Monday 03.06.2013
We had a meeting with Lewis where we decided about the schedule for
this week and what we should do during our stay here. After that we
went to Kaloko School to interview teachers about the Dry Sanitation
Project. They told that it is a good project and very welcome and a
good solution, but still all the toilets were broken, locked or paths
grown full of weeds. In the afternoon I continued to do my importing
studies and discussed with IRDI about possible cooperation in the
Water's Edge school project during the summer. We also decided to
visit the Arcades mall in Lusaka and trying to sell an idea of adding
growbeds on top of the fish pool in the area. Our money from the GDTF
had still not came, student loan was hundreads less than KELA had
admitted and we found out that KELA wouldn't pay for any of our
living costs anywhere, since we were not living in a one certain
location during our whole stay in Zambia. I realised we are screwed
and spent the rest of the day doing exporting and aquaponic design
work to cover our costs of living during the summer.
Tuesday 04.06.2013
We went to Kandulwe school to interview the staff about the dry
sanitation project. They told that the project is welcome and they
believe in the benefits of it, but saw a problem in the low active
sanitation club formed by parents, who didn't take good care of the
toilet maintenance. The reason was believed to be the busy time
during the harvest.
In the afternoon we continued to do our exportation and Moringa
research to get money from somewhere. I also started to plan with
IRDI the aquaponic food growth design for 25 birth centers in hope
that this project could become a subject to my thesis work. We also
looked at the association's car which didn't get started due
electricity and maybe other problems as well.
Boys & Girls in Kandulwe School |
Wednesday 05.06.2013
Today morning we went to see the Sanitation Central Committee members
in the plot that was bought to them by GDTF. 4 out of 15 people
showed up - everyone but Michelo 2 hours late, but that gave us
plenty of time to eat good breakfast and wonder around a while. We
discussed about the project and how the participants felt about it.
We had a discussion about the costs running the clubs, which was
estimated to be 100KR/toilet in busy areas and probably less than
half in not so busy areas. Money would go to the person maintaining
the toilet and to the tools, such as cleaning equipment, toilet
tissue, soap etc.
In the afternoon we were supposed to meet the Dam Committees, but our
contact person had his phone off and we could not get to the meeting.
Instead we decided economical models how the clubs could finance
their activity and growth after the funding from GDTF stops. We
listed the solutions: Savings Groups, Business (such as hygiency &
sanitation stuff, gardening equipment and urea fertilizer canisters
with user manuals), Tree Nurseries for Moringa, Entrance Fees for
toilets, Gardening, Toilet Building, Membership Fees and
Government/NGO -funding from Zambia.
In the evening our struggle to get revenue without any property but
computers in the middle of Savanna continued.
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Sunset in the Forest |
Thursday 06.06.13
I gathered educational material from the internet to Pia Manzi's
Water's Edge project and made further studies about importing legislation and practices to Finland.
Friday 07.06.13
Today I did a card game for children to learn about germs. On the
other side were electron microscope pictures of different viruses,
bacteria, worms and other disease causing bastards. On the other side
were descriptions of the species and what diseases they are
responsible of. We are planning to distribute these to the schools as
soon as we get them printed and laminated.
In the afternoon we went to Ndola with Maria to extend our visas.
They told that they could not give the stamp becuse our visas were
still valid for three days.. So we have to come back next Tuesday -
when we have club visits already arranged - great. We ate at Danny's
which was a delicisous but rather expensive Indian cuisine - really
good food though. We slept in expensive and shitty Savoy hotel,
because all the lodges were full because of tomorrows soccer match.
Saturday 08.06.13
This city is turning into a conrete jungle because of the game. All
the people, including drivers and working staff seem to be drunk and
suffering from some kind of maniacy. We tried to escape to a
restaurant called Michelangelo's, but the football team itself was
there and they didn't let anyone in. People were berzerking and
traspassing the restaurant with blowing horns without realizing the
teams existance. That's good, because otherwise the whole place and
the team would have blown up. We walked to Main Masala to catch a
bus. The drunken driver parked the car without handbreak and it
accidentally slided into a ditch on the way and the tire punctured.
