The last two blog posts were written in Norwegian for the
purpose of making sure I was understood correctly, so there would be no
misunderstandings. Firstly I wrote about my friend Anja who I’ve shared “my”
Lusaka with, and the second was a look-back at the 10 months here in Zambia as
a sport volunteer, and what’s been good and bad.
Now it’s getting real close to the departure, and I get
loads of pictures from my family back home where all my 3 brothers, my sister
and my little nephew (5 ½) are home having a blast. During the last week I have
been finishing my final exam in the “Sport, Culture and Development” study which
I’ve been doing at the same time as I’ve been volunteering. The final page was
written on Friday and it was good to get it done, 35 pages in total where I
wrote about PE in Lusaka. Since then I’ve said good byes to friends, me and
Anja had a farewell dinner with my host family on Saturday, been chilling by
the pool to try to get some darker skin-color (not as easy as it sounds) and
going to the gym (SK14).
On Tuesday we have a “end-of-service” meeting with all the
volunteers in Zambia (Livingstone and Lusaka) were we’ll talk about what’s been
going on for the last year, (what can improve, and what has been good), this
will last until Thursday and then we’ll be flying out of Africa. So until then
I’ll say goodbye to my host organization ZAAA and pack my last few things. I’ve
been to the market and bought some African souvenirs that will always remind me
of the past year, in Zambia.
Leaving stuff
At the farewell dinner yesterday I gave my host family a
photobook as a goodbye gift, and I’m sure they appreciate it a lot which
contained lots of pictures from the past 10 months. I’m going to make one for
myself as well when I get home.
I got a lot of stuff here in Lusaka, and most of it is
getting old so I’m going to donate lot of the stuff to charity organizations, my
laptop will go to my host sister, and my bike will go to my host brother. On my
way home, in Johannesburg, I’m planning on doing some clothes shopping so I got
something to wear at home (my friends have seen enough naked pictures).
What now?
Yeah, what now? I’m pretty much going straight home to
Fresvik where I grew up, and I’m going to spend my summer holiday there, doing
some work as a mountain guide (it’s the perfect job since I miss the mountains
so much!). I’m going to get some visitors from the US, UK and Jæren, but other
than that I will spend the summer with my local friends and family.
In August, just after I’ve guided the last visitors in
Fresvik I’m going to Oslo with all the other volunteers for a weekend, there we
will get information about how to recruit new volunteers. It’s a part of the
volunteer program, and we have to do 25 day of information work during the next
year for Idrettens Fredskorps. After the weekend in Oslo I will be heading 2
hours north of the capital, to a small town called Evenstad in Hedmark. Here I
am going to study Wilderness Management
for 3 years. It’s going to be very different to live in the deep forest where
it’s no mountains and lots of snow, but I’m looking very much forward to it. Another
chapter in my life.
Myths about Zambia/Zambians
I’ve heard a lot of things about Zambia and Zambian people
before I moved here. A lot of it is wrong, and some of it is correct. I want to
make a list for you, so you’ll avoid any awkward moments if you go to Zambia.
- · Zambians live in trees. No, they don’t. They have huts, houses, apartments etc
- · Zambia is dangerous. No I was warned about this and it’s not true at all. I’ve never felt threatened, never mugged or been attacked, neither any of my friends.
- · Zambians are very friendly. Very true indeed
- · Zambians call you, hang up after 1 second and wait until you call them back. True
- · There are elephants running through the towns. Not in Lusaka, but in the villages, yes
- · People are starving. Like all over the world, people are starving, but there are a lot of people who are doing fine. Actually there is a lot of overweight Zambians as well
- · You can’t drink water from the tap. You can, Anja did it, and a lot of Zambians do it. But my family is on the safe side and we always boil our water.
- · Zambians can’t drive. No they can’t. They are rude and horrible in the traffic. People die every day here, but they are trying to improve it.
- · Your donated clothes go to the poor children in Africa. No, unfortunately not. I’ve seen big bags of donated clothes from the US and UK which are being sold on the street. It’s a shame to see all the stuffed toys go to the children who got money, and not to the children who might need them the most.
- · The country is very corrupt. At a certain level, yes. I hear about corruption a lot, and I’ve a friend who had to pay the police officer to avoid a night in jail. It’s fairly common, but it’s better than for 20 years ago, I’m being told.
- · The men have several wives. Some men have many lovers as well as a wife, but this is more of less accepted by the people here.
- · Lots of HIV/AIDS. Somewhere between 10-20% of the Zambians have HIV/AIDS. This is a big problem, and I never think it will distinguish.
- · Zambians love soap series. Yes, a lot of families use their afternoons/evenings to watch South American soap series (Telemundo is a popular channel)
So now I hope you’ve learned some more about Zambia, and
this might be my last blog post before I fly back home. This year has been a
true experience of how to live in Africa. Even though I never lived in a mud
hut in the village I’ve gotten to know how the Africans behave, work, think,
talk, eat, behave etc. etc. etc.
I’m very glad I made the decision to travel down here and
live a year in Zambia, but I don’t think I would do it again. Time to go home to Norway.
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| Departure date, 4th of August 2013 |
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| Last day at work, 2nd of June 2014 |
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