Gallery 44

Unfortunately, my write ups every 2 days didn't pass the 3 week mark, as I got caught up with various activities. To quickly catch up with a couple of things I have been doing I will just write down some highlights from each day! Day 18- I was at Chilenje B and Libala High School all day and had classes with the children, it was quite tiring but I always love to interact with them so it didn't get me down! Day 19- I met the Rotakids at Libala Basic and made a plan to this week, finally getting to grips with my appointments and making sense of them, after that I had the Interact meeting at Libala HS, where we decided on the tshirt logos that I made and then we had some fun singing, I also met Sean, one of the main connections with the Rotary club back in the UK. Day 20- I was at Chilenje B with the Special Needs Dep all morning and noon, we played some cool games of guessing shapes and spelling and I made pancakes for the students, which they were really happy about! In t...

Yesterday was an interesting day as I got to go back to Chikumbuso and we went through all the projects identified at the previous visit, therefore, we moved on into making a clear list with items needed and then to assigning who will get the quotes, the project is progressing and hopefully, soon enough we will be able to move forward and start writing the project plan, in order to have it approved by the RI Foundation. I am back at marking essays and it is wearing me out a little, but today I had a more relaxed day as I couldn't make it to Chilenje and had to postpone it for tomorrow. Did go and do some shopping and have a lovely lunch with Sid. We went for the Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel as he wanted a burger and they make some pretty darn good ones, as I got a taste of his. I went for a mediterranean lunch with a toasted roasted veg and humous sandwich, that was simply delicious. While we were eating, we sat on the terrace and there was a very nice artificial lake, that had, ...

On Friday I had a great time being a highschooler again, I had a report writing workshop with some of the grade 10 and 12 students at Libala High School and it was the most amazing thing I have done in a while. I already feel so at home amongst them and love spending time there, it makes me feel young and free again. Not that I am not any of those two anymore but I feel that I leave my worries at the gate when I pass through and enter the grounds of the school. After an afternoon of learning and writing we moved on to more entertaining things as I waited for my ride home, it wasn't until 2 hours later that he came, therefore we proceeded to have some fun in the meantime. We all did some karaoke, starting with me, and I must say that all the friends I made there are gifted in the most wonderful of ways. Then we moved on to dancing and they have some pretty sick moves, as well as tattooing me with the pen on both my arms, over which I had to pull my sleeves when Mrs Patricia came ...

Happy to announce that I know feel perfectly at ease with my life in Lusaka, I am into my routine and making good friends at the places where I work. My family here is very supportive and I am learning a lot, especially about Indian cuisine, which I love. On the 12th, I spent the day at Libala High School, where we had the Interact meeting and we discussed all the projects, fundraisers and competitions that we are planning to implement. Moreover, I got to catch up on all the admin work and formal writing for all the projects as well as wrote some more for my Bali Conference application, that would be amazing to attend. Today, I also spent my day at Libala High School and loved it!!! We had a workshop on research project writing and then it all degenerated in a talent show, from singing to dancing to tattooing my arms with their pens. These kids are so talented it makes me angry that they do not have the opportunity to take arts, music or drama, because they would be brilliant at i...

I am stunned! Completely and utterly baffled at how different youngsters are treated across the globe! I had the opportunity today to conduct, ON MY OWN, a needs assessment that was 7 months overdue, to sponsor new projects of up to $40,000 on the Chikumbuso Women and Orphans Project. I mean WOW! Anywhere else in the Western world this would have never happened, consulted me, maybe, trust me to do it all?? NO WAY, JOSE!!! I am overusing capitals but I am still in disbelief, as I finished writing the initial draft of the report a little while ago, and the feeling is just sinking in... Yesterday was a nice day, I caught up on some work and also tended to some girly stuff, just because my internet decided he hates me and stopped working. Luckily enough, this morning it was all okay! So yes, today has been hectic and so interesting and I am just filling in a form for a Global Forum for youngsters and am trying to sort some application for the Indian summer program and finished a poste...

