The after-supper reading has been going along fine, several chapters a night. Perhaps it's unrelated but eggs began being offerred afterward. Then more eggs in threes and then in quantities of 10.
And what was that mysterious 4th bowl on the supper table one night? (Usually only the standard 3: nshima, cooked veg. leaves and meat or beans.) No one was talking. It was served after the meal, homemade yogurt banana pudding. Dessert is way off any Zambian menu. Another night fresh orange halves were served for the reader and all the listeners. And more eggs.
This Weeks' Interview: Wisedom Muzoka
Wisedom is 17 years old, of short stocky build. He was 12 when he came to the orpanage then in Lusaka.
His is not as open as some of the others and just a bit more difficult for me to understand. He speaks at a faster clip to my ear.
I remember him coming to my room on my first visit and always feeling a little put off by him. He was slow to tell me what he wanted because his eyes were roaming around my room. Even as he talked, he usually didn't look at me but continued (I think) to inventory my belongings. He was a frequent visitor until I found he always came with that same phrase, "Sir, I am asking for the ____ (his current need). He usually was asking for something he'd seen on a previous trip, but sometimes he was on a 'fishing expedition". I felt my only use to him had to do with what I had brought with me.
Later when I began to greet him with "What do you need now?" and not being forthcoming in providing it, he was not above sending others who seemed on better terms with Uncle Sam to try instead. When questioned carefully as to why something was needed, the covert agent would eventually fold and say it was for Wisedom. He needed a variety of things but mostly having to do with batteries and electronics.
Wisedom is in the 11th grade. His current hobby is learning the guitar and listening to music, mostly hip hop.
Sports: I like football (soccer) and I am good at it. I am learning basketball. I would like to play golf. [no idea where that came from]
Goals: I would like to complete my current studies and then take some courses in banking and find a job in that field.
His happiest memory here: When I passed 7th grade final exams and oh, when I got a laptop that worked.
His saddest: He could come up with one. [Others suggested that he would have had several to consider.]
Changes he has seen here: The children are getting older.
What I like best here: The kind of life... he hesitated. "life-style' I suggested, Yes, he agrees.
Changes he would make: More sports and group outgings, camping, visiting game parks, and such.
Relatives: I have a sister who lives far away but I have gotten to see her. I also have a brother I haven't seen in years.
Do you have friends outside Chishawasha?
Yes, I have friends from school, from church and from the neighborhood.
What would life have been like without Chishawasha?
I would not have been exposed to so many good friends, my education would have hiccupped (been hit or miss). I would have been out of it... I am more up to date now.
My 'next container' wish: Laptop, that is a better functioning laptop, Windows, Apple computer. Also musical instruments, guitar and keyboards.
If you had the money: I would buy a good house in Lusaka and a fancy car. Anything left over, I would give to some place like Chishawasha.
Anything else you would like to say I appreciatet the laptops that were sent, I use one in my studies.
Addendum:
Last night after the 'evening story time' Wisedom came swaggering in, dressed in a 'new' sports coat (he'd been 'shopping' in our warehouse donations) and carrying a brief case which he said contained a little cash for Uncle Sam as he plops it on the table in front of me. He could have been a mafia boss, he was accompanied by a group willingly portraying his seedy henchmen. Each of whom would slink by and try to take the brief case. I asked him what kind of car he'd come in. "Oh, the hummer is parked outside," was the answer with a jerk of the head.
Official Opening Report:
Everyone, everything is leaning hard toward this grand event. The embassies have not yet responded as to what level of officials they will be sending, will keep you posted. Anyone have a red carpet/brass band?
Fence Update:
The fence is complete, 15 electified wire strands. This comes with an impressive gate and guardhouse and an introductory wall on which a sign will be painted to tell you what impossing organization lies beyond. The new entrance road is still just fresh-cut from the bush (unimproved track) at present.
Guitars
In my interviews guitars have come up as possible contain items. I have since learned that the two guitars we have came from previous containers. And I should say that those two instruments are currently providing lessons for 6 students, including John, Toko and Wisedom who you now 'know' blog-wise.
Chingachinga Season:
Chingachingas are wild red berries about the color, size and tartness of cranberries, but they are mostly pit. Not much fruit. But enough to keep kids picking them and bringing pocketfulls to class. This soft-hearted teacher thought he couldn't really stop their consumption so he allowed them in class. Intent on what he was doing, about a half hour later, gets up to walk to the board, but this is now difficult from all the chingachinga seeds on the floor. We took a chingachinga seed break in instruction to sweep.
Games:
Our young folk spend a good deal of time playing games. It would be hard to find a time to walk across our campus and not see at least three groups ingaged in some game or other. Some you would recognize as Marbles and various competitive ways of jumping rope (or short section of hose), or games like Jacks played with small stones, throwing one up and snatchin another from a pile before catching it. Hop Scotch is common on the school play grounds but not much around the homes.
