A Glimpse into Life in Rural Zambia

I went on a 6-day child sponsor (CS) trip with World Vision to Zambia during the middle of this year. World Vision is a Christian relief organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach the children’s full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. These CS trips allow donors to visit their field work and for sponsors to meet their sponsored children. Thanks to this trip, I had a rare chance to have a glimpse into life in rural Zambia.

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 About Zambia

 Zambia is a land-locked country in Southern Africa and a British protectorate from 1889 to 1964. Zambia shares border with 8 countries, namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
(P.S. Read about my day trip to Botswana for a Safari Experience at Chobe National Park and visit to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.)

Image credit: Alvaro1984 18

The population comprises approximately 73 ethnic groups, with almost 90% of Zambians belonging to nine main ethno-linguistic groups. Though with the diverse ethnicity, Zambia is officially a Christian nation with 97% of the population with Christians beliefs. Here is one of the churches I saw in the countryside.

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The Trip

 We flew into Lukasa International Airport in the capital city and took a car ride to Kabwe. I thoroughly enjoy the 2-hour long car ride as we sneaked a glimpse into the locals’ life. Along the way, we saw vendors lined the streets with their wares. And interestingly, as we were told, these are not kept even as the ‘shops’ close for the night.

Zambia is divided into ten provinces. We were based in Kabwe during this visit. Kabwe is the capital of Zambia’s Central Province. Founded in 1902 when zinc and lead deposits were discovered, Kabwe is also known as the ‘birthplace of independence’ in Zambia. It is, however, not usually in the radar of tourists or travellers. In fact, it has the unfortunate circumstance of being the most toxic town in the world. From Kabwe, we travel to neighbouring Kapiri Mposhi District during the day to visit WV’s Area Development Program zone of Musosolokwe.

For 6 nights, we stayed in Neem Park Courtyard Lodge in Kabwe. With our day-time schedule packed throughout our time in Kabwe, I did not have a chance to walk along shops such as these that lined the main streets. I only had a chance one evening to shop at Shoprite supermarket, which is a branch of Africa’s largest food retailer from South Africa.

The natural beauty of the countryside was theraputic. Long stretch of red mud road set against clear blue sky, yet the climate was mild with temperature in the low to mid twenty degree Celsius.

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Food

 The Zambian economy is dependent on copper mining and agriculture. One of the main crops they grow is maize, which is made into nshima, the Zambian staple food. Their maize fields can stretch far and wide like this one.

We were served nshima for our meals too. Nshima is cooked with white maize flour and water. The maize flour is first boiled with water into a porridge. Next, more flour is added to create a thick paste and stir until it gets medium hard and smooth. It is then scooped and served. Traditionally, nshima is eaten with hands. Break a small piece of nshima with your fingers, roll them slightly and eat with accompanying relishes.

One of the challenges facing some of these rural farms is irrigation; how to get clean water to the crops. Besides maize, some of the crops grown in the villages we visited included Chinese cabbage, rape, pumpkin and tomatoes.

We had a chance to sample some baby and children food that WV is trying to work with local authorities to introduce to the villagers. Local produce such as pumpkin, pumpkin leaves, peanuts, potatoes and ladies’ fingers were used to whip up nutritional meals for the young ones. They may not look pretty but tasted surprisingly yummy. I don’t mind having these for my meals definitely.

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Education

 During the trip, we were touched by the warmth and hospitality of the locals.

Here’s a hauntingly beautiful song sung by students in one of the schools we visited to welcome us. (Note: This is a big file and best viewed via wifi)

The lack of proper educational facilities was sadly very glaring in some villages. Children have to learn in makeshift classrooms under trees or sheds without proper tables and chairs, such as this one. To state the obvious, there was no public transport. Children often have to walk long distances to get to school. Admirably, these children has shown tenacity in working hard in hope of a better future. A portion of students carried badly torn bags, plastic bags or even woven sacks to hold their books but this never stop them from attending class.

We also visited some more established schools, which had better funding. Such schools have better facilities enabling their students to have more structured learning.

The official language of Zambia is English, which is used to conduct official business and is the medium of instruction in schools. Local languages are also taught. In one of the school we visited, the teachers made their own ‘story books’ due to lack of teaching material.

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Village Households

 We had the opportunity to visit a few local village homes, which usually stretches over a small compound. One of the brick houses is usually the ‘main house’, with a small straw-covered bathroom a distance away.

Cooking is often done out in the open with utensils kept above-ground for hygiene purposes.

For households which enjoy better income, their homes are equipped with solar panels. They may even own radios and television sets, which connect them with the outside world.

In poorer households though, the lack of creature comfort and over-crowding in the homes can be depressing. Most households do not have water source nearby. The villagers often have to walk around 400-500 metres to get to a water point to fetch clean water.

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Village Amenities and Facilities

 A local health maternity and ward in Chapusha village funded by the CS program. Pregnant mums-to-be have to walk long distances (in the range of kilometres) to get here. I take my hats off these tough women who in the early stages of labour can still walk the distance to get to the facility.

Whilst out in the countryside, we often had to answer the call of nature in restrooms such as this one. These ‘restrooms’ were the better facilities available, yet nothing more than a hole in the ground. Besides having no water or paper, which we have taken for granted, the toilets were often pitch dark once the door was closed. Having to use such lavatories for days on end was itself an experience!

Wonder how it is like to do some shopping in rural Zambia? This nondescript provision shop is the fruit of labour of a husband and wife team, who shared they loaned funds from a savings club to build it up.

Limited range of necessities such as soap and match-sticks neatly arranged on the shelf with prices labelled. The only fresh produce on sale that day were piles of tomatoes.

Spotted this interesting ’boutique’ along our journey but unfortunately did not have the chance to explore.

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I came away from the trip with a better understanding of the locals’ life and an appreciation of our own.

For myself, it is a transformative experience. It is one thing to see such poverty on the media but seeing it with my own eyes, it impressed me how fortunate we are.

Special thanks to my family who have been supportive of this trip. DL and CL even packed their books and stationery for the less fortunate children. In a way, this trip has also benefited them. Through listening to my tales of the trip, they got to know about life in poverty. Something they had been clueless about previously.