The excitement around the Arts Cafe this week is waiting for Daisy to have her baby. All bets are now off since she missed the last guess of having it on Monday. Since Monday is the one day each week we are closed, I was ‘suggesting’ it would be a good day for a birth. She could then be back to work on Tuesday morning. Although this is a joke, African women who work do not let having a baby interfere much with their work. There is no one year maternity leave. Daisy continues to work and says she would like to take a month off.

Meanwhile, Marilyn is also on edge about the expected arrival as Daisy has asked her to accompany her to the hospital and be present during the birth. Marilyn is making sure her phone is charged, has put together an overnight ‘kit’ for Daisy, and can hardly wait for the experience even though she might be a bit apprehensive.  Daisy and her husband are also moving to a new house they constructed and she is busy packing. Marilyn went to the new house to measure for curtains and give them some thoughts on colours. Daisy says she has a ‘professional interior decorator flown in from Canada.”

I intended to take pictures each day of this banana tree leaf as it unfolded. It is just outside our back door and I actually thought it was dead until the rains came. Plants are amazing here. Break off a twig, stick it in the ground and you get another tree. Every single tree we have transplanted has survived. Anyway, I got busy and now the leaf is fully open and I missed the process.

Everyone joined in for the traditional dance

We had an interesting week with a cultural dance group coming from a local village to have lunch and see our show. Marilyn worked with them in the village on Monday and Tuesday helping them develop their presentation. They are part of a village tour package offered by one of the tour operators in Livingstone.

Two of their musicians brought instruments. One was a home-made guitar and the other a home-made banjo. They actually sounded great and we will never get over how resourceful Africans are.

Then on Sunday, we  had another large audience of locals for our Sunday jam. It is becoming a highlight of the week and the number of musicians and audience members is growing in leaps and bounds. We had to set up inside because of the rains but it made for a fun environment. We’ve been getting a good scattering of visitors who are having fun at our show and music nights. Our restaurant is picking up as well but still has a long way to go to be called ‘busy’. We got the wiring done to hook up a new stove outdoors which will help for food prep and keeping items warm when we have larger groups. Most of the cooking will continue to be done on the Braii however.I’m still experimenting with my camera but really enjoying the low light shots it can take. When the Arts Cafe is busy it looks great from the street. Few people have cars so the parking lot often looks empty even when we have several clients. Usually when we have a good crowd inside at night, we hear from people the next day who say “I saw you were really busy”.

Kelly and I are going to Linda West School today to meet the children we sponsor and assess their needs. I am still hoping some of our Canadian sponsors will continue to help these kids but it is important for us to give the sponsors ongoing updated information. This will be happening this year and especially right now as Kelly volunteers to take on this and a couple of other projects.

We also have a volunteer from Germany who want to do an internship with us. She is studying ‘global marketing’ . I’m hoping it works out. We are also setting up an airport information desk for LTA which will be staffed by our cast in traditional dress. This too needs to happen soon as the high tourist season will soon be upon us.

We arrived back in Zambia on January 9 and reopened the Arts Cafe on Monday Jan 10. We were received by the warm greetings associated with the people of Zambia and it truly felt like we were back home. During our first week we had some really good days and some not so good. Overall, we are pleased given the fact that this is the low tourist season. Fortunately we continue to get lots of local support.

Our very lush patio

On Tuesday we have  a regular rehearsal in the morning and at 9h30 a man came in asking if we could provide cultural dancing. “Yes”, I said:” what date”. . “Right now”, he replied. This is not uncommon to have everything happen at the last minute in Zambia, usually due to poor planning. Actually we tendered on this event back in October and assumed we didn’t get the job. It was for the opening of the new Total Service Station in Livingstone. Seems they forgot to get back to us and now were in a panic. Fortunately we were all together having a rehearsal so we were able to hustle  and make it work.

Official Opening of Total Service Station

We also had a booking for what we called ‘The Live Boma Experience”. It was with a group from Fuji/Xerox who were having a conference with 110 participants. We set up village stations and showed them how to make beer and wine, weave a mat, and do traditional dancing. We also brought along traditional costumes for them to try on including the Ngoni who are the warrior tribe from Eastern Province complete with shields and spears. Together with the morning event at Total it was a very profitable day to start the new year.

