Maureen O'Dwyer has recently returned from Zambia where she worked as a volunteer for over six years with the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary whose mother house is in Chigwell, Essex. Our Parish first made contact with Maureen when she was living in Zambia and has stayed in touch with her since she returned home to live in Dublin at the end of June. As many of our readers will be aware, through our fund-raising activities, our parish is building a Skills Training Classroom at Kacema Musuma Community School in Chingola, Zambia. We invited Maureen to share a little about her experience during her years in Zambia.
Let me begin by giving you a little background information about Zambia. The country, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia, became independent on 24 October 1964. It has a population of 9,872,000 and is 752,614square km in size. Lusaka is its capital city and the local currency is kwacha. English is the official language but many provinces have their own local language. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Eighty per cent of the population live below the poverty line and 58 per cent are classified as being "extremely poor". In recent years, Zambia has been deeply affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The average life expectancy has dropped to 33 years and there is an enormous increase in the numbers of orphans and vulnerable children. The country was also affected by a bad drought in 2002 and a slump in copper prices, as copper has been one of Zambia's main exports.
The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have worked in Zambia since 1956, and in February of this year the Congregation celebrated the Golden Jubilee of their mission in Zambia. Sisters, Associates and Co-workers collaborate in different ministries in Zambia which include:
Back in 1999 when I decided to go on the missions, I explored many options but decided, after discussion with the Congregation, that the Lay Associates Programme, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was the most suitable for me. Initially I spent one year working in Lusaka, where I worked at the Bauleni Street Kids Project and at Misisi Community Project, mainly in the areas of project development and administration. In September 2000 I moved to Kasama, a small rural town which is the capital of the Northern Province where I lived for three years. In Kasama my work concentrated on two areas: setting up and working with a parish support group for families/carers of orphans and vulnerable children, and supporting a residential school for children with special educational needs. After my period in Kasama I came home to Ireland for a few months, but returned to Zambia in 2004 and worked as Regional Project Administrator for the Congregation until June 2006.
During my time in Zambia I gained a great appreciation of such basic necessities as water. Water, or rather the lack of it, is a great problem in Kasama and the area where I lived was no exception. For the first two years we had to draw water almost on a daily basis except during the rainy season when we used any buckets or basins we could find to collect the fresh rain water. I still recall the excitement if we turned on a tap and saw water coming out. It meant, of course, that we could have a shower - the fact that it was a cold shower made no difference. Before I left Kasama we had put in a large underground tank which meant that although the water still did not come on a regular basis, we had somewhere to store it. Since I returned home, every time I have a shower or see a tap running and see the wastage of water here, I think of those early days in Kasama. Even today the lcoal women will have to set out to collect water and walk for many kilometres with a 20 litre container of water on their heads.
In Zambia, especially in a rural area like Kasama, a use is found for everything. We never threw out yoghurt containers, empty tins or milk containers as people would use them as drinking cups or put them to other uses. Empty bottles were particularly useful as they could be used at the local market for selling cooking oil or other items. I found it so difficult when I came home: for the first month or so my kitchen was full of empty containers as I could not bring myself to throw them out.
Self-sustainability: This is one of the key issues in any developing country and it is one in which I firmly believe. While there is an obvious need to respond to immediate situations, development is really about implementing long-term solutions and aspiring to the day when we ourselves will no longer be required. Real development is about setting up, consolidating, handing over and moving on. Before setting up a project, we need to have full consultation with the local community to make sure that they see the project as theirs, and will take ownership of it. We also need to ensure that we work within the existing structures, such as the relevant line ministries, and not set a parallel system.
The project in which your own parish is involved, Kacema Musuma Community School in Chingola is one project which is striving very much towards self-sustainability. Children who attend a community school in Zambia do so because they cannot afford to attend a Government school. They are either orphans or come from a vulnerable family background. To maintain a Community School requires a great deal of income-generating by the local community. With this in mind, the school acquired a farm which, when fully developed, will help sustain it.
