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Archive for the 'Zambia' Category

Arrival of Group 2

Published
on June 29, 2010
in News, Trips and Zambia
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The Red Sea was too far to the east to see, but we saw the enormous dunes of the Sahara, and more dunes, sand, sand, sand, dunes, sand sand, dunes, sand, sand, on the flight to Addis Ababa. Thatched roofs greeted us on the approach to the airport. Approaching Harare, the smell of wood smoke filled the plane. We could see that the smoke was from agricultural fields that farmers were burning to clear of last summer’s crop debris. We also saw that all the mowed area on both sides of the runway was being cut by a team of 8 men using machetes, something you would never see back home, and a big hint that life is harder here than what we are used to.

-John Woodwell
Teacher
Getting here was harder than I thought but I got here. I was feeling pretty nervous, scared, sad, and many other things. As of now I feel like I’m on top of the world;
which I pretty much am. When I was on the plane I felt like I was passing heaven it was amazing I had never seen anything so beautiful. I mean if I go to a good park in
capitol heights the sky is always pretty. But today I saw the true beauty behind the sky. Looking at the clouds set my mind and spirit to peace. I knew that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else. Even though I ran into a few very interesting people, smells, and the almost 26 hour flight; I am fine. I’m not scared of anything I’m ready to do what I came here to do and then some. So Long story short I’m great and I’m alive!
-Paige
25 hours. Over 10,000 miles. Man, that was horrible. If purgatory exists, I’m pretty sure it would be somewhat like the plane ride to Lusaka. It’s not good, it’s not bad, and there’s no sense of time or place because of the jetlag and high-speed flying. It’s just a feeling of nothingness and existence while you watch the world go on before your eyes. However, the last 2 hours of the plane ride was amazing. The suspense leading up to the arrival at Lusaka was great, and the scenery…oh god the scenery. The sunrise looks exactly like it does in the opening sequence of the Lion King, it was amazing. We also got to see an overview of the Nile River, and one of our supervisors Jeremy shot some great pictures. When we got to the guest house where we will be staying, I was delighted to find that it’s a lot more…luxurious than I had imagined. My spirits are high and I cannot wait for tomorrow. I hope I’ll make it back in one piece.
-Daniel

Two Wheels Saving Thousands of Lives!

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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World Bicycle Relief (http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/) assembles custom-designed bicycles for African road conditions in Zambia and provides them to aid workers, teachers, and students. Their parts are made in Taiwanand India (by Tata Motors), shipped by sea container to Durbin, South Africa, and then trucked to Zambia, where they are assembled. Today both LearnServe Groups made bikes and tomorrow they will be delivered to a rural
community east of Lusaka.

Today we visited World Bicycle Relief’s (WBR) office. Everyone was in groups of twos and partnered up with a mechanic, I remember hearing Elizabeth saying, the mechanics can only look and tell us what to do. My first thought was “I have no type of experience with building a bike, so how am I going to build this bike?”

Building the bike was actually easier than what I thought it was going to be. I felt very pleased with myself after building the bike that will help a woman taking care of her family by herself; or get her to work on time. The bikes also help AIDS relief volunteer to do site visits to help HIV/AIDS patients.

I really like how WBR operates because it’s beneficial both ways. The mechanics and the staff know that their hard work is going to last a long time but also teach responsibility to others. WBR makes recipients of the bikes sign a contract basically saying that they will use the bike to take care of their family or get to school and etc. and not using the bike to go to the “beer hall.” I really like WBR and the impact that they are making not only in Africa but throughout the world.

Dominique

 

Building a bike for someone in need is a good thing. All throughout Africa, many people have to walk miles to get to place to place. Most young women tend to chores around the house and their younger siblings. Most of these young women arrive to school late. To combat this issue F. K. Day, the founder of World Bicycle Relief, decided to start a program in which he donates thousands of bikes to people in need. As a volunteer at WBR I helped build a bike for someone in need. I felt good knowing that I built a bike a young girl get to school. I can’t wait to give the bikes away to the people that live in Chongwe District (east of Lusaka) because I know it will bring smiles to everyone.

