The first month of this new year was a busy one for volunteers in Southern Province. We had been waiting for months to finalize the lease for a new base of operations and quite suddenly the
call was made. Stepping off of the plane, B and I were informed that we had a little over a week to move everything out of the old Provincial Resource Center and into a new site about one kilometer away. Abrupt changes to the existing game plan are par for the course in Zambia and although distressing, the news was proof positive that we had returned and came as a reassurance that everything was as we left. Volunteers from all over the province came in to pull off a successful move and all of our office equipment, furniture, and personal affects were relocated within a matter of days. In that first night, tried and tired on the floor under our mosquito nets propped up on so much carriage, we took comfort in knowing with certainty that we had come back to our home away from homes.
call was made. Stepping off of the plane, B and I were informed that we had a little over a week to move everything out of the old Provincial Resource Center and into a new site about one kilometer away. Abrupt changes to the existing game plan are par for the course in Zambia and although distressing, the news was proof positive that we had returned and came as a reassurance that everything was as we left. Volunteers from all over the province came in to pull off a successful move and all of our office equipment, furniture, and personal affects were relocated within a matter of days. In that first night, tried and tired on the floor under our mosquito nets propped up on so much carriage, we took comfort in knowing with certainty that we had come back to our home away from homes.
Much had to be done to make our new headquarters a functioning office. Documents sorted, doors refurbished, and shelves built to give everything a place. My modest carpentry skills were put to good use despite having to take a brief rest enforced by Peace Corps Medical Office. The rapid change in climate opened my immune system to attack and somewhere between the rain and dusty furnishings I found the time to come down with a bacterial infection in my throat. A regiment of sleep and penicillin did the trick and I was back on my feet in no time. I headed to nearby Kalomo with Chisco, a local bio-gas producing farmer, to check on the progress of a bio-gas digester installation at the local abattoir and recover from the rains with an unexpected dose of sunshine. As you can see from this picture of Kapapa farm road, the rains have been generous, and I arrived on site to find the digester dome filled with about 40 centimeters of water.The digester is being built at a sizable slaughterhouse within Kalomo BOMA. Owned by
a prominent political figure in Zambia, the abattoir will significantly reduce the environmental impact of meat and hide processing activities once the digester is complete. Sixty to eighty head of cattle end their earthly lives here everyday and generate a large amount of waste in the process. This digester will turn that waste into methane gas which will both treat the waste before introduction into the local ecosystem and produce fuel for boiling water, cooking, and processing hides. It is exciting to be working on a project that will advance the cause of green development by linking a nationally recognized political figure to bio-gas. The sun has come out in Zambia and it is a beautiful day.
Chisco and I check out the mornings waste output from the abattoir. Not a pleasant smell but a beautiful thing for bio-gas production.
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