Corruption

Anyone who has worked, lived, or even visited Africa can probably give multiple examples of corruption witnessed on this continent. Sadly, Zambia is no exception to the typical trend and what follows is just one example of corruption. Last week we travelled to Mkushi to order the remainder of our building supplies and to arrange delivery for this week. We needed all the roofing materials, some additional cement, and supplies for plastering walls and finishing the floors. After having so many problems with the hardware company we used last time, we decided to use a different company. We found a very nice and helpful man who runs a small hardware shop. While he couldn’t offer us free transport, he was able to get all the supplies we needed at reasonable prices. He also helped find us a truck/driver and negotiate an ok (although not great) price. The only thing he doesn’t supply is the timber, for which we had to go to the neighboring shop. The timber shops sell 2x4s at K65 each (a little over $10), but agreed to offer us a discount since we are an NGO and we were purchasing several hundred for the project: this brought the individual cost down to K62.5. Of course, we are always delighted to take any discount we can get and work hard to negotiate the best deals in order to stretch the donor funds as far as possible for the ultimate benefit of our students. On Wednesday all the supplies and transportation had been arranged to we went back to Mkushi to pay for the items, load them on the vehicle, and bring them to the construction site. Everything seemed to go very smoothly for once, until we requested a receipt for the timber. Receipts are often difficult to obtain as many times you are hiring an individual for piece work/ unofficial employment, or you pay a private vehicle to drive you to town, or you purchase items from a small stand. There are no receipts for these unofficial types of organization. Because of my training and commitment to being financially accountable, we have devised a system of having individuals sign our account logs when receipts are unavailable. Fortunately, the timber organization is somewhat legitimate and they actually had a receipt booklet they could fill in and sign, they just had to collect it from nearby. We waited patiently while the man went to fetch us a receipt. The issue arose when we were handed a completed receipt for the 240 planks at the undiscounted price. Upon explaining that the total amount was incorrect, the man looked confused. He finally said that he was giving us all the timber we needed and also giving us the (unrequested) opportunity to skim the discounted amount and use it to line our own pockets. We explained that we were not that type of organization and that we wanted to account for the actual amount spent instead of a false receipt. The poor man was now both confused and a little hurt that not only were we ungrateful for his “assistance”, but we actually wanted him to go and write another receipt for the actual price paid. Ultimately, we were unable to get another receipt from this man and now have to make notes in our records as to why the receipt does not match the price paid. Corruption is so widespread here that it is almost assumed that everyone is looking for opportunities to line their own pockets. For us this is an important reminder to not only hold ourselves to a higher standard, but to constantly ensure that our future employees are not lapsing into the common culture of corruption. It is even more proof that we personally need to be here on the ground to oversee management and ensure that funds are not diverted or misused. Although there are lessons to learn from this experience, it is still sad that as an organization we require more paperwork and diligence in order to operate legitimately and avoid the rampant corruption that surrounds us.

Hustling

Everyday I’m hustling (Feel free to sing along while reading this post) The construction is progressing at a good pace, but it has been a constant struggle to get all the supplies here without a reliable source of transportation. We have had 3 different commercial farmers agree to loan their tractors when not being used on the farm. This means we sometimes get a phone call that a tractor is available and then we have to hustle to arrange for it to go pick up sand, gravel, stones, or bricks (whichever one is most in need at that particular moment.) Currently, we are good on sand, gravel, and stones, but running low on bricks and will need to make some more trips to the kiln as soon as another tractor becomes available. Without the help of these overly kind commercial farmers, we would pay most of the money we raised to hire trucks, which are primarily based in Mkushi to come out and move construction supplies for us. There are currently only 2 canter trucks in the Chalata area: one belongs to an individual who knows we are in a bind and is trying to take advantage of us financially, but we are trying our best to divert as little money as possible to transportation so we save more for the construction project; the other belongs to the school. We asked permission to borrow the school vehicle for one day and agreed to pay for fuel so it would cost the school nothing, but they declined. It was very frustrating to be turned down by the school headmaster after everything we’ve done over the years to help so many students at the school. Unfortunately, many of the teachers here are just working for their paycheck and do not really care about the students. Still there are some incredible teachers who want to see these students succeed and they are more than happy to help our project as much as possible. Even in the community we find the same 2 different types of people. Some are just trying to take advantage of the muzungu (white people) that they assume are rich, while others recognize that our work is for the benefit of their community and they are happy to help where they can. Our brick maker has proven to be of the second type. He gave us a fair price on the bricks and after that he visited our site to learn more about it and realized how much we struggle to get water. Water has been the biggest struggle throughout this construction process. Our landlord originally said we could use the pump at our house to fill the four 50 gallon plastic drums we have and he transport them to the site daily for free. Of course this sounded like an excellent plan until is vehicle broke 3 days after we began construction and has been in the shop ever since. The next plan was simply to use wheelbarrows to bring buckets full of water up the 250 meter hill to our site and refill the drums that way. If Ackson, Aaron, and myself work together we can manage, but the work is exhausting. After seeing this, our brick maker said the current plan of trekking to the river was not very good and that instead he could loan us his spare water pump as long as we could afford the diesel to run it. Diesel isn’t cheap here, but it is well worth buying a few liters to run the pump and save ourselves some of the work. The only issue with this system is that we have to borrow hoses from another generous man, but he only has about 200 meters of hoses. So we are able to pump the water near our site, fill the four drums and then we still have to roll the drums up the hill the remaining 50-60 meters so the construction can proceed at a good pace. Our builders are doing a good job so far and working very hard, but we continue to struggle and hustle to get them all the supplies they need in order to continue work. It seems like for the most part we are right on pace with them and never even a step ahead. Today we are ordering the remainder of the supplies from Mkushi, primarily roofing materials which we hope to have delivered by next week. So many days, I fondly look back on home improvement projects with my parents and reflect on how much easier this would be if we had a home depot down the street and a pick up to drive. Nobody said this work would be easy, but we are proving that it is possible with all the generous support from American donors, local commercial farmers, and the few kind villagers who have offered the little they have to see this work succeed. Knowing how much support we have gives me the energy to keep hustling and finish this construction. P.S. The photo shows our 50 gallon drums where we have to fill them (as far as the hose will reach) and in the background just behind the tractor is where we have to roll the drums to in order for the construction workers to continue mixing cement and building.

