February 1st, 2010 Living Compassion
Saturday was Jen and Melinda’s last full day in Zambia. Theresa and the two new Living Compassion staff, Mukonda and Martha, met with us at Castle Lodge in the morning to go over a statement describing the vision and working guidelines for Living Compassion, a reference point for our work together. Plans and possibilities for the future were part of the discussion as well. It was a lively meeting with many good ideas being generated. It seemed from the interactions among Theresa, Martha and Mukonda that they will work together well as a team and be a powerful force for moving ahead in Kantolomba.
Mukonda, Martha and Theresa at Castle Lodge
In the afternoon we drove to Kantolomba for one last visit before leaving Zambia. As always it seemed too soon to be ending the trip, while at the same time it seemed as though a great deal has been put in place for the work to continue. Just a few of the cooperative folks were at the compound when we arrived, for many others were ill or attending funerals. This was Martha’s first visit to Kantolomba since joining the staff. She was given a brief tour of the building and introduced to the people who were there. She was warmly received and seemed quite at ease with the community.
Jen in the sewing room, modeling the new apron as Mukonda looks on
Jen, Memory and Veronica trying on the new desk for size
Books available for the cooperative
Veronica with Elizabeth, reading “Little Women”
Mukonda (standing) and Martha at the building
Handy clothesline - and children playing in the tree beyond it
Brenda, Mabel and another woman watching the tour
Muyunda drove us back to Castle Lodge, and over cold drinks (an orange Fanta for him - the drink of choice, it seems, for many Zambians) Jen presented him with a computer in what promises to be the first step in a new career for him in IT.
Jen showing Muyunda his new computer
Please see Cheri’s blog entry for more details about Saturday’s events.
This was an unusual visit in many ways, although we realize every visit to Zambia is unusual in its own way. We had spent much less time in Kantolomba than on many earlier visits, and yet what had been accomplished overall was extraordinary. Hiring Mukonda and Martha to work with the cooperative, and to be communication liaisons between Kantolomba and the United States, will in the long run contribute enormously to the forward movement of the Africa Vulnerable Children Project.
Sunday morning was time to pack, to say our goodbyes to the wonderful staff at Castle Lodge, and to get to the airport in time for an early afternoon departure from Ndola. Eunice provided transport for Jen and Melinda (Cheri would be leaving the next day), while Cheri and Theresa came along to see them off. There was enough time to stop for coffee and a bit of conversation. We found the nearby coffee/tea shop to be very quiet on a Sunday morning.
At the Koffee & Tea shop
Checking in at the Ndola airport
The flight left on schedule, and we enjoyed the beautiful clouds above Zambia as the plane ascended over Ndola and our return to the United States began.
The beautiful clouds above Ndola
In Johannesburg Jen had hoped to find Elbie, the SAA ticket agent who had played a leading role in locating Theresa during the lost passport saga. In a Target store in the US, Jen had found a fabulous red rose and had been carrying it throughout the trip on the chance of being able to present it to Elbie. It turned out to be a special rose, indeed, for all of the people who saw it exclaimed over it, wishing they had one too. Alas, Elbie was not working on Sunday, but her co-worker Simon, a man with the most contagious smile, promised he would get it to Elbie when she returned to work the next day. The encounter with Simon was a definite high point in the 30+-hour trip back to the US.
Jen and the red rose - Johannesburg airport
Simon, the South African Airways agent
A fitting end to another rewarding visit to Zambia.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 27th, 2010 Living Compassion
Gasshō,
I project that all of us doing practice know well this process: something happens; conditioned mind goes into resistance over-drive; suffering arises; time passes; awareness is applied; acceptance occurs; letting go follows, accompanied by a huge sense of relief and gratitude. We will probably never know for sure, but we are strongly suspicious that our friends in Kantolomba just went through that process–as a group, in record time.
One reason it is so difficult for us to read the tone of the community–aside from the baffling complex of cultural differences–is that, while the mood of the cooperative members seems uplifted and excited about our plans and prospects, there is suddenly so much sickness and death in the community that the energy is, as one would expect, quite subdued.
When we finished that first round of meetings, we were prepared to hunker down and slog along, knowing we really have no choice because we are unwilling to give up. But no one would have called the mood around Castle Lodge “encouraged” or “expectant.” More like practicing like mad, reminding ourselves we’re not doing this to get somewhere, and applying every tool we have to assist us to accept, embrace, and let go.
Shortly after we blogged the difficult interactions with the community, we received an email from someone in the Sangha who has spent many years working in similar areas throughout Africa. She encouraged us to take it as a sign of great progress and an indication of the depth of relationship that the folks in Kantolomba would let us know what they are truly thinking and feeling. If the relationships were less solid, the community would tell us whatever we seemed to want to hear and go about doing whatever they chose as soon as we left. It was heartening information to receive and certainly fits with what we’ve seen happening with other NGOs. A lot goes on when the sponsors arrive; everything reverts to “business as usual” as soon as the sponsors leave.
With everyone sick or attending funerals, there was no one left to gather at the compound, and we decided to spend our day meeting at Castle Lodge with Martha, Mukonda, and a blessedly healthy Theresa. The previous day had been devoted to laying out both vision and strategy in a way we hoped would be clear and inspiring for our new, expanded team. By the end of our time together it was obvious that we are all in complete agreement, and that this work, done in this way, is exactly what both Mukonda and Martha have been waiting for an opportunity to participate in. It was one of those “yes, and” conversations, in which we would propose a program or approach and one of them would say, “yes, and we can…” bringing in elements we hadn’t considered that are a perfect fit.
