June is looming and we are once again gearing up to follow
our containers out to Zambia. Since last year the good people of the National
Police Aid Convoys (NPAC) have sent twenty-eight shipping containers to seven
different countries, four of which went to Zambia full of clothes, books and
medical equipment. The primary ethos of NPAC is that nothing gets wasted, even
space on the containers. Every inch is crammed full of aid donated by companies
and generous individuals. On one memorable occasion an ambulance was loaded in,
and then filled with latex gloves, dressings and sanitising hand gel.
This time last year we were heading off into the unknown. I
had never been to Africa before, the closest being a holiday to the Canaries,
and while Dad was born there he moved away fifty years ago. A lot can happen to
a country in fifty years. Independence, the movement to democracy, a slowly
growing economy and a steadily growing gulf between rich and poor. The trip
with NPAC last year started in Lusaka, launching us right in with a few days of
hard work at the Makeni and Mycepa clinics for dentistry and cerebral palsy
respectively, before we set out to see exactly what the combined might of NPAC
is capable of. Nyimba East Primary School was a delight. The kids were smart
and enthusiastic, and the teachers told us how much they love working there
with the equipment they’ve received. The children are proud of their uniforms
and books and their school choir is winning contests. They let us sit in on a
dress rehearsal for an upcoming event and it was a joy to see. Search for
Nyimba East School Choir on youtube and you can see the choir for yourself. We
left Nyimba on a high, but under no illusions that every school would be so
fortunate. As we drove away from the capital we saw a steady decline in living
conditions around us until we came to an area ravaged by tsetse flies, where
cattle are impossible to keep and crops are trampled by elephants so parents
have to choose between feeding their children and sending them to school.
I have often been asked how I dealt with the emotions
inherent in such a trip, and while I can’t deny that on occasion tempers ran
high, the itinerary was planned so cleverly that we ended the experience tired,
determined and hopeful. To view success first meant that we knew what we could
achieve and allowed us to keep that in mind while planning how to help
struggling communities. It also helped that we were in a great group of people
and we kept each other going with humour and comfort when it was needed. I’m
excited to see people we met last year and find out how our friends are doing
in Nyimba and Mwape.
If you’d like to help, visit www.npac.org.uk to find out
more.
First published in Southwell Life, May 2015.
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