Zambia Diary
Grant's trip to Chipata for supplies, leaving Mfuwe Wednesday 7 Feb. and returning Saturday 11 Feb. - well it did go on into the early hours of Sunday 12 Feb.
See the photos of the trip to Chipata
It had been a real struggle to get the final permission to go ahead with the refurbishment of the Clinic. There has been a lot of misinformation from the Provincial Health Board in Mambwe, and an almost total lack of communication because of lack of any infrastructure. Drawings have been done and re-done many times, but finally I was given the go-ahead. But I've also been struggling with costs because of an almost total lack of information about what things cost. However, after numerous meetings with Festus Tambulukani in Kapani (where I am) and at Chimfule Lodge (built by Festus and near to where he lives), we came up with a more-or-less accurate list of quantities with approximate prices that made the whole project seem possible.
Mfuwe to Chipata, Wednesday 7 February:
By Tuesday 6 Feb we were ready to go. We had made up the List of Quantities and sent it to the suppliers and haulier and we knew the times that the minibuses left Mfuwe. So we decided to go to Chipata leaving on Wednesday afternoon and picking up Festus as the minibus passed his house near the airport runway. I spent Wednesday morning at Kapani packing, titivating the drawings and list of quantities and printing them out and putting the files on my little memory stick to take with me. Had lunch and went in with my bag with Johnny at 1400 hrs. The minibuses were meant to leave about 1600 to 1700. What to do to waste some time? I desperately needed a haircut so off to the barber - not for a haircut but at least to get some hair cut off. The barber wasn't drunk for a change, but his skills have not improved since last year. I had some hair cut off more-or-less evenly but not quite. Anyway as they say the difference between a good and a bad haircut is a week - or maybe a fortnight in this case! Talked to Moses the Welder, met Derek and Sarah - who were going to Kapani and not to Chipata as I had hoped, saw Robert who was a gardener and is now a spotter at Wildlife, met The Chief's Son (who will not himself be Chief as it is a matriarchal title), and had a few beers to pass the time of day. But by 1600 hrs there wasn't a minibus to be seen. But a canter which had come down from Chipata was going back as soon as the driver could get his payment for the job. Quick negotiations - 40,000 Kwacha = about $10 or £5 for a 4½ hour trip (40 pin to the locals) for me and 40 pin for Festus (reserved place). The minibus costs 35 pin but the canter is much smoother and more comfortable so it seemed like a good deal.
1630 hrs and off to Chipata with one other customer in the cab and several in the box at the back (cheaper rates obviously). Down the road hooting the tooter as a sign to all and sundry along the road that there was a ride to be had to Chipata or any point this side. A real African experience! Lots of stops, lots of people with strange loads, passing lots of flooded villages on the way, lots of temporary shelters by the roadside, and lakes of water everywhere! Very depressing and sad. Just before the airport we had a rather long stop while numerous boxes of dried fish (plus their hydrated owners) were loaded. Finally we reached the Airport and the end of the tarmac. The fun starts!
The main road to Chipata near Masumbe (where there is another clinic like Kakumbi) was still totally flooded and washed away in many places. So the only route was the so-called 'Airport shortcut route' past the airport runway. This road is normally considered too bad for travel during this season, but this time it was the only route available. So just as we left the tarmac the driver got all of the cab passengers out so that he could lift it up and disconnect the air filter and raise the air intake above the level that the water would reach.
The road was full of incredible potholes more like lagoons than lakes. All of a sudden we came upon Andrea from Mfuwe Lodge whose Landrover was stuck in the mud at the side of the road and trying to get out. Andrea had a second vehicle 4WD and much larger than the Landrover that he was trying to use to get the Landrover out. Our driver got out and offered help, but there was so much argument and discussion (an Italian kind of experience!), so eventually he gave up in disgust, called everyone back into the canter and off we went again. A short time later after some incredibly deep lakes, there he was standing by the roadside - Festus! He'd been waiting since 1300hrs and was starting to get desperate as we were told in Mfuwe that the first minibuses left at 1500hrs and it was then about 1830 hrs. Back onto the main Chipata road and we stopped to let off a load of passengers, and the driver re-connected the air filter. I was left holding a lovely little black baby while its mother found her belongings in the dark in the back of the canter.
