Marilyn’s cousins from Canada arrived on Sunday and Monday and we rearranged our house a bit. We now have the dining room table in our porch and are using the sink and table in the porch for laying out meals and cleaning up. This is actually what we planned to do when we first moved in and it is really cool. Of course we have Ron sleeping in the livingroom under a new mosquito net so it isn’t totally how it will be in the end.

We did a great drive on Monday to the various areas around Livingstone and out to Malone village. There is an old bridge leading into Malone and it has a sign which says “Bridge Closed”. It looks like it has already collapsed but I have been driving it for two years and know it is still okay. When I approach the bridge with visitors, I always act amazed that there is ‘now’ a sign saying ‘Bridge Closed’. Then I say something like, “oh I can’t believe it and head out onto the bridge. Usually, people are bit shocked and a little worried but Marilyn’s cousins were screaming at me to stop. Even Marilyn hasn’t gone this way for a long time so she was screaming as well. Great joke, I love it.We also took them to Maanu Mbwami school. It was quite by accident because we were lost and then came into Lubuyu where I saw the school and got my bearings. It was quite timely as well. We helped the school repair their hammer mill which grinds maize and can be a source of revenue for them. Pastor Smoke Chewe and the teachers were really happy to see us and the kids were great.

We had a heavy rainfall today and discovered some more leaks in both our house and the Arts Cafe which need to be fixed. Our yard was flowing like a river. It cleared by 14h00 and it doesn’t take long for the water to disappear once the rain stops.

We also stopped in at an art gallery and visited with our friends Lawrence and Agnes. They are quite talented and successful and have a lovely studio. As always, we were received with a warm Zambian greeting.

Marilyn and I went out to hear a group called “Danny” at the new Fairmount Hotel (which is actually quite old). It was our first night out in a long time and only possible because the bar with the group was open late after our show finished. The manager, Ashok came and bought us a drink. We are going to work together to promote his hotel and our Cafe at the airport and in other ways. Got some important business done and enjoyed some great music at the same time.

CAUTION: DON’T READ ON IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH. One of our dancers, Malala, who lives with Twaambo, one of our Chefs, cut herself on a broken mirror at home on Saturday. Twaambo called from the hospital at 6:30am to say they had been waiting to see a doctor for two hours and none could be reached and Malala had lost a lot of blood. I told Twaambo to bring her to our house so we could see the injury and decide whether to take her to my doctor who runs a private hospital. When she arrived, she was covered in blood and when I removed the bandage I could see how seriously she had been cut.

I immediately took her to see Dr. Shafik where she got cleaned up a bit and had the cut stitched at two levels. Even here the nurse didn’t even look under the bandage and when I asked if her legs could be washed she just said she had to wait for Dr. Shafik. When Dr. Shafik entered, the first thing he said was “Clean her up”.

One of my first thoughts about a broken mirror being the cause was that “nothing gets thrown out in Zambia”. I could imagine that if a mirror broke it would now just be a lot of mirrors….dangerous but still useful. The cost of treatment for Malala came to K550,000, the amount of money she earns in a month. Sadly, she will also not be able to dance in our show for at least three weeks resulting in a further loss of income. It is impossible to imagine what she would have done without us and yet somehow she would manage……African’s do!

We hired a professional videographer to make a full-length DVD of Dancing Around Zambia and also a 3 minute promo video for YouTube, our web site, and for inclusion in the promo videos of other agents. We get a lot of request for a DVD of the show so will also have it to sell to our guests. Tony takes his work seriously and has been at the Arts Cafe a lot to capture the show and our other activities. I want our promo video to be more about ‘cultural tourism’ in Livingstone so he is going to include other dance groups, the museum, Maramba market etc. Can’t wait to see the finished product and it will be a really important marketing tool.

It was nice to get so many emails from people asking why I didn’t post my blog this past week. In truth, Sunday became Friday before I knew it…all because we had our busiest week ever at the Arts Cafe and I don’t even know where the days went.

First I had to submit some year end papers to keep our NGO active and doing this consumed a lot of time well beyond just preparing everything. The office which takes the annual reports is also an office for Zambians to apply for their NRC (National Registration Cards). All Zambians carry this card which has their picture and vital information. It is produced frequently for a variety of things. Unfortunately, the process is best described as chaotic. Zambians rarely form a line for anything and a mass of people crowd the desk inside the office and spills out into the courtyard literally blocking an entrance. I have learned to part the crowd and move as close as possible to the official. I seem to be able to do so without objection.

Getting to the front is really the small battle. As I finally got the woman’s attention on Tuesday, she rose from her desk, packed her bag and announced she was closing for lunch. As we are all hustled out of the office she will be gone for at least an hour. That same afternoon, I return, get to the desk again and she stands, packs her bag, hustles everyone out of the office and leaves.

On Wednesday, I returned and managed to hand her the papers when I say, “Can you please accept my NGO annual report”, to which she replies “It isn’t about accepting them…you have to pay”. I pull out the K100,000 renewal fee but she hands me back my papers saying “Come tomorrow”. When I ask her what will happen tomorrow, I think she says, “I’ll give you a receipt”.