We got a ride from a local bishop and his wife and they threw us to
Mpongwe Junction. We were there two minutes before the truck to
Kaloko left. What a day. Some luck as well!
Sunday 09.06.13
We did some education booklets with Maria about hygiene and safe use
of excreta fertilizers.
Two British medical students from Cambridge University arrived to
work in the clinic. We welcomed them warmly since they seemed really
nice. Scott - businessman from the neighbour - took us all to eat to
the local restaurant. He offered the servings and invited us to his
house to Ndola in two weeks. A true gentleman!
Monday 10.06.13
We started the club visits with Maria and David Munyati. We went to
Luesanga & Kandulwe and everything went well. After that we went
to Ndola with Maria and David to se Michelo in the hospital. We ate
at Michelangelo's and got group picture with the coaches of the
National Soccer Team. Wow. Pizza was really good there and drinks
cold, good and cheap. Definately worth visiting again. We slept in
the New Ambassadors Hotel.
Tuesday 11.06.13
We paid 120KR extra (totally 280KR) to have a shower with no hot
water, lamps were not working, room had mold, tv wasn't working,
water was leaking from the roof outside the window etc. Shitty night
in total. In the morning we went to ask for refund for the 120KR but
the shitty service took us 4 hours to get the money back with really
bad feelings. Never going in to that shit hole again - and would
probably not be welcome after the arguing inside. The immigration
office visit took about a minute and we had the stamps. We met David
in the central and took a taxi to the road side where we took a bus
to Mpongwe Junction. We still had time to interview Lumombwe club
before returning back to cozy home-hut.
Wednesday 12.06.13
We interviewed Mpongwe Junction Club and went to interview Mwaitwa
club. Unfortunately the chairperson of the club had been drunk in the
meeting where timetables were decided so he had mixed them totally.
No members were present so we left early.
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Maria, David & Artson in the Urea Fertilizer Test Garden |
Thursday 13.06.13
Mwaitwa chairperson didn't remember to inform about our visit to
Kamabaya so no members present. Took few pictures and asked what we
could from the teachers and at least had time to eat. Kasamwa and
Kwesha interviews went well.
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On the Road to the Villages |
Friday 14.06.13
We got all the planned interviews done today! Kaloko Junction,
Luansobe and Kantolo were all having members present. Big thanks to
Central Committee Chair Person Artson who stubbornly stood beside us
the whole week, After the meetings we started preparing educational
booklets with Maria about organic pesticides and ecological
sanitation.
We got a contract pleasing both parties with a South-African Moringa exporter to start importing in Finland. Having a good feeling about the cooperation.
We got a contract pleasing both parties with a South-African Moringa exporter to start importing in Finland. Having a good feeling about the cooperation.
Kaloko Villagers welcoming us warmly |
Saturday 15.06.13
We continued to prepare the teaching manuals for the schools with
Maria. Probably did something else too but don't remember now
afterwards at all.
Sunday 16.06.13
We continued to prepare the teaching manuals for the schools with
Maria.
Monday 17.06.13
A club visit to meet several clubs at the same time with Maria,
Emmanuel, David and Artson. The meeting was mostly in Bemba so
couldn't follow that much but apparently Emmanuel was interviewing
the clubs about their situation, plans, challenges and needs.
Boreholes, waterpumps and guidance for business development and
organizational planning seemed to be common needs. We told a bit
about our results and conclusions and tried to motivate the clubs to
continue working together for a better future. We had two meetings
during the day Kandulwe & Lumombwe.
Tuesday 18.06.13
Today similar visits to Kamabaya and Kaloko Junction. Same program,
same challenges occured and similar speeches were held. When we were
returning back home at six o'clock in the evening we heard from
Emmanuel that we should keep a two hour lecture about agroforestry,
natural pesticides, business development and Moringa during the
following day's workshop. We worked on the presentations for a while
in the evening but were so tired that decided to continue working
early in the morning.
