Names in Zimbabwe, or maybe on this continent in general, are quite funny. Of course there are a lot of people with Ndebele names that we cannot even pronounce, but it seems like half of the parents give their children whatever word they come up with at the moment of namegiving, and the other half have words with a very specific meaning. Whether everyone understands the meaning of these names, is another story...
Like:
Forward
Blessing (We heard of a pair of twins that were called Blessing and Blessed)
Blessed
Prosper
Precious
Wonder
Happiness
Wonder
Handsome
Immaculate
Faith
Charity
Lovemore
Liberty
Furnace
Continueloving
Official
Malaria
Enough
Boys
Bigboy
Job
Children
Bobmarley
Percysledge
Doesntmatter
Precautious
Obama
Forget
Remember
Businessman
Pavement
Africa
Half of these are names of friends and people from BUYISAP and NYDT, the other half some guys that just walked into the office are giving me. They are actual names, it is not like they have a traditional name and an English name.
Youth centret vi bor på i Guwe
tirsdag 30. november 2010
onsdag 24. november 2010
Victoria Falls
Back with NYDT after a long weekend in Victoria Falls. Was nice, but strange, to see Zimbabwe from the touristy point of view, even to be in a touristy spot in Zimbabwe, which was a first for us! Victoria Falls itself is just a small town made more or less for tourists, its got one main street with curio shops, for the rest just hotels and lodges. It is a hub for doing activities like rafting, safari, bungy jumping etc.., so for broke students like Malaika and me, we spent most of our time by the pool, whilst the people we met were out doing activities all day. We did go on a cruise in the Zambesi river though, as that was the cheapest activity you could do. It’s called a sunset cruise, but has adopted the name “booze cruise” as there is all –you- can- drink on board. Great for two girls on antibiotics and the two older couples that were there. At least we saw a few hippos,- who would have known these quite, fat animals are the ones killing most people every year.
Not surprisingly, we went to see the actual falls, which was quite spectacular. Victoria Falls is divided between Zimbabwe and Zambia, with (lucky for us) the most water coming from the Zimbabwean side. It is actually one of the World’s Seven Wonders, a gorge/huge crack that was naturally formed and developed into a huge waterfall some time way back.
The last night we were there we put on our finest clothing (2$ dresses we’ve found at the second hand market in Bulawayo) and had dinner at The Victoria Falls Hotel. It is an old renowned hotel, very beautiful, we felt totally colonial sitting there in that old English-style hotel looking out over the Zambesi river and the bridge crossing over to Zambia. A big contrast to other things we have seen in Zimbabwe! But the chocolate cake we had for dessert made it all worth while…
The trip was not only leisure- we also visited Environment Africa, another MS partner that works with everything from planting trees to advocating for youth to take part in the decision-making processes. Was really interesting, it is a great organization that is rapidly growing. As they have their offices out in the high-density area outside of the touristy town, we got to see a different part of Victoria Falls, where the world of five star hotels and helicopter tours over the falls seems very distant. It is strange how the human mind, or my mind at least, can cope with these great differences - and if I might think it is hard, then how is it for the people living out in the townships, coming in to work as a waiter at one of the luxury hotels everyday. Beats me.
Not surprisingly, we went to see the actual falls, which was quite spectacular. Victoria Falls is divided between Zimbabwe and Zambia, with (lucky for us) the most water coming from the Zimbabwean side. It is actually one of the World’s Seven Wonders, a gorge/huge crack that was naturally formed and developed into a huge waterfall some time way back.
The last night we were there we put on our finest clothing (2$ dresses we’ve found at the second hand market in Bulawayo) and had dinner at The Victoria Falls Hotel. It is an old renowned hotel, very beautiful, we felt totally colonial sitting there in that old English-style hotel looking out over the Zambesi river and the bridge crossing over to Zambia. A big contrast to other things we have seen in Zimbabwe! But the chocolate cake we had for dessert made it all worth while…
The trip was not only leisure- we also visited Environment Africa, another MS partner that works with everything from planting trees to advocating for youth to take part in the decision-making processes. Was really interesting, it is a great organization that is rapidly growing. As they have their offices out in the high-density area outside of the touristy town, we got to see a different part of Victoria Falls, where the world of five star hotels and helicopter tours over the falls seems very distant. It is strange how the human mind, or my mind at least, can cope with these great differences - and if I might think it is hard, then how is it for the people living out in the townships, coming in to work as a waiter at one of the luxury hotels everyday. Beats me.
tirsdag 16. november 2010
NYDT
Two weeks have now gone since we started our attachment with a new organization, National Youth Development Trust, NYDT. Going from working with rural youth, this organization has a more urban focus, although working with a few rural places as well. Its main focus is to enhance the leadership qualities within young people, to make them aware of the power they have in decision-making processes, basically activate the young people in the wellbeing and development of Zimbabwe.
Dette skriver jeg på norsk- det er ved å besluttes om det skal være et valg neste juni, to år etter Presidentens parti og opposisjonen slo seg sammen. Det var et stort fremskritt for Zimbabwe at dette skjedde, og ting har sakte men sikkert blitt litt bedre, dog er det fremdeles mye som mangler, og løfter som ikke har blitt holdt. (Selvfølgelig, dette er jo politikk.) Han megtige slasken med navnet som begynner på M har fortsatt mesteparten av makten i sine hender, noe folket, og opposisjonen, selvfølgelig ikke er glade for. Et av løftene når de slo seg sammen, var at det skulle lages en ny grunnlov, eller en forfatning, og at dette skulle gjøres før det ble holdt en nytt valg. Et forslag har blitt laget, politikerne påstår at de har vært rundt i hele landet og samlet inn informasjon fra folket og deres holdninger til ting osv.., men det spekuleres i om folket virkelig har blitt hørt. Videre er det mange diskusjoner om hvorvidt Zimbabwe rent faktisk er klart til å ha et nytt valg, de fleste er selvfølgelig redde for at det skal ende i et blodbad som det gjorde sist, og at det skal være fusk i stemmetellingen. Likevel virker det som om det skal holdes et valg i juni 2011, og vi er rimelig glade for at vi ikke er her lenger enn tre uker til, da det allerede begynner å skje saker og ting: man kan lese i noen aviser (de som ikke er sensurert), at politikere blir sparket, viktige mennesker som holder med opposisjonen blir satt til andre stillinger osv.. Forrige uke var vi på Morgan Tvangsirai, opposisjonens leder og ledende statsminister, valgmøte. Det var interessant å se mannen som kanskje kan bli den nye presidenten, hvis valget faktisk foregår på en ordentlig måte. Valgmøte var i en township utenfor byen, vi var selvfølgelig de eneste hvite, og folk var rimelig ivrige. Mellom talene satt de på dunrende musikk og så svingte Morgan seg litt rundt på scenen, tydeligvis sånn man appelerer til folk her. Det var også en dame som visst vil stille til valg som vise president, hun sto nærmest og rappet på scenen og lignet på Kim Il Young, litt skremmende.
Dette har ingen sammenheng med NYDT som sådan, men de har i den siste tid hold møter med temaer omkring hvorvidt Zimbabwe er klart til et nytt valg, og hva dette har å si for ungdommen. Veldig spennende, organisasjonen er faktisk overraskende politisk, etter å ha kommet fra BUIYSAP hvor det overhodet ikke ble snakket politikk, har vi lært veldig mye om landet politiske situasjon de to siste ukene. Utad gjør de selvfølgelig så godt de kan for å ikke virke partipolitiske, det er jo ikke lov, men det er noen ganske åpenbare aktivister vi møter inne på kontoret.
