April.18th/2012
So much has happened since the last time I posted. My birthday, Zambian & Canadian style Easter feasts, project ideas, new tasks at work, helping my close friends put together a funding event in Chilliwack, the scare of having malaria, little illnesses, but overcoming it all and more lessons learned to mark down in my lifetime. I can’t believe today is the half-way point of this journey in Zambia. Time surely has flown by way too fast. It’s been 9 weeks already! I was just taking a moment to think of how we were on our first day in Zambia. So unsure of what to do, the smells in the air taking over me; everything felt so different then, the currency was so confusing, the transportation was different than anything I had ever imagined… So crammed, confusing, and sketchy it seemed. The very first meal we ate at the YWCA compound; not even an hour living in this country. We had T-bone steak, boiled cabbage and diced tomatoes, and nshima…. I chuckle thinking back on how I had felt… looking around for utensils, but saw none… only saw everyone around me using their hands, taking a piece of the nshima and rolling it in their palms, pressing a groove in it with their thumb as if it were a doughy spoon and using it to pick up pieces of food…. I observed for a minute or so, and curiosity took control of me- I jumped right in, grabbed a ball of the steamy hot nshima, almost burning my hands, rolled it and made my first attempt… unsure but determined none the less. I came in with an open mind, eager to learn more of this beautiful culture.
I think of how much we have adapted and it makes me smile. Zambia is my home now; the lifestyle has become almost second nature for me. Once taking me about 3 hours to hand wash a small load of laundry, now taking me under an hour of my time. Currency isn’t confused anymore, no more getting ripped off because of my lack of knowledge. The dirt roads are familiar and I could walk down them knowing I was safe. The smell that once so shocked me in the air I don’t notice anymore…. I’ve grown accustomed. I feel such an incredible and unexplainable type of peace within me. I’ve grown so much as a person in the past few months; this entire experience has been a blessing in my life. I know that whatever is in store in my future is bright…. I won’t let this learning experience go to waste. It will forever impact the choices I make and the outlook of my life.
March.15th, my 24th birthday half way across the world from the usual destination and not with the usual smiling faces I celebrate it with every year… but it was an unforgettable day none the less. Who gets to say they welcomed their 24th year in the capital of Zambia? I do! With my fellow interns who have become life-long friends… who have become family. I woke up before the usual 5:15am alarm went off to messages and phone calls from the people I love back at home…. Laughing, crying, and joking… as if we were together. Then I went to work for 8 hours so happy. After work the 5 of us interns & Rohan went out to eat at a Place called Mike’s. They had all gotten me a card full of sweet things written in it & Rohan had handed me a cutely wrapped gift held together with duct tape… all that she could find. It made it that much more special to me… I opened it up shocked that I had even gotten a gift still at the age of 24… but happy as can be. It was a booked called, “The Ladies no.1 Detective Agency”. I was so excited! It was a copy of a movie that all we interns had watched about Africa while we were training in Victoria. It was so thoughtful. I am so grateful for the ones in my life. After we had dinner, I had received a Video clip sent from my home that Ashley & Courtney had helped rearrange for me on this special day. It was almost 10 minutes long. I separated from the rest and sat outside breathing in the African air as I watched the video. My siblings, mom, aunt, niece, nephew, friends, Dylan… my family had all said something sweet… wishing me happy birthday. It was so chaotic watching all the kids dancing in the living room, laughing away, with writing on the TV that said, “Happy Birthday Shaina”… so loud with music, voices, screaming, running around babies everywhere… but I loved every single second of it. Tears of happiness poured from my eyes… I must have the craziest, wildest, most supportive, loving family in this world… I swear. To see their big eyes all saying they love me just made my entire day. That was by far the best birthday present I could’ve ever received. Family is by far the most important thing on this earth to me. After watching it Dylan called me as I cried such happy tears. Then after talking to him my entire birthday was complete. I went to sleep the happiest women on earth I swear. Before my eyes closed to rest I prayed, thanking God for the people in my life, for everything in my life… for blessing me, for giving me the most unforgettable birthday. I fell asleep smiling.
