Special Delivery

Angela, who runs the Sunny Money Zambia call centre received a special delivery this afternoon.  She's been helping schools in the Choma area find our school's field team this week and one school was so impressed with her assistance they sent back a live chicken as a gift.  It is now proudly squawking around the office, strutting it's stuff, waiting for home time.  I'm not sure it has realised yet that it will most certainly become tonight's supper in the Kaunda household.

Vote for us!

My friends and colleagues at Solar Aid / Sunny Money are trying to drum up votes and have asked me to enlist your help.  

We've entered a project in Google's Global Impact Challenge in an attempt to try and win the £500,000 fan favourite Global Impact Award.  Basically you, the general public vote for the project they like best and the project with the most votes wins the money. We have reached the final 10 but need your vote by 31st May to win!

Please take a look at our project and vote for us.  Click here to vote for SolarAid: https://globalimpactchallenge.withgoogle.com/#/solaraid  

So, did you think I'd been eaten by an Elephant?

So, did you think I'd been eaten by an Elephant? Chomped by a Crocodile? Hassled by a Hippopotamus? Or, laughed at by a Lion?  I know I've been away for ages but no such calamity occurred in Livingstone, despite my other pseudonym being Calamity Kate!!  Sorry to disappoint you all but I am still alive and just about kicking in Lusaka.  I had a fantastic week in Livingstone with my parents and saw loads of animal antics but none of my encounters were of the fatal variety.  Instead, my only disease is a fatal attack of Audit Fever.  Audit Fever is known to strike well meaning Accountants roughly four weeks after their Financial Year End and it can indeed be fatal.  Unfortunately, despite extensive research, Interhealth have failed to find a cure or indeed a method of prevention and so I'm just trying AfiD's recommendation of sitting it out and hoping for the best.  

The symptoms for me have been, in no particular order: regular bouts of talking to myself, repetitive strain injury, black spots on my fingers, yellowing teeth and bulging biceps.  However, those in the know, doctors and the like, say this is just due to the tasks in hand.  I can see what they mean.  I guess the repetitive strain injury could be caused by typing up endless pages of the Finance Manual, and the black spots on my fingers are probably the result of my touching Fixed Assets after just labelling them with my permanent marker.  The yellowing teeth could be due to my endless tea consumption and bulging biceps, well, if you'd seen the numbers of files I've created and the office filing cabinets we've found, moved and filled you'd know I've been doing some serious working out!  But, talking to myself, I can't explain that.  Maybe that's what I've always done :)

Fellow AfiD volunteers assure me that the Audit Fever symptoms have a miraculous ability to disappear after the auditor has left the vicinity.  So, given I have the local auditors arriving on Monday and the UK auditors arriving the Monday after I guess I may be in this state until, well 4th June at roughly 5pm when I ship the UK auditor off to the airport.

  

You'll be pleased to know that things are coming together for our audit.  The team are pulling out all the stops.  It's amazing what you can find when you spring clean the office.  Sarah, our Director, has led my example literally turning her office upside down.  She has no paper left on her desk, it's all in neat, labelled files in the locked cabinet (yes, I know, she's been 'neatfreaked').  She even won the competition for most bizarre thing found.......I didn't dare ask when she came to my desk saying she'd found 2 packets on condoms duct taped together in her office!!  The mind boggles.  I thought we should label them as an asset and see what the auditor said but I think she thought that may be pushing it too far :)

Whilst this has been going on, Karla has been busy chasing up our debts.  We used to have a macro installation programme where we installed large solar lighting systems on schools.  The schools paid a deposit and were meant to pay the balance a few months later.  However, this didn't always happen and we had some outstanding at year end.  We're trying to save for a new vehicle for the team so I persuaded / cajoled Karla into seeing what she could collect - Every Little Helps and all that (shhhh Waitrose guys, I know that's not our logo but it's very catchy!)

She started by phoning all the schools.  Here most people don't have landlines, including our office, so we rely on mobiles and the reception isn't that great so at times Karla has to scream down the phone to be heard.  I sit next to her and I hear everything!  Anyway, I thought we'd be fobbed off but every school knew what they owed to the nearest Ngwee.  It was really very impressive.  Karla turned up the heat a bit (well Zambian style) and threatened to dob them into their regional bosses, the DEBs, by this Friday if we didn't receive a small contribution towards their debts.  These are really very old debts so we thought it was justified.  Well you'd have thought we'd set their pants on fire as the phone has been ringing off the hook all week with school headteachers phoning saying they've made deposits into our bank account.  It seems Karla hit the spot with her message. 

One village headteacher told us they'd gone round the village and taken a small amount of Maize from every school pupil's family to raise funds to pay for their lights, they value them that much.  I kind of know how they feel.  This week at home we have had alot of 'load sharing' taking place and my solar light has been on every night.  Now, I'm sure 'load sharing' won't mean much to many of you but here it basically means the electricity that is available for Lusaka has to be shared around.  The result is entire districts being cut off the Zesco grid for periods of time during the day/night. 

