A warm welcome to my frozen home
I am pleased to report that the numbness enduced by my dramatic switch of homes is starting to thaw at something like the same pace as the snow and ice are receding from the lakes and bicycle lanes of Copenhagen. Before leaving Zambia, I was flicking through one of those books of national statistics and quickly … Continue reading
Feeling comfortably numb
Folks, you will have to excuse me if I have lost some of my ability for prose this week. I have the kind of cotton wool head that can only be generated by switching from one of the world’s least developed nations to one of its most advanced in under seven days. Let me limit myself to … Continue reading
100 things I will miss about Zambia
Excuse the indulgence folks (more a reminder to myself than anything else) but here are 100 of the things that I am going to miss most about Zambia Zambians – nobody could ask for a more welcoming, courteous, friendly and warm host nation. The fabulous staff at Alliance Zambia who have hosted me throughout my … Continue reading
Eyes a little wider; Head a little wiser?
A year ago almost to this very day, I was enjoying a few farewell drinks with colleagues in London when one stopped me dead in my tracks by asking “So… what is the probability you never return to this career?” Despite all the research and planning I had put into my sabbatical, it was not … Continue reading
Zambia – Love it or leave
Suwi, one of my closest Zambian friends, has a favourite car bumper sticker which simply says “Zambia – love it or leave.” If it were possible, she would like to buy a batch lot of these stickers and use them to tape shut the mouth of any non-Zambian who looked like they were about to … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Visit Zambia!
Well dear reader, this week I have something of a confession to make. As many of you northern hemisphere residents were facing into the first weeks of cold Autumnal grey, I was swanning around in the sweltering heat, enjoying the many wondrous sights and sounds this host continent of mine has to offer, all under … Continue reading
Thoughts on Choosing a Volunteer Role II
Right, on to the second (and I promise the last for quite a while) self focussed postings… The second question I get asked is how I came to choose my volunteer role or more accurately how it came to choose me. I took my time and researched quite a lot so here are my learnings … Continue reading
Thoughts on Choosing a Volunteer Role I
I realise that it is not very clear from the blog what work I actually do down here in Zambia. That is partly intentional as I tend to come out in a rash when reading blogs that are nothing more than a tedious description of somebody’s daily life. In spite of this a few hardy … Continue reading
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