In the end, I am quite perplexed and call Daisy who agrees to meet me the next morning to see if she may have better luck. At this point, I am thinking it may be that she is toying with me because I am the only white person vying for her attention. When Daisy meets her, it turns out she wants last year’s receipt to prove I paid in 201o. That’s because they have no way of knowing otherwise as there are no computers or files to check in her office. I can’t find the receipt back at the office because of a bit of a mess Tiika left when his contract was terminated. Daisy returns to tell her this and comes out of the office with payment made and papers submitted. “She’s the sister of my good friend”, Daisy says so she trusts me. I promise we will not lose the receipt again.

I also got busy doing maintenance work both at home and at the Arts Cafe. We had no hot water on Wednesday morning so my day started by running to the market to buy a new switch which had malfunctioned. Everything malfunctions after a while in Zambia even though this switch never gets touched…..they just quit and remind me that China does indeed make inferior products. Electrical work here is so difficult to decipher as all wires are the same colour, you can never find the exact same item you need, and it is 240 volts which will blow your ears off. At the Arts Cafe, I had a toilet handle bust which I discovered when I found a ‘full’ toilet bowl, and I also had some maintenance to do on the wiper of our Landrover.

But these were minor distractions. The good news is that we had our busiest weekend and into this week that we have ever had. On Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and again last night we had large groups of people for dinner and show. We are usually closed Monday but we opened to accommodate 47 people. Last night we had 54 with only 37 having made reservations. We used every chair and table and wonder if this is to be expected as the tourists return. The staff did great but it still requires Marilyn to do a lot of the planning, shopping, organizing and supervision. But this is what we have been hoping for and we must get good at it. We are now the only traditional restaurant in Livingstone after Ngoma Zanga closed and one of the few evening activities other than bars.Kelly leaves today for a vacation in England, Marilyn’s 5 cousins arrive on Sunday and Monday, and Kaleigh Clegg is coming for two weeks in May. We love having visitors and it forms a special bond when people actually see what we are doing and become part of our life in Africa. Finding time to show them around is always a problem but we manage.

We are amazed at how much we sell from our little curio shop and happy that our artisans who make these products are able to benefit. They are part of our Arts Cafe family and show up every day to run workshops and hone their craft. Unlike most curios, we display our prices on every item, don’t pressure anyone to buy, and have encouraged new product development…..there are just too many carved hippos for sale everywhere in Livingstone. Last night we also sold three paintings….two at $155 each and one at $55. The artists who display on our walls can hardly believe the sales they are getting.

The people who run the bridge tour, bungee and gorge swing,  had an agent’s day and I took Faith along. She works a lot of hours in our ‘front of house’ and by experiencing the events can better talk with potential clients we refer. She was so excited about doing the bungee jump. A few weeks ago, she and Jane went whitewater rafting and even though they don’t swim they did it and had a blast. Faith wasn’t scared at all but the woman from Wilderness Tours who was behind her was quite nervous. She even asked me “What if they don’t tie it tight enough on your feet.” Normally, I’d joke and say “Then you better know how to swim” but instead I said “Don’t worry they always do”.

We had a man from Germany come to the show this week who was upset that he had to pay K110,000 for his show ticket but his “girlfriend” who is Zambian got in for K25,000. “It’s not right” he said.” Why do you charge me more when I am visiting. If you come to Germany we all pay the same.” I tried to explain to him that this is not Germany or anything like a wealthy country from Europe or the West. Most Zambians earn in a month what he probably earns in a day. Faith would never be able to afford the $105 for bungee jumping or the $85 for whitewater rafting if I was not able to arrange it for her. In fact, few Zambians ever are able to partake in the many tourist attractions in Livingstone.

 

Meanwhile, the last wall near the street is being painted. Zig Zag and Manasha promised me “Something I’ve never seen before” and they have been true to their word. I’m not sure what will end up as the final product but it is certainly different. 

 

Last Monday Kelly headed off to Malawi to pick up the book bus and bring it back to Livingstone. It put a halt to our most recent scrabble tournament which now stands at Bob 2, Kelly 2 and Marilyn 3. First person to win 5 games is the champ. However, even this won’t top what happened later in the week.

The trip to Malawi is a long one – first getting there by bus over a three day period and then three days driving back. Each way is 1585km and there are long stretches without any places to stop. It also takes a bit of planning to catch the border crossing open between Zambia and Malawi.

She arrived back on Sunday and today (Monday) she found out she won the competition for a new slogan to Rebrand Zambia. There were close to 5,000 entries narrowed down to 5 finalists. She will receive a $15,000 travel package and “Discover Zambia, Experience Africa” will become the new slogan.  Hooray!

Varena Hackman, our new student on internship for the next 5 months, arrived in Livingstone with her husband Alec on Wednesday. They stayed with us for three nights before finding a room to let at a small lodge which is now renting out rooms on a permanent basis due to the lack of tourists. Several small lodges have started doing this to survive. Varena will be doing marketing, management functions and a variety of other tasks as both a way to fulfill her education requirements and help us with operating the Arts Cafe.

We also got final approval for our marketing and training grant from AFE in the amount of $8,000. As part of this grant we hired a videographer who started filming our show on Sunday. We are making a promo video of all the activities at the Arts Cafe as well as a full-length version of “Dancing Around Zambia”. We get a lot of request from people wanting to buy a copy of a DVD of the show.

Safpar, a large booking agency connected with The Waterfront lodge in Livingstone is also making a new DVD of all the activities in Livingstone they sell and will put our segment in their new video. Fairmont Hotel, another busy spot has also suggested they’ll use our promo video on their in-room tv channel which promotes Livingstone activities.