This week we have been unlucky in Kabulonga as we seem to be getting the teatime slot.  I can vouch for this because every evening when I have started to cook my supper this week the electricity has been cut.  It's resulted in some very funny meals as I either try and cobble things together in the dark or eat partially finished meals.  I'm lucky as I have my solar light to eat by but there are many families that still rely on Kerosene or candles, both of which spell accidents and health issues.  That's why people are so excited about solar and what we're doing.  People come into the office raving about our products and making repeat purchases for their extended family and friends. 

We do our best to go out to the villages and towns of Zambia but we can't get everywhere and often we don't come often enough for our customers so they travel miles and miles to see us.  This week a man caught the bus from Solwezi to Lusaka specifically to have his solar light fixed by Robin, our Solar Technician.  That's a long distance (6+ hrs on dirt roads if not longer) and I'm pretty sure he came by minibus, not the fancy coaches plying that route.  Don't get me wrong, my holiday in Livingstone was amazing, but this is what I really came all this way to experience. 

Talking of my holiday, I guess I should fill you in on a few of my adventures with Mum and Dad.  Mum and Dad met me in Lusaka and, true to form, I gave them my walking tour of Lusaka.  Their little legs were quite tired by the time I'd walked them from Addis Adaba Road to Cairo Road and then down Church Road.   I think they were pretty surprised by how nice it was and how 'easy' it was to live in as city.  You can get most things you need / want here and there are some nice cafes and restaurants to hang out in.  It hasn't got parks and that's one of the main things I miss from London but I still rate it 'Africa Lite' in terms of hardship.  It's nothing like as hard to live in as Lagos.

Anyway, after a day in Lusaka we flew to Livingstone.  The airport security was a bit worrying i.e. their really isn't any, with people walking in and out of the departure lounge willy nilly, but the flight was very pleasant.  It was a very small plane with only 20 seats but they were comfortable enough and the flight passed quite quickly.  It really was a treat flying into Livingstone as we could see the Falls from the sky.  

It being the end of rainy season there was alot of spray and you could see a cloud of water floating on the horizon, indicating the position of the Falls.  We arrived quite early in the morning but spent most of the day finding our bearings and exploring Jollyboys and the Livingstone Musuem.  

I got in super cheap after showing my work permit as I was classed as a resident :)  The museum had a great exhibition called 'My Village' about rural life and how it was changing with the influences of the western world and the accompanying gadgets we bring. I guess our solar light fit into that category!  That evening we went out for supper and tried the Laughing Dragon Chinese restaurant.  I know I'm in Zambia but I haven't had Chinese food for ages and it was delicious.  Really lovely, fiery Sichuan cuisine - yum yum.  It was down a treat with a Mosi Beer :)

The next day we had an early start, taking a helicopter ride over the falls.  I know I'm not the best photographer but for someone scared of heights (I've yet to make it over the road bridge to Manda Hill shopping centre!) I thought I did OK.  At least you can see the topography of the falls.  Apparently the falls used to be further downstream but they've gradually crept back to their current position as they've eroded the valley.

We followed the helicopter ride with a guided tour of the falls.  I was a bit dubious about this when I booked it as I couldn't see what the guide would add but it was part of a package that JollyBoys arranged so I just went with it.  As it happens the guide was great and really added to the experience.  

Again, I was brave and went across Knife Edge Bridge.  

The spray of the falls kind of helped as I couldn't really see the drop beneath me but trust me it was high. I'd been told that I'd get wet visiting the falls at this time of year as the rainy season really increases the flow of water coming over the falls but nothing prepared me for just how wet I'd get.  Let's just say my underpants were dripping and my trainers quelching by the end of the tour.  A few hours in the sun (and believe me it's alot hotter in Livingstone than Lusaka) and we were nice and dry again, albeit a little bit crispy! 

Jenni, my sister, had asked us to take lots of pictures for Noah my nephew for his future geography projects (talk about planning ahead, the lad's 7 weeks old) but we duly obliged.  A few of the photos are below.  Dad even videoed the falls tour although I will be making sure he heavily edits it as I don't need Noah seeing Auntie Kate looking like a drowned rat!

We finished the day, very relaxed, by taking a sunset cruise down the Zambezi.  There was a free bar included in the cruise and it was very nice sitting in the evening sunshine, sipping my G&T, spotting the odd Giraffe and Hippopotamus along the riverbank.  dad may claim I was tiddly by the end of the evening but I promise you I wasn't.....well, maybe just a little bit.  The bonus was I may finally have a decent photo of myself to put on dating websites (sad but true that I use these things) when I return from my adventures.  What do you think?  At least I have a tan rather than my normal pasty complexion.