We also hosted a group of students from Harvard University whom we helped plan an itinerary for while they were in Livingstone. As a result they came back to the Arts Cafe on three separate occasions to take workshops, see our show, eat dinner, and enjoy our jam night.

I finally got a chance to get out of the office and visit two of the schools with which we are involved in sponsoring students and other projects. Being in the classroom with the kids makes me realize why we are here and why we enjoy being involved in this African community. Thanks to donations from some friends and family, we are going to be able to sponsor some children in school and also help out in other ways.

Classroom at the Community School

Our friend Kelly is back in Livingstone and staying with us. She runs a project called the book bus which will not be starting up again until April. In the meantime she is doing some volunteer work with us at the Arts Cafe which will be really helpful for us to get on with some overdue work. She is also a great cook and we are definitely enjoying coming home late at night to a nice meal.

Kelly is going to take on our school sponsorship project to collect pictures and letters for our Canadian sponsors. We are also getting some letters for some kids my Aunt Dorothy knows in Stratford Ontario who want to be pen pals. She will also help us get the airport information booth up and running which we think will be a big plus for us and other tourist operators. We start staff training on Tuesday for those who will be staffing the booth.

There are only three classrooms for 306 students

Daisy did a fantastic job managing everything while we were away. She is expecting her baby any day now but still coming into work. I keep joking that I will give her two days off  since having a baby really doesn’t interfere much with a woman who works. Likely she’ll bring the baby along as is common here.

We managed to get back to Livingstone with a number of items we purchased in Canada which can’t be found here. We hung up a neon “OPEN” sign in the window of the Arts Cafe and strung solar lights around our street sign. Best of all, we bought a bass guitar in Canada and last night held our regular Sunday jam where the musicians really appreciated having it. We had another fantastic turnout with over 35 musicians and about another 30 in the audience including 15 tourists. Three guys from Canada were also there who live in Lindsay and Minden (just a short drive from where we lived in Canada).

The rains are causing us some difficulty in our patio and we are constantly moving inside then outside depending on the weather. We get a large accumulation of water on the cement floor and have to scoop it and sweep it away . Hopefully next year we will have a covered area and some proper drainage.

Our staff in their new rain coats

We bought new rain coats and mosquito nets for all our staff as Christmas presents. These are really practical gifts as many Zambians don’t like getting wet in the rain. In part they learned this as young children whose parents told them to get inside or they would get pneumonia. Mosquito nets are said to reduce the incidents of malaria by as much as 90% since most people get bitten while sleeping.

The only other restaurant serving traditional Zambian cooking closed last week after the landlord refused to renew their lease after 5 years of operations. It is sad for us to see other cultural places close but hopefully they will start up again. Although they are competition we don’t view them as such. The more opportunities for tourists in Livingstone, the more we will all do well in attracting more visitors. This is something many operators don’t seem to understand as they all go after the same tourists rather than working to attract more to the city.  However, it is true that we may very well reap some benefits from the closing of Ngoma Zanga and we have hired their chef/restaurant and bar manager, who starts on Tuesday. Our chef, as you may recall, was selected to the army and left on Dec 26th.

I also went to an Ngoni ceremony at Mukuni Park on Saturday for a while and watched some of their cultural dancing. Ackson Shawa (in the picture above) who is an Ngoni Leader is on our Board of Directors.

Ngoni dancers at Mukuni Park

Monday is our onlyday off but it rarely is such. Marilyn has been hired to train with a village dance group and left early this morning for the 2 hour drive. It would normally take only 45 minutes but the roads are in bad shape due to the rains. She just called to say they have arrived but did get stuck and she is covered in mud. Hey, she’ll blend in much better.

By the way, I really like the new point and shoot camera I bought at Christmas and I’m glad I paid a bit extra for some of the features…especially the low light settings. I hope you enjoy the pics.

Perhaps John Denver sang it best “…and hey it’s good to be back home again.” We arrived safely back in Livingstone after another long flight. Vacations make some people re-energized and ready to get back to work….others like myself find holidays just make me want more holidays. Still, it will be good to reopen the doors of the Arts Cafe tomorrow and get 2011 underway. By all accounts Daisy and the staff managed very well while we were away. The floors were all painted over our break and they look great.

