Sophie Turns 12!!

Sophie is in her final year of being a "tween" and we will enjoy every day of it before she turns 13!!

The annual cookie decorating tradition continued with three of Sophie's friends from school: Victoria, Sophia and Kamila. They came for a sleepover (which are very popular here in Lusaka) had pizza and decorated cookies!

L to R: Kamila, Sophia, Victoria and Sophie

What's amazing is where the girls come from. Only one is American - but in name only. She was born in the U.S. but when I asked her where she's lived she said, "Uganda, Benin, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia"... amazing and she's only 12! Victoria is from Uruguay - but has never lived there and has spent most of her life in Africa. And Kamila is half Bolivian and half Canadian and has only lived in Bolivia and Africa.

So, even though our kids go to the American International School - the emphasis really is on "international" - even for the American kids!

Happy Birthday Sophie!!

What do I do for work?

I've been asked what kind of work I'm doing here in Zambia - and thought I'd share a bit of what I've been doing lately.

Half of my time (I use the phrase "half" loosely) is spent working for RAPIDS (Reaching HIV/AIDS Affected People with Integrated Development and Support) - the largest PEPFAR (President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief) funded project here in Zambia.

The other 50% of my time is spent managing the Communications and Marketing (local fundraising) departments for World Vision Zambia.

The heart and soul of the RAPIDS program are the 18,516 volunteer Caregivers. These are men and women who care for children and families afffected by HIV and AIDS who live in their communities. RAPIDS trains and equips these Caregivers and comes alongside a natural social movement that will be sustainable long after our program is gone.

This last week, I organized a Zambia-wide Caregiver appreciation day where we honored all 18,516 RAPIDS Caregivers around the country with a certificate and a chitenge (a 2 meter piece of fabric that women use to wrap around their waist - think "sarong").

Our two Caregiver speakers (who were fantastic!) - Esther and John decked out in their RAPIDs outfits they had made!

In Lusaka, we had an event for about 350 of the local Lusaka Caregivers (there were too many to honor ALL of them at this event, but they held satellite events for all Caregivers) - and we had Dr. Kaunda (Zambia's first elected President) and the new US Ambassador attend our event. This was the first public event for the new Ambassador - so ALL kinds of nervousness by the USG staff to make sure everything was ship-shape, tip-top! They drove me nuts!! :-)

At the World Vision table: L to R: Charles Owubah, National Director of WV, USAID mission director, the new US Ambassador and KK, the first Zambian president, WV staff

It was fun to see so many Caregivers ride in on their bicycles (see John's entry about the bikes) and it was great to be able to honor and encourage them in the work they do.

At the Caregivers Day event in Lusaka

In addition to this, I've also helped write proposals to raise cash gifts from private corporations and other potential donors.

For my World Vision Zambia job, I am currently working on an event to launch the Zambia Water, Sanitiation and Hygiene (ZWASH) program. A major donor from the U.S. gave World Vision a $5 million gift that will be matched by other donors totalling $10 million over 5 years.

Next week, this major donor is coming to Zambia to launch the program - so I'm in event planner mode again with a large "launch event" that will take place over 3 days. I'll also be involved with finding additional gifts and reporting back to the donors who fund this project - and because water is so crucial for the well-being of communities, this will be a great addition to the other work World Vision Zambia is doing.

I leave on Monday for the trip to the field with the donor, the World Vision U.S. reps handling the account and our WV water specialists. Should be fun!

There are so many protocol issues that I am totally ignorant about. Did you know that if you have a Government Minister attend your event, you have to wait until he/she arrives until you start the event EVEN THOUGH that Minister can be up to/or over and hour late!!

So, we've had to make provisions to fill time in case the Minister is late! Also, our M.C. for the event cannot introduce the Minister directly - that has to be done by one of the Directors in the department the Minister works in (in this case, it's the Local Government and Housing department).

And, if it rains and the roads are so muddy that we can't drive to the site where we're drilling the well (which is part of our launch program)? Well, our Regional Manager said, "they have to walk!" - so picture this: men in suits with fancy shoes walking down a muddy path to get to the village where we're drilling the well!! Thank goodness the ladies from the village will be singing and dancing and taking their minds off of the mud! :-)

I'll report more next week....

Location of one of World Vision's water wells in the Southern Province... you can see why they need water - it is so dry!

The Weather

People have been wonderring about our weather here in Lusaka...

We've been here for most of the seasons - or so it seems. Here's a brief run-through:

The cold season: when we arrived in early August we were at the tail end of the cold season. We wore coats in the morning - and closed toe shoes. It's coldest in June/July.

The windy season followed: pretty descriptive. There is so much open land -- without any vegetation -- covered in red dirt. The wind carries the dirt that gets into everything. Our furniture was covered with dirt on a regular basis.

The hot season (September): It was HOT - around 100 degrees most days. Not too humid, but just HOT (thank goodness we have air conditioners in the house!).

Now, we're into the rainy season: there are torrential downpours, drizzles and ongoing rain... sometimes it looks a lot like Tacoma! I hear that there's a warm rainy season and a cold rainy season. We're in the warm rainy season - and unlike the Northwest, it clears - usually that day - and we have blue skies and warm weather. It's a bit more humid right before the rains clear up the air. Still, we wear shorts and tshirts every day...