We also got three big bookings which all came on the same day this week. Two are at the end of March and one in May. We’re crossing our fingers that this is just the beginning of a good 2011 season.

Marilyn’s cousins are expected to arrive during the first week of April. Ed and Nancy from Medicine Hat will be staying for a month and Ron, Kathy, and Jess, from Saskatchewan will be with us for two weeks at the same time. We are really looking forward to having them visit and showing them around. They are also bringing along some supplies we need from Canada, including a new guitar.

Marilyn had quite a difficult week trying to provide a visiting group with some souvenirs they requested. Usually they buy their products in South Africa but we are always trying to help the local economy and agreed to organize the Nyami Nyamis they wanted as well as the T-shirts of Victoria Falls. The Nyami Nyamis were easy as three of our guys who offer handicraft workshops at the Arts Cafe were able to carve the 93 on order. However, the T-shirts became a nightmare.

First, the company providing the shirts from Lusaka send two shades of blue and several of the wrong sizes. Then the business we hired to do the silk screening of the picture of Victoria Falls couldn’t get a clear image to come onto the shirts. Marilyn tried a few other places and finally ended up having to have decals made to be glued on the shirts. Each change had to be relayed to our client for approval.

When she went to pick up the shirts with the decals, she noticed most of them had the words off-centre under the picture of the Falls. To compensate she had to find a small image to place next to the words. Finally, when inspecting the shirts, some had little blue lines across the image. By now she was pretty exhausted and disappointed. I didn’t help much when I said “Why are we doing this…..this isn’t what we do.”

Monday is our day off but I attended a high level government meeting this morning after being invited by the Permanent Secretary. The invited guests included high level government officials, heads of the biggest NGOs, Presidents of all the Zambian banks with branches in Livingstone, etc.  It was a meeting to present Zambia’s five year vision and working documents for growth and development.

We hired a new bartender last week on a trial basis and I’ve been quite impressed with his ability to make cocktails, set up the bar nicely, and practice good customer service. I offered him a full-time job.

EDUCATION FORUM:

Although the rate of unemployment in Zambia is said to be at 65% this is certainly not a true indication. Admittedly many people are looking for full time work but in the meantime they manage to act as ‘small’ entrepreneurs, often selling various goods on the street, working in the market, or crossing over the border to Botswana, Nambia, or Zim to purchase goods on behalf of clients. Others work at piece-work jobs earning enough money to survive.

When you hire people full-time in Zambia, you must often be prepared to help out in many ways with emergencies. They often involve medical emergencies, rent payments, buying food, or any number of situations.

For example,  Alex, who is one of our chefs came to me this week requesting an advance of his salary. The problem with giving too much money to an employee mid-month is that they will then have problems at the end of the month when bills are due. He needed K300,000 to send his wife to the village to bring his brother to Livingstone for medical treatment. His brother fell from a tree and seriously busted up the bones in his leg.  At least Alex didn’t feel the need to go himself and leave us stranded without a Chef. In the end, I loaned him K250,000 and gave him K50,000 as gift. I am a brother and was able to relate to the need to help family.

I finally got the letters and pictures of our sponsored kids sent off to those in Canada who are paying the school fees. This week I am going to another school to make the final payment on their hammer mill repairs. They should be able to grind maize and make some money for the school now. This project was sponsored by Marilyn’s cousin Nickie who is a teacher in Toronto. Her kids sold feezies last year and donated the money to our Foundation.

This old trunk (pictured above) sat in the mud room at our home in St.Marys for as far back as I can remember. It held blankets and various other items and we used it as a seat when putting on our winter boots. We brought it along to Africa in our container and now it stores items in the cast dressing room. A very different location with drums in the background but still useful.

ON A SAD NOTE:

This week we heard of the passing of Jennifer Alton’s father, John. We know all of Jennifer’s family well and spent many times with John and his wife Helen either at Ford and Jennifer’s in Hawkestone or in Georgetown where her dad and mom live. John had the most incredible collection of old movies and loved to talk about them. He enjoyed so many great topics of conversation and was so wise and unassuming. We were saddened to hear of his death and miss the opportunity to grieve alongside friends when we are so far away.

We hired a new bartender on a trial basis this past week. I interviewed four candidates but when I wanted to call them in for a second interview one didn’t answer, one was in Choma, one couldn’t remember applying for the job, and the other didn’t have a phone. We had a group of 26 overlanders coming for dinner and show and I thought it would be a great time to see what they could do. It is hard to run a bar unless you have good math skills, can stay organized,can  keep track of stock, and mix drinks in a hurry.

I did leave a message with a friend of David (the one without a phone) and fortunately he showed up at the Arts Cafe by mid afternoon, started right away, and handled the group which arrived around 19h00. He actually did quite a good job for his first day and by Saturday he had the bar looking great, gave me a list of supplies he thought we should have, and exuded a high level of confidence. I think I may have a winner.

Daisy dropped in yesterday with Zion and is planning to come back to work on April 15. We are looking at our overall operations to decide how Marilyn and I can gradually withdraw from some of our duties.

