Chris Barrell: "How the other half lives - reflections on the time spent with the people of Monze, Zambia."
At the March meeting, Chris Barrell treated us to an account of his experiences in Zambia as a volunteer for “Hands Around the World”, an opportunity which presented itself on his retirement from Eagle Star. For his presentation, his approach was to introduce us to some of the friends he had made in Monze.
We saw Lashford, the builder, standing in the half-completed church, which he was working on having previously built the Intensive Care Unit. There was Osman, a clerk in the stores, standing proudly in his field of maize. Chris had given him the seed on behalf of his own father, in lieu of a Christmas present. Reymond and Charles were both involved in helping to support the elderly and disabled through various projects, quite remarkable considering that Charles himself was disabled and confined to a wheelchair. We saw Reymond standing by an ox cart, another ‘present’ from Chris’s dad!
Chris first met Father Kenan in London, and, after staying with his family in Cheltenham, Chris visited him in Monze where he is the hospital chaplain. Jennipher seemed to be an inspirational character. She had been brought up in Zimbabwe, but, in spite of having AIDS, was now looking after members of her family and had set up three support groups for AIDS sufferers. Being near the border, there is quite an influx of refugees fleeing the Zimbabwe regime.
It was evident that, although there isn’t starvation as such in Zambia, there is poverty and poor nutrition. The staple diet is maize, supplemented, if you’re lucky, by chicken, vegetables and fruit. AIDS drugs are freely available, but it can involve a 50km walk to collect them and without proper nutrition they are not fully effective and in some cases can do more harm than good. In some places the water supply was good, where bore holes had been sunk, but often a 2 to 3km walk was necessary. It was interesting to see that mobile phones were quite prevalent, all solar powered of course!
It was sobering to think of the fuss there is when our water or electricity supply is disrupted. A bowser on the corner would be a godsend in Monze. I still have a couple of unopened bottles of water from our last ‘drought’!
Chris has been involved with “Hands Around the World”
since 2001 and he has agreed to become a Trustee Director.
You can find more information about the organisation on their website www.hatw.org.uk.