Zambian Sky/A big day

Today was the big Zambian Christian University council meeting. While the administrators and other members of the council met, Ba-Pwetenge and Ba-Eland continued this week's work of making measurements for the renovations of at least 4 buildings which will become classrooms, offices and the like. Ba-Katengo and I continued to fine tune some of the computers that are going to be on the network while I filled his head with as much networking knowledge as I could this week. We had the opportunity to show the council the Raspberry Pi machines and how they worked. We also created a presentation slideshow with Libre office Impress (think of a free powerful version of PowerPoint) that was stored on the main server and accessed it (animations included I must say) from the Raspberry Pi to show how two operating systems could still communicate, how the files were compatible with both systems and also how we did it all with donated/very low cost equipment. This was probably one of the most important moments for me because it's almost validation that what I came to do, from a technical perspective, works.

The Zambian Sky, as I have alluded to in past posts, is incredible. If I had any artistic ability at all I would love to have the opportunity to just sit on a high peak somewhere and paint it as it changes each day. But I don't, so I use my camera phone to take pictures. Most have been as we drive, but today Dr. Thomas convinced me to go on the roof of the car to take a picture. Now, I'm not a petite man, and I'm not particularly graceful. BUT, as a man, I couldn't back down from the challenge. So I got on the roof and quickly made sure I stepped on the outside frame because I felt a dip. I took a few great snaps (as they are called in Zambia). I quickly remembered that I have a moderate fear of heights when I look up for some reason, and I basically jumped off of the roof of an SUV. But I landed safely, I know some of you may have expected something far worse . . . but I still have some athletic ability, lol. Here are a few snaps.

ZACU Council meeting/Time to demonstrate

Today is the ZACU council meeting. Me and Ba-Katengo will have a chance to demonstrate the system that we configured in the states and transported over via suitcases. We also installed Ubuntu Mate on an older Windows XP laptop in order to show that we CAN use older equipment efficiently, and that Ubuntu is a great open source option. I hope that it goes well, we are well prepared for it.

MONKEYS

We saw monkeys scurry up a small tree. It was too fast to capture. Ha. I bet I got all of your hope up, lol.

Computers work/breaking the ceiling/coleslaw conspiracy

Yesterday Ba-Katengo and me finally had a chance to get the computers for the administrative center up and running. We connected 3 desktop windows computers and a Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu Mate. We are relieved that all of the equipment that we tested and setup in the states works properly and all of the computers can communicate with each other. Getting internet access is the next step

As we were trying​ to determine where to run network cables through the drop ceiling Ba-Pwetenge invited me up to have a look and show me where I could and could not step. I had to climb up through the closet to get there. I then followed his instructions, and stepped carefully around the attic. When I was done I felt triumphant. I jumped down to the top of the closet, which I assumed was solid, and heard a big boom and crack. Oops. I cracked the ceiling of the closet because it was particle board and not wood. Needless to say, Dr. Thomas, in talking with Ba-Pwetenge, mentioned that I probably shouldn't be going back into the ceiling.

Lastly, is there an international consortium of coleslaw lobbyists pushing this agenda world wide? At almost every fast food place that offers "salad," I've gotten coleslaw!! I'm in rural Zambia!! It happened in Lusaka and Choma, which are 4+ hours apart! WHO LIKES COLESLAW? No one asks for it, it's usually just given away as punishment and yet, it has oozed it's nasty way to Zambia! SMH. There must be some very powerful people behind it's proliferation!

Mbubo Fruit

These little guys taught me how to pick Mbubo fruit in exchange for some groundnuts.

We are on Earth/blowing stuff up

We are on Earth/Blowing stuff up

Today I FINALLY had the chance to check out the site where the college is going to be, specifically, the administrative building. The administrative building will, initially, house the administrators (duh), a receptionist, a computer lab, and a library. I did some measurements for cable runs and tested the penetration of a wifi signal coming from a mifi just to get an idea of how well wifi will work. Tomorrow I will actually set up computers and try to trick a wireless router into becoming a bridge from a mifi to another wired router to a switch. Yeah, that's gonna be interesting.

So I blew up a printer today. Well it didn't blow up in a grand explosion, but I most certainly fried the circuit board. I used a plug adapter to plug it into the wall not remembering to check the voltage. My laptop and phone chargers automatically change the voltage, apparently the printer did not. I heard a loud POP and immediately rolled my eyes because I knew what had happened. I may be able to replace the fried part, but it was still irritating nonetheless.

