Photo: Eric in Zambia (these are convenience stores behind me)

Things that make you go hmmm…

What have I been doing this millennium?

Since the previous on-line OCW, I've completed a second Master's degree: this one in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University. The intention was to study for a Ph.D. and continue working overseas, but after three semesters of classes I realized that I my interests laid elsewhere. I didn't enjoy the research focus that a Ph.D. required and I'm no longer interested in living and working overseas. My reasons for attending MSU no longer applied so I dropped the Ph.D. program and completed a Thesis to have a Master's degree. My thesis was entitled: "Factors Affecting The Use Of Fertilizer By Small- And Medium-Sized Farming Households In Zambia, 1997 To 2000" and "yes" it was as exciting to write as it sounds!

During my time at MSU I was quite fortunate - as part of my research I was sent to Zambia to visit some of those fertilizer-using households as well as to train several of the Ministry of Agriculture and Zambian Census Bureau employees in using a statistical computer program (Zambia is located north of Zimbabwe in the southern area of Africa). I was there in July and August of 2000.

While Lusaka, the capitol of Zambia, isn't what anyone would call a cultural hub of anything, the country is quite lovely (outside of Lusaka that is). For ten days I went on a true African safari. We stayed in tents and other structures in one of the country's largest game parks and saw numerous creatures great and small by day and night. During the days we had two excursions to view animals (elephants, zebra, antelopes of all sorts, lions, hippos, buffalo, crocodiles, hundreds of birds, etc.). By night we saw the nocturnal creatures of the jungle on nighttime drives (leopard, owls, sleeping and usually quite startled day-time creatures as well). The most apprehensive times were during our walks through the jungle with nothing to protect us except the reassurances of our guides (only one of whom was armed with a single shot rifle, not the most effective deterrent because the week before my safari a guide was trampled by a charging elephant). Of course the animals aren't just around outside our campgrounds. There was either a leopard or hyena outside my tent the first night there (I didn't venture outside to check, the breathing noise outside the canvas walls was enough to keep my petrified body in place). On several other nights elephants canvassed our campgrounds looking for food and usually found the trees adjacent to our tents and other sleeping quarters appetizing. Truly amazing and also quite frightening: being startled awake up with elephants snacking at my windows!

Oh, how could I almost forget to mention white water rafting down the Zambezi River?! My recommendation: don't go. It's one of the most intense rafting rivers anywhere (if not the most intense) and I broke two ribs and nearly drowned after we flipped on the first rapids. That made for a very long day…

And that's the excitement of my life this millennium. I'll be returning to Zambia this summer during June and July to conduct more computer training and research. Hopefully will return from there with equally exciting (and safer) tales.