Life abroad: As Robert sees it

My Dam Absence

robjkentjr — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:01:34 +0000

14 Feb 2012 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.2983, 26.08541)

It recently came to my attention that I have been a little unmotivated after my dam project was literally washed away last November. As a result, I have not really kept up with my photos or blog and I apologize for that. Talking about it with other volunteers has helped so I thought I would share what I know with you:

On November 10th Rasa and I took a trip to Northwest Province. At that point the rains were already two weeks late and the dam was a month behind schedule. Events like funerals, a summons from the chief, school board meetings and life just made the completion date impossible to keep. Plus, it was hard to press people on the importance of beating the rains when it is THEIR project, I could only advise. The rains came the weekend of Thanksgiving and I was not in the village to oversee the big test. From what I was told, the dam height was level with the ground but was still missing 30cm of safety freeboard and the water level was right at the top. The spillway was unfinished but large enough to allow the volume of water to bypass the dam. All was holding until a log came swashing down the creek and hit the dam, wedging itself on top. It was enough to allow a small trickle of water over the top, turning into a torrent and wiping out three months of work in 30 minutes. We will try again next season.




		This is the result of not finishing before the rains hit. The village lost about three months of work but were determined to finish this dam before I finish my service in May 2013.

When I first started thinking about this project I was a bit overwhelmed, especially because the locals thought I was a walking encyclopedia of civil engineering designs and could build them the Hoover Dam if they so desired. To make matters worse they wanted to start the very day we arrived in the village. Luckily, I was able to reason with them and gave myself time to research all the documents I pulled from FAO on how to build small earthen dams in Africa. It was a great report on how to carry out the whole process without a dime of funding or decent tool; totally village appropriate technology. My favorite was making a survey level and rod out of binoculars and tape measurer.




		Using the beaker from my French press, I conducted soil characteristics tests for the dam to find that needed combination of clay, silt, and sand.

After coming up with a design and location, the next step was to prepare the site. This went well enough with only a small problem when the village tried to burn off the extra grass; the fire kind of got out of control and went on to clear the entire pasture. The biggest obstacle was convincing the villagers why we needed to remove the top layer of soil and dump it in the field. In technical terms, the soil was friable or loamy and full of roots so not at all good for the foundation of a dam. A lot of my explanations needed to be explained in relative terms that they could comprehend. For this example, I compared it to building a mud hut and not wanting plants to grow in the mortar. It worked and we spent the next two months excavating.




		The villagers are dumping the excavated topsoil in a nearby field and I am enjoying the sunrise on a crisp winter morning.

By the time we stopped digging and got to the point where we could start backfilling, the moral and enthusiasm for the project had reached a low. The village and I saw the long, hard work that lay ahead and participation slowed considerably during the month of August. It was hard for them to visualize the finished structure and accept why a crazy foreigner kept telling them to dig when we needed to be filling dirt in. To make matters worse, the hot season was starting to make itself felt on us all (I still cannot figure out how they work for hours with minimal water, while I have to drink 3.5L with a rehydration pack). It took a lot of talking and explaining on my part to keep the village on track through this phase but they kept at it despite all my insane requests.




		This is a view of the entire dam site, all of which will eventually be dug up and then filled back in. At this point in the photo we have about another half meter to dig down.

It was not until we got to this point in the construction process that the village finally saw what we were trying to accomplish. It was so rewarding to hear them say that they were proud to have a dam of their own. But we were still a long way from being finished and time was growing short. By the beginning of October I had hoped to be finishing the dam and starting on the spillway but we still had a meter and a half yet to backfill and close by soil was scarce so we were going to have to start transporting it from another site, a timely remedy. Seeing the finish line did help keep everyone motivated though and by now the women had started to show up regularly which helped us immensely. On some days we had more than 40 people helping dig but in the end it was not enough and we all came up short.




		Here the dam is about 2m high, with about 1.5m to go, and we have started to pile up the rock rip-rap on the face of the embankment to protect against wave action.