Eriel

Simple Solutions

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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While working at Chikumbuso, our team filled any small amount of downtime by playing on the school’s play pump, a merry-go-round-like apparatus which pumps 5 liters of water into a storage tank every full rotation. The children at Chikumbuso love it! With wide smiles and squeals of laughter, they hang upside down and every which way as it spins.

Today, our group had the privilege of meeting the finance director for Water Solutions, the organization responsible for the installations of Play Pumps in Zambia. The director gave us a more in depth presentation of the pumps and their organization. Water Solutions works closely with USAID to target communities in Zambia in need of fresh water. In today’s presentation we saw two pumps. The first was a solar powered pump in a rural area called Chongwe, and the second was the first play pump ever installed 5 years ago at a school very similar to Chikumbuso. We learned that a play pump, at $10,000, is half cost to install as a solar powered pump. The solar powered pump, however, better serves an entire community, because of the large amount of water it collects. On average, a typical household in Zambia will use up to 100 liters of water a day. This pump, fitted with a solar panel that generates 480 watts and 180 volts of energy, collects water constantly into a 2,000 liter tank. People will walk up to 2 kilometers to the pump for their daily water supply.

Both types of pumps respond efficiently to the same need for clean water but with varying solutions appropriate to a community’s context. It is incredible to be in a space and among people who seem to be working successfully together towards a common goal. I feel grateful to witness such simple but ingenious solutions to significant needs.

Chrtstine Hutchinson,
is an art teacher at the Luke Moore Academy in DC.

A Different Sort of Sunday

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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On our first Sunday in Zambia, both LearnServe Zambia groups were invited to the house of the Director of World Bicycle Relief in Zambia. To commemorate our safe arrival to Zambia, our hosts had prepared a delicious roasted pig, baked macaroni and cheese, bean salad, and garlic bread! Next to the pig was an array of different sauces and dips ranging from hot and spicy to mild and sweet. Our host’s home was beautiful, complete with a backyard full of tropical plants where the cook-out was held.

As an added bonus, our hosts invited dancers from the Africa Directions Theater to perform traditional Zambian dances. Africa Directions is an organization in Zambia that educates youth about reproductive health and HIV AIDS. The organization stresses the need to educate adolescents through music, singing and acting. The performance was lively, engaging and especially exiting! Nobody had warned us about the entertainment for the evening. Instead, the dancers came running out of the woods screaming, singing, and scaring us all. Throughout the evening, the performers explained to us that because Zambia is located in the center of Southern Africa, most of the traditional dancing focuses on movement of the hips and waist. After the performance, they invited guests to come up and do some dancing. The dance company leader would walk around choosing people at random. Each time the man approached me, I prayed and pleaded that he would not choose me, and thankfully, I was never forced to go up and dance in front of everyone.

As the event was coming to a close, Emma, Ms. Riley and I gathered to listen to some guitar playing. The guitarist name was Phillip. He told us that he had been playing the guitar for two years, and that his favorite genre of music was alternative music. He sang a dozen songs for us, and even took some song requests toward the end of the evening. He did a great cover of the song “Home” by Daughtry as well as several songs he had written by himself.

The entire evening was like a culmination of different cultures and customs. The fact that the event was held at the house of an American reminded me that I was still a guest in Zambia. But on the other hand, the music, dancing and singing only deepened my understanding and appreciation for the people and the country.

-Raissa

Haggling at a Market

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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Two students wrote about haggling at one of Lusaka’s unique craft markets. Run by the Dutch Reformed Church in Lusaka, this market is open on the last Saturday of the month and attracts vendors and craft artists from all over Zambia and neighboring Zimbabwe.