Lastly. While seeing sunsets and just looking out into the sky without seeing buildings and structures I realized something. We are on the Planet Earth. When I look out onto the horizon, at certain points, I don't see any human modifications or structures for several miles. I see the planet that we are on. It's amazingly beautiful! WOW. We live on this giant spinning rock with a molten core that flies around a massive burning ball of gas that is swirling around the center of a galaxy, which is likely a black hole, that is also flying through the incredulous vastness of the universe!

The Tonga Man.

Those of you who have met me know that I can speak pretty quickly . . . even for Americans. Dr. Thomas gave me some tips for communicating while here: Speak Loudly (I tend to fade as I speak), Speak Slowly (for obvious reasons), and do not use contractions.

I guess I forgot to apply the lessons that I learned today. When we were getting the bill in order to check out, the lodge owner, Mimi, knocked on Dr. Thomas's door and I answered. Now, I've spoken to her a few times and saw her in church, so she already knew about my rapid speech tendencies. She wanted to talk about the bill and I suppose it would have been difficult for her to do that with me. When I answered the door, she politely, and with a thick accent, told me "I want to talk to the Tonga man," meaning Ba-Eland, who has been gracious enough to drive us around. I turned around and called Ba-Eland, and immediately started laughing because I knew exactly what was happening. Moments like that are priceless.

Ba-Eland posing with drums.

Tech stuff and simple beauty

We have finally left Lusaka and made the 4+ hour drive back to Sikalongo. On the way back we picked up Ba-Pwetenge, who will be invaluable in assessing some of the renovation​ suggestions for ZACU when we get to the Nahumba Missions station tomorrow.

I'm excited that I will finally get to travel to the first campus that will be renovated and opened. I am even more excited that I get to actually set up the system and survey the site so that I can make technical recommendations and help to plan for the future. I've been doing a TON of reconnaissance work and research on people, resources, technical solutions and brainstorming the development of a knowledge base that will serve as a foundation for the future IT department. I'm still going to visit several more schools in order to see what they do with the computers that they have. Zambia seems to have a serious deficit in computing skills, awareness and the personnel to help bridge that gap. The good thing is that the Zambian government recognizes this and is making a big push toward hiring more people to teach those skills.

I have continually amazed at the simple beauty of Zambia, be it in the people or the landscape. Below are some pictures of two Baobab trees, they can live to be over 2,000 yrs old. These two are probably young at about 300-500 yrs old. Also below is an amazing sunset that we saw on the drive to Sikalongo.

Incredible Music and ZACU's cutting edge plan

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend service at the Chilenge Brethren in Christ Church. Dr. Thomas was asked to deliver the sermon and afterward there was a question and answer session about Zambian Christian University and lunch at Pastor Munachoonga's home and a brief meeting after our meal.

The Chilenge BIC youth choir won 3rd place at a choir competition earlier this year. During the service they did a couple of traditional Zambian acapella choral selections. I don't want to inadequately describe the sound with words. I was fortunate enough to have been allowed to record video on my phone, and smart enough to buy a 200gb memory card before I left. Let's just say that I have watched the videos with headphones on more times than I can count since last night. The lead singer's voice was effortless. The harmony, including that of the congregational singing, seemed almost innate. The church has solid concrete walls, so the sound reverberated and seemed like it was concentrated to go directly into our eardrums. I had the opportunity to go up and sing with the men of the congregation, luckily they selected a song that I knew. The older women of the congregation also performed two songs, they pretty much brought the house down and marched off with a presence that said "yeah, we still got it!"

I was honored to have been introduced to the congregation as a guest and travelling companion to Dr. Thomas and the computer "expert" that is going to set up the administrative center at ZACU. After the service ended I greeted the congregation outside of the church on Dr. Thomas's behalf, it would have been difficult and painful for him to make it to the back of the sanctuary and then back to the front for the question and answer section. It was amazing to be able to shake hands with everyone that attended the service, especially the little ones.

I had been primarily focused on technical issues in my communication with Dr. Thomas prior to the trip and even up until yesterday. After sitting in on the question and answer session and the meeting after lunch, I now have a more complete view of the overall strategic vision of ZACU and have become even MORE excited about being a part of what is happening. ZACU is looking to be cutting edge in every way possible from the beginning. Without going deep into details, it will be a distance learning University from the beginning so the council wants a system that can support the 3 campuses that will be opened initially, Nahumba, Sikalongo, and Macha. This means that files and resources need to be available to anyone from anywhere. Dr. Thomas laid a out his vision for a library that has ebooks and is accessible from the internet. He also wants to have a system whereby students could logon to a website from anywhere and request books and twice a week or more a vehicle would transport books to and from the different campuses. ZACU wants to also establish partnerships with Universities both in Zambia and globally, they see ZACU as a global University from the start and they certainly have the right people and minds in place to make it happen.