When I first saw the damage done to the dam I started to cry and was angry but knew I could never yell at anyone in the village. They tried their best and it was probably a bigger loss for them than it would ever be for me. When I finally had a chance to talk with them about what happened the first thing they said was how much water it held and that they saw their mistakes or at least what had to happen differently the next time we worked on the dam. I was just happy to hear there would be a next time, let alone that they realized there was too little work done too late. What we worked out was that come the end of rainy season, we will stack the downstream embankment with sandbags and start filling in the core. At least this way we will be able to salvage some water from this season’s rain and give the cows something to drink during the driest months of summer. As heavy as this project has been on me, I am still looking forward to completing it and moving on to the next task. With plenty of hard work and a bit of luck my next blog about the dam will show its completion.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: 30 minutes, Africa, ants, car, completion date, cow, dam project, decent tool, earth, eating, freeboard, French, funerals, good, grass, happy, Hoover Dam, life, locals, mud, northwest province, obstacle, Peace Corps, photograph, rain, Rasa, rehydration, school, school board, school board meetings, sea, spillway, summons, sun, sunrise, tent, thanksgiving, three months, torrent, trickle, U.S., village, village appropriate technology, volume of water, volunteer, walking, water, water level, Zambia

The Faces of Zambia

robjkentjr — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:46:12 +0000

17 Jan 2012 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.3014, 26.0948)

From a photographer’s point of view, the subjects are amazing and I love walking around the village taking pictures of each interesting person. Personally, this is only possible because I know each of them, or at the very least have spent some time talking to them. But these are the people of my village, in which, we are now considered family. Having lived there a year, Rasa and I now stare with the villagers when someone new passes through. We are no longer the ones being stared at.




		All very interested in what I am doing.

One attribute that stands out to me is how happy-go-lucky the Zambians are. I have seen events that would have made me give up and cry but not them. They shrug it off and move on. I would guess not so much because they do not care, but more because they have so much hardship in life and this cow dying, dam breaking or even the death of a child gives them pause but does not debilitate them. They still have to wake up the next day and carry on with tending to the crops or cows, otherwise the family starves. So I think they take a lot more joy from the simple pleasures of their lives.




		Passing the time with a smile and blade of fresh grass.

Initially, a stranger might not think Zambians are so happy or even friendly for that matter. I cannot even count the number of times I have met someone only to have a blank, stern stare in return. At first, I was put off but I eventually realized people are just blown away with a foreigner greeting them in their local language. So it does not mean much if you get this. Just try again, with a smile, and wait for a response. You will see the light come on, the face soften, and then the hearty reply with a bright smile. Usually a compliment on speaking fluent Tonga will also accompany the return greeting. But the hospitality and friendliness is there, you just have to melt through that cold sternness.




		Two sisters, who are sternly posing in the makeshift village wedding studio.

There is that special moment between stalking an unknowing person with the camera and when they see you pointing a big white lens at them. It is the perfect blend of acting naturally and smiling because they caught you taking their photo. The emotional expressions are complex and intriguing but also beautifully captivating. At the time, it is just one shot in 20 but when going through the series, deleting the rejects, you see it; that spark bringing the photo to life. Weeks later, I remember that day and girl, happy to know I preserved that moment we shared when she caught me taking her photo.




		That perfect moment of inocence and delight strikes me as beautiful.

Unfortunately, for every yang, there is a ying that balances that positive encounter out. Without fail, when there is a large group of people around (that makes great photo opportunities), there is always someone who has had a too much of a good time. These showboats cannot keep out of the lens and must be the only subject in sight. Normally I take their photo, they demand to see it, and I move on but for big events like a wedding, it is harder to avoid them. The fact that alcohol is so cheap here does not help either. You can buy 60ml (about two shots) of hard liquor for 20 cents and this causes one of the biggest social problems in the villages.




		This is who we call a Gilly Gilly Boy; a bit too caught up in the festivities at a celebration.

I have diverged so let me get back to my opinion of the Zambians as photo subjects. Despite their initial stoic façade, those hints of curiosity, joy, surprise, and even belligerence shine through when they are comfortable with you. The camera is unknown to the villagers. They are not afraid of it, ask to see their photo after each shot, pretend to be Jackie Chan, demand a copy, or throw fish at you because you stole their soul. It is a moment in time capturing their pure emotion. Nothing better could be a travel photographer’s subject, except maybe sharing every day with them.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Africa, beautiful, boat, car, cold, cow, cows, crops, death of a child, encounter, fish, friend, good, grass, happy, heart, hospital, Human Interest, Jackie Chan, language, life, love, mom, park, peace, Peace Corps, photo, photograph, photographer, picture, point of view, Rasa, simple pleasures, smile, Tonga, travel, travel photographer, U.S., village, walking, wedding, Zambia

Moving-In to our new home

robjkentjr — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:27:04 +0000

11 Jan 2012 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.3014, 26.0948)

First, let me start off by saying I am sorry for not posting a blog. Besides admitting to being lazy, I have also been much more interested in using what precious electricity we have to catch up on the news and do research for our projects. Second, this blog marks a new format for what I will be doing. There will still be photos (five verses seven) but I am trying to add a bit more context to them so you will know a bit better what has been happening. Lastly, I will be going way back to May of last year to recap our first couple of days in the village.

