Zambia

One Last Post

dbaum — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

I want to thank you all for taking the time to read this blog and follow along on our journey. Amanda and I had an incredible experience traveling with the Periclean Scholars to Zambia and hope that you enjoyed the stories we shared and found them meaningful. It’s an experience that we will never forget and we hope that some of what you read will stick with you.

As we readjust to life here in the US, I’m thinking a lot about the enormous privilege of time. You’ve read about differences in housing, money, disease and so much more, between us and the residents of Kawama, but the one that continually stuck out to me was the difference in how much time we have. When you have a 2 hour biking commute to work each way (see Albert, 2^nd set of pictures), or you have to back fill the entire floor area of a home one shovel-full at a time, or you have to walk to one of 2 water pumps for over 200 houses every time you’re thirsty, or you’re waiting days for clothing to dry out on a line during the rainy season, you don’t have time to read a blog post, much less write one. When it takes so long to fulfill a family’s basic needs, as it does in Kawama, the privilege of free time to focus on other things is lost.

We came back here with the realization that we hadn’t really gotten the most out of our free time beforehand. Without access to the internet outside of posting on this site or a TV outside of the inauguration speech, we spent a lot of our free time in Zambia with each other and the people of Kawama. Remember the idea of “being with” from the first post? Our group would never have grown so close to one another or learned as much from the Zambians we met if we had the opportunity to retire to separate hotel rooms with wireless access to facebook or a 200 channel TV package. Instead, almost every second of our waking time in Zambia was spent building relationships and empowering others. There are so many ways that we can choose to spend the time we’re so lucky to have, but I don’t know if any of them could equal the experience we had on this trip.

While we feel so fortunate to have been able to spend so much time with the people of Kawama, we know that our return to the US cannot be the end of our connection to them and work together against the issues facing communities like theirs around the world. We’d love to hear your thoughts on our blog and would be more than happy to keep you informed on how we’ll stay connected to Habitat Zambia and the Kawama community in the future, through the Periclean Scholars Alumni program and other individual efforts. On the post about guilt, there’s a discussion starting about finding a way to provide mosquito nets to the whole community, so we’ll continue to post updates there, when we have the information, if you’d like to participate in that. You can also email us about anything, at dbaum@redwoodsgroup.com and anieman@redwoodsgroup.com, if you’d like. Thanks again for reading, we hope this blog allows you all to carry a small piece of Kawama with you, since we will always keep those faces, experiences and memories with us.

-Dan and Amanda

More Pictures!

dbaum — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:06:00 GMT

Breakfast

A welcome song from Kawama's kids on our first morning there

Noah, making sure Rosemary's house is just right

Lontia's Crew hard at work

Looking at the world from the bottom of the latrine

We never had to work alone.

On the right is Albert, who bikes 2 hours each way every day to the DR Congo to find land to farm. He's lucky enough to have a bike, so imagine what the commute is like for the women on the left, who must walk, rain or shine.

Watching (and filming) the inauguration

After a beautiful service with the members of Kawama's Catholic Church

The boys' room

The whole group

Victoria Falls

A Woman's Place is Building the Home

dbaum — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:41:00 GMT

During this journey we attempted to fully respect and participate in all Zambian cultural customs, but we all weren't "equally yoked" in that effort because of differing expectations there, which were delineated by gender. This burden was much heavier on the women in our group, since Zambian women are typically restricted to certain roles and types of dress, while the men are seen as the ones in control and can essentially do whatever they want.

To give a few examples, the women in our group were required to purchase and wear chitenges (traditional wraps), since even a pair of shorts can be considered too revealing in rural areas. Needless to say, these are not so easy to do construction work in. Additionally, on multiple occasions, the senior man in the group was considered the one in charge and treated as such, to the exclusion of all women involved. Despite the fact that the 7 female students had done all the planning, all the preparation and all the hard work to make this trip possible, the two professors, Zach and I were often assumed to be speaking for them. Frequently, Zambian men would purportedly speak to our entire group but only make eye contact with the man they assumed was in charge. Frustrating, uncomfortable and wrong in many ways, it's hard to think about how to change that on a scale big enough to see women as equals across Zambia.

