Siavonga mini-break and election mania

The past week has been rather celebratory. Zambians went wild when they found out Obama got elected and I had an "election breakfast" with some friends at an Irish pub at around 6:30 a.m. our time to watch the president-elect give his speech in Chicago. It was a pretty amazing experience being so far away from home with other Americans (and Canadians) and witnessing this together. Hey, people in Kenya are even naming their babies after the new pres.

Elections in Zambia are also finished. It has been quite a ride - nearly three months of constant bickering between parties, potential corruption and more drama but in the end I believe the election was relatively free and fair...well as free and fair as Zambia could possibly get. The MMD party, the current ruling party prior to 30 October got re-elected and former vice-president Rupiah Banda is now the President. Michael Sata, the Patriotic Front leader lost by only a few tens of thousands of votes which has made things a bit tense lately as he is certainly not happy with the outcome - the way the results from the consitituencies were announced, Sata had a huge overriding lead until Saturday evening when we found out the final results as Banda edged closer, eventually taking over in the first place.

Last week I attended the final political rally for the United Party for National Democracy, with its leader Hakainde Hichilema (nicknamed H.H.) giving his pep speech to thousands of supporters. It was unreal to be standing on the platform nearly in H.H.'s breathing space snapping photos of the massive crowd, donning UPND chitenge, holding flags and signs of support. Everytime H.H. shouted "Zambia" the crowd would raise their fists in the air showing solidarity and then begin chanting political songs of support. Even Petersen, one of Zed's top music artists write now penned a tune for the leader (obviously after being a paid a decent salary for it, I'm sure).

Thousands of UPND supporters in Kanyama

H.H. speaking to supporters at the rally

As luck and good timing would have it, I am heading off to Siavonga along the beautiful Lake Kariba for the weekend.

This is no pleasure trip - I am going on a bus packed with Zambia media houses to cover the second annual Canoe Jamboree, an "Amazing Race style" event that will take place Saturday morning.

The race consists of sponsored teams who are given clues and by canoe and on land, need to find all of the answers (in hotels, around town, etc.) within three hours. I will be following the water component so media personnel are taken out by boat to trail the canoes. After the race ends, there is a beach braii (bbq) and an awards ceremony in the evening and then after a big breakfast Sunday morning, it's time to come home. I'm staying at the Kariba Inns, apparently one of the nicest hotels in the area and we are taking a luxury coach to and from Siavonga. Can't complain about my job, once again.

But this won't be all playtime. A fellow JHR colleague and I are working on a story to pitch to a few Canadian papers about some pertinent issues regarding mining, tourism, etc. in the area that actually has Canadian involvement (don't want to give out my story idea here for obvious reasons). We will be interviewing Chiefs, hospitality and tourism workers and some activists on the mining issue as well.

Photo courtesy of Siavonga-zambia.com

Tuesday I finally made it to my first compound, right near where I stay. I will post more about that experience later as the photos tell most of the story but the experience was uplifting - it felt so nice to connect with people on a local level and the area was great, sandy roads, no wall fences, a very open feeling. Everyone said hello as my colleague fron another newspaper and I passed them and we spoke to people at a women's empowerment NGO, an orphanage and a community school. It was so interesting to learn about the issues which affect each institution, how they are being proactive in arranging to find a solution and how they work as a body within the community. I left feeling slightly more fulfilled.