Last day in Goma

In the last two days, we’ve visited three schools, a nutrition clinic, and a safe child center. In all three, we’ve met some amazing staff and volunteers that are really working to try to improve living situations for children here.

First, we stopped at a school in Goma. This school works to provide primary education and vocational training for orphans and vulnerable children. The children here have suffered much, and all have stories to tell. Many have lost parents to either conflict or to AIDS. Others are former child soldiers, who had been kidnapped from their families, and forced to serve in the conflict in DRC. In these cases, the children escaped, but their families wouldn’t take them back, as they were afraid the child had become dangerous, and might kill the family. Others have parents who are now living with AIDS, and are no longer able to support them.

The school works to find foster families in the local community to take these children in at night so that they won’t have to live on the streets. “Foster family” here is not the same as in the US. These families are simply giving the kids a place to sleep, and maybe a meal, but not much else. Often the foster families are barely surviving, and have many children of their own.

The school is a happy place with multiple school rooms, a mechanic training school, a sewing center, and a clinic. There’s also a large building that is used as a community center, and events are put on each weekend so that the children have a place to come to simply be kids. The primary school is really for any child that has not had a chance to learn. Many of these kids have been on the move due to conflict, and have never had a chance to go to school. The primary classroom has kids ranging from probably 6 to about 14, all learning the basics. In the vocational centers, you find older children who need to learn a trade to get work. They also teach some reading, writing and math skills in the vocational center, as these children are too old to sit with the primary children.

This school received bad news this week. Their primary source of funding (a grant through one of the large world aid organizations) has been cut. They will need to find a new donor to continue paying their teachers and maintaining their school. The school administrator was showing us around between phone calls to people trying to secure new funding. We asked how much a teacher makes, and were told that each teacher makes $200 per month, and than includes salary, medical care, and transportation. We counted 6 teachers at the school, although their may be one or two more, as not all the vocational classrooms were operating that day. We figure at the high end, this school is probably operating on about $100K annually, and that is most likely extremely high. It’s probably closer to $60K. Amazing work and huge support to over 500 children for what is really a fairly small amount of money. We hope they find new funding to continue this work.

Yesterday, we were able to travel north of the city of Goma to several communities about 70 to 100km from town. The countryside here is beautiful! As noted in an earlier post, there are many National Parks near here, although today, they have been significantly damaged by the conflict that the country has seen for the last 10 to 20 years.

Just north of the city, things are growing, and people have planted, but this is a recent lava flow, so it’s a little harder to plant here. Eight years ago, the volcano erupted, and sent hot lava down through the city of Goma, and all the way to the shores of Lake Kivu. In fact, the school I talked about above, is actually built on what 8 years ago was a huge pool of hot lava.

After you move north of the volcano, the soil changes, and the landscape is covered with thick vegetation. The country here is very hilly, but people are doing terraced farming right up the side of the hill. You see maize, lentils, cabbage, and coffee beans growing everywhere, plus all the fruit trees – mostly bananas and plantains. The soil here is wonderful for growing. If people could just stay in one place long enough to both plant and harvest, the north-eastern part of DRC could probably feed the entire country, and possibly most of Africa. We’re told before the conflict, there was substantial farming and exporting of goods from here.

Today, conflict has forced people to move from their homes and seek refuge in other areas of the country. Then over time, they move back, only to find that someone else has laid claim to their property, most likely someone seeking refuge from another area marked by conflict. Children are uprooted as well. This is incredibly hard for them, as they are not afforded the opportunity to go to school or to receive medical care. Many of them are malnourished, and all suffer from mental trauma from the constant moving, the conflict, the looting, and other awful things that have happened to either them or their mothers.

We visited one area that is somewhat stable. The community has actually built two school, one from bricks and concrete, the other from old UN tarps that they’ve secured to a wooden frame. The children have made desks, and many have managed to find a composition book and a pen or pencil. There are no books, and the chalkboard looks like it was broken into pieces so that each classroom could have something to write on. We didn’t ask how many students in the two schools, but as a guess, I’d say there was 150 in each school. Their favorite subjects are French and Mathematics, although some of the children said they like English. I think that’s for our benefit, as they weren’t learning English.

From there we visited a nutrition center. Here mothers can bring children under the age of 5 to be seen and be helped with nutrition. Volunteers scour the community looking for children or mothers that are either acutely or severely malnourished. The acutely malnourished children are treated at the clinic with special food supplements that can be administered at home, and are re-checked every two weeks to ensure they are coming back to health. The severely malnourished children have to be sent to another clinic where they are treated as inpatients. At this clinic alone, they see 8 new cases of acute malnourishment per day, and 5 cases of severe malnourishment. This number should probably be higher, but it takes time for the volunteers to scour the countryside to find the children that need help. To be honest, this number is probably about all the clinic can handle at one time due to supply of antibiotics and therapeutic foods.

We then went to a place that has been set up to give children a place to go to simply be kids. The “child safe” location has about 500 kids coming each day, and was only established last week. Here they are running a small school for children who’s parents can’t afford the government run school fees (about $5 per child per semester). They also have a small vocational center with sewing, mechanics, hair cutting, and embroidery. The children come and in the morning, go to school to learn to read, write, and do basic figures. Then the older ones are able to do some work to learn a trade. In the afternoon, they simply play. The dance, sing songs, play soccer, and do other games.

While the learning is important, for these kids, the afternoon play time may actually be more important. These are kids who have seen terrible things. Some have been beaten, some are child soldiers, some have seen their families killed, many are living alone due to loss of parents, and all have been living in fear, sometimes for their entire lives. Learning to trust other kids and adults, and simply learning how to play and to relax and feel safe is as important for these kids as learning to read and write. The volunteers here are people in the community who want to see these kids thrive and grow and not repeat the terrible things that have been happening.

I could write and write about the things we’ve seen in the last two days. Instead, I’ll just share my biggest take-away. This is an area where people want to change. They want to support themselves. They want to make a life for themselves, and they have the courage to do it. Better yet, they have nearly everything they need to make this happen. They have good soil, access to water sources, wonderful people, and great ambition. They are only lacking two things. The first is infrastructure, but this could come with time and effort, and a little initi who have seen terrible things. Some have been beaten, some are child soldiers, some have seen their families killed, many are living alone due to loss of parents, and all have been living in fear, sometimes for their entire lives. Learning to trust other kids and adults, and simply learning how to play and to relax and feel safe is as important for these kids as learning to read and write. The volunteers here are people in the community who want to see these kids thrive and grow and not repeat the terrible things that have been happening.

I could write and write about the things we’ve seen in the last two days. Instead, I’ll just share my biggest take-away. This is an area where people want to change. They want to support themselves. They want to make a life for themselves, and they have the courage to do it. Better yet, they have nearly everything they need to make this happen. They have good soil, access to water sources, minerals, wonderful people, and great ambition. They are only lacking two things. The first is infrastructure, but this could come with time and effort, and a little initial assistance and training. The second is stability and peace. This one is obviously much harder. The people here will never succeed if conflict continually requires them to flee from their homes, and if fighting continues to have them live in fear. I hope that one day they will see peace in this area. The opportunity here is amazing!

We’ll be leaving here shortly for the long trip back. First, we will visit with our host in a park in Rwanda (just across the lake). Then we will go by taxi for 3 hours to the Kigali airport. Then off to Nairobi, Amsterdam, and finally home. This has been an amazing trip, and I thank you for letting me share it with you.

Arrival in Goma

Greetings from Goma! We arrived here two days ago via the ECHO flight operated by the UN. Just as when we arrived, departing the Lubumbashi airport is an experience. The taxi dropped us off at the door, and there was a huge pushing mob out front, and one policeman at the door that was attempting to control the flow of people inside. He was stopping people randomly, and then pushing some out of the way. We finally all made it inside, waiting for 30 minutes of complete confusion at the check in location, then off to wait for the flight. Then there was another issue of some sort, so back through the front door of the airport. This time, the crowd outside was mostly gone, except for the fight that broke out at the front door just as we approached. A quick step back avoided the punch that missed the first guy, and almost nailed me, but all is well. The punch thrower has poor aim, and missed everyone! The police officer took care of that, and we made it in quickly. Suddenly, a whole new scene – all is peaceful, everyone is standing neatly in lines, no one is yelling. We go to the location directed, only to find out that there really isn’t a problem, and we are sent back to wait.

Not sure how flight announcements are made, but all of a sudden, there was the run to the plane, across the tarmac with our bags. Quite amusing…. Security consists of someone checking the tag on your bag, and then asking you to throw it onto the plan. Then as you board, someone waves a wand around your body, and if it beeps, the person asks what it could be from. Apparently, any logical answer suffices, and everyone is allowed on board. The prop plane had 28 seats, and probably could have held three to four more rows, but the back was closed off to store cargo. Once everyone was on board, we started off. We’re asked to read the brochure about the flight, so I take a look at it. It states proudly on the front cover, that the plane has had zero accidents and only 200 emergency evacuations! What a record! I didn’t know whether to be comforted or worried.

