The Dutch Reform Market – Lusaka, Zambia

Another month is coming to an end. Time flies… especially around here.

Every Sunday, there is a craft market at a shopping center called Arcades, and every last Saturday of the month, there is a similar, but much bigger market in Kabulonga, less than a 5 min drive from our home. It is Lusaka’s biggest market, where vendors come to sell mostly handmade crafts. There are food and entertainment also, so there is something for everybody.

I find this market very enjoyable, mainly because I get the opportunity to bargain in a bazaar-like environment. Unfortunately, some of the vendors know us already, and therefore there is not much negotiation to be done. However, generally speaking, the following is the “normal” experience:

For anything one wants to buy, the seller dreams up a random number, and says it out loud. Thereafter, the negotiation begins, and after a few times back and forth the parties settle on a price that’s usually much less than a third of the originally quoted price.

I have come to the realization that most everything does have a standard price after all. The key is to offer the price you are willing to pay and to be prepared to walk away. I cannot tell you how often the sellers followed us after we left their area, to offer us the item we wanted at the price we wanted. Once you buy a few items you’ll get a good feel for it, but it takes some “experience”. Of course, that makes tourists very vulnerable to overpaying, but they often feel that they have gotten a “deal” anyway, because they negotiated the price down a little bit. As long as everybody is happy, it’s all good.

After the “shopping” is done, we usually go to the food section of the market. There is a great variety of international foods. Probably the most famous vendor in the market is the “noodle lady”, who reminds me of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi”, but I don’t particularly enjoy her noodles. I am a big fan of the Polish family!!! Boereworst (no idea how you spell that) is my favorite. Not only is the meat prepared at home, but they also offer all sorts of homemade sauces.

The market is yet another event that makes our stay in Lusaka very memorable. Here are a few pictures of various parts of the market:

Last minute touches

Hippos are VERY popular!!

My "dream hippos" weigh a LOT!!

The "noodle lady" & associates

My #1.... COOK!!!

The "Real" Zambia

As part of the Baha’i activities we engage in, we hold junior youth empowerment classes on the weekends that we don't travel. On average, about 20– 25 junior youth (ages about 10 to about 17) attend. Although generally junior youth classes are more focused on individual and spiritual development, these particular classes feel more like us helping kids to learn/improve their reading skills. I am more than happy to do that, as I believe that education is an essential step in the continued development of this country. The class is held at a compound, right outside of the kids’ homes, and life in compounds is what I’d like to describe in this post.

Before coming to Zambia, I always thought highly of compounds. In my mind, I pictured exclusive areas of town, where expats occupied big mansions. I imagined a tall wall around the complex secured with barbwires and cameras and military personnel guarding all gates.

Well, compounds here are just about the exact opposite. The majority of Lusaka’s population lives in compounds, and we have yet to see a single non-local, other than ourselves, when we visit. There are several compounds around town, and from what I have seen they are very similar.

Most homes are made of small one or two room brick buildings. Each one is comparable to the size of the office I had back in the States (although I did stay in the office until morning hours (during budget season) I never considered fully moving in). Sometimes a few homes are attached, and many don’t have any windows. Several people live in one room. That one room functions as the master bedroom, children bedrooms, family room and dining room. The “kitchen”, “restroom” and “showers” are located outside. The kitchen is made up of one or two small, portable fire pits that are powered by charcoal. The restroom is located somewhere outside of the homes, and is shared by several families. Finally, I have yet to see a shower. I have seen people use buckets of water to wash themselves, so I assume that’s how most of the locals shower.

Further, electricity is not available in most homes. Overall, we heard that less than one third of the population has access to electricity (and the population that does have access, loses power on a regular basis). The last home we visited had an old, small, black and white TV, powered by a car battery.

Outside, trash is often compiled in mini-landfills and dogs, chickens and sometimes goats roam around.

About 80% of kids run around bare feet. During our last visit, we saw a small group of them make a fire and play with its ashes – painting their faces with it. Some children use “metal strings” as toys. One kid attached such a string to an empty plastic gas-container and pretended it was a car. A few boys played football (soccer) by using what appeared to be a bunch of rolled up plastic bags as a ball.

Grown-ups are also around of course. In between the densely constructed “homes” are small markets, where one can buy fruits, vegetables, clothes, live chickens, and pretty much anything else you can imagine – with respect to life’s basic necessities, of course. You also see iron workers - usually they are making burglar bars, or simple frames for doors and windows - and “stone-workers” – people use hammers and other tools to “shred” big stones to different sizes. In addition, there are also bars and clubs in the middle of everything, which means that there are a few drunks running around (let’s not talk about financial management). Overall, however, I feel that people are very friendly, especially towards us muzungus (“non-locals”). A lot of them gather round to look at us. Most are curious to see why we are there.

