A week in the life of a PI-intern in Mongu

Monday
Early morning: Running around office in Lusaka for last-minute preparations. Off to Mongu with colleague Miyoba and driver in WFP pick-up.

12.00: Exchange of cars at Kafue Hook Bridge – halfway point Lusaka-Mongu. Driver from Mongu says he saw loads of elephants on the way here. Looking forward!

12.00-15.00: No elephants

15.00: Arrive in Mongu

Rest of afternoon: Casually settling in, meeting colleagues, preparing for tree planting launch tomorrow.

Tuesday
Too early: Have woken up early to have breakfast and rehearse Miyoba’s speech. Finalizing press kits for media. Meeting event’s guest of honour, the District Commissioner of Mongu, to exchange formalities.

09.00: Arrive at Mandanga basic school: find hundreds of children, parents, drums and dancing people (it is customary for Zambians to welcome you in song and dance when happy about an event).

09.30: Start of programme.

10.00-11.00: Mingling, taking pictures, shooting video material of the launch, children and trees.
Note to self: do not wear suit at 40 °C.

11.15:  End of programme. Planting an orange tree.

11.30-14.00: Take pictures of children receiving and eating WFP school meals. Kids really hungry and pushing to get to the front. Kid spilling porridge on my suit pants. Cleaned suit pants.
Note to self: do not wear suit when amidst many hungry children and 100 liters of porridge.

14.30-17.00: Miyoba has gone back to Lusaka. Cleaning up the site.

Wednesday
08.00: At office.

08.35: Buying a cap, making me look like a redneck, for protection from the sun.

09.45-11.45: Driving across sandy roads to Mayukwayukwa, a refugee camp-become settlement North-West of Mongu. From a distance, all I can see is endless huts dotted on a hillside and the smoke of a few campfires.

12.00-15.30: Visiting two Angolan refugees (and amputees) at their homes.Talking to them about the impact of WFP food assistance on their lives, collecting their stories and pictures.
Many people asking for support – most survive on one or two meals a day.

16.00-18.00: Leave camp, work on stories on the move way back to Mongu.

Evening: Zambia - Tunisia: 1-1

Thursday
Morning: Being welcomed back by a mass of screaming children, running after the car at Mandanga basic school upon arrival

Pick up two pupils, Rebecca (14) and Manyando (16), to interview them and their families at home about the school meals provides at their school. Rebecca wants to become a nurse, Manyando a police officer and both of them may not have been in school had it not been for the school meals WFP provides them with.

12.00-16.00: Drive to Mawawa school, an hour out of Mongu. Here we pick up a former local farmer who, two years back and with WFP’s support, dug canals around his field to prevent flooding.

Down into the wetlands at the back of the WFP pick-up truck, James Brown on the speakers while we go.

Walking barefoot through rice field for another interview and some on the spot portrait pictures.

Friday
Early morning: Off to Senanga, South of Mongu.

10.30: Request by Mark, the Senior PI Officer in Lusaka, to give him a story on a refugee in Mayukwayukwa for deadline report.

10.31: Loss of cell phone signal.

10.30-11.00: Drive around to find a signal

11.00: Found signal and passed on information to Mark

11.30-17.00: Driving into the bush for 6 km to find a primary school. Interviewed the head mistress about the impact of school meals on her pupils.

Then going further South to interview a grandmother who took care of her deceased daughters’ children – the youngest one only surviving because of WFP’s support.

14.40: Waiting for fifteen minutes and hiding behind a fence in order for the baby to stop crying.

14.55: Snapped a photo.

Speeding across incredibly sandy roads to pick up people at health clinic, and then proceeding to an improvised bridge. Walking  across bridge, nearly falling in water, to get to a village to talk to a couple with twins. The girl had nearly died if it wasn’t for the food WFP had been providing her with for a year.

18.00: Back in Mongu.

Saturday
06.00-09.30: Goodbye Mongu.

09.30: Repeating the exchange of cars at Kafue Hook Bridge – halfway point Lusaka-Mongu. Driver from Lusaka says he saw a herd of 16 (!) elephants on the way here!

09.30-12.30: No elephants.