Life In Zambia

Discussion in 'Indians in Africa' started by Mahajanpragati, Oct 24, 2018.

  1. Mahajanpragati

    Mahajanpragati Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,037
    Likes Received:
    1,333
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi all,
    We live in Zambia and as there is lack Indian relevant info about this land locked country ,I will post whatever I know about this country.This is our 4 th country in Africa and 6th if one considers short stays in some other countries where we lived for shorter duration of 3 months.Before this I have posted info about Uganda and South Africa.
    Zambia is on the southern end of Africa.Its known for the 2nd highest waterfall of the world called Victoria Falls at Livingstone.The capital is Lusaka .As far as I can make out from people of Indian origin ,Indians came here around 1925 onwards. Its a mining country but as usual the Indians came as traders or workers on Zambian railways.
    People, as in whole of Africa ,are very friendly and courteous.English is official language so no issues of communication.The cost of living for a family of 4 with school going kids is around $3000 which includes rent,school fee but can go up or down depending on your own personal choices about schools and places to live.
    Indian grocery items are easily available and are of good quality.Vegetables and fruits are available in local markets and malls and are almost organic.
    There are big brands like Edgar ,Forschini,Woolworth,Ackerman etc for clothes .Indian clothes ,gold ,cosmetic items can also be brought from entrepreneurial Indian ladies who deal in these.Indian beauty parlour are plenty.
    The schools are IB or Cambridge board and except for the American International or Lusaka International which have very high fee ,the others are affordable.
    There are plenty of Indian restaurants with good reasonable priced food.The malls in Lusaka show Indian Bollywood movies.
    Life is safe and as usual Indians live in compounds with security guards and electric fencing.All festivals are celebrated and there are Indian Temples .
    Mosquito as in southern part of Africa is a big problem here and as result Malaria is rampant but medicine and medical care is available but not very good specially in smaller towns.
    For now this is all I can think of............pls feel free to ask any queries you may have.I am not very regular on the forum now ,but as I started this thread will be checking it once a week .
     
    kavya007, Vedhavalli and Rihana like this.
    Loading...

  2. Sweety82

    Sweety82 Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    525
    Likes Received:
    549
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Gender:
    Female
    Good info. Thanks...
     
  3. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,481
    Likes Received:
    30,224
    Trophy Points:
    540
    Gender:
    Female
    @Mahajanpragati that is a good compilation of information about Zambia. Neat summary. Some questions that came to the mind:
    1. Among Indians who have been settled there for many years, do parents feel it challenging to instill and retain Indian values in the children? This is a common issue for Indians living in western countries.
    2. Cost of living $3000 for a family of 4. That is US dollars? Is this per month? What all does it include? Typically, what is the biggest expense monthly? Rent? Schooling?
    3. Indian beauty parlours -- do the ladies need to get a permit and go through inspection? Or, is it more informal?
    4. What is the most widely spoken Indian language among Indians?
    5. What do Indian children do for higher education after class X or XII?
    6. Malls in Lusaka showing Bollywood movies -- do locals (native Zambians) also come to watch Bollywood movies?
    7. Do young Indians and Zambians inter marry?
    8. Given its proximity to Zimbabwe, do young kids in Lusaka play cricket?
    9. Living in compounds -- are schools and places of work also within the compound?
    10. Do most Indian families have own cars? People drive by themselves or is it more common to have a driver?
    Just curious about lives of Indians in a country in a continent I don't know much about. Thank you for any information you can share, but please don't go to too much trouble if you don't already know the information.
     
    Vedhavalli likes this.
  4. Mahajanpragati

    Mahajanpragati Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    2,037
    Likes Received:
    1,333
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi,Great to see that you are interested to know more.I will answer whatever I can .

    1. Among Indians who have been settled there for many years, do parents feel it challenging to instill and retain Indian values in the children? This is a common issue for Indians living in western countries.As usual its the personal initiative of the parents whether they want to install values or not.The biggest loss I feel is that of language and as result of culture.So the 1st generation expats insist on speaking their native language with kids but the 2nd or 3rd generation Indians don't seem to not care much.There are temples where Indian functions are regularly held and many Indian children participate.Also most expats get once a year whole family air ticket which they use to visit their families in India to stay connected.
    2. Cost of living $3000 for a family of 4. That is US dollars? Is this per month? What all does it include? Typically, what is the biggest expense monthly? Rent? Schooling?The biggest expense as usual is rent which for a good 3 bedroom flat or independent house in gated community is almost 500 -2000$ . Many Expat get furnished accommodation from company ..............yes,the quote is in US dollars as most expats are paid in dollars. The schooling in American International also is almost 1500 $ per month but the Cambridge schools are slightly cheaper at 500 $ pm.Again many expats get school fee paid by company.
    3. Indian beauty parlours -- do the ladies need to get a permit and go through inspection? Or, is it more informal? The ladies who open a shop in market or mall go for proper paper work and the rest who operate from home may or may not have practising license.
    4. What is the most widely spoken Indian language among Indians? There are expats from various states.The Gujaratis are mostly in business and speak their own language and are in majority.The rajasthanis are in mines and use they own dialect and the Hindi speaking north Indians .I ma hindi speaker and I find most people from India do speak Hindi even if they belong to other states.
    5. What do Indian children do for higher education after class X or XII? The students opt to go to foreign university or India but a sizable once graduate from Zambian university too.
    6. Malls in Lusaka showing Bollywood movies -- do locals (native Zambians) also come to watch Bollywood movies? I did not see any locals in theater but Bollywood songs and Star world serials are very popular here.The cable network is DSTV which has Asian package with major Indian channels like Colour,Sony,Star,Zee ,NDTV etc telecasted and also local cable channel providers like in India.
    7. Do young Indians and Zambians inter marry? They do but very less in number.
    8. Given its proximity to Zimbabwe, do young kids in Lusaka play cricket? Yes,there are regular cricket tournments between schools but no national team.
    9. Living in compounds -- are schools and places of work also within the compound? No compound means a gated community of 5-25 houses with electric fence,guard and in many cases swimming pools,clubs ,gyms.
    10. Do most Indian families have own cars? People drive by themselves or is it more common to have a driver?Indians own their cars and self drive............expats in higher position get company car with drivers with petrol paid by company.
     
    Rihana likes this.

Share This Page