There was some good news this week with the approval of a grant from AFE in the amount of K23,000,000. Most of it will be spent on marketing which includes new brochures, posters, a video of our show, pop-up banners, etc. We also have some money to help train some local artisans and performance groups in cultural awareness, hospitality and sales. This is to help them understand how to better sell their products to tourists.

At the curio markets, for example, many tourists stop to buy souvenirs. However, each curio stand sells the same carvings, baskets, etc. and they can become quite aggressive when vying for the attention of the shoppers. By the time a tourist encounters three or four stand operators they usually leave in frustration and don’t buy anything. Meanwhile we sell a lot of items in our small curio shop because there is no pressure, customers can browse at leisure, and all prices are on the items (another thing curio shops don’t do)

Kelly was quite ill this week. She is usually a bundle of energy and apart from a cold has never been sick in Africa in her two years here. This time some nasty bug got her good and she was bed-ridden for almost three days. I’m happy to say she is feeling fine again.

Kelly is leaving for Malawi tomorrow to pick up the Book Bus and will be gone for a week. She will then continue volunteering with us until the end of April before she goes to England for a week or so. Varena the student doing an internship with us should be arriving any day.

You will recall that both Kelly and I entered slogans for the ‘Re-brand Zambia” slogan contest. This week Kelly got an email saying one of her entries has been selected for the finals. All those selected will be posted later next week for an international vote. The winner gets a safari package. The slogan which she submitted is ‘Discover Zambia – Experience Africa”. As soon as I have the voting address, I’ll send it out to everyone I know and ask them to vote for her.

The artists are continuing to work on the murals and we continue to get some amazing feedback about how great our place looks. On our way to work this week we encountered a detour where a huge transport was attempting a turn, his load of 50kg bags of mealie meal shifted, and the truck ended up on its side.

We are definitely getting more calls these days asking for quotes on group packages but it is a tedious process putting these together and meeting individual agent requirements. Some want the show and dinner package, some want just dinner, some want just show, and always they are looking for discounts. There is a group we hope to get on March 28 of 50 people “looking for dinner and a place where they will not hearing any noise since they want to just eat and talk”.

EDUCATION FORUM

I like to try and provide some anecdotes each week which help people understand more about Africa.

On Tuesday, I went to Debonnaire’s pizza. We usually get our pizza at Olga’s (which are cooked in a wood fired oven). Debonnaires is close to the Arts Cafe so sometimes it is more convenient. They have one of those conveyor belt ovens like the ones at Dominoes in Canada. I ordered two pizzas – one sweet and sour chicken and one vegitarian. “We don’t have any mushrooms”, the young clerk said. “That’s okay, how much do you take off the price”, I replied. “Oh nothing”.

“Okay” can you just add some extra pineapple then”.

“No, we can’t do that”

This is typical of the levels of control which exist in many businesses. Owners put in place practices which control inventory even down to the last slice of green pepper. When something happens like being out of mushrooms the person working in the store has absolutely no flexibility and must account for all the servings at days end.

This is a small example but it happens everywhere. It may be from lack of trust (to control theft) or possibly just to keep the rules simple (problem solving is not an attribute of many African’s we have met.)

We have now been living in Africa for 786 days. This little girl is Africa

Our life is filled with music. Music is Africa and Africa is music

There’s a lot of history in Africa.Like the Royal Livingstone Golf club

There are great friends in Africa. Africans who will make a difference

Lots of tourist come to Africa. Some experience it, most just visit

There’s a lot of laughter in Africa. Laughter and love

Africa has some pretty cool looking bugs. And some very scary mosquitoes

Sometimes kids take off school in Africa so they can play drums in their dad’s band

I didn’t have a band but I took my kids out of school for other cool stuff

You don’t throw things out in Africa. You fix them

Some things are hard to find in Africa. For example – an interior light for a 1993 Mitsubishi Pajero or a dripless candle

There are lots of things I miss. Some more than others.

After last week’s long blog and numerous pictures, I find myself with less to say and fewer pics this week. The new artwork on the walls surrounding the Arts Cafe are getting lots of attention and progressing so fast I can hardly keep up with a chronicle of the development.

Kennedy, the owner of Sunbird Lodge came to see us this week. He said he was driving past the Arts Cafe and when he saw the artwork on the walls he did a u-turn. Sarah, from the Waterfront Lodge wrote to say how nice they looked and said they have a wall they’d like to get painted and could I recommend an artist who needed the work. Wayne, who owns several businesses in Livingstone, popped in as well and when I told him about my idea of getting artwork done on the buildings in the town centre he said he wanted to help and would talk to some other business owners.

On Wednesday, Kelly, James (the coordinator of LTA), and myself drove out to the Airport for a meeting to move forward on the airport information booth I’ve been coordinating. When we got there, we were told the space is no longer available. Pleading that I had spent time and money on this project didn’t help.

However, there is always a silver lining….right? Anyway, we then went to see the Managing Director of a hotel called the New Fairmount because they actually have a kiosk at the airport in a great location. Preglin wasn’t in but called me in the afternoon to set up an appointment. He wasn’t keen on using his kiosk to market all the LTA member businesses but was more than happy to let LiPAF and the Arts Cafe benefit from the location. He also introduced me to two of his senior managers who are coming to see our show and then sit down to discuss how the New Fairmount can help promote the Arts Cafe.

