Zambezia, Zambia, Zambezi fact or fiction....

It's funny to see animated versions of real African places/animals/birds.

Though I've never spotted the bird settlement of Zambezia at Vic Falls, the mighty Zambezi is indeed legit.

pictures from my Sesheke trip (the Zambezi runs between Namibia and Zambia)

food = nshima

to eat = to be filled

Out in Sesheke, the pastor asked for a few "snaps" with the workshop participants as they 

were eating one afternoon.

that is one.very.big.pot.

the cooking sticks used for stirring the large pots of nshima

Product Review: ZamSip by Zambeef (plus free giveaway!)

It’s one of my favorite Zambian treats.

It’s ZamSip.

It’s lightly sweetened, deliciously flavored…

Pure, Zambian drinking yoghurt

ZamSip.

Oooo.la.la.

Partially because I love yoghurt (though my preferred flavor is plain without sweetener or flavorings), and partially because I love, love, love fresh berries (which are pretty much non-existent here in Zambia), Zambeef’s wild berry flavored ZamSip became an immediate favorite the first time I tasted one [it was March of 2013; we were in Lusaka at Manda Hill; the purchase was from Shoprite; yeah. told you…].

Even though the wild berry ZamSip contains no berries (a slightly disturbing fact...), it still reminds me of real berries. Every once in a while when I’m traveling or on holiday, I indulge in this 100% Zambian, sweet and creamy treat.

support the local economy :)

In hopes of spreading ZamSip love... I'm offering a FREE ZamSip giveaway and YOU could be the winner! 

See details below.

*Note: the product in this review is real, but all opinions shared are solely those of the blog author who received no compensation or free product for said review. 

FREE GIVEAWAY for up to THREE winners! 

To qualify for your free ZamSip drinking yoghurt trial, you must visit Julie and Sara at their Nahumba home. Winners will be selected at random (using a computer generated random number system or something like that if necessary...) or by any selection method Sara and Julie may choose.

Giveaway product size and flavour are subject to availability at Choma's Zambeef outlet. 

Other terms and conditions may apply.

Sadly... no free giveaways for those in the USA or Canada who do not visit Zambia :( *

Fish for Sale.

On our way home from Sesheke we stopped to buy fish in a tiny town near the Zambezi. The fish sellers were overwhelming, even for my Zambian friends! After a good 20 minutes of bartering, three of our traveling party selected several platters of dried fish.

When I got home, the first question Sara asked when she opened the vehicle was,
“You didn’t buy fish did you?!”

PS- Though I didn’t buy any dried fish, I promised one of my coworkers that she could come to our kitchen and teach me how to cook these strong smelling hair-boned treats… haven’t told Sara yet… oops!

4x4

Amos playing bushtruck

Before I moved to Zambia, one of the parts of life in this place that was most daunting to me was the thought of driving (a manual. on the left side of the road. in a foreign country...).

Driving is something I do out of necessity. Not only is it expensive to pay for fuel, insurance, and vehicle repairs, it’s probably one of the more dangerous things we routinely do. Having been involved in more than one serious auto wreck, I particularly dislike being behind the wheel more than necessary.

Amos hiding under another tree

However, upon moving to Zambia and polishing my stick-driving abilities… I discovered that I rather like bush driving. Last week I had the privilege of having to drive through lots of thick sand, so thick it required four-wheel-drive! Driving highlight of the month :)

Most of our 942.6 kilometre trip was on tarmac roads (some of it was on a pothole road… I’m talking: lose-your-car-in-this-hole potholed road…), but the off-road portion of the adventure was my favorite part of the drive.

unfortunately, I have no pictures of the off-road (or potholed road) driving...
because I was too busy driving to take pictures

this looks like a small pothole... it is :)
(just happens to be the only picture I have of any potholes)

this was a park-n-walk stop
(park by the road; walk to the house)

Who knew that I’d move to Zambia and not only learn to enjoy driving a manual vehicle, but also to love navigating the bush in four-wheel-drive… who knew?!?

942.6 kilometres

Amos out in the bush

Amos (our Toyota Prado) and I took trip with the church’s Compassionate Ministries/Economic Development office last week. I drove; Amos motored. We covered 942.6 kilometres on our cross-province trek to Sesheke, Zambia, a border town with Katima, Namibia.

Sesheke is a small, rowdy town lined with strips of shack shops and decorated with empty beer bottles. It boasts the only bakery within a three-district radius, and is also home to a 24-hour disco nite club. No joke.