Yesterday I saw my first game of Chishawasha tennis. It is played with a tennis ball, of course. The raquettes were two short pieces of plank liberated from a construction site. These require only two-handed shots. The court size depends on how much area you can cover while the ball is in the air. And it is playes sans net.
We have a soccer pitch, or we did, before the fence. As it currently stands, the back of one goal keeper would be dangerously near the electirc fence. Keeper are under enough pressure without that. So the pitch will have to shift at bit. No one is anxious to go back to playing on stubble and trampling it down to hard packed palying surface again.
The goals are rustic, upright poles and a cross piece cut from the bush. The main obstacle to soccer here is the omnipresent thorn bushes. One kick out-of-bounds can be a deflating experience for the toughest soccer ball. That is why you often see the younger kids, especially, playing with a very limp ball.
There are some neighborhood teams that come and play against the Chishawasha squad from time to time. There are other schools in the area, might be a possibility of a tournament.
The warehouse has a basketball hoop on the side. Just recently the court has been severely deministhed by a load of crushed stone. The basketball at least is usually inflated sufficiently to dribble, all thorn bushes have been banished from that busy work/traffic area.
I promise more fun and GAMES later, could do a whole blog on nothing else.
This is Sam at play, blog pressing out of Africa
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Poceza M'Madzulo
Poceza M'Medzulo. Its pronounced just like it looks (with a'ch' for the 'c' and a sort of stutter on the 'm's'. Zambians are fairly tolerant of mispronunciations (unless of course they are young children trying to teach you, in which case you are better than a stand-up comedian). Oh yes, and what does it mean? Rough translation: evening story time. But the full flavor of these words would be an after sunset communal gathering which would naturally be under a tree, include a fire and of course a story teller and would occur most commonly during the cold, dry season.
It seemed accidental to me. After supper, individual children have been bringing a book for Uncle Sam to read and one to three little ones might sit or stand by, trying to get their book 'next' in line. However, this week -definitely into the cold, dry season- I somehow got to the bookcase first and spotted some books I would like to read to them. First was Redwall by Brian Jacques. Why not try a chapter and see how it goes? I couldn't stop with one chapter, after chapter 5, I looked up at a pleasant mix of older and young kids (6-18) with expectant faces waiting for more. "To be continued," I said considering the hour.
I had not realized (or maybe remembered) the powerful draw of a story other than as a break from work during school hours. But then I did recall rushing back to elementary school after lunch, making sure I was on time for the next chapter of Piggly Wiggly or some such story. So now 7th Grade studies during this vacation study schedule, start with a chapter of Redwall. They come on time and sit without shoving desks around and fighting over books, and they begin to work quietly when it is over. So much more pleasant than the screech of metal desk legs being pushed over concrete by 3 or 4 students and then trying to speak over the din to say, "Its time to settle down."
This Weeks' Interview: Thokodzide Kauma
Thoko (sounds like Toko) is 18 and a very self assured, caring person with an easy smile and an enjoyable, thoughtful interviwee.
She came to Chishawasha when it was in Lusaka at age 11 and has been with this organization for 7 years, the same as John (from last weeks blog). She is in 11th grade in high school. She likes reading and listening to gospel music. She also enjoys caring for others and you can tell, she does it so naturally, she has a calm reassuring presence, with very much the air of a house mother and I think she could fill in in this capity when needed. A week ago, I was anxious for my lunch so I could be back to school on our 'vacation' schedule. She gives me that charming smile and says, "No problem, Uncle Sam," and got me well fed and out there on time, seemingly effortlessly. She also has taken care of Shaback, Maria and Phillip's new baby, which she has asked o do.
Her favorite school subject so far: Accounting.
Her goal is to study medicine or mass communication. She will continue to work hard through 12th grade and then look for a university outside Zambia.
Her happiest memory here: When I made it to the 10th grade.
And her saddest was when she didn't do well in her end-of-term exam in 10th grade.
Changes I have seen: "We have become more friendly."
What I like best here: The education and meeting new people and making new friends. She has friends both from school and church.
What would you change? "Would like separate housing for the older kids."
She has relatives which she can visit, grandparents, brothers and cousins.
How would life have been without Chishawasha?
Hard and there was not much education.
What was it like before you came? I was living with grandparents and a brother and getting some schooling. But it was uncomfortable, it was hard on them.
What would you buy if you had the money? "A house and farm with chick-run, cows, pigs and vegetable garden.?
She is certainly not your typical teenager.
School Report: Matching wings.