NYDT’s main activities are to hold youth meetings in the different areas of Bulawayo and also two rural towns, they arrange HIV/AIDS events, and they work on gender equalities issues among others. Malaika and I have been helping out a bit here and there, we are in the process of making a newsletter for the next month, have been to a few meetings etc.. There are 6 men and 2 women working there, all quite young, which of course is nice, they are all lovely people and happy to have us there.
The plan was that we were going to move in with a family when we got in to town, but there has been a few problems; MS was late with two weeks of giving NYDT their money, and when they finally did the family could not have us after all. So we have been lucky enough to stay with Laura, a Danish girl that works for MS/Action Aid, and we are in the process of moving into another house right now. It is quite scary to see how much power a donor has. Because NYDT had not gotten their 4th quarter disbursement, they could not pay the family we were going to stay with, they did not have internet because they couldn’t pay the bill and they had to cancel many meetings. In the end, it is always the interest of the donor that comes first, a one week belated money transfer might seem harmless to the donor in Denmark, but if they were actually here, they would think quite different.
Living in the city again is nice, even though we really miss the people in Guwe, and the people in BUIYSAP. Some of the youth there call us on a daily basis, we are trying to tell them to not spend all their money on phone credit, and the reception is so bad that we cannot hear what they are saying anyways. But it is nice to know that they are eager to stay in touch.
It is for sure a different life here, we spend most of our time in the office, (it’s got internet and a toilet that flushes!), and we usually finish around 5 o clock, which only gives us enough time to go buy some groceries and get a lift home, before it gets dark and we cannot walk outside any longer. Laura’s showed us a few nice places to eat so we have been out a few times too, fairy luxurious to us! This Wednesday we are going up to Victoria Falls where we will visit an organization called Environment Africa, it is also an MS partner, and it will be interesting to see what kind of work they are doing. Then we’ll spend the weekend checking out the waterfall and try to find a pool where we can soak up some sun- it’s almost time to go home so we need our last rays of sun!
Dette skriver jeg på norsk- det er ved å besluttes om det skal være et valg neste juni, to år etter Presidentens parti og opposisjonen slo seg sammen. Det var et stort fremskritt for Zimbabwe at dette skjedde, og ting har sakte men sikkert blitt litt bedre, dog er det fremdeles mye som mangler, og løfter som ikke har blitt holdt. (Selvfølgelig, dette er jo politikk.) Han megtige slasken med navnet som begynner på M har fortsatt mesteparten av makten i sine hender, noe folket, og opposisjonen, selvfølgelig ikke er glade for. Et av løftene når de slo seg sammen, var at det skulle lages en ny grunnlov, eller en forfatning, og at dette skulle gjøres før det ble holdt en nytt valg. Et forslag har blitt laget, politikerne påstår at de har vært rundt i hele landet og samlet inn informasjon fra folket og deres holdninger til ting osv.., men det spekuleres i om folket virkelig har blitt hørt. Videre er det mange diskusjoner om hvorvidt Zimbabwe rent faktisk er klart til å ha et nytt valg, de fleste er selvfølgelig redde for at det skal ende i et blodbad som det gjorde sist, og at det skal være fusk i stemmetellingen. Likevel virker det som om det skal holdes et valg i juni 2011, og vi er rimelig glade for at vi ikke er her lenger enn tre uker til, da det allerede begynner å skje saker og ting: man kan lese i noen aviser (de som ikke er sensurert), at politikere blir sparket, viktige mennesker som holder med opposisjonen blir satt til andre stillinger osv.. Forrige uke var vi på Morgan Tvangsirai, opposisjonens leder og ledende statsminister, valgmøte. Det var interessant å se mannen som kanskje kan bli den nye presidenten, hvis valget faktisk foregår på en ordentlig måte. Valgmøte var i en township utenfor byen, vi var selvfølgelig de eneste hvite, og folk var rimelig ivrige. Mellom talene satt de på dunrende musikk og så svingte Morgan seg litt rundt på scenen, tydeligvis sånn man appelerer til folk her. Det var også en dame som visst vil stille til valg som vise president, hun sto nærmest og rappet på scenen og lignet på Kim Il Young, litt skremmende.
Dette har ingen sammenheng med NYDT som sådan, men de har i den siste tid hold møter med temaer omkring hvorvidt Zimbabwe er klart til et nytt valg, og hva dette har å si for ungdommen. Veldig spennende, organisasjonen er faktisk overraskende politisk, etter å ha kommet fra BUIYSAP hvor det overhodet ikke ble snakket politikk, har vi lært veldig mye om landet politiske situasjon de to siste ukene. Utad gjør de selvfølgelig så godt de kan for å ikke virke partipolitiske, det er jo ikke lov, men det er noen ganske åpenbare aktivister vi møter inne på kontoret.
NYDT’s main activities are to hold youth meetings in the different areas of Bulawayo and also two rural towns, they arrange HIV/AIDS events, and they work on gender equalities issues among others. Malaika and I have been helping out a bit here and there, we are in the process of making a newsletter for the next month, have been to a few meetings etc.. There are 6 men and 2 women working there, all quite young, which of course is nice, they are all lovely people and happy to have us there.
The plan was that we were going to move in with a family when we got in to town, but there has been a few problems; MS was late with two weeks of giving NYDT their money, and when they finally did the family could not have us after all. So we have been lucky enough to stay with Laura, a Danish girl that works for MS/Action Aid, and we are in the process of moving into another house right now. It is quite scary to see how much power a donor has. Because NYDT had not gotten their 4th quarter disbursement, they could not pay the family we were going to stay with, they did not have internet because they couldn’t pay the bill and they had to cancel many meetings. In the end, it is always the interest of the donor that comes first, a one week belated money transfer might seem harmless to the donor in Denmark, but if they were actually here, they would think quite different.
Living in the city again is nice, even though we really miss the people in Guwe, and the people in BUIYSAP. Some of the youth there call us on a daily basis, we are trying to tell them to not spend all their money on phone credit, and the reception is so bad that we cannot hear what they are saying anyways. But it is nice to know that they are eager to stay in touch.
It is for sure a different life here, we spend most of our time in the office, (it’s got internet and a toilet that flushes!), and we usually finish around 5 o clock, which only gives us enough time to go buy some groceries and get a lift home, before it gets dark and we cannot walk outside any longer. Laura’s showed us a few nice places to eat so we have been out a few times too, fairy luxurious to us! This Wednesday we are going up to Victoria Falls where we will visit an organization called Environment Africa, it is also an MS partner, and it will be interesting to see what kind of work they are doing. Then we’ll spend the weekend checking out the waterfall and try to find a pool where we can soak up some sun- it’s almost time to go home so we need our last rays of sun!
mandag 8. november 2010
Goodbye Guwe
Last week was our last week with BUIYSAP, and even though we only had work to do on our computers hence it would have been easier to stay in town, we had a strong wish of staying out in “our” rural area one last time. We managed to get some petrol and filled up the generator, and enjoyed the simple life of Guwe for the last few days. It has been so hot, and finally Wednesday the first rains came. A lot of rain, and along with the rain came the bugs. Never have I seen a bigger selection of bugs than what I’ve seen the past week!! The night of the rain we all of a sudden had about 20 frogs jumping both inside and outside of the centre, and a spider the size of my hand was welcomed us when we walked into our bedroom. The day after was even worse, a few seconds after turning on the generator in the evening hundreds of flying creatures showed up outside, and soon enough inside the centre. While Malaika and I was looking at the swarm of bugs with the greatest disgust, some of the boys happily rushed into the swarm with a bucket of water and started to hit the bugs into the bucket. It turns out these bugs are eaten as a snack, - you pull of their wings and their upper body and then fry their bums in a pot together with some oil. The boys got the youngest guy called Handsome to sit in this swarm for about two hours to pick the bugs and take their wings of. Nice job.