The surrounding communities of Sesheke are full of poverty and AIDS. In many areas even basic sanitation needs are still unmet. If there are pit toilets, the holes are mostly surrounded by sticks and maybe a bit of cloth or some old pieces of wood). In some areas people routinely walk 2.5 to 3 kilometres just to fetch water. Often, families are using the same water (from the Zambezi) for watering animals, washing clothes, cooking, and drinking.

a government school we visited (still in use)

With minimal education opportunities and almost no developed industry in the area, our work in Sesheke focuses on what Sesheke has—like trees (timber), sand, land, and even the mighty Zambezi which winds its way between Zambia and Namibia.

an HIV Support Group named God Knows

Sesheke also has community. It was a pleasure to visit two HIV Support Groups. These support groups meet together to encourage each other in many different aspects. Topics discussed and promoted in the groups include adherence to HIV medicine treatments, care of orphans and widows (specifically HIV orphans), and ending gender-based violence (husbands beating their wives, adults beating children, men using women as objects, etc.).

handicrafts

data collection

a second HIV Support Group named SEEDS

In addition, the support groups are working on small income generating projects to fund their community involvement. Two of the groups’ projects have been rearing chickens (practicing techniques learned from one of the church's agriculture officers), and making and selling hand crafts.

a diagram I drew of a mango seed for the economic development workshop
"Think Livelihood"

workshop participants

use what God has given YOU

After hearing so much about development work going on in Sesheke, it was really great to visit the area, meet new friends, try my mouth at greetings in yet another language (we have over 70 languages here in Zambia!), and see some of the progress that is happening. It’s good to know God meets us where we are and His love and approval are not based on any circumstances that surround us.

at the Zambezi with two co-workers, the Sesheke BIC pastor, and another man

If you’d like to partner with economic development work in Sesheke (or in other parts of Zambia!), please contact me. The motivation behind the church's development training efforts is God's holistic interest in people. It’s beautiful to partner with the church in reaching out to meet not just spiritual needs, but also social, emotional, and physical needs as well.

the Mighty Zambezi

the Office...

..It’s where I find myself with some of my best, most loyal friends—Excel and numbers, and worst enemies—the fluky internet connection and technology. We- (the numbers, internet, and I) battle through each day. Some days the internet wins (when 13 emails remain in my outbox because the computer refuses to connect to the semi-existent web network in order to send said messages). Some days Excel gloats about me as I count and recount bills and coins, comparing and re-comparing receipts, ending balances, and data entries.

The happiest days are when I win… when the emails send (bonus = positive responses that require no additional work!), the cash box balances, all the papers are filed, my desk is in order, the computer agrees to power down (I’m not joking—sometimes it refuses me even this most basic of all actions), and there are only one or two remaining to-do lists stuck to my desk…

Then I pull the curtains, cover the technological devices with an old sheet… and take my satisfied heart to bed.

In between that balanced fulfillment of life and numbers in their proper places, I spend my office moments surrounded by Kwacha, operational receipts, paper clips, reports, lists (for everything… how much I spent on electricity last month, what a need to discuss with Bishop at our next meeting, menus for guesthouse meals, jots about exchange rates on certain days, reminders to shuffle money between accounts or go back to check on previous financial entries), grocery receipts, the stapler, pictures of friends and family, mugs and mugs of tea (one at a time… don’t be ridiculous), and a vanilla scented candle flickering away.

Today I wanted to share with you a gem of a receipt I reviewed last week:

OFFROAD TRADING receipt #3169

Dealers in House Hold, Groceries, Cosmetics

Guest House, Restaurant, Transport, Soft

and Hardware, Agriculture in put.

P.O. Box 960011, Cell: 0979 962831 / 0977 927712

Looks like our only purchases were in the “Grocery” department: jam, brown sugar, cooking oil, silver tea, and Blue Band (immensely popular fake butter spread)... but I can’t help but wonder what Soft-ware is? —towels, blankets maybe??

In addition, how many shops do you know that sell Cosmetics and Restaurant and Agriculture 

in put items-?

Funny thing is- this type of receipt is so ordinary here that no one else would find it amusing. 

[Time-spent-in-office getting to my head? Probably. Oh well.]

I included the contact phone numbers so that skeptics can contact OFFROAD for proof of the business’s existence.

Shopping

Choose your style.

Choose your size.

Sick Phone? No Problem.

Need chicken?

Also no problem.

Siamvula WASHE meeting

Vwaali getting started

On Thursday morning, the new WATSAN (Water and Sanitation) field officer, Vwaali asked if I’d come to his WASHE (Water And Sanitation Hygiene Education) meeting in the bush. He was leaving in 20 minutes—oh, and could I also help with some of the presenting??

a few participants

I canceled two meetings, grabbed my Nalgene, and we were off… well, we were off after we stopped to pick up items at Spar and waited for the bread shop to open so we could buy a hundred buns to take for tea. Oh, and then we stopped for some tomatoes and onions… and then we were off…

Vwaali may have missed his true calling in life by studying water engineering instead of theatre. This fellow keeps his crowd in stitches as he portrays everything from how to tell if a person has tapeworms and needs to be de-wormed, to why an old plastic bag is not a good substitute for leaves or toilet tissue…

Although the workshop was almost solely in Tonga, I clearly understood most of what was been taught. Vwaali begged me to teach the final flip chart poster highlighting four ways villagers can treat water to make it safe for drinking. After watching him hop around his brushy stage for three hours engaging his participants, I was reminded once again why I am an accountant not a public speaker! Maybe I should have taught the final drinking water points though… just to run an experiment to see how fast people would fall asleep without Vwaali’s entertaining antics.