Somehow the contractor got some paint that was just a shade off in color from the first wing and painted the second wing with it. Thanks to some diligent and perceptive students the problem was corrected. A second disaster was avoided when they noticed that their seond bucket of paint was a shade off the first one they had just finished and none of that got applied. Now both wings match
The school is coming together. Since we are in and using it every day, like your growing child, you sometimes miss things by the slow but steady changes and these jump out at you when looking at pictures even a few weeks old. But we do have a deadline. See next item.
The Official Opening of the Chishawasha Children's Home and Learning Center.
Well its about time. Kathe started this all 7 years ago in Lusaka and then moved to our present location about 10 km north of town. But now with the completion of the shcool and the visitation of Colin Glasscow from Canada (he is responsible for the major contributions including our water supply and buildings) it seems we need to acknowledge and celebrate this event. So an appropriate event is being planned which means a major effort to complete everything and make it all spffy for visitors and to organize the happening.
Event planning had P and I visiting the US and Canadian Embassies. The results are not yet in as to the level of representative that will be attending/speaking from each of these countries. We may have the Acting High Commissioner from Canada (with the help of some folks in Canada) and I was trying to use that as a bargaining chip for someone above a secretary's secretary from the US. There will be one of ministerial level from the Zambian government. And if that is not enough, the refreshments are being handled by Protea Lodge. Let me know if you are interested, I may be able to finagle you an invitation. The date? The middle of May.
Weather report:
Sunny but colder and drier. You never notice it when it happens, but somehow the copious rains have been turned off and there is no longer any mud in sight. Some mornings a jacket is required. We may see rain again in maybe 4 months.
Perimeter Fence:
The way has been all cleared despite the a horde of bees with contray views. One can now easily walk our boundries. It has that peaceful feeling one used to get walking down Minestone Road, before it was turned in to a thoroughfare. Several heavy metal posts have been set in concrete, some with sturdy braces. This give the place a much more finite feeling than it had before. The new access road is cleared and the beginnings of the guard house can be seen.
This is Sam Weeks at the end of that road, blog pressing out of Africa.
It seemed accidental to me. After supper, individual children have been bringing a book for Uncle Sam to read and one to three little ones might sit or stand by, trying to get their book 'next' in line. However, this week -definitely into the cold, dry season- I somehow got to the bookcase first and spotted some books I would like to read to them. First was Redwall by Brian Jacques. Why not try a chapter and see how it goes? I couldn't stop with one chapter, after chapter 5, I looked up at a pleasant mix of older and young kids (6-18) with expectant faces waiting for more. "To be continued," I said considering the hour.
I had not realized (or maybe remembered) the powerful draw of a story other than as a break from work during school hours. But then I did recall rushing back to elementary school after lunch, making sure I was on time for the next chapter of Piggly Wiggly or some such story. So now 7th Grade studies during this vacation study schedule, start with a chapter of Redwall. They come on time and sit without shoving desks around and fighting over books, and they begin to work quietly when it is over. So much more pleasant than the screech of metal desk legs being pushed over concrete by 3 or 4 students and then trying to speak over the din to say, "Its time to settle down."
This Weeks' Interview: Thokodzide Kauma
Thoko (sounds like Toko) is 18 and a very self assured, caring person with an easy smile and an enjoyable, thoughtful interviwee.
She came to Chishawasha when it was in Lusaka at age 11 and has been with this organization for 7 years, the same as John (from last weeks blog). She is in 11th grade in high school. She likes reading and listening to gospel music. She also enjoys caring for others and you can tell, she does it so naturally, she has a calm reassuring presence, with very much the air of a house mother and I think she could fill in in this capity when needed. A week ago, I was anxious for my lunch so I could be back to school on our 'vacation' schedule. She gives me that charming smile and says, "No problem, Uncle Sam," and got me well fed and out there on time, seemingly effortlessly. She also has taken care of Shaback, Maria and Phillip's new baby, which she has asked o do.
Her favorite school subject so far: Accounting.
Her goal is to study medicine or mass communication. She will continue to work hard through 12th grade and then look for a university outside Zambia.
Her happiest memory here: When I made it to the 10th grade.
And her saddest was when she didn't do well in her end-of-term exam in 10th grade.
Changes I have seen: "We have become more friendly."
What I like best here: The education and meeting new people and making new friends. She has friends both from school and church.
What would you change? "Would like separate housing for the older kids."
She has relatives which she can visit, grandparents, brothers and cousins.
How would life have been without Chishawasha?
Hard and there was not much education.
What was it like before you came? I was living with grandparents and a brother and getting some schooling. But it was uncomfortable, it was hard on them.
What would you buy if you had the money? "A house and farm with chick-run, cows, pigs and vegetable garden.?
She is certainly not your typical teenager.
School Report: Matching wings.