When we walked into our bedroom, the bugs were everywhere, but by this time their wings had fallen off, resulting in a hundred pairs of wings being scattered across our bedroom floor and small bugs running around. I don’t know how many bugs we managed to kill, but it turns out they release a certain smell when you kill them, leaving our bedroom in a horrible smell. Horroshow. Thank god for our mosquito nets! (Well, not completely, Malaika woke up twice having a cockroach crawling on her arm).
Friday night we wanted to do something nice with all the youth, but not being sure what to do or how they usually a have party, we told everyone to at least come down during the night so we could say goodbye to them. Late afternoon we decided we actually had enough food for everyone, and before we knew it, ten guys were making up the fire and getting ready to cook. Later they entertained us with some traditional songs and dances, then we cooked marshmallows on the fire, something no one had tried before! One of the guys managed to borrow the loudspeakers from the shops, and the minute the music was turned on all 40 of them rushed to the dance floor, and danced for three hours, until we had told them “this is the last song!, ten times.
It was a bit hard to leave Guwe Saturday morning, but my newly adopted strategy of saying “See you soon” instead of “Goodbye” really does help. The kids are writing their exams these weeks, and we have told everyone to let us know how they go, which they won’t know before February/March next year. I know it will be hard to stay in touch with most of them, especially since the majority will keep living in the rural areas where the outside world seems very far away - there is hardly any network, and ofcourse no internet. It is hard to say where these youth will go from here, they have been lucky enough to be sponsored by BUIYSAP to finish high school, but most of them do not have funds for going further to colleges and universities. The majority will probably end up as peasant farmers just like their parents, growing maize and having a few cows. It all depends on the political and economical situation in Zimbabwe, it is very interesting to see what will happen. I just read that according to a new survey by the UN Development Programm, Zimbabwes Human Development Index is worse off now than it was in 1970. The report, which came out last week, claims Zimbabwe has the worst living standards in the world.
When we walked into our bedroom, the bugs were everywhere, but by this time their wings had fallen off, resulting in a hundred pairs of wings being scattered across our bedroom floor and small bugs running around. I don’t know how many bugs we managed to kill, but it turns out they release a certain smell when you kill them, leaving our bedroom in a horrible smell. Horroshow. Thank god for our mosquito nets! (Well, not completely, Malaika woke up twice having a cockroach crawling on her arm).
Friday night we wanted to do something nice with all the youth, but not being sure what to do or how they usually a have party, we told everyone to at least come down during the night so we could say goodbye to them. Late afternoon we decided we actually had enough food for everyone, and before we knew it, ten guys were making up the fire and getting ready to cook. Later they entertained us with some traditional songs and dances, then we cooked marshmallows on the fire, something no one had tried before! One of the guys managed to borrow the loudspeakers from the shops, and the minute the music was turned on all 40 of them rushed to the dance floor, and danced for three hours, until we had told them “this is the last song!, ten times.
It was a bit hard to leave Guwe Saturday morning, but my newly adopted strategy of saying “See you soon” instead of “Goodbye” really does help. The kids are writing their exams these weeks, and we have told everyone to let us know how they go, which they won’t know before February/March next year. I know it will be hard to stay in touch with most of them, especially since the majority will keep living in the rural areas where the outside world seems very far away - there is hardly any network, and ofcourse no internet. It is hard to say where these youth will go from here, they have been lucky enough to be sponsored by BUIYSAP to finish high school, but most of them do not have funds for going further to colleges and universities. The majority will probably end up as peasant farmers just like their parents, growing maize and having a few cows. It all depends on the political and economical situation in Zimbabwe, it is very interesting to see what will happen. I just read that according to a new survey by the UN Development Programm, Zimbabwes Human Development Index is worse off now than it was in 1970. The report, which came out last week, claims Zimbabwe has the worst living standards in the world.
mandag 25. oktober 2010
Logistics
We have spent a lot of time in the cars driving people back and forth during the caravan, and we have learned a lot about logistics, and how to plan for it.
The organisations newly bought (used) car has come in hand- I was driving some of the youth to another school one day and I counted 16 youth in the backseat. In a 5 seater, 4w drive. And no one complains, even though you cannot open any of the windows and it’s 40 degrees outside. The car only has a tape player, and I can’t count how many times we have listened to Dolly Partons greatest hits, with everyone in the backseat singing along happily, while our supervisor yells: “Shake whatever your mama gave you in abundance!”
Logistics already being a problem, it didn’t make things better that the petrol station out in the rural area was out of petrol/diesel for almost a week. Well, out of petrol is not really true- the petrol was there, but the black market had bought it all (organised together with the owner of the petrol station ofcourse), so you had to go to a house close to the petrol station and by the petrol at a higher price. This happens almost every week. Now petrol is already pricey, it costs about $ 1,20, so black market petrol is no better. But we learned that from the same house you could also buy pigs heads and cow’s feet, they are stored in the back of a car, and those ones are also at a black market price, which is good to know.
The organisations newly bought (used) car has come in hand- I was driving some of the youth to another school one day and I counted 16 youth in the backseat. In a 5 seater, 4w drive. And no one complains, even though you cannot open any of the windows and it’s 40 degrees outside. The car only has a tape player, and I can’t count how many times we have listened to Dolly Partons greatest hits, with everyone in the backseat singing along happily, while our supervisor yells: “Shake whatever your mama gave you in abundance!”
Logistics already being a problem, it didn’t make things better that the petrol station out in the rural area was out of petrol/diesel for almost a week. Well, out of petrol is not really true- the petrol was there, but the black market had bought it all (organised together with the owner of the petrol station ofcourse), so you had to go to a house close to the petrol station and by the petrol at a higher price. This happens almost every week. Now petrol is already pricey, it costs about $ 1,20, so black market petrol is no better. But we learned that from the same house you could also buy pigs heads and cow’s feet, they are stored in the back of a car, and those ones are also at a black market price, which is good to know.
The Youth Caravan 2010
BUIYSAPs long planned caravan started on the 3rd of October, rather hectically. We were woken up Sunday morning at 7 am by loads of young people arriving from every where to be taken out to the first school we were going to stay at, which was about two hours drive away, on bumpy dust roads. By midday about 60 people had arrived, but we only had one car..We were excepting a few cars from MS a bit later, so Malaika and I started the first move and filled up the car, and the roof, with luggage. The other cars arrived at around 7pm, so after 12 hours of waiting we were able to transport most of the young people to the school. But if it’s two things people in Zim have got, it is time, and patience. As long as they get a bit of food, they’re happy. And the food is one thing you HAVE to have enough of, and as our supervisor said- a big motivation for coming to work with you. You can’t hide the fact that a lot of the youth joining us for this caravan were there for the food, and the free t-shirt with BUIYSAPs logo on it. That doesn’t mean the youth just shows up and doesn’t do any work, it might just justify them to leave their homes and maybe the work they do in the field for their parents, to come help us out.
So Monday mid-day we had managed to move everyone, including ourselves over to Swelabo secondary school, and we were now counting around 120 youth! A larger number than we had planned for, but for the three days we stayed and worked at Swelabo, we managed to feed everyone and keep them happy, while making school benches for the schools in the Swelabo area, and teaching the community about the importance of educating their children. We had a big launch Monday afternoon where we had invited school committee members, the traditional leaders, the police, the DA, a representative from the ministry of education etc.., and the youth from BUYISAP performed songs and plays. We also tried to motivate the parents and guests to push further for promoting education for their children, and showed them how easily benches and other school equipment could be repaired with a bit of contribution from them.
