We met for breakfast in the restaurant of the Savoy—a magnificent meal with scrambled eggs, hash browns, fresh fruit, baked beans, and muffins. We then met Mr. Kayula and Gershom for a quick stop at St. Joseph’s to beg them to give us rooms on the way to our meeting with the District Commissioner. The Guest House said maybe.
The District Commissioner was very helpful and charming as always. The first piece of good news he gave us was that our man in Kantolomba was elected to the city council in the recent elections. This means that rather than having someone who lives in another neighborhood but likes and supports our work, we now have someone going to bat for us who lives in Kantolomba and actually works for us. Very good news indeed.
Newly elected Kantolomba Area Counselor
When we asked about putting in a well in Kantolomba, he advised us to speak with the head of the Department of Water Affairs—a female engineer—who will be able to answer all our water questions and possibly, through the government, actually put in the well. He said he had a meeting with her that very day and would speak to her about us and arrange a meeting.
District Commissioner
Our next area of concern was the Community Building/Medical Clinic. Again, he encouraged us to speak first with the government in the form of the head of the Buildings Department. The way it works in Zambia is that, due to the nature of our project, the Building Department might actually do the construction. If they find they cannot do it in a less costly and timelier manner than a private contractor, they will help us find someone who will be able to meet those criteria. How great is that!
Back to St. Joseph’s to check in with Agness about a computer/internet training session. We had hoped this training would go on in our absence, but learned that with the cost of phone calls, the lack of extra cash, and shyness about interacting with strangers to arrange such an unknown activity, the classes have stalled. We spoke with Godfrey, owner of the local internet café and resident nerd (so fun to see that nerd is a cross-cultural phenomenon), who has assured us that we can arrange and pay for the classes ahead so that the students can all just show up at the appointed time. Everyone is relieved.
Back to the Savoy to attempt an internet connection. No luck even with the assistance of the General Manager of the hotel. Tomorrow we will throw ourselves on the mercy of the folks whose access we used in July. We were pirates then and can only hope this complete internet access stall is not a karmic issue!
We reconnoitered and decided to move out of the Savoy—it is too hot, too expensive, too smoky, too loud, and, the final straw, has no internet access. As we were checking out, we met Pauline, a delightful young woman who has been the front desk reception person at the Savoy for eleven years, but has her degree in social work. We told her a little about our work in Kantolomba, in part to explain our precipitous departure from very expensive lodgings, and she was thrilled. She lives in the neighborhood next to Kantolomba and expressed great interest in assisting in any way she could. We explained we have no resources to pay people and she assured us that was fine, she does lots of volunteer work already and just wants to participate in something meaningful. We all agreed to be in touch.
Not sure about St. Joseph’s, we went Guest House hunting, which was shocking. Prices in Zambia are something we just can’t quite figure out. Our best guess is that a lack of competition, combined with enormous initial investment costs, make prices very high for everything except the most ordinary goods. Accommodations, vehicles, telephone service, computers, internet, etc., are through the roof. The thing we can’t figure out about accommodations is who is paying for these rooms. The Guest House prices were between $100 and $125 per night. The rooms are new and nice but have none of the amenities that we’re accustomed to in the States—no air conditioning, hair dryers, irons, or breakfast. We were now actively praying that St. Joseph would intervene!
We headed out to Kantolomba—so great to see everyone. The kids started screaming as soon as they saw the car and ran along side whooping and hollering until we reached the school where the adults had a welcoming performance and celebration arranged for us.
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Dancing at the welcome party.
We met with Paul and the young people who will do the census. There was one young man whom we had specifically asked to be part of this group—the one who spoke so eloquently about the future of Kantolomba during our focus group in July. He explained that he wanted to talk with the people of the community before beginning the census, to let them know why this census is being taken. He said that so many people have come through Kantolomba promising all kinds of things, following through with none, and leaving a wake of great disappointment, and that he fears people will be unsupportive and uncooperative without some reassurance about its value. As we were leaving, we asked Paul about weaving some smaller (two by three foot) straw mats for us. He will have some samples when we return on Monday.
Stopped by the Living Compassion House and got to say hi to the kids—Womba has grown a foot in the past six weeks.
Waving goodbye as we were leaving.
We made a flying trip to buy more chitenge for Martin so we could re-supply him when he came by to deliver some sample products. We arrived at the shop just after closing, but they opened up again for us. We picked out 20 meters of cloth in about ten minutes. Every interaction we have makes us grateful for the relationships we’re growing here. They opened the shop for us because we’ve all spent so much time together in the past, and now they know us. We could have purchased the material the next day, but then Martin would have had to make another long trek by mini-bus and foot to pick up the material, and we really didn’t want him to have to do that. One other interesting aspect of our deepening relationships is time. When we first started “doing business” here, we would wait for hours for people who often never showed up. Now everyone is on time, our meetings are efficient and productive, communication is smooth, and we are flying through our task list.
We raced back to the Guest House to meet Martin (all of us arriving ten minutes early!), to view the new, slightly larger Monk Bags and to secure our accommodations for the next several days. Yes, Praise Be, we got our rooms at St. Joseph’s—we are so very grateful and happy to be home!
Mr. Kayula’s first foray into photo taking.
At about 5:30 we sent the men on their way and began our slow collapse. We’re now sitting at the dining room table having finished our dinner of yogurt, cereal, juice, and milk (no one here to create those fabulous meals of July), downloading pictures, writing the blog just as if we’ll be able to send it out, and planning our tomorrow. Days are big and full in Ndola, Zambia.