On the plane

Our visit to Canada was busy but we had a really nice time with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who took in this ‘homeless’ Canadian couple, fed us, loaned us transport, and greeted us with such affection.We have more great memories to give us comfort when so far away.

Amy showed us her pictures from her trip to Africa (and Livingstone) last October. I picked out a few and I’m featuring them on this blog. She definitely has a good eye.

Amy and Marilyn with kids from the farm

It is funny to go from minus 15C to +28C. Of course we couldn’t have hockey without the cold and during our trip we got to watch the Team Canada Juniors play against other teams from around the world. After knocking out last year’s winners, the good ole US of A, and leading 3 to 0 at the end of the second period against Russia in the gold medal game, it looked like Canada was going to reign supreme again in the sport we call our own. Unfortunately, the whole team fell asleep in the third and final period and Russia stormed back to win 5 to 3. What a shocker!

Toronto vs Boston

It has also become a tradition now that Sean and I go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game when he comes to Canada from Japan and we fly from Zambia. We watched Toronto play Boston on Jan 3rd. Unfortunately Toronto lost.

Amy's close encounter

When we got to Johannesburg we stayed over at the City Lodge motel thinking we’d catch up on some sleep. We did both nap from 10am until 2:30pm but ended up enjoying a dinner and a little too much good South African wine. While we were sitting in the restaurant we were joined by Gerry who is a helicopter pilot and had a great conversation. Gerry has since written and is introducing us to two people he knows in Livingstone. He is South African but has lived in a lot of countries including Canada.

Gerry and Marilyn

One thing he said which I found really funny and interesting was about his time living in Canada. He said he remembers being in Alberta and hearing all kinds of dislike for the east and especially Toronto. Then when he was in the eastern part of Canada he heard all kinds of comments to make him think people in Toronto didn’t think all that highly of the west. What was funny was he then said but every Canadian says ‘but we’re not American’. It must seem odd to new residents to find Canada is so divided in so many ways but the one thing we have in common is to think we have our own culture separate from the United States.

A curious Oryx

When in Canada we had a chance to visit with my Aunt Dorothy. She is the last surviving sibling on my mother’s side. We had a really nice visit and took Julian along. My cousin Patti kept him busy with games, my cousin Mike dropped in to see us, and Patti also prepared a delicious lunch.

Julian got to ride up and down the stairs on my aunt’s chair lift which he quite enjoyed controlling himself.

Captain Julian taking off

We also planned to visit with my niece Laura ( nee Gregory) and her husband Rob Pethick but Laura delivered their baby the night before so we didn’t get a chance to see them. However, Laura sent this picture along of Chloe Louise. Laura is the daughter of my brother Bill who passed away at the age of 40. It is a warm feeling to think of Laura now being a mom and me a great uncle once again.

Chloe Louise

Those of you who have been following my blog for a long time will remember Kelly who ran the book bus in Livingstone and took over LiPAF for us when we traveled to Canada during Christmas 2009. The book bus took Kelly (literally) to Malawi a couple of months ago as it always closes down during Zambia’s rainy season. Now she is back in Livingstone after some travels and staying with us. We really enjoy having her around and she has offered to help out at the Arts Cafe. I’m already thinking up projects for her.

Marilyn and Kelly preparing our first meal back in Zambia

Our grandchildren. Julian and Evan

We have traveled to Alberta and Saskatchewan to visit family and are now back in Ontario. We have our two sons, two grandsons, and Sally together with us at Ryan and Sally’s for the next few days. Michele and Frank will join us on New Years Day. Yesterday, I bought a new camera and can hardly wait to start shooting pictures again for my blog. I have been without a camera for almost two months after the lens on my other camera failed to retract.  Here are the first pictures I’ve taken with my Canon Powershot S95.

Evan

Sean, Julian, and Uncle Ryan

Sally and Evan

Grandma Marilyn playing with Julian

Marilyn and Evan

I have just come inside from viewing the lunar eclipse. It is minus 15 degrees Celcius in Calgary where I’m visiting my brother Dennis’ family. An eclipse seems like a very slow event when standing  in the cold.