This has been our strangest and in many ways most successful trip to date–or so it looks right now. It’s true that each visit has a life of its own, one that reveals itself as we arrive, rarely having much, if anything, to do with our plans for the trip. But this one has been unique in ways difficult to pin down or articulate. The image that arises for me is one of putting up a building, perhaps along the lines of an old-fashioned barn-raising. You start with a bare patch of ground, you dig the foundations, make your way up to floor level, frame the walls, and then a whole gang shows up to lift the walls into place, and suddenly you have a building. This trip was the gang of folks lifting up the walls, making the building we’ve all been working on for so long a reality.
Friday is solidly committed to finishing the hammermill building, getting the plumbing fixed, making the building secure, and in general overseeing the men in all the construction projects. Mukonda is already providing critically needed health advice. The women are excited about having her work with the young girls on everything from sex education and birth control to the importance of staying in school. From there she will move on to health education for the whole compound. Already she’s discovered that everyone is dehydrated–they drink a cup of water a day with their meal! Everyone she’s seen so far has severe symptoms of dehydration; the importance of hydration will be their first community health education class topic. Martha will be offering classes each Saturday on every aspect of finance, as well as organizing the classes in English, adult education, and tutoring.
All this and a solid plan for implementation, complete with commitment to be in close email conversation with those of us in the States. These are smart, capable, competent, dedicated people, eager to assist those less fortunate than they, and the best part of all is that they’re Zambian! They know the culture; they know how to get things done. They are a perfect combination of skills and talents to assist Theresa, on the Zambian side, and Jen, on the US side, in making the dream come true of Kantolomba as a sustainable community.
One very fun accomplishment this trip, something we’ve wanted to do for some time, is that we’ve figured out a way to begin to bring Muyunda on board. He’s a really great guy, and over the years we’ve grown to love him. Now he’s married, has a little daughter, and struggles daily, as so many here do, to find enough work to provide for his family. As he was driving us back to Castle Lodge late one afternoon, we asked him what he would do if he could choose anything. He said he’d study IT. He told us about taking classes in high school that allowed them to build things like radios. He loved it. Now he wants to learn computers. It was one of those moments, like asking Theresa lo those many years ago, “If you could do anything for your community, what would you do?” She answered, “I would turn our family home into a kitchen and feed the children.” And here we are!
We had an old computer with us. It doesn’t have a battery, has to be plugged in to work, it’s hardly state of the art, but I wish you could have seen his face when Jen, showing him how to use it, typed a sentence telling him this was his new computer. He told us he will work hard to learn to use it so he can volunteer to send us photos and stories from the project. We told him that on the next trip we will bring a battery, but I suspect we will be able to find a way to do better than that. Over the years he’s proved to be hard-working, honest, and deeply principled. We’re betting that funky old computer is going to be just the doorway Muyunda has been looking for. He will take this opportunity and make a different future for his family.
Slowly we are hearing from Theresa that the community is really on board. Excitement is growing amidst continuing distressing news. Yes, Josephine is recovering from malaria, but Nelly has just been diagnosed. A little girl has fallen out of a tree and is waiting with her broken arm for Theresa to return with the money to get her to the clinic…
Theresa and I just spoke briefly about creating a plan for making mosquito nets a viable option for the cooperative members. The problem is that those tiny mud huts they live in become so intolerably hot that people cannot make themselves get under nets, even though they know that will decrease the possibility of malaria. Miserable sleep for months, verses malaria periodically. They choose to take their chances. We will talk to Friday about knocking large window openings in the walls and building in security bars. Then we can screen the windows and install mosquito nets. If we don’t do something soon, we are in danger of losing all our friends. It’s no wonder the life expectancy around here has fallen to 33 years–the lowest in the world.
Oh, one last thing we discovered on this trip: Everyone we asked recognizes self-talk, and the folks we surveyed say that, yes, self-hate is as alive and well in this part of the world as it is in ours. People have asked for years if we plan to bring awareness practice here. Odds are getting better that we will!
Please take very good care of yourself. Add an extra dose of kindness and appreciation to each moment of your day, and let us hear from you. (And, sign up for the email class if you haven’t.)
In gasshō,
Cheri
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 24th, 2010 Living Compassion
Drenching rains and a variety of unexpected events in Kantolomba caused a change in our plans for Friday. We had hoped to go out to Kantolomba with Mukonda so that more of the Living Compassion team there could see her for their medical needs. It turned out, however, that three people in the community had died in the past few days and most people would be paying their respects during the day. Also, eight or nine of the team were sick either with the flu or, in one case, Josephine, a recurrence of malaria. Plans for the Kantolomba visit were postponed until Saturday, Jen and Melinda’s last full day in Zambia.
Whether out in Kantolomba or back in Ndola, there is never a shortage of tasks for the Living Compassion team. The morning was spent in phone calls, emails and planning: planning for the days immediately ahead, and planning for the next steps into the future in Kantolomba and in the United States.
Negotiations with Mukonda and Martha are proceeding, with the plan to have Mukonda working in Kantolomba four days a week and Martha teaching and coaching the cooperative on financial issues every Saturday. Both women will be in direct and constant communication with the US team.
A big piece of the work on Friday was creating a mission statement and working guidelines for the cooperative applicable to both the Zambian and US teams. Conscious, compassionate awareness and communication are the foundation of the guidelines, as they are in all of the work of Living Compassion.
