African Safari -- Trophy Hunting in Zambia

 

 

Seeing a photo like this after spending two weeks in the African bush was not only disheartening but disturbing and distasteful. It is a photo of a trophy hunter whose only goal was to kill a wild animal and take a photo of himself with it. What cruelty! What an incredible waste of life! 

My sentiments emerge from the context of environmentalism that advocates a respect for Nature, especially against needless killing. However aghast we may be about trophy hunting in Africa, today it has another context that certainly was surprising to me: it is considered a tool for conservation. Our safari group talked about this issue with James, one of the game drivers and guides, and the topic has so interested me that I followed up with a little bit more research.

Before colonialism, animals in the wild had been been killed by native Africans for meat to feed the tribe. However, they only killed what they needed because they lived under the moral principle of "Ubuntu", which the African Journal of Social Work (AJSW) defines as:

"A collection of values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings (italics added). While the nuances of these values and practices vary across different ethnic groups, they all point to one thing – an authentic individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world."

In other words, despite various tribal and ethnic definitions of what Ubuntu is, Africans generally agree (and still believe) that Ubuntu encompasses the interdependence of humans on one another, and it acknowledges each person's responsibility to others and the world around him/her. It is a philosophy that supports collectivism over individualism. 

Ubuntu can be also summed up as an approach to life that gives human beings their humanity, which comes from conforming to or being part of the tribe. Killing just for the sake of killing is not human, and it violates a moral order in the world that shapes and regulates behavior into doing what is right for the good of the whole.

Although Ubuntu may be elusive for us modern persons, taking care of the Earth and its creatures has morphed into care for the environment and conservation. It is an intentional stance on our relationship with the world and Nature that aims to right the wrongs of the past and to move forward and beyond the dark, raw urges of dominance, winning at all costs, and other forms of rapacious behavior.

 

A Brief History of Conservation

European colonialism exploited Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries in a quest for mineral resources needed to its feed hungry manufacturing enterprises back home. Along with colonialism, Europeans were hunting everywhere and fighting each other for exclusive rights to hunting grounds. Among the many dreadful consequences of these actions was that some species were disappearing. So, in order to preserve wildlife and protect their hunting activities, the colonialists had to find ways of protecting the animals' habitat. 

They accomplished this goal by developing a reserve system on certain designated lands and by banning the hunting of certain animals like hippos and elephants who were being over-killed. In 1899, the Mweru Marsh Reserve was created as the first protected area followed by the Luangwa Game Reserve in 1904, a small reserve around the Victoria Falls in 1907, and the Kafue Reserve in 1908. I was unable to find out when the park that we visited, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in Zambia, was created, but it became so precious, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989. Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is a part of this 25-square-mile park.

In 1925, copper was discovered in Zambia, which led to an increase of employed workers--and their need for protein (i.e., game meat) to nourish them. As rail and road infrastructure grew, the illegal commercial exploitation of game became more widespread. After World War I, firearms became more accessible and rural populations exponentially increased their hunting activities. Meanwhile, farmers demanded that there be some sort of control over wildlife as they saw a depleted supply of animals and the threat of disease-carrying insects like the tsetse fly increase. These phenomena resulted in the government's decision to protect wildlife by introducing new conservation measures, game management, the formation of an elephant control unit, and the issuing of licenses to limit hunting.

Over the next 20 years, government realized that balancing the need for game reserves with the needs of the local people had become a logistical problem. Not only were elephants eating people's gardens and farmers' crops, but hunters were reducing wildlife populations. During the 1930s economic depression as people lost their jobs, they relied on hunting to provide food for their families. When the economy recovered, however, the workers went back to the mines and "subsistence hunting" decreased. This trend illustrated the relationship between poverty and the hunting activity of the local people.

On January 1, 1940, the Department of Game and Tsetse Control was created to adopt clear policy with an ecological approach to the conservation of wildlife. Controlled Hunting Areas (CHA) were also created to enable residents to hunt freely and non-residents to hunt with special licenses. By 1953 these CHAs covered 56% of Zambia. Sixteen game reserves were also established.

