Upon our arrival in Shiwang’andu, I was amazed by how empty the streets were. Having been “created” 3 years ago, this was still a growing town that had a lot to offer. Known for their lake, hot springs, and crocodiles (andu), Shiwang’andu is an incredible place to simply relax, enjoy the pace, and my favorite part, looking up into the night sky. And on this particular night, as we stood outside the lodge, we were in the middle of a syzygy—when three celestial bodies align (probably not what you originally thought, huh?). We saw Venus to our east and Mars rising directly to our west; not to mention Jupiter directly above us. Although in the technical sense, these planets were not fully aligned, it felt as if they were. But what really stood out to me that first night were the stars. Everyone always talks about how amazing it is to stargaze and be able to see constellations, but very few people will have ever experienced something quite like this. Even though I’ve been camping all over the United States and been to places with minimal light pollution, this was so…different. Maybe it’s because I’m in the southern hemisphere or it was unexpected, but with no lights shining, the town was completely dark (save one or two lights in front of a store) and as we stepped out to get water bottles from a general store, I was blown away by how clear the sky was.
There it was, a clear 360-degree view of all night sky and though I still cannot comprehend the wave of awe and emotions, I remember that I just stopped walking and stood there, my neck craned back and my breathing slowed. There was the milky way, and Sagittarius shooting at Scorpio. Libra had Jupiter in its midst, while Leo pawed at Venus. Capricorn held onto Mars while Saturn stabilized Sagittarius. But even before I learned about these constellations, I just watched the night sky, imagining that each of these stars had travelled light years to reach my eyes. Each one existed somewhere far beyond me. Beyond the course of humanity. Yet, this was not a moment in which I felt small or overpowered by nature. Rather, I appreciated the fact that only in Zambia had I been able to experience this. Yes, they do burn their trash without proper incinerators and they do have no catalytic converters on their cars and they do use fossil fuels for a portion of their electricity, but nowhere else has the sky been so clear that I can witness this sight. Nowhere else (besides Kentucky for now), can I see a lunar rainbow because the moonlight is able to pierce the air and shine onto a waterfall’s mist. While we may give crap to developing countries for their actions towards the environment, it’s interesting to note that at least they have not reached America’s level of pollution that the sky can still be seen. I hope it remains this way.
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Starting at 4:30 AM and another 9.5 hour bus ride (I swear I never want to get on another bus in my life), we ended up in Mpika in the North part of Zambia. Unlike Luangwa, the weather here is quite chilly and the sky was rather overcast. Drew and I had just improved upon the training manual and we were ready to give this new and improved one a go. Unfortunately, either due to bad food or the bumpy road, Drew received a severe case of stomach issues and had to rest for our first day and a half (don’t worry, he’s much better now). In the end, I observed the training on the first day and then we both interviewed the 20 agents the following day (it took a long time). Before you continue reading, I apologize for the lack of photos in this post, but this is an important topic. But as the title mentions, today I’ve decided to focus on farming, especially since Mpika is a large on agriculture and over half of the new agents we were training were farmers. I will refer to him as Gordon, in order to preserve his anonymity. It all started with a bottle of Embe. We were at the counter about to buy something to drink and I asked Gordon what he liked to drink. He told me mango juice (Embe to be precise), so I bought us both a bottle and we sat down to eat lunch and converse. I asked him what Embe meant and he told me it was the word for mango in the native tongue of Tanzania. Now, this led him to open up much more about his own goals, which was to start an all-natural fruit juice company in Zambia. “Most of the juice is imported,” Gordon said, “But with the right inputs and technology, we could have our own juice right here.” I was very interested in what he had to hear, so Gordon told me all the details about agriculture and his life. Currently a researcher at a local university, he graduated from Copperbelt University in a prestigious agricultural program, set up by a very knowledgeable Zambian. Although he works as a researcher, he considers himself a farmer. Even though he owns 1/4 of a hectare, which is about half the size of a football field, he hopes to one day be able to increase his business, and here’s his insight into the farming in Zambia.
I thought it was very interesting that he never mentioned outside aid, rather the need for Zambians to help each other internally. He believed all the resources existed, but Zambia needed better distribution of inputs focused more on agriculture. Having companies providing these inputs to these rural areas truly makes a difference in their lives by increasing annual yields which lead to an increase in sales, so farmers can invest more and more until they have larger plots of land from which to start pursuing other goals, such as a juice company. At least this is the goal. One quote stuck out in mind when I asked him what the situation for most farmers now. Gordon said that people were too comfortable on their small plots of land, so they could not improve their livelihoods: “Comfortability Prevents Progress”Later, I met another agent who grew tilapia and three-striped bream in his fish pond. When I asked him why he decided to join the training, he told me that climate change and overuse of water was drying up all the wells, so he no longer had enough water for the pond.
SIDENOTE: I’m really excited to work on my senior design project which is an aquaponics system that reduces water use for fish farming and agriculture by 95%. Although we hope to implement it in Uganda, I would love to scale the product for use in Zambia one day as well! Both Gordon and the fish-farmer hoped to be VITALITE agents so that they could make additional money to expand their farming industry by being able to afford products. But at the same time, they wanted to help their communities be able to afford these inputs by advertising about VITALITE products. For those of you still confused about the title. Let me give you some insight into American history. Back in the day, Ben Franklin anonymously called himself Poor Richard and created a field guide for farmers to help them succeed and increase yields. Similarly, VITALITE aims to provide the inputs necessary for Zambian farmers to succeed. Different century, same problems. |
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