After lunch, Theresa, Jen and Melinda set out for town to do some last errands: a visit to the bank, to ShopRite and to the chitenge shop.
Theresa all decked out in hearts
Some cheerful chicken chitenge for cooperative sewing projects
After the town trip we talked with Theresa about Kantolomba, and were brought up-to-date on the health status of some of the team. We also learned about a difficult situation Georgina is in; she is one of the English speakers on what we have identified as the cooperative’s leadership team, is a teacher as well as a superb seamstress, and it is likely she is suffering from cataracts. Georgina is the sole support for her own family - her husband does not contribute to the family income - and, as the only employed person in a large extended family, is constantly pulled to support everyone else, including her brother and his family of 5. The fifth baby of her brother’s six children recently died. We were told that when the newest baby was born, the family’s meager resources were turned to her, and the baby before her was neglected and subsequently died of malnutrition. Georgina struggles to feed her own family and to pay her children’s school fees with the income she receives from the Living Compassion Cooperative, yet she feels she cannot turn her brother and his family away, feeling trapped, as are so many who live in dire poverty. Her story is not unusual here in Zambia.
By mid-afternoon the sun had begun to shine again in Ndola, and Eunice dropped in for a chat - which she does fairly often, to our delight. Someone suggested we would enjoy going for a walk, and she offered to be our tour guide. We walked around the neighborhood of Castle Lodge, with Eunice pointing out landmarks along the way.
Walking on a road behind Castle Lodge
A view from one of the roads near the Lodge
One of the sights she showed us was a giant 12 to 15 feet tall anthill.
The tall, pointed structure in the distance beyond Jen is an anthill.
It was nice to be outdoors walking, even for a short while. We returned to Castle Lodge in time for a meeting with Friday, one of our many favorite folks in Zambia. Friday is doing important construction work at the compound, and we were looking at estimates and negotiating prices with him for future work he will be doing.
Friday and Jen looking over some construction estimates
By day’s end the rain had stopped, and we gladly retired to rest up for Saturday.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 23rd, 2010 Living Compassion
As we near the end of this visit the possibilities that we have been pursuing seem to expand in all directions, offering way more on-the-ground work than can possibly be accomplished in the time remaining! One cannot know what life will offer just around the corner, until the corner has been rounded and the worldview expands.
Today we began by meeting with Mukonda, the bright Zambian nurse who we are in the process of bringing onto the Living Compassion team. Shortly after we sat down at QuickSave, a small market and eatery in Ndola, we were joined by Mwando, a tall, stunning woman who is a professional tailor and clothes designer. We had asked Mwando to consult with us about a variety of issues related to the sewing cooperative in Kantolomba, particularly about pricing the goods produced by the cooperative. She offered some helpful tips on other sewing-related issues as well, information that will assist the cooperative in being successful as a commercial enterprise.
After the conversation with Mwonda concluded, all attention turned to Mukonda and the huge change that is possible in Living Compassion’s work in Kantolomba as Mukonda joins the team.
From left, Jen, Cheri Mukonda and Mwonda having coffee at QuickSave.
One important order of business was to create a collection of medical supplies for Mukonda to use in her work in Kantolomba. Pharmacies in Ndola are very, very different from those in the United States, with most of the items behind counters that are not accessible to the customers. We were assisted by one of the many counter attendants: Mukonda talked with him about what we needed, and he gathered the items, offering advice occasionally. We left with two small boxes of items such as bandaids, antibiotic lotions, q-tips, alcohol, Ace bandaging, a thermometer - just the basics to allow Mukonda to begin to help the folks in Kantolomba.
When we arrived in Kantolomba, Mukonda went immediately to work, speaking with Veronica about sores we had noticed on the legs and arms of Veronica’s baby Elizabeth. It was truly heartening and awe-inspiring to see how easily Mukonda spoke with Veronica, melting away any resistance that might have been there to this “outsider,” whom the community had been trying to push away only a few days earlier.
Within just a few minutes, it seemed, Mukonda was set up in one of the large rooms in the community building, with a table, chair, water and her just-purchased equipment , examining Elizabeth and beginning to clean and apply ointment to her sores. As Elizabeth was being seen, a line began to form just outside the treatment room, and Mukonda worked with people without a break for the next few hours. She seems to have been accepted by the Living Compassion team, and the health of the community will be the beneficiary.
Mukonda caring for one of the women on the Living Compassion team
While Mukonda was working with ailing team members, others were gathering into groups representing the work they are currently doing. Jobs other than specialized tasks - such as sewing and teaching - are rotated among the team members; the people on the “cooking team” this week, are likely to be on the “cleaning team” next week, and so on.
The cooking team, from left top: Sophia, Christine, Susan, Beauty, Bernadette, Angela, Pauline, Brenda and Foster
The cleaning team, from left top: Martha, Margaret, Bernadette, Eugenia, Maureen, Lucy and Mable
The women who oversee the Tuck Shop: Margaret, Violet, Regina and Ann
Some of the men’s carpentry team: Peter, Pascal, Winter and Rubin
The teachers: Georgina, Nellie, Beatrice, Ethel, Veronica and Charles
The carpentry team making a message board for the building
While Mukonda was seeing patients, Jen and Cheri spoke with Theresa, continuing the process of clarifying roles and beginning to consider the best strategies for improving communication within the Kantolomba team and between the team here and Living Compassion in the U.S. - communication channels that will rely to a large extent on Mukonda, as well as Theresa.