My dearest friend Amanda Burge and Jessica Hocking have organized a funding event in my home town. I am beyond proud of them for helping thousands of lives be impacted. Women for Change has positively impacted over 600,000 people’s lives and continue to increase that number; never in my life have I witnessed such dedication and determination to help others. The event is May.5th Saturday from 6pm-9pm in Chilliwack at Corky’s Irish Pub down town, 45844 Yale Rd W Chilliwack, BC V2P 2N8. Tickets will be $10 for a burger and a beer. Tickets will be sold at the door at the night of the event. No reservations for the tables can be made, as it is first come first serve. There will be a 50/50 draw, a draw for hard liquor and also a silent auction. Thank you in advance for all the support in this cause for every penny raised is going directly to Women for Change. The vision: a society where there is gender equality in social, political, and economic development. The mission statement: Women for Change is a Zambian gender focused non-governmental organisation (NGO) working with communities, especially women and children in rural areas to contribute towards sustainable human development using Popular Education Methodologies (PEM). Their background: WfC is very excited about recent developments in their role as a leading catalyst for social change and community empowerment in Zambia. For two decades WfC has been working in rural communities in Zambia to build their capacity to realize their full potential and providing training for traditional leaders and NGO’s nationally and internationally…. By attending this event you are impacting lives in such a positive and profound way. If you can’t make it could you please share this information with all that you know, from the bottom of my heart I appreciate every single thing… even taking the time to read this.
We had to part ways with the boss, Rohan, as she left back to Uganda for about 3 weeks… just the five of us now to branch off without our fearless leader once again. Well… we survived and she gets back Friday April.20th.
Easter Sunday we were invited to Women for Change’s Executive Director’s place for a feast and just to get to know each other more, Ms. Sikazwe. She said, “Consider me your family; since you won’t get to spend Easter with your loved ones…consider me your grandma or your aunt.”… She had a huge smile and welcomed us into her arms with a tight hug. She reminds me of my aunt, Kelowa so much so I snuggled right in that hug. I once was so extremely intimidated by this powerful activist woman... I still am, but she’s shown us such a loving side… but none the less, don’t underestimate her. She is the strongest and most powerful woman I have ever met. She had made a huge Zambian feast for us; we ate it outside in the yard. It detailed: Kidney beans in tomato sauce, rice, two different styles of chicken, roast lamb, potato salad, dried fish, sardines, nshima, roast potatoes, and relishes (vegetables cooked in many different sauces… one being peanut butter sauce). Ms. Sikazwe had her sister there visiting as well as a friend that had flown in from Kenya. We all shared our Zambian names and just shared different culture shocks we have all experienced anywhere in the world and “different” things we have eaten… One thing that Ms.Sikazwe mentioned is that even she was very shocked when she had gone into a rural village in Zambia, as a tradition it’s paying respect if you cut into a mammal of some sort, hold a bucket under the cut and drink the blood… we heard many interesting stories I tell you and I was eager to hear them- to expand my mind. Most importantly, we shared so many good laughs.
Easter Monday the 5 of us wanted to make it a special day since we weren’t with our families so we went to the store and bought some food for a traditional Canadian feast. We all worked together, listened to music and cooked a huge candied pineapple ham, cream cheese mashed potatoes, steamed garlic beans & carrots, stuffing, gravy, Caesar salad and our traditional homemade banik fry bread. We laid it out on to the table and admired what our team effort had created. We all smiled then I said a prayer before we all indulged. Back at home my family always gets together for Easter. It is a big family day with over 30 people. Everyone laughs, chaos is everywhere, but that’s what I love. People call it a mad house, but I’ve never witnessed such a loving close family in my life. My grandpa then prays… his prayers always clench at all our hearts, a time to remember why “Easter” came about…. As amazingly fun it is to believe in the Easter bunny, egg hunts and basket of goodies we all need to be reminded of the true meaning. So I prayed, trying to imagine what my grandpa would say… I thanked Him for the hands that helped create the food, the food itself and the beautiful long process put into it to grow it, nurture it and process it, I asked him to give us strength and wisdom for all our next steps ahead of us, to protect us and our loved ones back home. Then thanked him for the sacrifice made to save us from our sins, thanked him for all that we have; “AMEN.” Echoed throughout the room and we then indulged with huge smiles on our faces.
