The Zambian government exists of national, provincial and local offices, Choma is a local district council with planning authority. For maps the southern province GIS centre is well eguipped through german aid what saves my life here. After work it is time for a shower at Victoria Falls, due to the heavy rain last days, the falls thunders.
Today we visited chief Singanis traditional land (about 80% of the districts land is traditional land). The water and sanitation projects around the Siankope School and some villages are impressive. Choma is very well know for its water and sanitation projects.
The first 2 meetings each 3 hours long, my weekly lariam shot, no internet uhh no computers, pouring rainand no gutters, no filing, encroachements, no maps, beacons are stolen to make burglar bars AND upgrading of Chandamali, new developments, public spaces, airstrip (see above) and some nice collegues.
It is very fashionable to have a fence in the real Africa, the only good thing about them are the painted advertisements which sometimes are very nice pieces of art. This one is on the route to the big Choma market.
The next 6 months I will live in this nice, white house in Mochipapa, a high cost area in Choma. The semi-attached houses once belonged to the Choma Milling Company and they are one of the few that do not have a walled fence.
Mr. Zulu, mr. Kundigwa en mr. Ngulumbu have arrived this morning in Lusaka to meet me and we had a nice talk about the work they expect me to do, tomorrow I will drive with them to Choma! Moreover Ms Zulu has a sewing machine so I might be able to create some nice shoulderbags from the beautiful fabrics that I have seen here.
This week we have VSO in country training about the different aspects of Zambian Culture, development, gender issues etc. We stay on the campus of the University of Zambia which is absolutely the most green and lush campus I have ever seen, due to all the rain!
My monthly allowance is 2.2 million Kwacha, a text message to Netherlands is about 410 Kwacha and a nice chocolate bar is 11.000 Kwacha. Off course we had to do some shopping after receiving our allowance over February and March in cash..
Last 4 days I stayed in SKWIDland! it is a fictional country in which 10 volunteers participated to obtain a lot of understanding about working in a developing country. I have practiced various skills I will definitely use in Zambia. Just 4 more nights left in Den Haag!
It all comes together in Vienna; SCUPAD committee, old en new, FLUC, east en west, space invaders (invading the world with streetart), Schraubenfabrik (creative industry) and my articles in "Planning through Projects"exhibited in the museumshop. Imagine this in a backdrop of sepia colors and cobblestone streets with Austrin beers and wiener melanges, enough ingredients for a perfect weekend.