In 1945, the first game-proof fences were built to prevent game animals from going back on land that had been cleared as protection against the tsetse fly. However, as rural populations increased, more large game animals were being killed outside of protected areas. 

The first Honorary Game Rangers were appointed for law enforcement and animal conflict control. For over 70 years the Unit recruits volunteers from across Zambia to help with law enforcement, education and public awareness campaigns as well as to provide technical advice and additional resources to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. 

These game rangers in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park near Livingstone, Zambia, protect the white rhinos from poachers. We found them near one of the borders of the park, which was separated by this fence (below). The park currently has ten southern white rhinos, including calves. These are not indigenous to Zambia; they were imported from South Africa. As of 2022, the park had 10 white rhinos.

Although safari tourism had begun in the mid-1920s, it did not really become popular until the 1950s and 1960s since the reserves had become easier to access by car and by air. Attitudes towards wildlife were also changing. Tourists now wanted to shoot animals with their cameras rather than with their rifles. 

"Conservation through Tourism" was initiated by Norman Carr who worked for the Game Department in the 1950s. He helped set up Zambia’s first visitors camp, Nsefu Camp on the Chipela Lagoon, where guests were charged 10 shillings a night and provided with simple accommodations. They could view game on foot escorted by game guards. Norman was instrumental in setting up Kafue National Park and in developing government-run safari camps throughout the park. 

Zambia won its independence from England in 1964. Meanwhile, wildlife began to be regarded as a national asset and resource to be used to benefit the people. 

In 1972, the National Wildlife Protection Service (NWPS) announced the creation of 17 national parks including the smallest where our OAT group stayed: Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. The old CHAs had been restructured and substituted with Game Management Areas. These GMAs surround the national parks and act as buffer zones so that people and wildlife can co-exist. Local people were allowed to utilize natural resources and hunt with a license.

The 1970s and 1980s experienced an economic downturn and a difficult time for conservation.  Rural populations looked for new ways to survive and poaching turned out to be their answer complete with gangs leading the way. Ivory and rhino horn poaching in particular increased dramatically in Zambia and across Africa. The NPWS did not have the resources to control these gangs so non-governmental organizations (NGO) began to help protect wildlife by preventing poaching.

In 1991, the government made tourism part of its economic policy as a means of generating revenue for its national coffers. The national parks offered trophy hunting and safaris as a means of protecting the animals and their habitats.

The first private-public partnership agreement between a conservation NGO and the NWPS was instituted in 1987, the first of its kind in southern Africa and a model for other countries on the continent. The Trust handles wildlife management, develops tourism, and works with the local communities. Ever since, conservation NGOs have been set up across Zambia to provide support and assistance for the national parks.

 

The Logic of Trophy Hunting

Killing game into order to save them seems counter-intuitive, but this strategy represents the core reason for trophy hunting, according to National Geographic (2015). Hunters from rich countries pay thousands of dollars (sometimes as much as $10,000) to shoot a certain species. That money is then reinvested in conservation programs and in local communities.

Trophy hunting also addresses the idea that killing just a few animals allows the rest to breed and produce offspring, according to www.theconversation.com. In this way animal populations can increase.

Trophy hunting is deemed a legal business by government with rules and boundaries. Game parks, for example, must apply for government-issued permits for the number and kinds of animals hunted. If animals are taken out of the country, further permits are needed for their transport.  

The national parks forbid poaching and remain vigilant against it through various means. For example, gates at the parks' entrances are controlled with entrance fees and registrations (below). Officials know who goes into the park and when they exit through time-stamped rosters. Rangers constantly survey the park watching out for poachers. Cameras (left) are positioned in different places to monitor people's movements and look for poachers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The opposite of trophy hunting is poaching, which is illegal, uncontrolled, and can't be monitored. It inadvertently depletes the supply of animals to the point of endangering them to extinction. Poachers kill animals believing that someone else will do it if they don't, an attitude that results in massive over-exploitation. And the higher price for the animal indicates its higher demand and lower supply. Thus, the greater the price for the animal, the greater the incentive for poachers to kill as many of them as they can.

