August 2010
2 posts
Muende kabotu
Over the past few days I’ve been wrapping up at work, and now I’m off for a little vacation time, before heading back to Malawi, and then home. Crazy!
I don’t really know what to say. My experiences over the past few months have made me think a lot more critically about how the private, public, and development sectors can meet on the issues of food security and agriculture as a...
July 2010
4 posts
"A Wonderful World"
Before I came to Zambia, a friend of mine, who had spent some time here last year, remarked “If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Zambia’s national colours were sea foam green, pink, and yellow.”
He was referring to the fact that as you cruise down the main road of any town, or even village for that matter, you’ll invariably find buildings painted these colours with the words “A Wonderful...
Pictures!
My loving village Zam Fam, and some neighbours.
My village home! The compound to the left is where most of the cooking, and living actually happens. The structures to the right are for food storage—maize granaries and groundnuts. I was standing in front of the buildings where the family slept when I took the photo though, so they aren’t shown.
What an attractive cob! Admire...
June 2010
3 posts
Out and About in Lwiindi Village
I spent last week staying in and around Lwiindi Village, deep in the heart of Monze district. While I spend most of my time working with my counterparts within rural communities, at night I go home to Choma Town, so it was really important for me to spend some time actually living in one of the rural villages we’re working in. I stayed with Mr. Sandquest Lwiindi, one of the most active rural...
Vulnerable or Viable?
Helping the “poorest of the poor” is an attractive concept. After all, that’s what development is supposed to be about isn’t it. A question that I’ve noticed come up though when people discuss the private sector approach to poverty alleviation is whether targeting interventions at the poorest of the poor is the most feasible means of improving their livelihoods—in short, should these private...
On the Road
I guess last time I rather haphazardly laid down my thoughts about some challenges in the agriculture sector without really explaining how my placement fits into it. I’m partnered with both a private sector seed firm and the PROFIT project. Over the past five years, PROFIT has worked with firms in the input sector, promoting a rural agent system—formerly, farmers had to travel long distances to...
May 2010
6 posts
Settling into Southern Province
I arrived in Choma (not Monze it turns out) a couple of days ago and have been settling into my new work and home life. I’ll admit that it’s been a little overwhelming—from living in close quarters with another 11 Canadians to feeling out new surroundings by myself has been kind of an adjustment. But Zambia is beautiful, and people are incredibly kind! The family I’m...
Curses!
Volcanic ash strikes again!
Yesterday turned out to be a practice run at hauling a ridiculous amount of gear to the airport by public transit. Going to be hanging out in Toronto for another couple of days. We’re scheduled to fly out on Wednesday now.
Until then, adventures in Toronto I guess!
The where and what.
So I figured it was probably about time that I posted about what I’ll be doing!
I think I mentioned that I’ll be working with EWB’s Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) team. AVC is a way of looking at agricultural development from a systems level. You can think of a value chain as all the activities or events required to get a product or service from its conception to its end use,...
April 2010
1 post
A little rambling to start.
Hello!
My name is Amanda Giang, a third year Engineering Science student at the University of Toronto. This summer, I’ve been given the privilege of volunteering with Engineers Without Borders in Zambia (if you’re not familiar with EWB, there’s more in the About section). So in about a month, I’m supposed to get on a plane, and start working on a project related to market access for...