The Market! El Mercado! On Saturday we went to a craft market in Lusaka. The market is open on the last Saturday of the month by the Dutch Reformed Church in Lusaka. It has about 100 vendors and supported by ex-patriots. Going to a any market and haggling was a brand new experience for me since I am very shy. I learned to haggle with people I’d never met before, lowering the price from 120,000 to 70,000 Kwachas! Haggling at the market was a nerve-wracking and empowering at the same time. I spent the rest of the time walking up and down the market multiple times looking for gifts for people and picking up an assortment of knick knacks for myself along the way.

-Domonique

 

People from all over Zambia and Zimbabwe came to sell anything from bracelets made out of elephant hairs to bowls to pipes to even bow and arrows. The food was great, I got Chinese food. There was a great mix of foods from other cultures such as burgers, fried chicken, fries, and kabobs. When entering the market, I was overwhelmed with amazing smells of food from China, Zambia, and other places.

The market was a great experience: the shy people got to “haggle” and the outgoing people got to understand how to haggle and argue. When walking around the market, I could sense vendors staring at our group. Once I made eye-contact, they would confidently strut up to me to sell their items. What I learning today was the power of the “haggling!” Many of these items were 15,000-180,000 Kwachas (about $3-$40). The rule of “haggling” is to try lowering the price and if they refuse to lower the price say you have to go and then walk away; and then they’ll come running after you with a lower price!

-Tammy

A Bittersweet Goodbye

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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On Friday (June 25th) was LearnServe Zambia Group 1 last day at Chikumbuso. I found myself on the verge of tears several times during the day because I knew we would be leaving and never coming back. In only three days I had formed personal relationships with some of the women, teachers, and children. One girl in particular, named Elida, became a source of encouragement for me. She was thrown out of her house at sixteen, because of a misunderstanding, and before she could make it to Chikumbuso, she was raped. She has a two year old daughter named Kelly and she lives in Chikumbuso. Despite her present situation, I found her to be one of the most optimistic and liveliest there! She taught me a great deal of words in the local language Nyanja. Speaking in Nyanja helped me a lot in bonding with the people there, because they could see that I was making an effort to connect with them and not another common tourist.

Though the departure was sad, the goodbye celebration was very uplifting! The children showered us with poems, scriptures, dances, and songs. We were also able to share a couple of songs, and my all-time favorite dance, the Cupid Shuffle. At the end they thanked us for bringing some joy to their lives, giving them gifts, spending time, and getting to know them, when really they have given us (or at least me) a much more meaningful gifts. I shall never forget the ideals, principals, and love I found in Chikumbuso. I am a more aware and appreciative person from this one experience than I was before!

-Yasmine

Second year visiting Chikumbuso

Published
on June 28, 2010
in Trips and Zambia
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Yesterday was our final day at Chikumbuso. The Chikumbuso school was filled with many memories that were both fun and awkward. The widow’s project, the bag making has been improving since I first visited last year. Also in Chikumbuso they had started a new program where young men turn glass bottles into wine glasses and cups. After seeing how much Chikumbuso has changed and flourished in only one year I think that it only means more success for both of the programs.

One new memory I have is of two girls I remember from last year named Esther and Peggy. They both wrote a letter to me. I thought it was really cool that both of them remembered me because it showed me how friendship can last even though them in a long time. I also realize that I’ve forgotten about the many other friendships that I have formed. From now, I would like to renew these friendships that I had lost many years ago.

-Ayinde

Beautiful Voices

Published
on June 25, 2010
in News, Trips and Zambia
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The Chikumbuso project operates a school for orphans, and includes many other projects, one of which helps widows earn an income.  Sewing and crocheting projects help turn found (free) or inexpensive materials into a higher value product.  The sale of those products sustains the widows and also helps to support Chikumbuso’s projects.

Important lesson learned today: generosity is an action that creates an equal and opposite reaction, always and no matter what people have to give.

Raissa and I walked into the store at Chikumbuso, trying to look casual. Elizabeth had warned us and wasn’t sure how women working at the store, would receive our gift we brought along. We walked around slowly, as the rest of the group came in twos and threes. The bags on display, crocheted by women at Chikumbuso, were as unique and beautiful as a hundred desert snowflakes. We marveled at the simple ingenuity that brought them about. Using plastic shopping bags as “yarn” to crochet handbags, purses and messenger bags, bringing a whole new meaning to sustainable production.