Poaching involves hunters illegally killing or capturing wild  animals. Historically, it was associated with land use rights during the Renaissance where only the nobility and territorial rulers were allowed hunting privileges. It sought to prevent impoverished peasants from hunting wild game in order to feed themselves. The poaching that typically goes on in Africa is killing elephants for their tusks or rhinos for their horns and then selling these materials commercially.

Poaching is so detrimental that in 1998 by environmental scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst considered poaching the most serious of environmental crimes because it (1) does not protect renewable natural resources, (2) it affects biodiversity of wildlife populations, and (3) it disturbs ecosystems. 

As African countries struggle over whether to allow trophy hunting and how to prevent poaching, they are finding solutions and tools in "game management".

 

Game Management

Game management attempts to control animal populations, trophy hunters, and poachers as it protects the land and animal habitats. Game management provides legal regulations and guidelines and it creates and oversees the national parks. Here is an outline of some of its operations and benefits.

Trophy hunters apply for a license to kill a particular animal during a specific time period (usually seven days), typically after the animal's birthing season. Since all the hunters want is a photo of themselves and their kill, the meat is then given to the people of a  local village. Certain endangered animals, like the white rhino or the big cats, are banned from being hunted. Others are bred in pens for game hunting, like certain breeds of lions that grow up without blemishes. The cost for the license is dependent on the species and its state of endangerment.

Sometimes there is an overpopulation of animals. For example, Botswana has too many elephants, so game managers relocate them in neighboring countries. The white rhinos we saw in Zambia came from South Africa. However, relocation is a very expensive operation.

Meanwhile, conservationists are constantly assessing  the number of animals in the parks, the number of hunters, the amount of money coming in for licenses.

Sustainable poaching is a way poor people can hunt for food. While this is a survival strategy for the families, its practice can still endanger the animals. Game managers are thus trying different strategies to curtail it. Engaging the local community to stop poaching is key, but not an easy task because people believe that such hunting for food is justified, especially since they do not have enough resources for living. 

These days, conservation has been incorporated into the school curriculum so that youth learn about saving both the animals and their habitats. Officials and educators hope that they will then talk to their fathers, uncles, and grandfathers and teach them that even sustainable poaching is not good for the environment. Meanwhile, conservationists are also trying to introduce different meats to families, like goat meat, as an alternative to wild game.

All of these efforts are helping people to gradually understand that trophy hunting is a good thing.

"We are here today because of trophy hunting," said James, a game driver and tracker at Camp Toka Leya who led us in a discussion on this issue. "The pressure we faced in conservation and preservation of our natural areas and habitats created the national parks, trophy hunting, and safaris such as the one you are experiencing. These activities help to protect the wilderness and deter poachers."

And the revenue made from these activities has proved to be a boon to tourism, he said.

There are some disadvantages to the national parks, however, the biggest one being  deforestation. About 65% of the fires each year are started in the national parks, and there are not enough people available to control them. During the dry season of July through September, certain grasses that catch on fire emit poisonous gases. Many local people start these fires because they have been doing it for years, and it's difficult to change their mindset, said James. 

Deforestation also occurs when people cut down trees and use the wood to generate energy. The government is trying to promote the use of solar energy as an alternative, but the technology is not yet effective enough so many people continue to use wood. (The camps where we stayed all had some form of solar energy.)

Deforestation is also having a devastating effect on climate change. In Zambia, the majority population lives in the rural lands where they clear the forests for agriculture, charcoal, and fuel products, according to the World Bank. 

"Other factors that contribute to the problem include, inadequate support for land use planning, poor agricultural and forestry resources management practices, untapped alternative livelihood options, and poor market access for marketable commodities and cash crops to farmers."

To address these urgent challenges, the Zambian government, with support from the World Bank, launched a $33 million forest landscape program in 2018. People also planted trees to replace those that have been cut down. 