After getting into the swing of being chilled and relaxed we thought we'd make the most of it and spent the next day, mooching around the pool at Jollyboys and having afternoon tea at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.  Both were fab although I nearly disowned Mum when she started snoring by the pool (!!) at Jollyboys but the cakes the Royal Livingstone really were to die for.  There was pineapple mousse, carrot cake, savory scones, chocolate cakes, éclairs......it was basically a buffet table where you helped yourself for a fixed price.  Needless to say we had several rounds from the table and became pretty stuffed so we decided to take a walk around the grounds before we left.  I don't think any of us expected to find Zebra, Ampala and Giraffe wandering alongside us.  Can you spot the Giraffe?

We ended our trip to Livingstone with a morning Game Drive is the Mosi O Tunga National Park.  We left JollyBoys at 6am and hadn't realised how cold it was going to be so, despite being dressed in long sleeve stops, we were quickly shivering.  Luckily our guide was prepared and gave us thick fleece blankets to wrap ourselves in as we headed into the park.  The first 30mins was kind of quiet and despite seeing Impala (they're common as muck really and the guide said we'd quickly tire of spotting them) we'd seen little else.  However, I suddenly then started to spotting lots of things and I was quickly snapping away. Maybe I'd just taken a while to wake up as it was still very early?  At this time I became very glad of my brother in law's advice about buying cameras as mine performed really quite well. It has a brilliant zoom and I managed to home in on animals from quite a distance.  Here are a few of my snaps to prove it:

Dad was most impressed by my Hippopotamus pics.  He'd spotted the Hippos on the opposite riverbank and asked the driver to stop.  Despite being some distance away I managed to capture the following which is quite a rare sight:

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of an elephant although I did see one.  Our taxi driver on one journey was talking about his brother hitting an elephant with his vehicle.  Just at that point I decided to look out of the window and 'bang' there in front of my eyes was an Elephant staring at me from the side of the road, through the trees.  We were driving so couldn't stop and turn back but he was a biggie!

Anyway, all good things have to come to and end so Mum and Dad returned home to England a few weeks back but I think they returned with lots of fun memories (and fabric due to Mum's shopping).  Not long and I will be back home with them but first I have the audit to complete - boo hoo! 

Oh, I also have a 3 month trip around Asia to plan but I'll tell you more about that in my next post. 

Toodle-oo for now, Kate  

Highs and Lows

Sorry I've been absent for so long.  Things have been kind of overwhelming here in Lusaka over the past month.  It's a long and slight convoluted story so you better get yourself a cup of tea (I have!) before you start.

The month didn't get off to a good start when I saw two snakes in a week.  The first one was crawling along the ridge of my cottage roof - a little too close to home for my liking - and the second was outside the office. The timing of the sightings happened to coincide with the Pastor having a 'chat' to me about watching for snakes on the ground around the church when I came back late at night.  In all likelihood, the snakes had been there all the time but my ignorance had made me not notice them whereas once I'd been told to watch out I started seeing them everywhere!    

Here's a pic of the Lizard that lives in my living room:

Anyway, to say I was a little rattled was an understatement.  As you've probably come to realise I'm not the greatest fan of God's cold blooded creatures with even Geckos and Lizards making my skin crawl so two snakes in a week wasn't good.  For several nights that week I just couldn't get to sleep due to my worrying about them coming into the cottage.  Lack of sleep and worry really affected my mental health and I started to get quite down and homesick.  It was a bit of a vicious cycle if I'm honest.  I remember John Cammack at the AfiD training day talking about the emotional cycle associated with working abroad; the highs when you first arrive and everything's new, followed by the lows as the reality of the work and day to day life sets in.  You always think it won't apply to you but it does and I was very grateful for the advice I'd received in training as it really helped me during this period.

However in the end, fate played a part in breaking the cycle.  We had a sort of lucky draw at work with everyone's name in the hat, with those whose name was drawn winning an ex-demo solar light..  My name was drawn and I got to take my solar light home.  I'm not sure why but I decided to charge it and use it as a night lamp, keeping it switched on throughout the night as a sort of comforter.  It worked wonders and a couple of good night's sleep later I was feeling alot more positive.  I haven't seen a slithering snake since but to be honest I've stopped looking too; ignorance really is bliss.

The next hurdle I faced during the month was work related.  As I've mentioned before, one of the real concerns I had when volunteering for this role was my lack of experience of day to day accounting and double entry. However, as my boss used to remind me, I've got alot of common sense and can spot an error at ten paces so I've got all the skills I need.  As it happened, he was right. 

I'd started to prepare the YE accounts using the Sage Pastel records and had decided (don't ask me why) to spot check one of the Sage Balance Sheet accounts against the accompanying paper records.  This quickly highlighted differences and a few more spot checks later I discovered the Sage records really didn't represent the financial records very well at all.  I think the churn of Finance staff during the year (I was the fourth accountant to have touched the books that FY) had taken its toll and things had become muddled.  I quickly realised the correcting journals to Sage would be extensive so had to approach the Zambian and UK auditors to discuss our options.  It was decided that we'd produce the YE accounts in Microsoft Excel, essentially replicating the Sage ledgers and journals and creating an Extended Trial Balance.  In theory this is easy but it involves typing up an entire year's financial journals which is quite alot, even in a small operation like Sunny Money. 

