Hello and Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm currently working as a Fundraising Advisor in Chipata for a small community-based organisation called Chipata Dzithandizeni Nutrition Group, based in the Eastern Province of Zambia.

It's a role I gained through Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and I'm hoping to share my experiences of Zambian culture with you through this site.

I'm lucky to be working with some amazing colleagues and the community, sharing skills in order to generate income and resources to support the work of the the Nutrition Group. The Group is situated in Kapata township right in the heart of Chipata and its focus is to provide nutritional support to vulnerable children and adults in the urban and rural areas of Chipata.

Before this, I had never been to Zambia, slept under a mosquito net or even accepted a job without meeting any of my colleagues first, so as you can imagine it was a bit of a risk! I'm grateful to VSO for all their support in preparing me for all the challenges! I'm hoping that with some fun and hard work along the way, I'll look back and think that every minute was worth it.

If you like, you can see where Chipata is by clicking on the map on the right. Also feel free to click on the Zambia Country profile to learn more about this stunning country. Take a browse through my blog and feel free to post me any messages along the way!

Please remember that all the views within this blog do not represent the views of VSO or Chipata Nutrition Group.

Thanks,
Sarah

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Tuesday 27/10/09 - Mangoes, A sleeping guard and other things

Our gardener Moses climbed a tree in the garden and pulled down some pawpaw, which we made into a fruit salad for tea. I’m still in awe of the fruit growing around me. mangoes, lemons, papaya. It still strange living in a country with so much, but yet so little. Anyway, we spent the rest of the evening chatting with Marvin our night security guard who is still in the habit of falling asleep on the job. I’m not sure how I’m going to handle this one. He has to go really but he’s very poor and has been out of a job for 6 years after losing his job as a policeman. There’s no employment in Zambia, so it’s not like he can walk into a job. We’re giving him a trial run, so perhaps we can extend it for a few days. We'll see how he gets on.
Work was good today. I shared some photos from home and also some information about developing donor relationships. I also finally feel like I’m developing a good relationship with my manager Mr Zulu. Unfortunately he’s wife died a couple of weeks ago of malaria. He has one daughter who is 4 years old and he’s off tomorrow to Lusaka to sort out some family things. Very sad.

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