Zambia

OK, it looks like the African trip is starting to come together, although in a shorter and less complicated form - which runs counter to how my trips normally go, when they start off simple and they grow wildly complicated. I'm going to fly into Lusaka, Zambia on 23 May (arriving on Monday 24 May) following the traditional Burlington-JFK-Johannesburg-Lusaka route that we've all flown from one time or another. I'll be attending an African eLearning Conference, which should allow for me to make connections with sub-Saharan universities interested in the type of online discussion that we feature in the Global Modules. I'm now in the process of starting to do research on Zambia - on the surface it seems pretty grim (50% unemployment, 86% living under the poverty line, 10% HIV - however, those stats are from the CIA website and they are not completely free of exaggeration, although I don't know what the advantage would be in this case) - but it also seems that they are making progress on several fronts so it may actually be getting better. Strange fact I saw somewhere - that Zambia is the only Africa country that produces cell phones (?) - can't believe that South Africa doesn't produce cell phones, so that may just be an urban legend. After a week in Zambia I'll be flying to Johannesburg to talk to a couple partner universities. More as the trip comes together.