Despite these efforts at conservation and the case for it, some people still want to ban trophy hunting all together for many reasons. 

Animal rights is a big concern as a  2017 Marist poll found that 86% of Americans were opposed to big game hunting. For example, this concern was met with outrage in 2015 when an American dentist trophy hunter killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.

Biological Conservation, a highly respected scientific journal, reported that annual revenue in sub-Saharan Africa from trophy hunters was only around $201 million, compared to $36 billion made from total tourists. Revenue from trophy hunters is less than 1% of total tourism and perhaps not worth pursuing.

A 2016 US House report (“Missing the Mark”) investigating trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa found “many troubling examples of funds either being diverted from their purpose or not being dedicated to conservation in the first place.” The report also noted that the governments failed to deliver promised improvements in community development. 

Not enough people are employed in the service of trophy hunters, so some people think there is little benefit to continuing it. 

Finally, government corruption takes a large chunk of the money earned from trophy hunters, and it never reaches the local people or the conservation programs. 

Trophy hunting will probably continue despite these objections simply because there will always be people who want to hunt and feel the exhilaration of tracking animals in Africa, having their photos taken with their kill, and maybe stuffing their prey's head and mounting it on a wall at home. 

The advantages and disadvantages of trophy hunting are complex and not easily reconciled. They are influenced by the times, the economics, and the politics of the day not only of Zambia and Africa but of the world. At least safaris accomplish many of conservation's and tourism's objectives without killing any animals. Yet, maybe a little Ubuntu would help! The native peoples of Africa possessed a wisdom that was more in sync with Nature than human desires, ambitions, and vanities. Like it or not, the natural world has become dependent on what human beings do to it. We are seeing the effects of this relationship as climates change throughout the world. We are learning that the ways we treat our world and its various environments will not go forward without a price.

Sources

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/03/02/zambia-takes-the-keys-away-from-drivers-of-deforestation

https://www.arczambia.com/conservation/conservation-history/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/151715-conservation-trophy-hunting-elephants-tusks-poaching-zimbabwe-namibia

https://theconversation.com/trophy-hunting-is-not-poaching-and-can-help-conserve-wildlife-29938

https://www.britannica.com/place/Zambia/External-contacts 

https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/the-demise-of-trophy-hunting-in-africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_philosophy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaching 

African Safari -- Education in Zimbabwe: Promise or Nightmare?

 

In 1980, President Mugabee made education a priority when he took office. Ninety-one percent of the children in the country were being educated. This created great hope and high expectations for the economic health of Zimbabwe after independence.

Today, however, the public schools are in a state of crisis. Classrooms are over-crowded with 50 kids and half-day sessions. There are not enough teachers. Teachers are not paid well, and they are left unmotivated. They take on second jobs and work in the summers in order to make ends meet; they have no time to rest. Temperatures in the classrooms are too hot to bear and without any relief. 

Many kids are left behind, especially special education students. There are not enough textbooks. Parents can't afford tuition--79% ask for assistance.

Access to computers is minimal. Cynthia, a 40-year veteran in the schools, cited one school where there are 30 computers and kids get 30 minutes a week on them. Meanwhile, the cost of the Internet and equipment is prohibitive.

"Seven years ago the curriculum changed," said Cynthia. "It became highly academic and left nothing for the arts."

Sports activities also suffer in the public schools because of a lack of funding.

Cynthia has been a classroom teacher for 10 years; she has spent the past 8 years as principal of a big school.

Nevertheless, parents demand quality education for their children.

Government funding for education has been reduced and misdirected. For example, computers are provided for rural schools that have no access to electricity. Although the country's Constitution says that schools are free for all citizens, parents are obliged to pay $60 for tuition--and only 20% can afford to do so.

The economy in Zimbabwe is severely broken. Eighty-five percent of the people are unemployed. There is no manufacturing, and everything is imported. Government needs to provide schools with more resources but the ministers of education are political appointees with no expertise in education and no ideas for how to fix this crisis. 