The very positive thing when BUISAP does these arrangements, is that everyone helps out, so in the end it is the youth themselves that make sure that the food is being prepared, that there is enough water, that there is hot bath water for everyone, that everyone gets fed etc.. The water group and the cooking team might have been the ones working the hardest- collecting water for 120 people, mostly carried for about 1 km away on your head, is pretty hard, especially when its 35 degrees outside! I can’t picture a 100 Norwegian youth on a youth camp walking 1 km to get water for everyone from the borehole, standing outside in the sun cooking for their peers over the fire for hours, or sleeping on a blanket on the floor surrounded by 60 other girls or boys for two weeks. Some of the girls also brought their babies- to Malaika’s and mine pleasure, some of the cutest babies I have ever seen! And having your baby with you doesn’t stop you from working has hard as the others, you just put your baby on your back, and you’ve got your hands free to work. After three nights in the first school we decided we had to cut down the number of youth, as food was already getting short, so there were quite a few disappointed youth that had to remind while the rest caught the bus at 5 am to the next school. All in all we spent about a week moving to three different schools, and helping out about 14 schools in the Nkayi disctrict. We managed to make about 380 benches, and calculating that four school kids can sit on each bench, that’s quite a few benches!
It was tough being around so many people all day, although we were lucky to be able to stay in some of the teachers houses most nights. When you graduate as a teacher you cannot choose where you want to work, so you might be from a different part of the country, hence there are teachers cottages in every school you go to in the rural areas. Some of the kids living furthest away from school, approx. 20- 30 km from the school, are sometimes allowed to stay there with the teachers, provided they cater for their own food.
It took quite a few trips to Bulawayo to be able to buy enough food for the whole caravan. There were a few main ingredienses- maize meal, potatoes, cabbage, onions and tomatoes, and a variation of these were used for every meal, meaning that you would basically eat the same thing everyday (which is quite a normal thing to do). The Sunday we started the caravan, a cow was slaughtered in our backyard, and another was slaughtered the week after, so that we had enough meat for the whole time. Slaughtering a cow is a cool thing to do here, and all the boys were eager to partake in the slaughtering, while posing for my camera. They did it all themselves, from carefully taking the skin of, cutting the different parts out, rinsing out the stomach of grass (I didn’t know how much grass could actually be inside of a cow! Check out the photos if you’re interested) And everything is being eaten; from the head to the stomach to the feet and the tounge. Let’s just say Malaika and I have happily been vegetarians the last two weeks! And since there’s no fridge, the meat had an interesting smell at the end of the week. We were sitting with just the staff eating one night, talking about the meat. John, our manager had come to visit in one of the schools we were staying at, and he was talking to Talita about how their group had cooked the meat three times so you couldn’t taste that it had gone bad. Talita said they hadn’t been as lucky with our group, and that was the reason she had cooked something else for Malaika and me that day, as she knew the meat was off! We had to laugh, and explain them that at home we would have thrown everything out, if there even were the slightest suspicion the meat had gone bad. The didn’t get that- you just cook it long enough and it will be fine!
So Monday mid-day we had managed to move everyone, including ourselves over to Swelabo secondary school, and we were now counting around 120 youth! A larger number than we had planned for, but for the three days we stayed and worked at Swelabo, we managed to feed everyone and keep them happy, while making school benches for the schools in the Swelabo area, and teaching the community about the importance of educating their children. We had a big launch Monday afternoon where we had invited school committee members, the traditional leaders, the police, the DA, a representative from the ministry of education etc.., and the youth from BUYISAP performed songs and plays. We also tried to motivate the parents and guests to push further for promoting education for their children, and showed them how easily benches and other school equipment could be repaired with a bit of contribution from them.
The very positive thing when BUISAP does these arrangements, is that everyone helps out, so in the end it is the youth themselves that make sure that the food is being prepared, that there is enough water, that there is hot bath water for everyone, that everyone gets fed etc.. The water group and the cooking team might have been the ones working the hardest- collecting water for 120 people, mostly carried for about 1 km away on your head, is pretty hard, especially when its 35 degrees outside! I can’t picture a 100 Norwegian youth on a youth camp walking 1 km to get water for everyone from the borehole, standing outside in the sun cooking for their peers over the fire for hours, or sleeping on a blanket on the floor surrounded by 60 other girls or boys for two weeks. Some of the girls also brought their babies- to Malaika’s and mine pleasure, some of the cutest babies I have ever seen! And having your baby with you doesn’t stop you from working has hard as the others, you just put your baby on your back, and you’ve got your hands free to work. After three nights in the first school we decided we had to cut down the number of youth, as food was already getting short, so there were quite a few disappointed youth that had to remind while the rest caught the bus at 5 am to the next school. All in all we spent about a week moving to three different schools, and helping out about 14 schools in the Nkayi disctrict. We managed to make about 380 benches, and calculating that four school kids can sit on each bench, that’s quite a few benches!
It was tough being around so many people all day, although we were lucky to be able to stay in some of the teachers houses most nights. When you graduate as a teacher you cannot choose where you want to work, so you might be from a different part of the country, hence there are teachers cottages in every school you go to in the rural areas. Some of the kids living furthest away from school, approx. 20- 30 km from the school, are sometimes allowed to stay there with the teachers, provided they cater for their own food.
It took quite a few trips to Bulawayo to be able to buy enough food for the whole caravan. There were a few main ingredienses- maize meal, potatoes, cabbage, onions and tomatoes, and a variation of these were used for every meal, meaning that you would basically eat the same thing everyday (which is quite a normal thing to do). The Sunday we started the caravan, a cow was slaughtered in our backyard, and another was slaughtered the week after, so that we had enough meat for the whole time. Slaughtering a cow is a cool thing to do here, and all the boys were eager to partake in the slaughtering, while posing for my camera. They did it all themselves, from carefully taking the skin of, cutting the different parts out, rinsing out the stomach of grass (I didn’t know how much grass could actually be inside of a cow! Check out the photos if you’re interested) And everything is being eaten; from the head to the stomach to the feet and the tounge. Let’s just say Malaika and I have happily been vegetarians the last two weeks! And since there’s no fridge, the meat had an interesting smell at the end of the week. We were sitting with just the staff eating one night, talking about the meat. John, our manager had come to visit in one of the schools we were staying at, and he was talking to Talita about how their group had cooked the meat three times so you couldn’t taste that it had gone bad. Talita said they hadn’t been as lucky with our group, and that was the reason she had cooked something else for Malaika and me that day, as she knew the meat was off! We had to laugh, and explain them that at home we would have thrown everything out, if there even were the slightest suspicion the meat had gone bad. The didn’t get that- you just cook it long enough and it will be fine!