We also did a performance at Protea Hotel for a government organized function on carbon taxes. It was scheduled for Wednesday night and at 4:00pm a guy called to say he was cancelling and wanted to discuss whether we still wanted any fee. I told him, Yes….all of it. He was a bit shocked and started to debate with me but I insisted our policy is 100% non-refundable if cancelled on the day of the show. He said many of the delegates to the conference had left already. In the end, he said “Okay, if you want to come and perform that’s fine….even if it is only me watching.” Of course he was not entirely being truthful and we still had 35 people watching the show.

Unfortunately, we had to close the building early on Friday night because Zesco (the utility company) put us in the dark. We called to notify them of the problem but they tried to say it was our problem and we needed to get our own electrician to sort it out. Of course this was not the case and after insisting, they did come and restored the power but only after we had to close early. I waited around to explain to the guests who arrived.

This picture below is a reflection on our theatre wall. I noticed it just as some guests were leaving in their car. It was the sun shining off the window of the car, reflecting into our building and onto some paper mache figures sitting on our bar. When the car left it disappeared.

I know many of you are following our scrabble match with keen interest…ha ha. Kelly, who stormed out ahead by capturing seven early games was once leading by a score of 7 to 5 (Marilyn) to 4 (Bob). Well things have changed and as of last Friday and the score sat at Bob 9, Marilyn 9 and Kelly 7. The tournament winner is the first to get to 10 games. We played on Saturday night and Kelly led most of the game after getting an early seven letter word. However, in the end I passed her and was first to reach the 10 wins. Now we are starting a new tournament – 5 games and the winner will be the person with the highest cumulative score.

On Tuesday of last week, while driving to work, I came upon a protest organized by taxi drivers in Livingstone over increased fees and fines. This is the second protest we’ve seen in two years. The streets were littered with tree branches, stones, and even burning tires and a large crowd assembled in the town square. Riot police were on hand but not really needed and mostly just ended up cleaning the debris from the street. By noon the protest was over as sustaining such activity is just not in the Zambian psyche.

Zambia has recently introduced a contest to “re-brand Zambia” I should have told everyone sooner although I did sent out the contest rules to those who had visited since it is open to anyone in the world. A study done last year by the Tourism Program at Cornel University in conjunction with the Zambian Tourism Board, found that the previous slogan had a negative connotation although I quite liked it. It is “Zambia –The Real Africa”. Kelly and I have been brainstorming a lot of potential ideas since the prize is a $30,000 safari package.   In the end we each came up with our own three entries. Mine are:

Zambia: An African Greeting Awaits You
Zambia: You’ll want to stay
Zambia: Inviting and Exciting

I also met the new owner of the Arts Cafe building (our new Landlord as of August 1^st). I know him quite well and we had a good meeting. He is willing to sign a new lease with the same terms and conditions as the previous one so there should be no need to go to court. I did consult a lawyer and had two meetings with him. In the end he said: “You will have to pay for the interviews”.  It cost me K42,000 (Less than $10.00)

A woman named Inongwe dropped into the Arts Cafe this week. Her husband was transferred to Livingstone from Lusaka and they came to see the show last week. We had a small audience and she came to see if we might be able to use her as a volunteer to help us market. I was quite impressed with her interview and she is going to start on Tuesday. If we get the AFE marketing and training grant, it will be great but in the meantime we are getting new brochures printed in SA at the end of this month. We also have Verena coming to do an internship with us in March so we may have a good team which will get results.

I often tell my students not to leave things to the last minute for my online course submissions in case they have computer glitches. Now, I’ve left this blog posting until later on Monday, it is storming outside with a high wind and lightning and my internet keeps going on and off.

I’ve heard people say you should advertise when business is bad and you should advertise when business is good.  February has been even quieter than I remember from last year. Lodges are empty except for a few hosting conferences and many activities are either suspended or running only a few days each week. A couple having dinner at the Arts Cafe told me they went on a boat cruise on the Zambezi expecting to be among a crowd and discovered they had the entire boat to themselves. This is the nature of the tourism industry and many operators are using the time to spruce up their establishments in preparation for “the tourist season” which should pick up in March.

I finally got around to hiring some artists to do some murals on the large canvases (walls) which surround our building and patio. Zig Zag, Trinity, and Manash are artists who live together not very far from our house. On Monday we went to their small studio where they sometimes host visitors and sell their paintings. It is an unofficial tourist activity but one which some travellers really enjoy – those who come to Africa to get to know the people. The new murals (one on the patio wall, three inside the patio wall, and several one on the wall along the edge of the property at the street will hopefully attract lots of attention.

Marilyn’s computer continues to be plagued by viruses which has created no end to the frustration. We are trying to get our marketing material ready for printing and her files are all corrupted. We applied for a grant from an agency called Action For Enterprise (AFE) which is USAID funded to see if we could get some support for marketing materials. If it comes through, we can purchase nice coloured brochures, pop-up banners, make a video of our show, and even attend a tourism trade show. Unfortunately, these applications can often involve a lot of work for naught.

We did get an important piece of marketing in place this week with the hanging of our banner at Olga’s. Giuseppe is a great friend and made the offer of a section of wall in his very popular Italian restaurant. It reads “Olga’s recommends you visit the Arts Cafe” which will be great advertising. We will also be hanging a banner in the Arts Cafe which reads “The Arts Cafe recommends you visit Olga’s”. It’s so nice to have this kind of mutual support when so much of the tourist industry in Livingstone is so competitive. I’m still working on getting the airport information booth up and running and will hopefully make some meaningful progress this week when I meet with the airport authorities.

