Working and learning in Zambia
By Rebecca Smith

Caledon's Rebecca Smith (top right) led a workshop for headpersons from the district of Masaiti in the Copperbelt province in Zambia, Africa.

"Muli bwanji?" (how are you?) my co-workers ask as I arrive at my internship placement each morning. "Bwino," I reply to them - I'm fine.

After a month and a half in Lusaka, I still feel new to the city although I also have a growing sense of home. Lusaka is not as exciting as some capital cities, but it is also quite safe and peaceful, and the people are friendly. The air here is dry and dusty, and the intense heat of October is finally breaking as the rainy season begins. The beautiful purple flowers of the jacaranda trees have fallen; another sign of the changing seasons.

Zambia is home to 72 different ethnic groups and even though English is the country's official language, I am making an effort to learn nyanja, the dialect that is most commonly spoken in Lusaka. Every day I ride the rickety blue and white second-hand Toyota minibuses to work, crammed in with the other passengers trying to get downtown. The minibuses are the only form of public transportation and you can get anywhere in the city for between 50 and 75 cents.

I am gradually getting used to the local staple food nshima, a type of cornmeal porridge made from ground maize, served with meat and vegetables and eaten with your hands. Caterpillar season has apparently arrived, because now in addition to bananas and oranges, street vendors are hawking giant baskets of (fried?) caterpillars, which are brought in from the rural areas and are quite delicious - or so they tell me.

Work is busy and unpredictable in the Human Rights unit of the NGO Women for Change. October 6, Women for Change celebrated its 15th anniversary of working to educate rural Zambians about human rights and to reduce poverty. What originally began as a project by the Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO), has since evolved into an independent Zambian organization that operates in each of the country's provinces with more than 250,000 beneficiaries to date.

One of the highlights of my work so far was going to a traditional ceremony of the Soli people, where the local senior chieftainess prayed for rain and blessed the seeds that will be planted for next year's crop.

I recently spent a week working in Ndola, an industrial city in Zambia's Copperbelt province.

As we traveled northward out of Lusaka the urban scenery faded away, replaced by a landscape dotted by round thatchedroof huts and giant ant hills. For five days, myself and three other colleagues facilitated workshops for village headpersons from four chiefdoms in the district of Masaiti. Each of Zambia's nine provinces is divided into districts, and within the districts are a number of chiefdoms. The headpersons have an important role in the chiefdoms and are respected members of their communities. After completing the workshops, Women for Change provides resources and materials for these traditional leaders to return to their communities and educate others.

We had an intense week of discussions on development, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, human rights, and governance. Some of the topics that came up included the practice of polygamy in their villages, the lack of basic health care and education services, their feelings of neglect and disconnection from their elected members of parliament, and the burden of caring for the growing number of orphans that have lost their parents to AIDS. While discussing gender equality, the men and women each wrote down how they spent an average day, from the time they wake up until going to sleep. The men estimated that they work about 11 hours per day, while the women figured they worked about 15 hours each day, cooking, washing, working in the fields, caring for children and sick family members, and collecting water and firewood. Most rural Zambians still live on less than $1 (U.S.) per day.

Even though I am settling into my new home in Lusaka, I am still bewildered by certain things.

Despite all the advancements that have been made in modern technologies, life expectancy in Zambia is actually decreasing and currently sits at about 37 years, mainly due to the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS but also as a result of chronic and widespread poverty throughout the country. I refuse to understand or accept this.

I know that my time in Zambia is relatively short and the weeks are already flying by. I am enjoying myself and learning a lot, and hopefully by the end of my six months here I will have some answers - but I suspect I will have many more questions, as well.

Cheltenham native Rebecca Smith, is on a student internship through the Canadian International Development Agency's annual International Youth Internship Program in Zambia, furthering human rights.