Building has begun

The past week has been full of successes for IIM International. We received our official certificate for NGO status and both Aaron and myself have submitted all the forms for resident permits (which should be issued within a few weeks.) In addition, we have organized several local builders to begin construction and they have already finished digging the foundations. The builders are eager to finish the rest of the work and have agreed to complete everything for the 2 dorm buildings within a month. Now the only slight hold up has been getting the remainder of the supplies to the site. The bricks have been finished but are waiting for pick up just 3 kilometers away. While this isn't far, it has been a challenge since we do not have a vehicle (we dream of someday owning a 4 door pick up, but in the mean time we make due.) Today a very generous commercial farmer near by sent his tractor for us to use in hauling the bricks to our site so we are very thankful for this assistance. As Aaron began loading the bricks I headed back to Mkushi to meet the truck that is supposed to be loaded with all of our cement, timber, door frames, window frames, and other supplies to be transported to the site. Unfortunately, despite having phones to ensure that everything was set for the delivery, I arrived in town to find that there is no cement. We have already been delayed one day as the delivery was supposed to be made yesterday. However, the cement is stuck about an hour away. There are many people in town today waiting for the cement truck to arrive as we have all already purchased the cement and arrived in town to pick it as we were told to. It is a bit frustrating, but they delivery company is being helpful and I'm told the truck has just left and should be here in about an hour so I'm just hoping everything works out ok as far as this delivery is concerned. On that note, I will give a quick personal anecdote about the good days and the bad days. Yesterday when we arrived in Mkushi we had some shopping to do for our own personal supplies. We walked all over town looking for things and could not find them anywhere. We would be sent from one shop to another on a wild goose chase before finally giving up on those supplies and hoping to find them another day. Today when I arrived in town I ran a few errands and then sat down for a biscuit and coke which was my breakfast/lunch. Within 10 minutes of sitting down guys walked by hawking the same goods we spent all of yesterday looking for. So, I am reminded yet again that patience is the most important because eventually things will come together. I just need to try not to get frustrated on those less productive days and remember that other days will come in which everything seems to go exactly my way. I will post photos on the facebook page of our construction progress so please check it out!

Construction Preparation

We have now been in Zambia for 6 weeks and we are slowly making progress on all the dormitory plans. Our NGO application is still being processed, but it should be finished by the time we return to Lusaka on August 1st. We have gotten price lists for all the building supplies and even had a shop offer to deliver everything to our plot of land for free, which was very kind. We met with several different bricklayers in Mkushi trying to find a good deal for our buildings. At first they requested 12,0000 kwacha per building which is roughly $2,0000 dollars and far more than it should cost for the labor of 2 men when we still provide all supplies and equipment for them. A similar sized building was constructed last year for only 5,000 kwacha. After much negotiation, we finally found 2 bricklayers that agreed to 7,500 kwacha. It is a little higher than it should be, but still well within the budget and we agreed to higher both. Now each crew can work on one of the two buildings simultaneously to ensure we finish everything before rainy season begins in November. As soon as we return in the beginning of August we can purchase the supplies and quickly begin construction now that everything is ready to go. For our personal living situation, we found a nice house across from the plot that we can rent for only $100 a month. The house is pretty big and even hooked up to electricity. There is no running water, but the owner pumps water into a large tank on the property so it is freely available and very close. We requested that they also provide a bed, so hopefully they will follow through with that. The owner is a teacher and he just built the house in order to rent it and provide supplemental income for his family so he is very eager to have tenets that are willing to stay for 6 months. I'm sure this will be a nice upgrade from the tent that we are currently living in. Although, the only complaint about our nice 2-room tent has been the cold as we are currently in cold-season and living in the coldest part of the country. While in Mkushi we were able to visit our students and spend some time talking with their teachers. We are very impressed with our students and I would like to quickly highlight the accomplishments of one student, Esther. Esther began grade 9 in Chalata last year and performed so well that she was invited to transfer to the best public high school in the district, Mkushi High School. We were able to visit her there, where the headmaster said she is working very hard at her studies and transitioning well to the new environment. The boarding environment there is much improved over Chalata and we are confident that she has sufficient adult supervision and support from school staff. I am sure she will continue to be a great success in her new school! Overall we are so excited to begin construction next month and we look forward to spending even more time with these intelligent and hard-working students!

