Though I still don’t have an answer, I finally understand why people ask this question. Our first time out in the field involved travelling through the “bush”. With miles and miles of shrubs, small trees, and dirt, many people lived in small accommodations on the side of the road, selling fruits and vegetables, usually potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and musala (a leafy staple). A main road winds next to the Luangwa River, which separates Mozambique from Zambia. Many farm animals like to cross this road…and you can probably infer what happens next. A moment of silence for that chicken…and that goat…and all those bugs that met their fate on the windshield. Thus, begins the tale of our first field work trip: over the past week, we visited a small village in the southeastern corner of Zambia called Luangwa, at the borders of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, near the Lower Zambezi National Park. We left on Sunday and drove for about 4.5 hours, arriving at dusk. Since our original lodge no longer had space, we made our way to Justfeeli Lodge, which has me humming the chorus of Maroon 5’s “Just a Feeling” song every time it’s spoken (if you don’t know this song, please go listen to it. It’s one of their older songs, but soooooo good). Lodging accommodations were exceptional with the staff there very friendly (as almost all Zambians are) and they would watch the World Cup with us each night. On the first day, we left early to go to the river’s edge to see where the Luangwa and the Zambezi river met. We were able to see the early morning catch of bream and see the first baobab tree that David Livingstone (famous explorer renown for “discovering” Zambia and loved by Zambians) saw when he crossed over and set foot in Livingstone. Then, we headed to the training location and many of the agents got lost to our training location, so while waiting, we met a group of women pumping water from a well (my engineering mind went crazy analyzing how durable and structurally sound the pump was, especially since I’d never seen a pump before), and I tried my hand at pumping water into a well. Later, I found out that the women pumped twice as fast as I did, but they were still courteous enough to let me pump for them and didn’t complain (or maybe they did…I didn’t understand the words they spoke in Nyanja). But when I had to leave, one woman, balancing water on her head, placed her hand over her heart and that was the sincerest thank you I had ever had. The training began with 7 new people wanting to become agents. We gathered in a somewhat run-down building and the training commenced. Drew and I frantically took notes, observing the training and detailing aspects we could improve upon. I won’t bore you with the details of the training, but this went on for two days and we learned a lot, talking with these new agents. On the third day, we met up with 5 existing agents and 2 sales and service representatives (more experienced agents who help existing agents with problems). We met in a thatched house that was built by Zimbabweans and let me tell you, thatching should be the new roofing style of all houses (or at least researched by the Civil Engineering Department). Not only was it structurally sound and quite pretty to look at, but it kept the heat out, especially since Luangwa is known to have some of the hottest temperatures in all of Zambia. But I digress. With these existing agents, it was interesting to hear all about the challenges that they faced in the field and seeing how the refresher training better enabled them to discover solutions and work with their fellow agents.
Anyways, just remember folks, don’t drive down the freeway at 65 MPH when there are animals crossing!
13 Comments
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