Wednesday 19.06.13
We woke up at 6.30 to start finishing the presentation materials but
noticed that electricity didn't work. We continued doing the
structure with pens and paper until the electricity started to work
somewhere around eight. We were supposed to be ready by ten, but
having to eat and print the business model canvases for the clubs
made this impossible. Especially when we had to wrestle with the
printer about half an hour and got an extra task to print 30 pages
more club indicator sheets to the workshop. We got to the Emmanuel
Church where the workshop was held around 10.30, but luckily everone
else was late as well. Mr. Mutamba kept the crowd busy and
precisioning the exit strategy until 13.30 when we finally got the
stage. We told the villagers about the differencies between wasteful
and sustainable nutrient cycles, mono- and permaculture, advantages
of agroforestry and ways to make natural pesticides from local tree
leaves. After lunchbreak David shared the club indicator forms and we
continued to discuss about business development with Business Model
Canvas and benefits of growing Moringa. We also distributed around
200 seeds of Moringa Oleifera to each club on behalf of Central
Committee and encouraged the clubs to work together to learn and
benefit from the knowledge they received during the workshop.
Atmosphere was really good and I believe this workshop triggered a
lot of trust and will to cooperate among the clubs and central
committee. The evening I spent writing the diary for the last nearly
two weeks that had been forgotten completely. Phew.
Lecturing in the Workshop in Emmanuel's Church, Kaloko |
Thursday 20.06.13
This day we did absolutely nothing work related. The kitchen hut was
in heavy use, we cleaned up our hut and washed the laundry to be
prepared to leave smoothly the next day.
Friday 21.06.13
Today we still interviewed Mwaitwa and Luampesa clubs. After the
meetings we headed back to our hut to pack our stuff. Scott from the
neighbor took us to Ndola with his truck and we spent the romatic
trip with Maria in the back of the truck. Scott's family's house was
really nice and a house in the best condition I had seen in Zambia so
far. We spent a really relaxing and nice mid-winter weekend in really
generous and warm atmosphere full of hospitality.
Monday 24.06.13
Scott's wife Nelly kindly dropped us to the bus station where we
jumped to head for Lusaka. Sadly the details from this and the
following days are again a bit lost, since writing the diary was
forgotten in all the hustle. Afterall we arrived back safely, Karri
welcomed us warmly back to the Finnish Compound and we spent a few
days in Lusaka just planning for the future, searching contacts from
Zambia and chilling out.
Thursday 27.06.13
We finally got our reports from the Kaloko trip finished and packed
our stuff for a long weekend in Livingstone and Mosi-Oa-Tunya
(Victoria Falls). Sooo exited, yee yee yee..!
Friday 28.06.13
We headed for Livingstone in a day bus almost arriving late to the
ride. Gladly TIA (Time In Africa) saved our bottoms this time, since
the bus left 40 minutes late. Maybe we'll learn not to rush during
the following weeks.. Livingstone seemed like a clean and neat place
and the evening and night in Jollyboys was really nice. We also
quickly met Sari and her husband Given quickly, since they came and
assured that we get to the hostel safely.
Saturday 29.06.13
We didn't waste any time hanging around but jumped into the morning
bus towards Victoria Falls. The place was so amazing that the words
can't describe it. That's why I'll just add the pictures here.
We returned in the evening, went out to eat and to paaaarty at
Fezbar. Great day!
Sunday 30.06.13
We spent a hangover in the Waterfront Lodge Camping area, where black
helicopters and army dicks were harassing the nature's peace by
apparently protecting the notorious war criminals Mr. & Mrs. Bush
that were living in the same compound. Other apes were hanging in the
trees and as ruthlesly trying to steal everything they considered
valuable - food in their case. In the end they were at least cute and
funny faces. We sunbathed in the pool next to beautiful views of
Zambezi river. Evening was spent in Livingstone city center, where we
returned from late at night.
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