Somehow the contractor got some paint that was just a shade off in color from the first wing and painted the second wing with it. Thanks to some diligent and perceptive students the problem was corrected. A second disaster was avoided when they noticed that their seond bucket of paint was a shade off the first one they had just finished and none of that got applied. Now both wings match
The school is coming together. Since we are in and using it every day, like your growing child, you sometimes miss things by the slow but steady changes and these jump out at you when looking at pictures even a few weeks old. But we do have a deadline. See next item.
The Official Opening of the Chishawasha Children's Home and Learning Center.
Well its about time. Kathe started this all 7 years ago in Lusaka and then moved to our present location about 10 km north of town. But now with the completion of the shcool and the visitation of Colin Glasscow from Canada (he is responsible for the major contributions including our water supply and buildings) it seems we need to acknowledge and celebrate this event. So an appropriate event is being planned which means a major effort to complete everything and make it all spffy for visitors and to organize the happening.
Event planning had P and I visiting the US and Canadian Embassies. The results are not yet in as to the level of representative that will be attending/speaking from each of these countries. We may have the Acting High Commissioner from Canada (with the help of some folks in Canada) and I was trying to use that as a bargaining chip for someone above a secretary's secretary from the US. There will be one of ministerial level from the Zambian government. And if that is not enough, the refreshments are being handled by Protea Lodge. Let me know if you are interested, I may be able to finagle you an invitation. The date? The middle of May.
Weather report:
Sunny but colder and drier. You never notice it when it happens, but somehow the copious rains have been turned off and there is no longer any mud in sight. Some mornings a jacket is required. We may see rain again in maybe 4 months.
Perimeter Fence:
The way has been all cleared despite the a horde of bees with contray views. One can now easily walk our boundries. It has that peaceful feeling one used to get walking down Minestone Road, before it was turned in to a thoroughfare. Several heavy metal posts have been set in concrete, some with sturdy braces. This give the place a much more finite feeling than it had before. The new access road is cleared and the beginnings of the guard house can be seen.
This is Sam Weeks at the end of that road, blog pressing out of Africa.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Melba Finch on Melba Toast?
Bird Report:
Another near bird visitation ocurred last week. I was sitting in my classroom and heard that sickening 'thud' of a bird hitting a window. I checked to see, on the sidewalk a dead male Green-winged Pytilia (also known as a Melba Finch) not an uncommon caged bird and personally known to me from my charges at the Smithsonian Nat. Zoo. It had given its life trying to make a visit, but missed the open window. I think the watering of the grass between the wings of the school had attracted it and a sudden fright sent it on its last flight path through, not over, the school. It is beautiful and improbably colored (by No. American standards). Bright red face and bill, grey head, olive back, red tail and a stripped breast of pale orange and black. That's a lot of color for a bird about the size of your thumb.
I took it around to show the students who seemed intent on getting a look at it. Some asked to touch it and carressed its feathers. Others asked in an off-hnad way what was I going to do with it and pinched its breast. Melba Finch on Melba Toast?
Then in some ornithological semetry, the next bird I got a good clear, unobstructed look at out the school window on the wild side was a male Eastern Paradise-Whydah hopping around on open ground. No binocs needed. Nothing to compare it to in No. America. Sparrow-sized bird with black head, orange bib, yellow back of the head, black back and yellow breast. But its hard to get these details because what you are looking at is his TAIL, which is three times longer than the bird, all black slightly down curved, except for a couple of feather are 'twisted' at right angle to the others and arch upward. Having an appendage like this has got to be a 'drag'. The birds seem to fly well but often with an upward pitch in a head wind to stay airborn. Finally (we come full circle) the females of this species parasitize nests of the Green-winged Pytilia. Perhaps he was looking for his 'adopted' father, now deceased.
The resident of the week: John Makunda
John is 17 and a mature, capable and easy going fellow, not difficult to converse with and with a good sense of humor. He is one you turn to when things go wrong: he knows where things are and how to get them and how things work, esp. compouters and he is as calm as he is capable.
Yes, a sense of humor: Near the end of my last visit, John and Wisedom came to my room with somber faces and presented my with a large sum of money. "Whats this and where did you get it?" I asked.
"its for you Uncle Sam," they answered, ignoring my questions. For abaout 10 minutes we went round and round without any clarification other than "its for you Uncle Sam," in the most sincere manor. I protested that I couldn't figure out where they had gotten it and that I could not accept it under any circumstances. I couldn't get them to take it back.
Finally as they turned to leave, John tossed off over is shoulder that it was the egg money from Phillip that I would need on my next errand. How nicely done, I was still sputtering in protest-mode when the message sank in.
John came to Chishawasha at age 10 (2001) at its original location in Lusaka and has spent 7 years with this very much 'extended family'.
