Last Day Photos 2

At Mintengo I met again the women from the vegtable garden and they very kindly gave me a gift in exchange for the pipe and wire - a live chicken! I then presented the 5 year strategic plan that I prepared for them to their Board which went very well and they gave me a fantastic hand carved Africa with the big six animals carved wityhin it; elephant, lion, cheetah, giraffe, water buffalo and rhino. Fantastic and totally unexpected.

A quick update on the first group I met in Kafue. We managed to get the new local MP involved and as a result they will be moving after the rains to a new location but they will get land security there which means things such as water and santitation can be addressed. They will also be put in touch with groups such as Mintengo who can help them follow a self help model that works. Overall a good result but the start of the journey for them not the end, but it is a start.

Overall a fantastic experience. Met some great people and I will be staying in touch and hopefully going back in the future if we can find a way. Certainly will be supporting those I can by trying to fund investment in small capital items that will enable them to help themselves. Mintengo will be getting two more pigs this week that will kick start pig rearing for one of their groups. Food security is a strategic goal for all.

If anyone wants to know more on any of the groups I have been involved with or is interested in helping any of them please get in touch with me.

Last day photos 1

Friday was my last day and I had a great time in the morning with the Mintengo Womens Cooperative Centre. Day started with me getting some photos of Group D, the women gardeners who told me all they really wanted was a hosepipe and some barbed wire and they could double the size of what they cultivate. Here is what we managed to get and the women preparing the new garden:

Last Day!

I have had a lot of problems with the internet this week hence the photos I had hoped to load are not there yet. Not that exciting to be honest.

Today I am off to see the Mintengo Womens Cooperative Society where I am presenting a 5 year strategic plan that I have prepared for them as well as the one for the Civic Forum. Looking forward to seeing them again and going through it. They are much more commercial and so trying to look at other opportunities such as bee keeping and how they can maximise the income from what they do now for example push fact that a great deal is organic and/or up the quality and target places such as embassies. Hopefully will get to see more of their businesses such as the mill and oil press. If the internet allows I'll post more photos tonight.

Birds and the Bees

Well I have reached my last weekend here in Zambia. Spent Saturday morning cracking on with a second strategic plan this time for Mintengo Womens Cooperative Service (the guys with the pigs, goats etc). Enjoying doing this one as they want to be more financially secure via commercial trading or income generating activities as they call them. Will need to work hard next few days to get it complete. This afternoon I relaxed in the garden watching the birds and butterflies and then chasing them all over the place to try and get some photos. The following and next couple of posts show a couple of butterflies (these are for you Richard but I dont do them justice and I cant get the big green and black, and the black and gold ones I really want), a bird building its nest (and a shakey dark video that I hope you can see it at work) and some of the flowers and shrubs here as well.

Butterfly is towards bottom right - black and blue.

Hopefully you can zoom in!

After a massive storm Friday night the afternoon was glorious (burnt my head again). Sunshine, blue skies, swallows all over the place and a brass band playing Christmas carols (badly) outside the supermarket. And yet cant get the Christmas spirit. Oh well when I come back home to rain, sleet and snow I am sure I will.

Job nearly done!

Yesterday I presented the board of the charity I am working with the 3 year strategy I have written. went very well with just one change needed on the one strategic goal that came from someone else. Feeling quite smug! This was the key deliverable for my time here and so just about delivered. Will look to finish evrything else off by early next week including a strategy for another organisation.

Today I went to tackle the Lusaka Council about the state of the city and all the rubbish. Got as far as seeing the Head of PR who was very pleasent but didnt really know much about what they do. She certainly has some idea now of what perhaps they should be doing. Will be writing to the Council through her to find out what is going on and tell them again to sort it out. One township already at risk of a potential cholera outbreak and the rains are not here yet.

This afternoon I skyped the IPO in Newport, South Wales. Sound was tricky but great to see everyone. Very enjoyable. Will be back in the office in a fortnight. Thanks to Nic and everyone for sorting that out.

Rest of the week is cracking on with getting things finished and then start handing everything over in good time before I come home. Just 10 days left!

Wheelbarrows!

As I think I have said before the wheelbarrows are great. Here are a few (Mat - little project for when I am back I think). The owners just laughed at the "mad white guy". I can take it. Took quite a few of the various wheel assemblies that were very inventive but didnt think there would be too much interest so not here - can upload them if there is a demand though. Just let me know.

They can carry a huge amount on these - check out the last photo. That is scrap metal he is carrying. I have seen one with 18 car tyres on, another with 450kg of maize in 9 50kg sacks. An ordinary wheelbarrow next to one of these just looks ridiculous. I want one!

Lusaka's Soweto and City Markets

Today (Saturday) I had a look round Lusaka and in particular the Soweto and City markets. Unreal. They are huge for one thing, very loud, filthy and the smell! And they have thousands of people shopping there. There are set areas; one for fish, one for vegtables, one part then for cabbages, a street full of alchol, and masses of second hand clothes from charity collections in UK, USA, Australia and Canada. Another area for tools, hardware, carpets, towels, womens clothes and so on. There are wholesalers on the edge of the market and you can get any type of clothing there. Levis are Kw10000 or about £1-30. As some of you may know I am not very fond of litter and rubbish. Actually thats not true I have an obsessive loathing of it. The rubbish at the market is horrendous and once the rains come for real I hate to think it will look like and is a real cholera concern.
Alot of people very wary of me particularly when I took some photos. We told them I was a special advisor to the council and that seemed to do the trick.
Glad I experienced it but I wont be going back.

Smallholding, lunch and medical centre

We were shown a couple of smallholdings. They use traditional methods either turning the soil by hand or with oxen and plough. Largest one we saw was 4 hectres under cultivation growing maize, mostly organically and some with chemical fertilizer (the organic maize they use themselves). Goats, doves, chickens and pigs also kept. One smallholder who was well organised with goats and chickens (she started with a grant of 3 goats and now has 30, passing 3 onto someone else) now longs for two pigs - cost about £100. The goat with his head poking through the wall is very aggressive and is in the brick shed until they have him for weekend dinner!
Lunch was great - home reared chicken, vegtables and nshima (made from maize and very good - the staple food).
The medical centre was built by the cooperative and handed over to the local authority. They havent done anything they promised and so looking to escalate it to get things fixed.