Earthcharter

I knew that coming to Zambia would change my life, I just did not think it would happen in the first 3 hours.

Monday, 05 July 2010 13:12

I knew that coming to Zambia would change my life, I just did not think it would happen in the first 3 hours. First thing after arriving, we went to visit Victor's home in a compound. Compounds are the housing areas built by the colonial powers to store the people who would be laborers. It is row upon row of crooked streets with 2 room (perhaps 300 square feet) houses lining each side. The houses are made of cinder block, with no plumbing. Water come from faucets spaced about every 25 houses. There is a communal latrine. The wide streets are rutted dirt, dusty in the wind, unimaginable in the rain. This is where Victor and his wife, Marina live. I cannot find a descriptor for the setting. Not barren, it is filled with hundreds of kids playing. Not forlorn, since it is filled with adults laughing and socializing. Not decrepit, since the home we visited was warm and inviting inside. It was filled with love as Victor and Marina shared their family and their food with us. We laughed, told stories, played with little George (named after me!) and Emmanuel. As I have come to see, that is part of the story of Zambia, inconceivable poverty imposed on a hopeful and hard working people. As we were leaving the compound to head back to town, we were wading through a sea of curious children. While we walked past an uncompleted church, we heard the thumping of drums. There were four or five ranks of marching kids, 2 or 3 across, beating drums with the precision of a college band. The little boys were practicing. What I thought were drums were in fact 5 gallon plastic buckets painted to look like drums. As they marched back and forth across the church plaza, they kept yelling at each other to improve their performance. I did not see an adult anywhere. Why would they practice so hard? The wave of kids followed us to the big street out of the compound, which itself was not paved. We never felt animosity or anger. We were never fearful or intimidated. We were just strangers in a strange land. All I could think of for the rest of the evening is that this is so unfair. I met up with the rest of the Earth Charter US team, and on Saturday we met the Workers Education Association of Zambia team that works with Victor on the project. What an amazing group of people! Most were volunteers with other jobs that paid the bills. Yet, here we were on a Saturday working out the details and form of our Project COPE. We spent 4 hours in discussion as well as sharing our life stories. In that time, strong bonds of friendship formed in the dedication of our common fight, to eliminate rural poverty in Zambia in one generation, using the Earth Charter principles, and without going through a carbon economy. It takes much planning to start the process of eliminating grinding poverty for 5 million people, but it can only be done with a light heart. We have that formula with the Zambian team. After the meeting broke up, we wandered for a while with our new friends and made plans to see each other on Monday. Then we toured some of the market places, from the most upscale, to the most downscale. A cultural center adventure ended in knowledge and a neat wooden basket. I cannot talk about the poor areas or the poorest market without crying. How can we allow this to happen to our fellow humans? This is just so unfair. They do not want a handout, they just want a chance, and that is the goal of Project COPE, to just give them a chance. Tomorrow we go to visit the person in charge of Micro Financing in Zambia, because that is one of the tools we plan to use.

---