Out and about around the site

I now have a bicycle, so I have been riding to different locations of the Christian Vision farm, here in Zambia, taking photos.

First of all, the farm, where maize milling is now taking place. The process, from field to plate is as follows:

It starts with storing the dry cobs in a barn:

Then, the kernels are removed by machine (I missed that one) and spread outside to bake in the sun.

Then the winnowing takes place, as the kernels are tipped from one bucket to another, for the wind to remove dry husks, before being stored in sacks:

Then, the grinding process begins to make maize flour, known locally as mealie meal. The kernels are fed into a very noisy machine...

...ground into flour and packed into sacks:

The sacks are then stored ready for selling onto the Zambian market.

Of course some is kept on the farm to make nchima, the staple food:

The farm is also the hub of vehicle maintainence:

...and the place where farm workers depart from. They were going up to a top field to repair fences, that day:

The cattle are scattered around the farm. These just happened to be passing through when we were there:

Two milking cows come in twice a day to be milked by hand:

Here is the expert milker, who filled a gallon bucket in about five minutes:

It took my friend, Sue a little longer...

...and I was almost a none-starter - I was laughing so much!

The mother of this month old calf, died just after it's birth , so it is being raised by hand:

Besides hundreds of chicken, there are two other animals on the farm. Two orphan sheep, which Farm Managers', Gavin and Mary Anne, are rearing in their garden. They've given them the names, Samson and Tara:

Next, to the current radio station, which was built in a mango orchard:

There are eight separate buildings, like this one, which I think houses the technical department:

The gardens have matured over the past 14 years, making a very peasant working environment:

Even the generator building has a mango tree:

The only problem with having separate buildings connected by paths, is in the rainy season. Presenters moving from the Production Building to the Studios often get soaked!

The other 'technical' site is set on a hill, called 'Mount Zion':

Mount Zion is the site of a transmission tower, currently sending the FM signal to Lusaka. When the studios are relocated, the transmission tower will receive the signal from Lusaka and forward it onto the main transmission site for rebroadcasting on Shortwave. I like this photo because the clouds forming in the background create an unusual effect:

Hills can only really be appreciated from a distance, but I hope this photo of the steps leading up to Mount Zion, convey it better:

Mount Zion is also a great location to watch the African sunset:

The little blip on the horizon, immediately to the left of Sue's head is Sanjay Hill, several kilometres away. This rocky outcrop of iron ore is on the western boundary of the farm.

Towards the southern boundary, not far from the Kafue River flood plain, the fields become very marshy in the rainy season. This is a storm lake, which will probably dry out in the coming months:

Another area is the 'compound', a residential area for farm and maintainence workers on the site:

They are small one and two room homes, with running water, toilets and electricity, where people can grow their own vegetables and raise 'village' chickens, where children play in the sun and women sit and cook outside on simple African fires. I'm still waiting for an invitation inside...