Marilyn and I have been back in Canada since Dec 14. We spent some time with Ryan and Sally and our new grandson Evan, who by the way is the cutest and brightest six week old baby ever. We are spending Christmas with Marilyn’s family in Saskatchewan before returning to Ontario. Sean and Julian will be arriving from Japan on Dec 24th. Julian, our oldest grandchild, is the cutest and brightest 3 year old ever. Do I sound like a proud grandpa?

Daisy has kept me updated from Livingstone and things have been going well at the Arts Cafe. We are closing from Dec 27 to Jan 10 to give our cast a much deserved holiday and also to do some painting of floors. We have two big events on Jan 11 (yes the same day) and will be busy getting ready for these as soon as we return to Livingstone (and the warm weather).

I went shopping in Calgary yesterday for some items unavailable in Zambia. Before moving to Livingstone I used to walk around the big box stores and think how they were filled with things I didn’t need. Now, I see so many items we could use in Livingstone which just aren’t available anywhere in Livingstone. We are quite restricted on the weight we can carry on the portion of our return trip from JB to Lv so I can only get a few of the items on this trip.

It has been nice to spend time with family. My niece Carly and nephew Cody are now adults. Cody recently did a cross country Canadian trip and  is heading back to Victoria for more education. Carly graduated from College and is leaving on Dec 29th to travel to Australia. It is her first big trip and she is a bit nervous. Having traveled so much over my life, I know she will soon become relaxed and realize how enjoyable it is to experience other countries and the different cultures.

I’m still shopping for a camera. The one I want is, of course, more expensive than similar models and I am still assessing whether it is worth the extra money. That’s the confusing thing about technology. Anyway, that’s why there are no pictures again in this blog.

Marilyn and I want to wish everyone a happy festive season and thank those of you who have continued to follow the progress of our project and/or have supported us emotionally or financially. If I have time, I’d like to do a ‘year end review’ in my next blog. It has been an exciting year which has taken us way beyond any dream we may have had when we first started.

Children enjoying the show

Even in Africa Marilyn and I seem somewhat sheltered from the true effects of poverty. We are reminded of this when one of our staff comes to us after his house has been robbed. The thief stole his bag of mealie meal which is his food for the month. It is only December 10th and he has no money left over from his pay to replace it.

Jane, our housekeeper for the past two years, lost her sister three weeks ago. We continue to hear about the death of a child, a brother, a sister, a parent, or friend on a daily basis. Most often the deceased is young and the death creates a burden on the surviving relative both financially and emotionally. Jane needed to travel the village where her sister lived, collect her sister’s children, and is now responsible for raising them. She needed bus fare, time off work, and money for the funeral expenses. It is not a good idea to allow a staff member to take all their pay in advance. He/she will manage to deal with the impending crisis but have another one at the end of the month when he/she can’t pay his/her rent or buy food. It is difficult to explain to someone you care about and even more difficult not to just solve the problem with extra money. Unfortunately, these occurrences are so frequent and, to be honest, we don’t personally have the funds. In the end, they manage with the little help we can provide and are better off for not having seen only a few days into the future.

Africa continues to amaze me. Being in the tourist business and also operating a cultural centre as an NGO gives us a unique perspective both in terms of our deep connections with local residents and those who visit this continent on vacation. As an example, we have a hugely successful ‘jam night’ every Sunday with 15-20 local musicians using our stage to perform. We provide a livelihood for more than 40 local families through the Arts Cafe and its many cultural activities and we contribute significantly to the economy.

Cecilia recording a track

When visitors come to our show, partake in a handicraft workshop, browse our art gallery, or eat a traditional Zambian meal in our restaurant, we learn much about the distortion between impressions and reality. The word “luxury accommodation” and ‘five-star’ treatment is used in a lot of ads for Livingstone and many visitors either expect it or are totally sheltered from the reality of daily life in Africa. As I say in our tag line “Don’t just say you visited Africa…experience it”.