During the afternoon Jen was able to offer to the English-speaking leadership a very important class equality. In stressing the importance of girls and women getting an education, it is going to be critical to address the built-in assumptions about women’s and men’s roles: women are seen as inferior to men and, by and large, the women accept that as their place. In one of the classes we had discovered a blackboard with “Father” written in chalk, and an arrow pointing down to “Mother,” and then an arrow below that pointing to “Children,” with the clear message that Father was above Mother. When Jen asked if anyone saw anything odd about that, there was a long silence with mostly shaking of heads to indicate they did not. Finally Ethel spoke up noting: “Father and Mother should be on the same line.” What ensued was a great discussion about how important it is to model for the students the possibility of men and women being in equal partnership. Everyone was eager to talk about their experiences of places where that is and is not the reality in everyday life in Kantolomba and it seemed all were on board with a willingness to help make a difference for the future. It’s likely be a long time before it is natural to Kantolombans for the men to help with lunch cooking and clean-up at the compound - but in the kitchen and in the classrooms the project has begun.
Jen introducting the concept of equality
At one point in the afternoon we learned that there were several boys nearby who had successfully completed their 7th grade exams and were now eligible to go into the 8th.
3 of the 4 boys who passed their 7th grade exams: Stanley, Arthur and Geoff.
Cheri, Jen and Theresa went over to meet and to congratulate them. We had also learned that their school fees for the coming year would be 400,000 kwacha - or about $100 - per child, money that their families have no way of providing.(Sadly, school fees have been raised dramatically and new regulations require that all students-whether children or adults - pass through all grades, regardless of age.) In the conversation Cheri told the boys that, if they were willing to come and spend some time tutoring the younger children in English, Living Compassion would provide the money to continue their education. The boys took that in and said they would be willing. Everyone wins!
Boys being congratulated
Later Theresa learned that Geoff’s mother, a woman who had been ill for a long time, had died just that morning.
When we left late in the afternoon, there were still people in the queue waiting to see Mukonda. She let them know that she would be back on another day, and would see them then. Another heart-opening, transforming project has begun.
Some of the women resting at the end of the day.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 21st, 2010 Living Compassion
The first official activity this morning was a meeting with two women, Chongo and Kateule (”call me Kate,” she suggested), sisters and both Zambian lawyers. We have been scouting around for someone who knows Zambian law well, and Kate was recommended by our Castle Lodge friend Eunice. We had a very interesting conversation with them, and agreed to have Kate do some preliminary research about possible legal structures for the team in Kantolomba. It came to our attention earlier in this visit that there may be legal conventions in Zambia that could have an impact on our work there; so it will be helpful to have someone versed in Zambian law as a resource.
The lawyers, Chongo on the left, Kate on the right
Eunice’s fluffy butterball of a dog, Nala, coming to the lawyer’s meeting
Just after our meeting, Friday arrived to take us to Kantolomba.
A typical Ndola street on the way to Kantolomba
A billboard on the outskirts of Ndola
All the children were excited to see us, and especially to have their pictures taken and then to be able to see the photos.
Some of the captivating children of Kantolomba
We wanted to walk around the compound with Friday to get a sense of where the electricity, water and other building projects are and what the next steps will be in each of those areas.
Friday, Cheri and Jen inspecting some of the plumbing at the building
The hammermill building; vents at the back are to allow air to circulate
Walking from the hammermill building, a view of Brenda’s house, one of the buildings that received a new roof.
After touring the building projects, we adjourned to one of the big rooms where straw mats had been laid out. On the way to lunch we saw Veronica with her baby Elizabeth, and standing near Veronica her 16 year old daughter Mercy, holding her new baby, Veronica’s grand daughter.
Veronica with Elizabeth
Veronica’s daughter Mercy, with her daughter Baby Veronica
The cooperative members had their traditional meal of nchima, beans and a peanut-based sauce, while we, the “musungus” settled for veggie sausage, cheese, and bread that we had packed at Castle Lodge. Once everyone had finished eating we resumed the conversation about how the cooperative is going to become self-sustaining in the long run. There was a sense of optimism in the air that had been lacking the day before, with the cooperative members participating in the discussion and an excitement about possibilities beginning to emerge.
Finishing lunch and beginning to talk about next steps in the Project
As the conversation drew to a close, we could hear the children outside, and little faces began to appear at the windows. There was a ceremony approaching, and everyone was ready: prizes were to be given to the two best students - one boy and one girl - in each of the younger and older groups of students.
Queen, the best youngest student choosing a blue pen as her prize
James, the best youngest boy student
Mercy, the best girl student in the older group
Philip, the best boy student in the older group
And the last prizes given were to the best workers: Violet, who has not missed a single day of work, and Winter, who was voted the hardest working man.
We said our goodbyes for the day and drove out the gate and down the very, very bumpy road toward Ndola. Looking back, we appreciated the view of the building and the gorgeous Zambian sky.
View of the buildings and magnificent sky.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 20th, 2010 Living Compassion
David Brooks wrote this column for the New York Times recently:
On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
The first of those truths is that we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty. Over the past few decades, the world has spent trillions of dollars to generate growth in the developing world. The countries that have not received much aid, like China, have seen tremendous growth and tremendous poverty reductions. The countries that have received aid, like Haiti, have not.