The plane has 3 stops along the way before Goma. The first is on a dirt runway in the middle of nowhere. I believe the village is called Moba. The entire village turned out to meet us, and I think they were all trying to help unload the plane. Luckily, a few things were left on, namely our suitcases, and we took off again, this time for Kalemie. This airport was larger and had a concrete runway (what was left of it). The airstrip is at the end of Lake Tanganyika, so as you approach, it looks like you are going to land on the lake. Got me thinking about the 200 emergency evacuations. As we got lower and lower, with only water in view, I wondered if we were going to make it 201.

After discharging a few passengers, and picking up a few more, we took off again. This time, we landed in Bukavu. This is again a fairly large airstrip, with a good runway, at the other end of Lake Tanganyika. The thing you notice about this airstrip is the tanks and gun emplacements alongside the runway. Obviously, things have not always been great here.

Finally, we were off again, and landed 15 minutes later in Goma. We collected bags, and headed into clear customs again. We don’t quite get this, as we never left the country, but apparently, everyone clears every time they come to an airport. As we left the airport, the first thing you notice is the big volcano just outside of town, and all the lava rock piled up next to the streets. Mt. Nyiragongo erupted in 2002, and covered a portion of the city of Goma in lava. In other areas, it blew stone and ash, covering parts of the city. The volcano is still active, but it looks quiet now.

The hotel is very nice. It looks like it was once some type of resort area. It sits right on the shores of Lake Kivu. It is in beautiful surroundings! We’re told before all the conflict, that Goma had many tourist areas. It is surrounded by National Parks, and people once visited them on safari. Unfortunately, 20 years of conflict have looted many of the buildings here, and has destroyed large areas of the parks and much of the wildlife. It’s really sad, as this is truly a beautiful area of the country. You can easily see how it could attract thousands of tourists.

We’ve spent the last two days visiting schools, nutrition clinics, and safe places for children. More about that in a post tomorrow.

Last day in Lubumbashi

Today is our last day in Lubumbashi. In the morning, we fly to Goma for a few days of meetings there. Quick update on some of our activities the last few days.

Over the last few days, we’ve visited a few sewing training centers and some maternity clinics, in addition to our office meetings. At the sewing centers, we met some amazing women. In one of them, all the women had formerly been prostitutes. Through various means, they all managed to find help through a local program, and then received some sewing machines and sewing training. They now make enough money making garments and other tailoring for the local community that they can fully support their families and send their children to school. They talked with us about the changes in their lives and their dreams for the future. Right now, they are using a room in a community training center for people with disabilities. While that has helped them get on their feet, they are currently saving to build a center of their own.

In another, we again met a group of women that had been unable to care for their families. They also received some sewing machines and some training. Over time, they have been able to save money from selling their products to build a small house in which to do their sewing. You should have seen how proud they were of this small brick building. They told us how they made the bricks and built the house all by themselves with their own hands. Their next step is to find out how to get the community leaders to bring electricity to the area so that they can use electric instead of manual sewing machines. As with other groups, we asked them many questions about their work and their lives, then at the end, we always ask if they have any questions for us. This group asked one question. They asked us to share best practices on how women in our communities at home in the US come together to help one another and their community. They wanted to learn what we do so that they could do more to help not only their own families, but their community as a whole.

Now this is a great question. And sadly, one I found hard to answer for two reasons. First, our cultures are very different, so things we may do, may not be appropriate for this group of women. But secondly, because I could not think of one thing that the women in my community do regularly and collectively to give back to our communities and to improve them. Obviously, we do things in our schools and churches. We pray together, volunteer for various organizations, etc. It’s not as if we are disinterested or as if we do nothing. But their real question was, “How do you and the women you live closest to, come together daily to support the others in your neighborhood?” And the answer is, “well, I see my neighbor occasionally, and wave, right before one of us closes our garage door.” I think we need to learn something from these women.

So how did I answer the question? Well with an example of a wonderful group of women Caregivers in Zambia that had started with sewing, and then bee-keeping, and then small vegetable farming, and were now reinvesting enough in their communities to send about 80 orphans to boarding school each year. They saw that as a challenge, and started immediately talking amongst themselves. The name of this sewing center is the “Courage Sewing Center”. I think they have the courage to set big goals like that. If I am ever able to visit them again, I think we’ll see them be a huge force in changing their entire communities.

We also have visited some maternity clinics in several of the locations we’ve been. These clinics are typically small 4 – 6 room buildings with nearly nothing inside. In the first one we visited, two doctors showed us the operating room where they do Cesareans. We had a bit of a language barrier, but if I understood right, they do 100 or so operations a month here. I saw no anesthetic equipment, no drugs, no antiseptic equipment, but the doctors were very proud of their operating room. They are definitely wonderful, caring people, but I can’t imagine working in conditions like that. We also asked about sterilization, and were assured that after we had walked in the room, it would be sterilized. The room was definitely clean, but you could see right outside the door the stains on the floor, doors and walls. Clearly, not every operation goes well.

In another clinic, we met with a wonderful nurse who runs a clinic that handles 70 to 80 births a month. On this particular day, the pharmacy was running low, so no painkillers for any mother in the clinic. There was a room for admittance, one for delivery, another for recovery, and then another ward for women to stay 3 or so days after giving birth. They had many women come this week, so they were staying two to a bed, along with their newborns. Imagine two women on a twin bed with a very thin mattress, one facing one way, and the other the opposite, their newborns right beside them. In one case, the bed was also shared by another one of the women’s children, a boy maybe 1 ½ years old. And this is probably one of the better equipped locations.

After our visits and meetings, we began the long drive back to Lubumbashi. It took about 7 ½ hours, same story as told in the prior post – lots of dust and very bad roads. On the way back, we saw several overturned trucks, really emphasizing how dangerous the travel here is. It looked like the trucks were travelling too close to the edge, and one of the wheels slipped down the soft side, turning the truck onto its side on the side of the road. We asked our host how they get assistance, and he said it basically takes a long time. There are no tow trucks, but eventually, the truck gets righted somehow, fixed, and back on it’s journey. Hard to believe, because in some cases the container on the truck had burst open. In another, the axles had separated from the trailer. I think some of these will be there for years. Luckily only one very bad one. Looked like two trucks had hit each other head on and burned on the side of the road. I was very thankful to get back to Lubumbashi that evening!

Along the drive, our host told us a little more about his family. He is one of 11 children, and all of them completed secondary school. 7 or 8 of them completed college. All on a small village school teacher’s salary. We thought that was amazing for any culture, let alone rural Africa. He then told us his father’s story. When our host’s father was young, his father (host’s grandfather) would not allow him to go to school. He did not believe it was necessary. After some years, some missionaries came to the village, and his mother asked them to take the boy to school. The story from there is a little long, but let’s just say the father was not happy, and would not send the boy to school. The mother told the boy to hide, and when the father found out, he burned the place where the boy was hiding and tried to kill him. The boy eventually escaped with the missionaries, and the father had to come to terms with this. That boy didn’t start primary school until he was 13 or 14 years old, and after 6 years, became a teacher, later married, and had 11 children, one of whom is our host. Talk about learning the value of education and pursuing at all costs! And picture the legacy that the grandmother has given by helping her son get to school. Not only was her son educated, but the importance she placed on education influenced the lives of her son’s 11 children, and now their children.

Tonight, our host invited us for dinner to meet his family. We had a wonderful dinner, and were very thankful for a home-cooked meal. During the dinner, he talked about how he and his wife have also taken in 3 of their nephews, and all three are now going to university. The grandmother’s legacy lives on. And these are not wealthy people, but hardworking, and very smart with the lessons they teach their children and the direction they put in their lives.

Enough for now. I’ll post about the Goma trip in a few days.

Church service

Since the last post, we’ve traveled to Likasi and Kolwezi areas. Likasi is about 120km from Lubumbashi and Kolwezi is about 300 miles from Lubumbashi. Both towns were started by the mining industry. Unfortunately, many of the mines in DRC either reduced operations or closed completely in the last 10 to 20 years, leaving the people with no jobs. You can see how things have deteriorated in the last several years. I think Kolwezi is doing better now than Likasi, but both clearly have seen better days.

We’ve not had time to visit in the communities much, as to drive here has taken quite a while. It took about 2 ½ hours to drive the first 120km (75miles), and about 4 ½ hours to drive the next 180km (about 112 miles). The first part of the drive wasn’t too bad – mostly pavement, but the 180km drive was nearly all dirt roads. It hasn’t rained since May here, so after 4 – 5 months, you can imagine how dusty the dirt roads are. In some areas, the dust had blown and drifted a bit, resulting in about 6 or so inches of powdery dust on top of the harder packed surface. Driving in 6 inches of dust creates the same kind of slipping / sliding that you get when you drive in that much mud. A few times, I thought we were going to have to get out and push, but it all worked out fine.
The homes here are mostly made from clay bricks or cement, with metal roofs. I think I’ve seen only one or two mud huts with thatch roofs. We’re told that when the mines were operating, people were well paid, and could afford to buy land and build the homes. The larger mining towns are well-laid out, with wide streets and street lights. In Kolwezi, the lights work! Saw another variation on a round-a-bout today. This time, three roads came together, and in the middle of the intersection sat a large truck tire. This was the round-a-bout. You simply had to go around the tire, just as you would a circular grassy area in a traditional round-a-bout at home. I actually think this may be a great money saving opportunity. Perhaps we should consider this at home. Think about it, one tire instead of a few hundred thousand to build an island. And if we went to all truck-tire round-a-bouts, think of all the money we could save on stop lights, fights about red-light cameras, etc. OK, maybe not every idea is a good one….