With that said, this trip offered two wonderful examples of how we get there. First of all, the women in our group did a fantastic job of just leading by example and showing Kawama how much work they could get done. Never hesitant to dig in with a shovel, stack a load of bricks or hop down into a deep pit and get dirty digging out a latrine, they proved that they could do just as much work as any of the men in our group. Secondly, one of our Habitat group leaders, Charity, left Kawama a few days early so she could organize the final details for Habitat Zambia's Women's Build, which took place in Lusaka (Zambia's capital) during the latter portion of the trip. A group of prominent women (ambassadors, wives of prominent Zambian leaders, the new director of Habitat Zambia and many more) built a house in a matter of hours and got tons of great local news coverage in the process.

It was so exciting to see that, more than just building homes, Habitat Zambia is taking steps to empower women. On top of that, I was proud to work alongside a group of women who made sure that our trip there did the same, through the way they silently challenged those perceptions and with determination and hard work helped continue to chip away at that cultural hierarchy.

A Few Pictures

dbaum — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:06:00 GMT

Now that we're back I wanted to share a few pictures with you all. We also have a few more thoughts and stories to share with you all and will post some more pictures once we have time to get settled back in, so I hope you'll check back for those!

Lontia's Future Home and Work Crew

Rosemary's Future Home and Work Crew

From Right to Left: Shepard, Mozo and David. (See Obama Post)

From Right to Left: Beatrice, Jen and Veronica from the Kawama Habitat Affiliate

An overview of one small section of Kawama, a community of over 200 Habitat homes in Zambia's Copperbelt Province

This is What a Corporation Can Be

dbaum — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:12:00 GMT

I want to take a second to highlight the fact that I am working here in Zambia. I’m not on sabbatical or vacation, this isn’t an extended leave or loaned employee program, this is a part of my job. I’m lucky enough to work at a place that has only one mission—to improve the human condition—and is consistently searching for new ways to live it every day. The most recent example: Redwoods sending two of its employees to work with Habitat for Humanity in Zambia.

There’s so much potential and need for this kind of action by for-profit corporations. Non profits and NGOs are strapped, especially in this financial crisis, and governments aren’t always effective and can’t do it all. On the other hand, there’s so much untapped potential in the corporate world: money, people, brainpower, expertise, resources, etc. Today there are many companies touting their socially responsible business practices, yet there is still so much room for many of them to invest more fully, not simply financially but also in their attitude, decision making processes and goals, in making the world a better place. I hope this trip can serve as an example of what a company can do to impact the lives of others.

Redwoods allows me to do what I think we all hope for: live one whole life without compartmentalization, meaning that I don’t need a work version of me and a non-work version of me, but that I can be me all the time. Because Redwoods isn’t focused only on making a profit, my activities at work aren’t either and are therefore so much more personally fulfilling. My company encourages engaged citizenship in this world and interaction with the key issues facing us all today, many of which have come up in this blog. At Redwoods we have dialogues about race between employees, bring in organic farmers and HIV/AIDS prevention activists to educate our employee base, support our favorite organizations through foundation grants and matching gifts and give employees 40 hours to take off for community service each year, among so much more. This kind of civic engagement is something I would miss dearly if it wasn’t a part of every single work day. The fact that it is, and that I get a chance to do incredible things like take this trip—all as a part of my job—helps me grow, stay fresh and motivated, encourage others to think outside the bottom line box and feel confident in a long term future at Redwoods.

I’d like to challenge you all to think about the companies you work for or have relationships with. How are they supporting your community? Is there more they can do? If sharing Redwoods’ story, or the details of this trip, can help them reimagine what’s possible for a corporation, I hope you’ll do just that. I would love to see the day when every company is sending their employees to work with and support a group of college students this great on a project this powerful, both for Zambians and for all of us.

