Blog Post 20 – What is Mike Actually Doing?

So I hope we have another chapter phone call coming up, as the first was a ton of fun, and there were tons of great questions and stuff. But no one really asked what I am actually doing here, and I don't think I've ever written about it, so here goes my attempt at accountability to my donors :)

Office work:
I can't lie, IDE is remarkably understaffed and I spend a lot of time putting out fires. Like today Willard was in Monze and I was in the office so I explained about and sold 4 treadle pumps, helped a new co-operative type up their constitution and in between managed to spend time typing up a proposal for our new workshop. I have been helping with our monthly report, and budgeting and timetabling for next month. We are hoping to run a large workshop focusing on business planning, marketing issues and record-keeping for farmers in early August, so this is a big focus for me: planning, proposals and arranging for this to happen. When farmers meet nearby for market committee meetings, I have been helping them and reporting to Willard what is going on.

Fertilizer Training at a Demo Plot

Field work:
Sometimes I am able to go to the field by myself. We have 3 nearby areas within 5km that I can easily ride my bike to, so I like to go to these farms and see how they are doing. In addition they all have demo plots which are good ways for IDE to show farmers the proper way to grow vegetables. I can offer the farmers help with growing techniques and spacing (sometimes), and more often help with farm planning and business and record-keeping type stuff. A good portion of the farmers are able to speak English so its not a big problem communicating.

Sometimes I go to the field with Willard. This is usually when we give treadle pump manufacturers or buyers tours of the area. Then we hold small training workshops to groups of farmers. Normally these are conducted in Tonga so I have to find a translator if I want to get anything that is going on.

I think this man likes treadle pumps!

A couple times I have been able to run my own workshops. One was unexpected, Willard was busy in a meeting so he sent his nephew to get me and a pump and take me to the meeting. I showed up and demoed the pump and then answered questions about IDE and treadle pumps until Willard showed up just in time to add closing remarks to the meeting. A second was a gong show because I thought I was talking to experienced farmers and helping them elect a new board, while none of them knew what IDE is. The third was a workshop I designed on credit and loans and this one went sweet. All the farmers drew pictures of their gardens and determined how much each crop was worth. Then they budget each crop's profit to be used for things like clothes and food and school, and this helped them see what they could afford to take out as a loan and still be able to repay. All of these workshops definitely need translators, or else about 90% of the farmers would have no idea what was going on. But attendance is usually good, I think because they like the idea of a Makua presenting.

Community work:
I have been trying to spend some time helping out in the community. Recently I've been working with the computer teacher at Pemba High and teaching a class of students about computers during their extra time. Not many of the students know much about computers, but I feel like we are getting somewhere, and the fact that they are coming even though it is exam season is pretty encouraging. Even the staff want some C++ lessons as soon as exams are over so that's pretty exciting.

Capacity Building:
So the official terms of reference said I should be doing some capacity building stuff. I definitely agree that most of the things I mentioned don't have much to do with Capacity Building of the IDE Field Staff, but I think it depends on how you view it. Given Willard and I are working together most of the time, we are constantly working together to develop new ideas on how to improve the marketing situation in Pemba. Our new scheme is to have farmers grow maize and beans now (as opposed to during the rains) since the prices are about twice the usual and the local markets are huge. We are working on getting local agro-dealers to stock treadle pumps and sprayers. And for the first time we have been offered credit for our farmers. I feel like his innovative streak and initiative are considerably higher than they were when I first came, and I like to think that I have had something to do with it.

All in all, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far, and I just wanted to let you know what I am up to, and will continue working on, for my last couple weeks here in Zambia

Full steam ahead,
Mike

Blog Post 19 – Livingstone

Wow! Livingstone, rafting and cruising on the Zambezi, visiting a couple beyond swank hotels and seeing Victoria Falls, all in a couple days. My body and mind are quite shocked (and relaxed too). Its definitely not at all like the village life I've been living for the last couple months.

First day we arrived we went to the curio market. Here I got to use all my bargaining skills I've been building up and still probably got ripped off. These people have some scams I've never seen before, like trying to get me to trade my socks for their stuff. Of course once you take off your socks, then they try to get you to add more money on top. But I learned that putting your socks back on and walking out of the store gets the price down faster and further than any other method. Should have tried to trade him my underwear.

