Gallery 44

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...

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...