After 12 weeks of training, Rasa and I have finally arrived in the village. Should I say it was anti-climactic? Well, almost because it was harvest season and there was really no one around. I would say it was more of a relief to finally be on our own schedule and not Peace Corps relentless activity merry-go-round of tasks. We were home and glad to be there during a quiet time of the year.




		Not much to our humble abode now but we just ordered furniture so we should be all settled in soon.

From Lusaka, we travelled to Choma. This is the provincial capital and Peace Corps has a house/office there that the volunteers can visit about four nights a month. It is a place where we can use the internet, electricity and hot water; when they are working. We spent three nights here buying everything we thought we would need to start our new home before being sent to site. Thank goodness for Rasa and her lists because walking around a chaotic African market is already confusing as it is. There is no need to be worrying over how many bowls I need to buy.




		This is the bowl shop. Also with a wide selection if you should want to go crazy and buy all different bowls.

Once at site, it was nice to have the time to unpack and organize as best we could. We ended up living off the floor for two month while our furniture was being made and delivered. Sleeping wasn’t that bad. We were used to it after training and had the reed mats all ready to lie under our mattress. Cooking wasn’t a problem at all; we store all our food in big plastic containers to keep the mice and bugs out so that was easy to find. Everything else was a bit of a problem, especially when it was small and did not have a ‘place’ to keep it.




		Rasa is looking for her needle in this haystack. It is somewhere in our kitchen/dining area/foyer.

It took us a couple of days to work out a routine with our cooking, bathing and water but we are pros at it now. For breakfast we are usually eating oatmeal and coffee with fresh milk from our neighbour’s cows. The evening bath is a bit more troublesome. We have a solar shower to heat our water but during the cloudy days it does a poor job of it and we usually skip the bath to save the water and an extra trip to the borehole to refill the 20L jerrycan. For our first couple of days, all we had was our water bottles to fill up. It was a lot of walking back and forth to get water.




		We did not have our jerrycans at this point so we were filling our water bottle from our local water source.

When people did stop by on their way back from working in the fields, they were very friendly and welcoming. It was a lot of practicing for our pre-rehearsed Tonga introduction but everyone loved it when I garbled it and talked about their bread as if it was a bike I was riding to town. They knew what I meant. Then came the question: do we cook and eat nsimia (corn meal paste), yes but not three times a day, every day; do we want to plant a field, no, how about a garden?; why do you use charcoal and not wood, because it does not suffocate us with smoke. You get the idea.




		The kids welcomed us by collecting wood for us to cook with. The community gives us a hard time that we ‘waste’ money on charcoal when we could use wood for free.

Having been in Zambia for almost a year now, I am writing this from memory and reminiscing fondly of that first week at site. We really do think of Magalela as our home now. We love the people in our village and have sat and talked with each of the 57 households there. They all know us and respect what we are doing there. Over the next year I will cover the projects we have worked on and some of the daily adventures of African life we have. I hope you enjoy this new format and sorry again for the delay.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: adventure, Africa, bath, breakfast, bugs, Choma., city, coffee, cook, Cooking, couple of days, cows, eating, electricity, food, fresh milk, friend, furniture, Garden, google, harvest season, home, Human Interest, humble abode, jerrycan, kids, life, love, Lusaka, meal, money, night, Peace Corps, photograph, precious electricity, provincial capital, quiet time, rain, Rasa, shower, sleep, Solar, Tonga, town, train, travel, U.S., USA, village, volunteer, volunteers, walking, water, water source, Zambia

Swearing-In

robjkentjr — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:44:01 +0000

06 May 2011 | Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia (-15.4194, 28.3487)

I am so sorry about the month-long delay in getting this blog post out (and answering email); both of our computers succumbed to the elements within a week of each other and I just now got one up and running. The other is still packed in a bag waiting for a new brain. (If anyone had an old SATA hard drive, I would be very appreciative if you could send us an early Christmas present!) Now on to the post…

I cannot believe I made it through another Peace Corps Pre-Service Training (PST) successfully AND I actually passed my language test at the end! We were all relieved to be finished with the exams (there were two others in technical and health) so we celebrated by cooking an American meal for our host family and meeting the U.S. Ambassador and Chieftainess during swearing-in.




		Here is Heather dishing out mashed potatoes from the mother of all pots. Good thing it was so big because the locals loved them!




		After everyone had been served, we let the kids in to finish what was left. They wiped the dishes clean.




		It took me almost 50 shots to catch this moment of sunlight.




		This is the dignitary table and podium where all the top brass will be speaking, even Rasa.




		At this point in our training we were like drones and would say anything PC wanted us to just to end the torture.