I thought I had malaria that night. I had fever, dizziness, chills and all that good stuff. But I took 4 of Tony's Malarones that night and next morning I felt fine. That day was a 'work' day, so we went to the fee paying park (no joke, you pay about Kw1000 to get into parks in Livingstone). But as long as you use the free toilets a couple times you get your money's worth because fee-paying toilets are about Kw1000 also. I should confess the park was nice, complete with waterfall and pond. And no people because who would pay too use a park?

In the afternoon we visited Maramba market, which is a bit out of town and had no Makuas. Prices were sort of fair, and I bought 4 sweet looking chitenge cloths, which I shall make into shirts, a hoodie, and (if I can find someone willing to make it) very colourful underwear. Also if you want tobacco, this is an ok place to go, for 1000 (about 25 cents) you can buy about a ziplock bag full, and for K5000 (1 dollar) you can get a ziplock bag full of “the other type” of tobacco.

Friday was rafting day. We started with a great breakfast, and then a ride out to the gorge. Here we grabbed paddles, life jackets and helmets and learned the techniques I never thought I'd need to know. Like if someone fall out of the raft, but is hanging on the side, you first push them underwater, and then pull them in. Or if you overturn and are under the raft, grab for the rope on the side. Or if you are a long way from the raft, face downstream so your legs can push off any rocks. We climb down the cliff face on a sketchy wooden set of 'stairs' which was pretty fun. Then get into the boats, and start off.

First few rapids were tons of fun. We started off with the “Creamy White Buttocks” which quickly became our team name, beating out our other favourites like “Eeway” and “The Minibus.” Then we approached the “Three ugly sisters” and “The Mother” and our guide started cleaning the throw bag which is used for helping people who are out of the raft and a long way away. The Sisters were no problem, but then we hit the mother and capsized pretty good. I ended up under the raft, forgot to grab for a rope and about half a second later was about 50m from the raft. It was a pretty exciting ride down the 'Mother' and at the other end another boat picked me up. Absolutely unreal experience floating down on my back with the massive boiling waves around me.

That night we went for the Booze Cruise on the Zambezi which was really fun too, but not as exciting. Saw some hippos, crocodiles and a really nice sunset, had an OK dinner and drank some Castle and Mosi, (as in Mosi-oa-Tuna or “The Smoke that Thunders”). Asked for Chibuku but seems they didn't have any on board, I guess it was a bit classy for that.

Saturday morning was pretty relaxing. Went for breakfast at the Zambezi sun, which was the biggest buffet I have seen in my life. I just kept eating partly because there was so much food I could never get in Pemba, and I had paid a month's rent for breakfast so I though I'd better make good use of it. Walked into the bush nearby and saw some zebras, impalas and giraffes. Yeah, thats right, just went on a stroll and saw some Zambian wildlife. Well actually it was kinda disappointing because they were feeding the giraffes and zebras out of some big sacks of food, and the trainer was standing there, but it sorta felt like we were observing wildlife in the bush. Also there was a baboon that kept opening people's sliding doors on the porches. It would shake the door to unlock it, then slide it open and walk inside. It was funny but the guests were not too impressed. Next to the Zambezi Sun was the Royal Livingstone. This was in a class of its own, the staff even dress up like Colonial Age workers, while driving you around in golf carts. We went for drinks on the patio, which was cantilevered over the Zambezi and you could see the smoke from the falls in the distance.

Giraffe in the Wild

In the afternoon we went to the falls. These were pretty remarkable, even a few hundred meters away and above you still get soaked walking by. And apparently 2 months ago you got even wetter, and could barely see the falls from all the mist! We walked down to the bottom to the “boiling pot” which is at one of the gorge's switchbacks and the water forms a big whirlpool. Also saw some more monkeys and the biggest rat I've ever seen. This one was fatter than the bunny's at UVIC!

