The Copperbelt

I arrived in Ndola Sunday evening. The second-largest city in Zambia, Ndola is the center of the newly re-energized Zambian mining industry. I was expecting to be more in touch with the actual implementation of development on this site visit, but I didn't realize until I arrived, how little I knew about the communities we work in. It was humbling to see the poverty, need, and strength of some of Zambia's poorest compounds and villages.

Our first visit was to a church whose members started a home for street children after noticing an increasing number of children sleeping literally in the street gutters at night. We'd seen some of these very children in the morning prior to driving to Chingola. They often beg in the streets from cars, one young man had tried to sell me a monopoly game from my car window.

The next visit was to a community school in a compound at the outskirts of Chingola. Children were EVERYWHERE. The average Zambian woman has 6 children in her lifetime, and the excess of youth was readily apparent. Schools are not free, and for those who cannot afford the fees, little other opportunities exist. Some of the kids were out of school youth, and some were on half day schedules, but many many children were out and about in this community. The community school we visited was free for children, but the teachers were volunteers as there was no money for their salaries.

The final site stands out the most in my mind, not only because it was on the border to the Congo, and our driver joked we were on the way to the DRC as I sat safely seatbelted in my seat. Very funy.
Hippo Pool, a school in a rural village outside of Chingola had been destroyed by rains the weeks before. Children were learning in the only concrete structure, a church, in the community. No school had ever existed in the village before 2004. The children were so excited to see our vehicle and to show off their new flip flops from a donor foundation in Lusaka. I felt terrible for not brining school supplies, a mistake I'll never make again.

At each of these sites we met caregivers for orphans and vulnerable children who had been trained in child care, finances, and HIV/AIDS by our partners. I was impressed by the strength of the volunteer systems in place to care for children in need, but it was obvious how much need still existed.

We didn't have electricity in our hotel when we arrived back in Ndola. It was a good experience of everyday life in most parts of Africa, where electricity is certainly a luxury and there's no one to call when the lights go out. The hotel restaurant assured us they could still make food, that is, as long as it was chicken stew. Midway through my chicken I learned that the lights had actually been out since that morning. Deciding that it was too late, I finished the chicken, and (impressively) didn't get the slightest bit sick.

I'm back in Lusaka now, getting ready for Namibia in the morning.