Below is a link to a short interview I did for AfID’s most recent newsletter.

AfID Interview

I arrived home late last night, my travel arrangements having gone entirely to plan. I slept with two duvets and a hot water bottle – and have been greeted this morning by grey skies and rain showers. It’s hard to believe that this time yesterday I was in sunny Zambia – but despite the weather, it is good to be home!

Before I conclude my final post, there are a few people whom I would like to thank.

Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you to Neil and Anna at AfID. The 24/7 support, which you provided both prior to and during my assignment, did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated. I wish I had your constant energy and enthusiasm!

Secondly, thanks to everyone at EduSport for welcoming me into the team. I plan to become an official “Friend of EduSport” later in the week and hope our relationship doesn’t end here.

Thanks are also due to Joanne Free, David Black and Tony Philip – other AfID volunteers whom I have never met, but who provided me with invaluable advice on accounting software appropriate for small NGOs.

Finally, thank you to you, the readers of my blog. I hope it has given you a little bit of an insight into my time in Zambia – and maybe even inspired some of you to think about carrying out an assignment in the future. I can’t recommend it highly enough – I have had a fantastic experience – and given half the chance, I would do it all again!

I had scheduled meetings this morning with Michael, Sydney and Nyachi – to run through my findings, and allow any remaining queries to be resolved. By 3.30pm, I had met only with Sydney; Nyachi was preoccupied with the organization of an event that is happening next week, and Michael was nowhere to be found. With my work now complete, there was not much for me to do but sit around and wait – which I did outside, while basking in the glorious sunshine!

Eventually, Nyachi finished what she was doing and I was able to run through everything with her. She was so appreciative and seems so determined to ensure that all the changes I have made continue to be put into practice in the future.

It was really strange leaving the office for the last time – I will definitely miss it. Despite being in a strange country and having to contend with the poor infrastructure, I have thoroughly enjoyed working here.

Michael had not returned by the time I left the office, so his briefing took place earlier this evening, in a bar in Kabwata. I think it is safe to say that this briefing will have to be repeated next week – he seemed more interested in ensuring that my last night in Lusaka was memorable, than discussing the intricacies of the new finance procedures I had introduced!

I am due to leave Lusaka early tomorrow morning – arriving back in the UK around 6pm.  BA have not indicated otherwise, so I am assuming my flight will run to schedule. Fingers crossed!

Last walk to the office. It’s hard not to arrive at work in a good mood when the weather is like this.

My favourite fruit seller from the market in Kabwata. I have visited her stall almost every day since I arrived.

Saying goodbye to some of the EduSport girls.

I spent this evening with some of EduSport’s peer group leaders. The majority of EduSport’s work is carried out by these peer group leaders – who are simply young people from the underprivileged communities who have been trained by EduSport to coach a variety of sports and give life skills training to their peers.

The young people take their roles incredibly seriously, often giving up many hours a week to run activities in their communities – on an entirely voluntary basis.  At the same time, they are often juggling their education (both funding it and completing it) and family life (which more often than not involves them caring for orphaned cousins or younger brothers and sisters).

I have spent some time getting to know Kelvin and Moses – two peer group leaders from Kalingalinga – over the past couple of days. Kelvin is just 17, but has been a peer group leader since he was 12. Despite his young age, he is the leader all the other leaders throughout Lusaka, and indeed the whole of Zambia, look up to. He has achieved an astonishing amount for his community over the past five years – so much so that he has now made numerous TV appearances and his work has been recognized by the Government’s Education Department.

The peer group leaders organized a couple of energizers towards the end of the evening. I have named the first one, “I have the ball” because it involved the leaders one by one playing with an invisible ball, while singing (with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm), “I have the ball”. My description here will never do it justice – but maybe I can give you a demonstration when I get back home!

My outward travel plans were disrupted by the BA cabin crew strikes and heavy snow in the North of Scotland. There is now a chance that my flight home will be disrupted by the closure of UK airspace due to the volcanic activity in Iceland. I really don’t seem to be having much luck with my flights on this trip!

Made good progress today – Sydney and Nyachi both seem happy with the new accounting software and agree that it is very user friendly. Hope to get all the outstanding data entered tomorrow – and then should be on course to get everything completed by the end of the week. Still a lot to do but finally everything seems to be coming together!

After another 5am start and another 6 hour long bus journey, I am now back in Lusaka.  I got into the office about 2pm this afternoon and managed to get QuickBooks downloaded and installed before the end of the day. Progress! Hoping to get all the groundwork completed tomorrow so that I can spend the rest of the week training Sydney and Nyachi on how to use the software.

I spent most of yesterday hanging out with some of the Edusport team in Livingstone. This gave me a good opportunity to get to know them better and learn a bit more about how their organization was formed and about the activities that they run. I could happily listen to them talk all day – their stories are so inspiring. As much as I am supposed to be here to help them, I feel like they have a lot to teach me!

With Carol, Kelvin and Greg at the Jollyboys Hostel in Livingstone.

