'Fresh' back from a second field trip to the Eastern Province having presented the voucher proposition to (nonplussed?) farmers with the help of an interpreter. 9 hours on the bus has allowed some time for reflection...
Over an Nshima dinner on Wednesday the conversation got around to discovering the 'real' Africa. It was suggested to me that I needed to live in a typical rural house with no electricity, no water and a pit latrine to really do so, (I should add that urban Zambian Chris wasn't too impressed by this lifestyle.) I've been living in Zambia for 5 weeks, but in Lusaka primarily, with two weeks or so spent in rural areas. As I've previously mentioned, my home there is very secure , and it's pretty comfortable inside. Likewise, even staying at a terrible motel in Katete affords me electricity, (although the sockets buzz concerningly) and a bath (water intermittent.)
After entertaining thoughts of a masochistic last 3 weeks of work here spent operating out of a remote village I realised that I probably won't experience first hand some African realities if I'm going to get the work experience I'm here for. Someone else reminded me that doing things because you think you ought to do them ususally doesn't work out. Nevertheless there are some realities that I have come into contact with directly or indirectly.
The first is how much people are paid. I'm hiring people at the moment to drive the voucher project in the East and have discovered that a wage of $10 (£6 or ZMK50,000) a day is a decent salary here. This took some time for me to digest and I had to lobby for some sort of bonus system before I could settle my conscience. To put this in context, a casual labourer can earn as little as ZMK150,000 a month. I'll let you do the maths. For a bit more context - sometimes Ferraris are spotted in Lusaka.
Reality number 2 is simply that this place is huge and getting to places in person would be difficult even if you drove a Ferrari. Added to this the spectrum of languages, confidence levels, formal skill levels and simply the settings for events can vary hugely. Yesterday I informally interviewed 4 people on the doorstep of my motel room - I had dragged chairs from the room outside. One of the people I spoke to had an Accountancy qualification, whilst another had left school with the bare minimum. With limited access to the internet, supporting this team, 8/9 hours away, will be an incredible challenge.
Final reality is that whether you're experiencing a very simple life in rural Zambia or trying to conduct business of some sort, if you're an outsider like me you know it's probably only for a set period. It's real, but only for a bit. That's unavoidable, and I'm not sure what I'll make of that until I get back.
PS - A correction from my first post. Many of the 2 million people of Lusaka are living in the compounds, which are shanty districts.
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