The restaurants here are interesting too. Last night we went to one just outside of town. I was beginning to think we were lost, as our host headed outside of town, and then turned onto a dirt “road” off the side. No street lights, no house lights, nothing. We drove for a little bit, and then off to the right was the brightly lit restaurant. Literally in the middle of nowhere! We had a great meal, but you wonder why they would choose to build it so far away from everything with no signs. Can’t even see it from the road.

Then today after church, we went to another one, this one further out from the one above. This one included a hotel. Again, it was way off the road, but the owners told us that they are frequently completely full, mostly with people from the mines. During our lunch, we saw people from China, India, Pakistan, and England (guessing by language and accents). Again, just seems out of place, but fascinating to find people from so many different places in such a remote place.

Last thing for today – church service. Let’s see…. Where to start. First of all, there is nothing like an African church service. Very long, with lots of singing and dancing. Second, there was nothing like this one. The music was so loud, I think some of my internal organs actually vibrated to new places. When I got back to the hotel, I’ve sat in complete silence for about 3 hours, as I don’t think I could have heard anything anyway. They had guest groups singing and dancing, people dancing in the aisles, shouting prayers throughout the service. At one point, I think we had about 3 different songs happening all with different beats. Quite confusing, and more so because it was all in either French or Swahili (depending on who was shouting). The service actually started at 7:30 in the morning. From 7:30 to 9:00 is a prayer time. We joined at 9:00 for the formal service, and that ended at 12:30. Nothing like being shouted at in French and Swahili for 3 ½ hours! It was fascinating, but I think I’ll be glad to go home and go to a slightly quieter service.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow we’ll visit some communities, and then begin the long drive back to Lubumbashi. I’m guessing it will take 7 to 8 hours to drive the 300km (about 190 miles) back. Hopefully there won’t be too many trucks, so we can keep the windows down. There is no A/C or fan in the truck, so manual a/c it is! But when there are other trucks or cars on the road, or when the wind picks up, it turns the area into a huge dust cloud and the windows have to be closed. The dust cloud is so thick, you can hardly see. This is dangerous as there are many pedestrians and bicyclists along the road, and they don’t always watch for the cars.

More to follow tomorrow!

Ferris Wheels

Thought I’d give you a quick update on our travels for the last two days. We’ve spent time meeting with government officials and learning about the customs clearance process here. They have quite an involved process, but everyone seems to be working quite well together. The officials we met were all very welcoming and very friendly.

The customs clearance area is quite amazing. Trucks everywhere! They have to stay at the agent until all the appropriate processes are completed, so drivers may need to stay two or three days with their trucks.

Yesterday, we ventured out to a community about 35km from Lubumbashi. This is really our first trip outside of about a 3 mile radius. I’ll tell you more about who we met with in the next post, but a few general observations quickly today before I lose my internet connection.

First, they seem to drive here generally according to general rules of the road. That said, I can’t figure out the placement of stop signs and stop lights. People obey them, but they seem to be placed at non-busy intersections. At busy intersections, they have either a ½ roundabout – it’s a roundabout on one side and straight on the other – very confusing. Or they have a policeman who stands on a box in the middle of the intersection directing traffic. He has a whistle, that he blows seemingly continuously, and he waves his arms a lot. The first time I saw this, the policeman seemed to be pinwheeling his arms. I thought maybe he was about to fall of his box, and he was trying to catch his balance. But in fact, he was directing traffic. Somehow everyone either knows what the pinwheeling means, or they are just ignoring him and somehow making it through the intersection.

Mining is a very big industry here, but with the financial crisis of the last few years, many of the mines have closed. This has left communities which were once doing fairly well, suffering. The community we visited yesterday is one of these. You can see evidence of well laid out streets, community parks, markets, etc., but much of that now is in disrepair. I did see one thing though that was very different. We were driving down a dirt road, when off to one side, we saw many buildings. Then we saw a diving board next to a swimming pool, basketball courts, and a ferris wheel. Can you imagine a ferris wheel and a swimming pool in the middle of what seems to be nowhere in the DRC? We asked about that, and were told the mining company wanted to make something fun for the children, so they built this entertainment complex. Although the mine is closed for now, the community has managed to keep this entertainment area open to some degree, and children can visit on the weekends.

One more thing – since I frequently post about the food we eat – lunch yesterday – antelope, goat, tilapia (comlete with head and skin), spinach, nshima, rice, and potatoes. Very good!

More later. May not have an internet connection for a few days, but will type up notes, and post when I can.

Day 2 in DRC

Spent today in the office on various work tasks, so not a lot to report. We did learn a bit about the country. DRC is about ¼ the size of the US, so it is a very big country. To go from Lubumbashi to Kinshasa, the capital city is over 3,000km or about 1800 miles. To go to the very northern part of the country would be even farther. The road system here outside the city is not very good. It is almost impossible to go from here to the west, east, or northern portions of the country by road. When your job is in logistics, it makes for an interesting puzzle to figure out how to get things from one area to another quickly, safely, and economically!

Other general observations – the roads here are much less crowded than other places I’ve been in Africa. People generally seem to follow the rules of the road. I actually saw people stop for traffic lights, stop signs, AND pedestrians today. That is really unusual, but definitely comforting. Some places, just riding a mile in a car on the roads can be extremely exciting, and not in a good way. We’ve only seen the area from the airport to our hotel, and then it’s only about 2 miles from here to the office, so our exposure so far has been very short. The weather here has been very cool. This morning, we spent about an hour outside in a tent for our first meeting, and I was actually wishing I’d brought my sweater! I’ve never been cold here before. We’re told the weather is unusually cold. I can only imagine if I’m chilly, what the local folks must feel!

More to follow tomorrow!

Arrival in DRC

Arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo today. What a long trip! 21 or so hours of flying and 11 hours of layovers. I am glad this is supposed to be my last international trip this year. I’ve really added up the frequent flyer miles!

The arrival at DRC was interesting. Plane lands, they roll up the stairs, and you exit the plane onto the air-field. Everyone then heads towards the airport building to clear customs and collect bags. Normally, when you exit the plan outside, there are people to guide you, and they force you to stay in a single path, and to go to a specific area. Here, people just disburse all directions. Makes it a little hard to figure out what you are supposed to do.

As we walk up to the building, we immediately find a person holding a sign with our names on it. This is the customs building, so we assume he will walk with us through customs and out the door. Instead, he directs us to leave the building, and we go to a small lounge in a building next door. We meet our host, and after many questions, finally figure out that the first person is an agent they’ve had to hire to help visitors get through customs and collect their bags. We surrender our passports and bag tickets, and the agent leaves. About 1 ½ hours later, he returns with our bags and our passports and we’re allowed to leave.

We were told they started using the agent as the officials in the airport were causing problems for some foreigners. While the agent charges a fee, the entry process is much safer for us, and also much less stressful. Bottom line is we were able to enter, and there were no issues with our bags.

When you arrive, the first thing you notice is the dust. This is the end of the dry season, so there is dust everywhere. It is also very flat in this area. I’m not sure where we are in the town, but so far I’ve not seen the type of village center I’ve seen in other larger cities in Africa. I’m sure it’s just because we haven’t gone that way yet.

DRC is a French speaking country. I speak no French, so ordering a bottle of water today at the hotel was an adventure. The nice gentleman in the restaurant figured it out, and has decided I need to learn some French words. He gave me several words (bottle of water, receipt, sign), and I had to repeat back. We’ll see what I learn in 4 days. Hopefully dinner will be less of an event.

Not much else today, just sit in my room, rest, and get ready for the work week ahead. The room is nice – it has hot water, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and internet. I’m set!

Last thoughts about Mongolia

Greetings from the Seoul / Inchon airport in South Korea! Early start to today with a pickup from the hotel at 6:30 to head to the airport. I think my brain was still asleep though. Managed to leave my coat at the security check-point, and didn’t even notice for 30 to 45 minutes. Luckily, I figured it out before I boarded the flight! By that time, I had already gone through the customs exit process, and had to convince the customs and security authorities to let me back through to get it. That was quite amusing as I speak 2 words of Mongolian (hello and thank you), and they had 10 words of English, which is 5 times better than my Mongolian. It worked out though, and my coat was still there, so all is well. On the way to Mongolia, my travelling companions laughed at me a bit for bringing a gym bag just to put my coat in so that I wouldn’t leave it somewhere. Figured I’d remember a bag, and sure enough I was right! Except my coat wasn’t in it yet this morning….

In the Mongolian airport, no signs or announcements are made in English. That made figuring out the boarding process a bit difficult, as they actually have more than one gate, but none with number or letter markings. Our plane to Seoul, and a plane to Moscow were leaving at the same time. A few of us non-Mongolian speaking folks tried to board at the wrong time, but luckily, they look at our boarding passes very closely, so I am typing this from Seoul, and not from Moscow now.

