Where?

Blogs have evolved into splendidly crafted works of literature.  They tend to be reputable primary or secondary sources used by scholars, industrialists, plutocrats and politicians to stay on top of things.  They are what the New York Times was fifty years ago.

And I'll try, I really will. But the fact of the matter is that the beauty of writing a journal that chronicles a journey is in re-reading it, and watching the evolution.  I want to read this post in a year and think to myself, "but how naive I was back then!"

I know very little about where I am going.  More information than what I will tell you is likely available, but the thing is, I don't feel the need to know much more than what follows.  I will tell you more when I am there.

Kibombomene is about fifty kilometres east of Solwezi, which is a city of about 60 000 people within a two days' walk of the border with DR Congo.  Kibo is in the Northwest Province, and about a six hour drive from Lusaka; or so I hear.

Sustenance agriculture is the name of the game in that part of the world.  The people have food and a lot of it, but that is the limit of what they have, really.  They are poor by most standards because there is no economy.  Other areas of the world are rich but the people starve.  This is a small slice of the insanity that I hope to wrap my head around in the next couple of years.

The area is heavily forested, with some land cleared for agriculture.  The food crops have been named for me, but they are mostly not names that I recognize, and I have forgotten all of them.  I suspect I will learn them quickly enough.

Zambia itself is a relatively stable country, even though it is one of the world's poorest.  SWSC has had an excellent working relationship with the Zambian government and all indicators are that this relationship will continue.  Zambia is also a member of SACMEQ, an education consortium for southern and eastern African nations; its government is serious about helping its people and ensuring that they have access to resources.

Beyond that, I know very little about the geography of where I will be heading.  I'm at peace with that.

Over the past month, I have lost track of the number of people who have asked me if I would be near any civil violence, or near the drought.  I have quickly forgotten that a year ago, I would have asked similar questions.  We might intellectually know that Africa is a very enormous continent, but it is so often described as one homogeneous political entity, isn't it?

One of the great appeals of this project is that, because the Zambian government and people are supportive in many ways, we will be able to help the people of Kibombomene achieve forward momentum as they see fit.  It does decrease the prospects for a cool story later on about my life being in some sort of danger, which is unfortunate, but for the sake of the project, the location is perfect.