Lusaka is a pretty nice, lush place. It’s really spread out and there aren’t that many buildings over one story tall. So the next thing on the agenda is the play pumps. The play pumps are a great innovation in which kids operate a water pump simply by spinning around on one of those circular discs with places around for the kids to sit, push, and spin around. We arrived at the school in which it was located (there are only two others in the entire city of Lusaka-it costs around seven thousand all pipes and structures included.

So we got there and of course it’s the hot topic around the school. Visitors! Visitors! Most of the kids were in class but that didn’t stop them from pressing their faces up against the windows and watching us watch their school administrators tell us how the pump works. There was a small group of kids that were outside playing on it already, so we first saw it in action.

Here’s how it works: The kids spin the large disc and get on and ride. The movement pumps water up a huge tower next to the disc which holds a storage tower at the top. When the storage tank is full, another pipe catches the overflow and sends back down to the water source under the ground. The actual pump is about five yards away and it pumps clean water as long as the storage tank is full or the disc is spinning. The school uses the water for toilets and other water needs, including drinking water.

They showed us pictures of almost exactly a year before when First Lady Laura Bush came to visit their school. They were really excited about that one.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about lately is how well developed the concept of microfinance is already in Africa. I assumed because I had not heard about it until my involvement in this trip, that there would be no way it would be any more developed in Africa. But I was wrong. Umsubomvu and the signs on the street and the projects we’ve visited and the institutions already set up and the emphasis on the importance of such a concept is definitely prevalent in society. It is strange to think about that Africa seems so much more developed than America when it comes to this. You think of America trumping all other countries in all societal aspects, but this one Africa has over us by leaps and bounds.

Now it is also true that Africa needs concepts like microfinance more than America, and therefore such an industry was created, but you don’t think about those things up front when traveling to a different country. At least I didn’t, and it caught me off guard. I guess that is just another lesson to be learned: keep an open mind and, if you judge or build structures and positions at all, do so based on your own experiences.

Matt