Most mornings we sit on our front veranda, drinking our coffee and enjoying the wonderful warm days...it's really beautiful out right now - beautiful blue skies, white fluffy clouds and a gentle breeze!

Now, back to the rest of the news!

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

While everyone else in the US was snatching up stuff on sale at the after Thanksgiving Day sales - we jumped in the car and together with our friends, the Huddles, drove 4 hours north to N'sobe Lodge.

We rented a chalet (pronounced shall-let) that had four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big dinining/living room and a smallish, but decent kitchen - that sat on the edge of a small lake.

When we got there, we learned that the Lodge was holding a Jr. fishing derby the next morning - so we registered all five kids. Talk about FUN! Their team - the "the exploding minnows" came in fourth place with a haul of 20 kgs of fish. Sophie was ALMOST the winner in the largest fish category!

Sophie, Naomi Huddle and Peter with their haul of bream (or tilapia).

Getting the official weigh-in for Sophie's fish.

We also went on a mini game drive on the property and saw giraffes, zebras and antelopes - it was VERY exciting to get so close to the animals!

All the kids: Sophie, Peter, Charis, Nathan and Naomi on our safari drive

Zebra and Giraffes - up close and personal...

As much as we missed our annual trip to Seattle to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade, this was WAY better - and so much fun!

To see all the photos: ttp://picasaweb.google.com/miyonkautz/NSobeLodgeThanksgiving2008

John's day with WBR

This last week I had the opportunity to go on a site visit with World Bicycle Relief (a partner of RAPIDS and World Vision – that Miyon works for). WBR, along with the Zambian Ministry of Education is starting a bicycle empowerment program in the Chombe district which just north of Lusaka. This pilot program plans to distribute bicycles to students and teachers that are challenged by the distances they live from their schools. Take a look at their webpage at www.worldbicyclerelief.org to get the full vision of what WBR is doing in Zambia.

F.K. Dey (center) founder of WBR encouraging

students at Ndpula community school

The first school we visited was a small school in Ndpula. After our bus traveled about 25 kilometers of dirt road we arrived at this small 6 room school house. Ndpula is a community school*. It has 266 students ranging from grade 1 to grade 7. The geographical area the school serves is quite large. Some students travel more than 6 kilometers (over 3 miles) one way just to get to school. It was quite inspiring to see how dedicated this community is in trying to get their children educated. They are so grateful to anyone who will help them. The simple vision of WBR is to make it easier for kids and teachers get to school through the use of bicycles.

The Basic school at Nkiwda

The second school we visited was a basic school* in Nkiwda. This school which is has more students than Ndpula also serves a population that need assistance with students and teachers who travel long distances. This school starts its morning session at 7:00am and some will travel over 10 kilometers just to get to campus. To get there on time, one student leaves at 5:00am! I can’t imagine asking Peter or Sophie to get out of bed at 4:30 and then walk over 6 miles to get to school. . . And do that 5 days a week!! On being asked how bicycles would impact their school, one student responded that it would benefit even those who wouldn’t receive bicycles because they wouldn’t have to wait for the students who have to travel so far to get to school. Teachers will wait for all students to be present before they start their lessons.


WBR’s goal is to provide 50,000 bikes to students, teachers, and some community leaders to help improve education in Zambia. 80% of these bikes will go to community schools like Ndpula with 70% going to girl students (the most vulnerable population making their way to school) and 30% to boys. Their distribution goal is to make local families the owners of these bikes so that on weekends and evenings the bicycle could also be used for income generating activities.

* Community schools do not receive any government funding and are paid for in full by the community. The schools are primarily operated by volunteers. Teachers are paid a small stipend, or payment will come in the form of chickens and/or vegetables. Students are asked, if they can, to pay the equivalent of 25 cents a month to help defer some of the costs of supplies.


*Basic schools receive government funding. Although these schools do receive support, they serve the same population of community schools. Students are required to pay for supplies as well.

John's Mission: accomplished

John has been faithfully searching for a second car and at long last, he's found the car! We purchased this 1994 Toyota Surf (just like a Forerunner) from an Embassy employee who will be leaving Lusaka in March. It's manual and diesel (which is cheaper than petrol/gas) - just what John was looking for! He's received some pretty good recommendations about this car - the year, 1994, and the model. The only glitch is that the engine needs to be reuilt (thankfully, the owner was very upfront about this and lowered the price) - so it'll go into the shop next week for a three week repair job.

Once he has a car, it will enable him to get out and involved with the community - either as a volunteer or as a paid employee! No more TV and bon-bons for him!! Just kidding - he has been very busy!!

High School Musical - in Zambia!!

Today was a first:

1. We discovered there's a movie theater in Lusaka - and it looks a LOT like the ones in the states - tiered seats and all! Tickets were about $6 for me and $4.50 for the kids. Popcorn was available (no synthetic butter but they had salt and vinegar "salt" and some cheese "salt" that you could sprinkle on top).

2. High School Musical 3 was showing! Who knew it would get to Zambia so quickly...and the theater was hardly full at all!

Sophie, Peter and their friends Charis and Naomi at HSM 3