Now, those who know me well will know I'm a very methodical person and I don't do 'cutting corners' unless its absolutely necessary so I set about, ledger by ledger, typing up the records and reconciling the journals.  I had planned a vacation with my parents w/c 29 April so I was determined to at least get things drafted and reconciled by then but that was three weeks away....quite some deadline.  I'm a pretty single minded girl though and very stubborn so I was determined to meet the deadline.  I worked evenings and weekends, typing up the records.  It was truly exhausting.  The Pastor watched me come home with a different file every evening as I ploughed through the masses of paperwork, ordering it and matching it to the chequebook and bank statements. 

There were times this month that I thought I'd never get there.  The team at work were great, giving me hugs when I felt beaten and dejected, and convincing me day by day that I'd succeed.  Karla was great as she helped me massively with the Debtors, calling around hundreds of schools to check payments.  She even baked her 'special' chocolate treats (brownie base, topped with melted marshmallows, and then covered in chocolate coated rice krispies) to boost our spirits last week :)  It was worth it as last Thursday I completed the draft accounts, a month before the auditor is due to arrive, and in perfect time for my holiday with mum and dad.  It was such a relief as it allows me to take some time out with nothing hanging over me and gives Sarah and I time to review the accounts with a fresh pair of eyes on my return.  The Pastor gave me a 'high five' today when I told him the good news.

What I find interesting is, when you tell people at home you're going off to volunteer, they seem to think you're on holiday.  If I'm honest with myself, I think I also thought it would be a relatively easy ride too, working 9-5 and having less pressure.  However, it couldn't be further from the truth.  Organisations like SolarAid request volunteers because they generally need the help and in small organisations, whether they're charities or not, there's always more work than there are people to do the work.  I've seen it in the UK and it's no different here.  During the past month there have been times when I've grumbled and wanted to run for the hills but as I sit here now, reflecting on the past month all I feel is a great sense of achievement and, excuse the cliché, alot of 'lessons learned.  I feel like I'm adding value here and whilst it's very hard work I'm learning alot about myself and the kind of job I'd like to do when I get home.   

This role has really made me sit up and take responsibility and use every skill I've got, including my sense of humour!  I was speaking to my AfiD coordinator, Apeksha, this week about some of the emotions I'd been experiencing and the challenges I'd faced, she commented that she was surprised, yet pleased, by my resilience and determination.  I flippantly replied that I thought she knew I moonlighted as 'Zambia-Girl', the local version of superwoman ;)  We were chatting on Skype at the time and she laughed out loud at that comment and attracted many weird looks from her AfiD colleagues.  I duly explained that I'd been known to pass the time during powercuts by watching 'The Incredibles' movie and was trying to model myself on Elastigirl!!  You should see my outfit :)

Despite working hard this month I have managed to have some other interesting experiences. 

Firstly, it's probably worth mentioning our interesting visitors to the office over the past month.  Firstly, we had a visit from the local Police, complete with guns!  Claire, Karla and I were talking about our respective work visas when they arrived and to say we looked worried is an understatement.  You could see us looking at one another when they arrived, wondering what they were here to reprimand us about.  The look of relief on our faces when they said they wanted to buy lights for their elders in the village was palpable!!  The Police were followed by a couple of gentleman with a truck of 1000 1-day old chicks, cheep cheeping.  They wanted solar lights for their hen coup to keep the chicks happy and secure.  They let us stroke the yellow chicks, which were so soft and cuddly.  I almost wanted to take one home but I'm not sure the Pastor would appreciate being woken up by grown up hens!  Next, came the bus load of Peace Corps volunteers, otherwise referred to as 'soap dodgers' due to their slightly unkempt appearances, seeking solar lights to charge their phones and kindles in the bush.  Claire did a sterling job, marketing our lights to the new Peace Corps volunteers that morning, and we sold over 30 lights in 15 minutes so it was quite a rewarding morning!  Oh, and finally my friend Christopher, Karla's son, came to the office.  He joined us in the office last week for a few hours and was a breath of fresh air.  Musonda was prepping lights for a pickup from one of our big partners so there was a big stack of lights next to my desk and I proceeded to teach Christopher multiplication using the stack of boxes and a calculator. He did very well and is now, officially my protégé.  I think Karla's concerned he'll be my replacement in June.........