Bobby Kennedy said that "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... Each time a [person] stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he [or she] sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." It’s time for the corporate world to start causing more ripples. I’m not saying send people to Zambia tomorrow, but think about community service, matching gifts for employee donations, lunchtime presentations on key issues, and just opening up the conversation on how to engage your company and your coworkers in this effort to make the world a better place. Every little bit that our companies do for the greater good counts, as even the mighty Victoria Falls, which we were fortunate enough to be able to visit at the end of this trip, are made up of a collection of the tiniest drops.

Just a final note: as we wrap up our last few days here in Zambia (we need to get back to work and unfortunately can’t take part on the safari with the Elon students), there may be a bit of a lapse in blogging due to all the travel. With that said, I hope you’ll check back for pictures, stories and additional thoughts once we get back to the States, and we’ll do our best to update you as often as possible.

Hooked on Bemba

dbaum — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:21:00 GMT

Hi everyone! Since Zambia is a country with 73 different language groups, which is what happens when people unfamiliar with local cultures divide up a continent for their own benefit, we figured a little language lesson was in order. Kawama is home to members of the Bemba ethnic group, one of the larger ones, and its citizens were kind enough to teach us the following (spelling is approximated):

Molishani (mo-lee-SHAH-nee) – How are you?

Bwino (BWEE-no) – I am fine

Mwabukashani (mwa-boo-kah-SHAH-nee) – Good Morning

Mashwoken (MAH-sh-woe-ken) – Good Morning

Natotela (nah-TOE-tay-la) – Thank you

Desacupale (day-SAH-coo-pah-lay) – God Bless You

Nuevonan (noo-eh-vo-NAN) – What’s your name?

Chimo (chee-MO) – One

Chibili (chee-BEE-lee) – Two

Chitatu (chee-TAH-too) – Three

Amolu (ah-MO-loo) – Leg

Amoboco (ah-mo-BO-co) – Arm

Fitumbowa (fee-toom-BO-ah) – A delicious pastry that we will miss dearly

Muzungu (moo-ZOON-goo) – White person

Good luck!

Guilt is an Underrated Emotion

dbaum — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:15:00 GMT

Take a moment to appreciate just how ridiculous it is that I’m blogging from rural Zambia. I’m beaming these words up to a satellite and down to your computer screen, while I sit on an ant hill staring at a row of outhouses because no one here has running water. Yes, technology is incredible, but that’s not my point. I want you to feel the disparities present here and my resulting guilt in carrying around this pricy piece of equipment, in a place where families can only afford basic shelter with the support of Habitat.

The only reason I’ve been able to blog at all from Kawama is that the one family we found here that could afford electricity has been kind enough to allow me to recharge my laptop and modem in their home. The luxury of power outlets makes them one of the, if not the, wealthiest families in Kawama, where others rely on candlelight or nothing at all. Yet, even the most financially fortunate in Kawama lack immunity to the problems plaguing rural areas of Zambia. When we went to that house a few days ago, no one came to answer the door after repeated knocking. We found the door unlocked and when we opened it to see if anyone was home, we saw the father of the family slowly moving toward the door. Since it doesn’t take but a few seconds to reach any point in these small, 4 room Habitat homes, we knew there was something wrong. After greeting him, we found our answer: he apologized for taking so long and explained softly that it was because he was suffering from malaria. Despite his struggles with a disease that needlessly kills so many when it is so cheaply preventable, he still let me charge my items and we agreed that I would pick them up in about an hour.

As if that wasn’t enough to bring me down to earth, while the electronics charged I went with the rest our group back to the house we’re staying in. It’s the same size, has the same layout and doesn’t even have the electricity his family does. What it has, however, are a web of malaria nets and 12 bottles full of preventive malaria medicine. That’s what we went back to the house for and that’s when those feelings of guilt came crashing down. Even the wealthiest Kawamans couldn’t afford those things and we had brought all of it for only a few weeks (the nets will at least be left behind for the community). This coupled with the shopping carts we filled with 2.5 million Kwacha worth of groceries—so Habitat could provide us with 3.5 meals a day in a community where malnutrition is an issue—mean that the differences are clear and tough to stomach.

