Our team did a lot of hard work in not only laying out the groundwork for a strong relationship with the Nalujan people, but also through the data collection they did for assessment of the needs of the community. The team was able to gather information on water, sanitation, solar energy, road maps, and cell phone signal. Additionally, the team was able to meet up with another community in the Kalomo area that has already been able to implement some solutions to the infrastructure problems Naluja faces. The travel team was able to do some data collection on how well the other community was able to implement these solutions and any problems they faced along the way; the hope is to use this community as a model, of sorts, for Naluja.

On a lighter note, the team were able to enjoy some other things in Zambia. They were able to try a Zambian food called nshima (made of cornmeal) and explore the Nalujan community and spend time with its occupants. During their stay in Naluja, our travel team all got Zambian names and some even got marriage proposals! Our team was also able to visit Victoria Falls and two of the team went bungee jumping over the falls – it was definitely an exciting and memorable experience for them.

We’ll have more information for you as soon as we are updated more thoroughly by our travelers. Until then, let’s look to the future.

We’re been working towards this pre-assessment trip for a long time, and now that it’s done, we should definitely take the time to celebrate! However, we must also remember that we’ve now got a lot of valuable information about the Naluja community and we must put it to good use. All the information the travel team was able to get about Naluja can be used to determine which projects would be the best to implement in Naluja and help in improving the quality of life for the members there. We must look to take the next, necessary steps toward implementation.

Much of this will be taking place over the next year! We have a lot of work to get done now that the information has been obtained, and we welcome every one of our existing and new members at EWB-BU to help us with our program in Naluja. We have a lot of exciting events to help us along the way, including our annual Silent Auction, the upcoming Millenium Campus Conference, the EWB Regional Conference, and our Spring Film Festival with the EWB Boston Professional Chapter, to name a few.

We’re really excited about having completed this first step with a pre-assessment trip. It’ll enable us to go on implementation trips in the future and truly become a part of the change in the Naluja community. Join EWB-BU and become a part of the change!