Adventures with my rucsac: Following the TANZARA

If you travel through central or northern Zambia you are bound, at one point or another, to find yourself travelling next to the TANZARA railway. Built in the 1970s by the Chinese, the aim was to give landlocked Zambia access to the sea port at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and to reduce Zambia’s dependence on the white-ruled countries of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and South Africa to its south. As such it was dubbed ‘the Great Uhuru Railway’, or the Great Freedom Railway. However currently much of the track and the carriages are in disrepair, with services on the Zambia side being so infrequent and unreliable that many people drive up to the Tanzanian boarder and only take the train from there.

The railway lines through central Accra are now totally grassed over and unused

On my way driving from Lusaka to Mpika, almost exactly following the TANZARA for the majority of the 700 km route that takes up to ten hours by car, and much longer by bus, I was prompted to think what does development look like? On my fourth trip to Zambia over four years, what changes are there to show progress and change?

The road to Mpika, the railway is just the other side of the trees

In Lusaka one of the main signs of activity is the ever growing number of shopping malls, the newest right in the centre of town. It has everything an expat could want, including a posh South African grocery store (great trail mix), a Mugg and Bean for that caffeine hit and even a beauty store with upmarket Western brands. So far so good, but not much of an outlet for Zambia produce, although I am sure the malls have provided employment for local people. In many ways the malls serve to highlight the dependence of Zambia on South African produce and companies, the dependence that the TANZARA was trying to break four decades ago.

Education and the younger generation is always a picture of enthusiasm and optimism whenever I travel back to Zambia. This trip I was able to witness three new beginnings or opportunities.

A restaurant in central Lusaka

Firstly, I met with my friend Anastasia, who had been my neighbour in Mumbwa in 2010. She is someone with an amazing story of hard work and determination, which makes me realise how privileged I am to have had so many opportunities. After not passing her grade 12 exams with high enough grades to continue to tertiary, Nana volunteered for 9 months as a peer educator, living in a rural community far away from her family, acting as a class teacher for grade 4 as the school was under staffed, as well as giving lessons on sexual health to the older grades. For the following two years she took evening classes to re-sit her grade 12 exams, as well as working to save up money to fund her first year at university. Since we first met, she has come so far, from staying at home and helping her mother run a market restaurant in a rural town, to studying accounting at one of the top universities in Zambia. Even there, life isn’t easy. The dormitories are cramped, two bunk beds in a small room and a kitchen shared by 200 students. Bed space is so scarce that few of the students get allocated a bed, and failing one exam means that you allocated bed is taken away from you. This means that most students with a bed take on ‘squatters’, someone who shares your bed with you, meaning that a room for four people quickly accommodates eight. It doesn’t stop there, the small area in between the bunk beds is also rented out, adding another mattress and two more people to the room. In addition, the library has no books to speak or, nor computers, so all study materials need to be purchased, having a laptop and internet connection is highly prized. Just living, let alone studying, in these conditions is hard.

But she is so optimistic – Nana is focused on the end goal, an education, the opportunity for a job and a life away from the rural community she grew up in that these are just other small challenges along the way.

Visiting Nana in 2011 at Mumbwa market

I also had the opportunity to meet a young man who has made his way into the world since my last trip to Zambia in 2013, my colleague’s baby boy Jamie. He will grow up in a family of highly educated parents, in a capital city where anything is possible, in a world where internet is the norm. It’s an exciting generation for Africa!

Inutu and her beautiful baby Jamie

Finally I was lucky enough to visit a school in Mipka, northern Zambia, with Camfed to see a trial of tablet computers for data collection being used by a group of grade 5 girls (aged between 10 and 14). These children may never have seen or used a computer before, but they are fast! A five minute introduction and play and most of the class were off, selecting answers on the touch screen and swiping between pages like pros. Technology isn’t everything, but if we can harness it for education and target the young generation, this really will be the generation that harnesses its power.

For more information on the Camfed programmes going on in Zambia, check out www.camfed.org