He likes computers, basketball and soccer; is a good athlete and must be 6 ft. tall. In school he likes geometry especially as relating to engineering. He would like to take his high school A-levels, do a 'year of Cambridge' here, then look into other schools pursuing either engineering or accounting.
His happiest memory is when he got his first laptop (no, he corrected) his first working laptop.
When asked about his saddest time he quickly says when I got dumped by my girl friend (joke, laughter). "Which of the many?" I ask. Likely saddest times are not easily shared.
He has seen many changes in his time here. "We started with one house, now more buildings, more children, more fun, more friends to hang out with and play sports with." Then he adds thoughtfully, "more children, more problems."
He has friends outside Chishawasha, they are school mates.
What he likes best about this place is the education it provides. What he likes least is doing dishes. He does like to cook, I have enjoyed food he has prepared.
Things he might change? He would build a youth hostel where teenagers could live together and it would be set up so they would have their own budget and could buy some of the their own things and learn to handle money.
He has relatives: Grandparents and cousins at some distance whom he can visit. He considers himself a city boy, not of, or from the village. He stuts around the room to demonstrate his sophistication, asking incredulously "Do I look like a country boy?"
What might your life have been like without Chishawasha? "I think I would have been a very irresponsible citizen and ignorant.
What was life like before you came here? "Miserable and hopeless?"
Imagine what you might most like to find in the next container: "Computers, including Apples, musical instruments, esp. electronic keyboard, guitar, sources of music such as ipods, etc. Maybe a video game such as play station.
If you had the money, what would you buy? Lots of thought.... "maybe a motor bike."
Vacation School Schedule
How can you have a school schedule during vacation? Well we just do, for those that need it and for some it includes Saturdays and Sundays and it sure includes this teacher, 8 - 4, M - F and a couple of weekend afternoons. I can't complain about the schedule since I made it up from the components Ms Mwanza gave me. I sort of know when I was doing it, that Zambians don't have the concept of 12 - 1 lunch break which is a part of the routine for me and some of the students. The mothers seem to be adjusting and my lunches have been good if not as timely as I would like. (Notice how every topic in this blog eventually gets back to food?) To save time while watching one mother cutting up raw cabbage, I offerred that it didn't have to be cooked for me. Got a skekptical look. As a matter of fact, I continued, I might even like it better that way. I as handed a bowl full to which I added some vinegar, mayo and salt (there is no pepper in kitchens here). I was observed (maybe heard) enjoying myself so much that I got a bigger bowl the next day. Oh yes, it's these little things in life that matter!
I should mention that the Vacation School Schedule includes an Easter Holiday which I do get. What is a holiday during a vacation?
Perimeter Fence.
Take this item off the 'badly needed list'. The boundaries are being cleared as I write. This is a double joy. First that it is being done at all and second, that it is financed by they Zambian Board's efforts. The Board Chair, Mrs. Jenny Liva, Manager of the Protea Lodge, is a go-getter and great fan of what we do. Besides heading up the board and fundraising, she is always offering things like bags of starter grass for the school grounds, books for the craft market booksale, and you have to be careful about mentioning refreshment needs for special functions because she is apt to say, "Oh, let me take care of that."
I happened to meet the contractor who is doing the fence as he was working on our contract. He has done and maintains the enclosure for Protea Lodge which in their case must keep in wild animals such as African antelopes. So I inquired if he gaurentees his fences to keep in things like Kudus. "Oh yes." he responded quickly. "Good," I said, "would that also cover teenagers?" He grinned and said he thought not. No "teenage clause" in our contract. But the fence is not to keep anyone in but others out.
Whats out of place here?
Sometimes the sight of something triggers thoughts and feelings from the past and other places, as did the homemade soap a while back. While in Africa, frequently these stimuli seem often to include something jarringly 'oout of place' as regards your memory's image. The sight for instance, or our maize stalks being gathered in and stacked in large shocks and sure enough there were the pumpkins, not bright orange yet, but large ehough to make jack-o-lanterns. Here were the very symbols of Thanksgiving and Halloween. The eye sometimes sees what it want to see. I ran to get my camera to shoot this picture so reminiscent of past holidays and now seldom seen at home. While trying to compose the pictures in that soft afternnoon light, something was not right. Something was shocking by its innocent presence but I could not get an angle that would eleminate it. No, those large, bright green banana trees in the background did not lend the effect I was after. I had not seen them earlier.
This is Sam blog pressing out of Africa and still waiting to pick his first banana from a tree.