A few last interesting things about Mongolia.
· The country was occupied by the Soviet Union for 50 or 60 years, and their influence is very obvious in the writing style, style of buildings, and even the sound of the language. Original Mongolian writing looks more like Arabic in it’s flow, except it flows from the top of the page to the bottom in columns (from left to right), instead of in rows from right to left. Now it uses Cyrillic characters, and we’re told that some Mongolians can no longer write or read the old script. The buildings are also very square, and you don’t see many with the more oriental flair, like is everywhere in Korea, Japan, and I imagine China. I thought the language would sound more like Chinese, or one of the other Asian languages, but it sounds very Russian. Children learn Russian in school, along with Mongolian, and English is becoming more common in some areas.
· Another interesting result from being part of the Soviet Union is the number of women in administrative and management positions. I don’t understand all the reasons for this, but we’re told that due to the communist economic system, women and men made the same salaries for the same jobs. Men tended to work in factories and outdoors. Women worked in administrative and management positions in businesses. As a result, focus on education for girls was greater than for boys. Today, more girls go to school than boys in the country, and women hold more jobs. In our office, about 80% of the staff is female. This may be the only country in the world where advocacy for education for boys is required more than for girls!

I’m sure there are dozens more things I could share. We saw so many things, and learned much about the people, culture, and history of the country, in addition to all the work stuff we learned. Mongolia is a very interesting place. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. The countryside is beautiful, and probably is even more so in the summer time when everything is green. The history is very interesting as well. Yet it is also a harsh place. People live in incredibly harsh conditions and have limited access to work, health care, and in some places education. The herding families must send their children to live in dormitories in the nearest city or to live with relatives so that they can attend school. Health care is limited in the main city, and even more so in rural locations. The environment itself is harsh. Incredibly cold, dry winters, with temperatures as low as –50F or below. Summers in some rural areas where we’re told that it can get as high as 120F. Blowing drifting snow in winter, and blowing sand and dust in summer. All that said, people here love their country, and want to improve the industrial base, education, health care, etc. And they welcome outsiders and love to show them their way of life.
Now it’s off to Melbourne, Australia for several days of meetings. More in a few days!

Last day in Mongolia

It’s my last full day in Mongolia! It’s been a great trip, but will be good to go somewhere warm. Today we went sight-seeing again. First, lunch at a small hostel called the Oasis. The owners have set up a few gers and built a small guest house that caters to people coming to Mongolia for biking, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor excursions. There were people there, even now when it is so cold.

Next, off to Bogd Khan’s Winter Palace. Bogd Khan was the emperor of Mongolia and spiritual leader of Mongolia’s Tibetan Buddhism from 1911 until 1924. The architecture of the palace reminded me a little of Japanese and Korean architecture, but not quite so ornate. Inside the various outbuildings were examples of Mongolian art including sculpting, painting, weaving, and other fabric work. Couldn’t take any pictures of the inside because they charged to be allowed to use a camera, and I was too cheap to pay what they were asking. I did get some pictures from outside the fence, and I’ll try to post those later.

Next we went to the Zaisan Memorial. This monument sits on top of a high hill on the outskirts of the city. It was built by Russia as a memorial to Russian soldiers that were killed in Mongolia fighting the Chinese during WWII. To reach the memorial, you have to climb some fairly steep stairs from the lot to the top. The climb doesn’t look that hard at first, but as you get closer to the top, your reminded that the city of UB sits about 4300ft above sea level, and your climbing several hundred feet up! Inside are paintings showing the friendship between Russia and Mongolia (from the Russian perspective). You also have a beautiful view of all of UB and the surrounding mountains. Today was a beautiful clear day. The temperature dropped last night, and the wind and snow picked up through the morning. When the snow stopped, the sun came out, and the wind had blown all the smoke away (smoke from the ger fires). What a beautiful place!

Just down the road from the monument, past the President’s palace, is the UB Ski Park. They have three runs on manufactured snow. I think our local skiers would laugh at the “black run”, but it is very popular here. We saw many families at the sight, which was surprising because people here don’t make much money, even in the city. We asked about cost, and for a middle class family, it is affordable. A family of 4 can rent skis and boots, get lift passes (a quad lift, amazingly enough), and have a meal in the restaurant for under $80USD. They also have a great sledding area, complete with a lift back to the top of the sledding hill. I thought sledding for a while would be fun, but I couldn’t convince my hosts that we should do that. Then I found out they do not rent sleds.

So, back in the car, and our host decides we should see what it is like to go off-roading in Mongolia. Now keep in mind, there is about 6 inches of snow, and much deeper drifts. He heads off, and finds a track that someone has been on before. We drive up a very big hill (more like a mountain) following this track, and end up at the Mongolian Astronomical and Geothermal Institute. We couldn’t go into any of the buildings, but it’s amazing what you can find in the mountains while off-roading.
We managed to get back down the mountain on the ice and snow, and then time to go back to the hotel to finish packing and get ready to fly out to Australia tomorrow. In my next post, I’ll share a few other observations of Mongolia (food, driving, people, etc.). Thanks for travelling with me!

Amusing observations

Spent today in the office, so not much to tell about our day. Instead, I’ll share some other observations about Mongolia.

First important bit of info – pizza toppings – clearly something everyone needs to know about before travelling somewhere. They’re a little different here. Today we had pizza with mushrooms, peppers, pickles, and corn. Our other choice was pizza with lamb, bacon, peppers, and pickles, or chicken and artichokes (we think). Takes a bit of work to enjoy this, at least for me, but apparently locals enjoy these combinations.

Second important fact – telephone poles – Due to the harsh weather, wooden telephone / electricity poles rot when they are mounted in the ground. To prevent this, they have built concrete pads with a concrete pole that extends upward about six feet. The wooden pole is then banded to the concrete pole, with the base of the wood pole being about 2 feet above the ground. The wires are then strung to the wood pole, just like in the US. It works, but it does look a little funny as you’re driving to see mile after mile of concrete poles with wooden poles strapped to them.

Third key input – Rest Areas when travelling – or maybe I should say lack of rest areas. For those of you who dislike TMI, please skip to the next point. Our trip earlier this week was just under 5 hours. Along the way, we needed to make a pit stop. While there are gas stations in the middle of nowhere (got to wonder how they picked some of these spots, as there is nothing else around), there are no indoor toilets. We stopped in front of one of these stations, and were directed to a small shack about 200 meters behind the station. So off we go across the snowy field (about 6 or so inches deep, deeper in the drifts). The shack has only three sides, but luckily the open side is not facing the roadway. It’s poorly constructed, with large gaps between the boards. Inside, there are two boards balanced across an open pit. You can guess what’s in the pit. So, if you’re female, the only way to manage this, is to move inside of the three sided shack, put one foot on each board balanced over the open pit, drop the pants and hope everything comes out quick enough that you don’t get frostbite on your backside. As you’re trying to hurry, you wonder what happens if you drop the toilet paper into the pit, or your gloves, or scarf. Or, what if one of the herders decides to wander on the hillside overlooking the shack at this time. Do you wave? You wonder about the freezing point of bodily fluids (Mythbusters?). After all, it’s about –10F, plus the windchill. You have to admit this is pretty funny, even if it’s too much information.

And the last entertaining point of the day – the ski resort. Just outside of Ulaan Baatar, there is a ski resort. We were told that it actually has to make snow as there isn’t enough naturally here for skiing. Worse yet, they sometimes have trouble making the snow because it is too cold. I find that amusing too!
Thanks for letting me share my trip with you. Only 3 more full days in Mongolia, and then off to Australia! More tomorrow.

Field Trip

So much to tell about the last two days! We travelled to a town about 5 hours east of here. As soon as you get about 15 minutes outside of town, you realize just how remote most of Mongolia is. Mile after mile of road, with no visible buildings, people, or animals. It’s a beautiful country in winter, and must be even more beautiful in summer when everything is green, instead of covered in snow. Along the way, you occasionally see a structure, or grazing animals (cattle, sheep, camels), and only a few other cars on the road. We did see two gentlemen on motorbikes, and decided they were the two bravest people in Mongolia. Temperature is about 0F, and there is still ice and snow on the roads!

When we reached the town, we were greeted at the entrance sign. It is a sign of welcome to greet people with milk tea at the entrance to your city. The team was waiting for us, and we all hopped out of the van, had our greeting by a person in full Mongolian dress, drank our sip of milk tea, and then returned to the van to continue into the town. After working in the office for a bit, we toured two schools. The students are all very well behaved, and very excited to meet visitors. The first school was for students 1st to 8th grade, and the second was a high school. Schools here are brightly colored and have a reasonable amount of resources for learning. Students learned all the normal subjects, and for the older students, classes in Russian, English, and German were available.

The arts are also very important here. Mongolians are very proud of their music, dance and art, and these things are taught in the schools. In both schools, students put on a presentation of what they learned. They played instruments, danced, and sang. They are all incredibly talented! One student played the traditional instrument called a matouqin or morinkohr (played with a bow on two strings). He did a wonderful job, and when he was finished, our hosts told us he is deaf. This instrument is not easy to play in tune, yet every pitch was exactly right! In each activity, whether dancing, singing or playing instruments, the music always reflects the importance of the horse in Mongolian life. From the music or dance, you get a mental picture of the Mongolians riding their horses across the open landscape. Each piece is performed in full, colorful dress as well. Students at both schools are incredibly talented!

