First impressions of Zambia

Me and my colleagues arrived to Zambia yesterday. After a long and peculiar flight with Ethiopian Airlines ( Heathrow - Addis Ababa - Lusaka), we arrived at Lusaka airport, where a gentleman from the organisation we are with was waiting for us. Then, we went to the organisation's office, met some people and had the famous nsima with beans. It was interesting because here they don't use cutlery. Eventually, we went to a bagpackers to spend the night there. In the afternoon, we went to a shopping centre to buy some food. We could find everything there, including a Portuguese restaurant callled 'adega' which serves kebab.
Today, we caught the bus in the morning to come to Ndola. The bus station in Lusaka is a really crazy place. Everybody is moving, shouting, trying to sell things ... And cars and buses are everywhere! Everybody wanted to help us with our luggage. I guess that our luggage was in the hands of many different people.
The trip took more or less 5 hours. During this trip, we passed by Chibombo (the place where our project is) and we stopped in Kabwe. We also passed by many rural areas where you could barely see houses. People here are walking a lot. During this trip, I could see many people walking and carrying fruit and other things in their heads. Some of them are also biking.
When we arrived to Ndola, we got a taxi to come to the headquarters, where we are now. Here we found other volunteers. We are going to stay here a couple of days to get to know the organisation and then, we are going to chibombo.
See you soon!

Countdown to Africa

It has been a long time since the last time I posted in this blog. In the last few months, I've been preparing my trip to Zambia and the work that I will develop there. Me and my colleagues who are going to Zambia came up with an idea that can change many lives in the rural communities in which we are going to work: bikes and trailers. 

We believe that the living conditions of these communities can be improved if they have access to these equipment. For this, we need your support!

Our goal is to fundraise 3500€ so we can buy 9 bikes with trailer, one bike with a special trailer which can be used to transport people in emergency, and tool kits for each bike and trailer.

With them, local people can transport water, food, start their own business or even be easily transported to the nearest clinic/hospital.

We are planning to create a cooperative so people can share these items in the community. At the same time, we are going to teach people about how to repair bikes and trailers and to promote income generating activities. Also, we will teach them about health, sanitation and how to deal with emergencies.

You can be part of this change on our crowdfunding webpage: http:/igg.me/at/12bike 

You can also share this webpage with your contacts so more people can help us!

In the middle of the next week, I will be in Chibombo (one one the rural areas of Zambia) together with my colleagues Arpad and Zoltan. I will keep you informed of what is happening!

See you soon!