I know that I shouldn’t feel guilty. I’m here to help and it’s not my fault directly that there are these problems. I should understand that these issues are complex and nearly impossible to correct and not let this wave of guilt wash over an otherwise wonderful journey. With that said, I’ve chosen to embrace this feeling because I think that guilt is a really useful emotion: it pushes us to do right when we see something that’s wrong. It reminds us, as Desmond Tutu said, that “freedom is indivisible,” and that my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness are all bound to those of others, whether they live next door or on the other side of the world. The feelings of guilt are a way of feeling and expressing a bit of that burden felt by those we encounter, who didn’t have the luck we privileged few did in what Bill Gates termed the “ovarian lottery.”

So, what do I hope to do with the guilt now that I’ve accepted it? Put it to work. Understand that I don’t have to solve the problem (and probably couldn’t even if I wanted to), but that I must be a part, however small, of the solution. Can I find a way to forgo a few purchases and buy a malaria net with every $10 I save? Can I spread awareness of this problem and the people working to fight it with others and, by sharing my guilt, motivate action beyond myself? I think so, but only if I choose to own these unpleasant feelings rather than block them out of my privileged world.

The beauty of this story is that the technology that brought about this guilt also makes it so that these people are now only 1 click away from all of you. Before this kind of access, it was easier to not think about those in far away places with problems that are many and hard to comprehend, but we’re getting closer to the point where we won’t be able to ignore them any more.

What Obama's Inauguration Means

dbaum — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:31:00 GMT

Last night we were fortunate enough to watch Barack Obama’s inauguration at the little Kawama Tavern. It was truly a unique experience to see Zambians intently focused on his speech and hear their cheers as he spoke of his plans for working with the rest of the world. The impact of his election is truly a global one. In our office, yesterday, the showing of the inauguration was preceded by a video of people, mainly employees, sharing what this moment in history means to them, beyond all political considerations. I have another story to add to those, that I think truly displays what this really means.

After we arrived, we made friends quickly with the children here, and I personally have spent a lot of time with three boys: Shepard, 11, Mozo, 8, and David, 6. Over the course of this week Shepard and I have spent a lot of time talking as we walked from one place to another, or while I was taking a break from building. During our conversations, he, on multiple occasions, pointed to my white skin and called it beautiful, then pointed to his own black skin and called it not beautiful. He’s only 11 years old. I tried and I tried to convince him how beautiful his skin was and how our skin was the same, just a different shade. It didn’t work. I tried telling him how much better his skin was, because mine burnt and got red in the sun. He still thought his was ugly. It broke my heart to hear him say that to me repeatedly and I didn’t know what I could say to him, to get him to see himself in a positive light and not as less than anyone with white skin.

Yesterday, as I walked to Kawama Tavern for the inauguration, I was joined by my friend Shepard. He asked where I was going and I told him that my country, the United States, had a new President today and he was giving a big speech. Thanks to Zambia’s recent election, he understood me well. I asked if he knew who our new President was. He said no, but when asked he told me that he was familiar with the name Barack Obama. I asked Shepard if he knew what color our new President’s skin was. He said no. When I told him that it was black—just like his—Shepard’s eyes got big in disbelief. He made me repeat myself twice, then continued to speak these words out loud in a hushed tone of amazement, pointing to his own skin, over and over again, as he continued to process the news: “The new President of America is black! Not white!” Suddenly, one skin color wasn’t inferior to another in his mind. That is what this moment means.

Sharing that moment with Shepard was absolutely incredible. Over the next few days, our Elon friends will be interviewing Zambians to get their reactions to the inauguration. They also have some great photos and pictures from last night. I’d be happy to share their final product, whenever it’s available with anyone interested.