I didn’t even see Elizabeth come in with our contributions before I heard the shouts and whistles. The women clapped their hands, and smiled at us openly for the first time. Through the language barrier came astonishment, wonder, and thanks in a thousand fragmented sounds, like rainbows scattered from a prism. I was overwhelmed by the immense warmth that two bags of recycling had produced.

The vice president of the project thanked us formally in English on behalf of the widows and Chikumbuso as a whole. She didn’t need to translate—there are some sentiments that completely transcend language—but it made us feel work important, and our presences appreciated.

By this time, the contents of the bag were spread out on the carpets where the women work. Women threw the plastic bags up in the air letting it rain down on their heads, laughing and talking very quickly. Then, one of the women began to sing. It was a call-and-response song. Her voice was strong and warm. When everyone else joined in, the effect was increased exponentially—it felt like the room itself would lift up and float away. There were at least three parts to the song, and the harmony was so wonderfully complex and yet reassuringly stable. It sounded complicated than it actually was, because I found myself singing the middle part. Some of the women danced on the carpets, tapping their feet and moving their hands and hips to the beat of fifty hands clapping in unison. They mirrored the beat of our hearts. That is where they came from, and it is also what they spoke to.

-Emma

Just some bags

Published
on June 25, 2010
in News, Trips and Zambia
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My story is about giving the widows of Chikumbuso a few plastic bags.

It was after the second activity of the day and Elizabeth came into the back room where a few of us students were hanging out. She asked us to go and “browse” in the bag shop that Chikumbuso owns. So we go and “browse.” After 5 minutes of “browsing” Elizabeth walks into the store hands held high, holding 2 of the largest ziplock bags full of plastic bags. All of the widows sitting on the bench next to the front desk instantly released cries of joy. As Elizabeth walked over to them, their excitment visibly grew with each of the 5 steps that Elizabeth took. The widows then started going through the bags and then one of them stood because she was either speaking in English or she was filled with too much joy to express, her words failed her. But she managed to thank us for the bags and she tried to express what they meant to her.

The widows moved over to their work mats to sort the bags and as they sorted the bags they began to sing out of pure joy. As these women were singing so beautifully it made me realized just how happy they were to receive these simple plastic bags. These bags would help them feed their families, help them improve their community, and help fund Chikumbuso. These bags could do a million times more good here in Zambia, for these widows, than back home in the US being recycled in front of Giant.

-Grace

Tattoo

Published
on June 24, 2010
in News, Trips and Zambia
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Today marks the beginning of our three day project at the Chikumbuso Womens and Orphans Project. We were greeted by over 200 children, who were in single filed lines by grade level. Their ages ranged from three to eleven. At the direction of their teacher, the students began to sing in unison, “We welcome you. We welcome you. Welcome to Chikumbuso. Welcome to Chikumbuso.”  We all watched  with gratitude and felt honored and privileged to be received into their community, but slightly disappointed that it would only be for a short time.

After introductions and a short tour of the school, we headed to a shaded gazebo to begin session of face painting and crafts. The students were eager to learn how to make bracelets and did quite well despite the language barrier. Face painting was a real hit! We painted the students faces with rainbows, the sun and stars. I was surprised when a young boy about six or seven years old came over to me, rolled up his sleeve and said, “I want tattoo.” Stunned, I asked what kind of tattoo he wanted. His reply was, “a scorpion.” So, I dipped my brush into the brown paint and drew the best scorpion that I could on his arm. After I finished, he looked down, gave a nod of approval, puffed his chest out, flexed his arm and ran to show all of his friends his “new tattoo.” I let out a sigh of relief and thought this is going to be the beginning of an amazing journey.

 

Kim Riley

Teacher, The S.E.E.D. Public Charter School