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From Zambia: What does it mean to be white female and a college student from California in Lusaka?

Since school doesn’t start until Monday, we have had this week to adjust, catch up on sleep and absorb as much of the Zambian culture as possible. One of my favorite professors suggested that I do a couple of blog posts perspective themed, and I am planning on following through with that. What I want to give you guys in this one is the perspective of a white, female college student from California experiencing her first couple days in Lusaka, I wonder who that may be…


Being here so far has caused such a whirlwind of emotions; excited, happy, sad, disheartened, tired, hopeful… There are many things that are so “Africa”, people carrying things on their head, women walking with babies wrapped in colorful cloth on their backs, pick up games of soccer everywhere, trees that may or may not be Baobab trees. However, there are also things that have stood out that I was not necessarily expecting. It is so striking to me is that there is no apparent middle class. In Lusaka, especially around where I am staying and working, you are either incredibly wealthy, or you have nothing. There is no apparent bridge between these two classes, as you can see in the pictures below, the compounds are where the people stuck in poverty stay, and the giant electric fences house the mansions that the upper class live in. I am living on a very affluent school’s campus that has two swimming pools, a giant performing theater, and is gated and guarded 24/7. Five minutes down the road is Bauleni, the compound that I am working in that houses 20,000 people. It has been such an adjustment, and to be honest I am still adjusting, to spend time with these amazing people who will maybe go for days without eating, and then come back to where I am staying and have the choice to eat at the house or go to the cafeteria.


It is also intriguing to me how easy it is for the upper class to not see the poverty at all. Compounds are set back from the road, and driving by then entrance you would never know that one street would lead to massive amounts of shacks and people. The pictures below can give you somewhat of a taste of the contrast that is found in this place.
I know this has been somewhat of a dark post, but there has been so much light too. Yesterday we went to Kambala market, this MASSIVE outdoor market which was so colorful, and today we are going to a wedding, wooo!!!! My next post will just be pictures!!
Emma Shandy, UC Davis Human development undergraduate student

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