Engagement Photos

Last weekend I did an engagement photo shoot with two friends around Lusaka. They'll have official photos done later, but this shoot was more for them to relive and remember their 5 years together here before moving away a few days later. We went all over town searching for those quintessential Lusaka icons and places. With the light and the city cooperating we came away with some fun photos. Here are few of my favorites.

Nairobi Attack

What began in Nairobi last Saturday and only finished two days ago has deeply affected communities in this part of the world. The terrifying and upsetting features of this violence have left everyone with a profound vulnerability alongside the grief. I feel awful for all of those people who had to experience this trauma, and those who are surviving their friends and loved ones. I just wanted to share a blog post which was shared with me that speaks truer than many media accounts about the nature of the suffering, as well as the "common humanity and decency" generated by this event.

Nairobi Westgate Mall Terror Attack, And The Folly Of ‘Otherness’ – What Al-Shabaab Revealed About Us

Bluegrass in Lusaka

One of the greatest things to happen since I've lived here was bringing together a group of people to play music way back in January 2012. We started by playing only bluegrass, eventually naming ourselves the Copper Spoon Bangers to capture that Zambian flair. We ranged in skill levels but were all amateurs, and that's the greatest thing about it. It's a chance to practice, learn, and just enjoy playing with other people. The second greatest thing is the way it's constantly changing. We're always having new people join us, while others eventually have to leave. We often get people just passing through for a couple weeks to sit in as well. In its current iteration, the group regularly features an upright bass, acoustic guitars, a singer, a violin, a keyboard, and a mandolin. In the past we've also had djembes, a twelve string guitar, and a banjo. While we've only recorded ourselves once, it was one of my favorite covers, and after finally having internet capable of uploading it I wanted to share.

(You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Bob Dylan cover) featuring Julie's vocal talents)

FINCA, Supervisor Recap

It’s been a while since I’ve written about work here. This is due in part to how much things have changed during my last position. From month to month I was either in a new location or a new mindset. Now, in retrospect, it’s much easier to give a coherent recap.

From January until July I continued my training by working in the role of a Credit Supervisor at the branch level. I started in Chawama, one of our newest branches at the time. The branch was a pleasant place to work, though the area was rough during the rainy season. I supervised two different products and enjoyed helping lay the foundation for how operations would be run there in the future. After one month I was transferred to Matero branch where there was an opportunity to cut my teeth on a challenging situation. 

After a series of issues in the past year, most of the staff had been replaced with new hires who had inherited poorly performing portfolios and difficult clients from their predecessors. I took over management of a team of five Loan Officers; one half of the Business Loan cluster. It was a testing situation at first. I struggled to push improvements on all fronts, from the types of clients we were funding, the quality of the analyses being done, the monitoring of clients, and my own people management skills. It took some time, but somewhere in April we started to see progress. My Loan Officers were improving both individually and as a team, and we were starting to make a real dent in the problems we had inherited. By the time I was finishing my term as a supervisor, both my cluster and Matero branch seemed to have turned a corner. The specter of the past was dissipating and the new team was capable, confident and achieving results not seen here in a long time. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction to be part of that transition and to see the staff develop, some even receiving promotions.

So it was with great pleasure that, for my next assignment, I had the opportunity to take over as Branch Manager of the same Matero branch. A promotion for our previous Branch Manager opened up the position at just the right time, and I couldn’t have been happier to continue working with the same team to make this the best branch in FINCA Zambia. My first few weeks in this new role have presented a whole new series of challenges and opportunities, and I’m looking forward to learning and growing here in the months ahead.

(Matero Branch)

Visitors and Bon Voyage

Living here, I always feel very lucky when people come to visit. No one is ever “passing through” Zambia. Actually, you have to go pretty out of your way to get here. So having a friend visit is always a special event, and this month has been full of them. Not long after Jamie left, my college friend Becca, on a family trip in East Africa, came down for a weekend. While the trip was too short, we had plenty of time to catch up during a visit to the Lower Zambezi. The two of us took the relatively short drive down to the river which involved a pontoon crossing and some rough roads that made me glad I replaced the 12 year old tires before we left.