Another near bird visitation ocurred last week. I was sitting in my classroom and heard that sickening 'thud' of a bird hitting a window. I checked to see, on the sidewalk a dead male Green-winged Pytilia (also known as a Melba Finch) not an uncommon caged bird and personally known to me from my charges at the Smithsonian Nat. Zoo. It had given its life trying to make a visit, but missed the open window. I think the watering of the grass between the wings of the school had attracted it and a sudden fright sent it on its last flight path through, not over, the school. It is beautiful and improbably colored (by No. American standards). Bright red face and bill, grey head, olive back, red tail and a stripped breast of pale orange and black. That's a lot of color for a bird about the size of your thumb.
I took it around to show the students who seemed intent on getting a look at it. Some asked to touch it and carressed its feathers. Others asked in an off-hnad way what was I going to do with it and pinched its breast. Melba Finch on Melba Toast?
Then in some ornithological semetry, the next bird I got a good clear, unobstructed look at out the school window on the wild side was a male Eastern Paradise-Whydah hopping around on open ground. No binocs needed. Nothing to compare it to in No. America. Sparrow-sized bird with black head, orange bib, yellow back of the head, black back and yellow breast. But its hard to get these details because what you are looking at is his TAIL, which is three times longer than the bird, all black slightly down curved, except for a couple of feather are 'twisted' at right angle to the others and arch upward. Having an appendage like this has got to be a 'drag'. The birds seem to fly well but often with an upward pitch in a head wind to stay airborn. Finally (we come full circle) the females of this species parasitize nests of the Green-winged Pytilia. Perhaps he was looking for his 'adopted' father, now deceased.
The resident of the week: John Makunda
John is 17 and a mature, capable and easy going fellow, not difficult to converse with and with a good sense of humor. He is one you turn to when things go wrong: he knows where things are and how to get them and how things work, esp. compouters and he is as calm as he is capable.
Yes, a sense of humor: Near the end of my last visit, John and Wisedom came to my room with somber faces and presented my with a large sum of money. "Whats this and where did you get it?" I asked.
"its for you Uncle Sam," they answered, ignoring my questions. For abaout 10 minutes we went round and round without any clarification other than "its for you Uncle Sam," in the most sincere manor. I protested that I couldn't figure out where they had gotten it and that I could not accept it under any circumstances. I couldn't get them to take it back.
Finally as they turned to leave, John tossed off over is shoulder that it was the egg money from Phillip that I would need on my next errand. How nicely done, I was still sputtering in protest-mode when the message sank in.
John came to Chishawasha at age 10 (2001) at its original location in Lusaka and has spent 7 years with this very much 'extended family'.
He likes computers, basketball and soccer; is a good athlete and must be 6 ft. tall. In school he likes geometry especially as relating to engineering. He would like to take his high school A-levels, do a 'year of Cambridge' here, then look into other schools pursuing either engineering or accounting.
His happiest memory is when he got his first laptop (no, he corrected) his first working laptop.
When asked about his saddest time he quickly says when I got dumped by my girl friend (joke, laughter). "Which of the many?" I ask. Likely saddest times are not easily shared.
He has seen many changes in his time here. "We started with one house, now more buildings, more children, more fun, more friends to hang out with and play sports with." Then he adds thoughtfully, "more children, more problems."
He has friends outside Chishawasha, they are school mates.
What he likes best about this place is the education it provides. What he likes least is doing dishes. He does like to cook, I have enjoyed food he has prepared.
Things he might change? He would build a youth hostel where teenagers could live together and it would be set up so they would have their own budget and could buy some of the their own things and learn to handle money.
He has relatives: Grandparents and cousins at some distance whom he can visit. He considers himself a city boy, not of, or from the village. He stuts around the room to demonstrate his sophistication, asking incredulously "Do I look like a country boy?"
What might your life have been like without Chishawasha? "I think I would have been a very irresponsible citizen and ignorant.
What was life like before you came here? "Miserable and hopeless?"
Imagine what you might most like to find in the next container: "Computers, including Apples, musical instruments, esp. electronic keyboard, guitar, sources of music such as ipods, etc. Maybe a video game such as play station.
If you had the money, what would you buy? Lots of thought.... "maybe a motor bike."
Vacation School Schedule
How can you have a school schedule during vacation? Well we just do, for those that need it and for some it includes Saturdays and Sundays and it sure includes this teacher, 8 - 4, M - F and a couple of weekend afternoons. I can't complain about the schedule since I made it up from the components Ms Mwanza gave me. I sort of know when I was doing it, that Zambians don't have the concept of 12 - 1 lunch break which is a part of the routine for me and some of the students. The mothers seem to be adjusting and my lunches have been good if not as timely as I would like. (Notice how every topic in this blog eventually gets back to food?) To save time while watching one mother cutting up raw cabbage, I offerred that it didn't have to be cooked for me. Got a skekptical look. As a matter of fact, I continued, I might even like it better that way. I as handed a bowl full to which I added some vinegar, mayo and salt (there is no pepper in kitchens here). I was observed (maybe heard) enjoying myself so much that I got a bigger bowl the next day. Oh yes, it's these little things in life that matter!