Back in Zim
After a few weeks ”on the road”, I finally have time to sit down and write. We are back in Bulawayo after a few days off holiday in Durban, South Africa. Being back in the “western civilisation” felt strange, especially considering it’s just a boarder crossing away from Zimbabwe. The minute we were on the South African side things were different- we stopped at a petrol station; in the toilets there were toilet paper, soap, and the locks worked. The selection of drinks, chocolate bars etc. in the shop seemed never ending, and there was petrol and diesel in every pump. Now coming from the rural area of Zimbabwe, even Bulawayo, this was a different world. Even though it is very unfortunate, I can understand why so many Zimbabweans think that this country can offer them a job and a better life (Most people we have met in Zimbabwe have about half of their family and friends now living in South). Nevertheless, we can understand why Zimbabwe is so famous for its welcoming people- that was also a difference when we crossed the boarder – the way people treated us was not at all the same as in Zim. The difference between black and white here is far much greater, and you don’t mingle with whoever- not unexpected, but still interesting to see. Nonetheless Durban was a very nice city, and we got to do just what we wanted: to lie on the beach The last few weeks of around 35-40 degrees has had its tall on two Scandinavians who are used to think that if you go to a warm place, there is also a beach close by. So now we are eager to show the youth in Guwe that our white skins have tanned just a little – they don’t understand why we always try to sit in the sun when you can be comfortable in the shade nearby. All they want, is to be whiter, and funnily enough, we want the opposite
lørdag 2. oktober 2010
tirsdag 28. september 2010
Funny
On our way out to Guwe last Monday, we all of a sudden stopped in the middle of the dirt road. Malaika and I, sitting in the back behind 20 bags of mealie-meal (grounded maize) and 30 bags of cheap biscuits, did not really understand what had happened. All of a sudden our supervisor yells out “Can you see the hare?? We just hit it!” We started backing up, and we thought that we were going to see if it was okay. We were wrong. Our supervisor ran out of the car and picked it up and brought it back inside. “Jippey! Now we’ve got dinner for tomorrow!” Not a joke, and everyone else at the centre thought it was perfectly normal that we came out of the car with a dead hare under Talitas arm. Newfound hunting strategy ?
The Information Team
The information team consists of 15 youth, from 17 to 25 years, who have all dropped out of school early due to early pregnancy, some have no money for school fees, some live to far away from the school and have no means of transportation, others had to stay at home to make money for their family... The list of reasons is long, and they all have a story to tell. Luckily, they are now members of BUIYSAP, and about half of these will get to go back to school in the start of next year with their school fees paid for by the organisation. The others get training in youth leadership, in life planning skills and most importantly they get to play roles in their local community through the work BUIYSAP does there. We got to know these 15 youth last week when they stayed at the centre with us where we did a workshop together with them. It was a great experience to facilitate a workshop, something neither Malaika or I had tried before, and truth be told we only realised last minute that we were the ones to actually lead the whole workshop, so we had to use the great method of improvisation. It worked out quite well, although the biggest challenge was the fact that most of the youth were too shy to speak up in English. You could hear them discussing amongst each other in Ndebele, and the minute we started asking them questions in English, they would go quiet. We tried to remind them that English is not our mother tounge either, but we are not quite sure they believed us. During the evaluation I was told it was hard to understand my “tone”, and that I was speaking too quickly. Wise words, some might say.
It was a rather intense week having 15 youth staying with us, although a lot of fun. They would, by their own choice, get up at about 4:30 am to make a fire and start boiling water for the “showers” and by 07 am the bread was baked in a pot over the fire and 15 plates was dished up with the exact same size of bread in each plate. 6.30 is the absolute earliest I can allow myself to wake up, so I did my best to be ready on time.
One of the first things the youth did when they arrived, was to wash their clothes. Talita, our supervisor, explained to us that a lot of the them probably don’t have soap at home, so BUIYSAP always has detergent, soap and body lotion at disposal when they have workshops, in this way at least they are all able to look decent while they are there. It made me think about my own clothes, most of them have a spot here and there but I have been thinking that as I’m out in the middle of the bush, it surely cannot matter that much. It probably does to some of them.
It also made me realise how many things you just would not think about if you were to start your own project or organisation without the involvement of locals (probably not very likely, but still), how many small things that can make a difference if you know and are aware of the cultural attributes in a new country.
Talita had told us that a lot of the youth were not very experienced with using a computer, so we thought we would do some training with them one of the nights. Before starting, we asked how many had tried to use a computer before. 3 out of 15 raised their hand. So, we started from scratch, showing them what button to press to start up the computer, how you open a program, and how to write in Word. The excitement some of them were showing when they had written their own name in Word! We were only able to use four of the computers as the generator wasn’t working too well, so they were four on each computer, helping each other finding the letters, and slowly starting to understand how to make a capital letter, a comma etc… During our evaluation on the last day, every single one of them mentioned how great it was that they now knew how to start and operate a computer. It was quite touching to hear them say this!
It was a rather intense week having 15 youth staying with us, although a lot of fun. They would, by their own choice, get up at about 4:30 am to make a fire and start boiling water for the “showers” and by 07 am the bread was baked in a pot over the fire and 15 plates was dished up with the exact same size of bread in each plate. 6.30 is the absolute earliest I can allow myself to wake up, so I did my best to be ready on time.
One of the first things the youth did when they arrived, was to wash their clothes. Talita, our supervisor, explained to us that a lot of the them probably don’t have soap at home, so BUIYSAP always has detergent, soap and body lotion at disposal when they have workshops, in this way at least they are all able to look decent while they are there. It made me think about my own clothes, most of them have a spot here and there but I have been thinking that as I’m out in the middle of the bush, it surely cannot matter that much. It probably does to some of them.
It also made me realise how many things you just would not think about if you were to start your own project or organisation without the involvement of locals (probably not very likely, but still), how many small things that can make a difference if you know and are aware of the cultural attributes in a new country.
Talita had told us that a lot of the youth were not very experienced with using a computer, so we thought we would do some training with them one of the nights. Before starting, we asked how many had tried to use a computer before. 3 out of 15 raised their hand. So, we started from scratch, showing them what button to press to start up the computer, how you open a program, and how to write in Word. The excitement some of them were showing when they had written their own name in Word! We were only able to use four of the computers as the generator wasn’t working too well, so they were four on each computer, helping each other finding the letters, and slowly starting to understand how to make a capital letter, a comma etc… During our evaluation on the last day, every single one of them mentioned how great it was that they now knew how to start and operate a computer. It was quite touching to hear them say this!
Update from Zimland
As im writing this blogentry, im sitting in the bed in our hotel/lodge, Berkely Place, which is in the same street as the office. Being the third place we have stayed at in Bulawayo we feel like we know what Bulawayo has to offer when it comes to accommodation- in the weekend we spent Saturday night at a backpackers’ in case we might meet some other travelers (normally when you travel you want to avoid places with too many tourists, now that we are here on work we go there just to see if we can meet a backpacker or two to hang out with!hehe), and this week were staying here as it is closer to work. This week we will be spending preparing for the Youth Caravan, which starts next Monday. There is a lot to be bought, everything from pots and pans to food and tools, we will be about 100 members from BUIYSAP moving around to different villages for two whole weeks. When you think about the fact that the roads out there are made of sand and that we probably might have to go back and forth as we do not have enough cars, this will prove interesting I think! But I think it will be great, and the schools in the different villages are very excited to have us- we are bringing wood to make benches so the kids a least have something to sit on after walking up to 30 kms, and in some schools we will paint and make sement floors instead of dirt floors. When I say we, I mean the other members of the organisation- I will try to help but can’t see where I will get the carpenter skills from. Luckily, Malaika and I have got other responsibilities; helping out with the other part of the caravan which is the community education. There will be role plays, songs, poems etc. focusing on the issues of education, which will lead up to a discussion where hopefully everyone from the traditional leaders to the out of school youth will contribute and together they will find ways to improving the education standards in their village/school. We have been put to help out and facilitate the Information Team, who are responsible for taking notes and making sure what people say and do is relevant towards the theme of the caravan.
mandag 20. september 2010
Just a note
Under the post "Zimbabwe 10", you can click on the photo and there should be a photo album coming up with some more photos!
