October 7, 2015
Zambia
Three young women, Aneta Kantorová, Barbora Mašínová and Pavlína Trojanová left the Czech Republic in mid-September for Zambia. During their internship through Caritas Czech Republic, Aneta will work in the area of Mongu, where she will stay until January 2016, supporting care for mothers and their new-born children. Barbora will help in the area of Meheba until Christmas and Pavlína will help in the area of Mawukwayukwa.
Aneta Kantorová
Aneta Kantorová, a beginning ukulele player and a passionate traveller has visited many countries during her university studies - for example New Zealand, Nepal and some South-Asian states. In Nepal she taught English to the children living there. After graduation she decided on an internship in Zambia where she would try working full-time for the first time. She summarises her motivation in a poetic way: "In February I successfully completed study of English linguistics and didactics at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. With a hard-won degree in my pocket I started to look for a job that would give me a feeling of usefulness and compensate for all the months, if not years, spent between four walls with a pile of books and a laptop. I have always been a bit of an adventurer who needs to see higher purpose in what I am doing, so volunteer work in a distant country has always attracted me."
Barbora Mašínová
For the last two years Barbora Mašínová has been living partly in Kosovo and partly in Sweden where she graduated from the master's degree programme, “Peace and Conflict Studies,” at Uppsala University in June. During studies she also worked for the United Nations' programme UN Women in Pristina, Kosovo. Travelling is a part of her life, so she did not hesitate about the Zambian offer. Like her two colleagues, she was pleased that Caritas Czech Republic would cover almost all the costs associated with the journey. Barbora explained her main motivation in these words: "In the future I would like to deal with work related to solving the consequences of war conflicts and the refugee issues. So when I finished my studies, it was the reason why I searched for opportunities to broaden my knowledge in this area and to figure out what the work in missions is about. Thanks to previous work experience, I have first-hand insight about development issues from the perspective of government. However, I have always missed the opportunity to work face to face with those whom the projects help."
Pavlína Trojanová
Pavlína Trojanová, a student of International Relations in Prague, comes from Eastern Bohemia and besides travelling she also likes music and skating. Several years ago, she worked for two months as a volunteer in India where she taught children about Czech culture by presentations and dance and theatre performances. She applied for the internship in Zambia after she came back from a study visit abroad where she met migrants from Iraq during a course focusing on migration. This helped her to better understand the situation and it also aroused her interest in these issues. She explains her motivation: "In our society we notice mainly the migration from Africa to Europe. However, we forget that there is high migration also between African states. This is the reason why I am interested in the integration of Angolans in Zambia and the local refugee situation itself."
All three girls have had interesting experiences during the first days and they were happy to share them with us:
Aneta: "During the first few days I spent in Zambia, I was captivated by a small antelope which I spotted by the road on my way from Lusaka to Kaoma and also by the sight of an elephant in the same area. I was also impressed by the local inhabitants' friendliness and straightforwardness and also by their passion for football (Mayukwayukwa has its own football team and the players take their role seriously, although they lost their last match on home soil 0:3). The journey to Mayukwayukwa was also interesting because it would not be possible without a four-wheel drive vehicle. In the local market it is obvious that you can find only various combinations of tomatoes, onions, peanuts and something like doughnuts differing only in shapes (cube, small/large block) and a roll-like pastry in two sizes."
Barbora describes her impressions in the following way: "Since I have been in Zambia for a short time, my first insights may seem to be trivial. Certainly, I read a lot of articles about African states and its conditions during my studies but unless you personally sit for two hours in a car to get to a place which is less than 80 kilometres away, and unless you drive through unsettled bush and see cars stuck in a “highway” (one might rather call it a dirt road), you won't realise the actual impact of distance and insufficient infrastructure on the quality of life and the possibilities of people living there. Who would want to fetch, for example, the post and a newspaper on such a road on a daily basis? Nobody! I remember the first thing I saw when we got off the bus in Kaoma. I turned around and saw a billiards table in the middle of the station and a group of local boys around it. Most of the Zambians are strongly religious, so you can see shops named, 'God knows,' and 'Hardware blessings' in the markets. I also have the impression that it is impossible to drive the local inhabitants to anger, whether in the camp or outside it."
Pavlína contributes to her colleagues’ experience: "As Zambia is so different from the Czech Republic, even small things seem to me like important experiences. For example, during the journey from Kaoma to Mayukwayukwa where Caritas works, it was beautiful to look at the fiery sunset and the red dust road under the wheels (while bouncing in the car over the many holes in the road as a tax for it). To see the area where the refugees and former refugees from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi live was interesting as well. It does not look at all like the crowded refugee camps which I usually see in the media. I knew that "nshima" is the main food here, it is served at virtually every meal, but I didn't know it is eaten with the hands. That is something else. PS: We have tried it. :-)"
Travel, insurance and food costs of the two interns are financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the accommodation is covered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The third intern, Aneta, is supported by Caritas Czech Republic. We wish a lot of success to all the interns as they work in the mission.
