Report from the trip to Zambia February-March, 2005

Students and teachers had been preparing in different ways since the first proposal for developing both ‘Project 100 points’ and our cooperation with Zambian schools, was made in June 2003. There were two aspects to our preparations:

• Working for and finding funding for a possible trip. This included applying for individual and group scholarships and stipends. In addition many hours of work were put in on bake sales, planning and organising parties, flea markets and a gala, singing at Lucia etc.
• Planning and working on different topics which were the focus for individual and group projects. These were also to be studied during a prospective trip to Zambia. The projects included malaria; traditional and western medicines; the Zambian economy including an analysis of the effectiveness of two aid organisations; customary and statutory law in Zambia, with focus on women and inheritance; women’s health; orphans who are orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS; architecture and town planning; water privatisation and wild life conservation with focus on the rhinoceros and elephant.

In November 2004 we received funding from Internationella Programkontoret and we were able to book tickets and start planning the trip in detail. The group consisted of two teachers and thirteen students from both the international and Swedish sections of Kungsholmens Gymnasium, and both natural scientists and social scientists. There were two boys in the group.

The trip.

Our flight was booked to leave Stockholm on Friday, 25 th. February, to meet the plane for Zambia in London. The trip was complicated by the plane from London being cancelled because of snowstorms, so we were rerouted over Gothenburg. It was extremely stressful as there are only three flights a week to Lusaka. We made the flight, but seven of our bags were left behind and we only got them in Livingstone a week later!

When we arrived in Lusaka we were met by our contact and friend, Selina Mizinga, who is now head of the Monze Secondary Boarding School. We were all packed into a hired bus and were soon on the way to our first stop – Monze.

We were all given host families who rapidly became ‘ substitute fathers and mothers’. The generosity and friendship extended to us was beyond all our expectations, even though the two leaders have been in Zambia on previous trips. Living in families gave us all an insight into the life in Zambia which would be very difficult to experience otherwise. We also made friendships which we hope will last many years.

While in Monze we took part in receptions and student performances and activities. We were given a guided tour of the school which made us all realise how much education is valued in Zambia and how difficult it is for many to get it. The school was very run down and Selina Mizinga was in the process of making improvements. This is a very laborious task due to lack of funds. Many students have difficulty finding the money to pay school and boarding fees; the examination fee or even the bus fare to school. The Kungsholmen students and staff had collected and worked for money which we used to sponsor students in Monze Secondary Boarding School and Hillcrest Technical School in Livingstone, our two ‘sister schools’. The insight we gained into a totally different life situation is something which will live with us for a long time and has changed many of our perspectives.

The programme was very intensive in both Livingstone and Monze. In Monze we went to visit and interview a Tonga chief, learnt a lot about inheritance and land use and visited a primary boarding school with a department for handicapped children. This school had neither running water nor electricity. We were also taken to visit a group of registered practitioners of traditional medicine who had travelled in to a market for our sakes. This was really interesting and gave rise to many ideas and questions. In addition there was a courtesy visit to the regional education officer.

We were three nights in Monze and then the Hillcrest school bus collected us for our next stay, this time as boarders in school dormitories in Hillcrest Technical School in Livingstone. The boys and teachers again stayed in families.

In Livingstone we followed a very ambitious programme organised by Mr. Nkhata, the headmaster, and the deputy head Mr. Makasa. We were given an historical and ethnographical overview by visiting Livingstone museum. We spent an extremely valuable day in groups with three NGO’s. One of the students spent a morning at the Livingstone Water Works. We visited a huge baobab tree and were able to stand only metres away from sleeping rhinos! We went three times to the Livingstone National Park, hoping to see elephant, but had no luck. However we saw an abundance of other wild life, including many giraffe, impala and hippo. We had a trip on the Zambezi River which took us back to an idealised picture of colonial times. One of the most awe inspiring experiences was the Victoria Falls. The students also spent time visiting classes and taking part in lessons. Three students interviewed a doctor at a malaria clinic.

We also attended receptions, shows put on at the school and visited another school where we were entertained and given a warm welcome and a very good dinner cooked by students. Here the head of the District Education Board acted as our host.

Many speeches were made, in welcome and appreciation and thanks from our group, at all functions both in Monze and Livingstone! We returned to Monze on the sixth of March where we spent the last ‘real ‘ night of our stay. We were given very moving farewell ceremonies in both Hillcrest and Monze and we left for Lusaka and the journey home to Sweden determined to return to Zambia. On the way in to Lusaka we visited a shanty town where we were able to see another side of life in Zambia and make notes for one of the projects. We spent a night in Lusaka and were seen off at Lusaka airport By Ms. Mizinga. The journey was uneventful and we started work and school on Wednesday morning after arriving in Stockholm late Tuesday night.