"They are killing our educational system", said Cynthia.

Zimbabwe is rich in mineral resources, especially gold, however, corruption in government is at the core of the country's problems thus making progress elusive, she said. 

"People vote for change," she said, "but they don't see any results. Instead, they are frustrated."

Nevertheless, Cynthia stays in education and continues the good fight. 

"It is my duty," she said. "I need to do something."

She garners hope when she sees kids she's taught overcoming the system and making something of themselves. 

"That's what keeps me in the system," she said. "These children will grow up one day, and they will run the country. That is the reason I stay in education. A teacher's job is crucial to creating change!"

 

 

Our group listened intently to the problems of education in Zimbabwe as presented by two leaders--a principal in public school and a director of a private school. 

Photo by MC

 

 

 

 

As a boy, Kim lived seven kilometers from school and walked to and from there every day. He realized he had no choice but to go to school in order to have a better life, so he stuck with it. 

In 2008, while a student at the university, he met children who had no school to go to because of teachers' strikes. He and other university students decided to volunteer to help them out. When the strikes were over, the government recruited new teachers. That's how he got his start in education. 

His university degree is in health care administration but there were no jobs available in that field when he graduated. So he became a high school teacher. However, this work was not easy by any means. As a university student, he taught four classes. As a professional teacher, he taught 10 classes with 60 teen-aged students in each class. In 2017, he left the schools. In 2020 with inflation rising 1000%, he went back to teaching and created his own school. Today, he is the director of a private school.

His school has 25 students in each class. Since he receives no government help, he rents a school building and finds creative ways to pay his teachers. For example, he charges parents $150 per year and provides them with an alternative to the public school system. 

As a contrast, some elite private schools charge $5,000 tuition for each student. These are the schools where the politicians send their kids. Some send them out of the country. Kim contends that this is the reason the schools are in such crisis: the politicians don't trust their country's schools for their own kids. 

Private schools offer an alternative for parents. They provide a good education and have high passing rates unlike the public schools whose passing rates are very low. Some people have opened schools in their own homes as an alternative, however, these schools are considered illegal. 

Teachers' unions--22 of them--are aligned with the government, and they can't agree on anything. They frequently hold demonstrations in the streets, but teachers risk being jailed or even killed if they participate. 

"We are heading for disaster," said Kim. "The trigger is just waiting to go off."

"The rural areas have less access to education," said Cynthia. "The people vote if you give them something. In 2023, they voted for change, but nothing has happened. Even rural people see the failings of the politicians."

The government does not allow any outside funding for its schools like money from NGOs, foundations, or other governments. This policy makes it difficult for the schools to go beyond the crisis mode they currently experience. 

It remains to be seen what will happen to the educational system and Zimbabwe in general. As people continually say: Zimbabwe used to be the "bread basket of Africa. Now, it is its basket case."

African Safari -- A Visit to a Homestead in Zimbabwe

  

One of the things Overseas Adventure Travel does well is to put its travelers in touch with local people. We had the opportunity to visit a homestead in Zimbabwe where we met the people, talked with them, and saw how they live. 

The village leader (left) greeted us when we arrived. The woman served as our guide at the market and at a homestead where several people from other homesteads joined us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family homesteads have a similar layout with a fence around them to protect them from wild animals. The extended family usually includes grandparents, aunties, and uncles. People of various homesteads frequently visit each other and share resources and garden facilities. A group of homesteads makes a village and a village leader oversees the affairs of the village for about 50-70 households and 1,500 people.

More specifically, the village leader settles disputes, keeps records for the families, refers crimes to the police, settles inheritances, and encourages people to vote. During Covid, leaders made sure people were vaccinated. The leader also sees to it that animals that invade the village are driven back into the wild. The leaders have been typically male but more and more women are taking on this role. 

"We are not politicians," said the leader "we are managers and local leaders. We talk to politicians to make reforms and policies that help the people." 

