A week in a volunteer's life

Thursday

I have an 8 o'clock communication skills class. I start around 8.30 but even then very few students are present. I talk about written communication and the students look like they couldn't care any less. I never got a good contact with this class. After that, I have a computer class. Again, not very many students are present. We review Microsoft Excel and talk about the coming exam, which I had almost forgotten.

The afternoon communication skills class is the opposite of the morning class. They participate actively and ask questions. The topic is communicating in the internet and netiquette. The students write everything down. After that follows another computer class, MS Word this time. Only half of the students are present, so I wouldn't want to proceed to a new topic but the students get bored, so I have to. Later, I realize that I shouldn't expect anymore that there are so many students present as was in the beginning of the semester. It's the same thing that happens always at the university as well, first lectures of the semester collect a lot bigger audience than the later ones. Of course, the effect isn't that extreme here, but the students have probably a variety of reasons why they can't attend. Some probably have to go to work.

After work, I run around the town looking for a present. The youngest of the family turns three. I had searched earlier for a perfect toy tea set, but can't find it anymore from the store. So I go to Shoprite and buy another kind of set from there. It's 17.30 when I get to Kulima tower bus station, so I decide to take a bus to Leveka, which is closer to home than Snow White. The bus to Leveka takes longer to fill up, so it takes a while before we leave. The traffic is completely jammed. There is a police traffic patrol at a nearby petrol station, so the minibuses can't use it as a shortcut and are thus unable to join the traffic. It takes probably half an hour to proceed 500 meters. After that, the rest of the journey goes fast.

It's already dark when I get off at Leveka. It's safer to walk from there than from Snow White, but I feel more uncomfortable because I walk so rarely from there. I walk together with a woman going in the same direction. At some point a young guy starts talking with us. The woman turns to her home and hands me over to him. We talk the usual small talk until we get to my place. He knows where I live, which I always find spooky. We exchange the usual pleasantries and I tell him that I won't recognize him later because I haven't even seen his face properly. I tell him to greet me when he sees me the next time.

At home, we celebrate the birthday. I give my present: the tea set, paper, crayons and soap bubble toy. She gets also a pair of shoes from her mother and keeps repeating “Is this all really for me?”.

At 19.30, we watch a telenovela called Second Chance, as we do every evening.

Friday

At work, I agree with a teacher that I have the last computer class with his students on Monday. They'll have first one exam and I can have them after that. I want to review MS Excel with them before they have an exam on that. My extremely small Friday class doesn't show up.

After work, I promise to go out for a drink with a friend. He has to meet someone in town, so I keep him company. The man follows the usual Zambian time concept, and 5 minutes turns out to be 25 minutes. It's again 17.30 before I'm at the Kulima tower bus station, but I take a minibus to Chawama. The traffic is almost equally bad as the night before. I am at home at 18.30 and it's already dark. On my way, I hear comments on how I'm late and someone warns that I shouldn't walk so late. I feel frustrated, as the days will only get shorter.

Saturday

I have tons of laundry, so I start my day by washing it all. While, I'm washing, the guy from Thursday comes to our gate. I am not very happy that he showed up there but I go to talk with him. He asks whether I have a boyfriend in Finland, and I say yes. He asks for his profession, and I answer that he's a teacher, because that's the only one that comes into my mind. Luckily, he doesn't ask more questions about my imaginary boyfriend. The discussions turns into religion and God. He says a lot of things and I stare blankly and say hmmm. Finally he leaves but promises to come back the next day. Hmmm.

I finish washing and have some breakfast while watching a live chicken in our kitchen. I decide to go to town to do some shopping. The weather is getting colder, so I've decided that I need jeans. I go to Kamwala, and buy the first pair that I try out. They cost K 60 000 (€ 10) and are made in China. I have Indian food for lunch at Downtown shopping center in Kamwala. It's still early, so I decide to visit the National museum, which is close by. I get the entrance ticket with the local price when I say that I have a work permit. Downstairs, there is an interesting modern art exhibition that was supposed to end already two weeks earlier according to the posters. When I walk upstairs, I try to figure out when was the last time I was in a building that has more than one floor. In the end, I come up with two internet cafes in Lusaka that are upstairs. After viewing the main exhibition that is upstairs, I change my opinion of the Lozi museum in Mongu: It's actually fairly big and extremely well-planned for a regional museum.