I will post videos of the incredible music on Facebook when I get home in the interest of saving on wireless data, but here is a picture of Dr. Thomas delivering his sermon.

First "real" tech day

Today was an exciting day because I got to do real tech stuff for the first time. This morning we met with Pastor Simangolwa and Ba-Miyoba to scout out some computer stores in the area in order to see what equipment was available at what prices. It turns out that there are some really good, well supplied and qualified shops in Lusaka that have can pretty much everything we would need to get up and running and in the future in terms of both hardware and services.

Later in the day, Dr. Thomas, Ba-Miyoba and I met with Ba-Muleya to go over a preliminary sort of tech wish list of things that they want to be able to do now and a vision for the future. This was great because it enables us to get our thoughts rolling about solutions. Ba-Hatontola and Ba-Sikewla then joined Ba-Miyoba and I for a sort of meeting of tech minds in order to determine who knows what, who is strong in what areas and how everyone can contribute toward the overall project. The goal of ZACU is to use as much open source software as possible and to be as electronic as possible in terms of even e-textbooks and documents. There are challenges such as getting reliable internet access at a reasonable price and keeping costs as low as possible by using as much open source software as possible. With internet access, using a wireless router from a cell carrier will most certainly be cheaper than getting a dedicated line run, but then usage costs could creep up to the point that getting a line run may make sense . . . if that line is reliable. Using open source software such as Linux Ubuntu Mate is great because it's free and there are programs that are equivalent to almost any other program that you might use on another OS. The bigger issue there is getting people to learn a different system. It is similar to Windows, but has it's quirks and a small learning curve. Even I was resistant to it but I eventually came around . . . or was convinced by Dr. Thomas ;-)

I am excited and humbled by the willingness of people to give some of thier hard earned time to help with this project. These men were willing to leave thier families on a Saturday afternoon after a long week at work to come see what this is all about. Hopefully they left excited about being able to use their skills to get ZACU up and running (and hopefully beyond), and also excited about the potential to learn to use some new systems, software and equipment that they may have had limited experience with or no experience at all with.

I know this wasn't my most exciting post, but I promise to post some great pictures from my first service at a Zambian Brethren in Christ Church tomorrow. I'm actually going to go to sleep at a decent Zambian hour tonight instead of trying to stay up late to txt with folks from the states. Thanks for reading!!

Tonga Stools and Zambian Culture

Please forgive me, I wrote a post but the app froze.
I was very interested in what elements of traditional Zambian culture were still around and what form they existed in. Fortunately Dr. Thomas has a wealth of knowledge on the topic and is eager to share it with me. Here is some of what I have learned so far.

Tribal culture is strong in some areas and has disappeared in others. One of the areas that it still strongly exists in is government. Zambians are governed by two governing bodies, the Civic Administration and the Tribal Administration. The Civic Administration is just like it is in any government, there is a President, regional leaders/governers, there are Councilmen and public services. The Zambian Civic Administration takes care of things like legal matters, crime, legislation, infrastructure, economics and international relations. The Tribal Administration is run by Chiefs of the different tribes, and Headmen. The Headmen are under the Chiefs. The Tribal Administration deals with things like land distribution, who can live where, who can farm where. They also handle societal issues like conflicts between families and some lower level crimes. They coordinate ceremonies and are the guardians of Tribal culture in Zambia.

Another interesting thing that I learned about is the Tonga Stool. This is a handmade stool, made from a single piece of wood. This stool was traditionally used by the elders in meetings. It is also used by the head of the household, if they have a stool. Traditionally only the man of the house can sit on the stool, but some of those traditions have been relaxed. Dr. Thomas has had several made by Alfred, a carpenter in the Sikalongo region, and I will have the opportunity to watch him make some new ones from a tree that was recently cut down. I have attached a few photos of some for you to see. I have also attached a picture of David and his drums that he makes along the road to Lusaka.