Sunday marked the 1 week flag, as this was my 8th day of living in Zambia!! I feel like I have been here for longer and less at the same time, as I am learning new things and still have many left to learn! On my 8th day here we went to a 7-a-side little league to support the team that Mr Parmar sponsored and that made it to the semifinals!! (WOOHOO) Unfortunately, we were playing the top of the league team and did not proceed to the finals. Alas, it was fun to watch and gave me the opportunity to get some really good action shots, as the weather was amazing as it always is in Zambia! Then, me and Mr Parmar went shopping and had lunch, talking about a variety of topics, some I knew more about some less and some truly impressive. I love talking to him because he is such a well travelled and knowledgeable individual, he knows so much but talks so little, unless you spark his interest, that is when the true fun begins. I am very grateful that I got  to meet and stay with his wonderf...

Yesterday I had abusy day, started with an early session of making pancakes at 6 in the morning, then going to Chiukumbusu, an NGO at the outskirts of Lusaka, where women and orphans, HIV positive, work, study and find consolation. The project was founded in 2005 and has grown into a self sustainable business where they make handbags, jewellery, baskets and other handcrafted good from recycled materials. I am going back there to do a needs assessment and then a project profile for them to receive more funding on Wednesday, and I also ordered a case for my tablet, that I hope to photograph and add to the post. I want to post more pictures but my schedule is a bit crazy at the moment, so will probably just upload more of them once. After I worked on redesigning and adding content on the Rotary club website, which took my attention for most of the afternoon, but I managed to finish all the changes and updates needed, and at 6 I attended another meeting of a Rotaract club, where I got...

These past two days have been packed and I have got to meet most of the Lusaka Rotary club and spent some time dipping my toes into the projects that I will be involved in.  Yesterday , I met the headteacher of Libala High School, which I offered some autographed books to for the ne library they are opening, and unfortunately, the tutor I was looking for was away at a funeral. Therefore, we made our way to the Radisson to have the weekly Rotary meeting where I was warmly greeted and made acquiantance with many impressive Zambians. Afterwards, we went to a large advertising and printing company, Magic, where I might be working for a part of the time that I will be here. Afterwards, I came home to chill with my adoptive Zambian family and then, in the evening, I went to a traditional Zambian bbq where I was again made to feel like one of the family. If there is something that Zambians are, that is welcoming pros. Today, was another story, I started my day at Libala High...

This is my third day in Zambia and I am settling down in a nice routine, I am now feeling very much at home and in the past two days I have started to learn a bit more about this wonderful place. I have realised that most families, as in India, have maids and that it is common practice. I must admit that I still feel uncomfortable but am trying to adapt as well as I can as I know that this is how they earn their living. I do try to clean up after our meals and do things myself but find it that I feel embarassed and awkward in telling them that I don't mind. A similar situation happened today, when we were in the market, and the boy we hired to help us carry the groceries wasn't able to get all the bags and I just picked a basket and a couple of bags to carry them myself. Regardless of the fact that I was one of the couple of foreigners there and the constant questions from little boys offering to carry my bags, the look of disbelief and amazament that they had, looking at ...

The only bad thing about moving to Zambia for 2 months is the neverending flight that you have to take to get here! Now enough with the moaning, and on with the story. I left Romania and came back to London to catch my flight, after seeing my friends and some lucky encounters I managed to make it in time for my flight to Amsterdam. That was the easy bit, as the flight from Amsterdam to Lusaka take aprox 12.30 hrs and first stops in Harare, in Zimbabwe. The flight was quite tiring but the view and the entertainment made up for it, vast stretches of the Mediterranean sea at first, then the joining of water and land as we passed above the countries bordering the African territories, then neverending Saharian dessert and dunes, with temperatures so high that they made the air turn into clouds of heat and then, as the sun set on the horizon, the glimmering lights of Zambia's captal, the sea of lights, that drew me in as we touched the tarmac. When I first set my feet on Zambian gro...