits that we have made so far. One of the team grew up in Nigeria on the edge of a shanty town and shared her experiences of that time, which was so useful. The visits have, unsurprisingly, given each of us a lot to think about.

Last minute update – someone suggested a pub quiz and as I have the one that Laurie & I did at the Hyde Tavern I've offered that.

Day One in Zambia

After a very long flight we arrived in Lusaka on time – I overheard the pilot saying that there was no radar so it was “real” flying for him. It looks like Lusaka is in a very flat area, with mountains in the very far distance.

After claiming all our bags (at least 3 each!) we were met by the team (Geoff, Colin, Penny, Abe, Chika) and driven to the Chamba Valley compound. My home for the next 2 weeks will be Cottage 2 with Gay, Lindsay, Martyn and Chris – Gay and Lindsay have taken the bunks and insisted I have the regular bed which I am not arguing with! I do like my room-mates!

We unpacked then visited Kiine school – Cosmas greeted us and gave us a brief introduction – the school was set up by a couple from the NW of the country, eventually serving 250 children all in one school house. When they needed to move on they handed over to ECZ, who have worked at developing both the school and the vision, with the help of both Mission Direct and a Dutch charity. Currently 350 in grades 0 (nursery & pre-school) to 8 (13 / 14 years old) with a vision of 1000, including grade 10 and a University College. All of the children come from the neighbouring shanty town (Kaunda Square Community) from poor or vulnerable families. They absolutely love their school and the education that they are getting, recognising that it is the way out of poverty. 

The children were waiting for us when we arrived at the school and sang beautifully for us (I'll put at least one clip online when I can so that you can enjoy it too!) and then we visited their classrooms – I went into the year 1 class where the teacher was showing them one by one how to trace the letters of “bean bag” and around the shape of the bean bag – it took me right back to my early days of learning to write. Although some of the teachers are trained, many of them have not yet had their training, which will be a mixed blessing – as soon as they are trained and registered with the government then it is likely that they will be offered life-long jobs at government schools that come with good salaries and pensions, and so the community schools like Kiine lose them

After lunch (the kitchen team are looking after us very well!) each of us went through all the goodies that we'd brought to leave behind in the various projects that we'll be visiting – British Airways knew we were travelling for this project and gave us a baggage allowance of 3 cases of 23 kilos each. So you can imagine the amount of things we have! In the corner of our cottage we have 2 huge heaps of donated goodies each for a different project.

This left a pocket of time to have a quick look at the PCs that the Rewired lead had shipped over – they have been refurbished by Computers For Africa, and look really good. We are ready for tomorrow when we begin work.

We kept up with our busy schedule with a visit in small groups (4 people) led by local people for a visit into Kaunda Square Community which is right next to Chanda Valley Compound where we are staying and which is the home to Kiine School. Abe was the guide for the group that I was in, escorted by Rebecca who is a 9 (ish) year old girl from Kaunda Square for whom Abe is a very special adult (he is). At the point where we got to the market Abe told Rebecca to go home, but she began to be quizzed heavily by a group of women and Abe became worried for her safety so she stayed with us for longer – it turned out that they wanted to know about the sponsorship that she gets to enable her to go to school and how their children could get it too. The market itself was fascinating – the most memorable things were the tomatoes, greens and piles of dried fish (mostly the size of whitebait). As well as the indoor market and the market stalls outside, there were make-shift kiosks along the street selling much smaller quantities – no doubt at a healthy profit but at a price people could afford at the time they need what was on sale. Children were all around, playing with whatever they had found – one child was pushing a long articulated train made from milk-shake bottles with the lids for wheels; two other children ran out to take “photos” using “cameras” that they had made from polystyrene scraps.

The day has ended with a good hearty dinner – and a time of informal reflection between my room-mates – we are looking forward to starting work tomorrow.

40 minutes to go.....

toothbrush - tick

passport - tick

camera - tick

Oh my - there are now 2 very full suitcases and 1 very stuffed backpack ready and waiting for me in the car. I still can't quite believe that today has finally come around. All I have left to do now is wash up and vacuum the floor (although with 2 cats I won't notice any difference when I get home!), and I'll be headed up to Heathrow.