I have been in Zambia for almost two and a half months now, and I am on the home stretch towards completing my internship. These past two and a half months have been some of the most frustrating and rewarding months of my life. I am working with a youth group up in Kitwe, continuing the work two interns did here last year. I have learnt, and fairly quickly, that preconceived notions and expectations have no place here. I have also learnt a thing or two about patience. Coming from a fast paced environment of full time studies and work back home it was an adjustment to get used to the less frantic and demanding pace here. But once adjusted it has become quite nice. Also, finding your footings and bearings can be a bit frustrating as well. Nothing ever goes the way you planned it and nothing works in the linear organized way I am used to. But once you start to get the hang of things its as though its organized chaos. My best explanation of how things work here is circular chaos, and once you figure that out you can navigate fairly efficiently. My one hold up is the casual nature of time. When you make an appointment with someone for say 10:00am, don’t expect that person to show up until at least 10:30. Time is not of the essence it seems and I have noticed that many people do not wear watches.

My work here has included teaching the youth how to write effective business proposals, creating micro-enterprise programs for the members, researching and seeking out funding opportunities and engaging in leadership and life training skills sessions. I have tried to accomplish all this from a facilitating perspective, choosing to motivate the youth members to carry out these tasks instead of me doing the work for them. I have a very strong belief that most people have the desire to succeed and that supplying people with the tools necessary is the most effective way of achieving success. I have noticed that many people here are so dependent on aid money and donations from the West that they have lost the motivation to achieve financial independence on their own. I honestly can’t say that I blame them though, if I was in the same position I think I may have found myself in a similar mindset. I have been working with the members of the youth group to try and instill a sense of independence, motivation, responsibility and accountability in them. It has not been an easy process, but I have been pleasantly surprised many times. Most of the members are making a conscience effort to show up to our meetings on time, and are starting to take initiative to work to improve their lives. Of course I am sure in my short 3 months here I will see little or no results from these meetings, but it is my hope that in the years to come the youth will continue to exhibit these behaviours and take control of their own lives. I have made a conscience effort to ensure anything we have carried out as a group, or that I have thought them is sustainable. By this I mean when I leave in a few weeks time it wont matter, as they will be equipped with what I have taught them and will be able to continue on independently. I think this is the most important aspect. Sure I could sit there and preach to the members not really caring if what I was presenting was being understood, but I’m sure when I left much of what I had taught would have been lost. By ensuring the members carried out every step we took with me acting as their facilitator it fostered a lot more understanding and comprehension. In addition to these things we have also been working a little bit with capacity building to help with their chances of receiving funding. We have worked to ensure that the constitution is being followed, we have created official application forms for record keeping, made budget sheets to keep accurate financial records and are working to purchase a phone and open a bank account. Many of these youth have the motivation to improve their lives and with time and a lot of hard work I think the majority of them can achieve their goals.

Category: On location, Zambia // Add Comment »