A Note from Voster

dbaum — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:47:00 GMT

What follows is a blog post from Voster, our group leader here from Habitat for Humanity Zambia, who we asked to write a blog post. Voster is 24 and just graduated from the University of Zambia with a major in Natural Resources. He has only worked with Habitat for a few weeks now and we are lucky to be the first group he’s led. Here’s what he wanted to share with you:

There is nothing so amazing like helping the vulnerable and being able to see the impact of your hands rights through their eyes, no matter how little your effort or contribution may be to their well being. This has been my experience for the past few days right here in Kawama, Ndola in the Copperbelt province of Zambia

Working with Habitat Zambia, in collaboration with the Habitat Global Village Team from the USA, I have seen how wonderful it is to change somebody’s life through empowering them with homes. It was so nice to see the “muzungus” work and work as if every bit of their spirit was here. I also really enjoyed seeing some of them take on Bemba names, like Mwelwa for Laura, Katongo for Brandy, Bwalya for Kara, Chileshe for Jill and Tom – Mapalo. It is so great to meet with people that have such great respect for their country’s history and how much they keep the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. in their minds. The blending of them into the community was also quick and very nice.

I love it here. I love my work and will always remember how wonderful it is to meet people that are able to work and live as if this was the only think they have ever wanted to do in their lives. This experience has changed my life and I hope I will be able to continue working with the communities, so as to contribute positively to their lives and the lives of others.

This being my first group that I’ve worked with, they have enlightened my spirit in helping me see my life beyond what I can afford to what I can do to live a better life with many people in our communities, especially the vulnerable.

We can change the lives of many people by coming together and working towards one goal. Our coming together and the positive contributions of our friends from the US has changed the life of Rose, a 59 year old widow of Ndola Town whose hustband died in 1993 and left behind 5 children without anyone to look after them and Lontia, who is also a widow and needed a home for her family.

The spirit of hope and renewal could be seen on the faces of these women from the first day a brick was laid on each woman’s plot. This was amazing. This I will live to remember and that first day opened my eyes and changed my life.

It is my prayer that the team will reach home safely and be able to look back and realized how great their contribution has been to the lives of the vulnerable and so many members of the Kawama community. This is my story and this I will keep always.

Until Justice Rolls Down Like Waters

dbaum — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:46:00 GMT

Yesterday, like many of you, we honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy with a day of service for the greater good. As I reflected on the holiday here in Zambia, I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

After a Herculean effort alongside community members in scorching heat, we laid a few rows of bricks on 2 houses and dug out less than half of a pit latrine. Big deal, right? What’s the point of coming all this way to do a little work? It doesn’t fix anything. Well, it doesn’t fix anything right away.

Dr. King said that “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I agree, but we need to go a step further: someone has to do the bending, it won’t just happen by itself. With that said, it takes a great deal of faith to work for good, since the short term results are often nonexistent or minimal, while the long term possibilities may seem unimaginable. Take, for example, the college students, who were threatened, beaten and even killed while trying to register black voters during Freedom Summer in 1964. They couldn’t have imagined the day when America would elect a black President, but they had faith that, if they participated in the work, it could happen. What seems impossible at any point in time can be achieved later on, but that won’t happen without the passionate dedication and selfless sacrifice of those who come before and work for the change that only future generations will benefit from.

The beauty of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is that it is unachievable, at least in our lifetime. Beyond the needs of African-Americans, King dedicated his life to eradicating all forms of poverty, violence and prejudice all over the world. With that as our lens, we cannot say his dream has been achieved today. His dream is of a world that has never been and seems like it will never be, but that current impossibility should not discourage us. For, what King saw from the mountaintop was that we as a people will get to the Promised Land, if those of us who are here now can use our time to lay the building blocks and the foundation for a better future. A future in which his ideal of a beloved community—united in peace, equality, justice and love for all people—is not only possible, it’s a reality.

What we do now won’t fix the problems we face, but it can lay the ground work so that we as a people shall overcome in the future. Our work today won’t solve the access to housing problem in Zambia, but it will construct a few houses that wouldn’t otherwise exist and empower a few families who would not have been able to own a home without the efforts of the Periclean Scholars group. We can never know what the full impact of that work will be, but only have faith that our efforts will combine with those of others to someday create the change we seek.

There is plenty of happiness at the end of a hard day’s work for good, but, if we seek to follow Dr. King, we know that we cannot be content until we have reached that Promised Land. As he said in his “I Have A Dream” Speech, “no, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream!”