An Interview with Alex: Benson

It's very easy in the UK, if you've not been here, to think of Africa as one big homogenous country, where everyone is living in poverty, based on the not always entirely helpful videos you see on Children in Need programs. Of course there is some poverty and injustice and there isn't the same access to healthcare and education, but the day-to-day reality is so different from that. There is so much life here. Also there really is a proper infrastructure and an economy, despite what those adverts would have you believe. Life here isn't so wildly different from back home. 

I thought it would be fun to interview some of my friends on life in Zambia to give a different perspective on things. I'm genuinely surprised anyone other than my mum is still reading this blog, but since you are, I expect you'd enjoy hearing from someone else. 

To start things off I have interviewed my good friend Benson. Benson is a gardener who lives in a village about a mile away the hospital and works in a lot of the consultants' gardens. He's extremely hard working and is one of the nicest people I've ever met. He also makes the BEST roasted groundnuts and frequently brings me some because he knows I love them.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the village (Kachipu). Now 1979, that’s when I left the village and was taken to Lusaka by one of my brothers to start school.

How did you find growing up in the village?

In the previous days life was a bit slow, but after staying 12 years in Lusaka, then coming back I found that things had really changed. Most of the time before education there was a very big belief about witch craft. You couldn’t dress well, the fear of the unknown… But through education and church services we came to learn that witch craft is not good. It’s the way you handle life, if many people admire you then you know things are changing bit by bit.

Tell me about your family

We are 6 of us. We lost our first born sister, then I am the last born in the family. There remain 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I think you saw one sister, the one who had a stroke. My mother, she was the first person to die, she passed in 1991, then my father came second.

I’m sorry, what happened?

In the case of my father, he was very cold. My mother, it was the same problem as my sister - stroke, she stayed 3 days in the ward, but she didn’t survive.

What do your siblings do for work?

My brother, the one in Lusaka, he’s retired, he was working for Barclay’s bank. Now he’s at his farm in Lusaka. My other brother, he’s just a farmer. My sister also does a bit of farming.

What have been the best and the worst things about living in the village?

The worst thing about living in the village is that people are a bit jealous. When they see someone doing a bit of work and then earning an income, they think that person seems to be boasting, when it’s not. You cannot all be staying in the village without doing any work. But some they appreciate that when you are doing a bit of work, if they’re in trouble they know they can approach you for some assistance. 

That’s the hardest thing staying in the village. They don’t want to see some people making a change. Most of the time, like for men they concentrate on drinking, and when they see that you are not drinking they say “this one is boasting, come and drink together”.

But village life is very fine because things are a bit cheaper. When you try to grow your own food, you can spend your money on other groceries - soap… It’s not very tough, you have enough to live on. The other thing is you can communicate with a lot of people, there are a lot of things on how you can live your own life. There’s more time to chat with elders and to chat with the little ones who have lost parents. From there you also learn a lot and you see that life should be led like this.

Are there many children without parents in the village?

Yah there are a lot of them. They live with relatives, most of the time it’s their grandma, if they’ve lost their grandfather. Other times you will find the grandmother will try to generate an income by crushing stones, then they sell the stones for constructing houses, so as to generate money for the grandchildren.

Do you believe in God? Can you tell me a bit about your experience with God?

Very much yes, truly. The truth is we are here because him created each and every one of us, because his good will that human beings will live on Earth and to look after whatever is on Earth. I truly trust that God is there and that he does exist. 

Is there any time that God has particularly helped you?

Yah truly. In terms of illness, like in the previous years I used to have a truly big problem with migraines. One year without doing any work, but I was still cared for, I was kept alive. I could see that a good number of friends, although not relatives, but because they were fellow church members they came to assist me, which means the love that God provides to each and everyone is being extended, to each and everyone - to members and non-members (of the church).

What is your proudest achievement?

From the simple skills that I have, I am able to be requested to perform work from other people and then generate a bit of an income for my family. The little I got from school, then I had additional practise on what I’d learnt, then bit by bit, at least achieving something.

Last question: what are your hopes for the future?

My hope for the future is truly to try and teach the youngsters to know on how much they can live on their own by having some life skills. Because if you have life skills you can do work at your home and you can be requested to perform work. At home you are able to do work and when you are hired you are able to do work. So my future is to try and train the youngsters and my children also to get involved. To see what I’m doing and then imitate. They see I’m benefiting and then they can benefit more too.

Thank you so much Benson, it’s been so kind of you!

I hope you all enjoyed hearing from Benson. I did take a video, but the file is HUGE it'll take up about 2 weeks allowance of data, so I wrote it out instead. If you guys have enjoyed this then I'll try and do some more.