Pre-test training and hanging with Dingi's friends and family

PHOTOS FROM PRETEST TRAINING & DINNERS AT DINGI'S FRIENDS' HOMES

We held pre-test training for the urban survey two weeks ago. From Monday to Friday of that week, we worked with our Zambian partners to familiarize them with the questionnaire we are using for the urban survey and also to do a "pre-test" where we administered the survey to a number of different households and then revised it based on those experiences. It was a somewhat tedious experience at times but in the end, our survey and the data we collect will be much better because of it.

The following Sunday, I joined Dingi's mom, sister, and nephew for church. They attend the United Church of Zambia in an area of Lusaka called Woodlands. The service was really nice and the choir was excellent -- they were really feeling it and the whole church was filled with their joyful singing. They made visitors feel so welcome -- we were asked to stand and the congregants sang us a "welcome to our church" song. Then we were presented with roses. When the service was over, they had the visitors process out behind the pastor and then all the congregants shook our hands and greeted us as they left the church. It was quite an experience. After church, Dingi's family had me over to their house for a nice lunch. His nephew was adorable and we had fun playing while his mom and grandmom prepared the meal.

This past Tuesday night, Dingi's best friend and his wife had me over for dinner. They had lived in Japan for 3 years and prepared a lovely spread, complete with chopsticks, which they now use with most of their meals. They were super nice and we were having a good time but unfortunately, something I had eaten earlier in the day didn't agree with me so I had to take leave early. Hopefully we'll have the chance to get together again before I head back to the States.

Hunter, a fellow grad student, arrived on Tuesday so it's nice to have a partner in crime in the work for the survey. He's knows all the good spots in Zambia so we've checked out some nice restaurants since his arrival.

Training of the enumerators for the survey began on Thursday and will run straight through until this Thursday. It's slow going and exhausting but, again, necessary in order to ensure the success of the survey.

On Friday night, Hunter and I went over to Dingi's friend and former roommate Tom's house. Five of his other friends were also there. Tom had just taken the bar exam so it was sort of a meet Dingi's friends/celebrate Tom's success gathering. We had a tasty meal and nice time getting to know each other. Hunter and I had to be at the office at 7:15 on Saturday morning so we called it a night relatively early.

Training continues this week and we are finally done going through the survey instrument. Tomorrow, we will spend most of the day doing role-playing so that the enumerators can get even more comfortable with the questionnaire. Thursday is the final day of training and a colleague and I will also be leading a workshop on economic analysis of on-farm trials that day. Hopefully we'll be able to take a breather on Friday or Saturday before we head to the field on Sunday. The survey implementation is slated to begin on Monday, July 30. I'll be part of the team going to Kasama. This city is in Northern Province, about a 10 hour drive from Lusaka, and the area is supposed to be beautiful. Apparently, there are several waterfalls near Kasama, including Chisimba Falls, so hopefully I'll be able to check those out at some point during the 3 weeks I'm up there.

That's about it for now.

Cheers. ~nmm