First Impressions 

I arrived in Choma at around 19.00 (local time) on Friday evening after a two day journey via Amsterdam & Nairobi. The college principal, Jenny Featherstone met me at Livingstone airport. We had time for a light lunch in the town before we began our road journey to Choma. It would normally take around two and a half hours to drive between the two towns but we had to stop off in a small town, Zimba to collect two  carpenters from the college who were fitting a kitchen for a customer. Jenny had dropped them off on her way to collect me and arranged to pick them up on the way back. It gave me an opportunity to see the work that they get   and to meet the first members of staff from the carpentry shop.
We arrived back at the college and I was introduced to Mike from Sweden who is one of the Computer studies tutors. It was a little late to tour the college complex  as     sunset is around 18.30 and it gets dark very quickly after the sun goes down.

Jenny had promised to show me round on Saturday morning and I was up bright and early looking forward to my tour of the college and house building project. Before we got to start Jenny found out that the new tenant for house number 3 was planning to move in that very afternoon. Jenny very quickly contacted Mr. Mwanga her vice principal and the person responsible for the building works to be told that the power company had not yet connected the power supply to the property. Mr. Mwanga was quickly dispatched to the offices of the power company (ZESCO) to find out if the power could be connected. No one thought they would do it, but against the odds they agreed and they said that the power would be on by 14.00. Jenny had been up to the house to check it out and returned to tell me that it was in no fit state for anyone to move into. The new tenant was insisting that she move in on Saturday as she was moving from Lusaka to Choma and would have nowhere else to stay if she was unable to move into the house which had been promised for Saturday  .  Suffice to say when I saw the house I wondered how it could be in such a state on the morning that the tenant was moving in. We promptly set about cleaning up all the building material that was still in every room, the kitchen was far from finished and the rest of the rooms were almost there but not quite. By the end of the day the house was habitable and the new tenant took possession and seemed pleased with their brand new house. House No 4 needs to be ready by Monday - The odds are against it but miracles do happen.

House Nos. 3 & 4 at the Chodort Building Programme

During most of Saturday I was in and out of town to buy small items needed to finish the house, light bulbs, wall plugs and Tilly lamps to name but a few. This gave me the opportunity to see small town centre life in Zambia and to note the changes between now and when I lived and worked here for about 14 years until 1985. The population of Choma is around 40,000 and Zambia has just over 14 million inhabitants. When I first arrive in 1968 the population of the country was in the region of 4 million rising to 8 million by the time I left in 1985. Small business ventures by indigenous Zambians seen much more   prevalent  and street trading is now allowed whereas it was restricted to official market places when I was last here. This has the effect of making the town centre a very colourful and vibrant place. Some of the South African supermarket chains such as Shopright and Pick & Pay are now well established. The range of goods on offer would match what are available at home and prices are reasonable. I am still getting used to the value of the recently re based Zambian Kwacha. The official exchange rate is £1 is equal to ZK8.5. I have not had the opportunity to purchase anything as yet  and it will only when I do that will I get some idea of the cost of living here.
All the people I have met here have been more than welcoming right from the immigration and customs officials to everyone at Chodort. I have spent Sunday exploring the garden and learning about the eccentricities of the domestic water system. There is a town water supply but it is not 100% reliable so there needs to be a backup which is a well in the back garden. No power failures as yet but I understand they are frequent and can last the whole day. The garden is extensive and has a good selection of tropical fruit and even an apple tree. There is a juicer in the kitchen so I should be able to make fresh juice with the freshest ingredients.

One of my favourite garden plants - Frangipani - the perfume in the evening is almost overpowering

I am writing this before lunch on Sunday and hope that this afternoon I will be able to visit a family that I knew from my previous stay. Time has certainly slowed for me over the past couple of days  and life is lived at a more leisurely pace.
The Chodort college day starts at 07.30 and I will be there bright and early to start work on my Challenges Worldwide assignment.