		Rasa being swatted by the Chieftainess so no bad juju will possess her.




		Here is Dave talking about his shower at the Ambassador’s guest house.

After a long three months of training, we are finally official volunteers and allowed to go off on our own. Now it is off to the village to put into practice all the information we digested and a new blog format where I will be giving much more detailed information about specific subjects.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Africa, ambassador, America, bad, chieftainess, christmas, christmas present, cook, Cooking, dishes, drive, early christmas, Embassies and Consulates, good, Government, heather, host family, kids, language, language test, locals, love, Lusaka, lusaka zambia, meal, mom, new brain, Peace Corps, potato, potatoes, pre service, sata hard drive, shower, the U.S. Ambassador, train, U.S., USA, volunteer, volunteers, Zambia

Animals

robjkentjr — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:31:43 +0000

24 Apr 2011 | Munda Wanga Game Reserve, Lusaka, Zambia (-15.5606, 28.2709)

For our second to last week of training, we finally had some fun; we took a field trip completely unrelated to work. Well, I guess there were still trees there and we had to listen to a lecture but after that it was animals and waterslides.




		A Waterbuck as he sticks his tongue at me.




		The ostrich is trying to peck at my camera as I stick it in his face for the photo.




		Pumba the warthog giving me a big smile.




		The cheetah is stalking its lunch in the grass.




		I did not bring my bird book with me so I cannot tell you what kind of eagle this is but those eyes are looking right at me.




		A mongoose peeking over the fence watching me as I take its photo. It was actually hoping for food.




		Sam is trying to teach his pet chicken how to send a text message.

This was one of the most relaxing days we have had during training, especially after our education walk, we all just laid on the grass to rest. Next week though is swearing in and will be all business.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: animals, bird, bus, Business, cheetah, eagle, field trip, food, game reserve, grass, lunch, Lusaka, ostrich, Peace Corps, pet chicken, photo, photograph, rain, smile, tea, tongue, train, trees, U.S., USA, warthog, water, waterbuck, Zambia

Übergardens

robjkentjr — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:28:18 +0000

17 Apr 2011 | Chisiko Village, Chongwe, Zambia (-15.3668, 28.6984)

For the 10th week of training, we had our second community day and spent it with our family visiting their massive garden and making a compost pile. I often feel there is little more we can teach the locals about farming and after seeing my host-dad’s operation, I know it is true.




		I found another beetle crawling around the flower of a native sesame plant.




		I would not be this happy handling a poisonous snake that can kill you in one bite.




		It has been said that Adam has the face and voice to sail a 1,000 ships so I can see why the girls are fanning him with palm fronds.




		The little girl using all her weight to pull the hand pump back down.




		What girl doesn’t want to have a solar powered dryer for their dishes?




		The local brick factory with the product laid out to dry before it is fired.




		With a little bit of diesel and a pump, water during the dry season is no problem for the crops. It is just a matter if breaching that economic threshold in order to buy the pump.

Besides killing another snake, we also fetched water and were attacked by bees, just the normal daily stuff we do every week. But next week we finally get to take a fun field trip to a local animal reserve and see some real life African ‘Big 5s’.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Adam, Africa, beetle, Botswana, brick, Business and Economy, chongwe, dad, Dow Jones & Company, Economic Development, farming, flower, Garden, girls, Government, Hand pump, happy, life, locals, making a compost pile, massive garden, palm fronds, Peace Corps, photo, poisonous snake, Pump, rain, sea, sesame plant, ships, Solar, tea, train, U.S., village, water, Zambia

Flowers and honey

robjkentjr — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:49:16 +0000

10 Apr 2011 | Chongwe Community School, Zambia (-15.3292, 28.6726)

Wow, it is already the 9th week and we only have two more to go until we are on our own in the village. This week was a good one and flew by with us learning how to process honey (Yum!) and dig a proper garden, which made us all sore afterwards.




		Using my new favorite macro lens, I captured this small beetle on the petal of a flower.




		I was surprised to discover that this is the flower of a passion fruit and it grows on a vine. Who knew?




		Here is David continuing to eat all the honey we have processed.




		Here is our friend Colleen and her large brimmed sun hat. She is all ready to begin gardening.




		A tough little kid with his lollypop.




		We were tasked with making a solar drier and I think it looks almost like the drawing.




		Back in language lessons, I entertained myself by playing with this giant beetle.

As successful as we were in our humble endeavors making a garden and actually getting something to sprout, we were put to shame by the herculean efforts the Zambians put into their plots. Next week we get to spend another day with our families learning the local customs and how great they really are at growing food, especially chilies!