I should mention that the Vacation School Schedule includes an Easter Holiday which I do get. What is a holiday during a vacation?
Perimeter Fence.
Take this item off the 'badly needed list'. The boundaries are being cleared as I write. This is a double joy. First that it is being done at all and second, that it is financed by they Zambian Board's efforts. The Board Chair, Mrs. Jenny Liva, Manager of the Protea Lodge, is a go-getter and great fan of what we do. Besides heading up the board and fundraising, she is always offering things like bags of starter grass for the school grounds, books for the craft market booksale, and you have to be careful about mentioning refreshment needs for special functions because she is apt to say, "Oh, let me take care of that."
I happened to meet the contractor who is doing the fence as he was working on our contract. He has done and maintains the enclosure for Protea Lodge which in their case must keep in wild animals such as African antelopes. So I inquired if he gaurentees his fences to keep in things like Kudus. "Oh yes." he responded quickly. "Good," I said, "would that also cover teenagers?" He grinned and said he thought not. No "teenage clause" in our contract. But the fence is not to keep anyone in but others out.
Whats out of place here?
Sometimes the sight of something triggers thoughts and feelings from the past and other places, as did the homemade soap a while back. While in Africa, frequently these stimuli seem often to include something jarringly 'oout of place' as regards your memory's image. The sight for instance, or our maize stalks being gathered in and stacked in large shocks and sure enough there were the pumpkins, not bright orange yet, but large ehough to make jack-o-lanterns. Here were the very symbols of Thanksgiving and Halloween. The eye sometimes sees what it want to see. I ran to get my camera to shoot this picture so reminiscent of past holidays and now seldom seen at home. While trying to compose the pictures in that soft afternnoon light, something was not right. Something was shocking by its innocent presence but I could not get an angle that would eleminate it. No, those large, bright green banana trees in the background did not lend the effect I was after. I had not seen them earlier.
This is Sam blog pressing out of Africa and still waiting to pick his first banana from a tree.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Another woman like my mother?
Somewhere there is or was another just like my mother. A person who couldn't kep a handle on her hobby and let it get all out of control. Perhaps she was a worse case than my mother whose addiction had far ranging effects, but never got as far as Zambia. Perhaps if she'd lived longer...
When a few of the oldest of her six children started leaving home, she needed something to take up the slack. Somehow she got into soap making. A pretty clean hobby, you might think compared to some. However, this activity quickly escalated and the supply soon outstripped the demand (if there was any). Not only was she making soap at home and had the neighbors saving their fat for her, but she started teaching classes in soap making. Everyone inthe family and then even relatives were expected to do their part and use more soap or find outlets for it. I know personally that an entire dorm wing at Montana St. College was kept clean by it for almost a year; I did my part.
Well you can imagine my surprise and the waves of emotions that poured over me when what should come out of several boxes from the container shipment, but these brown cakes in the shape of tin forms also included. This seemed a 50 year old time-capsule from my past. It was not just the soap itself nor the tin forms, but the quantity that spoke to me. I could see my mother working on her soap and smell the basement where much of the activity took place and hear her voice, pleading in a demanding way for me to grind up that brick-hard stuff so she could use it in the washer (this is as close as she ever got to child abuse). I don't she ever shipped any abroad. It is the only soap now used here in the school restrooms. So I am daily transported overy many miles, through many years and somewhere there is a family relieved of an excess of homemade soap. Thanks for the memories.
Some benefits from the economic slowdown.
About a year ago, Phillip had told me that electrical service here was getting worse with ever more frequest blackouts. But since I have been here, we have not had many. Some weeks go by without a break (galling now that we have our super generator).
The explanation is that a year ago, the Zambian electric company had more customers than it could support. The largest consumer was the copper industry which was using 47% of the total. Now that copper is now 'on hold' there is plenty for everyone.
Force
Force or Fossy likes stories and being read to. He isin 1st grade now, but out habit of reading together goes back 3 years during my first visit and we established an evening read in which many others joined (crowded) in. Force being the youngest was usually in my lap and other would 'press' around even on the hottest evening, each needing to se the book.
Besides reading, we enjoyed playing together. We invented a game one when he had a big stick. He would grab one end and I the other and then he'd lead me on a tour of his play area. Then it would be my turn and the more ridiculous the tour, the better, in tight cirles, up stairs and down. To anyone watching I would proudly point out the "big fish" I had caught. Even now at time Fossy is called Big Fish by the others.
