Chipolopolo's game against Ghana

My friends and I went to Ndola to watch a game between the Zambia national soccer team and the Ghanaian team. It was the first national team's game in the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, so people were really excited about it.

To avoid the traffic jam, we left Lusaka very early in the morning. After about 4 and half an hour of bus ride, we got to Ndola at 10:30am. At the city center, people were already gathered up and having a good time, wearing Chipolopolo's uniforms as well as blowing vuvuzelas. 

After having lunch (open sandwich) and desert (Italian ice cream, gelato!) at the Jacaranda shopping mall, we were off to the stadium. On the way to the stadium, the only two things that I could see were people and vehicles heading to the stadium!!! I heard it only takes about 20minutes to get to the stadium from the mall but it took about less than an hour for us to get there because of the heavy traffic jam. 

The Levy Mwanawasa Stadium was extremely huge and looked modern. When I saw it for the first time, it was so shocked (in a good way, of course)! I did not expect that fancy stadium in Zambia at all! As far as I know, it was actually designed and built by Chinese company (of course the Chinese government paid for the project). No wonder most of the Zambians that I met in Ndola seemed to be in favor of Asians...

The game was quite exciting. When it started, Zambian fans started screaming, singing, dancing and blowing vuvuzelas for the Chipolopolo boys. It was loud! When they scored, the fans got super excited. Just to look at them being happy and experience the moment with them in the stadium really made me glad to be there at that moment. In the end, Zambia won the game by 1-0. I would never forget the amazing game that I watched with the Zambian fans.


After the game, however, it took us forever to get out of the stadium. All the vehicles were stuck because no drivers were trying to follow the traffic rules and even pedestrians like us had a difficult time getting out of the area. "This is Africa!"

Business trip to Chiawa

I went to Chiawa to undertake a development control exercise with my colleague. Chiawa is one of the closest towns to the Lower Zambezi National Park with a lot of lodges that needed to be inspected to see if the owners have already applied and possessed planning permissions from us, the planning authority in the area.

Apparently, Chiawa has fancy lodges in Zambia... you might have to spend $8,000 per night to stay at the most expensive lodge there! (FYI; the least expensive one charges you ONLY $3,000. ) As I have never seen or heard of such lodges / hotels, it was a great opportunity for me to visit and inspect them.

The most interesting part was that almost all the owners of those lodges in the area were mainly white couples. Only one lodge was owned and managed by a Zambian couple. It seems that they have moved to Zambia to spend the rest of their lives here quietly and appreciate the nature that Chiawa has to offer after their retirement back in their home countries (probably either in South Africa or in Europe). I bet they do not need to have their guests all the time... When they do not have any guests, they probably would enjoy each other' companies in huge mansion-looking lodges where the national park is very close by. Visiting those lodges made me think that running a lodge after my retirement could be an option :)

Those lodges were far away from each other, so I was quite exhausted when all the inspections were finally over.. Visiting lodges by lodges could be a pain when you have to be in a car for two days as well as travel on unpaved roads!

At the last evening of the trip, we went on a boat cruise on the Zambezi River. I saw a lot of wild animals, such as hippos, elephants and birds. Of course I enjoyed it a lot and had a great time!

Lunar Rainbow

Last weekend, I visited Livingstone to see the famous Lunar Rainbow.

Right after I got to Livingstone around 2:30pm, I went to see the Big Falls with my friend who lives there. It was my first time seeing the falls with this amount of water (in fact, I thought it was just too much). As we got close to the falls, it was literally impossible to see them. It was as if we were walking in a heavy storm. The water splash and its vapor made it so hard to see even 3 meters away from us. Sometimes though, especially when it was windy, we were able to see the falls briefly. But, that was about it. I thought the falls were there for you to feel them, not to see them (not to mention, we had our raincoats on but we still got soaked badly).

Then, I went on a sunset cruise with other friends of mine from Chongwe, Zambia. The crusing was just amazing! Although, I was not able to see any wildlives (it seems people usually get to see some hippos and crocodiles. I, however, was not able to see anything but some birds, unfortunately), I enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the Zambezi River very much.

Finally, it was time for the beautiful lunar rainbow! Generally, we can only get to see the beautiful scenary 3 days around the full moon from March to July (at most). As the rainbow was produced by the moonlight, it was not that clear when we saw it. But the rainbow, which was located right next to the Victoria Falls, was definitely one of the most beautiful rainbows that I have ever seen. If I had a chance, I could have looked at it all night...

It took me 6 hours from Lusaka to Livingstone and I needed to go back to Lusaka on the following day (again, with the 6 hours of bus ride). The trip was too short but absolutely worth it :)

Trip to Tanzania - Zanzibar

I also went to Zanzibar and stayed there for 5 days. Simply, the island was AWESOME! Especially, I enjoyed spending time in Stone Town, one of the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

Before going to Tanzania, I read some of the guide books explaining how unique Stone Town was. According to them, the city and the buildings there were influenced by a few different cultures; Arab, Indian, Persian, African and European, and you can see all those features anywhere there. When I got there, I figured that all those books were right indeed... With Arabian style (or, rectangular) and Indian style (or, rounded top) doors, European style buildings, African people, etc, I thought Stone Town of Zanzibar was way more unique than I expected.