The Skills Training Homecraft Classroom which your parish is building is really a wonderful venture as, in addition to skills training, it will be a source of income for the school. Many young people leave school after receiving a basic education as they cannot afford school fees to continue to secondary school. They badly need a skill such as Tailoring, Knitting or Cookery to enable them to earn a living. Another dimension to skills training is Mother Craft. In Zambia, where there are many teenage pregnancies, young woman need to be taught how to care for their babies from the time of conception until the child is a couple of years old. When the Skills Training Centre is up and running in Chingola, it is hoped to incorporate Mother Craft as part of the course.
I have enjoyed and learned much from working with many different projects in Zambia. One such project was in Kasama where, after much consultation, I was involved in setting up a parish group to address the situation of the ever-growing number of households supporting orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The hundreds of villages situated in remote outlying areas which make up most of the parish have two great resources: land and people. Bearing this in mind, the OVC group initiated the Village Community Field Project whereby funding was sought for seeds for one year and in subsequent years the villagers were in a position to have their own seeds from the crops grown the previous year. The success of the project depends on the commitment and dedication of the local community as it is they themselves who have ownership of the project and have responsibility for cultivating, weeding, harvesting etc. The produce grown is used for the most vulnerable households in that village area. When I left Kasama the project was taken over by the parish group and I am happy to say that it is still continuing.
One of the most enjoyable functions I had in Zambia took place just before I returned to Ireland last June. It was the handing over of two new classroom blocks at two different Community Schools, Chifwema and Chilambila, which are located in very rural bush areas outside Lusaka. As I already said, development is about working in real partnership with the local community and training and empowering them to take responsibility for helping their own people. This project was a real community effort, the funds for which were raised by friends at home. There were great scenes of joy in both villages. While we supplied the materials, the labour was carried out by the villagers themselves. We loaned each village a brick-making machine and the hydroform blocks (interlocking blocks) were made on site. The villagers crushed their own stones and in one village each household was responsible for bringing two wheelbarrows of crushed stones for the foundation. The women cleared the scrub from the site and collected water and river sand from a nearby river. Two oxen and a cart were used in Chilambila to collect the sand. I have some lovely photographs of pupils carrying bricks on their bicycles to the site. The villagers have gained many new skills in construction and at the handing over, thanked us for "not giving them fish, but for teaching them how to fish"!
Zest for life in spite of adversity: My life in Zambia was in one way a world apart from my life in Ireland but what really struck me forcibly over the last six years was the tremendous willpower of the Zambian people to keep going and their zest for life even in the most appalling circumstances. As I said at the outset, Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa with 80 per cent of the population living below the poverty line. Before I left home I have to admit that I paid scant attention to the reports and statistics available on the number of people who are HIV+. Possibly like a lot of others at home, it didn't affect me so I was not concerned. But when I went to live in Zambia I can assure you it was very different - one had to be concerned as almost every household is affected.
Respect and sense of humour: I think one of the most essential qualities one should have when working in a different culture such as Zambia is respect for the people and also a sense of humour. One has to respect the traditions and culture of the country in which we work and live. When living in a different culture, and I am sure Zambians living outside their own country will agree with me, one can enjoy many humorous moments. One of many such incidents I recall occurred when I worked in Lusaka and went to the local police station to report the theft of my hens (layers) from our project. Of course I was asked what tribe I was from and who was my chief. Shortly afterwards I called back to check on the progress of the missing hens and was told they thought they had found our hens and dutifully produced evidence - a saucepan full of cooked pieces of chicken. I think I was meant to identify the remains!
So yes, I would encourage people to go and experience life in a developing country but perhaps go with the attitude that learning and sharing of skills is a two-way process. When we are involved in a project or thinking of starting a project, there is a constant need to question ourselves as to: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Who are we doing it for? It took me a couple of years to realize that I was the newcomer, that I should take a back seat, where possible, and listen and learn. Once we have done our best, we should not be afraid to allow people their right to have responsibility for their own successes or failures. Working with a religious congregation as I did also enabled me to work very closely with the local people and have the experience of living in community. Of course, during the six years there were many frustrations, trials and tribulations but - overall - it was an enriching and rewarding experience.
During my time in Zambia I was very grateful for the support received from so many people especially friends and relatives both in Ireland and England. That is why I know the people of Chingola really appreciate the effort your parish is putting into fundraising for the Skills Training Classroom for their Community School. Just think of the many, many children who will be able to gain a skill and earn a living as a result of your endeavours!
Maureen O'Dwyer