It is a totally different experience coming to a foreign country and staying in a hotel…versus living with locals as I am this trip. I am staying with Chrys Thorsen – the lead content developer and trainer for Smart Care. Chrys is here on a long-term contract, a transplanted southern Californian – and she has done and incredible job of getting clinic personnel as well as key governmental and NGO participants trained on the Smart Care system. She – assisted by Zambian trainers – has put in place an overall training framework and created initial onsite training curriculum that includes videos and hard copy “job aids”. While there are significant challenges to creating documentation and training while a system like this is still being built and versioned, Chrys came to this project with an incredibly rich background in hardware and software training, as well as a tenacity that has stood her in good stead as she’s overcome many hurdles to produce excellent first go-around resources. My work is to collaborate with Chrys and other volunteers and staff to update and expand the user training resources as more enhancements come on line and new functionality is built.

Chrys lives on a quiet cul de sac (a “close”)  in an area of Lusaka called Rhodes Park. The house is two story with a lovely little backyard…along with five cats and assorted rabbits! Chrys’s Mom is also visiting at this time and one of the local women takes care of her as she has some specific medical needs. The house is a busy place a lot of the time. Chrys has a wonderful rapport with many of the neighborhood women and has employed them in various capacities to cook, clean, do laundry, and generally maintain the flow at home (Chrys works a ton – not only at Smart Care, but doing volunteer work here as well). It truly is a mutually beneficial arrangement as paying work is very hard to come by in Lusaka…unemployment in the country is estimated at 75% (yes, 75%).

I was immediately made to feel at home – not just by Chrys, but by the women of the neighborhood…with hugs and kisses on the cheek, I am now a “sister” and we greet each other as such. It is a communal openness and warmth our Western culture could benefit from.

Most evenings when Chrys and I come back from work, there is a warm meal waiting for us. The food is simple and tasty…roasted chicken, rice, very cooked vegetables is one example. I am told that Zambian cooking is usually very salted (hence the problem of widespread high blood pressure here), but Chrys has schooled to reduce the salt and oil in our food along with trying to teach about these concerns. EVERYONE has a sweet tooth for chocolate (what a surprise!) so the bags of “American” chocolate I brought along have been a hit.

It is extremely hot here now – the summer and precursor to the rains that come in later November. Good news is that mosquitoes don’t hatch and swarm when it’s this hot (YAY!)…bad news is that – like Seattle – no air conditioning, so bedside fans are a necessity.  Sleeping has been challenging but I’m figuring out the regimen in order to sleep comfortably. Good I had a SoCal history.

Working at the Cube
The Smart Care office is a 5 minute ride by cab or a 20 minute walk from home. James – a good natured young taxi driver that Chrys and the other Smart Care staff have come to depend on (mainly because he is super dependable) – is our transport. Most mornings, though, Chrys and I are walking for the exercise and for a chance to start the day with fresh air and good conversation. It’s a bit of “playing chicken” at some intersections, but no worse than rush hour in NYC.  James is literally “on call” for errands and such – again, mutually beneficial and a nice relationship to boot. James has two young kids and used to be a competitive bicyclist.

The village of square buildings in a gated and guarded compound was originally built years ago for a Pan African conference (Our building is called Somalia). It is now used for both offices and some exclusive private residences.  It is located in an area where many of the NGOs and aid organizations are headquartered.

I am working with great people – (from left) here’s yours truly, Chrys Thorsen, Machalo Kawina (my work partner), and Lynn Langit (Microsoft/Developer Evangelist who got me into all this years ago)…

A Little Cross-Cultural Dining – Korean Dinner

Lusaka has many of the trappings of other big cities despite the relatively low economic standing.  One is culinary diversity.  Lunch yesterday was at the “Food Palace”, a fast food walk up and sit down with schwarma, burgers, African samosas, fresh donuts…and very, very inexpensive by US standards (Four of us ate well for about $10 TOTAL).  Then, there are lovely little ethnic spots like the Korean restaurant we took Chrys to last night (Lynn, her boyfriend Llewelyn, and I). The restaurant was housed in a converted Spanish style rambler with a garden and pool in the back, and the food was served “hot pot” style. We had Kalbi beef and all the spicy trimmings – I opted out of the kimchi.

That’s the scoop for now –

Cheers!