Altså, klikk på bilde under tittelen "Zimbabwe 10", så tror jeg det kommer noen flere bilder!
Altså, klikk på bilde under tittelen "Zimbabwe 10", så tror jeg det kommer noen flere bilder!
School visits
After an exciting week were back in town for a night to help out buying food and utilities for our “tour” next week. We are really starting to settle in out in Guwe – we’re starting to remember names (some of them not so easy to pronounce!) and recognise the different youths faces, and when there are about 40 youth that come to hang out at the centre, this is quite hard! They are also getting more comfortable with us and with trying to speak Englis, and in return we have learned a few phrases in Ndebele, the language spoken in the southern parts of Zimbabwe, which can ease and ackward moment. They all love hearing us trying to pronounce the click sounds, Ndebele is closely related to Zulu, if anyone knows how that sounds like.
Last Wednesday was “Africa Youth Day” and we went to see the celebrations at one of the schools about 30 kilometres deeper into the bush from where we are staying. The theme for this year was “Educating the girl child”, hence there was a lot of poems and songs recited and song by the young girls at the school. The children from the neighbouring schools also partook, meaning there were about 400 primary school children there, and the hundred that were sitting closest to Malaika and me had their eyes directed at us- not the stage. The couldn’t stop staring, especially when we were taking photos, they looked at my camera with the greatest awe, and it didn’t get better when they were allowed to look at some of the photos I had taken, they could not stop laughing. Very cute.
The schools here take great pride in their celebrations, and apart from us, parents and teachers, the guest were members from the ministry of education and the village elders and chiefs. The songs, dances and speeches went on for almost four hours, with a break here and there so that the prominent guest, amongst them us, could move more into the shade. For lunch we had freshly slaughtered goat, will try to upload a photo of the goat dangling from a tree while four teenagers were slaying it. It was actually slow cooked, and so tender, really nice!
At night we stayed with one of the teachers, who is also a member of our organisation, and more slaughtering occurred, this time a chicken. I got to rip out the feathers! Gross, but fun. The next day we headed further in to the bush, visitng two more schools and handing out questionnaries. Here, they had also slaughetered a goat, and this time we got the liver – a delicassy you only serve elders or guests. Being one of the few things in this world I really dislike, I was luckily able to blame my high cholesterol, and got away with one bite:)
Our weekend we have just spent relaxing- there’s really not a lot more to do than that! So mamma, James and Helene – I’m getting good at it! Hoping I can take my newly acquired skill back home as well!
Last Wednesday was “Africa Youth Day” and we went to see the celebrations at one of the schools about 30 kilometres deeper into the bush from where we are staying. The theme for this year was “Educating the girl child”, hence there was a lot of poems and songs recited and song by the young girls at the school. The children from the neighbouring schools also partook, meaning there were about 400 primary school children there, and the hundred that were sitting closest to Malaika and me had their eyes directed at us- not the stage. The couldn’t stop staring, especially when we were taking photos, they looked at my camera with the greatest awe, and it didn’t get better when they were allowed to look at some of the photos I had taken, they could not stop laughing. Very cute.
The schools here take great pride in their celebrations, and apart from us, parents and teachers, the guest were members from the ministry of education and the village elders and chiefs. The songs, dances and speeches went on for almost four hours, with a break here and there so that the prominent guest, amongst them us, could move more into the shade. For lunch we had freshly slaughtered goat, will try to upload a photo of the goat dangling from a tree while four teenagers were slaying it. It was actually slow cooked, and so tender, really nice!
At night we stayed with one of the teachers, who is also a member of our organisation, and more slaughtering occurred, this time a chicken. I got to rip out the feathers! Gross, but fun. The next day we headed further in to the bush, visitng two more schools and handing out questionnaries. Here, they had also slaughetered a goat, and this time we got the liver – a delicassy you only serve elders or guests. Being one of the few things in this world I really dislike, I was luckily able to blame my high cholesterol, and got away with one bite:)
Our weekend we have just spent relaxing- there’s really not a lot more to do than that! So mamma, James and Helene – I’m getting good at it! Hoping I can take my newly acquired skill back home as well!
mandag 13. september 2010
Back to the countryside
Så var helgen i Bulawayo over, selv om vi ikke hadde vært på landsbygda lenge var det deilig å få tatt en ordentlig dusj, vært litt på internett, og til og med tatt oss en øl(første gang vi var ute siden vi kom til Afrika!)! Vi ble også kjent med en lokal som tok oss med utenfor byen til en park hvor vi spiste lunsj, deilig, og eller noe vi ikke hadde fått sett uten å kjenne noen med bil :)
Nå bærer det straks ut på landet igjen, denne gangen i organisasjonens nyinnkjøpte bil, luksus! Forrige uke brukte vi på å utformet et spørreskjema som senere skal inn i en database. Spørreskemaene går ut til medlemmer av organisasjonen som alle har droppet ut av skolen, og spørsmålene omhandler grunner til at man droppet ut, hva de nå livnærer seg av, hvem de bor med, håp og visjoner for fremtiden etc... Denne uken skal vi så ut til de forskjellige landsbyenefor å dele ut disse skjemaene til ungdom som er meldem av BUIYSAP (og det er mange!), en del bor ganske langt vekk, det lengste er vel omkring 300 km, så vi skal overnatte ute hos en av ungdomslederne fra onsdag til fredag. Aner ikke hvordan han bor men regner med at han bor i en av de karakteristiske leirhyttene, de er faktisk veldig flotte der ute, men innramming rundt "vinduene" og forskjellige mønstre. Skal få tatt noen bilder! Så hele uker går med til utlevering og innsamling av spørreundersøkelsene pluss noen samtaler med en del av medlemmene. Vi blir også værende over helgen, og neste uke skal brukes på å planlegge dette årets "youth caravan"- organisasjonens store årlige arrangement. Dette året er temaet utdanning for unge, og organisasjonen har kjøpt inn planker til å lage skolebenker, noe det er stor mangel på i området. Så fra den 27 september skal vi ut på "turne" i de forskjellige landsbyene, hver dag drar vi ut til en ny landsby hvor man setter folk i gang med å lage benker, pluss at vi har diskusjoner og rollespill etc.. Så overnatter vi på en skole e.lign., før vi drar videre morgenen etter. Blir veldig spennende, også litt hardt kanskje, da man hele tiden er sammen med folk. Men vi gleder oss! Nedenunder har jeg lastet opp et par bilder- er ikke helt fortrolig med hvordan jeg gjør det enda, så er bare et par bilder for å gi et lite inntrykk :)
Så får vi se når neste gang jeg får lagt ut noe blir, foreløpig virker hverken internett eller telefon der ute. Det eneste som faktisk har virket litt, er min skype chat, så der kan det hende jeg får snakket med noen!