In the recent anthology “What Works in Development?,” a group of economists try to sort out what we’ve learned. The picture is grim. There are no policy levers that consistently correlate to increased growth. There is nearly zero correlation between how a developing economy does one decade and how it does the next. There is no consistently proven way to reduce corruption. Even improving governing institutions doesn’t seem to produce the expected results.
The chastened tone of these essays is captured by the economist Abhijit Banerjee: “It is not clear to us that the best way to get growth is to do growth policy of any form. Perhaps making growth happen is ultimately beyond our control.”
The second hard truth is that micro-aid is vital but insufficient. Given the failures of macrodevelopment, aid organizations often focus on microprojects. More than 10,000 organizations perform missions of this sort in Haiti. By some estimates, Haiti has more nongovernmental organizations per capita than any other place on earth. They are doing the Lord’s work, especially these days, but even a blizzard of these efforts does not seem to add up to comprehensive change.
Third, it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty. Why is Haiti so poor? Well, it has a history of oppression, slavery and colonialism. But so does Barbados, and Barbados is doing pretty well. Haiti has endured ruthless dictators, corruption and foreign invasions. But so has the Dominican Republic, and the D.R. is in much better shape. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and the same basic environment, yet the border between the two societies offers one of the starkest contrasts on earth — with trees and progress on one side, and deforestation and poverty and early death on the other.
As Lawrence E. Harrison explained in his book “The Central Liberal Truth,” Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10.
We’re all supposed to politely respect each other’s cultures. But some cultures are more progress-resistant than others, and a horrible tragedy was just exacerbated by one of them.
Fourth, it’s time to promote locally led paternalism. In this country, we first tried to tackle poverty by throwing money at it, just as we did abroad. Then we tried microcommunity efforts, just as we did abroad. But the programs that really work involve intrusive paternalism.
These programs, like the Harlem Children’s Zone and the No Excuses schools, are led by people who figure they don’t understand all the factors that have contributed to poverty, but they don’t care. They are going to replace parts of the local culture with a highly demanding, highly intensive culture of achievement — involving everything from new child-rearing practices to stricter schools to better job performance.
It’s time to take that approach abroad, too. It’s time to find self-confident local leaders who will create No Excuses countercultures in places like Haiti, surrounding people — maybe just in a neighborhood or a school — with middle-class assumptions, an achievement ethos and tough, measurable demands.
The late political scientist Samuel P. Huntington used to acknowledge that cultural change is hard, but cultures do change after major traumas. This earthquake is certainly a trauma. The only question is whether the outside world continues with the same old, same old.
*********
Mr. Brooks’s article doesn’t describe perfectly what we’re facing here in Zambia, but most of it is spot on. And, the timing of this couldn’t be more supportive for those of us here as we prepare to address these exact issues with our friends in Kantolomba.
Yesterday we met with the cooperative to introduce Mukonda, explain her role in the project, learn specific needs they have for her skills, and make a plan to move forward with bringing her health education and health care expertise to the community. We hit a brick wall.
“Who is she?” “Why are you bringing someone in from the outside?” “She will spy on us and tell lies about us.” Followed quickly by, “We don’t have enough money. We want more money.”
We have a tendency as conditioned humans to project our reality onto others. We assume people have, or should have, the same information, orientation, beliefs and assumptions, expectations and values we have. From that erroneous and very shaky perch, we attempt to make sense of the behaviors of others. If those we’re in company with share a good percentage of our social conditioning, we can navigate fairly well by simply ignoring or overlooking their obvious foibles. (I don’t know what goes on with Bill about that, but I do know he’s a good guy.) If those we’re with have a completely unfamiliar conditioning, we tend to flounder, making up a reality that matches our perceptions of them with projections of who or what we would be if we were behaving in that way. (I don’t really trust her. I think she’s sneaky.) Keep in mind just about all of this happens below the level of conscious awareness.
So, let’s see if we can apply this theory to our work here in Kantolomba. Why, given the level of their poverty, don’t the people of Kantolomba jump at the possibility of starting their own business? Why won’t they come up with ideas for generating income? Why won’t they work with us to create ways for them to be financially independent and prosperous? Why does every conversation begin and end with, “we need more money; give us more money”?
Let’s come up with some answers that might arise in the mind of a person oriented from birth to education, competency, opportunity, possibility, and empowerment:
They are lazy.
They are stupid.
They are just looking for handouts.
They do not want to take responsibility for their lives.
They are freeloaders.
They would rather someone else work and just give them what they want.
And, guess what? It certainly does look that way when a person is seeing through that privileged lens. There is ample evidence to back up each of those perceptions: lazy, stupid, freeloaders. After all, no matter what is suggested to them, they don’t change! They just stay in the same place doing the same thing!
Perhaps this would be a good moment to take a quick look at ourselves—never popular, always helpful.
Stop for a moment, please, and consider something you don’t do—that you know would be good for you to do—because you’re afraid or don’t know how or feel too vulnerable or you hear voices that say you can’t or it’s too hard or …?
Everybody got something?
Good. I think we just answered the question “what is wrong with ‘those’ people?”
They are just like us!
When we are confronted with something new, with change, conditioned mind flies into opposition. “No. That’s too hard, you can’t do that, you’re going to make a fool of yourself.” Or more subtly, as it speaks for ‘me,’ saying quite authoritatively that “I don’t want to, I don’t feel like it, I’m not that kind of person.”
And the bad news for us is we don’t have to. My next meal or rent or mortgage or car payment is not riding on me going to that retreat or doing that public talk or sending a letter to my friends and family asking them to support my favorite charity.