Days in Zambia began before dawn and ended with our regular group meetings, late at night. It will take a long time to digest all we saw and felt.

Very much has changed since we visited Zambia in 2002. The government has introduced and is implementing a poverty reduction plan. The campaign against HIV/AIDS is present everywhere. This puts the emphasis on abstention first, then condom use, but has evidently begun to show results in life expectancy figures. However everyone we met told of friends and relatives they have lost recently because of disease – whether it was HIV, malaria or diabetes. The teaching profession is especially hard hit and teachers the leaders met on their visit in 2002 had died. Underlying this is poverty.

On the other hand there was evidence of progress and change. We felt an upswing in tourism. Far more people were on the streets and in the shops in Livingstone. There was a new modern dormitory for girls in Hillcrest and one planned and underway in Monze. Woman’s empowerment was being discussed wherever we talked to people. Above all – we now have two schools who are working with us in a co-operation which has given us so much already, both in the form of new knowledge, insight and friendships.

We left Zambia on March 8 th, with a feeling of optimism. There is so much strength in the people of Zambia! So much generosity and ability to meet hardship with energy and humour. We also left Zambia determined to continue our co-operation with our two ‘sister schools’ in Monze and Livingstone.

Since returning The Kungsholmen Zambia group has already taken part in a project fair held for second graders. Here we showed films from the trip and informed about the visit and how project work was carried out. On Malaria Day, the 25 th of April there will be a formal presentation of the results to the whole school. Students are now completing project reports and summaries of their work. The summaries and abstracts will be published on the Kungsholmens Gymnasium home page, as will a version of the report. Meanwhile students and the two leaders are in forming individual classes about what has been done in the project and coming with suggestions for how we can continue. Our plans are to make the organisation student based, in the form of a student group working with individual and group contacts with students in Zambia, fund raising and spreading knowledge in both countries. The project and co-operation will continue! It is too valuable as a means of developing understanding of each other, and ourselves, not to!

Farewell Speech given at Monze Boarding School by Janie Shen

Good evening everybody!

First of all I’d like to say that we are so so so happy to be back in Monze, as the bus came near the school it was like we are finally home!

That is why we’d like to thank every single one of you sitting here and also those who are not present for the warm welcome and hospitality. We’d also want to especially thank our host families for taking us in as their own children. Perhaps we also feel so at home in Africa because it is after all the roots of humanity.

Coming to Zambia has been a once in a life time and amazing experience for us and we could never have done it without you. We sincerely hope that all the conversations, debates and culture exchange has awoken different perceptions, ideas and values for the students of Hillcrest as it has for us.

Among Zambia’s many attractions, we’ve visited Victoria Falls, Zambezi River, and sat on top of a truck to visit the chief for a Tonga village. We’ve also seen all the beautiful animals at Mosi-O-Tunya National Park, well except for the elephants. And to me personally, my dream has come true by seeing the two rhinos Molly and Fwanya sleeping five meters in front of us. These experiences together with all the new friends we have made here in Zambia will become a precious memory in our hearts.

We’re living in a changing world. Coming from China myself I have seen with my own eyes how fast a country can develop and what consequences it may lead to, but let us not go into that right now.

Most people would say that Swedes and Zambians lead totally different lives. But what we have learnt most from this trip is that there are more similarities than differences between us. Our society and our culture might be different. Perhaps our weather might even be different. But as humans we stand equal, and we recognize and see the reflection of each other in our ambitions and dreams of what we want to achieve in life.

I love our nature and wildlife, and I believe most of us sitting here feel the same. I’m very proud to know that Zambia has 19 national parks. That is why I want to strengthen the fact that we need to live hand in hand with our environment and especially be aware of it and protect it when human development is taking place. As we all know the environment we live in makes us who we are, but let us not forget that we at the same are shaping the environment.

My father once told me that the only thing we possess is not money, nor material things, but it is time. Time is the only thing we all have under the same conditions, whether we are rich or poor, man or woman, white or black. Being the youth of our nations we all have the same amount of time ahead of us and the richest man will be the man who knows how to spend his time wisely.

