7829 kilometres from home

Astrid Knudsen and Marie Jæger, two young women from the Danish town of Frederikshavn, have become experts in body language, after living among the Bemba people in northern Zambia for the past three months, as part of MS Global Contact program.

Marie Jæger (left) and Astrid Knudsen with their Zambian Family

Astrid Knudsen and Marie Jæger, two young women from the Danish town of Frederikshavn, have become experts in body language after living among the Bemba people in Northern Zambia for the past 3 months. But language is not the only challenge, when you are so far from home.

Spiders have become commonplace, but the night when a bat managed to get stuck inside the mosquito net, was something else.

”In the beginning all we heard was a strange bumping sound. It turned out to be a bat flying around under the bed and banging into the bed boards. Suddenly it flew out just 20 centimetres from my face. I screamed for Astrid and threw myself out of the bed, terrified. That woke up our ”Mum” and we had to make bat sounds and flap our arms to explain what was wrong. Because she doesn't speak English. But we have become rather good at body language” Marie Jæger explains.

19 year old Marie Jæger and 20 year old Astrid Knudsen, who graduated from ”Frederikshavn Gymnasium” high school last summer, have spent the last three months with a family in a very small village in Zambia. An experience that has taught them to handle more than wayward bats.

The two women were known for being able to handle themselves back home, where they have been active in youth politics, started a school magazine and been a part of several other youth projects.

The villageLubwe, where the two women are living, is situated right next to the beautiful lake Bangweulu

Fertile and peaceful
But Africa almost got the better of them during their first week.
”We had to get used to everything. To the toilet being out in the garden, to the cockroaches everywhere and to eating maize porridge (nshima) every day. At one point we realized that we didn't have a single routine that was the same as back home. I knew things would be different, but it still came as a surprise” Astrid recalls.

Before they left, they hardly knew where Zambia was. They just wanted to travel to somewhere in Africa, without to many tourists around. But backpacking was too expensive and they also wanted to learn about another culture from the inside, rather than being just visitors.

That is how they decided to join MS's Global Contact program, where you stay with a local family and work for a local organization.
”MS website described Zambia as fertile and peaceful, so we thought that would be right up our ally” Astrid smiles.

The big sister of their Zambian family, Jande, is helping Astrid sow a skirt.

A rare feeling
There is definitely no tourists in the village of Lubwe, where they have been living. In fact there is only one other white person, an American working for another local organization.

”He is called Patrick, so now people sometime call us Patrick as well, it's sort of become the common name for white people”, says Marie.

Big sister Jande helping Astrid and Marie with the sowing machines.

After three months the women have adjusted to their life in Africa, even though the similarities with Denmark are few and far between.

“Everything is much more relaxed here. In Denmark you always have to plan everything, and there is a lot more worry and stress. But here we have had a lot of evenings, just watching the sunset and the stars, knowing that something would turn up to fill the next day, even without having to make any plans. That is a pretty rare feeling in Denmark,” Astrid comments.

Even without any planning, it is not like there has been a lack of things to do. The two women have been working with a local organization, which among other things try to mobilize groups of older girls ”Big sisters” to take care of groups of younger girls ”Little sisters”, and help finance their education though various initiatives.

On a practical level Astrid and Marie have been visiting various groups and schools in the area, where they have been talking about gender equality, the importance of getting a good education, and why you shouldn't marry before you have finished your education.

These topics have given them a good understanding of both African and Danish culture.
”We have been having discussions with 12^th grade boys who seriously thought that they where more intelligent than girls. They explained this by saying that since girls got pregnant all the time they didn't take their education seriously. And we have met girls who agreed! That was a little shocking to be confronted with” says Astrid.

And Marie adds:
”When you talk about women's rights, you are also often met by arguments from the Bible, which people interpret completely literally. It can be a bit difficult to argue against.”

Marie learning how to use a knitting machine. Several of the "Big Sisters" from their organisations earn money for the "Little sisters" by joining sowing groups.

Tough realities.
The discussions have given them a new perspective on Denmark:
”It is easy to understand why people take religion so seriously, when you see how they are taught the Bible in the same way as we are taught that 2+2 equals 4. And the teaching style is so authoritarian that the pupils just copy everything that the teacher writes on the blackboard. But it does give you a new perceptive on the Danish education system” says Marie and Astrid continues:
”You suddenly realize how important it is to challenge children. We learn to use our intelligence in a whole different way because we learn to observe and draw our own conclusions instead of just copying.”

The tough realities of Africa have also been a sharp contrast to Denmark in a different way.
”Death is always present to your life down here. Our ”Mum” goes to funerals at least once a week and almost no one hasn't lost at least one member of their family.”
”That is not something you talk a lot about back home, but here it is just a fact of life” Astrid explains.

That is why the Zambian attitude to life has come as a surprise.
”I thought people would be more sad, but it has been an amazing experience to see that people can have so little money and so many dead family members and still be so full of joy and so open and welcoming.

Marie agrees: ”They have so many problems, and yet they are all convinced that everything is going to turn out all right. Takuli bwafiya, as they say in the local language, Bemba. That is an amazing attitude to have to life”.

Astrid Knudsen and Marie Jæger will return to Denmark by the end of June.

Astrid and Maries Zambian mother, Christina, frying sweet potatoes for the girls' afternoon snack.