Today Cheri, Jen, and Friday came to pick us guests up at Castle Lodge in Friday's truck to run some errands. First stops were at several government offices, and then the inevitable visit to the ATM. We ran into a couple of people we know so we stopped to chat. In Africa when someone asks, "How long does it take to do such and such," the answer is, "It depends on how many people we meet." Stopping and chatting is the African way, and the longer we're here, the more people we know, and the more chatting we get to do. Not always efficient, but always enjoyable.
Jen talking with Carol and Brenda (for avid blog-readers you might remember Carol, whose apartment we stayed in last summer).
Then it was to the chitenge store to buy some samples for the sewing cooperative. The store was very small but sold a variety of things -- bike parts, tools. The choices for chitenge were hanging on the wall above us. We had about 25 designs to choose from. The one with tiny fish was a big favorite. As you can see from the photo, we got quite a stack!
Jen with the chitenge.
Riding in Friday's truck is an adventure. Since we can't fit all eight of us in the cab, four of us sit in the back, getting a great open-air view of the city with the city getting a great view of us. The battery in the truck doesn't always work, so on occasion we get to push the truck into a start. Friday parks on a hill when possible, which lets him just roll into a start. Pushing is fun, but we can see how it could quickly become tiresome, especially if one had to do all parts of the process by oneself.
In the back of the truck.
Back to Castle Lodge to pick up Cheri, who was working at the computer, and then to Strawberry Cafe for a lunch of grilled cheese, tomato, and avocado sandwiches. Delicious! Strawberry Cafe is famous for their milkshakes, especially the peanut butter and banana. After a taste test, it was agreed that their fame is well deserved.
At Strawberry Cafe.
Onward to Kantolomba, over the pothole paved roads, to the semi-paved road, to the dirt road, until we reached Kantolomba and an almost-no road. We saw small mud houses with roofs made of a conglomeration of materials: nchima (mealie meal) bags and plastic held down by wood, small pieces of metal roofing, and rocks on top of this. Some of the structures were made of bags tacked onto a wood frame. There were many, many children calling out and saying hello as we passed by.
Some friends greeting us.
Arriving at the Living Compassion site was a joyous event! The children were so excited and happy to see us, climbing on the back of the truck, yelling "hello, how are you," shaking our hands, welcoming us with huge smiles and great enthusiasm. The children are beautiful, each and every one of them. Many obviously were eager to connect with us, while others looked on wide-eyed, hanging back a bit. Most have no shoes, many have runny noses, signs of ringworm, missing hair or red hair (indications of malnutrition), and some have large protruding bellies, also signs of malnutrition and starvation. All are clad in very dirty and tattered clothes; apparently most have only one set of clothes, which they wear all the time. The children who go to school have two sets of clothes, their uniforms and their tattered clothes.
Luke revels in the fun.
After our welcome, Theresa led us up the hill at the back of the property to a new building the women have constructed. As we made our way up, someone commented that it would be nice to have steps to ease the climb. A plan was hatched to start on steps the next day.
The building we entered is called an "insaka," a lovely, simple structure with a gorgeous thatched roof built in the Zambian way. There is seating all around the edge of the oval room that the women use for meetings, but when it's time to eat, they spread woven mats on the earthen floor and have their meal in that more traditional fashion.
The insaka.
As we stood admiring the new building and remarking on the spectacular view, we heard the melodious sound of voices harmonizing down below us. Moments later we saw the Living Compassion women dancing their way up the hill, singing and clapping. The song was one of welcome, and once inside the insaka, they greeted each of us individually.
The women coming up the hill singing.
After introductions all around, we filed back down the hill to tour the new building. It is truly beautiful. Theresa reported that people passing by on their way to the cemetery regularly stop to ask what the building is for and express amazement and appreciation that such a building is being created in Kantolomba. Since it was a workday, there were a couple of men troweling a cement finish on the walls. Luke and. Scott tried their hands at what looked like a simple technique that proved to be quite challenging.
Touring the building.
Scott tries out troweling the wall finish.
The new mothers came by with the babies -- Baby Jen, Baby Cheri, and Baby Dave, all wrapped up tight in blankets -- absolutely adorable as only babies can be. Baby Jen is now walking and cute as ever. With the arrival of the little ones, we all took a rest on the lawn and were treated to more singing. The children drummed using plastic containers, and the young girls danced. The women joined in and brought the musungu (Bemba for "white people") women and men into the dance--chitenge tied around their hips and all.
left to right: Baby Dave with Jan, Baby Cheri with Cheri, and Baby Jen with John.
Next came a walk around the property. With our own water readily available, it's possible to have a large lawn to relax on, as well as a rapidly expanding vegetable garden. Inside the school house (an insaka about half the size of the new one, in which one hundred children do their lessons every day), we were impressed to see on the chalkboard a vocabulary lesson that included words like malaria and mosquito, and one word none of us but Scott (a doctor) knew who identified it as a type of infection.
Theresa explains the school program.
Late in the afternoon, it's time to head home. Saying goodbye to Theresa and the ladies and shaking hands with the children, we climbed back into the truck. Friday drove us out, children running after us, waving and yelling their goodbyes.
Deciding a home-cooked dinner was in order, and stopping by ShopRite to pick up what we needed to make a pasta dinner, we headed back to the Big House to prepare it. When we arrived at the house, all was dark. Curses! The "brown-out" had finally come to our neighborhood. We had heard that each neighborhood would be without electricity during certain times of the day, but we had miraculously escaped the phenomenon. No longer! We broke out the flashlights and put away the perishables.
Apples by flashlight.
All our dreams of home cooking dashed, we piled back into the truck and called Eunice to make a reservation for dinner at Castle Lodge. At dinner, we talked about starting work on the steps the next day and made notes for our meeting with the women.