Zambian Days

  Lusaka, Zambia
Sunday, May 20, 2007

Alright I'm writing the last entries out of order, but here they go...and some pics first

Olipa, with her veggetable stand, a grandmother who cares for five grandchildren after her daughter died, in Chainda compound, Lusaka:

Mae (Ms.) Banda - crocheting during a small social issue discussion group in Chainda





Some girls in Chainda, who always come hang around our meetings and wave at me, their smiling faces full of life as they wash some clothes at the compound's water source:


So as my time in Zambia has been drawing to a close, a range of emotions seems to make me nostalgic. A project I've been working on lately for microfinance is a pilot program
to select women from our health program (family caregivers of HIV+ children) to go through microfinance training and receive loans. We had to develop questionnaires, identify what characteristics we were looking for in the pilot project, interview our community care assistants (who oversee the family caregivers), and visit each of the 16 potential women. We spent a few days visiting the women, who live in different compounds close to our office in Matero. It was really interesting to see other areas of the community, some are far more impoverished, with plastic for houses (instead of brick), but others are far more developed. We selected a wide range, some who had already had businesses, others who had never worked outside the home.

There was a vast difference culturally and personally in the women we saw, as some couldn't even say if they wanted to be in the program until they discussed with their husbands, while others told their husbands to wait outside while we interviewed them and spoke freely and indepently about their plans and wishes. One woman we spoke to, her husband remained in the room during our interview and when we asked her questions like would she want a loan to continue her current business or start a new one, he would answer for her, until we asked him to let her please give responses. After we interviewed her he asked why we don't give loans to men and why we aren't consulting their husbands before asking if they would like to participate in the program. It was an interesting conversation, one, in which we had to keep our personal feelings aside as we answered in a way that would not jeopardize him allowing her to participate in the program.

When we discussed her situation later with our community care nurse and the assistants who frequently visit the home we were told the wife has said even though her husband is HIV+ he refuses to wear a condom, he physically intimidates her, and although our staff has encouraged her to seek assistance at the clinic and offered to help her leave, she does not want to. The health program officers feel all they can do is be supportive and continue to encourage her in every possible way. When I leave a home like this I often feel very hopeless, and upset, as do other staff members. We sit and discuss cases and brainstorm ways we can intervene that are going to be in fact positive. We never want to hear stories like this where we know the woman is in fact being made to put her life at risk. Although most probably at this point she may also be HIV+, which is not only sad because it's her death sentence, but when one parent is + you know it will be harder when they die for the children to be well taken care of, but when two parents are + it really is quite a dire future for the children. There are so many orphans and vulnerable children whose parents have died of AIDS, the lucky ones are taken in by grandmothers (who seem to be the big generation left here as the younger is so quickly dying) or other kind people in the neighborhood, but unfortunately there are hundreds that are not so lucky and end up on the streets, falling into gangs, drugs, prostitution, not getting an education and not getting food or medicine they need. Thus in effect a HIV+ husband, making a wife have unprotected sex is in fact giving a death sentence to his own children.

On the diametrically opposite, the next house we visited the woman had started her own school about ten years ago, initially giving classes in her living room until it grew to big and her and her husband built a school outside their home. She explained that she had been a stay at home mother, but was bored not having her own work and not contributing monetarily to the family. She spoke to her husband about wanting to work outside the home so they could have extra money to provide for the family. At first he was not keen on the idea, but after she persisted he agreed it was a good idea. Years later now, the family is doing quite well and seem to have (by our visits) a very good marriage. She seems an ideal candidate that we could pair with the first woman in an effort to provide another view at how she can live life.

The final step in the pilot project plan was creating a budget and submitting it to our US director. We were extremely excited to hear that a Zambian, living in the United States, decided to fund the trainings and the rest of the loans (which our other donors could not cover). The women will first attend social issue discussions for one month, followed by a week-long business skills training seminar. We decided to invite exemplary women from our existing groups to help us teach the training as a way to empower them, to keep the program working at a grassroots level with the local community and make it sustainable so current participants are brought to another level of the program to be role models and teachers for new members.

We have selected 10 women to participate in the pilot program, after which time we hope to find funding to expand it and allow all of our 90+ care givers the opportunity to join the microfinance program. It was extremely interesting working on this and putting together a comprehensive plan, working with the entire team in Zambia, it was a collective effort that I hope will lead to a sustainable long-term program. It's always wonderful to find new donors to support different projects we are initiating, but for the Zambian team it was even more exciting that the money will come from a Zambian. This donor also decided to fund a literacy program we put together for the women in our current program and fund the costs of opening savings accounts for those women who have now been in our program for three cycles (previously they held their savings with us and we disbursed it at the end of loan cycles).

It's really exciting to have worked on various programs throughout my time in Zambia and actually see the proposals I've worked on get funded in a way that will promote a sustainable program that encourages women to stand on their own and not be dependent on us. All of these programs continue to support women to be independent, providing the skills needed to succeed at standing on their own in all aspects of their lives.