Our past week kicked off with another very successful Sunday night jam session on Feb 13^th.. We did our patio up with a Valentine’s Day theme and had over 80 people show up. Last night’s jam was also a great success and we even had members of the Livingstone orchestra show up.

Here are a couple of pictures from the little artists’ studio we visited. Zig Zag, Trinity, and Manash are doing the murals at the Arts Cafe.

During Thursday night’s show there was quite a commotion as the staff discovered a large snake in the back courtyard during intermission. The cast members use this area behind the dressing room to cool down and there is a water tap for drinking. When Sandra went to get a drink she saw the snake in the drain. It tried to squeeze through the grate and got stuck leaving it vulnerable to the attack from our staff with rocks, sticks, and anything else they could find for the kill.

Lefard has planted a garden of maize at our house which is getting quite tall. It did not rain for 14 days and people were getting worried. Many people grow food in their small plots which they need to sustain their families throughout  the dry season. Even though it was nice for us in our outdoor restaurant to have sunshine, it can bring a lot of devastation to families if it doesn’t rain. Fortunately, it rained a bit yesterday and again today but still not enough.

One activity at the Arts Cafe is the Handicraft workshops. We currently have four Norwegian volunteers who are making their own drums. On Saturday they went into the bush on a donkey pulled cart with Charles, cut their own logs, and started work on their drums at the Arts Cafe. They are planning to work on them for the next few weekends and take them home to Norway at the end of their volunteer experience.

First they have to hollow out the centre of the log with an iron bar sharpened at one end. It is a thrusting motion into the centre of the log. Then they use a small axe-like tool to shape the outside. Charles wields it with incredible accuracy and at a fast pace but it takes a lot of experience to do that and the volunteers do it with a great deal of trepidation (not wanting to gouge the exterior or lose a leg).

Kelly, Marilyn and I play a game of scrabble almost every night after work. We decided last week that the champion will be the first person to reach ten wins. At the time, Kelly was leading with 7 wins, Marilyn with 5 and me with 4. As of last night the tally is Kelly 7, Marilyn 8, and Bob 6. We are all evenly matched and most games are quite close. It is a great way to relax and wind down from our long days.

Kelly has to go to Malawi in March to pick up the book bus and bring it back to Livingstone. Then she is flying to England for a visit with family and friends on April 1st. After she returns she will be moving to Grubby’s Grotto to camp with the volunteers who come to be part of the book bus. We love having Kelly around and she is such an easy person with whom to share accommodation. We will definitely miss her a lot when she is gone but will at least continue to see her in Livingstone. We have another volunteer and her husband coming to stay just for a few days until they find a place of their own. I’m glad we have a three bedroom house with three bathrooms. Marilyn’s four cousins are coming April 1st as well and we are busy filling their suitcases with items we need from Canada.

Earlier this week, the Office of the President sent a representative to see if our theatre would be available for a Chinese delegation of performing artists which includes acrobatics, singing, dancing, etc. Unfortunately, the number of invited guests exceeded our capacity so they have chose a large hall at one of the local educational training institutions. However, our friend Gladys, the Permanent Secretary for the Southern Province, extended an invitation to up to 20 people from our cast to attend. We went this morning and it was an amazing show featuring acrobats, dancing, musical numbers on ancient string instruments, martial arts demonstrations, juggling, etc. It made me want to visit China.

There is an interesting relationship between China and Zambia as compared to Western world powers and Zambia. China has a foreign policy of ‘non interference’ and donates money primarily for infrastructure without any conditions. In return, African countries encourage Chinese investment and sell minerals including copper, uranium, oil, etc. Africa has some of the largest deposits of natural resources left in the world.

Many Western world nations, particularly the United States, have fallen out of favour with many African countries for two reasons: 1. Donated money comes with strings attached and 2. They see Africa more as a continent in need of aid rather than investment. The Structural Adjustment Programs of the World Bank and IMF during the past two decades forced Zambia and other African countries to adopt privatisation policies before they were ready and have channelled money into HIV/AIDs and poverty reduction programs rather than business investment. In some cases, this has fostered corruption and in others forced the African governments to adopt policies which have held countries back from development. In most cases these policies brought hardship (eg Schools were forced to charge fees in order to qualify for World Bank loans).

The Chinese policy of “non-interference” seems okay on the surface but it does allow China to deal with corrupt and brutal Dictators and they do not exert any influence in parts of Africa where there are human rights violations (eg Sudan). Of course, the US does the same if it serves their purpose but always publically calls for human rights and democracy. China is the new ‘big player’ in Africa and is scooping up resources at an incredible rate. Sheltered from this reality, most western world people have no idea this will have serious consequences to the lifestyle of Canadians, Americans, and Europeans, and these governments are now scrambling to get their collective foot back in the door. Most Canadians, for example, see Africa as a wasteland but will soon awaken to the reality of how much Africa provides to the rest of the world.

Few Canadian are likely aware that Canada has cut off most of its funding to African nations in the past year. With little news of the change, Canada has shifted aid to Central and South America. This has damaged the image of Canada throughout Africa and Canada is no longer an influential player on the continent.