Kiambi, the camp where we stayed, is an oasis perched on a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Zambezi and Kafue rivers. The big lazy river moving deceptively quickly below offered itself as a perfect canvas for the sunset we were just in time to catch. We braved the cold at night with plenty of warm clothes, resisting the urge to bring some coals from the fire into the tent with us. The stars glittered in the chilly darkness,  showing clearly Scorpius and the Big Dipper, which only appear for a short time during the year down here. We were also privy to the uncommon sight of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the sky together.

We spent our one full day perfecting the art of relaxation, ending it with a beautiful boat ride on the river for sunset. As dusk was falling we stumbled on a group of elephants playing in the water. Our guide got us right up next to them and it was really something else to watch these huge animals romping like puppies.

Speaking of puppies, our dog is now in what I imagine to be his rebellious adolescent years. His reign as sole house mascot, however, is being eroded by the arrival of two new turkeys. There is a tentative understanding developing between them as they try to assess what threat the other poses.

(Sparta sizing them up)

In the same airport trip I dropped Becca off and picked up Anne, an old Lusaka resident on her third visit back. We were close friends during my first year here so of course there’s plenty of reminiscing to be done when she’s back. It’s been great having her around, and I’m looking forward to a group trip this weekend up to Ndola to watch Chiplopolo play Lesotho for a chance to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Of course there has to be a tradeoff to all this fun. This week Zambia said goodbye to an institution. Jes, the ever adventure-ready, master traveler, cook and Frisbee player, brought to a close her almost 4 year relationship with this country. While we will certainly miss her here, I know she can’t ignore when adventure beckons with a chance to bike across Eastern Europe.

(Photo credit: Cheryl R.)

Moonbows and More

This last week I had the pleasure of hosting Jamie, my predecessor in the Princeton in Africa fellowship and the person that introduced me to all things Zambia. After almost two years away he came back for his first visit; what I image was a whirlwind of catching up with friends and the KF students. It was especially cool, and a bit strange, to spend time together with both him and the current fellow Jill. While we’ve shared so many of the same experiences we’ve managed to cultivate our own pretty different perspectives of our time in Zambia.

(3 Generations of PiAf Lusaka)

During Jamie's visit, we had the chance to celebrate the impending parenthood of one of our good friends Chileshe. Our friends Cecile, Claire and Jill put together a very nice, very pink baby shower which mainly consisted of lots of oohing and aahing over tiny clothing. We managed to justify our presence at this decidedly feminine event during baby charades, which was good otherwise they may not have shared their delicious nutella cupcakes with us.

(Chileshe's Baby Shower)

This past weekend we took a short overnight trip to Livingstone. Livingstone is 500 km from Lusaka, that’s 12 hours of driving in two day; not exactly around the corner. Yet, I would easily do it again to see what we did. In the months after the rainy season, when the Zambezi is at its fullest, the spray from the falls reaches high above the gorge. It is onto this dense spray that a full moon will project a ghostly rainbow stretching across the falls. It was the promise of this vision that lured the ten of us out on our brief journey south.

The elements aligned in our favor. A cloudless night, a brilliant moon, a wind that kept the spray contained within the gorge. What’s more, we found all the other tourists gathered on one viewing platform, leaving the best views essentially empty for us to enjoy. The sight was incredibly striking. Seeing the falls in the moonlight felt like a secretive and special experience, more intimate than visiting during the day. From the dark trees we quietly gazed on the flowing water while in the foreground the prominent “moonbow” stretched to the limits of the mist. We moved slowly through the park, taking in each view with the sort of reverence that something so surreal and beautiful inspires. 

(I swear these were taken at night. The long exposure is what gives the water that cool smoky effect)

Triathlon

On April 13th the American School of Lusaka hosted its annual Triathlon. We entered a team in the "sprint" version. Emily dominated the swimming and Paul finished the run in no time. My part was biking 14km of bumpy trails. I looked like a real nerd the whole time, having to race with my bike lock on as I forgot the key. Even an unanticipated second lap of the course wasn't enough to stop me though and I finished, eventually. It was a fun, and humbling, day (too many fit friends).

Stats for team Panda Express:

15th out of 29 teams

Total time: 1:00:31 (fastest team time: 49:50)

Number of times we fell off our bikes: 0

(Team Panda Express)