My last 3 weeks in Zambia

Photos from Kasama and my last day in Lusaka

I spent the last 3 weeks of my summer in Zambia in the town of Kasama in Northern Province, about 850 km from Lusaka. I helped supervise the survey data collection there. I headed to Kasama on Sunday, July 30, and the drive from Lusaka in the project Land Cruiser took about 9 and a half hours. Outside of the cities, Zambia is sparsely populated so at times we traveled over 200 km without coming to a town. Thankfully the vehicle had a sub-tank for fuel and the driver was also a skilled mechanic -- the middle of no where in the Zambian bush is not the kind of place you want to run out of gas or have car trouble!

While in Kasama, I stayed at Chinchi's Nest Guest House, about 3 km from the city center. The place was clean and rooms large, although the running water was a bit unreliable at times. The manager and workers were extremely accommodating and helpful. Otherwise, the food was ok (though the menu was small) and the internet connection was painfully slow. If you ever find yourself in Kasama, Chinchi's is a decent place to stay but Thorn Tree Guest House, a lodge on the other side of town owned by a couple from the UK that has been in Zambia since the late 1960's, is probably a better value.

The data collection went pretty well after we worked out the kinks in the first few days and the enumerators became more familiar with the survey instrument. We worked in 20 different neighborhoods (one neighborhood a day for 3 weeks) and interviewed 18 households in each neighborhood. Along with the data collected from the other cities where the survey was being done, that will give us info from 1,800 households. The enumerators and their supervisor were a great, friendly, good-natured, hard-working group and I really enjoyed working with them. My days basically consisted of trying to work on my thesis until about 10 AM, then meeting up in the field with the enumerators (usually by that time they had each completed 1 or 2 of their 4 interview quota for the day) to go over the interviews they had done the previous day and discuss any questions I had about the data collected. Then they would head out to do more interviews and I would check over the survey instruments from the interviews they had just completed. I probably reviewed about 140 of the surveys during my time there so knew the questionnaire inside out by the time things were all said and done. It never got old though, really, because each questionnaire told an interesting story about the household in question -- e.g., what they had consumed in the last 30 days, where they did most of their food shopping, their main sources of livelihood, their family structure, assets, and home, food security status, etc. The range of household wealth levels was quite wide, going from households that had only a charcoal burner for cooking and no assets or livestock to speak of beyond that, to households with refrigerators, motorcycles or cars, cellphones, TVs, etc.

In addition to the household consumption data that was collected as part of the main survey, in the 3rd week of data collection we also worked on collecting price information from various retail outlets around the city. This was a great chance to spend lots of time in the different public markets and shops, and talk with traders. One of the most fascinating phenomena we encountered during the price collection at Shoprite, the South African supermarket chain that has one store in Kasama and many others throughout Zambia. Shoprite has a bakery and sells loaves of bread for 1890 Zambian Kwacha (about $0.50). There were 3 independent bakeries in Kasama, but the locals seemed to like the Shoprite bread the best, saying it was more dense and had better flavor. The queues, or more accurately, mobs, at the Shoprite bakery as bread was coming out of the oven were unbelievable -- most people that were buying bread weren't buying just a loaf or two for household consumption but were there with empty shopping carts, intending to buy as many loaves as they could to resell in the neighborhoods or .... right outside the Shoprite gates! So, if you were patient enough the brave the mobs inside or lucky enough to time your Shoprite visit such that the bread wasn't totally sold out (this happened many times a day), you could get a loaf inside the store for 1890 Kwacha plus tax. Otherwise, at pretty much any time of day, you could pay 3000 Kwacha (!) and buy the same bread from a trader on the street right outside Shoprite!

Other highlights of my time in Kasama: (1) eating roasted, sauteed caterpillars, which must be an acquired taste because I wasn't too thrilled about them but many Zambians absolutely love them; (2) visiting Chishimba Falls, about 45 km from central Kasama; (3) learning a bit of Bemba, the most common local language in Kasama; (4) getting to drive the Land Cruiser around town and in the various villages on the outskirts of town, although the bumpy/rough roads got a bit old by the end of my time there.

By the time 3 weeks in Kasama had elapsed, I was pretty worn out and ready to go home. Being involved with the survey was a lot of fun and a great learning experience, but EXHAUSTING! I didn't have a single day off during my last 6 weeks in Zambia!

A driver and I traveled back to Lusaka on Sunday, August 19. The sub fuel tank was a life-saver because there was no fuel in the town of Serenje, where we were hoping to refuel. Fortunately, we were able to made it to Kapiri Mposhi, some 200 km farther along, and there was plenty of diesel to be had there.

My last day in Lusaka, August 20, was a whirlwind. I had a lot of loose ends to tie up for various work-related things and also needed to say goodbye to some of the folks I had met during my time in Zambia. I had lunch with Dingi's mom and his best friend's wife at the Play House, my favorite restaurant that served nshima in Lusaka. Finished all the work-related stuff by 5:30 PM and headed to the apartment where I had stayed to say goodbye to Leigh, my former flatmate. Rushed back to the Chita Lodge, where I stayed those last two nights in Lusaka, intending to pack but discovered that the power was out. Packed as much as I could by the glow of my headlamp and then was picked up by Dingi's friend Chewe, and had a lovely dinner with him and his wife and son.

Departed for the airport around 8 AM on Tuesday morning and arrived in Rochester about 40 hours later, exhausted but excited and relieved to be home. I lucked out with flights as none of them were delayed and the rides were smoothe, and miraculously, my luggage was there waiting for me in Detroit and ultimately in Rochester.

So, I guess this is it for my "Back to Africa" blog for this summer. Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before I get a chance to go back. I may even have a chance to return to Zambia next summer to help out with a rural household survey, which would be great. Thanks for your interest and for reading this blog. Twalamonana ("See you later" in Bemba).