My third week already!!

Now at the end of my third week and I finished the week off with a return visit to Kafue. This meant another trip by minibus that proved to be everything I thought it would be!

Once we arrived we were greeted by Francis Phiri who runs the Bwalo Global Development Trust. He covers a huge area and is very well respected by the communities he deals with as someone who gets things done. He had arranged for the Headmen of the local communities to meet us to hear about the Civic Forum and for them to tell us their issues.

What struck me again was they dont want charity handouts. They want help with education, basic facilities and infrastructure so that they can help themselves. Access to micro finance would seem to be a key tool that could make a great difference. Something I will be looking into more.

We were greeted as honoured guests and I was introduced to and sat with the Headmen. The procedings started with welcome dances from a local drum and dance group who are financially supported by Francis’ organisation. They were fantastic and drew a good crowd of youngsters in particular to watch. They use song and dance to educate the young (and not so young) on issues such as aids/HIV, alchol and drug abuse. They also encourage youngsters to get involved both in their own group and in other activities such as football (at least they would if they had a football – something as basic and simple as that can make all the difference – something that will sorted next week).

The meeting itself went very well with alot of disussion and issues being raised. The same ones keep coming up:

            Not enough water bore holes

            No sanitation

            No basic infrastruture – drainage, rubbish collection

            No committment from the local authorities to address problems

This last point is where the Forum need to take the lead and engage the appropriate senior people to get things done. To do so they need to have a clear idea of how to address the poblems not just say it needs to be fixed.

Anyway a good morning that ended with lots of photos (everyone wants to meet the white guy – their words not mine). A great deal of expectation both on me and the Forum. Some quick wins are needed to show progress. Perhaps getting some bore holes in place, again something I need to look into next week.

More on the afternoon to follow plus as many photos as I can get up. Oh and a word on my spelling – I have no spellchecker on this machine and the letters on the keyboard dont always work!)