I forgot to mention the results to my malaria tests… negative. Just so all of you don’t worry. I’m healthy as can be now but for a few days I struggled with a very high fever, ice cold sweats, nauseous, aching body, and barely enough energy to hold my arms up… I went to the clinic a day later and the doctor was pretty positive it was malaria so he gave me a test for it as well as a white blood cell count. I was calm the whole time; I know that malaria is like a common flu out here. It’s so common and most people have gained an immunity to it… I knew I’d be ok either way, they have very professional doctors out here and treatment at arms reach. I sat in the room waiting for the results, and in around 10 minutes they were already in. He said, “Well, you see here, healthy white blood cell count is supposed to be between 5-10… you have 9.99. You are healthy and fighting this off… and you are negative for malaria… the symptoms must be a flu or side effects to your anti malaria medication.” So, I went home later that day and drank plenty orange juice and over 2 litres of water. I refused to let the sickness get the best of me… I won!
Since my last post I have been working on a few tasks at WfC. I was given a website about UNWomen to familiarize myself with who they are, their focus areas, how they work and proposal information for this year. I also had met with Tendayi to discuss updates on the incredible Teen Vision Conference I was told about. I will post links on information about it. It just clenches at my heart, please read the links that I attach about it. & please read the letter I had posted in my last post. I also made an outline for the Communication Plan for WfC.
March 20th was the first time I tried fresh maize. Which is like corn but it’s flatter and bigger pieces that just pop off the cob. It is one of the main vegetables that are eaten out here in Zambia. They grind it up to make their traditional nshima. It was surely delicious. On our lunch break we walked down the familiar dirt roads under the trees, people everywhere… and the 3 of us discussed what we were going to do when we get back home. I just took a minute to think and in poured a million thoughts. Projects that I will make reality to help better our future, our children’s lives… It started off small, for when I get back home… such as recycling projects. As we look around in Zambia you’ll notice many crippled people that are struggling to get around, even crawling on the dirt roads for miles. I was told that Zambia is a country in severe poverty and they can’t afford proper necessities for the labelled “handicapped” people to function comfortably. It just hurts my heart so bad to wrap my mind around that concept. To think how much people have to struggle for something out of their control. I was trying to imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes… I thank God once again for all that He’s blessed me with. For how fortunate North America is… let us not take for granted all that we have. I also realized that Zambia doesn’t recycle… it just blows my mind that we throw out glass and plastic bottles out… every time I feel horrible! I can imagine this entire country shifting so much if they got a manufacturer and started recycling. Now… just how to start something like this?? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We had all discussed collecting the tin can openers that are attached to a canned drink… they could be recycled and manufactured into wheelchairs! Thoughts are just running through my mind…
I really want to take advantage of this internship experience to the ultimate fullest. I want this experience to be carried out in all the following steps ahead of me. I have big dreams for our community back home; I will make those dreams reality. I came across this inspirational quote once,
“It starts with a dream. Add faith, and it becomes a belief. Add action, and it becomes a part of life. Add perseverance, and it becomes a goal in sight. Add patience and time, and it ends with a dream come true.”
I want to be one of those leaders to step forward and have my voice heard. I know that children are our future and I want to be able to reach out to the youth in our communities. Share with them projects that I believe will help create a more equitable world. I’ve been brain storming who, how, when, why, what, what for, where… all angles. I plan on speaking with as many people as I can when I get back, taking full advantage of this. Some more ideas that I have for projects I would like to start are also: to get together with youth and have us all research good causes, NGO’s, etc. To really familiarize ourselves with the struggles that people face around the world and what exactly it is that people are doing to help these struggles. Some more are clothing/material recycle and sewing classes, book recycle and distribution, compost, gardening and tree planting projects. I would love to go into more detail with whoever is interested. I thought long and hard about it. We want to create sustainability and not baby feed and enable our youth… so I came up with a quote,
“We don’t want to create dependency, we want to empower and put in a system that’s sustainable to create independency… a ripple effect, help bring out the leaders, the teachers in youth who can then pass it down to everyone that crosses their path.”
I am very excited about all of this, the more I think about it the more ideas flow into my brain and get my heart racing. I dream of a brighter world and it is not a lost cause; anything is possible. I have faith, and I will not just sit back and do nothing. We were all given a purpose, a few breaths and a heartbeat… we must take advantage of every little moment. Life is far too fragile and short to just wait for something to happen in our lives… we must create it!
