Is That a Prairie Province?

One of the strangest surprises I found soon after my arrival was the geographical knowledge of Canada that Zambians have. As a result of a bizarre, and now former, geography curriculum, many people with a high school education were taught the details of North America instead of the geography of Southern Africa. The Canadian Shield, Great Lakes, and Prairie Provinces are remarkably familiar terms to many people. As a result, if I say I am from Alberta (or Manitoba – I tend to go back and forth) they understand in general terms what part of the country I am speaking of.

I know that it is too easy to bring up an example of a stereotypical American, but as a matter of comparison this is unfortunately necessary. I met a middle-aged fellow from Idaho last week who was helping with the plumbing at school. He lived in a town 30 miles from the Canadian border. When I said I was from Alberta this meant nothing to him – I might as well have said I was from Newfoundland. Yet, if I tell a Zambian the same thing, many would quickly remember that Alberta is in Western Canada and is a prairie province.

Fortunately, the quirk which created such knowledge has since been ironed out. Angola and South Africa are now studied instead of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This makes a whole lot more sense then learning the detailed geography of a distant continent. Nonetheless, being told about the intricacies of the Canadian Shield by a Zambian, who has probably never travelled north of Kitwe, in the middle of a hot and dusty Lusakan compound is one of the things that I would have never expected prior to arrival.