Update 5th June 2006
5.VI.2006. Back in Kitwe today before leaving tomorrow. Thought I'd post a quick blog real-time, throw in a few tidbits of news, and finish up after rambling a bit.
Solwezi Provincial Meetings went well, and then I was in Kitwe for several days at a Training of Trainers (TOT) for the upcoming PST. I'll be a PCV of the Week for week 8, co-facilitating training sessions with the Trainers. I had a chance to talk with my APCD and a few other LIFE'ers in my project, as well as meet a few PCVs from RAP and HAP (the other groups that will be making up PST this time).
In talking with my APCD, I was offered a chance to move to Luapula Province since my site is lacking... well, I'll leave it at that. Luapula would be motivated and more serious, and I'd probably be able to make a little progress. However, the decision was mine and my gut told me that I will stay where I am. The langauge would be the same, more true to what I was taught in PST than what I currently deal with. But it is a year into my service here and there are several reasons that prompted my decision. Also, I was told my site would most likely not be replaced. Okay, fine, I was going to recommend that to the higher-ups anyway. So I'm the first and the last volunteer there.
My project was in partnership with the Zambian Forestry Department (FD). However, the legislation that our program was based on (Joint Forestry Management) has been invalid since it was proposed in a Forestry Act in 1999 but never passed. The first week of May 2006 it was (at least partially) passed in a Statutory Instrument (SI). Unfortunately the majority of the FD doesn't know it passed, and the passing of the SI may mean little in the way of progress. At least now our goal is legal! With any luck, my APCD will send a copy of the SI in the mail in the coming weeks so I can at least find out which parts have been passed.
May 25th marked one year of being in Zambia, hard to believe, but when I pause to think about it, yeah it feels that long. I was in Kitwe that night with PCVs from TOT and we went out to eat (pizza and beer) and then to a club to dance (almost felt American). A minor celebration, it was good to be around friends.
Thanks to those who called while I was in Solwezi, it was good to hear your voices and have the chance to catch up with you.
I managed to bike to Solwezi with Bob, he's trying to kill me (but if you ask him he'll just spout some crap of "whatever doesn't kill you...") and I logged a new personal biking record. We set off on our dirt road and headed west at 06:00, we've never been all-the-way down the road. We thought we'd have 140, 150 at the max of kilometers to cover. Sunset, darkness fell, we were still biking. The moon wouldn't rise for hours, but finally we came to tarmack and found our PCV friend's site, 188 km and 10.5 hours later. At kilometer 141 we hit a wall, in retrospect, we were biking up a series of inclines. Biking we were making 8 km/hr and walking was 5km/hr, it was painful; however, it was also the most beautiful part of the trip. The hills came right down to the road, covered in thick forest and grass. Bob's quote: "I thought I saw hobbits and orks back there". He was serious - it was exceptionally beautiful but we were so tired that some of it was lost on us. The sun set just after that and was one of the most brilliant colored I'd ever seen. Anyway, to wrap up this saga, we made it, depsite the dark and horribly rough road.
We also biked back from Solwezi, taking the route we took last time, through Mujimanzovu. The route is 208km total, but we broke it up into two days, 142km the first day. I forgot how rough the Muji road is, (vehicles rarely pass that way) like broken up cobblestone. It was all I could do to pedal and hold on to the bars to keep from being rattled off at certain points. With luck, I won't bike that stretch again.
With the passing of the SI I'll see if anything changes in my Protected Forest, I'm doubting. Otherwise I'll try to work on whatever small projects I can and hope it helps someone. Speaking of which, Bob's fish farmer Ba Kapopwe just had his first fish harvest on June 1st. It exceeded RAP standard - the marketable weight was 28 kg from his pond, 48 kg total including fingerlings. Very cool to see, I have pictures.
So yeah, that's about it, at least for now. I'm not sure when I'll be into town next. I could try to be a bush-rat and not come in until my PCV of the Week, but that's two months, it'd be a new record for continuous time in the bush. We'll see, but I'll most likely make an impromptu run for town in about a month.