I believe this exchange has made us understand how valuable every minute is and the fact that there is so much to do and so little time. So let us just not sit here, but let us leave this room and let us not hesitate to accomplish all those things that need to be accomplished!

Finally I also want to add that I wish time will bring us a future of even more possibilities and that hopefully one day we might all meet again.

And as we say in Tonga: Twalumba!!

Memories of Zambia – Minnen från Zambia:

“Gradually all the memories from the trip begin to blend and create more of a sense than specific memories. What first comes to mind is just the feeling of being in Zambia. I was more relaxed than in a long time. Also the late evenings when we sat outside speaking to student about everything and nothing is a feeling which will stay with me long.”

”Jag har lärt mig otroligt mycket av resan till Zambia. Både om landet, världen och mig själv. Jag lärde mig att ännu bättre acceptera och förstå människors kultur och tro, jag lärde mig mycket om hur livet i Zambia är, och jag lärde mig mycket om mig själv i och med att jag tvingades att ifrågasätta mina egna värderingar. Trots att jag lärde mig otroligt mycket så känns inte 10 dagar tillräckligt. Jag vill definitivt åka tillbaka – och lära mig mer.”  

“I still hold to that we cannot generalize Africa, and I’ve really only seen a little part of it which is Zambia. If we were to say that Zambia is Africa, then Africa is a place where some people still live as they did before, even though change is happening very fast around them. Others have adapted well to change, and is benefiting from it. Africa is a place with so much wildlife and beauty, but it seems that the development is taking the people further away from their environment. I find in the Swedes more love for their environment, than the people in Zambia. Life for somebody living in Africa is so much more difficult, with so much bigger problem than ours. Their problems are due to diseases, to poverty, to water, and other necessities of life. They live with the fact that at anytime their parents, their siblings and their friends might die. Compared to us, living in Africa is so much harder, yet you don’t hear the Africans complain. They are so strong, maybe because you need to be strong to continue living your life. My “mother” (Miss Bhalo) told me: “We’re surrounded by so much hardship, but life goes on, you don’t have time to stop and feel sorry for yourself.” This is very different from Sweden, where it seems as if we have TOO much time to stop and complain about these insignificant things.”

“Walking home to Miss Bhalo escorted by a student called Mubita. We watched the stars and had a wonderful conversation to the songs of the crickets.”

“The RHINOS!! Walking towards them and seeing them right there, living, in front of me. I’ve never seen rhinos, and the first time I see them I get to go that close… it was really overwhelming. There were so many things going on in my head then, but as I said before mostly “how can that small horn have caused the death of so many rhinos???” They were so adorable too, if it was possible I would’ve ran up and hugged them out of joy.”

”Att komma nära elever på sättet vi fick. En sådan här resa har jag aldrig gjort förut och är mycket glad att jag fick chansen. Att bo tillsammans med folk på sättet vi gjorde, på samma nivå på något sätt, var en underbar upplevelse.”

”Att sitta i den afrikanska natten, prata om känslor och upplevelser med en härlig grupp av intelligenta skolkamrater och höra Hillcrestelever sjunga i bakgrunden som smygande filmmusik. Det är ett minne från det riktiga AFRIKA. Precis som när jag satt på en pall mitt i min värdfamiljs majsodling medan min ”syster” rensade ogräs och pratade om vikten av utbildning. Eller att prata med Hillcrest eleverna om religion och meningen med livet mitt i natten, det var så lätt att komma dem nära. Men också känslan när vi var på NGO mötet, att vi faktiskt anstränger oss för att förstå saker och ting. Det kändes som hållbar turism.”

”Jag skulle vilja prata mer med killarna i Monze om hur de ser på problemet med HIV/AIDS och om de faktiskt kommer att göra något för att förhindra spridningen av viruset. Jag fick väldigt många olika intryck om deras ståndpunkt om smittspridningen. Vissa verkade verkligen ha en vilja att förhindra spridningen, medan andra var trötta på att höra om hela problemet. Jag kan förstå att många tycker att det är tjatigt att lyssna på folk som konstant berättar om epedemin men samtidigt skulle jag vilja veta mer om vad de egentligen har för grundvärderingar och hur alla AIDS kampanjer har påverkat ungdomar.”

”Victorafallen: då vi åkte iväg med några av eleverna på Hillcrest för att ta in den häftigaste naturupplevelsen i mitt liv! Att stå på flera hundra meters höjd, mittemot de kraftfulla vattenfallet, omringad av regnbågar och samtidigt bli duschad av vattnet från Zambezifloden var extraordinärt!”