He was too young for school then and the only child at home when all the others left in the morning. He played energetically by himself, often doing what he saw the ever present workmen doing. I remembe him digging 'footings' with a stick roughly 1:40 scale of the real thing not far off.
From time to time, he would get lonesome and 'visit' school especially during recess. Once he came in and seated himself at a school table. He seemed very student-like so I gave him a pencil and paper. I never saw a child work so diligently on his symbol representation of writing and when not writing he seemed a careful observer. Well now he is doing the real thing. I have yet to encounter him in his classroom.
For the month of March in my 'house rotation', I have been eating in Fossy's house and he has sat beside me during all the meals. He is quiet but volunteers to say grace more often then asked. It isn't easy to get a word in amongst the older kids chatter during meals. But once over and before the table is cleared he there with a book. He has to be fast for there are 2 older girls who will cut him out of the action, though they are much more into the attention they get than any story, judging by how they talk to eachother and anyone else in the room while I am reading. I try to give Force priority and always take at least one of the books he brings and make sure there is not a girl between us while reading it.
Last Saturday night, Zambia played Egypt in soccer and everyone else left quickly after the meal to watch the game on TV and Fossy and I had a wonderful uninterupted reading session. I think Uncle Sam tired first, said good night to Big Fish and trundled off to his bed.
When a few of the oldest of her six children started leaving home, she needed something to take up the slack. Somehow she got into soap making. A pretty clean hobby, you might think compared to some. However, this activity quickly escalated and the supply soon outstripped the demand (if there was any). Not only was she making soap at home and had the neighbors saving their fat for her, but she started teaching classes in soap making. Everyone inthe family and then even relatives were expected to do their part and use more soap or find outlets for it. I know personally that an entire dorm wing at Montana St. College was kept clean by it for almost a year; I did my part.
Well you can imagine my surprise and the waves of emotions that poured over me when what should come out of several boxes from the container shipment, but these brown cakes in the shape of tin forms also included. This seemed a 50 year old time-capsule from my past. It was not just the soap itself nor the tin forms, but the quantity that spoke to me. I could see my mother working on her soap and smell the basement where much of the activity took place and hear her voice, pleading in a demanding way for me to grind up that brick-hard stuff so she could use it in the washer (this is as close as she ever got to child abuse). I don't she ever shipped any abroad. It is the only soap now used here in the school restrooms. So I am daily transported overy many miles, through many years and somewhere there is a family relieved of an excess of homemade soap. Thanks for the memories.
Some benefits from the economic slowdown.
About a year ago, Phillip had told me that electrical service here was getting worse with ever more frequest blackouts. But since I have been here, we have not had many. Some weeks go by without a break (galling now that we have our super generator).
The explanation is that a year ago, the Zambian electric company had more customers than it could support. The largest consumer was the copper industry which was using 47% of the total. Now that copper is now 'on hold' there is plenty for everyone.
Force
Force or Fossy likes stories and being read to. He isin 1st grade now, but out habit of reading together goes back 3 years during my first visit and we established an evening read in which many others joined (crowded) in. Force being the youngest was usually in my lap and other would 'press' around even on the hottest evening, each needing to se the book.
Besides reading, we enjoyed playing together. We invented a game one when he had a big stick. He would grab one end and I the other and then he'd lead me on a tour of his play area. Then it would be my turn and the more ridiculous the tour, the better, in tight cirles, up stairs and down. To anyone watching I would proudly point out the "big fish" I had caught. Even now at time Fossy is called Big Fish by the others.
He was too young for school then and the only child at home when all the others left in the morning. He played energetically by himself, often doing what he saw the ever present workmen doing. I remembe him digging 'footings' with a stick roughly 1:40 scale of the real thing not far off.
From time to time, he would get lonesome and 'visit' school especially during recess. Once he came in and seated himself at a school table. He seemed very student-like so I gave him a pencil and paper. I never saw a child work so diligently on his symbol representation of writing and when not writing he seemed a careful observer. Well now he is doing the real thing. I have yet to encounter him in his classroom.
For the month of March in my 'house rotation', I have been eating in Fossy's house and he has sat beside me during all the meals. He is quiet but volunteers to say grace more often then asked. It isn't easy to get a word in amongst the older kids chatter during meals. But once over and before the table is cleared he there with a book. He has to be fast for there are 2 older girls who will cut him out of the action, though they are much more into the attention they get than any story, judging by how they talk to eachother and anyone else in the room while I am reading. I try to give Force priority and always take at least one of the books he brings and make sure there is not a girl between us while reading it.
Last Saturday night, Zambia played Egypt in soccer and everyone else left quickly after the meal to watch the game on TV and Fossy and I had a wonderful uninterupted reading session. I think Uncle Sam tired first, said good night to Big Fish and trundled off to his bed.
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