Nå bærer det straks ut på landet igjen, denne gangen i organisasjonens nyinnkjøpte bil, luksus! Forrige uke brukte vi på å utformet et spørreskjema som senere skal inn i en database. Spørreskemaene går ut til medlemmer av organisasjonen som alle har droppet ut av skolen, og spørsmålene omhandler grunner til at man droppet ut, hva de nå livnærer seg av, hvem de bor med, håp og visjoner for fremtiden etc... Denne uken skal vi så ut til de forskjellige landsbyenefor å dele ut disse skjemaene til ungdom som er meldem av BUIYSAP (og det er mange!), en del bor ganske langt vekk, det lengste er vel omkring 300 km, så vi skal overnatte ute hos en av ungdomslederne fra onsdag til fredag. Aner ikke hvordan han bor men regner med at han bor i en av de karakteristiske leirhyttene, de er faktisk veldig flotte der ute, men innramming rundt "vinduene" og forskjellige mønstre. Skal få tatt noen bilder! Så hele uker går med til utlevering og innsamling av spørreundersøkelsene pluss noen samtaler med en del av medlemmene. Vi blir også værende over helgen, og neste uke skal brukes på å planlegge dette årets "youth caravan"- organisasjonens store årlige arrangement. Dette året er temaet utdanning for unge, og organisasjonen har kjøpt inn planker til å lage skolebenker, noe det er stor mangel på i området. Så fra den 27 september skal vi ut på "turne" i de forskjellige landsbyene, hver dag drar vi ut til en ny landsby hvor man setter folk i gang med å lage benker, pluss at vi har diskusjoner og rollespill etc.. Så overnatter vi på en skole e.lign., før vi drar videre morgenen etter. Blir veldig spennende, også litt hardt kanskje, da man hele tiden er sammen med folk. Men vi gleder oss! Nedenunder har jeg lastet opp et par bilder- er ikke helt fortrolig med hvordan jeg gjør det enda, så er bare et par bilder for å gi et lite inntrykk :)
Så får vi se når neste gang jeg får lagt ut noe blir, foreløpig virker hverken internett eller telefon der ute. Det eneste som faktisk har virket litt, er min skype chat, så der kan det hende jeg får snakket med noen!
fredag 10. september 2010
ZimZim
Tirsdag sist uke var det klart for å komme seg til stedet vi er på det Afrikanske kontinent for- Zimbabwe. Vi landet i Harare kl 0230 og var litt nervøse da vi stod i visumkøen- aktivister er ikke akkurat den zimbawiske regjernings æresgjester. Vi møtte pussig nok en annen danske, ut av de få hvite som stod i køen, han var journalist for DR, så han delte våres nervøsitet. Men, de stilte oss ingen spørsmål, takk hvite hud for at vi ser ut som amerikanske ferieturister.
Vi hadde fått beskjed om at vi skulle bli hentet og kjørt på et hotell, men i ankomsthallen stod det et par med en liten baby på ryggen som sa hun var niesen til lederen av organisasjonen vi skal jobbe for, hun tok oss med i en gammel, nedslitt opel hun hadde lånt av en venn, og sa at hun hadde avtalt med organisasjonen at vi heller skulle bo hos henne, det måtte da være bedre å bo hos henne enn på hotell! På vei inn til soverommet lå det flere mennesker og sov, både på sofaen og på gulvet, og inne på rommet hvor vi skulle sove lå det allerede en dame og sov, det var visst søsteren hennes. Senere skulle vi finne ut av at det bor ca. tre familier i dette huset som eies av tanten, alle veldig søte og gjestmilde, noe vi har lært er typisk for landets befolkning.
Noen timer senere ble vi vekket av denne niesen, Sibo, og ble tatt med til hennes venninnes hus, hvor de møtes hver onsdag for å be sammen. Her satt vi oss alle ned i et lite rom med stråmatter på gulvet sammen med fire damer og en mann som begynte og synge og lese vers fra bibelen. De snakket på engelsk så godt de kunne for at vi skulle få være med, og så ba de en bønn for deres to nye venner, for hell og lykke på våres vei gjennom livet. Jeg kan overhodet ikke si at jeg har troen i behold, men det var veldig rørende å se disse menneskene, som nesten ikke ante hvem vi var, lukke øynene og be til Gud om at vi måtte få støtte gjennom disse månedene i Zimbabwe.
På tross av alt man har sett og hørt om Zimbabwes situasjon de seneste årene, virket Harare som en meget oppegående by, bredere gater og vennligere folk har jeg aldri sett før. Visst kunne man fortsatt se en del tomme butikker og utvalget i butikk hyllene er ikke stort, men etter den amerikanske dollaren tok over for den overinflerte Zimbabean dollar for litt over ett år siden, begynner ting virkelig å gå den riktige veien. Vi så dog ikke så mange hvite i Harares gater, men folk smilte vennlig og lot oss være i fred.
Husene i området der vi bodde bar tydelig preg av at de en gang var bygget av rike, hvite mennesker, som så solgte dem til lokale så fort de kunne når den politiske situasjonen var som verst. Husene står enda, men de fleste var rimelig nedslitte, minner litt om å være på Cuba, uten de store, flotte fasadene selvfølgelig.
Torsdag sist uke ble vi kjørt av en diger buss ned til Bulawayo, landets nest største by, ca 1 mill. innbyggere. Her ble vi møtt av BUIYSAP, Bulawayo Intergrated Youth Ahead Program, som vi skal jobbe for de neste seks ukene. BUIYSAPs hovedfokus er unge i de landlige -”rural”- områdene, så igår kjørte vi, sammen med Talita, vår veileder i organisasjonen, og et par andre frivillige, med fullt oppbakket bil i tre timer på landeveier inn til Guwe, en liten landsby hvor vi nå befinner oss. Jeg har aldri vært så støvete før, det er dry season nå så veiene var bare løs sand, og da det var over 30 grader ute ble vi nødt til å ha vinduene åpne. Her har organisasjonen overtatt et hus som de nå har gjort om til et kontor/ youth center, så her både bor og jobber vi, pluss at den lokale ungdommen kommer om kveldene for å lese lekser og låne en av de fem pcene som er blitt sponset av Danmark. Veldig primitiv, men koselig, Malaika og jeg har et eget lite rom hvor vi sover på våres nyinnkjøpte madrasser. Det er generatorstrøm om kvelden, og all mat blir lagd utenfor over bål. Tror vi kommer til å lære en del ting om the primitive lifestyle de neste ukene! Det er ett punkt utenfor hvor det er dekning, og her møtes alle landsbyens innbygger for å få sendt en melding eller høre på ringetoner. Sosialt. Dagens utfordning var å vaske klærne våre for hånd i en bøtte, vi får se hvor rent det blir imorgen, er engestelig for at eslene som spankulerer rundt på tunet kommer til å ta seg en bit !
Vi hadde fått beskjed om at vi skulle bli hentet og kjørt på et hotell, men i ankomsthallen stod det et par med en liten baby på ryggen som sa hun var niesen til lederen av organisasjonen vi skal jobbe for, hun tok oss med i en gammel, nedslitt opel hun hadde lånt av en venn, og sa at hun hadde avtalt med organisasjonen at vi heller skulle bo hos henne, det måtte da være bedre å bo hos henne enn på hotell! På vei inn til soverommet lå det flere mennesker og sov, både på sofaen og på gulvet, og inne på rommet hvor vi skulle sove lå det allerede en dame og sov, det var visst søsteren hennes. Senere skulle vi finne ut av at det bor ca. tre familier i dette huset som eies av tanten, alle veldig søte og gjestmilde, noe vi har lært er typisk for landets befolkning.
Noen timer senere ble vi vekket av denne niesen, Sibo, og ble tatt med til hennes venninnes hus, hvor de møtes hver onsdag for å be sammen. Her satt vi oss alle ned i et lite rom med stråmatter på gulvet sammen med fire damer og en mann som begynte og synge og lese vers fra bibelen. De snakket på engelsk så godt de kunne for at vi skulle få være med, og så ba de en bønn for deres to nye venner, for hell og lykke på våres vei gjennom livet. Jeg kan overhodet ikke si at jeg har troen i behold, men det var veldig rørende å se disse menneskene, som nesten ikke ante hvem vi var, lukke øynene og be til Gud om at vi måtte få støtte gjennom disse månedene i Zimbabwe.