For years I’ve been trying to get our Sangha to engage in fundraising. Why? Because I want the money? No. (Though that is a good idea!) I want people to engage in fundraising because:
–Supporting what supports the heart is about the best thing we can do for ourselves.
–It pushes conditioning’s buttons something fierce.
–It puts us in close contact with Sangha and practice.
–It interferes with self-hate’s ability to make us believe we’re wrong, bad, and selfish.
But how many people do it? The answer is not many. Why? For all the reasons listed above. Conditioned mind calls it scary, threatening, too hard; points out how “you’re not good at that,” or people will think you’re crazy, foolish, whatever. And we are people with all the opportunity the world has to offer!
If this is what it’s like for those of us who live in privilege and opportunity, what must it be like for those born into poverty, with no education, no access to a world beyond the four square kilometers of a mud-hut squatter’s slum?
They don’t have a vast amount of information, that we simply take for granted, that it is nearly impossible to grasp. They don’t have the basic survival skills that we never had to learn because they’re built into the world we were born into. No one ever taught them…much of anything. No one ever mentored them or encouraged them or told them they’re capable and can do it. No one. In fact, quite the opposite: They’ve been told constantly, through messages overt and covert, that they can’t—because they are worthless, useless, and utterly without value. They are poor. They are poor and poor is bad and it is, in some way no one wants to explore too closely, their fault.
So, yes, we hit a brick wall. We talked and explained and counseled and cajoled and got precious little back. A hundred times we asked, “Do you see?” “Do you understand?” Silence. And, we ask ourselves, “What do I need when I feel afraid, overwhelmed, or confused?” The answer we got was, “I need support, reassurance, encouragement, patience, acceptance.” Good. We can give that to our friends in Kantolomba as they begin to face and make their way through a lifetime of cruel, negative social conditioning.
Over tea after our meeting, we muzungus reflected that in this practice we really enjoy PeaceStorming. This is PeaceStorming!
Posted in April 2008 Trip
January 20th, 2010 Living Compassion
The sun was shining this morning in Ndola for the first time this week, making the lush landscaping at Castle Lodge and around the neighborhood even more beautiful.
The first item on the day’s plan was a visit to Northrise University, a relatively new school of higher education in Ndola. We met Moffat Zimba, the man who founded and now directs the school, a warm, quite, charming man who spent a number of years studying in the United States and earning degrees in theology before returning to his country.
It was a comfortable and informative conversation in which we learned about a number of projects started by Northrise graduates in local communities like Kantolomba, and created the possibility of future collaboration in Kantolomba with Moffat Zimba and his students.
Next was a stop at a fabric store for more cloth to use in the sewing projects.
Cheri and Jen choosing fabric at the Commercial Trading Company
Then on to Pantry Pride for groceries and to AquaVita to resupply our bottled water before going back to Castle Lodge for a quick lunch. The afternoon’s schedule began with a meeting with Chipo, a young man who is interested in assisting in Kantolomba. He is a bright, capable-seeming person who had studied dental hygiene and now holds certificates that qualify him to do basic dental work including cleaning teeth, repairing simple cavities and teaching oral hygiene. We will be talking with him again on this trip to explore exactly how he might contribute in Kantolomba.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to a meeting with Theresa and all of the English-speaking members of the Kantolomba Cooperative: Nellie, Georgina, Josephine, Charles, Beatrice and Veronica.
Jen in the foreground, then Theresa, Josephine (out of view), Nellie, Beatrice, Georgina, Charles, Veronica and Cheri
These are the people who are seen as leaders in the community, and they were invited to continue the conversation that had begun in Kantolomba on Monday, which had revealed some serious misunderstandings between the Kantolomba and US Living Compassion teams. It was a long and, at times, difficult meeting and will be continued this week and into the future to assure that the people in the cooperative and all of the US team are in alignment on the direction, goals, and the “how” of the work we are all doing. [See "Cheri's Blog."]
It was late afternoon when the meeting drew to a close. The Kantolombans left while there was still plenty of daylight for their minibus trip back to the community. We ordered an early supper at the Lodge and welcomed the relative quiet of the evening and a night’s rest before the next busy day.
Saying goodbye before the trip back to Kantolomba
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 20th, 2010 Living Compassion
Sunday arrived, along with a great, rumbling storm of thunder, lightning and buckets of rain. We postponed our visit to Kantolomba, where we had planned to take the half-hour walk to the community farm, and instead stayed dry at Castle Lodge. Excitement about beginning the girls’ and women’s groups is fueling animated conversation about possible next steps.
The rain continued throughout the day, so we were all able to catch up on hand laundry (the only kind of laundry available here), paper work, email, and blogging. Castle Lodge takes on some lovely colors during a rain; we enjoyed simply gazing at the surroundings.
An African crow enjoying Sunday afternoon
Monday was to be a day of introducing the potential new staff to the cooperative in Kantolomba. Mukonda was scheduled to meet the community in the morning, Martha in the afternoon. How often plans and life bear so little resemblance to one another!
Just after 9 a.m. Muyunda - who had borrowed a working automobile -picked us up and drove to the Ndola Post Office, where Mukonda was waiting for us. As we drove once again over the rough and tumble roads to Kantolomba, we chatted with Mukonda, finding her a knowledgeable and easy-going woman. Once at the compound, the women and men of the cooperative greeted Cheri, Jen and Melinda warmly, and seemed curious about the newcomer.
