Blog posts tagged "Zambia"

April 8, 2009 7:18 pm 6 Comments

DFID, the UK aid department, asked me to volunteer to come down here to Lusaka in Zambia to help “facilitate” the launch of the North-South Corridor project for which they and other donors have thus far raised $1.35bn. It involved four presidents, the head of the WTO, a DFID minister, an EU commissioner, international banks, [...]

12:19 am No Comments

Why is Africa poor? Here’s one reason – to ship copper from Zambia to a port in South Africa (the nearest) takes three weeks and costs $6,000 per week. The same journey in Europe takes 48 hours and costs a fraction of that. Bureaucratic border crossing, rotten and rotting railways, disintegrating roads… They all speak [...]

April 7, 2009 12:56 pm No Comments

My host in Lusaka, Zambia, took me to church on Sunday, an experience that left mixed feelings. The Miracle Life Family Church in Lusaka is a circular place. 300 people inside, another 200 outside. Middle class, most had come by car. Like the African pasteur, the religious music was stirring – brilliantly performed.

April 6, 2009 6:50 pm No Comments

An overnight flight to Zambia. Haven’t been here in 20 years. Bigger, but still verdant green boulevards into town. Early morning bicycles laden with vast bags of charcoal struggle along the dust tracks at the roadside. I’m here for a conference, of which more in the next blog.