Tendayi asked me to take on a project. Yes! I am so excited about this! She asked me to create a child and youth Data Base for the past 4 years. There hasn’t been one created, each of the 8 WfC animators that go into the “field” (rural villages) to do work with the woman and youth keep copies of their own information. It is my job to make appointments with them and interview them to collect data and put it all together on an organized hard copy. I started off by jotting down all my questions and thoughts for Tendayi before I jumped into this (who, what, when, where, why, how, for). She gave me about a month to get the animators to find time to interview them and organize the past 4 year data. So I jumped in.
April.20th was the last day for another fellow intern from Egypt that was here for a total of 6 weeks, Marihame Michel Riad. She is such an inspirational young woman that just blew me away. We all admire her. All the members of WfC got together in the board room and said a short message to her, thanking her for being a part of this. We then had cake and tea and all just enjoyed each other’s company. The executive director, Ms. Sikazwe gave us an empowering speech on what leadership is that we can’t just focus our energies on leading one aspect, there are so many. That there are going to be those that praise you and those that bash you but always remember that when you fall, get back up with another lesson learned. She looked at the 4 of us interns particularly. She said that she can look at us and see leaders. Leaders in our community. It gave me goose bumps once again to hear her motivational speech. It hit me hard in the heart.
She also mentioned about WfC’s big dream of creating, “The People’s Learning Centre” (PLC). The vision: is a society where there is gender equality in social, political, and economic development. The mission statement: Women for Change is a Zambian gender focused non-governmental organisation (NGO) working with communities, especially women and children in rural areas to contribute towards sustainable human development using Popular Education Methodologies (PEM). Their background: WfC is very excited about recent developments in their role as a leading catalyst for social change and community empowerment in Zambia. For two decades WfC has been working in rural communities in Zambia to build their capacity to realize their full potential and providing training for traditional leaders and NGO’s nationally and internationally.
Now, WfC has begun dreaming of a new home, dubbed the People’s Learning Centre (PLC), in which to operate training for the betterment of societies in Zambia and Southern Africa. Located in Chongwe, 35 km from Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, the PLC will draw upon the organization’s depth of experience, skills and knowledge of grassroots development. Their aim: “To provide quality demand driven training, consultancy, research and documentation in the theory and practice around various aspects of women’s empowerment at community, national, regional and international levels.
Their core programmes at the centre: Rural Women’s Empowerment Programme, Young Women Entrepreneurs’ Programme, Women’s Political Participation and Leadership Programme, Intellectual Leadership and Formation Programme, Conflict and Peace, Women’s Solitude and Reflection. Their physical facilities will contain: Conference halls that are also working as lecture rooms, kitchenettes housed here, having the following rooms; an open hall, two break-away rooms and furniture storage. Also a library and knowledge resource centre. There will be ramp accessibility for disabled, a computer lab; the library will have three departments- Social, Political and Economic Publications, Local Publications, Indigenous Knowledge Research and Publications. There will also be dining facilities. Also, Hostels will be a part of the PLC. There will be 5 double story structures that have 30 persons capacity in each. All rooms will be self-contained. There will be the following rooms: 8 shared rooms, 14 single rooms, common room and 2 laundry rooms.
Women for Change would like to appeal for your support in the bringing to life of the People’s Learning Centre, which will be the hub of knowledge, where organizations and people from within Zambia and abroad will come to learn and share with us. I have gotten the amazing privilege of meeting the staff of WfC and see the work that they are determined to do; never in my life have I met so many selfless people that are striving to make this a more equitable and just world. I am so inspired by them and believe that our future isn’t lost… we do have hope; we can all work together and step forward as one. When it comes down to it we are all one people. I believe that if we turn our backs on our people, on bettering our future, who then will lend us a helping hand in our time of need? What will the lives of our children and their children look like? To know more about supporting this dream that will be put into motion you can email me at (snsedel@gmail.com). From being here witnessing things first hand, I know that absolutely any gesture can impact lives. I thank you once again for even just taking the time to read my blog, I understand it’s hard times for almost everyone so even just sharing my blog to others is a way of contributing to a brighter future. Thank-you & all the best. A little quote to end this off with, which I stand by every day,
“Life is what you make of it!”
So when you’re feeling down, please remember that there is always someone that has it far worse. Life is short and so fragile so cherish the little moments, treat others the way you want to be treated, forgive, laugh, love and remember you are in control- so make it great- chase after your dreams while you can & cherish every breath your lucky to be given…. I have to remind myself this often.
