Reflections on the highs and lows

I can’t believe I’m now in the last few months of my placement! Time has definitely flown. If I reflect on my time here, I would sum it up by reiterating what a fellow VSO colleague said at a recent leaving party in southern province, ‘you expect the lows to be low, but you never expect the highs to be so high’ and its true.

After a month battling with Zambia’s National Electricity Provider, who quoted my organisation 45.9 million Kwacha (a lot of money, even in Zambia) to connect the new grinding mill to the national grid, my colleagues decided to fight the Power Company all the way to the top and challenge the exorbitant fees that middle management had decided to inflict on them.

Using the argument that CDNG is a community based organisation whose purpose of setting up a grinding mill is to benefit the community and to not gain any profit, my colleagues managed to fight the unjust system and finally get a fare quote.

It was a wobbly few weeks of meetings, which resulted in the Power company failing to offer no explanation as to why the fees had increased by more than 500%... Eventually it took the chairperson of my organisation to have a meeting with the Managing Director of the power company to challenge the fees. The battle was concluded in our favour with the revised quote being reduced by more than half of the ridiculous sum, namely 5 million Kwacha, which is a fraction just above the original quote produced last year.

I’m just so glad that my colleagues felt empowered enough to seek support from the top and challenge the notorious power company, which seems hell bent on screwing its customers for every Ngwee (Zambian penny) they are worth.

It’s a true example of the injustice that many ordinary hard-working Zambians face when dealing with people in authority. I now wonder if there’s a strong case for increased competition within the sector as this would prevent national companies from having such a strong hold on the population at large.

With Zambia currently ranked 150 out of 169 poorest countries in the world (according to the UN Human Development Index), I really wonder what type of company thinks that 45.9 million Kwacha (aprox $10,000) is a decent sum to charge a small community nutrition organisation on connecting its small mill to the power switch?

At least the story of my organisation’s attempt at setting up its grinding mill business ended on a high. I just hope that the next few months will see it prosper...