Lusaka is a big, sprawling, noisy and traffic-filled African capital city. It has a rapidly growing population of people and cars, which turns it into one huge traffic jam several times a day.
It seemed a world away from some of the incredibly beautiful natural places I had visited and loved on my trip already and was therefore a strange place for me to choose to hang around for a while. But hang around I did!
So, why?
So, why?
The main reason was that soon after I arrived I found out about some interesting community projects in the city that I decided i'd like to visit. One was a project providing education for disabled children and young people and the other was a project that provided special seating for disabled children. So, the plan (ahem) was to visit both and then move on. But after visiting, I decided i'd like to try and be a bit useful, so offered to help out for a while. Below is a little information about both.
Special Hope Network
Special Hope Network is an organisation based in Lusaka run by an American couple and staffed by local people. The organisation runs two main projects - a special school for children with learning disabilities and an outreach project for disabled children in the poorer districts of Lusaka. I visited both projects, but spent most of my time based at the school. There, i helped to create educational activities and communication resources, including a communication folder / eye-gaze frame for one young man with Cerebral Palsy. (Champions! - check out the Boardmaker symbols!) It was lovely to spend time with the children and young people, to meet everyone involved with the projects and to see and hear about the progress the children had made since receiving support from the projects.
Apters
Apters is a small organisation based in Lusaka run by 'physically challenged' Zambians. (The term they choose to use) Apters trains and employs local disabled people to breathe new life into waste paper and cardboard by turning it into new, useful products. In itself, that would be a pretty cool organisation. But what makes Apters even more amazing is that the majority of products they make from the waste paper and cardboard are special seats, standing and walking-frames for disabled children!
The Apters workshop is open all through the week, but Wednesday mornings are clinic mornings. This is when families visit with their disabled children in order to have them assessed by a volunteer physiotherapist and measured for whichever equipment is recommended. Whilst in Lusaka, I spent some very happy Wednesdays helping the physio and spending time with the families and children. It was a very special project and deserves its own blog post which is coming soon!
Special Hope Network
Special Hope Network is an organisation based in Lusaka run by an American couple and staffed by local people. The organisation runs two main projects - a special school for children with learning disabilities and an outreach project for disabled children in the poorer districts of Lusaka. I visited both projects, but spent most of my time based at the school. There, i helped to create educational activities and communication resources, including a communication folder / eye-gaze frame for one young man with Cerebral Palsy. (Champions! - check out the Boardmaker symbols!) It was lovely to spend time with the children and young people, to meet everyone involved with the projects and to see and hear about the progress the children had made since receiving support from the projects.
Apters
Apters is a small organisation based in Lusaka run by 'physically challenged' Zambians. (The term they choose to use) Apters trains and employs local disabled people to breathe new life into waste paper and cardboard by turning it into new, useful products. In itself, that would be a pretty cool organisation. But what makes Apters even more amazing is that the majority of products they make from the waste paper and cardboard are special seats, standing and walking-frames for disabled children!
The Apters workshop is open all through the week, but Wednesday mornings are clinic mornings. This is when families visit with their disabled children in order to have them assessed by a volunteer physiotherapist and measured for whichever equipment is recommended. Whilst in Lusaka, I spent some very happy Wednesdays helping the physio and spending time with the families and children. It was a very special project and deserves its own blog post which is coming soon!
Another reason that Lusaka seemed like a good place to pause from travelling for a while was the people I met there. At the backpackers' hostel where I stayed, there were quite a few people who were staying in Lusaka for a while - doing medical placements in local hospitals, carrying out research for their studies or looking for jobs as bush pilots! It was quite a different environment from many hostels where you meet lots and lots of people very briefly because everyone is staying just one or two nights and then moving on. (like I was supposed to!) It was really lovely to spend some time getting to know people well. Through helping out at the organisations, I also got to know quite a few people who lived in Lusaka, which gave me an opportunity to learn more about the place.
Staying in Lusaka also gave me my first experience of 'requesting a visa extension'. I had been granted a standard 30 day visa for Zambia, so had to get it extended in order to stay longer. I imagined a process involving dark offices, strict-looking immigration officers and hours of interrogative questions about exactly why I wanted to stay longer in the country, followed possibly by me handing over some dollars... But no, quite the opposite! The actual process involved one smiling lady, no questions and no dollars - I was in and out in under 5 minutes!
Whilst I had a great time in Lusaka, I didn't learn to love the noisy, traffic-filled streets, so it was lucky that there were some quieter, more beautiful places to visit only a short ride from the city.
Staying a while in Lusaka was a really positive experience because of the projects and people that I got to know, but also because it was an important reminder that travelling is about more than just racing from one place to the next and ticking countries off a list. It also has to be about stopping and experiencing and getting to know. Lusaka, its residents, its immigration officials and its other visitors gave me that opportunity and for that I am very grateful!
Interesting Facts:
Bastien, Marcela, Margherita and me!
Staying in Lusaka also gave me my first experience of 'requesting a visa extension'. I had been granted a standard 30 day visa for Zambia, so had to get it extended in order to stay longer. I imagined a process involving dark offices, strict-looking immigration officers and hours of interrogative questions about exactly why I wanted to stay longer in the country, followed possibly by me handing over some dollars... But no, quite the opposite! The actual process involved one smiling lady, no questions and no dollars - I was in and out in under 5 minutes!
Whilst I had a great time in Lusaka, I didn't learn to love the noisy, traffic-filled streets, so it was lucky that there were some quieter, more beautiful places to visit only a short ride from the city.
Elephant Orphanage
'Monkey Pools'
Interesting Facts:
- Zambia has borders with seven other African countries
- Many Zambians enjoy fried caterpillars as a tasty snack! Yum! And no, I didn't try any!
:)
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