On a particularly dark day I posted a picture on Facebook, of myself last year in a green sunny Zambia, with the words “I wish I could be down there”. A Zambian friend promptly replied: “You won’t like it here at the moment. We haven’t had rain and crops are dying and the country seems to be falling apart financially. People have no jobs and everything has gone up in price terribly. At least things in your part of the world are stable financially.”

It’s true that almost every time I call someone in Zambia, the news is not good. One friend was very sick for a long time and diagnosed with HIV. She is doing better but struggling with the diagnosis. Several farmer friends told me that the rains are very late and crops are failing or haven’t even germinated end of December – optimal planting time is middle of November. Essential items are becoming ever more expensive, while jobs are being lost. The price of copper, Zambia’s main source of income, has dropped like so many other commodities. Last April my Canadian Dollar brought me 5.6 Kwacha. Today it would bring me 7.9 Kwacha: a US$ would bring 11.24 Kwacha. That means everything imported becomes that much more expensive. People are suffering, just as my friend commented.

So it was especially heartening to get an email from Vivienne with a picture of her amongst her maize crop. The crop is green, as tall as she is, as it should be at this time of year. She says she is expecting a good harvest. I don’t know if she did more things right than others (conservation farming methods in dry years do bring better harvests), or if she had more timely rains. Either way, it gave me hope that all is not lost. (Vivienne is one of the women portrayed in my book: “Laughter in the Shadows”)

A good attitude to have after the WEF too! Among all the doom and gloom that came out of Davos last week, it is good to remember that all is not lost in our world either!