I go to buy some food from a supermarket and then some fruits from a market. When I'm selecting oranges and apples, a man comes and tries to sell me a plastic bag. I refuse but he won't give up until the woman selling the fruits shoos him away with an umbrella. After that, I see how a minibus hits a woman. Luckily, the woman isn't hurt. Considering how recklessly the minibuses drive, it's perhaps surprising that it is actually the first time that I see it happening.

I take a minibus back home. A man sitting behind me starts talking with me. He know some Finns, and he works for 4H in Zambia. He seems nice, and I tell him where I work. He promises to come and see me there, as I'd be interested in learning something about what 4H does here. Next to him, there is a man, who seems to me rather drunken, and who desperately wants to talk with me. Unfortunately, he uses Bemba, so he's not very successful. He gets off the minibus, and I have to get off to let him get out. He wants to shake my hand but my hands are full with my grocery bags. He starts slapping my face (not hard), and I yell stop. Everybody around me laughs and I don't appreciate it.

When I get home, only the youngest boy is there, and neither of us has the keys to the house. The women have gone to a baptism party. Eventually, the older boys come home and we get inside. The boys also cook dinner: We eat chicken. When the women get back, the mother hands me a beer. There was so much beer reserved for the party and so few people who drink that they had extras to take home.

Sunday

I wake up fairly early, and have breakfast. I go back to bed and read a book. Then one of the boys comes to tell me that the same guy is again at the gate. He wanted to greet me before going to church. I am getting a bit annoyed with him, even though he is nice and polite. He says he'll come again in the afternoon.

I agree to meet a fellow volunteer at Arcade's. We go to the cinema there and watch The Bounty Hunter. After that, we browse the Sunday market at Arcade's and buy some souvenirs. We also go to an internet cafe to plan the next weekend and have lunch at Subway. We finish by going to the supermarket and I buy a chocolate bar just out of the joy that I can, as the supermarkets, where I usually go, don't stock any chocolates.

When I get home, I ask whether the guy had showed up. He hadn't but he comes almost immediately after I've gotten home. This time he brings a friend with him. I tell him that I'm probably not at home on Monday evening.

Monday

One of the teachers asks me to supervise an exam. The exam starts only at 11, so I am not able to have a computer lesson with them afterwards. Oh well, maybe next day...

A drama group is having a meeting with a potential donor just outside my office. I hear part of the discussion and they refer to me a few times. I get the feeling that they are trying to score a few mzungu points because of me.

Both of the students of my Monday afternoon computer class are there, perhaps not very punctual, but always enthusiastic. We talk about going to US Information Centre to have internet lessons.

When I'm walking home through the Kuku market, a man grabs my arm and holds it so tightly that it hurts. I wrestle my arm free, and immediately another man comes to scold him.

Tuesday

The students have two exams, and I supervise the latter one. Thus, no time for review that day either. I catch some students passing notes to each other, and get extremely annoyed with them.

I have no classes on Tuesdays, so usually I use them for planning the lessons. I need to go to town to take care of some things and to visit an internet cafe. When I get to the internet cafe and manage to open all necessary web pages, their connection drops. The solution they offer is to come back some other time. I haven't managed to do any of the things I had planned, such as updating this blog. Oh well, maybe next day. I head back to work to do some paperwork and to plan an exam on MS Excel for the students. I leave work at 17:10 and make it home just before it's dark.

Wednesday

My morning is rather slow, and after I've left home, I notice that I forgot to take my credit card with me. I need cash, so I return home to fetch it and leave again. In town, I walk to an internet cafe. On my way there, a man starts talking to me. He comments on me being late for work and asks about my weekend. I give short and a bit impolite answers because I find it odd that a stranger talks to me like that. After he asks about school, I realize that I've talked with him earlier as well. I had met him while walking along Los Angeles road.

In the internet cafe, I see a friend and we go to a cafe next door to have coffee. It's one of the very few places in central Lusaka from where you can get good coffee. It's my favorite internet cafe because they have the most reliable internet connection that I've found and even a wireless connection, so I can enjoy a cappuccino in the cafe while surfing in the internet with my own laptop and imagine for a moment that I'm somewhere else than in Lusaka. I stay in the cafe long enough to update the blog and search for some information that had been on my mind. I forget half of the things I had planned to do because I'm trying to hurry up to get to work.

At work, I have only an afternoon computer class. I show them how to draw pictures and insert them to word document. They catch the idea quickly and practice with enthusiasm.

Was this a typical week? Some weeks are perhaps less eventful but I still don't know what is typical in Lusaka. It did have some exceptional points, such as not having any power cuts at work or at home.