Monday night, we stayed in a small hotel in town. Mostly cold water, no shower, but a nice bed and heat, so all was well. I do have to say that washing your face with cold water in Mongolia is a bit different than washing your face with cold water in Africa. That water here is REALLY cold!

Today we spent more time doing our office work and checks, and then we visited a herding family just outside the village. This is the family of one of our local co-workers. They live in a ger, with additional wooden structures to house their lifestock to try to protect them from the elements. This year is so cold and snowy that country-wide nearly 60% of the livestock have died. For this family alone, their herd has gone from 90 cows to 40 cows this winter. They are hoping they don’t lose any more. The weather is absolutely devastating to these people.

The herders move three times per year to allow their livestock to graze in different areas. They leave the animal structures behind, but pack up the ger and haul it to the next location. We’re told it takes about one hour to tear one down, and another hour to set it back up in its new location. The ger and household goods used to be transported by horse drawn cart, but now they are frequently transported by car or by car and trailer.

There are many customs for entering a ger. You always enter with your right foot first, then move clockwise into the ger (it’s a circular structure). You can sit on the left or right, but not at the head where the most senior member of the family sits. The stove sits in the middle of the ger. They burn many things in the stove as fuel. Today’s fuel was cow dung. I figured it would smell, but there was no odor inside the ger.

Our hosts were a woman from the office, her son and father, and her mother. Her mom was 88 years old. Mom had 12 children, all of whom are professionals. She says she has over 40 grandchildren, and doesn’t know how many great-grandchildren. The language barrier kept us from asking too many questions, but I can only imagine the stories she could tell!

For lunch we had steamed dumplings with meat (unsure what kind, but was probably either beef or horse), sour yogurt, curdled and dried milkfat, hard lard (incredibly hard), and some type of noodle dish, all washed down with milk tea. The milk-based items are made in the fall, and then kept and used all winter. They said the yogurt was made in August, and then is served until spring. I guess in such low temperatures, nothing spoils, so we ate it. For our western palates, we had to add some sugar to the yogurt, as it was a bit sour. After you finish your bowl of yogurt, it is customary to lick the inside of the bowl to clean it. I thought of all the kids at home that try this and get yelled at for bad manners. I finally found a place where it is good manners to literally lick your bowl clean!

More to share on our short field trip tomorrow!

Sunday in Mongolia

Today is Sunday. We had a relaxing morning at the hotel, and then our hosts picked us up for an afternoon out. For lunch, we went to an Indian / Mexican restaurant. Never thought I’d have enchiladas in Mongolia! Then off to the cashmere factory. We weren’t able to see the factory, but did visit the store outside. They use cashmere for everything – dresses, skirts, coats, sweaters, gloves, scarves, hats. The quality varies a bit, but I would imagine a scarf they sell here for about $20 USD would be well over $150 in the US. It is made of goat or camel hair. I wish I could see the manufacturing process. I would imagine it is very interesting!

At the end of the day, we went to church. Our hosts go to a multi-national church, so the service is in English. We worshiped with people from Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, US, England, Australia, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal, Cambodia, Philippines, and I’m sure other nations as well. Imagine all those accents in one place singing worship music! What a wonderful sound! The band was very good too. Female drummer AND bass player in the band! Then back to the hotel for a quiet evening.

A few other observations about Mongolia. Did I mention it’s cold here? Not as cold as I thought here in the city, but still daytime highs only in the 0 to 10F range. When the sun comes out, it probably gets up as high as 20F. The wind can be quite strong, making it feel a bit colder. There isn’t actually much snow here. I pictured feet of snow, but at least near the city, it’s more like inches, and we’re told that this is a lot of snow. It is simply too dry here to snow much.

The city is surrounded on three sides by mountains. When you go out from the city and get into the mountain area, you find that there are also very interesting rock formations where it looks like someone just dumped a huge pile of rocks in the middle of a field. Apparently, millions of years ago, this area was under water, so the rock formations probably have something to do with that. When we drove to the statue yesterday, we also went through a very sandy area – in the mountains. Seems odd, but if the area were originally under water, I guess it makes sense.

In the city, even though it is so cold, you can hear birds in the morning. Can you imagine how strong that bird must be? The animals here all have very long fur, even the horses and cows. For the people, heat is piped in from the central power plant. On the outskirts of the city, these pipes are above ground. At some point, they are buried, and heat is brought to the businesses and apartments. If you are an individual, it appears you are on your own to burn whatever you can find. Most try to bring in coal (low grade) or wood, but they’ll also burn tires, or anything else that they find. That can make the air here a bit hard to breathe sometimes.
Tomorrow, we’re going about 400km east of the city. We were told to dress warm and at one point were asked if we have sleeping bags. I’m hoping that’s not a bad sign, as we did not bring them. I’m sure they’ll outfit us with something if we really need them. No post for the next day or so, as we were told not to expect much in the way of service. So, I have my coat, my long underwear, and my bottle of water, and off we go!

Two days in the countryside

On Friday, we had a good trip to visit families and schools just outside of Ulaan Bataar. The countryside is very open. Mountains, cattle, horses, sheep, and a few homes dotting the countryside. The towns are small, and a mixture of the traditional ger and brick, wood, and cement homes. The homes look well constructed, but have been poorly maintained. The family we visited lived in a ger. The woman lost her husband a few years ago to a mining accident, shortly before her second child was born. She makes about $1 per day, and barely survives on that income. Her story is apparently common, as mining is the top industry in the country (second is cashmere production). The mines are unsafe, and there are many accidents each year.

We weren’t able to take pictures inside this ger, but hopefully I’ll be able to visit another later in the visit. The ger is a circular construction of fabric, felt, and wood. They usually lay something like linoleum or wood on the floor, and decorate the walls with heavy, colorful fabric. A small stove sits in the middle of the ger, and it is used for heating and for cooking. There is a small table near the door entrance used to store dishes and cooking items, then a bed, a play or storage area, another bed, and then another storage area. Apparently, all gers are organized in about the same way. To get into the ger, there is a door that stands about 3 ½ feet high. You stoop way down, come in, and then you can stand upright.

After the family visit, we went to a school. The school is new to the town, and is using new learning styles, which are a bit more like western teaching styles. Most schools in Mongolia still use Russian teaching styles that are a bit less participative. In this school, the children were very engaged, and all seemed to love learning. The teachers are doing a great job, and the school has received recognition from many locations for the great job they are doing. These kids did not have a school at all until a few years ago. The town it is in, is very poor, and the kids had nowhere to go. Now the school gives them a place to learn and to grow. They say songs, and one even recited a short story they had learned in English. He was clearly proud of what he had learned. The story went like this: “I am a mouse. You are a cat. One, two, three, four. You can’t catch me cat!” Short but sweet. This is actually quite a hard set of sentences for the child, as it contains many sounds that are very hard for Mongolians to make. On the flip side, I can’t even say thank you right, as I can’t get my mouth to make some of the sounds that are a key part of their language!

Today, we had the day off, and our hosts took us to the countryside to see the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex. This is about 60 minutes from the city, in the area where Ghengis Khan was born. The complex’s focal point is a 40 meter statue of Ghengis Khan riding a horse. It’s made of stainless steel and weighs about 250 tons. The base of the statue is an exhibit hall, but the complex is still very new, so there is not much to see in the museum portion. You then take an elevator, and then some very narrow stairs up into the statue, coming out at the horse’s neck. The head of the horse is actually an observation deck where you can view the surrounding countryside.

I would imagine this is a beautiful view on a clear day, but today was very cloudy. Just before we arrived at the site, it began to snow. The good news is, that when it’s snowing, it’s a bit warmer! By the time we got up to the observation deck, the clouds had descended, and you couldn’t see a lot.

We left the Chinggis Khan statue, and then went into one of the national parks for lunch. The national park has a series of family camps where people can stay year round. Amazingly, they had people staying in the one we went to for lunch. By this time, it was snowing pretty heavily, and becoming nearly a white out. Go the truck stuck on the way, but was able to push it out, and then help some other motorists who found themselves in the same predicament. Lunch was great, and we hoped the weather would clear a bit, but it was not to be. So we started back, thankful that other motorists before us had found the road, and we could follow their tire tracks through the snow. Eventually, we made it back to the “highway”, and started back to the city, stopping now and then to get the ice off the windshield wipers.
We had a great day today. Tomorrow, we’ll do a few more things in the city, but no more countryside excursions in the snow. One last thing – tried to post those videos of the cultural event, but I can’t seem to get that function to work. Just too slow! I’ll try again tomorrow and see what happens. More then!

Cultural Event

We had a wonderful evening at our cultural event. Several local groups put on performances of local music and dance. The first groups demonstrated several different types of native singing styles. For our western ears, some of them are a bit hard to listen to, but I can’t imagine how I could get my voice to do that! One of them was the Mongolian style of throat singing. I need to do some reading on this, but it basically uses the throat to make two different pitches at once. The gentleman that did this performed about a three minute song using this technique. It’s a very unique sound. I’ll try to post a video of it another day. They also had a musical group playing local stringed instruments and horns. They were wonderful.