Write me!!! nathan
Solwezi Provincial Meetings went well, and then I was in Kitwe for several days at a Training of Trainers (TOT) for the upcoming PST. I'll be a PCV of the Week for week 8, co-facilitating training sessions with the Trainers. I had a chance to talk with my APCD and a few other LIFE'ers in my project, as well as meet a few PCVs from RAP and HAP (the other groups that will be making up PST this time).
In talking with my APCD, I was offered a chance to move to Luapula Province since my site is lacking... well, I'll leave it at that. Luapula would be motivated and more serious, and I'd probably be able to make a little progress. However, the decision was mine and my gut told me that I will stay where I am. The langauge would be the same, more true to what I was taught in PST than what I currently deal with. But it is a year into my service here and there are several reasons that prompted my decision. Also, I was told my site would most likely not be replaced. Okay, fine, I was going to recommend that to the higher-ups anyway. So I'm the first and the last volunteer there.
My project was in partnership with the Zambian Forestry Department (FD). However, the legislation that our program was based on (Joint Forestry Management) has been invalid since it was proposed in a Forestry Act in 1999 but never passed. The first week of May 2006 it was (at least partially) passed in a Statutory Instrument (SI). Unfortunately the majority of the FD doesn't know it passed, and the passing of the SI may mean little in the way of progress. At least now our goal is legal! With any luck, my APCD will send a copy of the SI in the mail in the coming weeks so I can at least find out which parts have been passed.
May 25th marked one year of being in Zambia, hard to believe, but when I pause to think about it, yeah it feels that long. I was in Kitwe that night with PCVs from TOT and we went out to eat (pizza and beer) and then to a club to dance (almost felt American). A minor celebration, it was good to be around friends.
Thanks to those who called while I was in Solwezi, it was good to hear your voices and have the chance to catch up with you.
I managed to bike to Solwezi with Bob, he's trying to kill me (but if you ask him he'll just spout some crap of "whatever doesn't kill you...") and I logged a new personal biking record. We set off on our dirt road and headed west at 06:00, we've never been all-the-way down the road. We thought we'd have 140, 150 at the max of kilometers to cover. Sunset, darkness fell, we were still biking. The moon wouldn't rise for hours, but finally we came to tarmack and found our PCV friend's site, 188 km and 10.5 hours later. At kilometer 141 we hit a wall, in retrospect, we were biking up a series of inclines. Biking we were making 8 km/hr and walking was 5km/hr, it was painful; however, it was also the most beautiful part of the trip. The hills came right down to the road, covered in thick forest and grass. Bob's quote: "I thought I saw hobbits and orks back there". He was serious - it was exceptionally beautiful but we were so tired that some of it was lost on us. The sun set just after that and was one of the most brilliant colored I'd ever seen. Anyway, to wrap up this saga, we made it, depsite the dark and horribly rough road.
We also biked back from Solwezi, taking the route we took last time, through Mujimanzovu. The route is 208km total, but we broke it up into two days, 142km the first day. I forgot how rough the Muji road is, (vehicles rarely pass that way) like broken up cobblestone. It was all I could do to pedal and hold on to the bars to keep from being rattled off at certain points. With luck, I won't bike that stretch again.
With the passing of the SI I'll see if anything changes in my Protected Forest, I'm doubting. Otherwise I'll try to work on whatever small projects I can and hope it helps someone. Speaking of which, Bob's fish farmer Ba Kapopwe just had his first fish harvest on June 1st. It exceeded RAP standard - the marketable weight was 28 kg from his pond, 48 kg total including fingerlings. Very cool to see, I have pictures.
So yeah, that's about it, at least for now. I'm not sure when I'll be into town next. I could try to be a bush-rat and not come in until my PCV of the Week, but that's two months, it'd be a new record for continuous time in the bush. We'll see, but I'll most likely make an impromptu run for town in about a month.
Write me!!! nathan
posted by nathan at 09:03
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