Life goes on…

It has been some weeks since I last updated my blog and a lot of things have happened. Nothing really special but enough to keep my busy and going. I keep on meeting new people, new experiences are shared and my life is still fantastic. For those who don’t know by now: I really do like the African life!

Most of the time I have been in Petauke and since Euro 2012 was on I spent most of the evenings in the bar watching the games with some friends. We had a great time all together and it really shows that soccer brings people together and unites them. Supporting, cheering, laughing, chatting, dancing… it all happened. Nights were a lot shorter than I’m used to so weekends were welcome to sleep in. Although busy programmes kept me going.
I chilled in Petauke, went to Chipata and Mfuwe.
Chilling in Petauke means: linking up with people, grabbing a beer, roasting some meat (pork, goat) and chat all day long. Although I don’t like meat to much and I told myself never to eat goat meat after seeing these animals being slaughtered I did give it a go: plenty of salt (because Zambians do like salty food) and lemon juice. Delicious! So I keep on eating goat meat now. The pork also is really tasty: when seeing all the fat and the skin being placed on the braaii I wasn’t not to thrilled about having it, but once you taste it, you can’t stop eating. Never thought I would like eating meat that much. I’m not preparing it myself though, I leave it to the experts :). I also got to eat some dried buffalo and one of my neighbours fed me with kapenta (the small fish you find everywhere in Zambia). I didn’t think about the head still being on the fish and just started chewing. Really nice food, my neighbour certainly knows how to cook (she also has a restaurant where delicious food is served). Left overs find their way to my place, which is much appreciated so I also try to give some: sweet potatoes, chocolate (which was a hit), green beans,…
And off course I enjoyed some Belgian goodies (Chocotoffs, speculoos pasta, sugar waffles, Jules Destrooper biscuits, chocolat…) which were sent by my colleagues: I hope you all got my e-mail! I am still enjoying it (I put myself on a ration so I don’t eat it all at once and the pleasure lasts longer). Thank you ladies!!!

Monday and Tuesday were public holidays (yes, yes, some more holiday :)) so I took the opportunity to travel to Chipata, meet some friends and then continue to Mfuwe (South Luangwa National Park) with some other friends. The road down there is mainly dirt road: only 130 km from Chipata but it took us about 2,5 to 3 hours to get there. Seated in the back of a pick up truck during the first half of the trip I got to snap some cool pictures of rural African life. The views were amazing and people were waving at us while we were passing by. We stayed in a Camp just outside the Park but that didn’t keep the animals of visiting us. Upon arrival we were told to watch out for elephants and hippos and soon we knew what our host was talking about. Walking to our tents we encountered the first elephant. Be quite and move back: that’s the only advice to follow and so we did. You don’t want to get caught in a fight with an elephant (would be David versus Goliath, believe me). On Monday the elephants blocked us from getting in our tent most of the day so we spent the day at the swimming pool. Too bad we couldn’t get hold of our swimming suits because the weather was really nice and a refreshing dip in the pool was welcome. So, paddling it was. Even at night we had guards to bring us to our tents and make sure we reached safely. Unnecessary to say we appreciated this guided walk certainly when you here the hippos and elephants but are not able to locate them. One evening we almost bumped into an elephant and had to take a detour which made us walk past a hippo that was feeding. Nice to see but if you’re just on a 2 metres distance from it, you don’t fool around and try to get away as soon as possible. Game viewing was, as always, included and we had some amazing views: giraffes, lions, more elephants and hippos, crocs, hyenas, leopards, zebras,… Another great weekend with lovely company, delicious food and nice weather. It was worth every Kwacha spent!

Last time I told you that I was working on the Kaizen programme and that is what I basically did the last 2 weeks at work. My colleague who is coordinating the whole programme for the Council had to attend a workshop in Livingstone and he appointed me as his substitute. What an honour! I had meetings with all the different Kaizen teams we have here at the Council and helped them preparing a Powerpoint presentation which had to be presented last Friday to Mr Adachi, the Japanese Kaizen Expert coordinating the national Kaizen programme. The presentations were good and Mr Adachi gave us some nice comments: everyone happy :)
What made me really happy that day was seeing that everyone took interest in the difficulties Pre-School is facing. Everyone came up with some ideas and the action plan we presented was supported by the audience. Result: Shining smile on my and Ireen’s (teacher in charge of Pre-School) face. I hope we can implement all of it so that by the time I leave Petauke some progress has been made and the kids have all they need to have good education. I’m certainly going to try my best and I know that the teachers feel the same. Nothing can stop us now (except money maybe )!


Kaizen was not the only thing that kept me busy at work. I conducted the 2 workshops that I prepared: one on Improving Driving Skills for the Council Drivers and one on Sensitizing the Public for the Fire Fighters. Both workshop were interactive and we had great fun. The drivers learned more about the Zambian Traffic Law and defensive driving and had some practicals to put theory in practice. I hope I can continue working with them because I’m thinking of conducting a workshop on First Aid (in case of accidents) in collaboration with Red Cross.
The Fire Fighters made a whole action plan on which target groups to sensitize and how. We started with the general public and will then continue target group per target group. And it is really important to sensitize the public because today there was another drowning case: 2 school kids got trapped in a dam and one of them drowned. Hearing this makes me feel sad and in the same time it makes me realize that what I do here certainly is of any use.
Conducting these workshops learns me so much more about Zambian life, how people see things and how action is taken. Hat off for the way they strive for improvement with a minimum of materials/equipment.
I can recommend everyone to come and take a look!

I want to conclude this update by thanking everyone who has offered to help Pre-School and it’s library by giving funds and sending materials, books, … I am looking forward to receiving the materials: another step forward! And I can assure you that it will be much appreciated by the teachers, the children and the parents.

Warm greetings
Barbara