Mike and his 'stash taking a well deserved break on the patio

I should also give an honourable mention to the food we ate, from Greek the first day, Chinese the second, and Indian the third. And also an honourable mention to the Mazhandu bus company which is the only one that actually runs on time is decently comfortable. Unbelievable all round trip, and I took over 200 pictures and movies so don't forget to ask me about it.

Blog Post 17: What EWB Does Right

I didn't come to Zambia to explain the benefits of EWB over my blog. You can look on their website for those. Neither did I set out to write boring blog posts. Because I hate reading boring blogs. So let me attempt to do neither, and at the same time explain why EWB is unlike other NGOs, and what we do right.

First, working in the field is not part of my TOR (Terms of Reference). I am instead expected to work with one person, my counterpart Willard, and help him become a better field officer. Additionally I should be looking at the IDE systems that are in place, and offer recommendations for improvement. The idea here is that I spend lots of time working with one person, and even after I leave that one person can have a great effect on every farmer he works with.

So lets get to the point. Can working with one person and only one person have an effect? Is it a worthwhile use of resources? Allow me to illustrate with an example...

The farmer I stay with is a hard working man. He doesn't need me to spend an hour each morning to help him irrigate his gardens, or transplant crops, or apply fertilizer. He can do these things about 5 times faster than me (with the exception, of irrigation which he does about 2 times faster). But I like to help for two reasons, first I am learning a ton and I am also (I hope) building a trusting relationship with him. And in the evenings I probably spend an hour or two talking with him and his family over dinner and after, usually about business and farming, or Canada, or NGOs. All in all, I spend a ton of time with Mr. Morrison and his family.

Finally it has paid off. At first he was always asking for my advice, wanting to know how I can improve his farm. Ha! Like I know more about farming than he does. But with time he has come to see that while I am not the best person to ask about pesticides or different fertilizers, I can help in other ways. Like helping him to type up his business plan he made a few years ago at a training session. And while we were sitting by the treadle pump (of course!) talking about how guava and apple trees would be an interesting addition to the garden, I mentioned the product life cycle. How a new product takes a while to develop, then makes a ton of money, then competitors come and the market gets saturated, and you must keep improving the product or make a new one (thanks Andrew for the “Naked Marketing” textbook pdf). Which I applied to his garden, because he was making tons of money but now more people are gardening and profits are lessening. And how fruit trees take time to develop, but could make lots of money for a few years. And then I mentioned the SWOT analysis. Where you look at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and technologies it takes you to get there (actually T is for Threats but I told him it was technology because it sounded better). And for the first time ever, I heard him say “I would like your help with doing this.”

This was a massive breakthrough for me. People here love to ask me for help, and advice, but never for a specific thing. Its always: “Help us to improve our farms.” Or “Help me to have more knowledge.” Finally my help has been requested for a specific task, one that will require his input, and I know that this SWOT analysis will actually be useful to him because he wants it to happen.

So how does this relate to my actual job? What the heck does SWOT have to do with EWB? Well, I am thinking of the amount of time I have spent with this farmer before he has asked for my help. Before I actually feel like I can truly help him. Looking at IDE Pemba, a more typical NGO, who has 3 field officers, 1 intern and me, trying to help 3500 farmers, I can see it is not possible for most NGOs to spend this much time with one man. But EWB does not set unrealistic goals. We do not pretend to be able to help more farmers than we could ever know the names of. Instead we focus intently on a small aspect, and I think this is the only development technique that can lead to actual, self-sustaining change.

Blog Post 16 – Witchcraft

Blog Post 16 – Witchcraft

Heh heh heh, I've been sorta interested in this one since I came, and it appears that living in a village I get to hear many stories about local witchcraft.

Like the girl who was lost, and was forced to live in an underground house for 7 years. Then a local preacher prayed for her, and suddenly she was found again. She told stories of a man who brought her food every day, but never talked. Turns out, according to my source, that this is the cause of a satanist, likely one of the wholesalers in Lusaka. These men do no work, but boxes of money and goods just show up in the night at their wholesale depos.