Over the last two months I resumed doing the extensive field work I was doing before I broke my ankle. I have enjoyed being able to visit all the women (not just those closer to us) and sitting down to interview each about their life, business, etc. I have known them all and developed relationships over my time here, but sitting in someone's house and talking about their life individually is a much different level...one which I have missed since I went on crutches. I thought some people might be interested in hearing some personal stories (of course if you're not just skip this part and I won't be offended).

Rose is 44 and had always been a stay at home mom but suddenly becoming a widow three years ago forced her to learn how to be the sole breadwinner. She had not realized how much her husband took care of until she could not provide the specific type of food the children requested. The family experienced difficult times and she says she understood how serious the situation was when she could not afford to pay for the required school uniforms (even though school is actually free), so her son had to stop going to school. She knew she had to do something to help the family so she moved the children into her mother's house and rented out their own house. She also realized in order to support the family she had to start her own business.

Rose came into our program one year ago and with the training and support has been able to run a successful business selling charcoal and eggs. Since she started selling she has seen a difference in her life. She is extremely grateful for the training POL has given her, both financially and emotionally as she learned the value of herself and wanting to do things on her own. She would like to be able to stand on her own and not be dependent on loans which is why after two loan cycles, she has refused the third loan. Over the last few months she has worked very hard to save the necessary capital to run the business on her own. The microfinance team will continue to visit her and remain in close contact to track her progress. Rose is always welcome back in the program, but as we encourage and promote women to empower themselves, it's always a wonderful feeling when a woman comes to us and says she wants to do this on her own and feels she can.

Rose Nkandu


Elizabeth is 40, she is responsible for a household of five. On a recent visit to her house, I asked her to tell me a little bit about her life. She told me about her childhood, and meeting her husband and their life together. I asked how she decided to start her own business. She explained that when her husband was laid off from his job with the Zambian Government, they used the separation money to start kantembas (Nyanja for small grocery store) in front of the house. Her husband sold groceries on one side and she sold kapenta (dried fish), beans, dried goods on the other. Three years ago her husband died, and she said the family went through very difficult times. She joined our program one year ago, and told me that the training changed her business by teaching her to save money, buy quality goods, learn to keep records and make her business more effective. She told me that the loans help her and her children live everyday, eat each day, survive each day. When I hear something like this I can't express what I feel. To know that we are doing is helping even one person is an amazing feeling.

As I sit in her living room on furniture that is falling apart, I see the condition of the children's clothes, of what they are making for lunch and I know that she still doesn't have enough money, but I also see the smiles on the children's faces, I see they are healthy, I see that Elizabeth is doing it on her own, it may be hard, but she is providing for her and her children. She is not shy to tell me that eventho they have enough money for food now, they are still struggling to pay for school uniforms and books the children need in order to stay in school. Elizabeth is now selling chickens and maize, which she buys from Mumba and Chipata in the North West of Zambia, and hopes that in the next loan cycle she will be able to save even more so that all her children can stay in school.

Abbie is thirty-three, she is married and has six children. Over the years she has had many different businesses, she adopts her business based on the season and what buyers in the community demand. She has sold buns, charcoal and mealie meal (a staple grain in the Zambian culture), but for the last few years Abbie has been selling Chikanda (a ground nut based salt cake).

When Abbie received her first loan, she was experiencing difficult times. Her and her husband had recently taken in her nieces and nephews, who were orphaned after her sister died, thus there was an added pressure on the family to provide for all. Abbie credits the MTAC program for providing the necessary business skills and training to run a more effective business and help the family get back on their feet.

If you visit Abbie's home today, from where she sells Chikanda, you will notice many neighborhood children flock to her home. Abbie frequently helps out other orphans or dependents in the community and you are simply overwhelmed by the feeling at her home, it's obviously a place of refuge, and brings smiles and fun into the lives of children who face extreme poverty everyday. As I sit on Abbie's porch, the smell of ground nuts roasting over the brazen fills the air, the faces of thirty or more different children peer around the corner, a bit shy by my presence, but grow more comfortable with time, laughing, playing, and coming up to touch my arm, my hair and ask Abbie for Chikanda. These are the things I will miss from Africa, the faces, the peace, the wide-open space, which strips away all that we in the developed world so often take for granted. When you least expect it, when someone has nothing, they offer others whatever they can, they fill their home with the kindness and grace of offering whatever they can to others.

Couple other pics thought you might enjoy:

a lady roasting maize corn (common snack here) along the road in matero where I work


the tuesday vegetable market in lusaka, just a few blocks from my house one finds a beautiful sea of colors, fruits and veggies and women in bright colored chitengues selling mounds of peppers, apples, beans, onions, mangos, lettuce, etc





reviewing loan books in matero





This is from a small social issue discussion group in chainda last month -- esther my zambian counterpart is leading a discussion




mae gondwe after one of our meetings at our new office in matero -- takes care of eight grandchildren, after all of her own 4 children have died:




Ruth Phiri (I wrote about her last blog, her husband died one year ago and she has had to do everything on her own with four kids to raise, lives in the back of her in laws in a small dirt one room house. She is the epitome of how this program can actually help, taking a woman who had never worked a day in her life but due to the death of her husband had to learn to be the only breadwinner and has since become a sucessfuly -- by our standards -- business woman). This snap is her cooking lunch after I interview her, her youngest looking on:



Her other three boys being silly with me, full of smiles: