The government here has recently bemoaned the slow start to the "Buy Zambian!" advertisement campaign. I guess I'll do my part by highlighting what I think are the top 5 made in Zambia products that I use on a regular basis. I'll balance this out with the top 5 products that Zambia should import because they are made here so poorly (aka the top 5 worst products made in Zambia). While making this list though, I realized that many of the items on my list were probably actually made in Zimbabwe. So maybe it is the things that should be acquired from somewhere other than Zambia or Zimbabwe.
1. Cabana and Maheu - these are two beverages that have won a place in my heart. The former is a milky-fruit drink, the other is a maize based sweet beverage that not only quenches your thirst but satisfies your hunger.
2. Chiccos (see today's post).
3. Peanut butter - Zambia actually makes some pretty decent peanut butter. And, judging by the label on the side of the container, it is really quite natural - just some peanuts, oil, and salt.
4. Laundry paste - Zambia has many different militaristic-sounding brands that all, for some reason start with 'B'. The main ones are "Boom" and "Bullet" but there is a third one that I've seen around called "Bazooka." Watch TV for a few minutes and you will see plenty of advertisements for the first two.
5. Grenadilla Squash - Squash is something made by many companies in Zambia (some much better than others). You use it to make water into juice. Just pour a little into the bottom third of your cup and add water to the top. Grenadilla (aka passion fruit) is by far the best flavour. My host dad used to always by Pineapple flavour (and I think had been for years) but when he discovered Grenadilla once by accident he will never go back, and I am thankful for it.
The Top 5 Things Zambia Really Needs to Import (or should get from somewhere other than Zimbabwe):
1. Television: anything Zambian made on television is, at its best, the equivalent of a local cable channel in North America. At its worst you can see the actor start the camera before entering the scene. Fortunately, much of Zambian TV is already imported (from all over the world, I might add).
2. Jam: I'm not actually sure if the jam here is made in Zambia or in Zimbabwe. All I know is that the "Mixed Fruit" jam that most people eat is far removed from fruit. I think they just stick a few apple cores and melon rinds in a blender, add some sugar, and call it jam. Some people say it tastes like ketchup. I don't quite see that, but I'm looking forward to real jam.
3. Margarine: I reported earlier that Gold Band margarine smelt so bad that I could hardly have it as the same table as me. I maintain that stance and won't touch the stuff. It is just so incredibly bad one wonders how they are able to call it margarine.
4. OK, I've run out of ideas and I have to get going. Nothing is really manufactured in Zambia. I should have realized this before attempting the list. After all, I am teaching this to my Grade 9 Civics class right now. Zambia exports agricultural products (ie sugar and maize), and minerals (especially copper) but imports manufactured goods. No wonder this side of the list never got very far.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Chicco Biscuits...A Quality Product at a Quality Price
I do a lot of snacking these days. This is probably a combination of the early morning breakfasts which leave a long time till the late lunches, the long bike rides, and the desire to be as full as possible before settling into a lunch of dried fish or kapenta (or achieving an alternate taste in my mouth afterwards). I often try and get some fritters (a deep-fried dough product; it is sort of a cousin to a doughnut) but, if there aren't any fresh fritters around my next choice is a package of Chicco biscuits.
Chiccos are square cookies and come in packs of two. In Lusaka one pack costs K500 ($0.12ish) so they certainly fit the budget. Every little shop sells them and since there is a little shop every 10 metres along the road they are very easy to get a hold of.
Here are the Chicco flavours in my order of preference:
1. Malt 'n Milk: The creme de la creme of Chiccos.
2. Chocolate: this was the first flavour I had and it remains a favourite.
3. Banana: this is a brand new flavour (exciting stuff!) and is surprisingly good. I thought it would taste like the banana medicine that I'm sure every North American child has had some exposure to, but they actually taste alright.
4. Coconut: this is one of the "original" flavours and I thought it was pretty good. That was, at least, until I discovered Malt 'n Milk.
5. Strawberry: another new flavour. Think of a strawberry wafer except with no icing, just wafer. Then make it significantly thicker. The result is not all that great.
6. Orange: These last two are a toss up because they both taste downright horrible. I have never been a fan of orange cookies, and Chiccos didn't even come up with a reasonable facsimile of something that might taste good. One time a student had some in class (not allowed) and I confiscated it. To make my point I thought I would take a bite or two, but found that one was more than enough for me.
7. Butter: Think of sinking your teeth into a bar of margarine, except one that is hard and is shaped like a cookie. Blech!
So that is my brief introduction to a Zambian product that both tastes good and comes and at a very reasonable price.
Chiccos are square cookies and come in packs of two. In Lusaka one pack costs K500 ($0.12ish) so they certainly fit the budget. Every little shop sells them and since there is a little shop every 10 metres along the road they are very easy to get a hold of.
Here are the Chicco flavours in my order of preference:
1. Malt 'n Milk: The creme de la creme of Chiccos.
2. Chocolate: this was the first flavour I had and it remains a favourite.
3. Banana: this is a brand new flavour (exciting stuff!) and is surprisingly good. I thought it would taste like the banana medicine that I'm sure every North American child has had some exposure to, but they actually taste alright.
4. Coconut: this is one of the "original" flavours and I thought it was pretty good. That was, at least, until I discovered Malt 'n Milk.
5. Strawberry: another new flavour. Think of a strawberry wafer except with no icing, just wafer. Then make it significantly thicker. The result is not all that great.
6. Orange: These last two are a toss up because they both taste downright horrible. I have never been a fan of orange cookies, and Chiccos didn't even come up with a reasonable facsimile of something that might taste good. One time a student had some in class (not allowed) and I confiscated it. To make my point I thought I would take a bite or two, but found that one was more than enough for me.
7. Butter: Think of sinking your teeth into a bar of margarine, except one that is hard and is shaped like a cookie. Blech!
So that is my brief introduction to a Zambian product that both tastes good and comes and at a very reasonable price.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Chasing Day
One of the sad realities at any school where pupils have to pay to attend is that, when they don't, there are consequences. Both my schools rely on student fees to provide for almost the entire operating budget as there is no government funding. These fees are not all that large, but for people with low (or no) incomes they can be difficult to pay. Then again, there are also those who just don't really care about their children's education and so don't bother to pay. I think that generally the schools have significant pity for the former but none for the latter.
To make parents pay up, schools have a policy of "chasing" those who have yet to pay. Starting a couple weeks into the term and on a regular basis from then on, the headmaster will go to each class with the list of who has and has not paid. Those who haven't paid yet will be taken outside, yelled at for awhile, and then "chased" - sent home. I never really have gotten used to the sight of large portions of a class being taken outside and disciplined in this matter. It is also a little bizarre to teach on "chasing day" because your class is suddenly half full. If you have a class of 40, and twenty of them have been chased, you get a pleasant class size of 20 for the day.
"Chasing" is a reality of community school life. After all, the school needs to receive the school fees to pay for maintenance and, hopefully, the teachers. Nonetheless, I can't say that I like being around when the exercise takes place. I feel sorry for some of the kids because they can't afford to pay, and for others because their parents don't bother paying.
To make parents pay up, schools have a policy of "chasing" those who have yet to pay. Starting a couple weeks into the term and on a regular basis from then on, the headmaster will go to each class with the list of who has and has not paid. Those who haven't paid yet will be taken outside, yelled at for awhile, and then "chased" - sent home. I never really have gotten used to the sight of large portions of a class being taken outside and disciplined in this matter. It is also a little bizarre to teach on "chasing day" because your class is suddenly half full. If you have a class of 40, and twenty of them have been chased, you get a pleasant class size of 20 for the day.
"Chasing" is a reality of community school life. After all, the school needs to receive the school fees to pay for maintenance and, hopefully, the teachers. Nonetheless, I can't say that I like being around when the exercise takes place. I feel sorry for some of the kids because they can't afford to pay, and for others because their parents don't bother paying.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Where is the Ball?
I found a video of a hockey game at the MCC Guest House a while ago and last week I got the chance to show it to my host family. This was after a long conversation the night before where I was explaining to my host father the details of hockey and curling. He was really interested in the business side of the whole thing - how much were players paid, how big were the facilities, etc., but also was keen to see hockey in action.
Everyone gathered around the TV and I tried to explain what was going on. They were really impressed that people could move on ice like that. For sure, they kept saying, people should be falling down and losing their balance. Every time someone would start skating fast there would be some excitement as the Zambians could hardly believe that someone could do such a thing.
My host mom also kept asking, "where is the ball?" I guess we needed an American FOX-style comet tail. I sat by the TV and used my finger to show where the puck was going. I guess that following the puck is a bit of a learned skill after all.
The final factor that impressed them was the cold. The game that I had was the outdoor game in Edmonton from a few years ago so it was actually legitimately cold, -20 degrees or so. Right now we are pretty cold here and it is about 10 degrees, maybe a little colder, at night. Temperatures in the negatives were a bit of a stretch for them.
After watching a period it was time for bed. Hopefully we'll watch some more one day. If not, at least I've done my part to spread the gospel of hockey.
Everyone gathered around the TV and I tried to explain what was going on. They were really impressed that people could move on ice like that. For sure, they kept saying, people should be falling down and losing their balance. Every time someone would start skating fast there would be some excitement as the Zambians could hardly believe that someone could do such a thing.
My host mom also kept asking, "where is the ball?" I guess we needed an American FOX-style comet tail. I sat by the TV and used my finger to show where the puck was going. I guess that following the puck is a bit of a learned skill after all.