The thing I really liked about the town was the compact-sized community with a lot of public space. Although it had a very complicated road network (and most of them were too narrow for the vehicles to pass), the local residents there made a lot of public space out of it. They were there to hang out, chit-chat, and sell merchandises. Because of those people talking and laughing happily together, I felt welcoming and friendly atmosphere wherever I went in the town.

The island of Zanzibar also had beautiful beaches and national park as well as delicious food (seafood, spices, fruits, anything!). I spent a day at Paje (eastern side of the island) and loved it there as well.

The trip to Tanzania was definitely one of the best trips that I have ever taken :)

Trip to Tanzania - Dar es Salaam

I visited Tanzania (Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar) early April with my friends. I have never been to East Africa before, so it was a lot of fun travelling around there as well as seeing a lot of "new" things, such as people whose native tongue is Kiswahili, seafood in Africa, the Indian Ocean, etc!

When I got to the Dar es Salaam International Airport for the first time, I was so shocked to see the huge and developed city just in front of me. Although Dar es Salaam is technically not a capital city per se, I felt it was definitely the center of the country. There were a lot of tall buildings both for commercial and residential use, people were everywhere on the street at any time of the day, and there were heavy traffics on the streets. Travelling from Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, I was just surprised to see all those differences that Dar es Salaam and Lusaka have.

Of course it seemed there were a variety of problems that an urbanized community could have. Firstly, as mentioned above, the traffic congestion was unthinkable. As majority of the drivers in Tanzanian tended not to follow traffic rules anyways at beginning, I saw some of them nearly collide and yell each other for their "bad" behaviors as well as almost hit some pedestrians who were j-walking. Secondly, the crimes were everywhere. A friend of mine who lives there told me that his friends were pick-pocketed and attacked not only in a night time but also in a day time. Lastly, there seemed no proper drainage systems there. The entire city was flooded during and some time after rain. (I am pretty sure there must be a lot more of them but was not able to find so many as I stayed there only for 2 days.)

The best parts of Dar es Salaam were the people and the food there (especially fresh seafood!). The Tanzanians were quite friendly and loved to talk to "foreigners." As most of them, unfortunately, did not speak much English and preferred to talk to me in Kiswahili, which I did not know anything about, I was able to communicate with them only a bit, such as greeting each other, asking directions, negotiating prices, etc. They still wanted to know where we are from, what we do in Zambia, etc. It was such a pleasure when they told me how much they appreciated what we have been doing for Tanzania and other developing countries.

The seafood there was awesome, too! All the restaurants we went to had huge selections for seafood, and that made me really happy. Finally, I was able to have fresh seafood after a year in Africa. It made me realize me how much I missed our staple food...

My experience there also helped me realize that I would love to live in a country where the ocean is close by or next to it, ideally.

A year in Zambia

It has been a year since I came to Zambia (in detail, I arrived at Lusaka on March 25, 2011). I still remember the day I got here and how excited I was at that time... I feel like it was just a yesterday... I still am enjoying what I do and my life here, which is definitely a good thing.

Now I can officially say that this is going to be my last year in Zambia, so I really have to focus on the on-going and new projects that I am currently involved in. I will try to get done with them as much as possible before I leave here next March! I am already excited about going back to Japan next March yet quite nervous about it... let's see how I really feel when I am actually going back.

Cannot wait :) 

Trip to Kasama

I went to Kasama to visit an urban planner at the northern province earlier this month. It was such a wonderful opportunity to see how he worked at his office as a planner from a different country.

On the 1st day, my friends and I took Tazara Railroad from Kapiri Mposhi to Kasama. The train was delayed for a few hours but it was so much fun traveling in a train. It was really shaky somehow but being there reminded me of the time when my family and I were visiting our grandparents by Blue Train (long-distance sleeper train).

When we got to Kasama station after about 12 hours of train ride, we visited his office in a township. I was really impressed to see what he did and how he made some changes at his host organization. It was hard to believe that he has done all those things just in 2 years! I still have a year to go until I leave this country, so his work really made me think of how I should work and what I should focus on from now on.

Also, his coworkers made me feel I was welcomed. This was definitely because he did a great job working with them at the office as well as being good friends with them outside of work. It was overwhelming and heartbreaking for me to see them being sad when they had to say goodbye to him as he was leaving for good. I guess saying goodbye is always hard...

He also took me to Chishimba Falls. It was definitely smaller than the Victoria Falls in Livingstone but I really liked the way that we were able to get so much closer. I was able to feel the water splash coming directly from the falls. It was not as major as the Victoria Falls, so the nature was still untouched and we did not have to deal with too many tourists.

