We needed to make one stop for more chitenge for napkins before journeying to Kantolomba to check on the well and to get the land clearing crew started. Then we remembered we needed to get an international calling card in order to let the folks at home know we haven't been able to find a land line from which to call in for the radio show. (This is another argument for a permanent location: a cheaper phone service in Zambia, and a way to call home when we're here.)
We buy the international calling cards at one of the hardware stores. While waiting for the transaction, we checked out all the possibilities for building--shower enclosures, floor tiles, bathtubs. As with anywhere, it seems that having money allows a person to buy pretty much whatever they want.
We arrived at Kantolomba, Jen and Cheri hopping out at the school to see the little ones in their new uniforms, while Dave went to the property to see if the drilling had begun.
Some of our adorable friends.
As Dave walked down the dirt road, it soon became clear that something exciting was happening. Even before he could see the drilling rig itself, he could hear the tremendous roar it produced while it worked to drive a hole into the earth. The sight of the rig in full swing was magically impressive, with all of its wires and hoses and gears silhouetted against the African sky.
The drill comes in view as Dave walks to the property.
The drilling had begun two hours previously. By the time we arrived, they had dug to a depth of fifteen meters. The noise was unbearable, but even so a crowd had gathered twice the size of the day before. People gaped at the machines from the shade of the mango trees. The trees themselves were full of children who climbed there to watch from the branches.
Attending the big event.
Among the crowd were the ten teen-aged school children that had asked for work in order to buy books. Eight boys and two girls had waited since daylight with hoes and machetes for us to arrive. As soon as we showed them what parts of the property we wanted cleared, they went to work, slashing the dense vegetation around and above our building site where the drillers were working.
The young people sharpening their "slashers".
Clearing the property.
Back at the school, the children sang and danced and did some of their lessons for us. At one point we saw Josephine come in, crocheting in hand--working on a very cute pair of booties.
Josephine crocheting with her daughter Marion at her side.
Jen stopped by the potter's to pick up the latest sample bowl, while Cheri and Theresa gave Josephine's daughter, Marion, her first ever car ride to the Community Center site.
Cheri and Marion
After thoroughly deafening ourselves watching the well rig, we walked through the neighborhood to Beauty's house to see her and meet her new baby. As a reminder, Beauty, one of the "Kantolomba 9" (the women who work non-stop for Living Compassion in Kantolomba), had 6 children before this one arrived and already has one grandchild. She's happy with this baby, would never have chosen to have a seventh child, and truly hopes this is her last. When the clinic is up and running, one of the first things we will offer the women is birth control shots. We will offer the shots because the women cannot use any kind of birth control that the husband knows about. He will not only refuse to let her use it, we have heard of women being beaten for the attempt. We are not saying this is the case with Beauty or her husband, but she will be one of the first women to receive the offer.
The new baby (Hat crocheted by Josephine.
Our final business to be conducted for the morning was the hand-off of the chitenge to the seamstresses. The quality of the sewing done by Neli is far superior to any we've been able to find previously. We assumed after working with Martin and the folks from the sewing school at the Friary that we were just going to have to adjust to a less than ideal standard. Clearly not so! Josephine, in addition to her "knitting" business, is going to sewing school, and after only a short time is able to turn out very nice dresses, skirts, and blouses. She will join Neli and Georgina, the other teacher, in completing our napkin order. If they can get the napkins finished far enough in advance of our departure, they will make us some more meditation pants--that first pair is perfect--and possibly some skirts.
Home for lunch and a quick computer lesson for Theresa on the new Living Compassion Kantolomba laptop--blessedly donated in time for this trip. Speaking of computers, we have an update on our internet project. We are establishing the most extraordinary team of people here in Ndola, a big part of which is Godfrey, our technology genius. He has introduced us to a friend who sets up internet service at a fraction of the cost of the bigger commercial enterprises. It seems as if getting everything we need in place will be a fairly quick and simple process so we've decided to wait until we return in late June to put it in place. If we installed it now Theresa could send us regular reports, but it would also leave some very expensive equipment in a place that is difficult to keep secure.
Dave raced off with a sandwich in a plastic bag to catch up with Mr. Chaila, who was leaving for a quick check-in with the well digging crew. When we arrived, the rig was idle and the workers were resting in the shade. They had dug to a depth of 31 meters without finding water, and then something had broken on the drilling rig. Mr. Chaila spent several tense minutes looking at the problem with his crew, then returned with a smile. "There is no problem," he said. "We may continue drilling and repair the rig when we are finished."
Mr. Chaila's response was just as optimistic when Dave inquired about the possibility of finding water that afternoon or Wednesday morning. "Yes," he said. "We will find water between forty and fifty meters." He went on to explain that the type of rock the rig was bringing up indicated we would have good water. Dave arranged with him to stall the rig once water is found so that it can be tested, and Mr. Chaila agreed, but he promised it would be good and clear.
When Dave returned, we all headed to ZESCO (the electric company) to pick up our "quotation" (the word used here for "estimate") for getting an electric line run to our property. We arrived to discover that our friend Fred (mentioned in an earlier blog--the fellow at ZESCO who does the quotations and the estimates) has done us two large favors.
Dave and Jen coming out of Zesco.
First, he put our project at the top of the company's to-do list. We found that everyone at Zesco knows about our project and were prepared to reassure us that we are being taken care of--that our project has the highest priority. People immediately grasp the magnitude of a community like Kantolomba getting clean water, and they want to help in any way they can.
Second, we learned that Fred has quoted our project very generously: for 1.7 million kwatcha (about four hundred dollars) ZESCO will string an electric line a third of a mile to our property. As soon as this occurs (very soon, we hope), Gaudencia, our contractor, will be able to install security lights and begin building.
Dave left to meet with Brian, the internet wizard, while Cheri and Jen went to the hospital to meet with Dr. Victor Chalwe in the Tropical Disease Research Center. He filled us in on some of the efforts being made to reduce malaria rates in this area, and introduced us to the Deputy Director of the Tropical Diseases Research Center. Tomorrow he will introduce us to Dr. Kakungu, head of District Health Management.
Dr. Chalwe.
Ndola Central Hospital
On our way back to the Guest House we stopped by the Michelangelo, a very nice Guest House a few blocks from ours, to leave a note for a friend from OPIC, Overseas Private Investment Company, who will be arriving later in the evening. We met Bruce when we were attending meetings with some of the major international service organizations (including the World Bank and USAid) in Washington, D.C., last fall, and we have kept in touch. When his trip to Zambia came up, he emailed us and amazingly our visits are coinciding. He's here to see a project a few hours outside Ndola and is hoping to return in time to have a tour of our work in Kantolomba.
Each day we make a trip to one of the internet cafes in town only to be told the service is down. Ah, well, fortunately we have Godfrey to keep in touch with all of you for us.
Godfrey and Jen. Notice they are sporting matching flash drives
--part of our rotating blog hand-off system.