The initial feeling that I got when the plane first landed in Lusaka was generally positive. As the bus drove out of the airport and into the city, I got a funny feeling that I had already been there. Maybe it was the shadow of Zambia's colonial years reflected in the ways the roads were laid out, just like how I recall India and Malaysia's roads were like.
What I was surprised by, oddly enough, was the amount of English I saw on billboards around the city. In fact, you can only find ads written in English. It should have been a good thing because that means I can pretty much understand everything there, but I almost wish that there was less English. I really only expected bits and pieces of English here and there... not that I thought they were "behind" or anything. The abundance of English doesn't reflect the progress of development in my mind. I guess it makes sense because English is the official language in Zambia. There are 72 dialects in the country, with 5 prominent ones. (Some of us forgot that they speak a different one in Lusaka and thought that we could throw in random Bemba to impress the hotel staff -- Bemba is the dialect spoken in the region we worked in.)
The first day we got to Lusaka, some of the girls and I went for a walk around the lodge we stayec at. We came across this guy who was walking along the streets playing a guitar and singing. His name was Theo.
Us: Can you play us a Zambian song?
Theo: Um... I don't know any Zambian songs.
Us: How come? Are you from here?
Theo: Yes, I was born and raised here in Lusaka.
Us: But you don't know any traditional songs?
Theo: No.. my parents went to your country for college. They went to England and when they came back they taught me table manners and stuff when I grew up... (mumbles) it's like some kind of cultural programming..
We got our share of tradional songs and dances when we got to the community we worked in. A recurring conflict that I had during my time there was that of development and cultural preservation. The people there had something totally different from ours, and I'd HATE to see their culture drown in capitalism and mainstream crap that we have over here. But when they seek economic help from the West, is it possible to separate western culture from western economic strategies and whatnot?
I wonder what the world would be like of those people were the ones leading it.