Lessons from Zambia
Mai Tanaka (Japan)

Mai Tanaka is a young Shumei member from Nara, Japan. Mai works in Osaka as an interpretation coordinator. The following is her experience and thoughts on her first visit to Zambia from October 18 to 25, 2007 with Mr. Alan Imai, Co-director of Shumei International Natural Agriculture programs,  Mr. Sako, a Shumei Natural Agriculture instructor, and Ms. Asami Maekawa, another youth. 

Before going to Zambia I really did not know what to expect. It was a totally new experience for me. However, I was not that worried. I knew things would be different from Japan  and I was looking forward to experiencing Zambia.  

On the day of our arrival, we stayed in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.  There were many shops, restaurants, hotels and cars in the streets emitting black exhaust .  In fact, many of the cars were secondhand cars shipped from Japan.  It was strange to see Japanese cars after traveling for almost an entire day to another part of the world.      
The next day, we headed to the Mbabala Constituency of the Choma District, where Shumei was working with farmers from the Mbabala Women Farmers’ Cooperative Union to apply the Natural Agriculture technique .  After a four-and-a-half hour drive from Lusaka, I felt as if I had come to a different country.  People in the rural villages were living in thatched houses with no electricity and had to draw water from a nearby well.  The roads were no longer paved, and it was rare to see cars.

While in the village, we stayed in a guest house.  We had electricity and running water was only available during the morning and evening hours.    

During our visit, we met with members from the youth group Shumei had helped to establish with the farmers. Education was a key focus for them. The group was set up in January and their goal/objectives include creating a youth training center; starting a business by micro credit; educating people about HIV/AIDS; fundraising to support orphans; and organizing sports/cultural activities. 

During our meeting with them, we taught the youth how to use computers and digital cameras, as well as Japanese origami. They will continue to practice typing and their plan is to publish local newspapers next year.  To keep us updated with their progress in Zambia, we suggested that they write letters to Shumei youth in Japan.  We are looking forward to receiving the first letter from them.  

In the following days, we visited farmers’ cooperatives throughout the district.  We listened to what they had to say about Natural Agriculture, what they thought about the Natural Agriculture Show in July, as well as their progress with saving seeds, a key practice of Natural Agriculture.  There seemed to be quite a few things to work on.  However, I was not surprised, as this was just the third year that they had been implementing Natural Agriculture techniques .  I am hoping that the practice and philosophy of Natural Agriculture will take root in Zambia in the coming years.

We returned to Lusaka on October 24th, and flew back to Japan next day.  On our last day, we stayed at a guest lodge that had running water throughout a day.  After spending just a few days in the countryside, it seemed something surprising.  It was only a short visit, but I felt I was able to experience a lot in Zambia.

Thoughts on visit:
At the cooperative farmers’ meetings, the farmers always welcomed us with songs and dances.  They were poor in terms of materials, but very lively, dancing and singing.  Being poor and being unhappy is not the same thing. 

Material wealth is flowing into Zambia rapidly.  For instance, some rural villages have cellular phone service , and some people are using cell phones.  It is true that materials make our lives more convenient, but I am tempted to say that materials do not make people happy necessarily.  Living in Japan, where people have many material possessions, there are so many people who do not seem truly happy.

I hope that Zambian people will continue to have the wonderful things they have now, such as beautiful smiles, and powerful dances and songs, while becoming self-sustainable and materially happy as well.  And I hope Shumei can work together with them toward those goals.

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