Next we had the children’s group perform. This group has apparently toured to other countries and won awards. They are all very good singers, and performed wonderfully. Their songs were more modern, and they sang in both Mongolian and English. One of their selections was a Christmas medley. Never thought here Santa Claus is Coming to Town, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Jingle Bells in March in Mongolia! Tow of the boys sang solos as well, one of them an operatic piece. I doubt he was more than 10 or 12 years old, and has a huge voice for a kid so young!

The kids performed several pieces, along with the adult groups. They also had a contortionist perform. This is also a local art form. The way she could bend and contort her body made it hard to know what direction she was actually facing!

After the show, we went to a local Korean restaurant for dinner. Great food and good fellowship, getting to know all of our hosts better. The team here is made of people from all around the world. At our table, we had people from Mongolia, UK, Nepal, Nigeria, US, Australia, Cambodia, and China. Makes for very good conversation.
Next is our first trip to the countryside. Our understanding is that it is even colder there, so it’s time to pull out all the really warm things. I imagine we will have a very interesting day!

Day 1

First full day in Mongolia. Lots of work meetings today, and not much time to see anything but the office and the hotel. You do notice two things immediately here. First, while it is very cold, it is not as cold here as I expected, nor is there as much snow. Later this week and early next week, we will spend some time away from the capital city, and my understanding is it is much colder there. Here in the city, the temperature is probably in the high teens. While that’s cold, not nearly as bad as I thought. Second, you notice the haze in the air from smoke. The smoke is from the ger fires. A “ger” is the house the herders live in here. To stay warm, they burn anything they can find in the ger, and that creates an incredible smoking haze in the city.

It is a bit funny though the temperature in the buildings here. The heat is through radiator coils that are set at some central point. I think my hotel room is about 90 degrees. I’m hoping they can figure out how to turn it down, or the window is going to have to open!
Tomorrow, more office things, and then we are to attend a “cultural activity”. Will tell you about it then.

Departing for Mongolia

Greetings from 34,000 ft above the Pacific Ocean. We’re on the first leg of the long flight to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. I don’t normally blog about the start of the trip, but I met a fascinating lady on the journey to the airport, and thought I’d share.

On the journey here, I met Mary on the shuttle van. I’m not very good about striking up conversations, but Mary is. She asked about where I was going and what I did for work. She then said she was going to Washington DC to receive a medal. After a little prompting, she started telling us about how she was a WASP in World War II. WASP stands for Woman Airforce Service Pilot. The WASPs are receiving the Congressional Gold Medal (she thinks that’s what it’s called) on Wednesday this week. This is in recognition of this unit’s service during the war. The WASPs were disbanded near the end of the war, and most folks don’t know much about them.

She said before she joined up, she taught ground school to Army pilots. After she joined, she continued to train pilots, and she also ferried aircraft around the country to wherever the Army needed the planes. She told us stories of how pilots at the various bases would jump up onto the wing to help the pilot out, and recognize her from her ground school instruction days. She says she no longer remembers how many pilots she trained, but that there were many.
She’s 88 now, and still has her commercial pilot’s license. A few years ago, her daughter did the test for instrument flight rules, and she was allowed to fly with her as her backup pilot. She told stories of flying through the Grand Canyon with her husband and of the many countries in which she’d lived and visited. The trip to the airport flew by, and when we got there, the shuttle van driver insisted I take his picture with her, as it’s not everyday that he gets to meet a medal winner. What an amazing lady! The ceremony is Wednesday somewhere in the Capital area. She couldn’t remember exactly where, but was very excited that her children would be able to join her. I plan to check it out as soon as I can access the internet.

Final Day in Zambia

Last full day in Zambia. It’s been a great trip, but I am definitely ready to come home! Today we spend the morning visiting groups around the Lusaka area. We first went to a community near downtown. This area has many small homes clustered very closely together. No running water. No electricity. No school. We visited a church building where community members have come together to operate a school in the church building. This one large room with a few wooden benches, chalkboards propped up against the wall, and about 400 children, grades 1 to 7. Each grade is located in a different corner of the room. They do have staggered start times for the younger kids so that all 400 are not in the room at once. It is incredibly loud, no books in evidence, and you wonder how the kids can learn. The kids are all well behaved, and clearly listening, but with that number of people together in one large brick and concrete room, you can imagine how loud it is.

This school has to cart water from a well some distance from the school. They have a well right outside, but it is contaminated due to people in the community building pit latrines which have now polluted the water. Many of the kids have minimal food at home, so the school has implemented a feeding program. We’re told that sometimes this is the only meal they receive each day. The teachers and Caregivers sometimes have trouble getting the kids to eat, because they feel as if they should take the food home to their younger brothers and sisters.

We wondered how well the children learn in this environment. The leaders of the school informed us that they recently took 7th grade exams. In Zambia, students must take exams at the end of 7th grade to proceed to 8th. If they do not pass, they are not accepted to the 8th grade. At this school, 25 of 28 students passed the test, and the other three were so close to the score, that the government decided to grant them admission to the 8th grade. A 100% pass rate! Then we found out that all the teachers in this school are volunteers. No one receives any pay for teaching these children! The teachers are community members that went to a small training program for two years. It was unclear whether they actually received a formal certificate, but it doesn’t matter. They care about the kids, and are obviously dedicated to their success! And the children obviously see the value in education. We met one 7th grader who is head of household. His father left the family when he found out the mother had HIV. She is now very ill, so the boy takes care of his mom and his younger sister. He still attends school each day, and then goes to a job as a gardener each afternoon. He does receive help from one of the local volunteer Caregiver’s, but can you imagine a 7th grader managing all this?
Then back to the office, and the final meetings of the day. Great visit, good suggestions, and as always, more work ahead! It’s Saturday morning now, and we’ll be leaving the hotel in about an hour. Long flight home with two long layovers in Nairobi and London. Thank you for joining on this journey. Looks like the next one may be to Mongolia! Hope you’ll join me there!

Last day in the field

Today was our last field day. We are now about 450km from the capital city of Lusaka. Solwezi is a small town, but very active. There are several mines near here, run by South Africans, all mining copper. They’re all open pit mines and absolutely huge!

Our day started by visiting two schools. One trained teachers, and the other was a high school for grades 10 to 12. We didn’t meet any of the teachers in training, but did get a chance to talk to several of the high school students. They are very well spoken, and clearly enjoy school, particularly science and math studies.

We then drove out quite far from the town, and visited a rural school. Unfortunately, due to road conditions, we were late, and only had a chance to talk to one student, the “library prefect”. He is the student in charge of all the books in the library. Here they also lend books out to the community. Again, the favorite subjects were science and math, followed closely by world history. Even within the community, these were the most checked out books!

While in the library, it started raining. Huge raindrops! And lots of them! Instantly, the ground went from hard clay to huge mud puddle. We waded back to the truck. The helpful man with the umbrella didn’t really help much, but he tried! And then off to the next location.

At the next location, we were served lunch. A wonderful person who works in the community made lunch for all of us. We had chicken, beef stew (or something like it), cooked sweet potato leaves, fish head, potato salad, mushroom salad, green beans, nshima, rice and a few other things. This lady is amazing! All made in a small kitchen with no running water and solar power! It was the best food I’ve had since I’ve been here! And we have had many good meals!

Then off to a clinic, and a community gathering point where we met more Caregivers. Each of these people cares for 33 children. Some have one parent, but the parent may be very ill. They walk between locations and check on some daily, and others weekly. Can you imagine taking care of your own family, home, and fields, and then also caring for severely ill adults, and their children as well? I don’t think I could do it!

Today we drove the 8 hours back to Lusaka. What a long ride! Along the way, you see field after field of corn, soybeans, coffee, groundnuts, tomatoes, onions, and other crops. This is rainy season, so everything is wonderfully green. You also see many people walking along the side of the 2 lane “highway”. Even children as young as 4 and 5 years walk alone or with other groups of children on the way to school, or other locations.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. We’ll spend most of the day in the office doing all that wrap up stuff that is required at the end of a visit. One more update, and then the long trip home!

Update from Solwezi

Today, we checked out of the Plush Executive Lodge. Cold shower again this morning, but at least there was more than a trickle of water coming out of the faucet. We visited a community about an hour from the main office. The drive out was quite interesting. Once you turn off the main highway, the road is dirt, with many large holes. As it has rained a lot here recently, these holes were all filled with water. Sometimes the water was up over the wheels of the truck as we drove through. In one area, the road was impassable, so we were re-directed on a very narrow dirt track through farmer’s fields. The road was barely wide enough for the truck.

We finally arrived, and were met by about 100 people, mostly women and children. We were able to help distribute shoes to the children and some of the adults. It was humbling to be here. I brought more with me in my suitcase than many of these people have in their entire homes. Many of the children don’t have shoes at all. Others are too small, or have been worn so much that they are literally falling off their feet. Each child or family of children was called up individually, the right size shoe was found, and tried on. Then the smile! Most of them took the shoes right back off. They are saving them to wear to school later this week. The school was up on the hill behind where we did the distribution. Very small. We’re told there are over 800 children in this community, but I didn’t get how many of those were school age.