Week 1

Aaron and I arrived safely in Zambia on Tuesday May 13th along with all of our luggage. We immediately began the task of officially registering our NGO under the new NGO act. It only took a few trips to different government offices to figure out how exactly to go about this (of course none of this information is available online so it’s always a matter of trial and error until you find the right ministry or department). As it turns out, the Ministry of Community Development hosts the NGO registrar’s office and is located only a few blocks from the hostel where we are staying. If you have been wondering how to register an NGO in Zambia, here is the process: 1. Go to the NGO Registrar and request the application forms- this requires a fee just to receive the blank forms. A name request for the NGO can be submitted prior to paying the fee to reserve your name, if it is still available. 2. To pay the fee, money must be deposited in the correct government account at a nearby bank- while this is inconvenient, it is encouraging to know that they do not take cash as cash is more likely to allow corruption. 3. Return to the NGO registrar with a confirmation that the fee has been deposited and you will receive a legitimate receipt and 3 copies of the application (you are required to submit 3 original copies of everything as nothing is done electronically and they apparently cannot afford to photocopy anything within their own office.) 4. Fill out the application form- it is quite simple and not too long. 5. Provide background checks and information on all directors (minimum of 3). This includes 3 certified (like notarized) copies of national ID cards or passports and fingerprinting for background checks which must be completed at the Police headquarters. 6. Obtain letters of recommendations from the relevant government ministries which you plan to work with. This was the most difficult for us as the ministries in Lusaka do not know us and were not very willing to meet with us or help us. One would think an inept government agency would try to support NGOs that do part of their job for them, but that is not always the case. We finally received letters from the Ministry of Education in Mkushi District and from the Community Development officer who is based in Chalata- hopefully this will suffice. 7. Submit Application and wait! We have finally reached step 7 and look forward to submitting the entire application tomorrow (today is a government holiday of some sort so all offices are closed.) Of course we are unsure of what will happen after that. Maybe they will request more papers or ask us to jump through additional hoops. Otherwise it will just be a matter or waiting for everything to be processed and who knows how long that will take. We hope to hear back soon as this registration must be completed before we can be issued work permits. Currently, our temporary tourist visas are only good for 3 months so that is our personal deadline. In other news: we were able to meet with one of our students named Kelvin while in Lusaka and this meeting brought so much joy and hope to us. Kelvin was one of our first students to receive a scholarship for Chalata Secondary School where he was to begin Grade 10 in 2013. Kelvin is a hardworking student, but he suffers from juvenile diabetes which required many trips to the clinic in Chalata for medication and blood tests. Half-way through the school-year he became very sick and developed swelling around his heart in addition to his typical struggles with diabetes. He had to travel to the hospital in Mkushi frequently and missed a lot of classes. When we last saw him a year ago, he was very thin and weak. His aunt decided to send him to Lusaka to live with an elder sister as he would have better access to good medical care. By December, Kelvin had recovered significantly and he was able to begin school again in January. As he missed almost half the school-year in 2013, he is repeating grade 10 now, but doing great! He has a good living situation with his sister and they are very close to both his new school and a hospital where he can get insulin injections. He is also able to get Coke zero, one of his favorite treats, here in the capital (we remembered to bring him one on our visit as well). Kelvin is very thankful to his sponsors for the opportunity to go to school and he is encouraged to know that there is someone out there who truly believes in him and wants to see him succeed. We were so encouraged by our meeting with Kelvin and we are excited to see him continuing school after so many challenges and setbacks! This was a great reminder of why we are doing what we are doing.

Preparing for Zambia

As many of you know, we have just finished a fundraising campaign for a student center in Chalata, Zambia. This will include boys' and girls' dormitories, a study area, kitchen, latrines/showers, and a separate building for a house-mother. Thanks to all of our generous donors, we have received more than $15,000 for this study center! Next week Aaron and I will head to Zambia to start the preparations for this building project. We are so excited because this will provide our students with a safe home, adult supervision, and better care. We also look forward to seeing all the students again and encouraging them to keep up the hard work! We will post periodic updates about the building project and our kids on this blog as well as on facebook and twitter so that everyone else can follow along and see how their donations are making a difference in these kids lives!