Off we went into the night!
Lots more people got on and got off. We bought some charcoal from a couple of different sellers after ages of calling into the dark abyss while they woke up and came to the road. There was a bit of a stop in Mambwe for fritters, drinks and yoghurt (yes I do mean yoghurt!). I shared my four half-sandwiches with Festus, the driver and our fellow cab passenger. The road the other side of Mambwe was even worse than that this side. Several anxious moments as we slid and plunged along. Eventually we came to the improved road built by the Chinese. Road signs!! The first I'd seen in 2 months. And we actually managed to get up to 80 km/hr!! It seemed incredibly fast!
Finally we reached Chipata. Past the Airport turnoff, past Mamarula Lodge, and into the town. The driver charged 20 pin extra to take me to Pine View Guest House. Off we got. But Pine View was full. The owner of another guest house was there, so off with him. Got to his place - The Fort Jameson Rest House - only to find that he was full as well. Phone call to Eastern Comfort and reserved a room. But Festus knew his sister lived somewhere nearby so wanted to drop in on her before we went down to the Eastern Comfort near the hospital. We then went around in circles passing the Fort Jameson twice before finding her. Very nice people. Had a couple of slices of bread and then off we went to find the Eastern Comfort. A bit more confusion about the right street, but eventually striding along in the dark with my meagre torch we got there and I was safely ensconced in a clean Spartan room with a comfortable bed with a mosquito net.
Chipata, Thursday 8 February:
A whirlwind day!
The objectives were to go the the Badat store whose name was given to us by the haulier that I had already contacted, do some shopping for Johnny and myself and to do some shopping for the various people we had found sponsorship for.
Breakfast was as Spartan as the room. Toast and butter (no jam or honey) and Ricoffy (a Zambian version of a downmarket Nescafe) and hot water. Festus got to the Eastern Comfort a bit late and off we set to the delights of Chipata. We went straight to the Down Market - the commercial section of Chipata at a lower level - as opposed to the Up Market which is higher and has all the banks, insurance companies, offices, hospital, etc. We wandered aimlessly for a bit going in to a number of hardware merchants who sold the sorts of materials we were after for the clinic. Eventually I persuaded Festus to ask where Badats were and it turned out that we had passed within 20 metres of them on the way in to the Down Market. Lots of nice looking goodies!! Of course, while looking around the store we saw a number of things we had forgotten. Eddie (Festus's brother-in-law - Festus had no idea he worked for Badats) was busy working on the pricing of the list of quantities spreadsheet that I had e-mailed to them a couple of days earlier. But he was doing it manually and not on a computer. Oh, well! We didn't expect to leave Thursday evening anyway.
Yenes Badat was extremely helpful and sent us 'round to the shops that had the materials we wanted. Bought a cellphone for Festus, material for Justina Banda, and lots of other goodies. Went to a cheap and cheerful sandwich bar for lunch and had beef pies and Fanta!
In the afternoon we went out to the Badat warehouse to have a look at the materials there and check out that they were what we were after. The timber was fine. A bit damp, but basically dry. Everything else seemed fine. Back to the Badat shop where Eddie had finished pricing the List of Quantities. I had moved to the Fort Jameson Rest House (en-suite bathroom - called 'self-contained'), so off we went to Festus' sister for a fine meal of nsheema with beef and pumpkin leaves. Very nice!
Once home I discovered that I had misplaced the key to my room. And the Fort Jameson didn't have a spare!! After much prying and bending and prying it became clear that we couldn't get into the room without physically breaking down the door. More trying and prying. Keys to all of the other rooms were tried, but to no avail. More trying and prying. Finally from somewhere a key appeared and it worked!! Whew!
And so to bed under mosquito attack as a result of a mosquito net that was far too small for the bed! Very busy day and not much rest.
Chipata, Friday 9 February:
Mmmmnn! Buttered bread and Ricoffy for breakfast. Festus and I off to get some money out of the hole in the wall at the Barclays Bank, and then down to Badat's shop. Armed with prices it was now possible to see what the whole lot was going to cost. After hours of juggling figures and adding new row after new row to the Bill of Quantities it became clear that we were going to be way over spent. The decision was made that we would have to cut the Ablution Block. We just didn't have the money to be able to fix it up.