As an update on a couple of matters arising from my previous blogs, the new potential owner of our Arts Cafe building has offered us a new lease with virtually the same terms and conditions. However, I am still having a lawyer look it over as there is a slight matter of who will own all the fixtures. By law, a business tenant continues to own fixtures installed during renovations for a period of six years and I have to make sure there is a clause making this clear in any new lease. Still it seems like good news but I’ll wait and see what transpires.

On a personal note, my hearing has improved although both my hearing aids have malfunctioned. I received a donated hearing aid while in Canada and managed to find some batteries in Livingstone. With a bit of filing here and there it fits rather well and has been a god-send. It also makes me feel truly Zambian in getting by however you can.

After several days when it rained a bit every day, the past week has been sunny and hot – almost to the point of worrying about the crops that so depend on the rains. It has been a busy week for all of us despite having fewer patrons than hoped. It is definitely the low season for tourist and next year we will likely take our staff vacation in February rather than at Christmas and New Years as we did this year.

Kelly and I took on the task of organizing all our receipts for 2010 which kept us goo-goo eyed from too much looking at numbers and computer screens. Still, we finished the job and I checked another task off my list. We needed to gather accurate records of our expenditure for the renovations in case we end up in court since the building has been sold.

That got me thinking about what a beautiful job we did in creating the Arts Cafe. Here are a few reminders for anyone who doesn’t know what we started with.

Before:

After

Bar Before

Bar After

Inside Before

Inside Now

We also had some clients show up but we have standards and I had to tell them …..’sorry we don’t serve cows here’ (Actually we do but only on a plate)

This is the second week we’ve had our ‘kids club’ and it is going really well. We only have ten kids but I’m sure word of mouth will increase the numbers. They are learning traditional crafts, having story time, learning African dances, games, etc.

We are also having a special Valentine’s Theme Jam Session this Sunday. Some of the musicians who play took it upon themselves to create posters to put around town, our kitchen staff have made decorations, our bartender is making some fancy drinks, and our girls are performing a few love songs. That’s them rehearsing in the photo below.

If you read the Trip Advisor screen at the top of the page you will see that we are now ranked the Number 1 attraction in Livingstone. We moved up from Number 2 just this week. Of course I highly doubt we outrank Victoria Falls but can Trip Advisor be wrong?….ha ha.

Our week started out with an early morning phone call on Tuesday February 1^st. Daisy went into labour around 2am and called Marilyn at 5:30. Daisy had asked Marilyn if she would accompany her through the birth so Marilyn had kept her phoned charged and sitting on the bed side table for the past few weeks.  I wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan but Daisy and Sylvester moved on January 30^th and Marilyn wasn’t sure she’d remember where their new house was.

We arrived at the hospital at a little after 6 am where I dropped them off before going to the Arts Cafe. Throughout the morning we got progress reports and more than a few requests to deliver drinks, a wash cloth, food, etc. to the hospital. In Zambia you must have someone with you when you enter the hospital because there is no food, drinks, or supplies and no gift shop.

At 12:15pm little Zion Patrick arrived. At 6pm Daisy and Zion were discharged and I picked Marilyn up around 7pm at Daisy’s home. Daisy looked strong but tired and Zion is a sweet little bundle to join his sister Natasha. Marilyn of course was on a high and I heard a recap of the entire day.

Everyone agrees that children are precious, they are the future, they are innocent, and they need to be protected. Unfortunately, these are just words in developing countries. Daisy and Sylvester both have jobs and have saved for a house and will be able to feed their children, send them to school, and give them a good start in life. There are so many families in Zambia who cannot do the same.

School has just started back and we have been inundated with requests for funding. Some requests come from the families, the child, or a teacher who sees potential in a child who will be unable to return to complete their studies.  Last week we visited all the children we sponsor and now will send letters and pictures to those in Canada who have given generously in the past.

We got a nice set of pictures of our own grandchild who was born a few months ago. Evan Alexander will have all the benefits of being born in the developed world as will our other precious grandchild, Julian.

It is hard sometimes not to talk about the vast divide between Zambia and the western world. Mostly during our stay here, we talk of the joy of being among these wonderful people who have accepted us into their community but a visit to a school, hearing the stories of those who are struggling, or being asked for food to help feed hungry children is confusing, sad, weird in a way, and downright wrong.

Still, the Arts Cafe is one way of trying to make a difference and we put a lot of energy into making it a success. I’ve been to see a lawyer about the building being sold and being told to vacate. Hopefully, it won’t end up in court but that’s about all I can say right now.

Meanwhile, we are staying active with a scattering of tourists, lots of local people, and numerous activities and plans. We went to an Ngoni cultural dance fund raiser in the town centre on Saturday and have become well known among the local people with lots of greeting and well-wishes. Last night we had a group of Canadians see the show as well as a senior police officer in Southern Province and his family. He drops in from time to time to share a whiskey with me. Quite a nice man and knowing someone like him makes me think there is hope for Zambia.

Later in the evening Gladys (the Southern Province Provincial Secretary) and her husband dropped in to see us. We were invited to dinner at their place today (Sunday) but with Daisy being off, we can’t manage. We really like Gladys and she is definitely an example of a stong woman influencing change.

As you know, Kelly is volunteering with and also living with us until she resumes her job as the Coordinator of the book bus in March. It’s been great fun having her around and she is so helpful at the Arts Cafe and picking up a lot of the jobs while Daisy is away. A few days ago she bought a scrabble board. We’ve played four games already after we get home from work. I won the first two, Kelly has won the last two, and I think Marilyn is ready to pounce.