Grande with the Sax he made himself

Some clients who vacation in Zambia are often unaware or uninterested in getting to know the people who own this country. Fortunately, there are many others who do want to meet and mingle with the local residents and for them the ‘experience’ is filled with life-long memories. As I’ve said before, Zambians are among the most delightful people I’ve ever met anywhere in the world and to connect with them on a personal level, visit the market where they shop, sing and dance with them, or share stories is a privilege not to be missed.

Jones - the music producer we brought in from Lusaka

We are quite fortunate to meet many lovely travelers who realize they are guests when they visit a foreign country and we love connecting with them in this shared understanding of what it means to be invited to their ‘home’. This week, a young lady from Germany came to the Arts Cafe to meet us. Somehow, she found our web site and has been reading my weekly blog for several months and really wanted to visit Livingstone and the Arts Cafe. It was so weird to have her ask about my hearing problem as soon as we met until she told me she has been following our progress.

We have also had a good start to December with various tour operators considering us for groups next year as well as several school Christmas concerts in our theatre, recording our band the Rolling Kencheyo, and entertaining visitors with our show and handicraft workshops. Some people come back day after day to the Arts Cafe during their stay in Livingstone and we get a lot of volunteers who are doing work in Zambia. We sold some artwork this week which also puts money in the pockets of local artists.

On another note, I added considerable responsibility to my already busy work schedule by taking over all the finances for the Arts Cafe and LiPAF. Tiika is no longer working with us. Daisy, our Operations Manager is a real gem and doing yeoman’s work. Our chef, bar tender, and Daisy work almost as many hours as Marilyn and I. Our Dancing Around Zambia cast members are taking on a lot of responsibility for operating the Arts Cafe and learning lots of new skills. They also continue to perform the best show in Southern Africa with energy, enthusiasm, and smiles.

A big challenge this week has been trying to get ready to travel to Canada. The days have flown by and there is still much to do to make sure everyone can manage without us and take over many of our duties while we are away. I’m also marking papers for Seneca this week which has kept me up until 3am most nights.

All in all, we are pleased with the events which are unfolding at the Arts Cafe and extremely optimistic 2011 will be our year. Right now their are few tourists in Livingstone but they will return in a few months. It seems people avoid Zambia during the rainy season but, in truth, it is a wonderful time to visit. It really doesn’t rain that much and the weather is a lovely 25C. This is a nice change from the 30-40C in October and November.

The view from our front door

One thing about working with a lot of people (especially in the entertainment business) is that we are constantly made to laugh. Zambians love to spin a yarn, tease each other, and laugh at life’s situations. Much of our humour involves ‘in jokes’ at the Arts Cafe. We drive a group home after our shows and our vehicle is always filled with loud chatter and laughter. Sometimes, Marilyn and I are still laughing long after they are gone.

One of our mango trees

The rains have come now to Livingstone. It isn’t like tropical rains which fall every day. The temperature is cooler now and, to be honest, I wonder why so few tourists travel to Zambia this time of year. It is really quite lovely.

Back Stage

Everything is turning green, the night air is filled with flying insects, and people are planting their gardens. We have several mango trees on our yard and I’ve been inviting people to come and pick them. We eat some every day.

Hurrying Along

There are also an abundance of large snails in our patio at the Arts Cafe. Many are being crunched underfoot in the dark. As our staff say, “they should hurry out of the way.”

Acacia School kids getting ready in the patio

Joseph's coat of many colours school play

We’ve had a busy week with different schools using our theatre for their Christmas concerts and plays. We also concluded the film festival with a gala closing ceremony which was well attended. In all, several hundred people who have never been inside our building have now had a chance to visit and see what we do.  Marilyn has done an amazing job of reaching out to the community and yesterday she started a ‘kids club’ which will run for the next two weeks.

A week from tomorrow we will be boarding a plane to return to Canada. I’m not looking forward to the long flight or the cold when when we arrive but it will be nice to visit again with family and friends. Zambia is home now for us and it feels more like we are going ‘away’ rather than going ‘home’.

Faith and Sandra

We have a lot to do before we are ready to leave on our holiday. We are going to close the Arts Cafe for two weeks in order to give our staff their vacation and also paint the floors. That means moving everything from our office, dressing room, and bar area.