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: beetle, chongwe, customs, discover, flower, food, friend, fruit, Garden, good, language, macro lens, Macro photography, passion fruit, Peace Corps, school, shame, Solar, sun, Sweeteners, U.S., village, yum, Zambia

Visiting our new home

robjkentjr — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:44:52 +0000

03 Apr 2011 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.3014, 26.0948)

Part of our Peace Corps training is to prepare us for village life but with this and all the previous travel we have done, living this far ‘off the grid’ really was a new experience for us. Do not get me wrong, spending the 8th week of training in our village was an amazing encounter and we cannot wait until we come to live here permanently.




		This is Banene, our counterpart’s 90-year old mother.




		The village’s only water source and bulletin board (notice the piece of paper announcing our arrival on the post behind the pump).




		Rasa and her new pet chicken, which was a welcome gift to the village and we promptly ate.




		These are pumpkin leaves, which are a main vegetable dish here and are actually pretty good.




		Here I am swinging the brazier to get the coals burning. It is always hard when everything is wet.




		This is our home (middle), cooking hut (left), shower and outhouse (far right).




		This is the outhouse on a sunny day. Very scary to go into at night, especially with swooping bats above and big, noisy flies below.

We were a bit fortunate in that our site was relatively close compared to most other volunteers so we actually got to spend six nights there and really got a true taste of what is to come. Next week we are back to the grind, which this small break helped eased us into enormously, learning how to make a garden and process honey.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Africa, bulletin board, car, cook, Cooking, counterpart, encounter, experience, good, home, life, new experience, new pet, night, old mother, Peace Corps, pet chicken, piece of paper, pretty, previous travel, Pump, Pumpkin, rain, Rasa, shower, sun, sunny day, train, travel, U.S., village, volunteer, water, water source, welcome gift, Zambia

A week of relaxing

robjkentjr — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:00:44 +0000

27 Mar 2011 | Chalimbana, Chongwe, Zambia (-15.3825, 28.6973)

We were fortunate this week in that we found one of the few working pools in Zambia (as some of you may know, Africa is notorious for empty pools) and actually had two days to enjoy swimming it. Overall, the seventh week of training was a relaxing one and it only helps the days tick by ever more quickly.




		Rasa is getting measured for a new dress that she will wear to the Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony.




		This is a common but colorful weed that seems to prefer growing alongside the roads.




		The Zambians prefer nsima over rice 8 to 1, and the lines here prove it.




		After our two-day conference, we finally got to enjoy the pool.




		After training one day, some of the volunteers played a game of Frisbee with the local kids. The kids got the hang of it pretty quick or they liked watching us run around.




		I have known rappers who had this hair style but I still like it better on the kids.




		I am honestly running out of comments for sunsets here.

This was also a big week because we finally met our village counterparts and got a chance to finally hear about the issues we will be working on for the next two years. Next week, we get to visit our new home and finally have some real milk.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Africa, chongwe, home, kids, milk, Peace Corps, photograph, pool, pretty, rain, road, sun, sunset, swearing in ceremony, swimming, train, U.S., village, volunteer, volunteers, Zambia

Our site assignment and BBQ

robjkentjr — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:53:49 +0000

20 Mar 2011 | Chalimbana, Chongwe, Zambia (-15.3825, 28.6973)

The sixth week of training was a big one for us; we found out our site assignments and had a BBQ party to celebrate our half-way point. We have also started to explore the local town and discovered a great little retreat called Aaron’s Den, which we all enjoyed a bit too much that last Sunday.




		All of the ladies are out for a stroll about town and checking us out while we plant trees yet again. (I think I have mastered the art of digging holes and plopping saplings in them.)




		The morning mist settling over the fields and shrouding the trees.




		Here are the women coming back from a day of working in the fields.




		This is how we discovered where we were to be posted for the next two years. Each balloon contained a name and the site location inside and you had to pop them to find out where you were going.




		Everyone pitched in to make our weekend BBQ happen. Here is the kitchen crew making bean burgers for the vegetarians at our picnic lunch.




		When the power goes out you have to use the big wooden spoon to flip the breaker.




		Orange flavored syrup: No aftertaste, no choking effect.

At this point in the training everything is starting to blur, with the days and the weeks passing more quickly than we care to remember. Next week though is a day we all have marked on our calendar; it is pay day and we get to go swimming.

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Disclaimer: Expressed herein are my personal thoughts and feelings and do not represent the views of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Tags: Africa, Aid and Development, Barbecue, BBQ, bbq party, car, chongwe, digging holes, discover, google, lunch, Lusaka, morning mist, Peace Corps, plant trees, rain, saplings, sun, swimming, town, U.S., Zambia