April in Africa

Alas, my African sojourn has come to an end. My last few days on the Dark Continent were spent on the beautiful Kwazulu-Natal coast of South Africa north of Durban in an opulent beach house owned by Anne’s sister-in-law who lives in Capetown. We knocked around there for three days, filling up only a tiny bit of the large residence (“Which living room should we sit in this evening?”) and enjoying sun bathing by the pool and daily forays to the beach. What a journey… Read More »The Last Blog – Zinkwaze South Africa and Kelsey Graduates!

I’ve come to the end of an exciting and varied nine days in this beautiful, sparsely populated country. With only 2.2 million people (to Tanzania’s 45 million), Namibia has the lowest population density of any country in Africa and the second lowest in the world (after Mongolia).  The emptiness and open spaces combined with the variety of natural landscapes is a unique and wonderful combination. In addition, the tourist infrastructure is quite good so there are terrific places to stay. A Rough StartHowever, this chapter… Read More »Namibia!

The first week of my three week southern Africa travel blitz is over. I spent some of it at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and some at Chobe National Park in Botswana. Vic Falls, as people call it, is a hub of activity. The falls themselves are dramatic and beautiful and some of the action revolves around them but there are many activities that have nothing to do with the falls and are simply located there in order to take advantage of the tourist stream. The… Read More »Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park – Wow!

Tonight is my last night in Lusaka.  Tomorrow, I start three weeks of travel through southern Africa starting with a visit to Victoria Falls, followed by time in northern Botswana and then two weeks traveling with my friend Anne in Namibia, ending at a house owned by Anne’s in-laws on Zinkwazi Beach on KwaZulu-Natal coast north of Durban, S. Africa.  I’m excited! Yesterday was my last day with the negotiations coaches. I was taken aback when I showed up for our final day of training together… Read More »Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow & Lusaka’s Cool Culture

It was a tiring week but I am so excited about how well it went! The 32 coaches that we’ve been training for the past two weeks spent six days taking turns presenting the negotiations curriculum to about twenty 9th grade girls at Chazanga School on the outskirts of Lusaka. By yesterday, it was clear that, due to the fabulous job our coaches had done and the excellent curriculum, the girls had really gotten it. They showed us that they understand how positions differ from… Read More »A Triumph at Chazanga!

Two of the young women training to be coaches in the girls negotiation project had birthdays in the last few days so I thought I would profile them in my blog this week. On Friday, Nalishebo Mwale turned 23. This makes her about 11 months older than my daughter, Kelsey. Nalishebo grew up in Lusaka South Farms, a suburb on the outskirts of the city. She told me that she didn’t have many friends in her home area and has always been quiet and shy.… Read More »Happy Birthday Nalishebo and Theresa!

I’ve been in Zambia just over a week and am feeling right at home. And I’m finally getting a moment to write! The weather is just like Northern California, sunny and dry and not too hot. The dirt is no longer the reddish orange of East Africa but the more common brown I’m used to and it doesn’t seem to get into everything the way the dirt in Tanzania did. I’ve been able to start exercising like I do at home, which feels great. I’m… Read More »Lovely, Livable Lusaka!

My volunteer time at Sega and in Tanzania is coming to an end, although I will be in Africa for another two months. I’ve had my going away events with the girls and with the teachers.  The school is now on a two-week spring break so my last days here are very quiet but it’s giving me a chance to leave things in an organized fashion. Most recently, I’ve been investigating the market for a Sega Learning Center that would offer computer and English courses… Read More »Moving On

One day last week, I heard beautiful singing emanating from one of the classrooms. It may have been the day when religious leaders come to the school to meet with the girls who are interested. The singing was so pretty it reminded me of angels and I started to get emotional about the fact I will be leaving Sega in a couple weeks (but not back home until end of May – more on that another time). Then on Sunday, the girls got to set… Read More »Angels and Demons

Ok, for people with a really short attention span, my quick answer is “Not to Aid,” at least most of the time. That’s what I’ve come to after six months and three books on the subject. Granted this is fairly slim experience compared to the experts in the field but the experts don’t all agree and also you get what you pay for and reading this blog is free! When thinking about international development aid, I think there are two separate but related questions. The… Read More »To Aid or Not to Aid?