This letter is from Liberal Arts student, Oisín Ó Murchú, who is undertaking his Work Related Learning placement in Zambia with Project Zambia.
Last time I e-mailed my chief concern was that of the slow pace of work. Since then I have travelled around 2000km and lived in a range of different environments.
I found myself staying with the Christian Brothers in a novitiate and helping in a nursery during the mornings and then around the community in the afternoons. The idea behind the work was to get a better idea of how my project could engage with the Venter community small group of displaced families living beside the Brothers. Since 1991 the Brothers have been working to empower the community. The have started the nursery and assist with school fees. On a practical level the Christian Brothers also offer employment as well as supporting a local football team that aids the prevention of idleness among the young men and offers a distraction from the harsh realities of everyday life. My week there was not only much needed but very beneficial as I could easily see us integrating our volunteers there as early as June because a framework does exist. The main obstacle now is simply deciding how to approach the funding and where it would be best to start moving in the needed funds.
I have also found my work this week re-engaging with other projects and I am now housed in an orphanage in the city so transport for work is now a breeze. The work itself is not. On the 13th of March a young baby, Brendan Mulenga, was admitted to hospital. He was the son of a man I have worked with since 2008 and the chairman of the Mapepe community. Despite his title this man is an on-the-ground worker, a roofer by trade and currently teaches in the school, doing a great job at both I might add. His son was admitted to the main hospital and spent from the Sunday night to the morning of the 13th waiting for a bed. Mapepe itself, where the family live, is 20km from the hospital and traditionally in Zambia only the mother goes with the baby to hospital. I was living close to the hospital at the time and decided that I'd visit because the mother should not be alone. The baby was almost constantly sleeping and only woke to vomit, whilst also not eating. I had heard on the Friday that Brendan was ill and decided he should join our feeding program which is designed for the elderly. He was to be joining it starting the 18th of March and the Mapepe Woman's Club agreed. When I visited again on the 16th he was now being fed through a tube, his mother was optimistic. I think she was just happy he was receiving any treatment but looking at him I cannot say I shared her optimism. On the 17th he died at 16 months old in a hospital bed and he was buried on the 19th.
For that week all development work was put into context, and building or completion of a toilet block suddenly seemed void. The community literally stood still and no work was done. The schools closed and my mobile which is generally non-stop just stopped except for calls around funeral arrangements. The funeral was one of the most depressing experiences I've had however I felt privileged to stand next to people I have known for years but never felt so close to.
Since then this small community has started to get going, however, Saturday was spent laying to rest yet another child, a 7-year old girl, who did not make it to a hospital but instead died of unknown causes on a bus on the way there.
If I had entitled my piece 'A comparison of modern burials Ireland and Zambia' I think I'd be en route for my PhD but it has been educational to say the least. When you strip away the ‘adrenaline fuelled’ experiences of when our groups are here and see daily life, you get a greater respect and understanding for what happens on the ground. Hopefully this can help to further shape good volunteers when I'm back.