June 14, 1971 to July 9th, 1971
I undertook a four week study tour of Zambia for the Danish Volunteer Service visiting former volunteers and their work sites. The purpose of this visit was several fold. A major purpose of the trip was to familiarize myself with the country in connection with my assumption of responsibility for the Zambia Area Studies program. In this connection, another purpose was to make contacts with Zambians and expatriates living in Zambia who might be of some assistance in the Zambia orientation program.

During my visit to Zambia a major concern was also an attempt to meet and talk to as many of the Danish volunteers as possible and to familiarize myself with their problems and with the problems of the regional administration in Zambia. The basic question asked to both the volunteers and the administrators working in Zambia was of course “What suggestions do you have as to the approach taken in the Zambia Area Studies Program?” A major part of this report will be an attempt to answer this question on the basis of the observations I made and the views of the people I talked to. In addition, I will attempt to provide some impressions of the country and the major areas I visited and the things I have seen.

A note of caution should be made from the outset of this report. The duration of time spent in the country was extremely short, between three and four weeks. Much of the time was spent not “in absorbing Zambia” but in trying to gather source material and interview some 35 or 40 people spread over a country 17 times the size of Denmark. While I did travel by surface along the line of rail from Livingstone to Ndola much of my travel was done by air. All of these things point out the danger that my impressions of Zambia might have been distorted.

On the other hand, one of the motivations of this report lies in the fact that I am the first “outsider” (excluding Zambia volunteers and regional administrators), to visit Zambia for the Danish Association for International Cooperation (Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, for any extended period of time.

The scope of the journey itself was overwhelming. Following an initial six days in Lusaka, I flew to Mongu in Western Province for a period of four days. From Mongu I traveled to Livingstone for a three day stay. From Livingstone, I returned to Lusaka by bus for an overnight stop before going on to Kabwe by rail (with two to three hour waits for delayed trains both in Lusaka and Kabwa) and then on to Ndola and the copperbelt. My stay in the copperbelt was broken up by a three day trip to Kasama in Northern Province by air. On my return to the copperbelt via Ndola I paid brief visits to Luanshya and Kitwe. After a three day stay in the copperbelt I returned to Lusaka for two days before returning to Arusha.