High energy

I have often wondered how musicians in Zambia became so talented. In Canada when a young child expresses an interest in learning to dance, play the guitar, or sing, the parents can easily find a class or instructor. Here, they don’t exist and most parents cannot afford them anyway. Last night I was standing around with a group of musicians who performed at the ARTS CAFE prior to the opening of our film festival. Grande, Jones, Aaron, Zulu, and others all had their stories. The one thing which was clear as they all helped each other.

Grande’s story was particularly interesting. He plays guitar and saxophone, sings and tells great stories.  He told me he saw a saxophone player on television and decided he wanted to learn to play. He carved his first sax out of wood. Can you imagine. He then went to some friends who played guitar and as they picked away he designed valves with wire and wood and eventually was making music. Some friends helped him buy an old saxophone and he eventually got some gigs until he earned enough money to travel to South Africa and buy a proper instrument.

Almost everyone here is self taught. Several are interested in nurturing young musicians and have asked if they can use the Arts Cafe to provide lessons. Of course they can. The tangents which keep cropping up as part of our facility is never ending.

Last night was the opening of the View Images film festival which we are putting on in conjunction with Vilole Productions. We are screening documentaries and full length features from Nov 27 to Dec 4. Last nights film was called “So You Want to Make a Film” which was about a woman in a wheelchair who ended up taking dance lessons and performing on the big stage. It reminded me of a time when I was much younger and was attending a conference . At the final banquet there was a dance with a DJ after the meal. As everyone was dancing, I saw a very young woman in a wheelchair and wondered if it would be appropriate to ask her to dance.

As I said, I was young then and just starting my career. It took some courage but I finally went across the room where she was talking with a group of other delegates. I asked her if she would like to dance and she was thrilled. She rolled her wheelchair out onto the dance floor, fastened the brakes, raised herself up in the chair and man could she ever shake the top of her body. Then she undid the brakes and did all these amazing maneuvers. After that all the guys were asking her to dance. I still remember she told me her name was ‘Silver”.

The mango and other fruit trees in Livingstone are full and they are everywhere. Most of the lower branches have been picked along the main street and it is fun to watch the kids  throwing sticks or jumping as they try to reach the fruit which is out of their reach. We have five mango trees on our yard and yesterday when I came home from work for an hour I didn’t bother to lock our front gate. As I sat on the sofa with the front door open, I saw seven little kids standing at the edge of our driveway. They were too  frightened to come when I called them to the house but I surmised they were eying my mango trees. Some of the branches have so much fruit they are sitting on the ground.  I got them some bags and once they new I wasn’t to be feared they took the bags and filled them with mangoes. It was such a fun sight to see.

Marilyn and Daisy have planned a series of special events for December which you can see on our home page. We are closing from Dec 27 to Jan 10 to give our staff their much deserved vacation. It is a slow time for tourists and although we might lose out on some revenue, the break will be good for all of us.

Most of November was slow but last week was great. We had a large group on Wednesday, Thursday, and again Friday. On Thursday our guests were from all over Africa who were attending a conference on how to facilitate better transport of goods between African countries. There were forty of them and they held their final night at the ARTS CAFE with dinner and show. They had a complimentary bar for the delegates so we got paid up front from all the alcohol we sold.

I also wrote to a lot of people in Canada two weeks ago seeking some help to purchase some much needed equipment for the ARTS CAFE and LiPAF. It was so gratifying to get some donations which will really help us in our operations. Hopefully, next year we will reach our goal of being fully self-sustaining. We have made many inroads with the local community and their patronage is helping us when few tourists are in town but most don’t have a lot of money to spend. Still, we know it is important to have the local community on our side.

As an example, the banners to advertise the film festival were delayed and when Daniel went to City Council to pay the fee for hanging them on Friday, he was told they were closed and we would have to wait until Monday. If we hung them up and agreed to pay on Monday, Daniel was told we’d be fined. Marilyn got on the phone and called Emmanuel who works in the Clerk Administrator’s office and he said “No we can’t do that to you. Hang them up and I’ll make sure you don’t get fined.” Very nice to have such connections who support our efforts.

