Tales from a Zambian Adventure

While living in Africa, it would have been a complete shame if we didn't try to as much as possible and to see as much as Africa has to offer. So for a week, Mike and I backpacked across Zambia to complete 2 of our life goals - to see Victoria falls and to go on Safari. Our trip started out with a sunrise in Mzuzu catching the bus to Lilongwe (Malawi's capital), and we had a surprisingly pleasant bus trip. We thought that perhaps this was a good omen and that our travel would be smooth sailing - but this was a premature hopeful thought. 

We spent 2 days in Lilongwe with our good friend Amy who showed us around and gave us a place to stay. We walked everywhere!!! We didn't realize how sheltered Mzuzu had made us, because when we got off the bus in Lilongwe we were completely giddy. Some context - in Mzuzu, you pretty much know every white person and our biggest grocery store is about the size of a store in a mall at home (a small store). In Lilongwe it is tourist season, which meant that if we said hi to every white person we wouldn't have made it a block in 1 hour. The stores are also much bigger! Real grocery stores! And clothing stores and shoe stores and CHEESE! It was all very exciting, and we felt like we had stepped into a different universe. Who knew 3 months in Mzuzu would do that to us! Huge thanks to Amy for making Lilongwe an awesome part of our trip with wining (I should say Brandying) and dining us. It was a perfect start to our Zambian adventure. 

While in Lilongwe we found out that there was no direct bus to Lusaka, Zambia on the day we wanted to travel. So Monday morning, bright and early, we caught a mini-bus from Lilongwe to Mchinji, a border town to Zambia, which took about two hours. Along the way we met some American Peace Corps also travelling the same way as us, who also happen to live in Mzimba, Malawi - about 2 hours outside of Mzuzu (New Friends!). Crossed the border - not very secure fyi - and taxied it to Chipata (Zambia's border town). Hung out in Chipata for a couple hours to get a bus to Lusaka, Zambia's capital. So far so good! Buses were alright, if not slightly uncomfortable and the travelling took the amount of time it was suppose to. Night bus to Livingstone (our destination) was cancelled, so we ended up staying the night in Lusaka and catching the 6am bus the next day to Livingstone. Lusaka is the most developed city we have seen so far - they even have a subway, a KFC and a real mall! If we had more time I definitely would have liked to check out the city more.

Finally made it to Livingstone and it is great! Grocery stores, nice people, nice weather - and the backpackers we camped at was really nice. Came out of our tent to go find some dinner and turned out that right next to us were some other Canadians that we travelled to Malawi with. Perfect timing so we had some Italian with them at Olga's, a great restaurant! Of course, Mike and I had pizza. The next day we did some shopping in the local craft market, and oh yeah - went to Victoria Falls! We spent the day doing the trails, taking a ridiculous amount of pictures and watching the monkeys. It was absolutely beautiful - not built up at all like Niagara Falls but surrounded by trails and trees. The falls were not quite at their full potential since it is the dry season, but they still made a spectacular sight. It really was the perfect day. We ended it with a booze cruise on the Zambezi river with friends to watch the sunset and see hippos. 

Next day we watched the sunrise as we rode the bus back to Lusaka at 6am. The plan = 6am bus to Lusaka, 2pm bus to Chipata, arrive at 9 and taxi to Mfuwe to do safari. Lesson learned = you cannot plan in Africa! Our 2pm bus to Chipata didn't arrive in Lusaka until 4pm, and didn't leave until 6:30pm and then took until 4:30AM to get to Chipata!!!! Turns out that it takes 2 and a half hours to get to Mfuwe from Chipata because of construction - so we watched another sunrise in the process. Worst travel day ever! But when we made it to the campsite, our moods completely changed. Right on the Luangwa river facing the South Luangwa National Park, our tent sat perfectly to view the wildlife that lives by the river. We ate breakfast and relaxed all day watching hippos, elephants and crocodiles. We took the night game drive safari at 4pm so that we could have 2 hours of day light viewing, watch the sun set and have 2 hours of night viewing. We saw hippos, zebras, pukus, impalas, crocodiles, a fish eagle, a field of giraffes, a leopard eating its meal ... and elephants!!! It was absolutely amazing and made all that travel worth it. To top it off, when we got back to the campsite there was a hippo grazing among the tents. We brushed our teeth not 10 feet away from it - I know so dangerous! But it was alright, we didn't try to ride it or anything. 

