In Lusaka

After an exhausting 31-hour journey, I arrived in Lusaka, Zambia on schedule on July 19th. I had a wonderful welcome committee at the airport: the other Finnish volunteer Mariska, the chief of KYPT Mr. Kafuli and the secretary of KYPT Gift. And of course taxi driver Joseph. I got accommodated at Riikka’s (a Finnish embassy worker, not a UN worker as I for some reason had assumed) luxurious house in Kabulonga, the posh neighbourhood of Lusaka. I’m a bit ashamed of living this fancy but on the other hand, I’m secretly enjoying all the facilities that we have here, including a washing machine, toaster and a bath tube. I would still be happy to live in a true Lusakan family, and I’m hoping it will be possible during this journey.

It feels really natural to be here, I feel belonging here. At the same time, however, this is like living in a dream. It’s hard to believe that this amazing plenty of colors, noise, people, and scents really exists. Everywhere I go my brain is in an overload mode for seeing, hearing and experiencing so much at once. Did you know that in Lusaka, the soil is red and the moon is upside down? Did you know that the busses are REALLY tiny in this city of a million inhabitants (16 people squeeze in, almost sitting on each others laps), and they don’t have line numbers? Did you know that you can walk into your MP’s office anytime you like? Did you know that when you meet a Zambian, you should say “How are you?” “I’m fine, how are you?” and make a special three-parted handshake? Everybody’s shouting as us: “Hello Madam!” or “Mzungu!” or something that I can’t quite understand. That’s OK, I knew beforehand to get prepared for this. But the thing I feel very uncomfortable with is when strangers touch me on purpose, it feels kind of threatening to me.

On my second day in Lusaka, I went to KYPT in the city center with Mariska and met everyone. Levy (Mr. Kafuli) took me also to the other KYPT center in Kanyama. The marketing manager, Andrew, showed me his photos of Livingstone and played me some songs that he had composed on a computer, partially in Finnish – believe it or not! We ate at the KYPT restaurant where the hotel and catering students had their final exams including preparing and serving three course meals. I had nshima (a white porridge-like dish made of corn) with beef stew. Embarrassingly, I first wondered where my fork is until I was told that you eat nshima with your (right) hand! I used my own fingertip technique in rolling small balls of nshima which was very interesting to the Lusakans who laughed and took photos of me. It was a very messy and creative dish.

We are planning on a KYPT stand for Agricultural Exhibition to be held on August 2^nd to 6^th in Lusaka. Me and Mariska will be there for three days presenting KYPT. The automechanics, autoelectric, power electric, catering, and tailoring students are going to manufacture some items to be presented and sold at the exhibition. It is a really big event in Lusaka, everyone is going there. I’m so much looking forward to it!

The students have been on holidays but will be back to school next week. That is when I’m supposed to begin teaching them business communication and Windows Office tools. I’m as excited as you can imagine! I was given a desk at Andrew’s office where I can plan the lectures. Luckily I brought my own (or Tuukka’s, to be exact) laptop, it will be useful.

There are a few computers at KYPT, some of them quite new and modern. However, there are not enough computers for the students to practice with (only two very old and slow ones). At least the operating system they are using is Windows XP instead of some old one. They also have two laser printers one of which, however, was out of ink and the other one out of paper today. In two of the computers, they have access to the Internet via dial modem which can be rather slow.

The weekend has now begun, so I guess I’ll be wandering around in Lusaka and enjoying the sunshine before the darkness abruptly falls down on the city at six p.m. And after sunset we’ll probably head to a bar with the other Finnish girls. Until next time – bye bye!

The pictures: 1) First sight to Lusaka from the airplane. The massive green circles are fields. 2) Riikka's house by night.