More juggling of figures to see if we could manage if we didn't do the ablution block. Trip to the hospital to see how wide the doors needed to be for a wheelchair, and to see about getting Johnny some drugs for the Clinic. Back to the computer and more figures. Lunch in the office of greasy grilled sandwiches and chips (cholesterol pie!). Back to the shop with the new List of Quantities which did not include the materials for the ablution block. Back to the Provincial Health Board to pick up the drugs. Back to the workshop and the computer. Printed out the spreadsheet for the new list of quantities. Back to the shop to give the LoQ to Eddie (who re-did the whole thing manually!)
Leaving Eddie with his pen an paper we returned home, having a wonderful curry supper at a restaurant on the way. The hollow feeling in my gut of not being able to do everything we wanted was very unsettling.
Chipata, Saturday 10 February:
Mmmmmnnnnn! The tiniest portion of jam imaginable on my buttered bread this morning! Off to Badat's shop to see how Eddie was getting on with the LoQ. Pen and paper plus hand calculator are slow - and frustrating beyond words as it was all done already on the computer spreadsheet. Oh, well! Started picking materials from the shelves and counting quantities. The trucks were in the yard at the warehouse and were starting to be loaded. Should be away by 1100hrs. Wow! Back to the warehouse. Had been trying to contact Johnny by e-mail (I couldn't phone as the repeater was down in the Valley because of the floods) to ask about the tyre and wiper blades for the Doc's vehicle. But no success. And no response to my e-mails. So I mailed Gid at Kapani and said that, given an estimated departure time of 1100 hrs, we should be away by 1400 hrs and should be back in Mfuwe by about 1900 hrs.
1400hrs came and went. Eventually at about 1700 hrs the load of stuff from the shop came down to the warehouse for loading. I was desperately hoping that we would at least start out in the daylight so that I could see the countryside that I had missed coming into Chipata on the Wednesday evening (see above). 1800 hrs and the trucks were loaded and off to get fuel. That's right. They hadn't been fuelled beforehand. More waiting. More frustration.
Beautiful sunset. 1900 hrs and off we set. Much to my surprise Eddie came with us and so the cab was a bit crowded. Poor Festus and Eddie had to sit on the hard plastic surface between the driver's seat and mine, Eddie with the gearshift lever between his legs. The first section was fine and we made good time. Then we turned off the Chinese road and slid and bumped our way to Mambwe. Most of the time we were going at a slow walking pace. Never did we go faster than what one could do on a bike! Bought some charcoal for Festus on the other side of Mambwe.
Up and over the tarmacked section of the Big Hill. Then some really rough road and an excruciatingly slow pace. Eventually we reached the Airport short cut. The lagoons across the road seemed to have got even deeper. At one point we plunged into the water and the headlights were submerged and everything went black. Totally black! For an instant I was convinced that we were totally underwater and started to work out how I would escape from the cab of the truck while the water came pouring in. But no! We re-emerged with nothing worse than one less headlight as the one on my side had exploded when it contacted the water. Mostly the water was very deep but the bottom of the lagoons was good gravel and we got through fine. Only once did we hold our breath again as we slid in and out of a squelching quagmire.
Then onto the tarmac at the Airport at about 2345 hrs. On into the darkness past the temporary housing along the high ground of the road and in to Mfuwe at 0030 on Sunday! But then the driver changed his mind about taking me home to Kapani - about 7km of elephant infested road. Arguments and trying to reason with him. Festus lost his cool. But to no avail. HE WOULD NOT TAKE ME TO KAPANI. Drove around to the Clinic leaving Festus and Eddie at the Kalawani Guest House. Parked the truck near the Clinic and talked the situation over with Daniel Tembo the night watchman at the Clinic. He suggested asking Shaddy - one of the Kapani guides who lived nearby - to give me a lift home. So around to Shaddy's at 0045 in the morning. I felt terrible waking him up at that hour, but saw no other way to make it back to Kapani. Shaddy was the essence of a gentleman and we then plunged through the darkness - and elephant's I'm sure - and I got home at just past 1 o'clock in the morning.
Johnny was fast asleep and didn't even hear us drive in!
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