Heading home
20 Aug 2008 11:12 am
Well this is my last day in Zambia, having travelled in from Petauke on a very overcrowded bus. My seatmate was a man in his cups (at 7:00 in the morning) he claimed he was a Gold medal winner in Boxing at the Korea Olympics. I believe him. Anything can happen here in Zambia. Yesterday they finally made it official that the 3rd President of Zambia had died. He was good President and the country was holding its own under his leadership. It will be interesting to see what happens now; Africa is full of surprises especially in the political arena.
Prices of things are steadily on the rise. The bus fare, the taxi fare, petrol, diesel and everything that has to be transported. Petauke is showing this in the rise of goods shipped into the District. It will be a challenge for the new President to bring things into check. All fuel used in Zambia is imported. Petrol has hit 10,000 Kwacha a litre or almost 3 dollars.
I will leave on Kenyan Airways flight tomorrow, through Nairobi to London. From London I go to Canada and home.
I am pleased to say I accomplished all I set out to do this trip. To my friends here in Zambia I wish you and your family health and look forward to seeing you soon. To the Nation of Zambia I offer you my condolences and please keep the peace that you have always cherished.
Heading home
20 Aug 2008 11:12 am
Well this is my last day in Zambia, having travelled in from Petauke on a very overcrowded bus. My seatmate was a man in his cups (at 7:00 in the morning) he claimed he was a Gold medal winner in Boxing at the Korea Olympics. I believe him. Anything can happen here in Zambia. Yesterday they finally made it official that the 3rd President of Zambia had died. He was good President and the country was holding its own under his leadership. It will be interesting to see what happens now; Africa is full of surprises especially in the political arena.
Prices of things are steadily on the rise. The bus fare, the taxi fare, petrol, diesel and everything that has to be transported. Petauke is showing this in the rise of goods shipped into the District. It will be a challenge for the new President to bring things into check. All fuel used in Zambia is imported. Petrol has hit 10,000 Kwacha a litre or almost 3 dollars.
I will leave on Kenyan Airways flight tomorrow, through Nairobi to London. From London I go to Canada and home.
I am pleased to say I accomplished all I set out to do this trip. To my friends here in Zambia I wish you and your family health and look forward to seeing you soon. To the Nation of Zambia I offer you my condolences and please keep the peace that you have always cherished.
Another Day!
14 Aug 2008 02:45 pm
Yesterday we delivered the last of the 30 blackboards. They have gone to the Chieftainess’ area along the Mozambique border south of Petauke. The Chieftainess has a social conscience and works closely with the communities that rely on Community Schools. On Sunday we visited Kanyanga Basic School, another school close to the border. Three teachers teach 420 students from grades 1 to 7 and are only visited by the Education Ministry once a year.
Now the black boards are all delivered we will spend the remaining time I have left working in the new tree nursery. There are lots to be done building fences and shade roofs for the coming hot season. Very good progress is being done on the well so we will have a backup water supply.
We are going out this afternoon and getting bamboo and grass for the fence out toward the Luangwa River.
Trip to Mumbi
04 Aug 2008 06:58 am
Sunday we travelled to Mumbi Village from Petauke. We have maintained a very active tree nursery there for the past three years. This is Felix our Environment Coordinators home village. It is located south of Petauke toward the Mozambique border on fairly good feeder road.
There are 3500 people living in and around Mumbi and they rely on three wells, one a borehole and two hand dug wells. One of these was a gift from Harbourside Rotary in Victoria and the other has been deepened and maintained by ourselves. The pump had broken down on the bore hole so the two hand dug wells were getting a work out, sometimes even coming up dry at peak times of the day.
After doing our business and visiting with Felix and his wife Charity we loaded the truck with will rotted manure from his Kraal and returned to Petauke. This will be much needed in our nursery planned for the compound for the soil is very sandy. We never even had a flat tire.
By : garry | Category: Bio Fuel Production | Comments [0]
Windy Wednesday
30 Jul 2008 08:55 am
The wind is blowing again today and it is cold. I never thought I would complain about the cold in Africa. The paint also wants to blow off the brush. But the boards will all be done by next week to be delivered to the schools. We give each board a coat of Aluminium and than two coats of blackboard paint on the front. If the weather would cooperate the job would be done quickly.
Each day Carrington takes our bicycle into Petauke and collects the empty Shake Shake containers from behind the local bars. These containers are like a milk carton and hold one litre of beer. If we were to use poly grow pots the costs would increase by about 16 cents per tree. This way we are recycling and cleaning up the environment that is so taxed by garbage here in Zambia. Plastic bags are everywhere along with other household debris. But some of the residence shines their shoes twice a day.
Last night was the first time in quite awhile that we were able to watch the Zambian news and have our supper in light, although eating in candle light can be good for the digestion. Tonight we are going to have goat done outside on a brazier. Now if I had some wine to go with it.