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chrisevans
Gouda in Kalomo
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The sun was setting as we said goodbye, knowing that we had a good 2 hour journey in the dark ahead of us. I wasn’t too concerned. [...] I think I was smiling the whole way.

Though my frustrations about the project still stand, they’ve been tempered by my sense of hope. [...] The cooperatives can still meet their targets. There are people like Tangson and Kennedy who want to see it succeed. So this thing we’re trying to do…there’s a chance it just might work after all.
Thulasy Balasubramaniam, a friend from Calgary, is working with Engineers Without Borders in Zambia. She is assessing the suitability of a market for sorghum--a drought and heat resistant alternative to maize, the staple food crop in Zambia.

Her job hasn't been easy. Heavy rains and flooding damaged the sorghum demonstration crops: farmers have reported losses of 50 to 80% this year. Along the way, Thulasy has struggled with feelings of powerlessness and frustration.
I worked very hard alongside my hosts, trying my best to keep up and realizing all along that not only have my muscles atrophied from under-use but so has my mind. The abundant world in which I was raised has actually limited my ability to conceive of what is possible, of what my body is capable of, of the elegance in simplicity.

There is so much we can do.
At the same time, here is always a kernel of hope in Thulasy's posts. Through patience and guarded optimism, she has been buoyed by examples of success. At the same time, she's uncovered a deeper understanding of life in rural Zambia, and the incredible people she now calls friends. And did you know that they make Gouda in her town of Kalomo?
Whyson, my co-worker, says that when outsiders see images of village life or drive through in roaring white land-cruisers, they say, “Oh, these people are suffering.” Yes, one cannot deny that there is a fair bit of suffering in rural Zambia. But what visitors fail to see, Whyson says, “is that these people are living.
Thulasy is entering her second year of life in Zambia; I wish her all the best and look forward to hearing more of her stories. Especially if they involve moonbows!
We ran through the spray of the Falls in darkness, chasing moonbows as if they were pixies, trying to touch them with our fingers and toes... We screamed at the top of our lungs, giddy from enchantment (but also ridiculously cold from the Fall’s spray). We marveled at the beautiful circle in the sky as its light fractured into a spectrum of colour, made sparkles of the billowing mist, and all the while, lifted our spirits.

June 29, 2008 | 12:06 PM Comments  0 comments

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