The next morning we watched our last sunrise in Zambia, which was definitely the most beautiful. To make it perfect and elephant walked out into the river to say good bye. We should have known that the day could only get worse. We took a private taxi to get to the border so that it would only take 2 hours and we didn't have to worry about Chipata - so silly thinking that things would go smoothly! Apparently, we didn't learn our lesson about planning not working. Along the way our driving off-roaded a little and pulled the fuel line out, completely stranding us in the middle of nowhere.  But no worries, we are in Africa and if anyone can fix a car in the middle of nowhere with no tools or equipment, it's an African. Some rubber lining form the trunk, a plastic bag, some wire and some grass and its fixed. 5 hours later we are on our way back to the border. We made it back to Malawi and mini-bused it to Lilongwe. Of course when we went to book our bus tickets back to Mzuzu, the bus we wanted was cancelled. So much for our night in Lilongwe before heading home - we had to take a community night bus that only goes when its full and stops in every village in order to get home. 8 hours later and 2 in the morning we made it home! It felt so good to be back in Mzuzu - this trip really taught us that Mzuzu is now our home, at least for the mean time. 58 hours of travel, 9 modes of transportation and the completion of 2 life goals - backpacking across Zambia was an amazing adventure and I am so happy we did it.

Life in Mzuzu

Although I've talked about Mzuzu a little bit in my past blogs, I thought it would be nice to go into a bit more detail about how living in Mzuzu is different than living in Canada. When someone says Africa, often the images and topics that come up are a very western position on what Africa is - hot, dry, elephants, HIV/AIDs, starvation, poverty, children. When we first heard about Malawi - our first question was "where?" Most people say "ooo, Maui!" Malawi isn't one of the more well known countries in Africa, but those who have been here never forget. Malawi is a unique country due to its history, its landscape, culture and its people. Malawi is home to the third largest African lake, Lake Malawi and there are 3 national languages other than English. Mike and I are attempting to learn Chitimbuka, which is the language of the Northern region. Right now (early August) it's cold! I have to wear sweaters and scarves. Its considered winter - cold and dry, which is hard to imagine when talking about Africa. There are cities, just not how we are used to them at home. Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, is very developed. There are many buildings and many people that make up the city, just not very many glass towers. The differences between Lilongwe and St. Catharines are less about the development and the people, and more about how things are done. 

At home, transit is provided by the city with planned routes, planned rates and not budging when it comes to personal schedules - unless you are able to always afford a private taxi to take you where you need to go. In Malawi there is transit through shared taxis, mini-buses, matolas and bike taxis. With any of these modes of transportation, you literally just have to walk towards a 'taxi stand' (random grouping of cars) and get in a car for a shared taxi. Now, you have to share the taxi with other people going to same way to general location, but when the car is full you leave - this is the same for mini-buses (which are basically old-school vans) with much more people packed in. No waiting for the specific time the bus leaves - it's just when the vehicle is full. In Mzuzu, the university is about a 30 minute walk from town down the main road. For us to go get groceries, we walk out to the main road to the taxi stand at the end of the university driveway and hop in a taxi to town. This only costs about 100MK per person, which is only 38 cents Canadian. Can you imagine getting a taxi at the end of your driveway to downtown St. Catharines for only 38 cents? A matola is a lot cheaper, but also more dangerous. Hop in the back of a truck bed that takes you where you need to go - sure there may be 30 other people and no safety procedures, but it's cheap and a fun way to get places. Of course, riding in the back of a pick-up, flat bed or bigger back home is illegal. And of course Mike and I have never done this in Mzuzu, don't worry mom. The most unique mode of transportation is bike taxis, which is something we really don't have at home. A bike taxi is literally someone's bike with a seat on the back wheel and they will take you directly to the shop that you need to go for only 200MK. The bike taxi operators truly are in shape! Some of the items people carry on their bike is amazing - there is nothing like hard work in Malawi. The only times when this transportation system is tested is when there is a fuel crisis and Mzuzu has no fuel - which is about once a month. You can still get a shared taxi, chances are that for half the trip to the town the car is turned off or in neutral with the gas tank on empty. Fuel crisis at home means that the gas price is going up 5 cents and people are angry. 

Another difference is the shopping experience - I've particularly understood this difference because of my partiality to shopping. At home to go shopping you hop in your car, drive for 10 or 15 min, stop at the mall or superstore, pick up everything in one place and drive home. And of course complain about having to carry everything into the house. How about instead you hop in a shared taxi (or walk if you don't have enough money for a taxi) into town to get dropped off in one location. To get general groceries and dry goods you walk to the grocery store, which happens to be on the other side of town. BUT, that grocery store is out of sugar - so you walk to another store to get sugar. And you need tape. So you walk to the hardware district to find a shop that sells tape that is not over 1000MK (about $4 Canadian). And you want bread, so you walk to the bakery. Need veggies and fruit, have to go to the market and barter for the local price (we are white = rich = no fair deals if you don't barter). It's not too bad when you get used to where the stores are located and where the best prices are. Of course it's also good exercise to walk everywhere. What is frustrating is when you need 4 items: sugar, bananas, tape and a blanket. At home, this is an easy list! Just go to the superstore, or Walmart. Here, it's a different district for each item, and only when the item is in stock. Patience is always a virtue, here especially. Want french toast for breakfast? Took Mike and me 2 months to get all the ingredients - mind you we didn't want to make our own syrup. Once you have all of the items on your list, it's just a matter of walking back to the taxi stand to get the ride back up to the university. Unfortunately, this isn't a 30 min shopping trip. Fast anything is not the Malawi way. No one stop shop stores and no fast food. When we want fries and it's a Sunday when the power is on, you make them yourself. Sure you could get a shared taxi into town and walk to the one restaurant that is open - but in the end its cheaper to buy the potatoes and oil and just do it yourself. 