Luckily we have witch doctors. Witch doctors are the ones who help to cure witches. And on top of them all are the traditional healers. These are the leaders of the witches. They are experts on the local herbs, plants and animals, and can cure anything. Like broken legs. This girl (actually the first daughter of the family I stay with) broke both her legs in a car accident, so she was taken to the hospital and they were put in a cast. But the thing that did the trick was the magic ointment that a traditional healer put on the outside of the cast, in order to ensure the legs healed properly. And they did. Unfortunately the girl is now cursed and has not been able to find a job even though she graduated from collage, on account of this traditional healer also putting a spell on her, but her legs are fine.

So is it real? I have yet to meet a witch or traditional healer – for some reason no one wants to take me to one – but I shall keep trying and inform you once I find out. But I can leave you with one more story of potions that I know is true. While travelling with a man from FreshPikt, one of the Lusaka agro-processors buying beans from the farmers to make into canned and baked beans, we stopped in Mbabala for nshima and to pick up Steve. Steve lives in a pretty sketchy part of town, and we stopped the truck near some men tasting powder from a plastic container. This man from FreskPikt was quite interested in the contents, and purchased a large quantity for about 5 pin (1 dollar). After listening to much laughter and Nyanja, I discerned that the contents were indeed the mystical Tonga potion, with similar qualities to Viagra. Supposedly this amount will last him more than a month.

Blog Post 15: A Day in the Life – Today is Saturday

When I was prepping to go to Zambia, one big concern for me was what to do on the weekends. Especially in the village where there's no power, and not knowing many people, and not speaking much of the local language, I though I would spend the whole time bored. So to dispel any fears, here is one Saturday in the life of Mike.

Most days, Mr. Morroson is busy farming. Watering, planting, transplanting, preparing beds, or anything else that needs to get done. The rest of the time he usually spends in meetings or committees, or helping people fix stuff, pretty much he is busy working from sun up to sun down. But as a Seventh Day Adventist, he takes Saturday off. Even his wives are less busy today. Still there is sweeping in the morning, and cooking throughout, but they aren't also trying to help on the farm or sell produce at the market or anything like that.

Today I slept in until 0700. Then I cleaned my room, put on some clothes, washed my face and brushed my teeth and went for a long walk in the garden. I got to see my cabbages getting sizable leaves, and the onions are still healthy. Tomatoes are looking OK, though some got eaten by ants, and others were bitten by the frost. Around 0800 Mr. Morroson woke up and we had breakfast of sweet potatoes and honey. I should quickly mention that honey here is pretty awesome, this was freshly harvested by his brother a couple days before.

As we were half-way through breakfast, some visitors came. “Hodi!” (traditional greeting when you enter someone's village). “Mwabonwa” (literally “you are seen”, or translated “you are welcome to come in”) replied Mr. Morroson. Tradition states that if you don't hear a 'mwabonwa' or 'yeebo' then you are supposed to leave. The second wife grabbed them some stools and they sat and exchanged pleasantries while we finished eating. Then they were offered food (which they declined), and got down to business. They were part of some sort of fertilizer cooperative scheme, which looked like a bit of a scam to me, and Mr. Morroson didn't sign their agreement. As I pointed out later, why would he since he doesn't grow maize for selling anyway. However he did enter an agreement to plant them some jatropha (used for bio-diesel and live fencing) and sell it to them later at Kw2000 per plant, which is a pretty good deal. And he had a plan to use it for live fencing anyway if they didn't live up to their promise.

After these guys left, we grabbed some sugar canes and went for a short walk to see “this man” (imaging Mr. Morroson waving vaguely off in some direction). But in Zambia, farms are quite some distance apart, especially when you are walking, so you make best use of your time if you just “touch this man's place” on the way. The first farmer's place we touched was a short visit. Then we proceeded onwards, Morroson leading the way through the maze of roads, pathways and ox cart trails to the next place. “Hodi!” “Mwabonwa!” and one of the children gets us stools. In Tonga he asks the equivalent of “Is this man around?” And someone goes off to find him. About 30 minutes later “this man” appears, and we talk for a couple minutes before going to see his garden.

