photos....the rooster must die

airplanes in amsterdam

breakfast in amsterdam airport. klassan is off da hook.

chillin with persons in pearson

JFs of DDDOOOOOOMMMMM

Alfred the man.

Let's talk about I.M.P.A.C.T and possibly Sogruhm

Moustache = Big Man

left to write : Deg, Andrew, Annalise, Rob, Vicky

so there are some photos of pre dep and departure. next set will be of malawi and zambia. keep your oranges ripe.

also....the rooster MUST be stoped.

Damn Rooster...

Well here I am...finally in Zambia.
It took a 14 hour bus ride from Lilongwe, Malawi to Lusaka, Zambia but what a ride it was. I never expected the rolling hills or the forests that we saw. Although 70+ people on a grehound-like bus gets really hot really fast. There was a point where it got so full th e bus pulled over and people started to get kicked off...this lasted for about 20 minutes it also led to someone yelling "Do us no evil, Do us no evil".

But, after all that, we got here to Lusaka. This place is wild, I never dreamed it to be so industrialized. There are highways and cars everywhere, and a handfull of 10+ story buildings.

The first day we were here we got to meet all the people at the IDE headquaters and had a meeting about where IDE is and what is going on for the summer. One of the major projects that is going on right now with IDE is the bean project. The project is an aggrement with a bean distributor who has provided farmers with essential inputs for growing beans througout the season, once harvested the beans are then sold back to the distributor at a set price. Harvest is just ending and IDE is connecting the farmers with the distrivutor for transportation of the harvest. There is also encouragement for the farmers to bulk up their beans together in order to save on transportation costs, IDE is also facilitating this.

On top of the bean project my focus will be on market facilitation projects. Which means I will be aiding my office in helping rural farmers by creating links between them and local markets in Kitwe. I am sure this sounds a little abstract so one example of this last year was a JF worked with a high scale hotel and their buyers to create agrrements for fresh procude that was grown in advance for the hotel. Every two weeks the buyers would visit the farmers to collect the vegetables they ordered and bring it back to the hotel to serve. This type of connection gave frequent income for over 60 farmers but this is only one type of linkage...there are many others that are possible. I can't wait to get out there.

As for the damn rooster....we are staying at a hostel. For some reason they have a rooster there....and for some reason it does not bother them that it yells at every hourly intervale. I woke up this morning just sitting there in front of our porch...i think it smiled at me, knowing how much sleep it took away from me. I might have to make some rooster soup soon.

Anywho!
I am about to enter day 1 of 2 for the ID market facilitation meeting.
Chyea!

Tony

another update

hey hey
my laptop is about to die.
quick things.

i am well.
kinda broke my laptop but there is everlasting hope.
i think about you all the time. i really do.
southern africa is beaitful
please post your adress and you will get post cards.
100%
my email is tony.fedec@gmai.com

more formal post to come.

the stars here are breathtaking.

expect more soon.

love,
tony

Update from the sky

from toronto to amsterdam
amsterdam to niarobi
now niarobi to lilongwe
what a day....
we have been traveling for almost 30 hours
but im feeling pretty fine.

it was quite a surprise to find out that KLM offers free "drinks" on their planes.
there is no doubt that i took full advantage of this.
its been a rather hazzy adventure.

right now we are a couple thousand feet up in the air and the city lights of niarobi just fades away
next stop is lilongwe, malawi were we will be for the next 3 days getting in country training and information.
our plane will land at 1am where we will be graciously greeted by melissa leafas our junior fellow support staff and collen duncan a long term overseas volunteer.

the mash of hours have gone by in such an odd pace i do not know how i feel anymore.
am i tired? sorta
am i rested? ya..sorta
am i full? oh yes. i cannot belive the ammount of air plane food i have consumed.

airplane meals - 4
air plane drinks - 8
airplane movies - 3...all pretty terrible

back to malawi..
once the malawi experience has come to an end half of us are off to zambia.
from lilongwe (the city where we fly into) to lusaka (capital of zambia) it is a 12 hour mini bus ride! whoo hoo.
but it does not stop there.
from lusaka to kitwe, where i will be working it is a 5 hour mini bus ride again.
i am really going to have to plan my bathroom breaks.

i am pretty stoked to get on the ground.
keep an eye out for some photos in the next few posts.

much love,

tony

airport scents

ah..
the smell of leaving.
i cannot remember the last time i felt like this.
everything is slowly fading away for me.
soon this canadian paradise will be fading too.
but there is new things ahead.
a new land.
a new climate.
a new home...
it would be an understatement to say im nervous.
but im nervous in a pretty good way.
i know that i am in good hands and that there are some great opportunities in store for me in Zambia.
i know that my loved ones got my back.
the friends i have made this week are here/there for me.

its hard sometimes to leave something so good but i know that this is what i want.
i know that i will be happy. that there is so much to be learned.
no more textbooks for a few months. its all about experiences.

what kind of experiences?
well let's start with what i know of...
my job.

i am working with Internation development enterprises (IDE) in Kitwe, Zambia.
IDE's work focuses on water technologies for rural farmers. More specifically treddle pumps and drip irrigation systems.

The project I am working on is called the Rural Poverty Initiative. The project's focus is all about getting rural farmers to make more money. The main idea is to grow more produce and sell it to surrounding markets. So for the last 3 years IDE has worked on getting farmers to grow more produce and now that things have settled the other part beings, getting that extra produce to the market.

I will be working with the IDE office on market linkages. My main priority is to help build the capacity of the feild staff there so that they can be even more9 effecive than what they already are. Thanks to my extensive job experience with 5 other orginizations I will be able to use my diverse experience to give different perspectives for their office.

But this is still a lot of paper terms. I am not exactly sure what all this will turn into but I promise to keep this blog up to date.

Hit me with some comments.

Much love to you all.

Time to fly.

The start

Well well well...
So here it is. Pre-Departure training.
I am finally here.

I left Guelph today at 4pm. Made my way to Toronto.
Downtown Toronto. The EWB intern house in a pretty solid little area.
After claiming a bed we all gathered and waited for the group to arrive.
Not too much went down today other than some logistical info and house rules and politics.
Tomorrow is going to be the first big day, we have our health session along with one on one guidance then we are heading out to a dinner event. should be interesting.


i know this is a little monotonous right now but things are going to gear up soon.

much love.

i should post my job description shortly....maybe tomorrow.
it is exciting.
agriculture value chains.
oh baby ;)

Yooo yoo!!

So I just found out yesterday I am heading to Kitwe, Zambia to work with International Development Enterprises (IDE) to work with Agricultural Value Chains.

This is a short post right now as I am probably the only person reading this as of now.

I will make a format, bigger post once some papers and exams have wrapped up.

Until then,

Much love.

Tony