I really enjoyed my time there in Kasama. I would love to go back there sometime soon to see the falls as well as the people there (especially the staff at the planning department)!

GIS Training 2012

My co-worker (an urban planner who works for the other provincial office) and I organized a GIS training for 2 weeks this month. The national-level training turned out really well and all the participants learned a great deal out of this!

We had been prepared for the event since last October. The things we did for the training included; arranging the venue, making a training guide, requesting guest lecturers from various organizations, making presentations about the GIS in general and some case studies in Japan and the U.S., leading training sessions as instructors, etc. It definitely was a lot of work but was definitely one of the best opportunities that we were given during our stay here in Zambia (though, I do have another year to go until my contract ends...). 

The best part of the training was that the 20 participants really got interested in GIS and now are quite fluent in basic applications of GIS. They can now make maps and do some analysis, including buffering, overlaying, etc. They even mentioned that they were ready to launch GIS programs at their provincial offices and willing to invite us as instructors for the the follow-up training in their provinces.  I cannot wait to see new changes in those offices / provinces!

To be honest, I already miss being an instructor of the training so much... The good news is that we might be able to host the follow-up training sometime in August or September! I cannot wait for the day to come soon :)

Chipolopolo beat Black Stars!

Last night, Zambian national team for soccer, nicknamed Chipolopolo (meaning the copper bullets), beat Ghanaian national team, Black Starts, at the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final! 

Since their first win over Senegal on January 21, Zambians were so excited about their team. They even started talking about winning the cup. Of course I wanted Zambia to do well, but I just did not think it was realistic... Here we are, though, beating Ghana at the semi-final and moving onto the final with Ivory Coast this Sunday, I now believe anything could happen to our Chipolopolo boys! 

Since last night, most of the Zambians are celebrating their victory for now. Wherever you go in town, you see a lot of people wearing in Zambian national uniforms, scarves and caps, as well as vehicles with national flags. You can also hear loud music (they are usually either "Donchi Kubeba" song or "chipolopolo" song) and people honking each other. 

I am sure that the game will be rough because we will be playing against one of the best teams in Africa. I only hope they will do their best. As Zambia has never won the cup, it will be awesome if we win the title though! Go Chipolopolo!

Annual review meeting

Board members for our planning authority and us, the secretariats, came to a lodge at the outskirts of Lusaka for our annual review meeting. We discussed about what we have achieved in the year of 2011 and what kind of activities / projects we should focus on this year.

I needed to make a presentation about our use and application of GIS in 2011 and proposed GIS activities in 2012 at the department. There are variety of things that I want to do by using GIS, including GIS training to the staff here, improving our GIS database, collecting and creating necessary shapefiles for our jurisdiction, and so on. As I only have a little longer than a year left here, I should consider which tasks need to be prioritized before starting new projects.

I guess the annual review meeting was a success. There were so many issues that needed to be discussed... Of course I learned quite a bit from the meeting, but, to be honest, I was glad when the two-day long meeting was finally over!

GIS workshop was postponed!

Since last November, my colleague and I had been working quite hard to hold a two-week long GIS training from the end of January to early February. Twenty planners / planning assistants / surveyors all over the country were supposed to come to Lusaka for that. We even wrote a training material (more than 130 pages long!) so that the participants could practice using GIS on their own even after the training. We were about to place an order for the printing when we were informed of BAD news...

The training has been suddenly postponed until the end of next month because an administrative issue occurred. The worst of it was that it might get cancelled if the situation did not improve by a certain day. Although I knew there was nothing we could have done about it, I was really sad and disappointed about the decision. It was scheduled to start within a week!

I had been very busy ever since we started to organize the event. Besides from writing the training guide, I visited some professionals / offices to organize the event and deal with issues, as well as submitted a proposal, just to name a few... I was so ready for it.

I really wished we could have hold the training as we planned. Though, at least, I was able to learn how it is to work in a developing country in a hard way. I only hope I could react better if a similar thing ever happens to me next...

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year!

So many things happened to me in the year of 2011, good and bad things alike. Overall, though, I think I am enjoying my life in Zambia and glad to have an opportunity to work as a planner here.

As the life in Zambia is so much slower and I have more time here, I have a lot of things that I want to do this year:
- To complete the Luangwa IDP
- To start the Kafue IDP project and finish the inception report as well as the status quo report
- To improve the GIS database at the office
- To make the DPPH GIS training a successful one
- To continue the GIS workshop at the office
- To study GRE in order to apply for grad schools
- To start learning a new language (preferably French)
- To travel to Tanzania and Mozambique, etc

But I think my new year's resolution will be to stay healthy. It is very simple but I think it is very important since I need to be healthy to achieve all those things mentioned above.

Anyways, I hope the year 2012 will be a prosperous one for all of us...