More pics of Sikalongo Mission

Administrative Center
Classrooms
Dining Hall
Clinic
Innocent and I
Bina Doris and I
Random Buildings
Lunch with Dr. Thomas, Innocent, and Bina Doris

Tour of Sikalongo Mission

Today Innocent took me on a tour of the Sikalongo Mission Station. I saw the administrative center, the classroom buildings, the dormatories, the secondary school, the church, and the dining hall. As I mentioned earlier, there is a Pastor's retreat so Ba-Mweene took me in front of the congregation in the church after prayer and introduced me by my American and Zambian names. He said some other things in Tonga that prompted laughter, but I'm sure it was endearing, he has a good sense of humor and gave me my first name, Siantele. I had the opportunity to meet the Bishop of the Zambian Brethren in Christ Church Bishop Hamukang'andu

Bina Doris gave me my first taste of Zambian food today. I had nshima, which is a cornmeal porridge kind of like grits, and relish, which was made out of Rape, which is like spinach, and tomato. I learned how to properly eat it by rolling the nshima (N shee ma) around in my hand and making a dimple in it to use as a scoop for the relish. I also tried Sweet Beer, which is a drink made of ground corn meal and, if you want, sugar. It was sweet indeed, and a bit chunky, but good.

Dr. Thomas was certainly the right person to come to Zambia with. As a student of history I can really appreciate his knowledge of the history of the Zambian church and culture. He seems to know EVERYONE and thier families, what village they are from and if they have moved recently. He has a love for MANY cultures around the world and tries his best to look at them from a historical perspective in order to determine why they may or may not behave in a certain manner. This is very similar to how I understand the world, so we seem to work well together and understand what each other are saying.

We have to be up early tomorrow morning to travel to Lusaka, the capital city. There Dr. Thomas has some meetings and I will be exploring the city looking for places that sell electronics and will be meeting with some people that have IT experience and a few that have some computer knowledge in order to help build a team that can support ZACU (Zambian Christian University) in the future. My next few posts will be attempts at posting and labeling pictures from my phone.

-Siantele Mudenda

An about face and back on souvenirs

After learning about, and witnessing, the economic struggles of the average Zambian I felt a bit guilty that I was planning to buy souvenirs. Why do I get to spend money to take nice things home when most of the people here are struggling to stay afloat and often go without things that they need. We Americans have so many more resources available from the government and exponentially more opportunities to work and earn a living. But then a light switch clicked. I thought am I just going to give money away, or buy things for people? No, that will perpetuate a sense of dependency that can sometimes develop between those living in a country with less economic opportunity and those coming into a country to help in a developmental capacity. What, then, is the best way for me to both give back, besides the work that I am doing, and support the Zambians in a sustainable way? I came to the conclusion that buying souvenirs both supports the local economy and gives those vendors the confidence and drive to keep going and fuels their entrepreneurial spirits. So instead of buying the more fancy stuff that I saw in the South African airport or from bigger stores, I will, mostly, buy from the local shops that I get to visit in the towns. I may buy one or two things from the airport, but I will really focus on buying the things that the people are selling, less so the companies.

Day 2 and my Tonga name

     Everyone I have met so far has been exceedingly nice in welcoming me to Zambia. I have apparently already earned a Tonga name. I was given my last name, which is my Clan name. A Clan is a part of a Tribe, the Tonga Tribe in this case. Each clan is represented by the spirit of an animal. My clan is the Mudenda clan. So my last name is Mudenda, this name was given to me by Ba-Thomas (Dr. Thomas), and Ba-Eland. The Mudenda tribe is represented by the Elephant, which is a strong and wise animal . . . that also has considerable mass. I'm pretty sure I know which reason prompted the selection of my name, but I'll keep that to myself :). My first name is Siantele, which was given to me by Ba-Mweene. The Siantele is an animal that is similar to a Mongoose or Meerkat. It is brave and quick and is hard to catch because it can pop in and out of holes. This may have been because I speak quickly, but  you rarely get a straight answer when you ask why your name was given. So I am Siantele Mudenda.

     There is a Pastor's retreat at the Sikalongo Bible Institute this week so over 120 Pastors from all over Zambia are here having meetings and spending time together. I mention this because several of them have come to visit Dr. Thomas. In Zambian culture greeting is very important, so I had the opportunity to sit and talk with each of the people who came to see Dr. Thomas.
 
