A RESTFUL EASTER WEEKEND

It's Tuesday, April 26, the day after a long, four-day Easter holiday. I started the weekend at the office, completing the first draft of the comprehensive plan for the squatter residential area just on the edge of the center of Chipata. There are several parts to it, ideas generated after starting the rough mapping of the area, field observing infrastructural amenities and constraints, and generally talking very casually with some of the residents. After weeks of returning to the squatter community, its strengths began coming to the surface, and I began to see the community as a very mobile, vey entrepreneurially active one. The maize - what looked at first like accidental growth in little open spaces around the community was in fact urban agriculture plots intended to either feed or get the grower some income.

The objective, if my proposals are approved by the Commissioner of Lands and the Town Clerk, is to improve the physical conditions of the area and get another water kiosk in the section where according to some of the residents it is needed.

So, on this Easter holiday, I worked. Later in the afternoon, I was invited to my colleague's, Namakau, house. She works as a socio-economic planner and visits me at the office every once in a while, and I her in her squatting staunch in the deed office. We ate and watched a Nigerian movie called Blood Sisters. I'm beginning to understand the dominant themes in some of the Nigerian movies the more I watch them. They contain what I have come to interpret as folklore and in the right context the drama is very interesting to watch. The only problem with the movies is the sound; it echoes and the dialogue is at times difficult to understand.

It was a really nice lunch. I got a chance to taste other traditional Zambian foods apart from the usual fare of sauteed rape and cabbage. Namakau's cousin, Martha, the main cook for the afternoon, explained the preparation of her dishes: chiwawa and kalembula. The ingredients are pretty standard, salt, tomatoes, and onions, but the savory taste I've concluded is in the unique preparation of them. Chiwawa is first boiled, sliced into strips, and then dried for three days under the scorching sun. The kalembula is boiled, but is in addition spiced with ground nut powder. Martha also added another dish of liver stew, which had a broth that had a hint of red wine and complemented the nshima quite nicely. The entire meal was tasty and very enjoyable to eat!

I have to say that many of the foods here contain ingredients that can really only be found in the Zambian villages, but for those of you reading my blogs, if you are growing sweet potatoe or squash or pumpkin this summer to fall, you can gather the leaves of these crops yourselves, as they are the main ingredients in the dishes I ate. Clearly I love to eat, especially the healthy foods I have been able to sample here in Chipata.

I also got to see Katuta Lodge this Easter weekend with someone I befriended at the local stationery store. Tea, coke, and dinner. The garden is something to see; not really the kind of landscaping comonly found in Chipata. The green, green grass was a treat after months of seeing dusty, red clay roads.Very peaceful, but also unfortunately replete with mosquitos.

This month, I started saving up for a digital camera. I've decided that I wanted to give readers a visual idea of my life in Chipata and also offer faces of people I've met here so far. The Chewa (matriarchal) Festival is coming to Katete in August and I definitely want to take pictures of the festival participants in their traditional dresses dancing ritual dances.

I have only been living in Zambia for two months, but I am truly considering extending for another year next February. I would love to see these urban planning projects of which I have been a part completed.

WHAT'S ON TODAY?

Today is the second day of the Chipata District Leadership Training workshop. My co-worker asked me to attend. The training is part of an European Union funded initiative to support the decentralization process in Zambia as well as to facilitate the enforcement of good governance through raising public awareness and improving government practices. The topics covered (i.e. character, leadership quality, use of power and authority) are the normal topics covered in leadership trainings., but it was interesting to see the way Zambia begin an official meeting. There is the announcement of the agenda and introductions, as elsewhere, and the official declaration of the meeting. The language medium is a combination of English and Nyanja, the official language of Chipata District and the Eastern Province, as it is most widely spoken here. And then, the morning prayer. Somewhere towards the end, the participants chant of encouragement, perhaps, or to promote wisdom. I forgot to ask the reason for it.

I have been eager to talk a little bit about my work here. There is a lot of planning to do in Chipata District, but very little money. The red tape of any government system is also present here, which makes project mobility a little difficult to expedite. I am doing some self-improvement work in this department, as patience is a virtue, and am letting time run its course. More often than not, I fail. I grumble to myself when my to tasks are delayed because of government red tape.

