Best 3 things:
After our first REAL day in the field, as we sat down to dinner at First Choice, Chris cam up with the idea, to do something that he does at home with his family; we would take turns around the table, recounting our 3 favourite things of the day. It turned out to be a lot of fun and the start of many conversations about the day. It was also a great ice breaker that first day and as the week progressed a real way of understanding each others feelings and expectations. photo by Colin & Christy Zacharias
The un-named: I noticed that there were a number of the team that would keep asking the ADP staff for the names of certain trees, shrubs, plants and or bugs. Seems they don’t have any. I suppose things like that are not of major importance in Africa, as I found the same thing last year. I was particularly taken with a large bee type insect that I first noticed when we visited the hospital and it kept flying around. I think the staff, and maybe a few of my fellow travellers thought I was worried about it, but I wanted it to land, so I could get a better look. It was huge! One day Chris came out in the morning, wearing his bright orange World Vision t-shirt and lo-and-behold along came one of these bees, thinking he looked like a mighty tasty flower and kept hovering around him. Again, it wouldn’t land, so I could get a good look. What was it? I still don’t know, but my curiosity remains.
Eustance: After the first few days of getting to know us, he became quite the comedian! He decided that since we weren’t willing to try and smuggle Henry, my rooster back to Canada in the suitcase, that perhaps the team should take back a hive of their African (killer) honey bees with us. They’d pack it up good he would say. He also had a running joke going with Patricia that he had a wonderful husband in mind for her and he thought perhaps she really should stay behind and marry this fellow. There were many other little remarks, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind.
Pop: Everyone loves pop in Zambia! Sprite seems to be the poison of choice, with Fanta Orange running a close second and Coke third. It’s never turned town.
Pepper: No one seems to know what pepper is, or at least they don’t use it. I seldom use salt, but use huge amounts of pepper on my food and when ever I would ask for it, I would get these blank stares…’pepper, you say? No, No, we don’t have any.’ Strange.
Cars: Within the town of Kalomo there were never many cars on the roads; you saw mostly trucks of one sort or another hauling things. Most people road bikes of all shapes, sizes and designs or simply walked wherever they needed to go. No pollution from exhaust fumes here.
Loud speakers: On our first day of a black-out we heard a voice talking over a loud speaker in the distance. As the sound came closer, I asked Utant what it was about. He told me that when there was a power outage, water problems etc. that the government officials would ride around in these trucks and announce it (as if we didn’t already know) , but he also told me the funniest thing. He said that while they announced this, they would also announce the names of people who had not paid their utility bills, while driving through neighbourhoods. Now that’s certainly a way to shame people into paying their bills!
Weather & Night:By day 3 of the trip the meaning of ‘cool-dry season hit home. I was finding it chilly at night and having to use the flannel PJ’s I brought along (never thinking I’d need them) and had to pull my jacket, that I wore from home, back out of the suitcase for the mornings and evenings (we would walk home every evening after dinner from Zu’s). The little multi-tool that I received from my wonderful neighbours last year, that had a temp gauge on it, and that I was looking forward to using to find out what the temp was, had, of course, a dead battery, which was not replaceable in Kalomo, so I’ll never know exactly what the range of temperature was. Also the days were becoming cloudy, with large dark clouds rolling over (and cool when they cut off the sun) and so we would say ‘looks like rain today’ to which the reply was always ‘oh never! This is the cool dry season, it doesn’t rain’. And it didn’t! Another thing we all noticed were the stars! Oh the brightness and clarity were amazing, although having all the constellations facing in the wrong direction was a little disconcerting! But so bright, clear and beautiful. You could just stand and stare forever, it seemed.
Charcoal: I noticed the most interesting bags of charcoal piled at the back of the Guest House, ( and in many spots along the sides of the highway we traveled) a common way of earning extra money for many people. I understand the charcoal is made by placing burning logs in a pit and covering with soil/sand. The lack of oxygen causes the charcoal process (over simplification, I’m sure). Charcoal is a preferred way to cook as most people are still cooking over open fires. Here’s how it works; a lady wants to cook beans, so she buys some charcoal to cook her beans. Once the charcoal is burning, she puts the pot with beans on the stove and she can leave the place and take care for other things. The charcoal stove does not need regular attention. After 1.5 hours the beans are readily cooked. Much different however, if she would use a wood fire. She regularly needs to attend and feed the fire. If she does not carefully and constantly feed the fire with wood in a proper stove, she may use and burn more wood- compared with the wood which is needed to produce the charcoal used. Utant told me that a bag of charcoal can sell from $5 - $10 US. Quite a large amount for rural Zambians to raise.
