Leeds to London

-
Hello from Leeds, England!

Leeds City Market

3 pm Tuesday 7th August 2018

Hello there and thank you for following me! 

I’m Jenny, the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) writing this blog.

Well, I’ve finally started on my epic journey to Lusaka, Zambia from Leeds.  

Life is always unpredictable, is it not?  For the first leg of the journey from Leeds to London by good old British Rail (oops) trains [the easy bit!], my train was cancelled.  I’m now writing this first entry of my blog on a crowded train to York – I will get to London!!

The planning for this trip has taken a while indeed.  I’ve felt a bit like a project manager at times and will not bore you with the details!  Suffice to say that moving house, leaving two jobs, going to a wedding in Scotland and preparing for the trip of a lifetime has kept me busy for a few months. 

Now I am finally on my way, I can stop and reflect.  Saying goodbye to many, many friends, family and acquaintances has been quite emotionally demanding.  My explanation that I am going to work as a SLT in Zambia has been met with one of three responses; (1) mild interest (2) shock (with visible mouth open) and (3) extreme enthusiasm (my favourite!)  Thank you to all of you who responded to my recent ramblings about Africa with enthusiasm, smiles and lots of questions – you know who you are and it’s much appreciated!

Okay, so I’ve never written a blog before so excuse my early attempts where the webpage may be dull and amateurish but I’ll try and improve over the next eight months.  My aim with this blog is to keep anyone interested updated on my pending adventure and hear about the experiences of a middle-aged Scottish woman living and working in Zambia.  I hope to be succinct but it’s not really in my nature (!) but will try as I think there’s nothing worse than a boring blog. I aim to write about 800 words each time.  Let’s see if my objectives of trying to be interesting, succinct and less amateurish come to fruition. Feedback is always welcome!

For those of you who may not know me or much about what I’m doing, I’ll be brief.  Having worked as a Children’s Speech and Language Therapist for about 20 years in the UK, I’ve now decided to work in Zambia.  This hasn’t been a spur of the moment decision, the notion to work abroad has really been brewing for several years.  My recent Masters in International Public Health at Leeds University in 2015 sealed the deal!  I met so many interesting people from all over the world and heard so many stories about their countries that I really wanted to see how things are for myself.  I travelled a lot after leaving school in 1983 but, since 1998, have only really gone abroad on holidays with my wonderful son, Sam.  I just want to say at this point a huge thank you to Sam, who has really and truly been my own personal IT assistant recently.  I am developing my knowledge and skills in IT and will continue to do so, believe it or not?!!

My plan is to arrive safely in Lusaka on Thursday 9th August and then update my blog every 2-3 weeks or so.  I am going to be living in a flat in Lusaka close to my place of work and have been informed that I’ll be working full time with children with a range of communication difficulties. 
I don’t really have a clear idea of what to expect.  I’m not too worried about the heat but am not looking forward to the biting insects – let’s see how that goes.

I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of new people whom I’ve never had the chance to meet or talk to before and I’m also really excited about meeting my new clients and their families. I don’t really feel nervous but am a little apprehensive about the expectations that people may have on what I can do on my own with possibly limited resources.  I also know very little about the culture or languages in Zambia so am well aware that I will need to observe and listen a lot to begin with.  I want to keep open-minded about how different things may be and really want to learn some of the language, Nyanja.

I also love nature so am extremely excited about seeing Zambia’s wildlife.  This will really be a dream come true for me.  I’ve been researching the nature a bit and now know how to escape a hippo although hope it will never come to this!

I want to end this first blog by thanking my future employer for being so attentive and helpful and for answering my endless stream of questions.  I hope I’m travelling as prepared as I can be.  At least the unexpected disruption at Leeds Station was an instant reminder that travelling is always predictably unpredictable and ideally have something to read at all times!!

Bye for now,

Jenny
Image result for lusaka
Lusaka, Capital City of Zambia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining

-
Image
Hugs, Smiles and Trampolining I’ve now been living in Lusaka for 2 months and am beginning to settle down into a routine.   My work is really interesting and the client group very diverse.   Every day though there are challenges just as every job has.   I work in a small team and support children with a range of communication difficulties.   I love the children because, despite their difficulties, they always arrive at the Centre with a big smile on their faces! There is a technique for working with children with autism or ‘hard to reach’ children, called Intensive Interaction © .   I have been implementing it with one boy for the last two weeks almost every day.   It is amazing to see how effective it is.   (I’ve obscured his photo for privacy). Initially the boy showed little interest in people, preferring to wander around the room looking at the walls and ceiling.   He is generally non-verbal and was initially very detached f...
Read more

The Vulture has Landed!

-
Image
Monday 11th September 2018 I am feeling rather disgruntled with technology as had almost completed my blog yesterday, didn't save it, then we had a power cut!! Needless to say, I'm having to start again.... lots of patience required! Anyway, I am now comfortably ensconced in our new flat which is slightly larger than the previous one.  We moved only one building down to a more modern three bedroom flat.  It's rather swish only the same problem ensues..no water!  This time, not just no water in the evenings but none at all!  I'm reassured this is just a teething problem and the mains will be switched on again but it's now been nine days so not sure what's going on!  It's quite frustrating but I'm trying to remain chilled out about it as it certainly helps to be laid back here! It's amazing how you can get by with buckets of cold water (taken from work) and a working cooker and I now know exactly how many litres of water I need to have a ...
Read more

The Road to Western Province

-
Image
Dedicated to one of my lovely patients RIP Firstly, Happy New Year! I’ve just returned from two weeks travelling around the west of Zambia during the Christmas break.   I didn’t know really what to expect as I hadn’t seen much of the country before now.   I had a great time full of adventure and met some interesting characters along the way. After a lovely and relaxing five-night stay in Livingstone, the tourist capital of Zambia due to the magnificent Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya), I decided to travel to Western Province as it seemed like a good idea at the time!  More on Livingstone in my next blog! I left at 5 am on 27 th December to travel by bus from Livingstone to Mongu, the capital of Western Province.   This was a 10-hour journey covering 315 miles.   Part of the road was incredibly bumpy – let’s just say, I’m glad I’ve got my own teeth!   On the tightly packed mini-bus, I was befriended by an elderly Zambian gentleman on the bus w...
Read more