Last month Karen Lawrence visited us. She is a friend from Toronto who is doing work at a school in South Africa. She also has a blog and writes it like a daily log. She has written a wonderful account of her impressions of Zambia which you can read at

http://karensjourneytoafrica.blogspot.com/

Sometimes we get ‘comments’ from readers after my blog postings and I just went through a lot of them again. It is nice to know people around the world are following our project. One friend asked if the animal pictures in my blog were taken by either Marilyn or myself. Yes, they are all something we have seen and photographed ourselves. It still amazes me to get so close to elephants and other animals in the wild. Often we have to stop on the highway until a hippo or elephant moves away. There is very little road kill in Zambia which makes me wonder why baboons which line the roads can cross safely but Canadian skunks, raccoons, cats, squirrels, dogs, etc. can’t.

I reported last week that I had lost the hearing in my right ear. I’m glad to say a bit of it has returned although there is definitely something wrong and I hope to get someone (any volunteers), a doctor actually, to have a look at it when we come to Canada for Christmas. We just booked tickets to fly to Calgary and Saskatoon to visit brother Dennis and then on to Marilyn’s parents in Hanley. We’ll actually be spending Christmas day with Marilyn’s family which will mean lots of great food to eat, singing, and games. Sean, Makiko, and Julian arrive on Christmas eve and of course we can hardly wait to see our grandchildren, one of whom we’ve only seen via skype video. It will be great to be back in the embrace of our family even if the time will seem brief.

Sunday Jam

We are trying to do what we can to market the Arts Cafe now that there are so few tourists. This past week we offered our theatre for a training workshop on customer service and had 70 people attend. Most had not been to the Arts Cafe so it was good exposure.

LTA Workshop

Our friend Giuseppe who runs Olga’s Italian Restaurant and his wife and kids came for dinner last Monday. We were invited to their house for dinner the week before. Olga’s is one of the busiest restaurants in Livingstone and Giuseppe suggested we each hang banners to say “Olga’s recommends you visit the Arts Cafe” and “The Arts Cafe recommends you visit Olga’s”. It’s much more beneficial to us and we really appreciate all the support he gives us.

Guiseppe and family

I also arranged a meeting this past week with “Small Tourist Operators”. My idea is to see if we can work more closely together since we’re all in the same boat. It was a really successful meeting with lots of ideas generated such as pooling our purchasing power, referring business to each other, better advertising and promotion, discount coupons which can be used at each others establishment, etc. We are meeting again on Tuesday and several others plan to join us now that we’ve developed some of the ideas.

A house guest

Tonight we are going to Zig Zag Lodge to watch a television program from South Africa which has a segment on the  Arts Cafe and our show. It was filmed during the international regatta which took place in Livingstone in October. My friend Swithin who owns Zambezi FM radio station called me from Lusaka to tell me it was airing tonight.

Rasty performers waiting to take the stage

Mwenya, Maybin and I installed some new shade screening in the patio this past week. The sun is so high in the sky there is no longer any shade from the buildings and we needed something for those coming for meals. it works quite well although it would be nice if it also kept out the rain. Actually, it has only rained a very little so far and only for short periods. The sun just keeps shining.

Shade screen

Our Sunday jam continues to be a big hit with local musicians and last night we had several of our dinner guests get up on stage and join in. We really like giving people this kind of warm welcome when they visit Africa. Our band members and staff are great at making people feel welcome. Our new chef, Sidney has been a great find. He has years of experience at a lodge and calmly goes about cooking meals for large numbers and wastes very little. It is so nice to have that part of our operations under control as the restaurant and bar business can be a nightmare otherwise.

Chef Sidney and waiter/drummer Anderson

There’s lots to do in the coming weeks before we go to Canada and experience the cold again. We are planning to close the Arts Cafe for two weeks in late december to complete some renovations and get the floors painted. Our staff have holidays coming to them and that time of year is ‘dead’ anyway with few travellers. Marilyn, Michael and Daisy have put together a Christmas program up to Dec 27 which will hopefully attract a lot of local residents. We’ve also rented out our theatre for a few school and church concerts.

I almost forgot. We are also hosting Livingstone’s first ever film festival. The organizers of the Lusaka film festival want to try it in Livingstone and loved our location, theatre and layout. We’ll share in the door takings and hopefully get lots of people who want to drink and eat. It will also be nice to see some films since we never watch any here.