Although animals like hyenas and baboons are sometimes a problem, our greatest difficulty these days is drought. The fencing is old and needs replacing. Covid was generally under control. People were vaccinated and there were only two cases and two deaths in this village.

Life at the homestead is vital for the good of all the family. Duties are divided among the men and women. For example, men till the soil while the women follow them by dropping the seeds into the ground. The boys tend the cows. (Our trip leader used to tend cows for his family.) Men collect firewood and build the frames of the huts. Most men work outside the homestead and bring money home. When their work is done, they frequently stop at the local bar for a beer and meet friends.

Most of the men work in the mines, including this village leader. Some work out of town and are transported to town during the week; they come home for the weekends. The Chinese own many of the mines and are providing more work even though they are not paying very well. The only way to make more money is to work more hours.

Women stay on the homestead. They make bricks and collect thatch but the men build the wooden frames and make the roofs. The women tend the gardens, grind grain, dry vegetables, and cook. They cut firewood, weave baskets, take care of the children, train the girls for their future roles as wives, make their husbands happy, and keep up with the village gossip. 

Community gardens were installed in 1962. They are divided into four sections: fruit, grain, corn, and vegetables.

Grinding corn, soy, and millet is a daily task. It requires a strong hand both to hold the beater, which is heavy, and to adequately crush the grain. Our trip leader, MC (in black shirt), and the village leader (below) show us how it is done. Meanwhile, the women and kids sing to encourage the grinders and make the task more fun. After the grain is ground, its chaff is winnowed out by tossing it from the bowl, as the woman in the striped shirt demonstrates. Fallen grain and chaff is then eaten by the chickens, who play an important role in the village for this reason. The people do not eat their eggs because they need a constant stream of new chicks to be born. Only occasionally on special occasions do they eat the chickens.

 

 

 

 

 

Several of us tried grinding the grain. Susan proved to be pretty effective, especially with the singing support of the women and children around us. Singing makes the work fun!

 

 

 

The women typically cook in the summer kitchen, which is flanked by a mud brick wall. Below, Meg tries her hand at making polenta, which is a staple in the people's diet as well as a scoop for their food.

The village also includes an indoor kitchen, which is used to store things and to use when it rains.

 

This woman is making bricks for a wall around the summer kitchen. The bricks are made of mud. She uses a bottomless bucket as her mold and then packs the mud into it. The trick is to pack the mud tightly enough into the mold to avoid air bubbles. The woman invited me to try my hand at making a brick only I was unaware of the trick and my brick had a lot of holes in it. Afterward, she invited me to wash my hands in the green and white bucket. At one point she helped me remove the mud from my fingernails. Her hands were rough and calloused with age. I was so overwhelmed by her gentleness and concern for me that I grasped her hands in the water as a sign of unity and love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The huts are made from tree trunks for the frame, grass for the thatch roofs, and mud bricks for the walls. The huts are regularly replaced every 3-4 years and or patched because the termites get to them (right). 

 

Before we entered the community hut for a discussion about life on the homestead, our camp guides served us our regular tea, coffee, and rosemary cookies, which we will become accustomed to and enjoy.

 

 The community hut is for meals and gatherings. We met the people for a talk there about men's and women's roles, marriage traditions, and life at the homestead. The women were very interested in American women's lives, which are far less traditional than theirs and more independent.

 

 

 

 

 

Women's liberation has come to Zimbabwe and along with it some change in women's roles and marriage customs. For example, in the old days a man who wanted to marry a woman would simply carry her off (literally) at about age 15 and take her to his home. She knew that once she was gone from home, she was not allowed to return. This practice was a kind of elopement and considered a bound marriage. A dowry or bride price was then negotiated between the man's and woman's families usually in money and/or cows by the uncles and aunties. 

Everyone is expected to marry. If a girl remains single, she was not taken very seriously and is treated like a young girl who gets the jobs of a young girl.