At home, it's much easier to walk to a fast food restaurant, and probably cheaper too. At home we live in a bubble - we know it's not good to drive everywhere, to eat out or to indulge every chance you get. But it's just so convenient! Of course I'm going to eat all you can eat sushi and then stop to get a latte and a new book. It's so easy to do it! In Malawi, it's back to basics, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It makes you appreciate everything you own, eat and do more. Here, there is no such thing as garbage - everything can be reused. There is also no such thing as compost - everything can be eaten, at least by someone or something. Convenience is a term that has no relevance when you have to do something or go somewhere. It is amazing how people are able to accomplish tasks that would be a huge deal at home on a daily basis. We see people walk amazing distances with strange items on a daily basis - how many people at home have ridden a bike with a double bed on the back from downtown to your community over an hour away? Life is just different here - relaxed (on time is flexible), hard-working, appreciative, and generous. As stubborn as people are when you are bartering a price in the market, there is no doubt in my mind that if we met them in their home or on the road that they would offer us something of their own just to be nice. Too many times have we asked someone a question only to be given too much in return. Never ask someone where a store is, they will walk you to the door. Never ask someone where the best place to buy a power bar is, they will be at your house in an hour with the best one in Mzuzu and not accept anything in return. There is always time to do something, see someone or help someone out. That is the good thing about living in Mzuzu. It is truly community living. We've only been here a short time, but we already appreciate the simplicity of life here and the benefits of how Malawians live. Of course poverty, HIV/AIDs and starvation are still large issues - but they aren't the only things that define Africa. Our first two months here have completely transformed the stereotype. Now we just have to wait for the weather to get warmer.

My International Internship Position in Mzuzu

Why did I postpone my Masters for a year to live in Africa? The amazing opportunity to live outside of Canada and the practical experience I am gaining in my field. I know it's not enough to say that I'm working at a University in Malawi, so here is exactly what I'm up to.

My undergrad degree is in political science, but I specialized in public administration and public policy, with a special interest in policy analysis. This means that I live and breathe policies, programs and development. My experience is in proposal development, evaluating policies and programs and analysing policies and programs to provide recommendations and plans. Due to my proposal knowledge, policy specialization and my experience with the formulation side of web-based technologies, I have three main positions within Mzuzu University. 

My first position is lecturer with the department of Land Management for the level 2 (second year) Development Policy class. Initially, I was only supposed to teach the introduction to policy portion of the class - which was basically me taking my 5 year degree and compressing it into a simplified 4 hour version. Then, with the class's actual lecturer being occupied, I was asked to teach the next week on Land Policy. In a casual conversation, it seems that I have now gained the entire semester of teaching. Fresh out of university, and I am a lecturer teaching development policy to a second year class = amazing! Now when I apply to teaching assistant positions, I can actually say I have experience. So far, I really like this part of my internship. It's a lot of work reading up on policy areas enough to be able to teach, but this is exactly what I love doing. Not sure how my students like me - I'm giving them another assignment next week. 

My second position is between the University Library and the Information and Communication Technology department. Although this position is a little slow to start, I am developing a program audit for  the University's current internet server. This is a program evaluation and analysis project that involves writing a report illustrating the current state of the server and discussing the potential future. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, this position will also involve developing a funding proposal with CIDA to gain a positive future for the university's online base. Currently, the web base of the university is not very strong, to say the least, and is not allowing for a positive future in development. I plan on making this different and providing the pathway for a much more organized and strong future for the web portion of the university.

My third position is within the Children's library at the university. This is a program evaluation and development position. I am looking at every program and service the children's library provides or wants to provide, and developing a program evaluation template to tell us how successful the program is and the limitations and challenges that it faces. Once we evaluate every program, we will move forward in tackling the challenges and areas that make the program limited. This will involve writing funding and donation proposals to organizations to gain resources, donations and technologies. 

To say the least, each position embodies a specific application of my degree. Not only am I gaining actual experience, I am my own boss and I'm living in Africa. I am amazed that I have this opportunity, even if I have to remind myself every once in a while that this internship is a privilege and a life experience. Now you know what I'm up to too:)