This farmer, Mr. Chatyloa, has a nice garden by the river. He also has a treadle pump, but because he has not yet received hosepipe, he is still watering by buckets (he was promised hosepipe about 1 year ago...now there's some Zambian efficiency). On the way back we passed a mound of charcoal. This is an enterprise that requires you to cut down big trees, burn them under a mound of dirt, and then put the charcoal into bags. One big bag sells for about $2 (25kg for Kw10000). And I think 90% of the wood's energy is wasted when the charcoal is made. But its an easy way for people in the cities to cook if the power is out, so charcoal is in pretty high demand.

Next we proceeded to Mr. Brian Kabeta, who was the original “this man” we were going to see. This place is of special interest to me because we just sold him a treadle pump and I wanted to see how much he likes it. He loves it! His farm is right next to a reservoir that provides water for Pemba Secondary School, so he has more than enough water all year round. He also has an orchard of about 140, beautiful, neatly laid out orange trees and another 100 banana plants. And is preparing his farm for growing maize, where he probably has about 1 hectare of land.

Even though Brian has a diesel pump, he still prefers the treadle pump because of the lower running cost. It seems many Zambians don't put a price on time or labour, so the treadle pump appears to be a much better deal for them. After examining the orchard, and discussing the differences between Canadian and Zambian fruit production (of course) we had lunch – Musoya. Actually this is one of my favourite lunches in Zambia, though it really fills you up. Its made from maize, beans and groundnuts, which are all boiled together into a soup-like thing. Then you add sugar and salt, and eat. It has a sort of purple colour, and tastes really good.

On the way back, we took a different route, and began discussing the fine points of the tribal systems in Zambia. I learned that the overseeing person is a chief, of which there are about 13 in the Southern Province. Ours is chief Harmony. Except that we don't actually have a chief, since he died 10 years ago, and because chiefdom stays in the family and this family can't agree on who should take over... well you get the picture. Then each chief looks after about 2000 headsmen, who are the leaders of their respective village. Headsmen send report to the chief informing them of what is going on. When a village gets too big, the chief will select a new headsman, give or partition him some land, and make a new village. Our headsman is Sirius Mazuma, and the village name is Hamanda which means 'tomorrow' in Tonga. The village is relatively new, and was only formed about 10 years ago.

The next man we visited was Mr. Chuma. Chuma makes bricks from anthills, and is currently has about 20000 which he is taking to Choma. To make bricks you mix anthill dirt with water, and get really dirty stepping in it and shovelling it and mixing it good. Then you put it into a brick press and form the shape. Next you cover with grass for a few days, and let them dry. Finally you stack them into these pyramids and burn them with fire to harden them. It was cool because Chuma also had a treadle pump, and was using it to pump water for making his bricks.

About 1600, having visited 4 people and passed by about 20 other farms without stopping, we returned home. Total time: 6 hours. I was a bit embarrassed to find that this is the route that Morrison must walk every time IDE calls a zone meeting for Pemba and asks to have all the farmers meet in one place. Not many people have phones, so you literally have to walk to each house. Hmm... maybe set meeting times at the previous meetings???

A hot bath, and I felt pretty refreshed, and then learned some cooking techniques from Morrison's wife. She still won't let me cook the nshima, but I think that will come soon It seems it can take a while to build trust with some people here. After eating we talked about farming business, and discussed the idea of making an orange press for squeezing orange juice. Read for a bit and went to sleep about 2100.

Very quickly what else do I do in my free time? There's always local sports to watch, either at Pemba Secondary School or in town. I've started learning to cook so that I can make nshima for everyone when I return to Canada. Farming, and studying Tonga all take up time, as do writing blogs and working on my EWB project (a new SO workshop). There's always people to talk to around town, and sometimes we end up working on the weekends. And if I'm lucky, I have time after all that to go to Monze and use the internet. But that only seems to happen about once or twice a month.

Blog Post 14 – Mike gets Philosophical

Not sure exactly what has spurred my philosophical spirit today. Maybe I am looking back on the first half of my trip to Zambia and wondering how to make sense of everything I've learned. Maybe EWB's values of internal reflection and planning are finally getting to me. Or maybe I am just finding something to do this Friday afternoon after visiting the headsman, landing a job teaching computer's at the local secondary school and waiting for the 'chairman', Mr. Snallebum, to come pick up some eggplant seeds. But whatever the reason I have a few fun question's I have been pondering recently that I will try to tackle now.