Despite the joy of interacting with so many Zambians we do encounter a lot of sadness and this past week was especially tragic. Our housekeeper, Jane, who has been with us for two years lost her sister, Abel our night watchman lost his brother, and Aaron one of our band members  lost his sister. Death is everywhere in Zambia and I have often said to Marilyn that I will take a picture of the cemetery some day to post on my blog. It is row upon row of freshly dug graves. Still, I admire the courage with which people here get on with life. It is difficult though and in addition to the loss of loved ones, the funeral expenses can devastate a struggling relative. We try to help as we can.

Jane learning to drum

First, I didn’t take even one picture this week. I will definitely have to replace my own ‘point and shoot’ camera when we come back to Canada at Christmas. I’ve decided on a Canon SD95 but would be open to suggestions about any other model people think is good.

This was a difficult week. First, I developed an ear infection in my right ear after the little insert for my hearing aid came out and got lodged in my ear ( serious flaw in the design). I went to the doctor to have it removed and went on antibiotics. Unfortunately, I have lost 100% of the hearing in that ear. I will have to wait until we are back in Canada to see if there is anything that can be done. It is an eerie feeling to plug my left ear and realize I will be completely deaf if I develop problems in that ear as well. Although the silence is lovely it is certainly a bit frightening as I’m sure I’m too old to learn sign language or lip reading.

Tiika also left our organization this week. He has been with me since May 2009 handling our finances and human resources and a lot of the government paperwork. I am now doing all the finances which adds another function to an already busy busy schedule.

The number of visitors to the Arts Cafe was also down. There are few tourists this time of year and it will be a struggle from now until March. Fortunately, we are getting more support from locals but they pay only K25,000 to see the show, whereas a tourist pays four times that amount.

Marilyn has put together a Christmas schedule and we are tying some new programs to attract local families, mainly children. It will help generate some much needed revenue.

We have tickets to return to Canada on Dec 14 but may have to change the dates and come closer to Christmas. We are needed here to run so many aspects of the Arts Cafe and it is hard to imagine at this point how we can leave. Daisy, our Operations Manager, is working really hard and has assumed many responsibilities but I still worry it is a lot for her to run everything by herself. By the way, Daisy is pregnant and is expecting in February. We will lose her for a while after she has the baby and that too is a worry.

The school year in Zambia is coming to an end and many of the students being sponsored by donations from our Canadian friends will need school fees paid again in January. I have really let these kids and our sponsors down by not ensuring more contact between them. It is a huge task and I have let it slip. I’m hoping our sponsors will forgive me and still come through with the money needed to help these kids get an education. I have arranged meetings at the schools as soon as exams are finished next week so I can get updated pictures and letters from the children. I do see them often on an individual basis when I visit the schools and it warms my heart when they come up to me and give me a hug.

So all in all last week wasn’t the best week either business wise or health wise but we will soldier on and keep working hard to find the money needed to pay our staff wages. We know the Arts Cafe has huge potential  and we just need time to turn our efforts into the success it will become.

On a positive note, we did have a fantastic ‘jam’ night for our regular Sunday jams and we are getting some amazing talent coming to perform on our stage. Marilyn has been trying to organize some recording so we can compile a CD but that too has been difficult. There aren’t many people capable of producing a CD in Livingstone, only a couple of people have suitable equipment/studios, and even they are unreliable and don’t show up when they say they will.

We did get a call from the Zambian Ministry of Tourism and a group is coming on Tuesday for dinner and show. We are getting a lot more attention these days from such government offices since we did such an amazing performance for the President last week. We also have the potential of a couple of large events in December but they are not yet confirmed. Several schools are asking to use our theatre for their Christmas concerts and though we won’t make a lot of money from these rentals, every bit helps right now.

At least today is Monday and we have the day off to catch up on our work. I’m meeting with the Manager of Olga’s to get his help setting up our financial books. Bar sales and restaurant sales as well as keeping up with needed stock is a challenge and I need to put some systems in place. Tonight we have friends coming for dinner which will also be a nice opportunity to relax.

Sandra learning to drum