Zambia

I went to Zambia for about a month after about 6 years.

The great things

• It was during rain season and therefore all the food I really missed was there and ripe for the eating
• I ate so many mangoes I got sick, and then I ate a few more, and then I made mango jam.
• I ate so many amasuko my mouth became tingly and numb and then I ate a few more.
• I ate so many mushrooms… well they don't make you sick, so I just ate even more.
• Interestingly, mushrooms like Tente literally just slide down the throat and you can just continue eating and not even feel like you are putting in eating effort, it's amazing
• I was a mere few weeks late for ifisongole, but this will be remedied soon, for the seasons come and go and then COME BACK AGAIN!
• I blended in the crowds, I was nothing remarkable, which is an amazing feeling of being home.
• I saw enough family to make my head explode, this was both good and bad.
• But it was amazing to reconnect, and the really great thing that I forget is I have an extremely large family and there are people in there that I love and hate. So even when I am around some I don't like, somone else comes along that I really like and it's all right, cause that's how family is. I really enjoyed this, being surrounded by family in such a basic way, it's not that they are helping me do anything in particular, they are just existing
• Ultimately just being surrounded by so many people was amazing
• Travel
• Went all the way from Nakonde to Mazabuka and saw plenty of people along the way
• Basically I love Zambia, I love being there, and I am excited about the next time already. Definitely never gonna wait that long again. 
• Six years was way too long between visits.

The not so great things

• Although I absolutely loved being in Zambia there were a couple of things I noticed, now these things were possibly always like this and I was just never looking or possibly they do represent changes in society.
• Hair
• I feel like there were a lot of weaves in Zambia and they were looking exceptionally fake. I feel like when I was young people had fake hair and wanted to make it look real, but now the fakeness is just so obvious, weaves that are practically standing on end. I'm unsure what this means, but I noticed it.
• I found myself in a giant shopping centre in Lusaka on the weekend in the evening.
• And all I saw was a culture that I'm not quite sure how to describe but it made me a bit sad, luckily urban Zambia is a very small proportion of Zambia as a whole.
• And this might just be a 'young people' thing, and all it means is that I am aging.
• But it was just so superficial and so pretentious, and so materialist. It was just name brand seeking young people.
• And obviously now that I think about it, it might be an age thing.
• But then I wonder what this generation will look like when they grow up. Will they grow out of the materialism, or is that what the future of Zambia will look like….

Rural placement in the 'west'

Yes the 'west' has rural areas.
Giant rural areas, filled with poor people who cannot access healthcare or education.
Yeah it exists.
While I am in this country I plan to spend a lot of time studying and working in rural areas because I understand that any area has problems that they seek to find solutions to. And my goal is to learn some of their solutions from being just so physically distanced from the 'west' from the resources and healthcare in their cities.

Anyway, interesting thing about where I went, they don't want me to talking about it, they feel there is the potential that I will insult them online, so they have rules about what I can say online.
This is the first thing I learned from them. I really liked that they control the information out there about them. I wish we did that.
Something I plan to invest in in the future, is taking country of our image online, being the ones who fill in the Wikipedia pages about us (for instance).

In respect of there requests I will only list extremely general lessons I learn, I don't wish to make enemies with people I respect so highly.
Suffice it to say, I am in a 'developed' country with a life expectancy of over 70, and every one has lots of money and in class they tell us about diseases that are never seen in this country anymore except in 'third world' countries, but..
-Here you will find 'third world' conditions, and mentality, the idea that there is little hope and little to expect from the future.
- Annoying you also hear a conversation that goes, 'In a country like this one, it is embarrassing to find third world conditions'
Which basically suggest we should be ashamed of our diseases, generally the idea of 'third world conditions' is directly linked to things associated either with fecal-oral transfer, or dirty water, parasites, there is this association with dirt (sorry side tracked, but seriously there is this idea that we are dirty, so we get dirty diseases!! UGHHH, has anyone noticed this, it can't just be me)
These are not 'third world conditions' we didn't bring them here, they were here of their own accord, and therefore these are first world disease aren't they?!?
It's really interesting to hear the dialogue in this country that defines itself in a particular way and then adds on this little appendix.
'We are first world, except for that corner of there"
We have no TB, AIDS, or -insert 'third world disease here- except in refugees and that corner over there'

This is frustrating. But being frustrated and insulted doesn't mean I am not paying attention and seeking to learn. I am learning very interesting things about point of care testing, about getting specialist care access to people far away from specialists but in areas that are sparsely populated so that you can't pay a specialist full time to be there.
Emergency care is also something that's very complicated when you are located far away from a tertiary care centre.
It's all extremely interesting and I am taking notes, taking pictures and taking brochures for when I will work to implement similar (but obviously different) practices in rural Zambia.

Reading 1st Samuel

Something really interesting occurred to me as I was reading 1st Samuel
1 Sam 3: 7 says that 'Samuel did not yet KNOW the Lord: the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him'
BUT
BEFORE THAT
in 1 Sam 3:1 it says that 'the boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli'
and we know that his mother brought him to the temple as soon as he was weaned, and therefore even though Samuel grew up in the church, and ministered and helped the priest he still did not KNOW the Lord!!
IT was just a amazing reminder that when you hear people talk about growing up in the church or EVEN helping and ministering in the church it means nothing as proof of their faith.
One can do all of those things and still not KNOW God.

UPDATE: Labia minora elongation

I argued that although there may not be any physical benefits to the process, there are cultural and personal benefits to a girl being in such an environment. Where older girls are sharing and demonstrating things.
I argued that this is something absent from western culture.
Check this out.
Turns out sometimes I'm not making stuff up!
Someone tried to publish pictures of female genitals and there is some politics around the legality of it all and the fact that it was censored. BUT the interesting thing is the comments, and the fact that invariabliy there are people talking about never having seen another womans genitals and comparing to themselves, and realising the wide range of 'normal.'
told ya so!