Singing in the jeep: On the evening we left Velody’s home, we knew we were in for a long rough drive back to Kalomo. Someone suggested a sing-along, but it was hard to come up with any songs that ADP staff and Canadians knew all the words to. So we asked the staff to sing us the Zambian National Anthem, which they did so, beautifully. We then returned the favour (?) by singing the Canadian Anthem and they in turn sang theirs again, but in Tonga. It wasn’t a long lasting exercise in killing time, but it brought a lot of laughs to all of us.
The han
d shake and making babies cry:photo by Kathy Munkley
I’m not sure if I told about the little girl I met in the small market that we took the short cut through, on the way to the ADP. As we’ve all mentioned, the people of Kalomo and Zambia in general are warm and friendly, always saying hello, with us trying to return the favour by replying “Mulli Butti” back (to much chortling and gaffes). This particular day there was a little girl, perhaps 3 years old, standing with her mother outside one of the shops. I said hello to the mother and bent down and offered my hand to the little one. She hesitantlyy took it shook my hand and upon releasing my hand look at her own with a sense of wonder and astonishment, looking for all the world, like she was expecting the ‘white paint’ to come off this foreigners hand and stay on her own. The look on her face. will forever be imprinted in my mind. It’s also easy to make babies cry! Most having never seen a mukoa (white) person are already shy and unsure. At the Market on our first day I spotted a baby with Mother sitting next to the stall where we were buying some fabric. Looking at me the baby began to cry and hide behind mother, and so me, wanting to be the friendly grandmother type, immediately pulled a bottle of bubbles from my bag and started to blow them in the babies direction. This brought on a whole set of new hysterics, as I suppose this was something never experienced before either! Way to go Grandma!
Letters for Winnipeg: On the second or third day I walked back to my room by myself, planning to do some blogging and take a rest. I was met by a women who introduced herself and said she was looking for the people from Winnipeg. My, news travels fast, here, I thought. I explained that the rest of the group was still busy with other projects, but we would be here for the next while and suggested she come back during dinner time one evening to met them. She had explained tome that she had lived with a family in Winnipeg for a time and wanted to send pictures and letters back to them. So, one evening she showed up as we were eating and we invited her to join us and arrangements were made to take her parcel back to Canada with us and make sure it got to the right recipients. Which leads me to the fact of it being a small, small world. During our many discussions on the long drives, I discovered that Charmaine knew of my husbands Aunt and Uncle that live in Hamilton Ontario, that Kathy’s husbands grandparents (I think that’s how the connection was) had actually lived about 4 houses down from me, when I was growing up, that the Mission the Breanna was staying to work with had it’s office on a street about ¼ of a mile from where I lived as a child and also very close to where I live now, and that the managers wife came from Crofton, the home of very dear friends of my parents and who I adored. Now doesn’t that beat all?
Skype: I have never used Skype before and only learned of it last year; but Tom & I decided to give it a try this year. It’s a wonder! I was finally able to SEE him and speak to him while in Livingstone on the weekend. It was wonderful to be able to talk with home and made me a little homesick for a few minutes. Tom got to meet some of the team as well, as we hadn’t set the program up properly before I left and we couldn’t talk to each other, just text. I had Chris come into my room to try and help fix the problem, and I’m sure Tom was wondering who this strange guy on the video screen was! Then back in Kalomo I was twice able to touch base again and even spoke to my son quickly, and during those times, he got to meet Maria, Patricia and Brooke ( he just wanted to know where the bag was that we put out for the milkman!) . I even managed to get through quickly in Jo’burg before the net went down yet again, and turned the computer around so he could say hello to the whole group. Skype is a wonderful thing!
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