Secondly, as you may remember, the market at the Dutch Reformed Church was delayed from the last week of March to 6 April (not Christmas!) due to the timing of Easter.  I normally bump into a few familiar people at the market and this month ended up bumping into Claire (fellow SunnyMoney volunteer) and her partner Dave.  Interestingly Claire is from Kettering, which is where my Mum was born, so it's a small world...but I digress.  Dave's family has been in the Salvation Army for many years and he actually grew up in Lusaka when his family served here.  Claire and Dave were at the market with family friends, Ann and Ken, who are currently serving here with the Salvation Army and they were kind enough to invite me to join them for lunch at the market.

The market is famous for its food and alot of expats come just for the treats on offer.  You can get homemade cakes and pies, Chinese delicacies, Mexican tortillas and fajitas, BBQ meats, freshly pressed lemonade and pineapple juice, cinnamon rolls.....and the list goes on.  We opted for Chinese food and had freshly fried spring rolls and pork steamed buns.  They were delicious and very fresh.  Ken and Dave even got a condensed milk cake for dessert.  I was having a lovely time, although I was pretty full.  However, Ann and Ken invited me to join them and Claire and Dave for dinner back at their place afterwards.  I couldn't resist, especially when she said she'd be cooking Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding.  I thought I'd gone to heaven.  I have a lovely cottage in Kabulonga but one of the things I, and indeed other volunteers I've met, miss most about home is baked food as nearly all of us have only a hob in our accommodation.  It was so nice having roast meat for dinner, indeed anything oven cooked.  Ann spoilt us rotten with dinner and even did coconut tart and thick yellow custard for dessert - yummy!

Thirdly, I have been managing to fit in some R&R.  A couple of weeks ago, after a particularly stressful week at work, Claire and I decided to have some R&R and a bit of a girly day.  We started the day at The Silver Tulip jewellery shop in Rhodes Park where one of Sarah's in-laws sells her homemade silver wares.  I bought a lovely pair of silver fish earrings.  The shop had so many things to choose from I'm now saving for another treat before I come home.  We then had a walk through the quiet, back streets of Rhodes Park.  It was a lovely sunny day and it was great to have a walk away from the bustle of central Lusaka.  We were headed for Senses @ Sensorium where Claire had a Back, Neck & Shoulder Massage and I opted for a pedicure. 

You've probably gathered that I walk literally everywhere in Lusaka.  George, a driver at SunnyMoney, has taken to asking me every Monday morning where I've been a wandering as he's so intrigued by my weekend rambles around Lusaka.  Anyway, I think the beautician looked on in horror when I presented my feet for the pedicure.  I hadn't realised how the walking had taken its toll on my feet but she spent over 20 minutes with the soap suds and pumice scrubbing them so they must have been pretty bad.  I was getting a little embarrassed at the state of my feet as there were two South African 'ladies who lunch' next to me having pedicures and they looked like they'd never walked 100m, let alone the miles I rack up in a week.  After the scrubbing, came the foot massage and moisturising; it was heaven sent!!  The final step was painting my toenails a wonderful deep red colour.  When I finally rejoined Claire it felt like I was walking on air my feet were so clean and soft.  Claire commented that I had to try and maintain my 'peachy' feet - quite a challenge in the Lusaka dust - however, 3 weeks on the polish is still in tact and my feet are soft, even if they're turning brown again with the dust/sun!  We finished the day with a lazy lunch at Pzazz.  Deciding what to eat was quite a challenge as everything there is yummy but we were determined to have something baked.  We opted for Lasagne and a Chorizo Pizza and went half/half swapping plates mid-meal much to the amusement of our waitress and fellow diners.

Last weekend, Claire, Dave and I went to AfriColour and Jackal and Hide at Sugar Bush Farm in Leopards Hill thanks to Sarah.  It was great getting out of the city.  AfriColour had some amazing fabrics and homewares but, true to form, I was drawn to the jewellery.  I found Mulberry Mongoose in Nzito Furniture and was immediately hooked.  Mulberry Mongoose is a jewellery brand created by a friend of Sarah's, Kate Wilson.  The jewels are handcrafted and designed in the South Luangwa Valley by local ladies using organic materials from the African bush mixed with semi-precious stones, bone and beads.  I immediately fell in love with the Luangwa Charm Bracelet.  I wear turquoise colours all the time so I'm certain it'll get alot of use.  It was really relaxing having lunch at Sugar Bush Farm in the fresh air.  They even made me Earl Grey tea so I was in heaven as I really miss my fresh tea leaves collection from home.        

This weekend, as you've probably guessed, has been the first for a while that I've not worked, hence the blog post.  It's been weird rediscovering what to do with 2 full days of freetime.  Yesterday I made the most of loafing about at the Dutch Reformed Church Market, having a cup of tea under the shade of a tea whilst reading my kindle.  Here are a few pictures of the market:

This is where I bought Noah some colourful toys:

I also watched an amazing movie 'August Rush' which I highly recommend.  Robin Williams was great in it, as the character Wizard.  Today, I had a nice lunch at my favourite, Mugg and Bean, and made the most of their free Wi-Fi to update my kindle eBook collection, ready for Livingstone. Now, I'm having a drink outside whilst finishing my blog post, listening to Nina Simone as the sun goes down.  Quite, quite perfect!  Now, all I have to do is wait for Mum and Dad's arrival and my trip to Livingstone.  Expect lots of animal pictures in my next post.........