We have another volunteer coming in March named Verena. She is from Germany but living in SA. She will be completing an internship for her University Studies and helping us with marketing and other activities at the Arts Cafe. We also have another University student coming to do a dissertation on our management process. I’m looking forward to his recommendations.

It has been sunny for the past two days but when it rains it rains hard. We managed to find an escape route for the water in our patio which helps because the water goes away quickly when the rains stop.

We got hired to perform for a function at the African Queen. 200 people at a mining convention were sent off on a boat trip by our dancers.

I also applied for a grant from Action For Enterprise (AFE), a USAID funder initiative which could give us money for marketing by paying for a DVD of our show, fliers, posters, and attendance at tourism trade shows. We haven’t had any luck getting grants in the past but it is still worth a try.

We also may apply for a small grant from Finland. The Finnish Ambassador happened to drop in last week and was quite impressed with our operations. She sent me an application for a grant they award to promote culture in Africa.

We have also been pleased with the money being generated for local artists and our crew of handicraft artisans. We have actually sold a lot of paintings and this week sold one for $245. We’ve also been encouraging those running handicraft workshops to develop new products and Freeton started working with various metals to craft necklaces. He sold his first one the day he finished it and got orders for 4 more. Charles, who makes drums, had a group of four volunteer teachers from Norway sign up to each make a drum starting with a trip to the bush to cut the wood. It will keep him busy for 5 days and he’ll make some good money.

I am also coordinating the opening of the new tourism information booth for the Livingstone Tourism Association which we will be staffing with members of our cast. In order to help them be familiar with the various activities, lodges, etc. operators have offered comp tickets. Jane and Faith went white water rafting on Monday and Mwenya, Nathan, and I took a tour of Gwembe Croc Farm where they also have lots of the local snakes on display.

We’ve been getting some nice reviews on Trip Advisor from our guests and have created a link on our web site. By virtue of the positive reviews of the Arts Cafe and our shows, we are now ranked the number two “activity to do” in Livingstone. We are striving for Number One!

I’ve been wanting to take a picture of the ‘street cleaners’ for a long time so when they were just outside our house I asked them if they minded. These women work every day around town sweeping away the sand and dirt to keep the city clean.

This next picture was taken at the croc farm. These sunbirds nest  together in the same tree. Unfortunately some of the young drop into the pond below which is filled with crocodiles. There is an identical tree very close which does not have a croc pond under it but they do not use it…..go figure.

I have just finished reading a book called *Africa- Altered States, Ordinary Miracles” by Richard Dowden. A few hundred pages in length it has been an enjoyable companion for the past few months. Like any good book, I hated to have it end. Most of the books I’ve read in the past two years have been on Africa. I also buy a magazine called NewAfrican which I quite enjoy. These readings have given me a perspective on African history, culture and politics in many African countries, and an analysis by many authors on what makes Africa so unique.

In truth though, it is our daily experiences in Zambia which teaches us most about how this continent has evolved and ultimately survived the onslaught of the white slave traders, colonialists, AIDS, malaria, corrupt dictators, Western world imperialism, etc. Every day is different and unpredictable here. As our friend Lynn once said “My chef will make a hundred perfect hamburgers in a week and then seemingly forget how to do it.”

Giuseppe, at Olgas, told me a long time ago that I will not learn from my experiences in Africa because every experience is different.

Today is Monday and our only day off. “Day off” means coming into the office and getting caught up on paperwork, shopping for supplies, having meetings. It is also the only day I can find time to write my blog so instead of Sunday postings, future blogs will arrive on Monday.

We had an interesting week. There aren’t many tourists in town right now but we continue to get our share for dinner, show, and other activities at the Arts Cafe. Fortunately, we also get a lot of local people who keep us going through this low season. We had the Ngoni cultural association at the Arts Cafe on Saturday. We gave them our patio to use for a fundraiser. We actually sold a lot of drinks and some came back for our show so it worked out in our favour as well.

I was on an interview committee this past week to hire a new Program Coordinator for the Livingstone Tourism Association. I did all the setting up of interviews and was involved in the first round. Today I have to call those who were unsuccessful and check references on the guy we want to hire. The LTA keeps me quite busy as I’m on the Executive. I’ve also taken on the job of setting up an airport information booth which will be staffed by our staff from the The Arts Cafe. It will be a big help to get our information into the hands of those arriving for holidays.

There are four staff who will be rotating into the airport job and over the next two weeks they are partaking in a host of activities in order to familiarize themselves with the experiences. Today, Jane and Faith are white water rafting.

This morning our landlord for the Arts Cafe brought me a document saying he has sold the building. It was a termination notice saying we must vacate by July 31. I don’t think he can do this but we will soon learn what it says in Zambian law.

Marilyn finished the curtains for our office which look really nice and help keep out the sunlight which makes it hard to see a computer screen during the day. We also had some new art hung in our gallery.

I’m heading home to do some work on the LandRover and tend to the yard. I also have a new electrical switch to install. Electric wiring here is really unique and every switch wired differently. They also don’t use different coloured wires so it it sometimes hard to know which one is live and which in neutral or ground. As I said “everything seems like the first time.”