The Sheer Majesty of it All
There are many ways for me to count my blessings for this year in Africa but surely one of the most obvious is in the wondrous nature I have on my doorstep. Almost every weekend (if I can muster the faith in my Lada to make another road trip) I can immerse myself in stunning … Read more
In Praise of Shopping
‘Tis the season that I would normally begin cursing our crass consumerist culture as the months of TV commercials featuring the fat bearded one build to their carol-filled crescendo. Mercifully, gift giving and the commercial side of Christmas has yet to catch on here in Zambia so it looks like I will get a bit … Read more
The Perils of the Permanent Campaign
I’ve been watching a whole lot of West Wing on DVD during my time here so you will have to excuse me as I start this week’s post with a little bit of American political history… In 1962, a young pollster named Patrick Caddell outlined a new political strategy for then President Jimmy Carter. In … Read more
Kicking Around Uncle Bob’s Backyard
Last weekend, I took a spin down to Harare with a couple of housemates. Contrary to all the media hype we found the city to be peaceful, the people to be friendly and the streets to be grandly sweeping (albeit now slowly crumbling) in a way sadly Lusaka could only dream of. Actually, they would … Read more
The Prevention Convention
This week will go down as one of the highlights of my time in Zambia, in fact it will probably remain a highlight of my entire professional career. For the last 4 months I have been part of a small team working day and night to deliver a large scale conference on HIV prevention – … Read more