The final factor that impressed them was the cold. The game that I had was the outdoor game in Edmonton from a few years ago so it was actually legitimately cold, -20 degrees or so. Right now we are pretty cold here and it is about 10 degrees, maybe a little colder, at night. Temperatures in the negatives were a bit of a stretch for them.
After watching a period it was time for bed. Hopefully we'll watch some more one day. If not, at least I've done my part to spread the gospel of hockey.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Zambia Update
Seeing as Zambian news is probably not coming from the mouth of Peter Mansbridge any time soon here are my top 5 Zambian news stories of 2006-7.
1. The Zambian election: President Mwanawasa was re-elected for a second (and final) five year term. The Patriotic Front and its aggressive leader, Michael Sata, cry foul and continue to exchange insults with the ruling party (the MMD). The two are bitter rivals with a long history of hate between them so the war of words goes back and forth with some regularity.
2. President Chiluba guilty of corruption. A British court found Chiluba guilty in a civil case regarding approximately $40 million of misappropriated money. Chiluba, who clings to an illness as an excuse to avoid court dates, will likely soon face a long awaited criminal trial in Zambia. Chiluba left office in 2001 (after Zambians overwhelmingly opposed the idea of him changing the constitution to allow himself to hold on to power) and his handpicked successor, Mwanawasa, has since been pursuing corruption charges against him. In another war of words, Chiluba and Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, who also hate each other, bicker regularly through the media as well.
3. Zambia loses to a vulture fund. Zambia recently received significant debt relief but these benefits may all be for not after they lost in court to a "vulture fund" and will be forced to pay up money that could otherwise have been used for health or education. The debt, which originated with a tractor purchase from Romania in the 1970s, was nearly written off in the early 1990s before the vulture fund snatched it up.
4. The government continues to face off against the opposition parties and numerous NGOs over the enactment of a new constitution. The long awaited process, which has yet to really get off the ground, is needed to revamp the current constitution in order to, among other things, reduce the power of the president. Naturally the president wants to wait as long into his five years as he can before getting moving on something that will limit his own powers, instead wanting to leave it to his successor to live with the consequences.
5. The Keep Zambia Clean campaign begins in earnest with the destruction of the homes of numerous people living in "illegal" settlements and pushing vendors off city streets. Most vendors were on the streets in the first place because there was not enough market space to hold them so simply removing them without providing an alternative doesn't seem like a terribly effective solution. This one did make international news, if only briefly. Oh well, it did accomplish one thing - the downtown streets are much cleaner. Now if only they could do something about the rotting garbage everywhere.
1. The Zambian election: President Mwanawasa was re-elected for a second (and final) five year term. The Patriotic Front and its aggressive leader, Michael Sata, cry foul and continue to exchange insults with the ruling party (the MMD). The two are bitter rivals with a long history of hate between them so the war of words goes back and forth with some regularity.
2. President Chiluba guilty of corruption. A British court found Chiluba guilty in a civil case regarding approximately $40 million of misappropriated money. Chiluba, who clings to an illness as an excuse to avoid court dates, will likely soon face a long awaited criminal trial in Zambia. Chiluba left office in 2001 (after Zambians overwhelmingly opposed the idea of him changing the constitution to allow himself to hold on to power) and his handpicked successor, Mwanawasa, has since been pursuing corruption charges against him. In another war of words, Chiluba and Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, who also hate each other, bicker regularly through the media as well.
3. Zambia loses to a vulture fund. Zambia recently received significant debt relief but these benefits may all be for not after they lost in court to a "vulture fund" and will be forced to pay up money that could otherwise have been used for health or education. The debt, which originated with a tractor purchase from Romania in the 1970s, was nearly written off in the early 1990s before the vulture fund snatched it up.
4. The government continues to face off against the opposition parties and numerous NGOs over the enactment of a new constitution. The long awaited process, which has yet to really get off the ground, is needed to revamp the current constitution in order to, among other things, reduce the power of the president. Naturally the president wants to wait as long into his five years as he can before getting moving on something that will limit his own powers, instead wanting to leave it to his successor to live with the consequences.
5. The Keep Zambia Clean campaign begins in earnest with the destruction of the homes of numerous people living in "illegal" settlements and pushing vendors off city streets. Most vendors were on the streets in the first place because there was not enough market space to hold them so simply removing them without providing an alternative doesn't seem like a terribly effective solution. This one did make international news, if only briefly. Oh well, it did accomplish one thing - the downtown streets are much cleaner. Now if only they could do something about the rotting garbage everywhere.
50 Days . . . 50 Adventures
As of yesterday, there were 50 days left in my Zambian stay. That is pretty scary - time is really flying by. I guess now when people ask when I'm leaving I can say "next month." There are a lot of good things to look forward to about going home, and a lot of things that I'm really going to miss. In the meanwhile I might as well pack in as many adventures as I can.
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