We met one little girl named Gloria. She received her shoes, but continued to wear them, because she was wearing her school uniform, so she thought it was appropriate. She is 10 years old, and about the size of a 5 year old. She was clutching a small plastic bag filled with several small pencil stubs, a ruler, and a well-used composition book. I asked her what she did with the things in her bag. She told me she carries it around because the teacher often asks her to help the other students. There’s a future teacher for you!

After a while, we had to leave to go to our next appointment. The distribution was still going on, and most likely would continue for most of the day. We slowly headed out the road we came in on. Along the way, we bought some mangos, which will make a great snack tomorrow. There are mango trees everywhere here, and this is the rainy season, so all are heavy with fruit. We also managed to get one of the trucks stuck in one of the large holes in the road. You have to laugh at things like that! I was reminded that one of the many reasons I left the military was because I was tired of mud. Now here I am back in the mud! Except this time I had to wear a skirt instead of combat boots. It’s not appropriate for women to wear slacks in the rural areas here.

We got the truck out, so all is well. We continued on to our last location this afternoon. We are now in northwestern Zambia in a city called Solwezi. The hotel here is wonderful. TV, hot water, mosquito net, and internet! We’re so spoiled. This morning, I spent the day with people who didn’t even have shoes, and I’m complaining because I don’t have hot water. I am very thankful for what I have, but is so hard to reconcile all that I have been blessed with to the things that I have seen today, and the other times I have come to Africa. Children with no shoes wearing rags. Mud huts. Medical clinics with limited or no supplies. Malnourished children. Diseased children. People dying from AIDS. Women with 5 and 6 small children. It’s heartbreaking.
But you also see good things happening. Small farms. Community Caregivers developing a co-op to raise money to pay school fees for orphans. Small schools to train in everything from farming and bee-keeping to computer training. I’m just glad that I am able to do some small part to help the good things take off and grow.

18 January Post

Well we did get dinner last night. It was chicken and chips, as requested, and wasn’t bad. We ended up switching from the outside rooms to the inside rooms in the hotel. Somehow the ones that were “booked” earlier were still empty, so they let us switch. Since there were no more mosquito nets, my friend’s window wouldn’t close, and my door wouldn’t lock, we decided it was better to be inside. I have to share a bathroom across the hall, but there is no one in the room I would share with, so that’s OK. I also have to share my room with Big Bertha. That’s the really large spider that lives in the closet. It’s too high for me to reach it to kill it, so we will co-exist peacefully. I’ve closed the closet door. She can have that room, and I’ll take the part with the bed.

One of our travelling group brought some movies, so we thought we’d gather around one of the computers last night to watch a movie. Sounded like a good idea, but out of three laptops, we couldn’t make one of them play the movie. One didn’t have a DVD player, one player wouldn’t work, and third one could play the movie, but something is wrong with the volume controls, so we couldn’t hear it. Talk about sad! So at 8:30, we all decided to give it up!

One good thing about the room, is that it has an air conditioner, sort of. It has a unit on the ceiling that blows cold air now and then. The temperature here has been relatively cool (mid to high 80’s), so it’s just enough.

Today we spent part of the day in the office learning about processes and procedures. Then we visited a couple of secondary schools and a skills training center. The first two schools were huge. One had 1700 students, the other 1200 students. The physical area doesn’t look that large, but somehow all the students fit!
Tomorrow we will be out in the community again learning about what they do for income, how they live, and about their families. Then off for another 2 – 3 hour drive to the next community area. Tonight at the hotel is looking up! There is at least one TV channel, I have a working light in my room. Big Bertha (the spider) seems to have moved on (perhaps I should be worried about that part….), and we are supposed to have rice for dinner instead of fries. It just doesn’t get better than that!

17 January Post

Today we left the Sherbourne Guest House in Kitwe. This morning I woke up early to the sounds of all the birds outside my window. Trees, shrubs, flowers, and other greenery surround the hotel. The grounds are beautiful, and definitely attract many birds and small lizards. It’s so peaceful to wake up to quiet sounds like that.

We had a leisurely morning, and then departed for the town of Chingola, which is about 25 miles from Kitwe. The road between these two towns is very busy, even on Sunday. Many people live in one, and work in the other, so they are constantly travelling back and forth. Chingola is not as big as Kitwe, but has many shops and several nicer housing areas. Chingola is primarily supported by those working in the copper mining industry. As soon as you leave Kitwe, you start seeing mines. The ones between the two cities are shaft mines. They mine for the copper underground, and bring it up through the shaft. The large pile of very black dirt I referenced in an earlier post was actually a dumping ground for the dirt that came out of the mining shaft. Between the cities, the mines are open pit mines. Basically, they are huge holes in the ground. The area around the mine does everything to turn the copper into a useable form for further export.

We are staying in the Plush Executive Inn in Chingola. You reach the inn via a dirt road filled with holes. Quite a rough road! There are eight rooms in the inn, 3 inside the main house, and five outside. Registration consisted of writing our name in a book. We then were taken to our rooms. I have one of the outside rooms. We left our suitcases, and then went to find our driver. He was making plans for entertainment for the afternoon. First though, we thought we’d have lunch. Unfortunately, the hotel doesn’t have lunch. We thought to ask about dinner. We were informed they don’t have a menu, but they can make dinner. They just need to know in advance. So, we asked them to tell us what our options were. They said they didn’t have a menu, because they didn’t have a chef, but could have dinner for us. This discussion continued for a few minutes, until one of us finally asked if they could make chicken. To which they responded, they could not make dinner because they didn’t have a chef, but they could have chicken for us at dinner. Then we asked what time dinner would be ready. They told us between 7 and 9pm. At this point, we ask them to have chicken and chips (fries) available at 7pm. Then we begin to plan the rest of our afternoon.

Turns out, there isn’t much to do in Chingola, so after a few minutes of discussion, our driver announces that we should drive to the next town to have lunch, and then drive up to the Congo border to see what’s going on.

Now I guess this all registered with me, but it wasn’t until we were about half way to the next town (about 10 minutes drive), that it dawned on me that normal people don’t go to the Congo border to “see what’s going on”. But our driver hadn’t steered us wrong yet, so we continued. We stopped at the Mt. Moria Guest House in Chililabombwe for lunch. Well, actually we stopped to order lunch. Unfortunately, we repeated the same scenario that we at the other guest house about dinner. “Do you serve lunch?”, “Yes.” “What do you serve?” What do you want?” “What do you have?” “What do you want?” and the circle continues. We finally agreed on sausage and chips. Once we ordered, we then left the guest house so they could make lunch.

We got back in the car and continued on to the DRC border. As you get closer, you see many people on bicycles that are loaded down with bags of corn meal, charcoal, and other items. These are Congolese people that walk or ride their bikes across the Zambian border so that they can buy staples that are either unavailable or too costly in DRC.

About 2 miles from the border, you start to see semi-trucks parked along both sides of the road. They are parked right on top of one another all the way to the border. I did some quick math, and estimate there were about 110 trucks parked on each side of the narrow two lane road. There were maybe another 30 or so trucks parked on a secondary road that parallels the main road. These trucks are all waiting to go through customs and cross into the opposite country. Basically, they park the truck, then have to walk all the way back to the customs office to turn in their paperwork. The paperwork is reviewed, and eventually the driver is allowed to leave. It can take three or more days for the customs official to approve the paperwork. Meanwhile, the drivers sit with their trucks along the side of the road. They cook in small charcoal stoves under the trailer. Some have strung hammocks between the sides and sleep under the trailer. Others just lay on the concrete. There are no restroom facilities, no guest houses, no restaurants. There are a few street vendors selling tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

As you get closer to the border, the road gets narrower, and the trucks are parked even closer together. Eventually, you reach the border fence, where there is a little police station to help keep order, and a small house where I assume the paperwork is checked and approved. The crown here did not look completely friendly. I guess if I had to live under my truck for three days waiting on someone to check the paperwork, I’d be unfriendly too. We tried to take a picture of the “Welcome to Zambia” sign, but people ran to the truck waving their arms and shouting “no, no”, so we chose not to take the picture, and turned around, heading back out the same road we came in on. We think the people thought we were trying to take their pictures, and they didn’t want us to, but I didn’t want to stop to ask.

When we arrived back at the Mt. Moria Guest House, lunch still wasn’t ready. We had been gone more than 1 hour, but I guess it takes a while to cook sausage and chips. So we waited another ½ hour or so. The house has satellite TV (more channels than we get at home), and when we arrived, the TV was tuned to Nickalodeon and Jimmy Neutron was on. Don’t know why, but I find that really funny.