Children lining up for handwashing before lunch
There were a lot of activities under way. Pascal was straightening nails, using as a table a rounded-out rock that must have been used thousands of times for a purpose like that. Christopher was sawing and planing boards for the desks being constructed for the classrooms. Many of the women were preparing nshima, or serving children their meals in the new building, and Nelly and Georgina of the sewing team were working on the new curtain and apron projects.
Pascal straightening nails on the rock table
Christopher planning a board as Pascal looks on
Georgina (seated) and Nelly working on aprons
Nelly showing off the first chitenge hermitage curtain
Georgina showing off the first almost-finished apron
Kids being kids in the handwashing line
Cheri, Jen and Theresa gave Mukonda a brief tour, then we all went into the building for a general meeting to introduce the community to Mukonda and to the new staff positions being created to assist in Kantolomba’s transformation. As the discussion proceeded, with English and Bemba translations ensuring everyone’s ability to understand what was said, it became clear that folks in the community were not at all sure that the changes being described were to their liking. Kantolomba is isolated in many ways from the communities surrounding it, and there can be resistance to accepting anything or anyone seen as being “outside” the community.
Community meeting in progress - right side of the room
Community meeting in progress - left side of the room
After a lengthy discussion it was decided to leave Theresa with the folks there to continue exploring their concerns and to postpone the afternoon meeting with Martha, the other possible new staff person, until later in the week.
As the meeting was ending, more children lined up for their meal
The meeting ended late in the morning, and the three of us went back to Ndola, arriving at Castle Lodge just in time for an omelet lunch. After lunch we drove into town again and met with Martha over coffee at QuickSave, a bakery/coffee house. She is a bright, articulate woman who seems very willing to work with Living Compassion and with the issues that had arisen in the community meeting. We explored possible avenues for communicating with the Kantolomba team and will meet again soon with Martha, Mukonda, and Theresa to continue that exploration.
Coffee at QuickSave with Martha, the possible new staff person
Muyunda drove us back to the Lodge, stopping briefly at Shoprite for groceries, and we happily took to our rooms for a quick dinner, more emails and blogging, and an early night.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 19th, 2010 Living Compassion
Friday morning was an email catch-up time for Jen, while Theresa and Melinda ran a few errands. They arrived back at Castle Lodge just in time to pick up Jen and go to the airport to greet Cheri. It was raining lightly and quite a pleasant temperature. Cheri’s plane arrived on time, and after an enthusiastic reunion the group went back to Castle Lodge for lunch before beginning interviews with candidates for a new Living Compassion staff position. Three women were interviewed on Friday and two on Saturday afternoon.
Theresa gives Cheri a big hug at the Ndola airport
Over the last several months it has become clear that the teams in Africa and the United States are in need of a person to act as liaison between the two. Theresa has her hands full managing the Kantolomba feeding program and related activities, including expansion of the program from 450 to 800 children. Visits from the US team every 3 or 4 months are not allowing the kind of communication and supervision that the Project demands. The idea arose of hiring a person in Ndola, the small city Kantolomba adjoins, to be a liaison between Theresa and the people in Kantolomba and the staff in the United States. Consequently, a few weeks before this January trip an ad was placed in the Ndola newspaper looking for prospective staff.
The five applicants selected for an interview are all women and are amazingly talented, interesting people who would likely make enormous contributions to the Project. At the end of the interviewing process on Saturday, two of the five women were asked to engage in further conversation with the team: Martha, a quick, articulate woman who is a branch manager for an Ndola financial services firm; and Mukonda, an energetic 33-year-old who has worked as a nurse and who recently spent time in South Africa doing volunteer work with an HIV/AIDS organization.
During the coming week both women will accompany the team on visits to Kantolomba, to introduce them to the community and to allow Cheri, Jen and Theresa to see the women in action with the children and adults with whom they will be working if they are hired to be a part of Living Compassion.
Woven through the interviews with the liaison candidates was a major theme for the work in Kantolomba: the importance to the success of the Africa Vulnerable Children project, or of any project to alleviate poverty, of improving the status of girls and women. The expectation is that girls will marry young and produce many children, and girls are neither encouraged nor supported to get an education.
All of the women interviewed have had life-changing experiences of having pushed through the status quo to arrive at places of strength and transformation. They recognize the impact that will be made on Kantolomba – men, women, girls and boys – if the girls are educated. (An interesting global statistic: 67% of girls who receive an education, but only 13% of boys, give back to their communities of origin.)
The Africa Vulnerable Children Project has received an extraordinary donation that will give a boost to this emerging emphasis: a scholarship program that will allow girls to complete whatever level of education they choose.
We’ve realized that starting a girls’ group that would offer mentoring, tutoring, life skills training, career options, and role models is a way to accomplish the goals we have for Kantolomba.
As we looked at what might be supportive to the girls in the community, we realized that we also need a women’s club that will support adult education, computer skills, and health education, including nutrition, hygiene, prenatal care and first aid. Money management training will be important, including savings and micro finance business possibilities.
Empowerment of women and girls in Kantolomba is crucial to the success of the Africa Vulnerable Children Project.
On Saturday morning, before the second round of interviews, we sat in the office/bedroom working with charts Jen had created to help us plan the week ahead. It was a productive morning, helping us get the “big picture” of what needs to be done and what might be possible.
