Life in Kalomo

Dear All,

Kalomo Market

Well, I have been here for 4 months now.  I talked with you about Kalomo, so I thought I would tell you alittle bit about Zambia.  It is a landlocked country in south-central Africa and is about one-tenth larger than Texas.  It is surrounded by Angola, Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia.   When I went to Botswana, there is a place when crossing the river I was able to see all 4 countries, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.  It was really change.   The government is republic and the President is Michael Chilufya Sata since 2011.  Next election is 2016.  They have about 15,000,000 people with a growth rate of 2.89%.  There birth rate is 43.1/1000 and the infant mortality rate is 70.6/1000.  There live expectancy is 53 years of age.  The capital is the largest city and is Lusaka with 1.75 million.  You can imagine the size of Texas and that large of a infant morality rate.
The money here is in monetary units of Kwacha.  Exchange rate is about 5.3 Kwacha to 1 USD.
The official language is English, however they have over 71 different languages here.  In the Southern Province where I am, they speak Tonga.  Today, the country is made up almost entirely of Bantu-speaking peoples.
In 1889 Cecil Rhodes, a Empire builder obtained mining concessions from King Lewanika of the Barotse and then sent settlers to the area.   He also established the British South Africa Company which the region was ruled.  Until 1924, when the British government took over the administration.
The african population ethnicity is 99.5% which includes tribes of Bemba, Tonga, Chewa, Lozi, Nsenga, Tumbuka, Ngoni, Lala, Kaonde, Lunda, and other African groups, other 0.5% includes Europeans, Asians, and Americans according to the 2000 census.
The religions are Christian 50%–75%, Islam and Hindu 24%–49%, indigenous beliefs 1%.  Very different from Uganda where 45% were Catholic. 
There literacy rate is 81%, but again like Uganda the expectations for passing grades is only 50%, which is low standards for schools.
They have a growth rate of 6.6%.  Inflation is 8.7% and in 2006 they had an unemployment rate of 14%.  There agriculture is corn, sorghum, rice, peanuts, sunflower seed, vegetables, flowers, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, cassava, coffee; cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, milk, eggs, and hides.  They have natural resources of copper, which in the Northern Province is abundant and they call it the Copperbelt.  I hear the area is growing fast in the north.  They also have cobalt, zinc, lead, coal emeralds (have not fount any yet), gold, silver, uranium, and hydropower.  So you can see that they would do copper mining and processing, construction, foodstuff, beverages, textiles, and fertilizer for their industries.   However, in 1975 the world copper market collapsed and since Zambia had been the third largest miner of copper in the world after the US and the Soviet Union, Zambia was devastated. Again in 1999 there was another depression of economy from copper prices because copper provided 80% of Zambia’s export earnings.
There major trading partners are South Africa, China, Switzerland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kuwait, South Korea.
The Health system is still so far behind the US.  It is sad to see.  People walk for many Kms just to get to a health center that has no xray, labs, dressings, and medications etc.
Zambia has cell phones, where you buy airtime each time you use it, just like Uganda.  Same with the internet bundles.  You can buy 1 GB up to 3 GB each month. 
The rivers include Zambezi and Luapula rivers, and Lake Tanganyika.  When I was thinking about where to go in Zambia for Christmas, I thought about Lake Tanganyika.  It is suppose to be beautiful.  However, you are unable to get into the water due to contamination.  Which is ashame! 
The airport is in Lusaka, but they just opened another airport in Livingston.  President Bush and Clinton both came at different times to Zambia last month to donate money to the health centers and flew into the Livingston airport.  This is also where all the tourist for Victoria Falls come in. 
They are also having a big UN Convention in Livingston the end of August, so Zambia has put alot of money into improvements in Livingston and Victoria Falls.
Well, I think that is enough about Zambia.  I don’t know if you saw my facebook pictures, but I did make it down to Livingston one weekend and went to Victoria Falls and Chobe Safari in Botswana.  I had a great time!  It was good to get away for a weekend.

 

 I really have not gone anywhere else since then.  I do plan to travel to Virginia for about 10 days to see family and other PCV’s.  I am also planning a trip for Christmas to Mozambique for about 7 days.
Kristie is doing well and gaining weight!  I found dog food in Livingston, about 150 kms away.  So another PC Response Volunteer brings me an 8 lb bag every time she travels up this way.  Kristie got all her shots and I am planning to bring her back to the US with me.  Pray that I will be able to get her out of the country!

Kristie

As far as work goes, there is alot of travel on reallllllly bad roads!  Health Centers are very rural, without power, running water and alot of them have no phone access. 

It really makes it difficult for pregnant women. 

Kitchen for the Mother's Shelter

One thing that they have over here are what they call Mother’s Shelter’s.  That is a small building with a roof that mother’s who are close to delivering come so they will be near the health center for the birth.  Since they live so far away.  They come with everything they need for a couple of days or a month.  They also come with their families, mother’s, grandmother’s, aunts etc.  So you may have many people at a shelter that only sleeps about 8.  Some of the shelter’s do not even have doors, some no roof’s.  The MoH rely’s on donors to help build shelter’s, for that matter alot of other things as well.
I wrote a story of one mother’s complicated delivery for the ZCAHRD newsletter.   Makes you really thank God you are in America!
At one of the Rural Health Center (RHC) many mother’s come from a large catchment area to deliver.  The population is 5,868, and 1,314 of them are women of child bearing age.  They have 317 expected pregnancies, 305 expected delivers and 290 expected live births in 2013.  In June 2013 there were 36 deliveries, 28 with a skilled midwife.   Not all births are with someone skilled.  The center has only solar power in the labor room, no phone access available and no referral transport system; which makes it difficult during the time of delivery during an emergency.  During the cold months there is no heater, the health facility is very cold at night for delivering mothers.  One mother came to deliver twins.   She delivered her first twin and the baby was a normal delivery; the second twin was not coming.   She started to bleed heavily an hour after delivering her first twin.   Her blood pressure started to drop to 65/40 and the midwife was losing her.  The second babies heartbeat stopped and hour after the first delivery. 
It was during raining season so the streams were flooded and no vehicle could pass though.  Having no phone access, the watchman had to go 40 kms in order to make the call for the ambulance.  The ambulance could not get past the flooded stream.   The midwife put the mother, in labor and bleeding in an Ox cart in order to get her to the stream.

Can be either a Donkey or an Ox Cart

Imagine what it must have been like in labor, on an ox cart, with no fetal heart rate of your second twin, during the pouring rain in order to get to the stream.   Once she got over the flooded stream one of the community members took her in his vehicle to the hospital.  When she arrived, she was taken to theater immediately and the stillborn second twin was delivered via C-section.    The Surgeon at the hospital said, “This woman is not supposed to be alive.”   It really is a miracle how these people withstand all the trauma and complications that they have to go though, just for treatment, food, and water.
I am still working with Mari Kelley’s Foundation in Uganda!  So if you feel you want to donate...Please do.  If you know someone that would like to donate please pass on the information!  www.marikelleyscows.org  Remember it is Tax Deductible.

Well, for now, stay Safe and Be Happy!
Love & Light,
Mari
“Lushomo”