Overall, the objective of my placement is to support decentralization and the implementation of the integrated development plan, a revised version of the former land use guide that has driven planning throughout Zambia. The land use guide notes are really outdated, dating back to the 1970s, and does not reflect the complexity of urban spaces. As a planning guide, moreover, the guide notes focus too strongly on building codes and land parceling, rather than treating these elements of planning as part of a broader system associated with the planning of towns, cities, and regions. As such, the guide notes miss the interconnections of physical planning to other elements that influence the conditions of space, such as the environment, transportation, internet connection, economic development, and place values, concepts that are generally included when analyzing urban places.

One month later. I have proposed revising the guide notes and have also started tackling one of the more pressing problems in Chipata District, which is squatter communities. There are two large ones in Chipata township, Kapata and Magazine. Magazine has not been mapped, yet, and is a project I am trying to accomplish. It has been almost three weeks, now, and I have not finished the rough sketch of the Compound. It is bigger than I imagined and we at the Council are short-staffed. Fortunately, the federal government has designated it as a housing upgrade project, but I am trying to convince local government to approach upgrading more comprehensively. The Compound has a market, which is a good target for re-designing. Needless to say, with funding constraints, grants have to be written. I hope to get funds from different aid sources that have different development targets. I plan to complete pieces of the upgrade project in the year that I am here.

I look forward to providing more details about the other projects in another blog. I hope that this bit of information gives you a better idea of the value of volunteering to the development of Zambia. Remember that I am still fundraising for this placement. I only need to raise about USD$1600 to meet my minimum fundraising goal of USD$2000. You can contribute on line. Just click on the link, “My Fundraising Page” to the left of today's blog. A million thanks in advance to those inspired to sponsor my placement.

MORE ABOUT CHIPATA DISTRICT, EASTERN PROVINCE

I should say something about Chipata, my home base for the next year. I should also let you all know, who are interested in knowing how long my placement is for, that I will be here for at least one year.

Chipata township is located in the eastern province of Zambia, about 20 kilometers from the Malawi border. Every now and then, I will see a representative from Malawi selling Malawi kwacha. They might be scalpers selling counterfeit, I don't know, but the money is really pretty.

I would have to say that one of the best things about this town, aside from the friendly people, is the mountain air. It rains intermittently and on some days like clock work around 14:00 or 15:00 hours in the early afternoon and continues for about 30 minutes to sometimes an hour, stopping briefly before resuming.

The hill on which the center of the city sits is encased by mountains. So, regardless of which direction you go from the center of town, you see mountains around you. The pace and congestion of the center is about the same as that of Amherst, Massachusetts.

Chipata is the fastest growing town and recently received approval from the federal government to achieve city status. The high density of large and small businesses and federal agencies has contributed to its growth. These institutions are also inviting many people from around the country to apply for jobs up here. The banking industry is one of the larger sectors, with the big ones like Barcalys, Stanbic, and ZANACO banks, represented here.

City growth, however, has also resulted in a need to upgrade the land use guide to reflect the anticipated growth of Chipata town and tailoring the guide to the context of Chipata township. The upgrading of the land use guide and the creation of a guide specifically for the town still needs to be approved by the Council. The high density of large and small businesses and federal agencies has contributed to its growing congestion.

Bicycles are the dominant mode of transportation here, that and cars. The public transportation system leaves much to be desired. For now, extending and increasing the number of city bus services is not something the Council can afford. So, many people either drive or hire a bike cabbie. Taxis, in addition, are commonly used for transportation around the city and the surrounding areas.

Chipata, surprisingly, attracts a lot of businesses and industries. One of its main attractions, I think, is that its fairly livable and is located in the mountains. The climate is not so hot, unlike other parts of Zambia, like the copperbelt, the southern province, and Lusaka. Lusaka has some dry heat. Thus, many people come here to establish businesses. Bicycle cabbies constitute one of the cottage industries in the town. Others are small-scale produce sellers, who sit on the side of Umodzi Highway. SPAR, which I think is a South African supermarket, just opened its doors. The owner of the store put up a small cafe in the supermarket, an added, pleasant touch for me, the quintessential cafe rat.

The Council is abuzz today with people around town waiting in line for interviews to be approved for their lands. I overheard a few people complaining about how long they have waited, telling me Zambians are not so different from Americans when it comes to expecting efficiency and expediency from their local government.

Unfortunately, no photos as of yet. I am looking for a really cheap digital camera.