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Muwowo is a 45-minute walk away from the nearest paved road, electrical socket or tap. The school is staffed by demotivated teachers, who often turn up late for school. The Deputy Headteacher proudly displays a whip on his desk. In one of the classes we took, the youngest student was 11, the oldest 18. Pupils walk for as long as five kilometres to get there every morning. But on a cloudy day, they are late, as they can’t see where the sun is in the sky to tell the time. When

Shadows of the controversial 2016 Presidential election paint everyday life in Zambia. President Edgar Lungu's gap-toothed grin still beams out from t-shirts, skirts and posters across the country. The ubiquity of two year-old election material is somewhat startling, a indication of the aggressive nature of political campaigning here. Even in the remotest communities, several miles from the nearest paved roads, electricity and running water, Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF) has a

I had underestimated how much cultural and geographic distance would so quickly affect my perspective on the issues which usually dominate my everyday life. Although I've only been in Zambia for just over a week, I already feel a growing disconnect from the endless cycle of Brexit updates, Twitter sagas and political trivialities which characterise the news agenda at home. Even the regular social media updates from friends have lost their impact. In a society where the everyd

A Union Flag-patterned butterfly bursts from the confines of the European Union. The Spectator magazine, announcing its support for Brexit before the 2016 referendum declares: “Out and into the world”. This ‘Butterfly Brexit’ seems to be the ultimate goal of many leading Brexiteers. They envisage post-Brexit Britain as forging a role for itself in the 21st Century as a globalising world leader. For the likes of Hannan, Gove and Rees Mogg, Brexit is an exercise in freedom. The