Question 1: Farmers are smart people. Do they really need our help?

Quick background: I was visiting the headsman, Mr. Mazuma, today and we spent quite a while discussing marketing issues. He seemed to be of the opinion that I could help him generate ideas for how to make more money, so I asked him about his garden and plans.

Me: “Is there any crop you think you could grow that no one else does, so that you have a good market?”
Mr. Mazuma: “Well I am looking to grow ginger and garlic which I can sell at SPAR. Maybe you could help me with some advice on those. Oh, and last year I planted a few Irish Potatoes and got about Kw1.3 million. This year I'll try to plant half a lima or so.” From what I've seen practically no one else grows garlic, Irish Potato or ginger. And Kw1.3 million is a lot given I pay about Kw100000 for a month's room and board.

Me: “How about record keeping? Maybe if you started keeping records you could see which crops do the best, and make you the most money?”
Mr. Mazuma: “Yes! I think next time you visit I will show you both my records and long term farm plan. In fact I draw out my garden on paper and after the season compare the expected yields with what I actually got to see where I need to improve. And I also keep family labour records, so that I can reward some of my family with money if they work a lot this month.”

And so the conversation went. How am I supposed to help someone who already does all this stuff? These guys are a few steps ahead of me. So do farmers need my help? What else can I offer them? At first glance it seems nothing. Short of creating a massive factory that takes tomatoes and cans them in Pemba, there's not too much I can do to help them find markets for their goods. Of course there are a couple major flaws with my argument: this man has a grade 12 and collage education, so there are likely many illiterate farmers who do not keep records, and records or not, he is still a small scale farmer.

Question 2: So why do small scale farmers seem to remain small scale farmers?

I think there are a number of things that contribute here. I have been fortunate enough to talk to a few very good small scale farmers, who seem like great candidates to move up to larger farms, and yet do not. Here are my thoughts why:

One issue seems to be with priorities, and what farmers spend money on. Many have large families, and even in their 50s they still have school-aged children. This means they have the cost of sending these kids to school, which is quite significant for farmers. So I suspect that instead of using the money to finance new enterprises on their farms, they spend that money on schooling instead. Which is nice because it will lead to a better educated next generation, but it is definitely holding this one back.

Next comes something I will call “total farming power”. I was surprised to find here that sons do not help their fathers on the farm very much. Most of the labour is done by the man, and then his wives will also help. However there are only so many person-hours that can be spent on the farm, and I think this is a limit some farmers are reaching. There are a number of solutions including purchasing animals or hiring labour, but I think many of the farmers are afraid of the extra costs these will bring. The small scale farmer does not appear to put a value on their own time, so the idea of hiring labour seems foolish since they could just work harder themselves. Which is fine, until you are working 12 hour days, 6 days a week and still not managing to keep the whole garden under control.

Question 3: How do we help these farmers to move up to medium scale?

Well that's easy! I've just identified the barriers: farming power and money, so all we have to do is remove these barriers. We give them more animals and money, and all the farmers will increase their scale. What? Oh, NGO's have tried this in the past and it didn't work? Ah, now that is a problem.

One thing I have noticed is that farmers are quite jealous of each other. One farmer I have talked to said that he actually plants decoy vegetables because he knows others will follow him. Then he plants the real garden and ensures himself a less crowded market when it comes time to sell. No joke. So maybe we find these farmers who are the trend setters, and somehow boost them up to medium scale. Get them tractors and animals and financing, and get someone on their butts making sure they do it properly. Then the others will all say “Aha! Look this man has bought a tractor, lets all do the same”. Ok, a bit optimistic but I think with some refinement the idea has potential. If these natural leaders already exist, why are we not using them more? No this is not my idea, I think its called “Positive Deviance” and we learned about it in pre-dep, but I think its a good one...

...Mike

Blog Post 13 - Innovation on the Farm

Here the solution to the Twitter challenge. What challenge you ask? Well why aren't you following my tweets??? Hey you get with the program eh? Mike recommends: "Follow mhenrey on twitter today and upgrade your Overseas Programs Experience"

Looking forward to chapter phone call on Wednesday...

...Mike