Zambia Factfile

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Miyanda, who is another AFID volunteer. However he is actually has a full time job here in Zambia working at the Ministry of Finance, and is completing some AFID work when he can.  He is a Zambian but has worked in many countries – New Zealand, U.K, India, Caribbean – and is the first time he has lived back in Zambia for many years.

He took me on a guided city of Lusaka pointing out to me many more interesting facts than the Lonely Planet does!  This trip happened to occur with Independence Day for Zambia , and people were celebrating 46 years of independence.  It was very interesting to hear his perspective on his country after the time has spent abroad, and as with many people I have spoken to have been impressed with the passion and enthusiasm  he had when talking about his country.  I have found many people to be very proud of their country, proud to be Zambian, and hardworking and determined to work to ensure a better life for themselves and others and are optimistic about the future.   This feeling is similar to how people at Bwafwano have expressed themselves.   I have spent time talking to Issac (Program Officer) and Eddie (a programme co-ordinator) about their plans for the future, and both talk with a lot of passion about the community work they are involved in and are very determined and ambitious to make Bwafwano grow and ensure it is successful in the future.

As Zambia is celebrating its 46^th birthday here I a few facts I have learnt

·         It has a landlocked countries with borders with 8 other countries!

·         Population of the country is about  12mill (twice the size of London), whilst being about the size of U.K , Ireland and France combined.  It is one of the most thinly populated countries in Africa.

·         Economy is heavily reliant on export of copper

·         HIV and AIDS have had a massive impact on the country – 1 in 7 adults is now  infected and life expectancy at birth is only 40 years.

·         President  Mwanawasa died in 2008, and he appears to have been in a popular president.  From speaking to people, he appears to have had lots of public support from when he came into power in 2002 and people believe he did lots to help develop Zambia. The present President Banda does not appear to have the same level of public support with many people looking forward to the elections next year.

Take Care – CCx

And the sky's have opened!

It is now officially rainy season.....................

Second week

I know these entries are slightly retrospective but hopefully give you an update on my second week in Zambia.

Overall work has been generally successful this week.  I have made progress with one of my main projects – trying to produce an organisation wide budget for 2011/12 – and have organised a meeting for all key staff at Bwafwano for tomorrow.  Will let you know how it goes.  At the moment the organisation only has a budget for specific projects which received funding from international donors.  They don’t have a budget for any income or expenditure for the community clinic or the skills training programmes, and therefore are not monitoring these.  This means that the organisational cannot plan for the future as they are unable to determine how financially viable they are as an organisation, and as a community project which is providing life giving services to a wide number of people it is vital they start becoming in proactive in financial management.  Hopefully I can contribute to making some small changes within my 4 weeks. I have also been updating the fixed asset schedule – I will never be able to escape capital accounting!  I have been impressed and motivated with sharing ideas with Patricia (the accountant) who appears to have sound accounting knowledge and is keen to put many of the policies Bwafwano have into practice. ‘’ Lack of time ‘’ appears to be her major obstacle in this and wants me to do this for her.  I am very aware to make any changes sustainable I need to involve the finance team as much as possible and let them take ownership for these.  This is probably the biggest challenge so far !

This week I have had the pleasure of trying kapleta!  Very small fish which you eat whole.  Liked them more than I thought but they were very salty.

This week I have enjoyed spending a number of nights drinking wine and talking with Mrs Chikto during power cuts.  She is a lovely, friendly host who is always giggling and now insists me calling her mama. 

This weekend has been quite quiet – I have been swimming / sunbathing at the Olympic Swimming Pool for the day, eaten an amazing banoffee pie style pancake, and learnt to wash clothes African Stylee!  I have been impressed with how friendly all taxi drivers are and not being ripped off due to the fact I am a white person.  I seem to have very interesting conversations with them all ranging from British Monarchy and why Prince Charles actually is not Welsh (Prince of Wales is a confusing title) to differences in forms of government in both countries.  They are providing interesting insight into the country.

Anyway thats all for now.  Take Care CCx

Odd and ends

Some bits and pieces of everyday life

1.    Power cuts – three in three nights last week.  Ranging from a couple of nights to the whole night.  I made a resolution one night to get all cooking done in daylight.

2.    Nshima.  This is the national staple food. A maize based thick porridge (slightly more stodgy and firm) which is served with two relishes (often pumpkin leaves) and eaten with the hands.  I have tried and am not a fan. Personally I think it tastes and texture of cardboard, however the making of it is considered an art form and as one taxi driver said to me today ‘my stomach needs it three times every day or it will be the end of the world’. Zambians love their nshima.

3.    Religion. Zambians like to know which church you go to.  I have been asked the question many times over the past couple of days, so I try to explain that I don’t and this is not usual in England.  They find this hard to contemplate so often follow it up with ‘But you do believe?’ or ‘Who made you?’.   Religion is a intrinsic part of daily life here, with people wearing their best clothes attending Church on Sunday for 2 to 4 hour services.

4.    ‘Muzunga’ – (white person). Whenever I am walking to work, or back home, going on my recent morning runs or going to the local shop all children like shouting muzunga as a greeting followed with ‘how are you?’. You cannot walk anywhere without getting this greeting and no response in required – just a smile and a wave.  You are then treated to one of the highlights of Africa – a smiling child face followed by laughter.  I am learning to catch them out by saying ‘ ‘ which means ‘I’m okay’ in the local dialect.

5. Nigeria films and soaps are the new Bollywood - (actually known locally as NollyWood!).

What a girl has to do……………….

OK to celebrate my last birthday of my 20’s a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  Eat chocolate and drink wine to celebrate the age of 30 now being less than 362 days away.  So that is what I did – cooked  chocolate brownies and enjoyed a glass of white.  Maybe that is not part of the authentic African experience.

End of my first week

This might be slightly tedious for those of you who are not accountants but as I set this blog up for other willing accountants I should write to a certain degree about what I am actually doing.  To be honest this week has been a slow first week , mostly because it has taken to time to get my head about the complexities of Bwafwano.  It is an organisation which has offers a comprehensive range of services and programmes, and in the past has been funded from a range of donors.  However at present it is only receiving funding from Cecily’s Fund in the UK for the education of vulnerable children and Comic Relief for a TB programme.  It has taken a while for them to talk about the present and not the past.  I do feel like I have made some small achievements in the first week  - teaching them about backing document up and creating  a new process to produce the  donor payslip. 

The Neighbourhood

A couple of pictures for you to picture my local neighbour -  a lot different to Liverpool Street!