In the background of the blog you are seeing - at least for as long as I am staying in Zambia's capital - a map of Lusaka. The little blue line indicates my way to work. I have rented a room in a small house in Woodlands to the right of the map, close to Woodlands "Stadium". My office is in the FODEP building in Rhodes Park, Omelo Road, to the left, closer to "the center" that is actually just a street with shops, Cairo Road. The office is an hour's minibus ride away from my home (more on the minibusses later on).
In the somewhat richer parts of town (that is, anywhere besides the "center" and the "compounds" (later more on these, too)), people live inside the walls of their properties. On their property, they have a simple house (the black middle class) or a large house, a pool and sometimes even an extra "house" for the maid (the richer black people, white people and most of the expats). At the gate, there are dogs (the black middle class) or a guard and dogs (the richer black people, white people and expats). A gardener is taking care of the often large amounts of flowers and trees on the properties (again, not for the black middle class).
Living in Lusaka is, for those that can afford it, like a redneck's dream: You drive your 4x4 (80% of the cars in the streets) from your farm-like property to the mall, where everything from supermarkets to restaurants and bars and clubs is concentrated, or to your air-conditioned work place and back.
For those without cars, it's a hassle: You have to walk long dusty roads along walls after walls, with in some areas guards being the only people to greet on your way, until you reach a minibus station and drive to some other place in the city from which you most likely have to walk again 20 min to your final destination - as the minibus network basically has two routes connecting the residential East of the city to the office area in the West. Doesn't sound like big fun? That's right. But I am getting used to it. And once I am at the office, there is interesting work to do. (Finally, no more diversion.)
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| Lusaka as captured from google maps |
In the somewhat richer parts of town (that is, anywhere besides the "center" and the "compounds" (later more on these, too)), people live inside the walls of their properties. On their property, they have a simple house (the black middle class) or a large house, a pool and sometimes even an extra "house" for the maid (the richer black people, white people and most of the expats). At the gate, there are dogs (the black middle class) or a guard and dogs (the richer black people, white people and expats). A gardener is taking care of the often large amounts of flowers and trees on the properties (again, not for the black middle class).
Living in Lusaka is, for those that can afford it, like a redneck's dream: You drive your 4x4 (80% of the cars in the streets) from your farm-like property to the mall, where everything from supermarkets to restaurants and bars and clubs is concentrated, or to your air-conditioned work place and back.
For those without cars, it's a hassle: You have to walk long dusty roads along walls after walls, with in some areas guards being the only people to greet on your way, until you reach a minibus station and drive to some other place in the city from which you most likely have to walk again 20 min to your final destination - as the minibus network basically has two routes connecting the residential East of the city to the office area in the West. Doesn't sound like big fun? That's right. But I am getting used to it. And once I am at the office, there is interesting work to do. (Finally, no more diversion.)
Here is a link to the map behind het big black textblock: http://goo.gl/maps/i9iV2 Unfortunatly the blue line is not visible in googlemaps...
ReplyDeleteWolfgang, by coincidence I saw there is a
Dutch Reformed Church of Zambia. http://goo.gl/maps/Hw90R Worth a visit?
Alles gute dort unten!
There is a market for Zambian arts and crafts in the church's courtyard every last Saturday of the month. That's when I will pay it a visit :)
ReplyDelete