Gethsemane Mwizabi
7 November 2008
analysis
BEFORE Kym Mackenzie came to Zambia, she had different assumptions about the country that happens to be a former colony of Britain.
The only country she knew in southern Africa was Zimbabwe, of course for obvious reasons.
The now famous Zimbabwean political and economic experience has made world headlines for close to a decade now.
For Ms Mackenzie, southern Africa was about Zimbabwe and the famous Zambezi River.
Who would blame her blurred view of the world. After all, she had never in her life travelled to Africa.
When she landed at Lusaka International Airport recently, she had a different feel altogether.
Her mental walls of mystery about Africa were torn down.
"The people are friendly here and happy despite not having enough. It doesn't take much to be happy here," she said.
Life was not pretty much the same before she set her foot on Zambian soil.
Back home in Scotland, the climate was different, very cold and snowing at certain times of the year.
As regards lifestyle, all her life she had been used to a nucleus type of life of father, mother and child.
Zambia had been a lot different for this technical drawing teacher in Edinburgh. She found Zambia to be more about community than anything else.
People practising the extended type of family, where terms like cousin, nephew, aunt and uncle do not mean much.
It is either one is a brother, sister, father or mother of someone. Anything more or less than that is somewhat alien.
Zambia, like the rest of Africa, is about Ubuntu, a philosophy that glorifies community rather than individualism.
Ms Mackenzie is one of the six teachers under the Connecting Classroom, a British Council initiative that links classrooms between the United Kingdom (UK) and sub-Saharan Africa.
Connecting Classroom functions on a philosophy of partnership, dialogue, difference, curiosity and respect.
It is a five-year programme that establishes and develops long-term, sustainable school partnerships across 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK.
Countries involved, apart from Zambia and the UK, are Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal.
Others are Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Connecting Classroom enables pupils across the UK and sub-Saharan Africa to develop inter-cultural communication skills as they make friends, exchange information and work on joint projects.
So when the six teachers from Scotland and Sierra Leone came to Zambia, they were able to share experiences.
Three Ndola basic schools, Temweni, Pamodzi and Ndola Basic hosted the six teachers who took part in the robust environmental programme of planting trees on the Copperbelt.
The initiative of planting trees is in line with the United Nations Environmental programme, Save the Planet: Seven Billion Tree Campaign.
"I guess the more we interact, the more we get to understand each other. We are one people," said Andrew Seasay from Sierra Leone.
Mr Seasay is a principle of Gout Rokel School in Sierra Leone. His experience about Zambia is somewhat similar to his home country.
Though languages may differ, he says lifestyles are similar. The advent of urbanisation and infiltration of western culture has changed things to some extent but basic African life remains.
"People live in big families and life is simple. That is what defines Africa," he said.
He envied Zambia's hospitality and peaceful nature, saying the atmosphere was unique from other places.
Since Connecting Classroom has much to do with cultural exchange, three Zambians had an opportunity to visit Scotland.
These were Margaret Simasiku (Ndola Basic), Grace Sakala (Pamodzi) and Hezel Mapanda (Temweni).
The three had the privilege to experience Scottish life. They lived in homes and had several outings.
"People there are not excited about anything. They have cars but they choose to walk or jump on trains and life goes on," said Ms Mapanda.
She said though Scottish life was more about nucleus life, the people themselves were friendly.
"They are not excited people. They like to lead normal lives," she said.
Besides operating at international level, the programme has several clusters at the local level.
There are 27 schools linked to one another in Zambia. With nine clusters, they have been able to exchange ideas.
"We have been able to help young people develop the skills and create opportunities to act as agents of social change," says British Council programme officer, Ackim Banda.
Mr Banda says the environmental project was key to helping pupils understand the need for environmental preservation.
He said many schools had included the planting of trees in their curriculum, which is giving young people an opportunity and a responsibility to make a difference.
"Our school is to plant 126 trees in Kabwe, 146 trees in Mufulira and 60 trees in Ndola," he said.
Ultimately, Connection Classroom is about tearing down walls of cultural prejudice.
As for Ms Mackenzie, she has a different story to tell.
"It's been a wonderful experience having to see life differently from Scotland," she said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