A wall full of organizing lists and charts
Later that morning, Cheri, Jen, Theresa and Melinda took a walk down beautiful tree-lined streets near Castle Lodge to visit DAPP, Development Assistance People to People, a Dutch-based Non-Governmental Organization (or NGO), based in Ndola. One of the goals for this January visit is to make contact with other groups in Ndola who are doing work similar to what we are doing in Kantolomba, and to exchange information about what works and what does not work. We met Rene, the director of the group in Ndola, and made plans to spend time together this week.
Walking to DAPP
After the interviews that afternoon we met up with Eunice and Godfrey, two of our favorite folks in Ndola, who assist us in many ways during our stays here, and who are great resources in general. Eunice is part of a family that owns and operates Castle Lodge, and Godfrey has been of immeasurable help in dealing with computer issues here. Also joining us was Chilufya, a friend of Eunice’s, who is a young, enthusiastic fellow with a huge heart and great ideas for assisting children out of poverty. He is quickly becoming another favorite person to us.
We hopped in Eunice’s van and went to the Michelangelo restaurant to share pizzas and conversation through the evening.
An amiable evening over pizza at Michelangelo’s
Then back to Castle Lodge to rest up for the next busy day.
A view of the pool and thatched roof dining area at Castle Lodge
Some of the magnificent flowers decorating the Castle Lodge landscape.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
January 18th, 2010 Living Compassion
The weary travelers did some very important sleep catch-up their first night in Ndola before launching into the first full day of activities. There are, as usual, many, many items on the team’s want-to-do-list, and Thursday morning was focused on what those things are and what our priorities will be. Some top-of-the-list items:
– Do as much ground work as possible in preparation for the August Zambia trip, which will bring a strong medical team into Kantolomba to assess and make recommendations for lasting health care and education in the community. Interviewing candidates for positions as nurses will be an important early step in the preparation.
– Gather a new batch of chitenge (colorful African cotton fabric) to be made into curtains by the sewing cooperative for the Monastery upgrade projects.
– Check on all the building projects in Kantolomba to see how they are coming along and what adjustments might be needed: inspecting the new hammermill building under construction, as well as various aspects of the community building - plumbing, wiring, security systems - that are in need of attention.
– Have a community meeting with the Living Compassion cooperative team to look at how decisions are made within the community, and what the team members see as priorities in the work there. As the project matures, and we move towards doubling the number of children in the feeding program, what does the team see as how best to proceed with funding and staffing the expanded program. There are also a number of exciting projects that have been initiated by the Kantolomba team that we’ll look at more closely, such as contests they are designing to encourage greater participation among both adults and children.
– We want to check in with the men’s cooperative to see how that’s going and to look at some of their projects, such as the prototype that has been created for a desk-and-bench design for the classrooms.
– An issue that is emerging as critical to the long term success of the program is the status of girls and women in the community; how to support transformation that includes young women learning that there are options for them in addition to being mothers and wives. Lots more on this as we go along.
Theresa joined us mid-morning and we headed out to do errands, not the least of which was recovering Jen and Melinda’s luggage, which arrived on the noon plane from Johannesburg. The plan had been to get the luggage when we picked up Cheri, who was scheduled to arrive on that same plane. Much to the disappointment of all, Cheri, whose flight from Munich was late into Johannesburg, had missed the connection to Ndola, delaying her a full day. Life so often lets us know that we have no control!
Visiting the bank for cash, buying chitenge from “Milan Investments,” marker pens from “Challenge,” and some groceries from “Pantry Pride,” were stops along the way. Our favorite driver, Muyunda, had car trouble that morning and had sent Davis to replace him while Muyunda got his car repaired. Davis is an easy-going, friendly fellow who was on time and right where he was needed at every moment through the day.
Davis waiting for his passengers
One of the day’s highpoints was lunch at Castle Lodge, which presented Melinda with her first taste of nshima, the grits-like staple of Zambia, along with scrambled eggs and rape, a variety of greens that tastes quite a lot like spinach. Theresa informed us quietly toward the end of the meal that the greens were actually pumpkin leaves.
Jen and Theresa about to dig into nshima, eggs and pumpkin leaves
In the afternoon we set off for Kantolomba. Melinda was struck by the names of businesses we pass along the way: “Re Ho Both” is an auto parts store, as is “Polite Auto Spares.”
One of many great store names
In Kantolomba Jen showed the sewing team (Veronica, Josephine and Georgina) some patterns that had been created for the Monastery curtains, as well as some apron patterns that might evolve into another sewing project.
We found Friday working on the hammermill building, which looks to be about half finished. Friday introduced us to John, a parent of one of the children in the feeding and education program. It turns out that John heard of the need for experienced bricklayers and volunteered to assist: he was so grateful for what the program is offering his children that he wanted to give back in some way.
John working on bricks at the hammermill building
As we moved around the property a feeling of Kantolomba began to emerge through the sights and sounds of the day: a dozen children playing on the lawn, holding hands and circling around in time to a song they were singing. The song leads them to the place where they all fall down together, giggling happily, then they get up and start all over.
Kids at play on the lawn
Another lovely sight: the women’s team spread out across a hillside, weeding the garden there.
Women working on the hillside
A mother hen ushering her chicks around the grounds, giving food-gathering lessons.
Hen and chicks
At the end of our visit that day we met with the women briefly and learned that one, Ethel, had been very ill. After getting everyone’s input it was decided that Theresa would stay behind to be sure Ethel was ok. It is so inspiring to be in community with a group of people who so clearly care deeply for one another.
Back to Castle Lodge at the end of the day to prepare for the next day’s activities.
Posted in 2010 Trip Blogs, January 2010 Trip