Cheerio folks

Kate       

   

Lusaka's Green Expo

I was going to write up about SunnyMoney's experiences at last week's Green Expo in Lusaka.  However I thought it more appropriate to let Claire, our Marketing Volunteer and Green Expo organiser, tell you about it instead.

So, without further ado, let me introduce my guest writer, Claire:

Hi everyone. I’ve been a marketing volunteer at SunnyMoney Zambia for the last 3 months working on marketing planning for our Schools Campaign, follow-up sales and how we work with retailers to help us get more lights to more people across Zambia.

Last weekend the SunnyMoney Zambia team returned to the world of exhibitions for The Green Expo at Lusaka’s National Museum for the second time. The Green Expo is about promoting sustainability in Zambia to show that green living can be ‘cool and fun’ and is organised by Glenda one our board directors. So, we simply had to be there!

Visitors to the expo were mostly the expat community, with many of them working for NGOs, so our aim was of course 1. To sell our fabulous lights, but also 2. To find potential partnership opportunities to broaden our reach in Zambia and 3. To increase awareness of our brand, what we do, and the impact of bringing solar to rural communities.

In the run up to the expo we advertised in two Zambian email newsletters (Ad-dicts to 2,500 Lusaka residents & Zamloop a similar buying/selling email list) to invite people to visit us at the show stand and let them know about our special expo discounts. We sold 3 PowerPack 5W systems and had a few other calls and visitors in response to these adverts, so it was already worth our while and we’ll definitely do that again.

 In return for this pre-expo advertising which also helped to promote the show, the organisers gave us the chance to be interviewed by Movie TV, a local Zambian station, which was aired on Saturday night. We’re trying to get hold of the interview clip!

We also had a prize draw to win a free S2 as an incentive for visitors to leave their details with us. The plan is to email or text these people with news about new products/light deliveries/friendly reminders of where to find us.

The show itself was actually a bit quieter than we had hoped overall, but the visitors we spoke to were all very interested in SunnyMoney’s work and impressed by our products. Other solar companies (for profit) were also exhibiting (Muhanya Solar, Solar Zuwa, SunPower) so it was important for us to have a presence and show why we are different. We got a free TV interview, an opportunity to advertise on a Zambian online business directory for free and potential sales with the Lusaka Radisson hotel (fingers crossed). We also had the privilege of talking about our schools programme to influential people like the Vice President’s wife Charlotte Scott and deputy director of the UN in Zambia, so feel that we sufficiently made our mark.

Robin, teaching the kids

Robin and the Vice President's Wife

Dominic showing off our posters and products

Claire's Fantastic Flyers (and Map to the Office!)

New Arrivals - My Nephew & SunnyMoney Model Wannabees

My sister is a regular reader of this blog mainly because she has been sitting at home bored rigid for the past 2 weeks waiting for her baby to be born.  Well, Easter Sunday turned out to be the 'big day' and I am now officially proud Auntie Kate to Noah Benjamin.  He was 7lb 8 and caused my sister a little bit of grief getting out but he's here now and will get spoilt rotten by me when I get home.  I'm back in London for 5 weeks in June/July before heading to Asia so we're already planning lots of cafe and park trips together so he gets to know me. 

My sister and I sound identical when we speak (its mainly our slightly varied vocabularies that people use to tell us apart) so when I used to speak to him in her tummy he used to be quite calm; my sister claims its because he thought it was her speaking to him and he was confused how she could project her voice outside her body :)  Anyway, she also claims I write this blog as though I'm speaking to her so, since I assume she'll be reading this to Noah to get him to sleep, I better start storytime properly like my parents used to do with us......if you're sitting comfortably I'll begin......

Last week was a busy week for SunnyMoney Zambia as it not only marked the end of our 2012/13 financial year, it was a record sales week for us (over 1000 lights sold), despite it only being a 4 day week.  We had three SunnyMoney Schools teams out in the field, in Solwezi mines (Robin & Alex), Choma (Claire, Dominic & Elizabeth) and Mazabuka (Mayase & George) which meant there were only five of us left in the office (Musonda, Karla, Sarah, Angela & Myself). Since it was a four day week the teams had to leave on Sunday lunchtime (24th March).  The stock was counted out on Friday ready to be loaded into the vehicles on Sunday.  As you can see from the pictures, this involved barricading me into my little corner, maybe not a wise move as I was responsible for allocating out their money for the trips.....maybe they forgot that ;)

After all the efforts of the team, counting the stock and preparing the paperwork, we were glad to receive our Friday Nshima lunch from Musonda - see picture below.  Nshima is the white mass on the plate, its a kind of maize meal that's cooked and stirred very carefully.  It even requires a special spoon as I discovered from this month's petty cash receipts :)  Zambians eat alot of Nshima and can happily have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It's served with all sorts of 'relishes'.  In this case Musonda served it with a cooked rape and tomatoe mix and Boerewors sausage.  The Boerewors sausage comes in a long curly strip, a bit like a Cumberland sausage, and was cut up and shared amongst the team.  It was delicious and since it was a lovely sunny day we decided to eat it in the garden at the back of the office.