Traditionally, girls didn't go to school but now they do, at least until age 14-15. They also are deciding more and more about their own lives and who they will marry. People may have a traditional marriage with a dowry and definite roles for husbands and wives to play; there is no court of law sanctioning it. On the other hand, many couples decide to have a "legal" marriage that is certified by law and wedding rings are exchanged. Some couples have both kinds of marriages.

Grandmothers and aunties (not the mother) take charge of a girl's education for womanhood and housekeeping, and they become a source of information for the young girl growing up. Today, they have less influence as they learn about new ideas through computers and social media that are available in schools. Their world has expanded beyond the household and beyond the village, and this concerns the older generations. They feel their traditional structures are under threat as the young adopt more modern ideas and foreign influences.

Divorce, once a no-no, is now possible. Since the uncles and aunties negotiated the bride price, they also negotiate a divorce. Of course, they also try to settle disputes, which can be difficult since there is an epidemic of spouse abuse. Some of the dowry is paid back but some is not if the family is unable to pay it. As for the children, the wife usually gets them until they turn 18 years old; sometimes they go with the husband.

Children are receiving more education. It was one of the things that Robert Mugabee promised when he became president of Zimbabwe in 1987. Although support for education has gradually decreased since then, it has brought on a lot of changes for the society. In the past only boys could go to school. Now, girls can go. However, their length of time in school depends on the family's ability to pay for their education. And with the growing demand for computers, tablets, cell phones, there is more equipment to buy at a greater cost for people who don't have that much money in the first place.

Because employment opportunities are limited, Zimbabwe is experiencing a brain drain of its educated people. Many men leave the country and that means that there are fewer of them to marry Zimbabwean women, which means there are fewer children being born. 

All in all, life in these rural homesteads and villages is deemed better than life in the towns where there is more poverty and fewer connections among people.

Refreshments and Gift-Giving
After this intense and informative discussion, the women continued their hospitality by serving home-ground peanut butter sandwiches and mopani worms, which are really fried caterpillars that had fed on the mopani tree's leaves (below right). Mopani worms are a high protein, tasty morsel that crunches. Some people in our group were brave enough to try them and found that they were good. Mopani worms are eaten by scooping them up with polenta, ground cornmeal in salted water that looks like creamy porridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left, our camp guides unloaded all the gifts we had purchased at the local stores. The people were very appreciative and they showed it by putting out a mat for the gifts and then singing and dancing around them in thanksgiving. It was very touching to give gifts that the people really needed and to receive such a profound thanks from them.

The Village

The village "mall" where we bought gifts of food for the homestead was a block long with stores selling only the essentials of food, household items, clothes, shoes/sandals, etc. No marketing or advertising involved.

 

 

 

 This food stand across from the mall is a new addition to the area. It sells sandwiches to the truckers and men who travel to the city to their jobs. (Most people cook their own food.) The stand is one of the entrepreneurial enterprises that make up the informal economy. With an unemployment rate at 85%, people survive by  finding different ways of making a living.

 

 

Not far from the homestead was St. Mary's Primary School. It was started by Catholic nuns but is now a private school run by local people. Tuition is about $50-60 per student per year. However, even that cost is a lot for some families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children were on summer vacation, but the principal of the school (right) met with us to talk about education. She happened to be there because heavy winds days before had damaged the roof of the building. Workers were there to fix the roof.

 

 

Computers are an essential part of education, even in poor countries. Their influence on the children in exposing them to new ideas has gone much further than anyone ever anticipated. These ideas sometimes conflict with traditional cultural values. And yet, in order for the country to advance itself, its people must have computer skills.

The Grand Circle Foundation, which is associated with Overseas Adventure Travel, has made St. Mary's School one of its projects. A certain percentage from OAT's profits are invested in various projects all over the world. (This is yet another good reason to travel with OAT.)

Goats are not welcome on the school grounds and a gate with a sign makes that clear. However, during these summer months, they have taken over the school yard anyway.

 

 

 

To get more details about the Zimbabwean educational system and its problems, click here to see the blog with a presentation by a public school principal and a private school director who talked with us.