Finally had lunch, and then went into town to buy a wrap to wear when we go into the field tomorrow. It is not common for women to wear pants in the rural areas. We wear skirts, but it was suggested we purchase the tchechenge (don’t know if I spelled that right) fabric to use as the wrap when we go out later this week. We went to a street vendor from Congo, who at first just wanted to know if any of us could speak French. One of my companions knows about 10 words, so that seemed to make us OK. We were told that the fabric comes from the Congo, but when we pointed out the hem said “made in Cote d’ Ivoire”, he said it didn’t matter because they had been in the Congo. Can’t argue with that logic!
So then back to the Plush Executive Inn. I don’t know what “plush” means here, but let’s just say it is something less than what you might find back home. I got to my room, flipped the light switch, and nothing happened. Turns out there is no light bulb. The TV does not work, as the office forgot to pay the bill, and today is Sunday. They are certain they will pay the bill and it will work tomorrow. The shower has no shower curtain. One of my companions has a window that won’t close, and I have the only mosquito net. You’re actually reading this late, as there is no internet connection here. Didn’t check for hot water yet, but I’m not overly optimistic.So now you know why this is so long. I’m sitting in one of my companion’s rooms, as there is a light with not much else to do. It is good to type all this, as you have to admit, the whole thing is pretty funny. Or at least will be when I read this after I get home. Right now, the plastic lawn chair I’m sitting in is getting a bit uncomfortable, so it’s time to end. Only at the “Plush Executive Inn” can you sit in a plastic lawn chair in the dark, with the rain pouring down, typing about your trip to the DRC border to “see what’s going on”. Have a great rest of your day! I’ll let you know if we actually get dinner tonight in my next post.

Started the morning today with what I’ve decided to call a “copper shower”. You can smell the copper in the water here as soon as you turn the water on. It is an almost overpowering metallic smell. But it was hot, so I decided that was a good trade-off for the smell.

Last night, I learned you must remember when you are sleeping under a mosquito net, you should be extra prepared. The net is suspended from the ceiling, and after you get into the bed, you tuck it under the mattress. This is fine, except once you tuck it in, you can’t get to the nightstand to reach your alarm clock, bottle of water, or to put down your book. I must have tucked and untucked the net 10 times last night. Then I forgot about it when I got up in the middle of the night. You can get untangled quickly, but when you’re half asleep, it’s a bit annoying. Then while you are annoyed, it hurts when you run into the bathroom door. I should do much better tonight, since I am now a pro with the net.

Today we visited many people in the local community. Our first meeting was with the community leaders and many Caregivers. They talked about how they take care of orphans and vulnerable children in the community, and how they care for people living with HIV and AIDS. They do amazing work! In this area, there are 42 trained community members who EACH take care of about 20 children and 6 ill adults. They are all volunteers and have families of their own to take care of as well.

After we met with the leaders, we visited a young girl and her younger brother. They are orphans living alone in the community. One of the Caregivers checks in on them daily, and the community members have come together to help her go to school. School is free from grades 1 to 7. Once you start 8th grade, the family has to pay school fees. Without the help from her community, she would not be able to attend school. She is very quiet and is going into the ninth grade. She loves science, and wants to study to be a nurse. At first, she was too shy to talk to us, but when we started asking her about school and her favorite subjects, she brightened right up! Her brother is a bit younger, and would really prefer to climb trees right now. I think having so many visitors was a bit too much for him. It was a bit hard for us to talk to him while he was up in the tree. I thought about climbing up to sit with him, but couldn’t figure out how to do that in a culturally appropriate way while wearing a skirt.

We then visited another family with five children. Their mother is a traditional birth attendant, and had been called away just before our visit to help an expectant mother at another village home. The oldest girl in this family is 16 and in the 7th grade. She likes math, and hopes to be able to do better in her studies this year so that one day she can go to the 8th grade, and later study to be a nurse. The children had been given a game, but didn’t know how to play it, so we showed them how to play. They are very excited to start playing the game this afternoon.

We then went to visit a school in another community near by. This school is very excited because they were recently given funding to put electricity into the school. The head teacher was already making plans to make a resource center, computer lab, home-ec lab, etc. He doesn’t know where he’ll get the resources, but he says if he doesn’t have a plan, then he won’t be able to start looking for the resources! He says he started the school in 2006 with just over 150 students. When school starts again this term, he will have nearly 1200 students in grades 1 to 8. He is very excited, as this is the first time he will have the ability to teach 8th grade. Until now, he only had classes through grade 7. The amazing part is, he has only 16 teachers, 10 of those are for grades 1 to 7, and the other 6 are for grade 8. And he says he is “quite comfortable” with this, as he has more teachers than other schools. On average that is 75 children per classroom. When you factor in that just over 1100 of the kids are in grades 1 to 7, and there are only 10 teachers for these grades, that’s 110 children per class. They have staggered the times a little, but as far as I can gather, there are times of the day when all the children are in attendance.

There are many dedicated people here in the communities we visited today that are doing everything they can to help the others in their community, and their work shows. Kids are in school. Homes are made of brick or clay vs. mud huts with thatched roofs. Community members find income generating activities, and have made actual business plans to figure out how to pay school fees for orphans. It is amazing what can happen when a community really comes together!

Tomorrow, we’re moving on from Kitwe, to a town called Chingola. We have a day of rest after we arrive, but will most likely spend most of that trying to catch up on all the work and report writing we have to do from our visits this week. Hard to believe we’ve been here a week! But I will definitely be ready to come home when it’s time. It is interesting to meet all these people and see the country, but it can be exhausting too!

Kitwe, Zambia

Today we drove about 400km (240 miles) north of Lusaka. You take the Great North Road from Lusaka, and then just drive, until you have to take the East Road. We’re told you could take the Great North Road all the way to Cairo. I don’t think I’d want to try it.

That said, it was a pretty good road. Paved all the way, and actually had enough room on it for cars in each direction without feeling like you have to share. I’m always amazed at the number of people walking and riding bicycles along the shoulder of the highway, particularly the number of children. Some are probably as young as 4 being chaperoned by older siblings. Cars travel on this road at speeds of 60 to 70 miles an hour. It’s a bit scary when you drive at that speed by children playing.

Our drive was uneventful, except for the event at the pay toilet at the road-stop. Someone should really tell us that the nicely dressed lady at the door was collecting money to give you the priveledge to use toilet paper and flush. I thought she was just waiting in line. We got it all straightened out though, and continued on our way.

Kitwe is the second largest city in Zambia. Many people are employed here to work in the copper mines. We drove by one today. I’m going to have to do more research on this. From the road, it looks like a giant black mountain. I don’t know exactly why it looks like that. There are several mines in this area, and in fact the whole northern region is called the Copperbelt.

Our hotel is nice. Small rooms, but they have a fan, TV, and a shower. Can’t ask for more! It is a bit odd though to sit under a mosquito net watching cable TV and working on the wireless internet. Seems like one of these should not go with the other.
Tomorrow, we’ll see more of the area around Kitwe, as it is a working Saturday. More to follow then!

Odd Observations

Today the team spent the day at the warehouse. The team here does an amazing job keeping track of everything received and where it goes for use. It makes my job much easier when everyone does their job so well!

As we spent most of the day in the office, not much to share about the local area. Lusaka is a very busy place. The warehouse is in the Africa equivalent of an industrial park. There are small factories for many industries from tires to grain production.

A few odd observations…. In many of the places I’ve been, I’ve noticed the doorknobs seem awfully high, and Zambia is one of those places. I measured tonight. The doorknobs for all doors in my room stand 49 inches from the ground. For someone who’s only 5’4”, that’s pretty tall. The bathtubs also seem to be made for giants. The edge of the tub stands 22” from the floor. That’s quite high! You almost need stairs to get into the shower. I’ve been trying to figure out why this is, but can’t come up with any logical reason why everything would be made for really tall people. Just one of those random things I wonder about I guess.
Tomorrow we leave for northern Zambia. Should be an interesting visit. Hopefully I will be able to connect from there. If not, I’ll post when I return to Lusaka next week!

Welcome to Zambia

Greetings from Lusaka Zambia! We arrived yesterday after about 23 hours of flight time and 8 hours of layovers. You just can’t get here from there quickly! Good thing it was an uneventful journey.

The first thing you notice is how friendly people are. They are helpful at customs (can you believe it!). When you leave the airport, you do not have to fight the mob of taxi drivers trying to “help” you with your suitcase. If you’ve ever been somewhere where that happens, you know how unhelpful that actually is! The driver’s generally follow the rules of the road. Red means stop, green means go, and people are able to drive without constantly sounding the horn. The area is also very clean. You don’t see trash on the side of the roadways. Everything is orderly. It’s the only place I’ve been on my work trips where you just immediately feel at home, even though everything is so much different than what we’re used to!

We had a bit of time yesterday to rest and try to get over jet-lag. Our hotel is in a nice area with a small shopping mall next door. We were able to walk around for a bit and try to get over jet-lag.

Today was a day of meetings at the main office. We did have a chance to visit and have dinner at a friend’s home this evening. I originally met her in Ghana, then ran into her during my first trip to Zambia, and then ended up working with her during the Haiti trip. Isn’t it interesting how you can just “run into” people in so many different locations! We were able to meet her two wonderful daughters and spend a nice evening with her.

Now I am watching the BBC news coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. Some of the pictures are of places we drove by during our visit in September. One of them is of the hotel that my friend stayed in (I was in a different one). The hotel is partially collapsed. We also spent time today thinking and praying about the family that hosted us during that visit. The host was at the office, and was able to reach his son quickly. He was unable to find his wife and two daughters until nearly 24 hours later. All were fine, but I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for all of them.

More tomorrow!