Nshima Lunch

Musonda, Claire & Alex

Musonda, Me, Alex

As you can see from my plate I had one Nshima portion but the lads managed to have 3 or more each.  Over lunch I asked Robin, our Solar Technician, how many he could eat in one sitting and I suggested 5!  I swear if I had that much I would lay fast asleep all afternoon but luckily it didn't have that effect on him.  In Nigeria, I had alot of pounded yam and they quite aptly called that 'knockout' because of its sleep inducing effects.  Well, Nshima may not have that nickname but it has the same effect on me so one portion was plenty.....after all I did have the year end accounts to prepare - eek!

Since I had the camera in the office and the ladies have begun to clock how many people around the world are reading my blog they decided to try and kick start their modelling careers with a few choice poses.  So, in now particular order, I can now introduce Elizabeth, Claire and Angela:

Claire & Elizabeth

Angela

Elizabeth

Angela & Claire

Friday afternoon passed more quietly, mainly as we were all stuff with Nshima.  AfiD - I promise I did get back to work that afternoon - honest guv! ;)

After seeing off the teams on Sunday (I live so close to the office it seemed rude not to!) I headed out into town for a concert at the Holy Cross Anglican Cathedral in Ridgeway.  The cathedral is an absolutely enormous structure and stands pretty much in the centre of a traffic island which is a great shame as it makes photographing it extremely difficult.  With Church Road one side and Independence Avenue the other I thought you'd be deafened inside by the sound of traffic but thankfully it remained an oasis of calm.  Here's a ok-ish photograph I managed to obtain from Independence Avenue although it really doesn't do justice to the building:

The Holy Cross Cathedral was playing host to the Lusaka Music Society and Zambia Youth Orchestra on 24th March and I had been told to expect great things.  As I stepped into the cathedral I was overwhelmed by it's scale and beauty.  From the outside it looked a typical 60's building, grey and concrete, but inside you could see the finer details of the architecture with the side walls dotted with stunning stained glass windows.  The stained glass didn't depict religious scenes and so reminded me more of the new Coventry Cathedral than traditional Anglican cathedrals but other features, the wooden pews, embroidered knealing mats and plain, floor level alter reminded me of religious buildings at home.  The columns inside the building had Palm leaves tied together around them, setting the scene for Palm Sunday.

I wasn't expecting to find an organ but a spectacular one I found!  It was set into the building above the main entrance on a sort of mezzanine level.  The first recital was to be played from there so we had to turn around in our seats and look up to see the musicians (organist, cellist, 2 flautists and a singer).  The main doors to the cathedral had been left open and as we turned to face the music we got a view out of the cathedral, across its vast grounds and down Independence Avenue, just as the sun was setting. The whole thing was just magical and very very hard to express in words.  I hadn't taken my camera and on the whole don't like taking photographs in church so have only my memories to show for the evening but they're pretty good.

The evening progressed with a recital of Pomp and Circumstance from the newly formed Lusaka Youth Orchestra (I think the oldest member was about 8!) and Mendelssohn's Hymn of Praise from the Lusaka Music Society, the soloists of which were outstanding.  All in all a beautiful way to end the weekend.

With only five of us remaining in the office, the week passed relatively peacefully, allowing me to set the wheels in motion for our financial year end on 31 March.  It may not be as exciting as selling in the field but I gained a certain satisfaction from sorting out our paper records and reconciling our suspense accounts with the peace in the office allowed to make faster progress than I may otherwise have done.  I did have a mini-meltdown on Wednesday as the scale of work facing me here dawned but after a little wobble I soldiered on.  If it weren't for the team's constant support and encouragement I may have given up by now but they seem to appreciate the efforts being made and the processes I'm bringing which makes it worthwhile.

Since Friday was both the last trading day of the financial year and the return date of the field teams it was all hands on deck on Friday to get our cash in the bank.  Karla and I had done our Petty Cash checks earlier in the day and banked all the office cash so there was only the field team's cash left. The field teams had been great all week banking sales daily and keeping records for me (big thank you!!) but they couldn't bank their travel advance money until they were safely back so on Friday there was alot of clock watching going on.  Zambian banks close very early yet we'd managed to locate one in Kabulonga that was open until 17:00 so when the last field team returned at 16:30 (Mayase & George) exhausted after a 7hr road trip, Sarah scooped up tired Mayase and scootled off to the bank to deposit the remaining cash.  We also had to count all the returned field stock back into the container as the external auditors arrive on Tuesday (2nd April) to do a formal year end stock count so there was alot of activity on that front too.  Despite the tiredness the office was buzzing with activity.  It's testament to the team here just how committed and responsive they are that we have a clear stock and cash position at year end but I am very grateful to them for it.