During classes, which are held outdoors, of course, we get several interruptions, mainly by men wanting to “talk to me in private” (not sure if they want to kidnap me or offer me something to buy) and a few curious people who interrupt the class just to talk to us.

Although I am very impressed by the students, as they make an effort to make a difference in their own lives, I am also very concerned about the future of most of them, given their poor reading skills. Even the 12 or 13 year olds can barely read simple sentences. All of them seem happy to have this opportunity to get together and practice reading, and most participate actively.

Based on what I see, I assume that many of these kids cannot afford schools, or that the schools they attend aren’t effective. The experience of interacting with these kids, along with the experience gathered through volunteering for PCI and visiting its partners, has inspired Azadeh to start taking steps toward starting an NGO that would build schools and provide financial aid to students who need it most.

One of the classes


Behind the class is a "store", and to the left, well, mostly trash

The building behind the class = four homes



The inside of one of the homes

Creative!!

This is a school!!!

No electricity and no "real" windows

Students sang a welcome song

Lunch Time + Camera! Look at each individual happy face!

Restrooms for a school with OVER 250 students

What a weekend!! - South Luangwa, Zambia

Last weekend, we experienced what will likely be the “touristy highlight” of our stay in Zambia. We visited South Luangwa National Park, the most famous “safari destination” in Zambia (and maybe even in this region of Africa). Initially, we wanted to go to Zanzibar over the long weekend, and had planned on visiting South Luangwa in August, when it is warmer, in order to improve our chances of seeing animals (cats in particular). However, the travel agent talked us into changing our plans.

Travel

Although the flights by themselves were “normal”, the procedures were anything but “normal” from an American standpoint. We didn’t have any tickets or “confirmation numbers”, just itineraries. Once we arrived at the airport we walked through metal detectors, as is normal in the States and pretty much anywhere else I have been. However, on the way back, the detector went off when I walked through. No one cared, and then, the “guard” even left his post, and people just walked through the metal detector. It went off several times, and still…no one cared. Once on the flight, the first thing I noticed, is that the cockpit door was missing, which means that everyone had “easy access” to the cockpit. Although initially I was very uncomfortable about that, once we were in the air, I took advantage of this opportunity by moving to the seat right behind the pilots, and watched them operate for most of the flight.

To top things off, here is the most surprising fact: The entire trip (= at Lusaka Airport, at the Hotel and at Mfuwe Airport) no one asked any of us for any kind of ID (not even once). Anyone could have taken this trip instead of us, and it would have been just fine. Although these facts show “serious” lack of security, they also show that there is no need for “proper” security.

Lodge

Our lodge was located a couple of miles outside of the National Park, but had several wild animals on and around the property – Monkeys and baboons were all over, and just waited for opportunities to feed off of people’s leftovers, if the waiters didn’t clean up in time. We also saw two big elephants on property – as in between rooms that people were staying in. Further, from the “eating area”, we saw two hippos, and several antelopes.

Game Drives

We went on four game drives (= safaris) which lasted several hours each. This meant waking up around 5:00 am each day, but I (not so sure about “we”) was happy to do that. We left the property when it was still dark, and when it was very cold.

Each of us had our own “animal of choice” we wanted to see: Ketsia – Hyena (which later changed to “Pumba” (aka warthog)), Kathleen – Giraffes, Azadeh – Leopards, and me – Lions. Everybody was a winner. Kathleen more so than the others, not only because we saw a lot of giraffes, but mainly because we saw two giraffes fight, which was quite interesting. From another point of view Azadeh was the “main winner”, as it is much rarer to see leopards, than it is to see any of the other animals. Some people have been staying at the lodge for over a week, and have not seen any leopards.

Overall, we saw plenty of animals. Here is a list of a “few” of them: Hippos, elephants, buffalos, giraffes, hyenas, impalas, crocs, monkeys, baboons, warthogs, eagles, zebras, lions, and a leopard.
Big thanks to Willy, the main guide/driver, and to John the “spotter”. They were excellent. Willy has been doing this for almost 15 years, and drove through all sorts of terrains to get us to see animals.

I took well over a thousand pictures (remember the “film” days, when we only had 24 or 36 pictures to snap per roll?!). Here are a few of them:

Kids welcoming us - on the way to the lodge

Our rooms

A little too close for comfort, at least when we're not in a vehicle

Look below the elephant on the left!

Here's the entrance to the park

Beautiful Sunset

Beautiful SunRISE

Looks so peaceful, doesn't it?!

Here is "Pumba":

This is what a "giraffe fight" looks like

That must hurt! Right on the "knee"

Almost got the K.O., but not quite

How many crocs are in the picture below?

Can you see all three elephants?

Go Rice!!!!

Wildlife "Everywhere" - Literally ;)