Beauty In Unexpected Places

Catching up with a couple of things I have been up to lately.

Last week I had such an exciting time going into what I can say is one of the “ghetto’s” here in Lusaka. It’s called “Garden” because apparently the area used to belong to an expatriate farmer and now it has so many makeshift houses with locals living there.

I was reluctant to share this because I really hate how the Western world tries to portray Africa as a dirty place where there is starvation and no hope. I believe Africa has some of the most beautiful places in the world but like any continent there are places where people are poor and just trying to get on. It is the same here in Zambia, we have the beautiful shopping malls, people driving very expensive cars and wearing trendy clothes but as always the extremely poor are also among us.

I was having a photography session for a tour operator company called “Lusaka Experience”. They have such a brilliant idea, while most tour operators will take tourists to all the fancy places, this company does the exact opposite! They want tourists to have a sense of both worlds and so they take them to Garden. Tourists can visit the local market, some orphanages, taste the local brews and food and even crazier the tour guides take tourists to see the local witchdoctor!

Unfortunately we did not find the witchdoctor so I did not take any pictures of him for those of you who would like to see what a real life witchdoctor looks like! I do not believe in witchcraft in the sense that though I am aware that witches and wizards exist, I would not go to a witchdoctor to solve my problems because I am a Christian and I believe consulting spirits and magic is wrong.

What I loved the most about the trip was some of the beautiful artwork that “Lusaka Experience” had done in Garden. It is lovely to see a spark of colour in a gloomy place. I would recommend a tour with these guys to anyone if you really want to have a true cultural experience of Lusaka.