I finally made it to the Victoria Falls yesterday – and it was well worth the wait!

We first visited the Zambian side of the falls, and climbed down 700m of descent to see the “Boiling Pot” – the biggest whirlpool on the Zambezi. From here we had an uninterrupted view of the Victoria Falls Bridge – and witnessed numerous bungee jumpers in action. Bungee jumping is definitely not for me – it looked awful!

We had been advised that the views of the falls from the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi were much more impressive than from the Zambian side, so we decided to cross the border into Zimbabwe. In two days I have managed to spend $135 on visas – all this border crossing does not come cheap! However, it was definitely worth it – the views were spectacular and there were only a small number of tourists in comparison to on the Zambian side.

Victoria Falls town is only about 1km away from the actual falls on the Zimbabwean side, and so later in the afternoon we wandered up to have a look. This is a town clearly geared up for tourists – but it was absolutely dead. We were approached by half a dozen children begging for money and were constantly harassed by touts trying to sell us souvenirs. Despite the views of the falls being better from Zimbabwe, it appears that the recent troubles in the country have scared off the tourists, and the town is really suffering as a result.

As we were walking back from Zimbabwe to Zambia, we suddenly noticed all the locals running towards us.  I then heard somebody scream “Elephant!”  Apparently there was an elephant only metres from the road! Needless to say, we upped our pace considerably until we were a substantial distance away!

My plans changed slightly overnight and today, instead of going to see the Victoria Falls, I went to Botswana. Livingstone is less than an hour’s drive away from Kazungula, where the borders of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia meet, so it was relatively easy to get there.

In order to cross from Zambia into Botswana, we had to take a small ferry across the Zambezi River. Many of the local people use this ferry on a daily basis to transport petrol, food, shoes and clothing between Zambia and Botswana.

Once in Botswana, we spent the day at the Chobe National Park. The park lies to the south of the Zambezi River (which changes its name to the Chobe River once it reaches Botswana) and is famous for having a large number of elephants, amongst other animals.

Baboons playing in Chobe National Park.

I met Cristina, a friend from uni, in Livingstone yesterday. This is us on the banks of the Chobe River.

The sun beginning to set over Namibia and Botswana.

NB: This is yesterday’s post! My internet credit ran out before the upload was complete!

As well as the office in Lusaka, EduSport has offices in the Copperbelt, in the north of Zambia, and in Livingstone, in the south. The Livingstone office has just one full time member of staff – Carol – who coordinates all the activities in the area. Earlier today, Sydney and myself travelled the 470km from Lusaka to Livingstone to meet Carol and help her set up a cashbook.

Tom, my newfound taxi driver, picked me up at 5.30am. People here tend to find a taxi driver they like and trust – and then stick with them. Tom is originally from the Western Province and has never been to school so cannot read or write. He told me that he is saving up to go to night school so that he can learn – so I add a couple of thousand kwacha to each journey’s fare.

I got on the bus at the Intercity Bus Station about 5.45am. I couldn’t see Sydney but given that I was a little bit early (by African standards at any rate!), I was not unduly concerned. As the bus drove off there was still no sign of him. I wondered if he was actually on the bus and I just hadn’t noticed! I looked around but couldn’t see him and I had no credit on my phone so couldn’t call.  I guessed that he had simply missed the bus – I have come to almost expect such things in this country now! About 6.30am he called to confirm that this is indeed what had happened and that he would see me in Livingstone.

The bus stopped a number of times during the six-hour journey – at which point everyone frantically scrambled off, used the facilities, purchased food or water, and rushed back on. It wasn’t clear to me whether or not the driver was checking whether everyone who got off, got back on. Not wanting to get stranded somewhere in the middle of Zambia, I didn’t hang about at any of the stops!

Carol met me from the bus and, after having some lunch, we got straight to work. Yesterday, frustration! Today, success! Carol was very receptive to everything I taught her and we now have an up to date, working cashbook for the Southern Province!

I am staying in Livingstone this weekend and am looking forward to seeing the Victoria Falls (which I caught my first glimpse of earlier this afternoon) tomorrow!

Carol, Sydney and myself at work in the Livingstone office.

Another exasperating day in the office contending with the slow internet connection. QuickBooks Pro 2010, the software I am trying to install, is supposed to take 45 minutes to download. I started the download at 9.10am. At 3.10pm, the internet suddenly stopped working, my download only 75% complete. I wish I could have a really fast connection, just for one day! As I was having a rant about it in the office, Annie told me that this was what she, and all other students, constantly had to deal with when studying at the University of Zambia.  I definitely take my speedy internet connection at home for granted.

Some pictures from the weekend that I haven’t yet had a chance to upload are below. I went to watch a Zambian Premier League football game between Zanaco and Lusaka Dynamos. This league is the Zambian equivalent of the Premiership in England – although I don’t think we will ever get to see Manchester United v Arsenal for 5000 kwacha (less than £1!).

Zanaco celebrate scoring their first goal!