Stepping Into a World of Juxtapositions

Hey Everyone!  I have embarked on another 8-week summer educational adventure through the Cornell Global Health minor program… to Lusaka, Zambia in southern Africa!  After 48 hours of almost sleepless flying, a missed connection and a brief moment of exhausted hysteria, I have arrived safe and sound – and am already having a wonderful time.  I’ll be spending these eight weeks with three other undergrads – Mohit, Jenn and Chris – but we’re going to be working as two separate groups for the majority of the time, so Mohit and I are going to be really good friends by the end of the summer! 

Mohit modelling our first authentic Zambian lunch!  Today we went to a local restaurant for nshima ("n-shee-mah")  with vegetables.  Here, we ate with the "African knife and fork"... also known as the fingers.  In a way, it reminded me of being back in Southern India.

Lusaka is the capital city of Zambia – and this African city truly feels like a fusion of East and West – or of India and North America, but definitely the Indian-like component is more visible.  There is an interesting clash of sparkling shopping malls, western fast food restaurants, mini-buses dangerously packed with passengers and the almost inexistence of street addresses.  But, just like India, each of the Zambian people that I have interacted with thus far are (or at least seem to be) genuinely nice people and live a relaxed, “hakuna matata” (or “no worries”) type of lifestyle. 

This summer, we are living in the guesthouse of the Zambian-Italian Orthopedic Hospital – it’s beautiful.  The compound is peaceful, safe and quiet; we have clean water to drink and running water to shower with and an old bunny-ears-type television that gets three alternating channels (we’re most excited about the occasional access to Disney Junior).  But the best part is that this hospital is run by Catholic nuns… I have to admit I was so excited to finally meet a nun in real life.  Sure, The Sound of Music was great, but this is even better.  Sister Margaret, the nun who primarily looks after us, is one of those graceful people with a quietly powerful presence – and she definitely runs this hospital.  We’re all hoping that we can become friends with her by the end of our 8-weeks here!

Mohit and I will be working with the demography department of the University of Zambia (UNZA) and NASTAD (the National Alliance of State and Territory AIDS Directors), a United-States based HIV/AIDS organization for our 8-week service-learning project.  As of now, we’re not really sure what exactly we’ll be doing, but I’m sure we’ll figure it all out soon… and hey, that’s part of the fun of something like this.  Today, though, we had the opportunity to sit in on a course material review for a 14-part series on project and program planning offered at UNZA.  A joint initiative between the CDC, UNICEF, UNZA and NASTAD, this short-course program is designed to train individuals to effectively plan, organize and run a project in their communities, based on their own community needs.  It was really interesting to observe this daylong process – and we actually get to be involved in the editing and revision process as well, which is exciting.  Overall, I still don’t really know what to expect or what’s coming next – but so far I’m having a great time with wonderful people in a surprisingly charming city.

Our first day at the University of Zambia - Mohit and I are standing in front of the UNZA library with two of our co-workers, Maybin (standing next to Mohit) from NASTAD and Mr. Moyo (standing next to me) from the UNZA demography department.