We move to our accommodation on Saturday morning and have been told to be packed and ready to go by 8am at the latest, our driver turns up at 11.30 by 12 we’re off and by 1pm we’re back where we started, Jacob, our driver had forgotten the house keys. This is particularly galling as we suspected this may happen so cunningly asked him if he had the keys, he confirmed to us that “Yes he did” with a beaming smile. So eventually we’re in by 2pm, only 6 hours late another lesson in “Africa time”, I will never moan about the “Go To Market” process again!!!
Our House is a 1930’s semi, which is part of a compound of 6 in Minerva Court, which on Ituna rd a leafy avenue lined with Jacaranda & Red fire trees in the heart of Lusaka. We have 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, Living room & shower!! I’m sharing with a guy called Dave from South East London so we have a spare room and have immediately become the Lusaka Hotel for our “Hick country cousin” VSOs when visiting town. At the end of our rd is the Lusaka playhouse & theatre, holiday Inn & Intercontinental Hotels, so all in all a pretty civilised existence. A 20 min walk west gets you to Cairo & ChaChaCha rds which is where the average Zambian hangs out & about 40mins East gets you to Manda Hill & arcades shopping centres, where the Whites & middle classes hang out and at all points in between are dotted bars & restaurants, oddly often in the middle of a residential st, Northmead is for trendy bars & clubs.
I started work today and have immediately run into more examples of “Africa time”, it’s normal for meetings to start an hour & half late as you wait for people to gradually wander in. A particularly frustrating aspect is that people put their heads around the door see that no one’s there yet and wander off again, thus perpetuating the problem. I’m based at one of the members offices (ZARAN) which is next door to Manda Hill shopping Centre, you can see this from Google earth if you’re that way inclined. My role has swiftly changed from Advisor to coordinator, which seems to mean that I’m now responsible for doing everything. I’m coordinating a group of 11 NGOs who have common agenda around reducing the burden on those who care for Aids sufferers (generally women & small children).This is a particular issue for women who are often the main breadwinners, so if they’re caring for someone it’s difficult for them to earn an income, which is why they often turn to prostitution which in turn exposes them to a high risk of getting HIV/Aids themselves, a particularly unpleasant vicious circle
I’ve been at work 2 wks and already had 2 bank holidays( Zambia has 12 per yr) and a bonus day off, to celebrate Independence day & for the presidential elections. On one of these days I took a walk up to the local Golf club to check out prices etc. It looks like I might be able to afford a monthly game, assuming I buck up my ideas about appearance. They were very distressed at my shirt hanging outside my trousers, despite my protestations about about walking 40mins in 35c temperatures and surely you can give a Muzungo (Foreigner) a break, there are even rules about length & colour of sock. They eventually relented and allowed me in for a cup of tea, in bone china no less.
Natasha a VSO from Monze(2/3 hours from Lusaka) has joined us for the long election weekend. Born in Zambia but brought up in London Tash is something of a force of nature and has the locals completely confused, she looks local but talks in pure estuary, innit!! We met up with a bunch of other volunteers tonight at a bar called Smugglers Inn which was showing the Arsenal v Tottenham game, it was pandemonium when Tottenham equalised I thought I’d been transported to North London for a moment. It seems that the premiership has replaced historic tribal allegiances and by all accounts you’re as likely to see Zambians fighting over their team as anything else