As I write, it's almost exactly 14 days until we will chuck our bags into the back of Will's car and head for the Malawian border for a weeks' holiday before flying back to London.
We chose to come for 6 months because we thought it would be just the right length to let us settle in, learn about the culture but not become too frustrated by it to sour our experiences. And so we are looking at the next 2 weeks with a mixture of happiness and sadness. The chosen length has worked.
I'm keen to get back to the flat and discover what our lovely flat sitter has done. We know that she's managed to change the source of the TV (thankfully now corrected by Lt Muir), not found the cooking utensils for 2 months (I'd hidden them in a pot next to the hob) and only just found the dumbbell that's been under the sofa the whole time (I take it I won't be needing to change the hoover bag...). How she tuned the radio to Radio 4 is a slight mystery! And before you complain about being picked on, it's not like I've named you, An... ooppsss :D
But seriously, we are looking forward to getting back to the UK, whatever you say about the weather!!
We have just been on holiday for 2 weeks. Transportation uncertainty meant that we had to stop over in Lusaka for a night at each end. We picked a hotel a bit like a Holiday Inn, which is on the edge of a brand new shopping complex.
It was like heaven - there was a TV! and a marble bathroom with a power shower!! Then we went to the shopping centre and ate a pizza with real cheese on it! It was a little overwhelming, we were surrounded by smartly dressed people and we were in our bush clothes with muddy walking boots. It all felt a bit daunting.
We went to see Skyfall (Lusaka is our nearest Cinema!) and weren't disappointed. At times I felt like I was back home and I took great comfort in seeing that the buildings and roads and Underground were still there. Although I knew full well it had been filmed before we left! There's something very comforting about James Bond in a well fitting suit when you've just been out in chaos.
I was glad we had the time to mooch about and reacclimatise before heading onward to the Falls and then Botswana. [Photos will follow] We even had burgers and a proper Indian meal in a restaurant run by Indians, decorated like they are at home! Amazeballs, as the young people say these days.
On our return, Lusaka looked a little different. We caught a plane from Livingstone, which had some very interesting passengers. In the waiting area I spotted a smart businesswoman in a shift dress, very high heels and an iPad in a smart leather case. There were others with similar displays of wealth. [She didn't do so well when we landed at Lusaka and it was raining cats and dogs and there were massive puddles, but it got me thinking].
Now when we got to the shopping centre it felt different. The diamonds were still in the jewellery shop. The 60 inch TV was in the window. The clothes in Woolworths were still clearly M&S from last summer. But the combination felt somewhat distasteful. We walked around the Food Lovers Market where there was an abundance of fresh or exotic items, I felt like I was on the 5th floor of Harvey Nicks or in Selfridges. And this wasn't nice, this was a problem.
And the problem is this - whatever your view on inequality in the UK, it's so much greater here. Of course there have always been wealthier people - the Missionaries had house servants and lived better than the locals. But, they didn't have 60 inch TVs and marble bathrooms and Mercedes Benzs.
The changes in Lusaka have been dramatic. The changes in Katete far less so. The rural people here still have no running water, no sanitation (they dig their own long drops), no electricity, only mud huts to live in. The only significant change amongst the majority of the rural population since Independence is the mobile phone (which they have to go out to charge) and the occasional solar light.
There have been any number of debates about Africa and how to develop it. I'm not about to join in right now in any depth, there's a significant ennui here associated with well meaning Muzungus trying to tell them how to do things better.
One thing I am certain of is that there will be development, it will be at a pace that most Europeans would find frustrating and it will be done in what is considered an idiosyncratic way. However, at the moment it appears also to be happening significantly at the expense of the rural population and precedents suggest this will be the cause of some discomfort in the future.
The rural population can't and don't travel to Lusaka often. They don't have internet or much TV. They don't know what's happening there. Even if they did go, I expect they'd feel too daunted to walk into the shopping centres and look at the marble bathrooms. But they shouldn't have to.
I'm still a capitalist but I've always considered the role of Government to be to work in the best interest of the whole country. The accumulation of extreme wealth in Lusaka is not to the benefit of the whole country - there are bright motivated people in the distant provinces - they need to be supported. The first thing they could do is build some decent roads - the Romans worked that out for us!
Perhaps some decent tarmac on the main road to Dar Es Salaam would be a good start.... then at least we might not have been close to death so many times yesterday..... as ever, it all comes down to self interest :)
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