     The respectful way to greet someone is to call them by their family name (last name), with the prefix Ba. So I would be Ba-Lettley. The older women you would call Bina-by thier oldest child's first name with the prefix "Bina" so Bina-Doris, for example, Is called by the name of her oldest child Doris. She is a woman who lives in a village near Sikalongo and helps to take care of the buildings there. Staying in the house for the week during the retreat are Pastor Mweene and Pastor Hansumo, I call them Ba-Mweene and Ba-Hunsumo. I also met Ba-Simunene, Ba- Soko, Ba-Sikalima, Ba-Nseemani, Ba-Mulenga, Ba-Mungo, and Ba-Eland, who will be driving us around to the different places we will be during our trip. I also met a young man named Innocent, we can call the younger generation by their first names, who is 19 years old and has been doing work to help those around Sikalongo, in about a 15-20 mile radius, with disabilities. The disabled population here, more so than in the U.S., is a severely underserved populations with about 10 specialty schools in the entire country serving a population of over 15 million people. This young man is basically doing a needs assessment on his own and, with the help of a family in the U.S. that has visited Zambia before and has experience working with the disabled population, is helping to support two young girls that have special needs and helped them gain admission to one of the few specialized schools that Zambia has! He has a huge heart of gold! I also met Progress, who is a young lady in high school that is trying to finish school and work toward a nursing career!

     I will be getting up to go to morning devotions to meet all of the Pastors tomorrow at 7am. I will also be taken on a tour of the Sikalongo Missions Station which includes a primary school, the Sikalongo Bible Institute, and a clinic, by Innocent. I will take pictures then and post them. The last two days have been mostly travel, getting computer equipment organized, meeting tons of people, and just settling in. We have prepared our own food so far, and by we, I mean me, and by food I mean peanut butter and jam sandwiches, cereal, coffee, fruit, and boiled eggs, which I had to text my sister to ask how long to boil them and still didn't boil them long enough. I made them soft not thinking about salmenella because the eggs are not pasturized. So I put them back on to boil. The power was out at the start of the day and has been on ever since. That was one of the big concerns regarding how productive I would be able to be with setting up the equipment. That will not be until Tuesday and it will be in a different part of the country, so we will see what happens.

      Lastly, all of the equipment made it through. We packed computers, monitors, a bunch of cables, routers and switches, or "switchers," as Ba-Thomas calls them, into regular old suitcases with no locks and checked them, crossing our fingers that they would make it through all the way, especially through the notoriously sticky fingered South African airport. The Thomas's strategy of packing them in 1970's era looking suitcases that they got from thrift stores and packing clothing to protect them worked!! There is this rooster outside the house that likes to make lots of noise in the middle of the night along with the dogs that apparently have a fighting ring right outside my window that they only use after midnight. I told myself that if the rooster continues to make noise I WILL eat him before I leave.

-Dee in Zambia

Finally made it!

My first day in Zambia was very productive! I was able to exchange money on my own, food shop and buy SIM cards without assistance! Fortunately English is one of the official languages! We arrived in Sikalongo at about 7:40pm after a 4 hour drive which happened after the 3 flights totalling about 17 hours in the actual air not counting layovers. So it was a long trip to say the least. I am looking forward to meeting more people and going to town to shop at the market for vegetables on Wednesday and experience as much culture as I can. This is a short post because I am exhausted and basically only travelled today, well, yesterday. We are 6 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time so it's 12:14am on Wednesday morning now, more to come tomorrow when I buy more data for my SIM card!

Amazing

I'm about to fly in the air over the ocean in a metal tube that is fueled by burning chemicals!! Humans are pretty cool!!

Last slumber in the Northern Hemisphere

As I prepare to take my last nap in the Northern Hemisphere until I get back I have realized that the magnitude of what is happening hasn't hit me as of yet. I mean, I know that I am going to Zambia for 23 days, I know that I am going to experience and observe a completely different way of existing on this planet, but I also don't want to set any expectations or presuppose anything. I am really ready to be open and just "be" for the first time in a while. I'm excited about not being surrounded by the familiar, and excited about learning how I will interact with a completely different world. I'm prepared and ready more than nervous. Plus I'm excited that I can use italics and bold, or both for emphasis (take note Facebook)!

Typical guy

So now that my first post is out of the way, I feel more comfortable writing.

Don't judge me because I am doing laundry right now and have yet to pack for my trip. I know what I am bringing and have a list. I spent my entire week with my girls and got home at 1am. I decided that a good night's rest would be better than trying to pack while tired and groggy, lol.

This blog will be a mixture of, information, deep thoughts, and humor, just like me. Sarcasm doesn't often transfer well to text, so I may decide to italicize some of the less obvious barbs.

I'll eventually figure out how to post pictures and videos with text. I'll be doing the blog entirely from my phone, so please forgive me for any formatting errors or other weird looking things!

-Dee

First post

I think this quick thought would be good for a first blog post. A friend just asked me what I am most excited about. Here was my reply:
"I'm excited about just being. I want to take as much as I can in and let my mind wander, reflect and put things into a more developed perspective. Gonna try to stay off electronic entertainment and use books, pen and paper, and, most importantly, people as my stimulus."