This weekend has seen Easter celebrations in Lusaka.  I have found it a little weird not being with my family at this special time, especially as such momentous family events have been unfolding, but made the best of it getting out and about in the city. I will have to write about that another day though....including my sighting of Winnie the Pooh....as I have to get back to work now.

Animal Antics

As many of you will know, one of the things I was nervous about when coming to Africa was the animals.  I had nightmares about snakes and spiders and cockroaches. Whilst things have largely been quiet on the scary animal front last week was rather a testing week in terms of animal antics.

The week began with a sly little lizard.  In the main I have got used to eating my dinner and going to bed with lizards on the ceiling / wall.  Indeed as I sit at my kitchen table writing this there is a lizard walking up the wall beside me.  In the main we stay out of each others way and life continues happily.  However, last week a couple of lizard decided to come a little closer than I like.  Firstly, one walked across my desk at work, causing me jump a little, then one decided to sit on the mosquito net above my bed.  I have a dome mosquito net so the damn lizard was bouncing around like a toddle on a bouncy castle.  It couldn't get settled and neither could I, laying as I was beneath it!  Needless to say I didn't have the best night's sleep that night.  I kept the light on all night so I could see it and in doing so alerted the pastors wife who, the following morning, enquired whether I was a either a workaholic, staying up all night or sick.  I didn't have the heart to tell her I was a pathetic expat Mzungu who was intimidated by a poxy 3" lizard!  I was mildly reassured about my have love/hate relationship with lizards though as Angela in our office told me a lizard dropped on Musonda, a guy in our office, the other week and he jumped around like a girl in distress....see its not just me who hates them :) I swear if one dropped on me you'd hear the screams in the UK let alone Lusaka!  Apparently (according to the gospel that is Angela!) if a lizard goes to touch you it means you're pregnant so its a good job my sister isn't here as she's expecting her baby this week and she's hate a lizard on her skin.  Mind you, not sure if the theory is altogether accurate as Musonda doesn't look due to give birth any time soon.

The week continued with a slug incident.  Now, I am used to slugs in the UK as I normally find them on my garden path as I walk to and from home.  However, they have been known to come indoors.  My sister once found a load in her kitchen cupboards - I know, eugh!  This week I was a treated to a slug, on the ceiling, above my cooker.  Since I enjoy a nice bowl of porridge in the morning and I didn't want an added slug relish, I decided to attempt to remove it from the ceiling with a long stick and a bowl - the bowl, ideally to catch it, so it wouldn't land in my porridge, or on me.  Well, all was going well, I had flicked the slug from the ceiling and into the bowl in my hand, until the slug began to move in the bowl.  I physically flinched and dropped the bowl containing the slug.  The bowl smashed and sent crockery pieces all over the kitchen floor and my slug made to escape.  Needless to say I was having none of that and promptly scooped it up, stuck it in the loo with a load of bleach and flushed it away.  I thought that was the end of it but no, the blighter returned (or at least its identical twin did) on my door padlock the next morning.  As you can imagine I'd had quite enough of it by this time and proceeded to flick it off the door and out of the door where I promptly covered it with a brick.  Haven't seen it since so hopefully its got the message!

Next up were the ants.  I'd happily gone to bed on Thursday evening and was reading my book however I got thirsty and got up to find a drink.  On the way out of the bedroom I noticed a collection of ants, maybe around 40) moving up the wall towards the corner of the blinds above my clothes cupboard.  It seemed quite odd as, whilst I often see ants, I'd never seen that many in my bedroom.  So, I proceeded to open the blinds - what a horror awaited me.  A fly or insect had died on the corner of one of the burglar bars on my windows and thousands (that's not an exaggeration) had come to munch it for dinner.  It made my skin crawl so I set about working how to sort out the situation.  Needless to say since it was gone 9pm, the light wasn't great and I wasn't wearing alot of clothes!  Anyway, I found my DEET spray and squirted that in the vicinity of the ants and that seemed to stun them nicely.  I then got a bucket of soapy water and sponge and started washing them away.  Their dead carcases started to drop onto the floor / my clothes cupboard so not only was I washing the windows, I had to do the floor and cupboard too.  It took about 30mins to do but eventually they were extracted from the scene.  So, even if the DEET seems largely ineffective at stopping mosquitos it wasn't wasted luggage as it makes a damn fine ant killer.

So, as you can see, this week I have rather had my fill of tropical animals.  One could almost call it my Africa initiation week.  Thankfully I survived but I hope not to have all those incidents in one week again.