På tross av alt man har sett og hørt om Zimbabwes situasjon de seneste årene, virket Harare som en meget oppegående by, bredere gater og vennligere folk har jeg aldri sett før. Visst kunne man fortsatt se en del tomme butikker og utvalget i butikk hyllene er ikke stort, men etter den amerikanske dollaren tok over for den overinflerte Zimbabean dollar for litt over ett år siden, begynner ting virkelig å gå den riktige veien. Vi så dog ikke så mange hvite i Harares gater, men folk smilte vennlig og lot oss være i fred.
Husene i området der vi bodde bar tydelig preg av at de en gang var bygget av rike, hvite mennesker, som så solgte dem til lokale så fort de kunne når den politiske situasjonen var som verst. Husene står enda, men de fleste var rimelig nedslitte, minner litt om å være på Cuba, uten de store, flotte fasadene selvfølgelig.
Torsdag sist uke ble vi kjørt av en diger buss ned til Bulawayo, landets nest største by, ca 1 mill. innbyggere. Her ble vi møtt av BUIYSAP, Bulawayo Intergrated Youth Ahead Program, som vi skal jobbe for de neste seks ukene. BUIYSAPs hovedfokus er unge i de landlige -”rural”- områdene, så igår kjørte vi, sammen med Talita, vår veileder i organisasjonen, og et par andre frivillige, med fullt oppbakket bil i tre timer på landeveier inn til Guwe, en liten landsby hvor vi nå befinner oss. Jeg har aldri vært så støvete før, det er dry season nå så veiene var bare løs sand, og da det var over 30 grader ute ble vi nødt til å ha vinduene åpne. Her har organisasjonen overtatt et hus som de nå har gjort om til et kontor/ youth center, så her både bor og jobber vi, pluss at den lokale ungdommen kommer om kveldene for å lese lekser og låne en av de fem pcene som er blitt sponset av Danmark. Veldig primitiv, men koselig, Malaika og jeg har et eget lite rom hvor vi sover på våres nyinnkjøpte madrasser. Det er generatorstrøm om kvelden, og all mat blir lagd utenfor over bål. Tror vi kommer til å lære en del ting om the primitive lifestyle de neste ukene! Det er ett punkt utenfor hvor det er dekning, og her møtes alle landsbyens innbygger for å få sendt en melding eller høre på ringetoner. Sosialt. Dagens utfordning var å vaske klærne våre for hånd i en bøtte, vi får se hvor rent det blir imorgen, er engestelig for at eslene som spankulerer rundt på tunet kommer til å ta seg en bit !
Første stopp: Kenya
KENYA
Velkommen til Maris første reise-blogginlegg! Jeg må innrømme at jeg ikke egentlig er den største tilhenger av nåtidens bloggkultur, men etter erfaring kan lange fellesmailer fort bli glemt i inboxen, så jeg tenkte det var bedre at folk selv kan komme inn og kikke når de har lyst til det.
Det har nå gått to uker siden jeg landet i Nairobi, men etter alt vi har gjort og alle inntrykkene vi har fått, føles det som en måned!
Jeg landet i Nairobi mandag 23.august, og ble møtt av min søsters venninnes venninne, som er født og oppvokst i Nairobi. Veldig ålreit å bli møtt av en ”bekjent” når man lander på nattestid i en by som denne. Morgenen etter møttes jeg med Malaika og seks danske sykepleierstudenter, og sammen ble vi fraktet av en stor safari bil 230 km nordover til en liten by ved navn Nanyuki, turen tok oss nesten 5 timer- sier litt om hvor mange hull det var i veiene.. Utenfor Nanyuki ligger Mellemfolkelig Samvirke (organisasjonen vi reiser med)s Global Platform, her arrangerer de introduksjonskurser og tar imot unge dansker som skal ut og jobbe som frivillige. Stedet vi bodde på var opprinnelig en skole for amerikanske ”problembarn”, men huser i dag en kostskole for kenyanske jenter drevet av et amerikansk par, pluss MSs lokaler. Det ble en innholdsrik uke, vi fikk forelesninger av stedets to lærere (en av dem en Maasai med to koner som han ikke var flau over å snakke om), i Swahili, Kenyas historie etc... Utover det besøkte vi tre lokale familier og så hvordan de bodde, hvordan de livnærte seg og fikk høre hvilke stammer de tilhørte, og vi besøkte en gruppe for enker, hvor de ut av brukte plastposer lagde vesker og tjente en slant til livets opphold. Veldig inspirerende damer- når man mister mannen sin i Kenya går alle mannens inntekter, jordretten og verdier til mannens familie, så det eneste kona sitter igjen med er omsorgen for barna, og da det ikke er så stort arbeidsmarked for kvinner, kan det fort bli veldig tøft å være enke.
Vi rakk også en kort safari i helgen til en safaripark rett rundt hjørnet, fikk sett en god del dyr men synes det var litt som å fiske- ikke så gøy når man ikke får fisk. Blir en del døtid hvor man bare kjører rundt på leting etter dyr.
Velkommen til Maris første reise-blogginlegg! Jeg må innrømme at jeg ikke egentlig er den største tilhenger av nåtidens bloggkultur, men etter erfaring kan lange fellesmailer fort bli glemt i inboxen, så jeg tenkte det var bedre at folk selv kan komme inn og kikke når de har lyst til det.
Det har nå gått to uker siden jeg landet i Nairobi, men etter alt vi har gjort og alle inntrykkene vi har fått, føles det som en måned!
Jeg landet i Nairobi mandag 23.august, og ble møtt av min søsters venninnes venninne, som er født og oppvokst i Nairobi. Veldig ålreit å bli møtt av en ”bekjent” når man lander på nattestid i en by som denne. Morgenen etter møttes jeg med Malaika og seks danske sykepleierstudenter, og sammen ble vi fraktet av en stor safari bil 230 km nordover til en liten by ved navn Nanyuki, turen tok oss nesten 5 timer- sier litt om hvor mange hull det var i veiene.. Utenfor Nanyuki ligger Mellemfolkelig Samvirke (organisasjonen vi reiser med)s Global Platform, her arrangerer de introduksjonskurser og tar imot unge dansker som skal ut og jobbe som frivillige. Stedet vi bodde på var opprinnelig en skole for amerikanske ”problembarn”, men huser i dag en kostskole for kenyanske jenter drevet av et amerikansk par, pluss MSs lokaler. Det ble en innholdsrik uke, vi fikk forelesninger av stedets to lærere (en av dem en Maasai med to koner som han ikke var flau over å snakke om), i Swahili, Kenyas historie etc... Utover det besøkte vi tre lokale familier og så hvordan de bodde, hvordan de livnærte seg og fikk høre hvilke stammer de tilhørte, og vi besøkte en gruppe for enker, hvor de ut av brukte plastposer lagde vesker og tjente en slant til livets opphold. Veldig inspirerende damer- når man mister mannen sin i Kenya går alle mannens inntekter, jordretten og verdier til mannens familie, så det eneste kona sitter igjen med er omsorgen for barna, og da det ikke er så stort arbeidsmarked for kvinner, kan det fort bli veldig tøft å være enke.
Vi rakk også en kort safari i helgen til en safaripark rett rundt hjørnet, fikk sett en god del dyr men synes det var litt som å fiske- ikke så gøy når man ikke får fisk. Blir en del døtid hvor man bare kjører rundt på leting etter dyr.
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