Cheri, Jen, and Friday came by to pick us up again in the truck, and some of us who sat inside sat outside, and vice versa – to give all who wanted it the convertible experience. With the plan to build the steps in full swing, we stopped by the hardware store to buy gloves. While waiting for the shoppers, we met Sara who is here from Stanford University doing research on women’s issues. She is stationed at the Central Hospital, is very well informed and connected, and is eager to meet with us next week to visit Kantolomba and help us with next steps. We must wait until next week because she was leaving just then for a trip to Victoria Falls, much like the one from which we just returned.
We entered the narrow dirt roads of Kantolomba at about 12:30, our truck squeezing past a lot of oncoming traffic, a funeral procession. There were six or seven vehicles, minivans, cars, and flatbed trucks all filled to over-flowing with mourners. Saturday is the day for funerals, and since Kantolomba is just next to a huge, free cemetery, the processions last all day. Along the road people walked carrying picks and shovels back from newly dug graves for their loved ones.
Next we passed a stretch of bars with loud music blaring and people obviously drunk, though it was early in the day. Alcohol is often identified as the biggest problem in the compound. Many of the women try to earn money by brewing an illegal substance they call beer, but which is actually corn liquor. The entire process takes a week and involves purchasing supplies and tending constantly to the brew. Not only is it a fire hazard and the source of accidents, it sometimes doesn't turn into alcohol, in which case the woman is out her investment and the one dollar and fifty cents the batch would have brought her. The dollar and fifty cents feeds her family for one day and tomorrow she must start all over.
People were at the water tap as we arrived.
Friends along the road.
Cheri and Jen had planned some meetings with the Living Compassion Kantolomba team so those of us not on step building headed up the hill for the meeting. It was hard going up that dirt hill; we’re eager to try those new steps! The women brought out tools for the diggers, and they got to work. Within a few hours they had moved some giant rocks and put in about 5 steps -- incredible!
Beginning work on the steps.
At the community meeting there was talk about water, trash disposal, and building roofs. Because of the increase in work on the project, there is a new need for carpenters, so the new position of carpenter was offered to the group. The women, who had built the very structure we were sitting in, were unsure if they could do it. Cheri told them that she was a carpenter, after which a few said they were interested in being trained.
Meeting with the whole team in the insaka.
After Charles (a teacher for the older children and the one man on our team) was excused, the women told us about their health concerns and their child-bearing history. The women were very interested in learning about birth control that couldn't be detected by their husbands. Women are regularly beaten for attempting birth control. All but a couple of the women have lost at least one child; most have lost several. One of the older women has given birth to 13 children, and only 3 remain alive. One lost 3 to diarrhea. One lost a child to measles. Brave, brave women.
Meanwhile, the guys had made great progress on the steps.
We stopped by to see the garden again.
And the lawn.
At around 5pm we headed back to the Big House to cook dinner. Electricity had come on that morning so we were looking forward to some tofu, broccoli, pasta and something we bought at Shop Rite called "party bread." But the party bread was not to be. We arrived again to no lights. After considering putting together a cold dinner in the dark, we decided once again to make our way back to Castle Lodge for dinner. Going through this process gives us great appreciation for the people in Kantolomba, who have always lived without electricity, and real understanding of the huge importance they place on their new solar flashlights!