Correlation between the Biblical Israelites and Africans?

I was reading Genesis and Joseph was sold to an Egyptian, he ends up second to Pharoah in charge of all the resources in the land.
His brothers come to buy some food only to discover their brother is alive.
In this happy time, Joseph relocates his entire family to Egypt and away from the land that God promised Abraham and his decendants.
I noticed the fact that the Israelites moved to Egypt willingly, they abandoned their promised land willingly because Egypt was better. There was grain in Egypt and at the time the pharaoh loved Joseph and extended that love to his family.
Additionally I noticed that while they were in Egypt the Canaanites grew, people took that land, the promised land didn't sit empty waiting for them but others took it, and did with it what they thought was best.
And finally when Egypt was no longer hospitable they found their long way back (the long hard way back)


And that just made me think about the fact that Africans in the last few generations left Africa willing. Left their rich land for the 'west' because they were convinced that their children can only be educated in these other countries, that there was no hope of making a living in Africa, and that they would die early living in Africa. And I am wondering where we are in our story.
I would like to believe that we are looking back at our promised land and realising how pretty darn awesome it is and hopefully choosing to go back before it gets too inhospitable here and before the charities, NGOs and foreign investors take over and we no longer have a place to go back to

I hate the Royal Baby

I love babies and I have nothing personally against that little thing, but I hate the role it has taken on my T.V.

1. IT IS NOT NEWS
- The birth of a baby,  a normal birth, after a normal pregnancy, in normal circumstances, to parents that got married, decided to get pregnant, and have enough money to provide for that child. IS NOT NEWS. Amazing baby stories include babies born after natural disasters, in unexpected circumstances that serve as a symbol of hope, so something like that.

2. I have a real and true hatred of the English Monarchy and EVERYTHING THEY REPRESENT
I have no good feelings about the queen, or anything she represents. The English monarchy decided it knew what's best for the world and in fact decided that everything the world had was best utilized for their own growth and took steps to take of the entire world and 'share' their values and their ideals with the world, while communicating that those 'others' the natives, were not good enough to reach the standards of English civilization. I hate that English breakfast tea GROWN IN INDIA is called ENGLISH BREAKFAST, I hate the idea of commonwealth countries, I hate the idea of an English breakfast itself. I HATE THEM, so much because their concepts of what is right and how life should be has damaged so many cultures world wide. So many cultures were destroyed and are still struggling to rebuild their sense of self-worth as separate from and just as valuable as the English.
I hate them, and if I could travel back in time I would blow up that dweeby little island, because for all their obnoxious posturing, THEY ARE A TINY ISLAND!!!!!!!!!!
And the reason I hate the royal baby is he has taken over my T.V. and I am constantly reminded of my hatred for him, his family and everything they represent.
I am surprised that more of them have not been shot down, I kind of wish someone would make an attempt on their lives, not so they die, but in hopes that then they would go into hiding, and we don't have to constantly have their ill-gotten wealth rubbed in our faces. Yes their wealth is built upon the backs of their colonies...remember those places that belonged to other people and were worked by the enslaved locals.
Yeah, those places.
I hate them, and I wish they would get off my T.V.

Here is someone else who agrees with me. For different reasons, but I feel that the scourge of the English Monarchy has been so far reaching there should be more of this conversation, and a whole lot less of this Royal baby fever. It makes no sense, that all of a sudden everyone loves the baby, and loves that this baby no matter how bratty, obnoxious, stupid, or ill-equipped they may be for the job they may be King of England one day. I thought we were a culture that valued merit and giving people things they had worked for and deserve. Ignoring the history of the English Monarchy I don't understand why it continues to exist in the present. I don't understand why we give them that authority and that role, I just can not fathom why they are on my T.V on every channel, it suggests everyone who is deciding what to put on T.V. things everyone cares. And I cannot fathom WHY people care.

This has been a therapeutic process (please understand that I am an angry but non-violent person), I will now watch DVDs for at least the next week, for I might be driven to murder if I see another commercial showing me their life story and the possible future that awaits the heir to the throne.

Manufacturing

Just a side note if you were considering a career for yourself.
Please go into manufacturing.
I have decided with all I plan to do I will do my utmost best to purchase things produced as close to Zambia as possible.
So I strongly encourage manufacturing in Zambia.
But then I zoom out and realise that the country is rather small and cannot manufacture everything, and so I must encourage those in surrounding countries to consider manufacturing as well.
I imagine (I imagine a lot you would have realised by now) building a hospital and supplying the entire hospital by regional manufacturers, all within Africa, and in this way we build each other.
An economical and practical manifestation of the African Union.
I imagine we don't really need foreign (as in overseas) investment if we are willing to invest in each other.
I believe Africa is so wealthy and if we focus in, on our own raw materials and we choose to do something with them we can provide for our own needs (EVEN WANTS). 
I feel like I've probably already mentioned this, but I cannot for the life of me justify why we get so much stuff from overseas considering the amount of raw materials and human capital we have. I get so excited and ever so slightly agitated at imagining what Africa will be like in 20 years.
I promise you it will be different and I have the privilege of being a part of this new generation. The conversation in young Africans is so different and I think a new era is arising.
It's exciting!
So I encourage others to think big so that you may be a part of this new Africa as well.
Dare to imagine a better Africa lead by better Africans (better only because we finally realise our true potential, we have always been amazing and capable of so much more but we never seemed to know it).