Before setting off for our outing, we stopped to put fuel in Martha’s car. We checked the oil and found it very low. Muyunda expressed surprise, saying women in Zambia are known for taking very good care of their cars. In fact, he said that when you look at advertisements for used cars you often see the notation “lady-driven” as a selling point.
Muyunda looks over the service station attendant. The concept of self-serve has not yet landed here
Our "lady" driver, Theresa
With the car all sorted out, we headed to Kitwe for our internet meeting. Bringing internet to Kantolomba has been a 2-year project thus far and will almost certainly be a work in progress for some time to come. The demand of the technology is still small enough that prices are high and availability limited. We liked the iConnnet folks very much. Wezzy, one of their engineers, will come out to the property in Kantolomba again on Monday to do some further testing while we are there. They are predicting we would need to build a 25-meter tower in order to reach their Wimax signal broadcast from Ndola Central Hospital. We need to clear two hills between our property and the hospital. Because having internet right at the site, accessible to all in the community, would have such a big impact, we are willing to hang in there and let the process evolve. Sooner or later we will get the break we are waiting for. In the meantime we simply enjoy the journey—always a fruitful approach here (or anywhere).
Miyanda points to a 25-meter tower so we can know what it looks like.
We made it back to Ndola in time to do a few quick errands before lunch and had the great surprise of running into Simon, Theresa’s partner, on the street. Very fun to get to see him—he is a shy fellow and we often go the whole trip without getting to say hello to him.
Tracey and Simon
Over lunch we talked more about Muyunda’s role with the organization. He loves reading the newspaper (reads it cover-to-cover everyday), and we all agreed that Project Reporter would be the perfect job title. He told us he once did some creative writing but “it never went anywhere.” We are feeling more and more optimistic that we have found the right person for this job. We were scheduled to meet Friday out in Kantolomba. When we called to tell him we were just leaving town and would be a few minutes late, he told us he was also in town, having problems with his car, and was about to board a mini bus to get to Kantolomba. Because that was certain to delay our meeting at least an hour, we went and collected him and all squeezed into our car.
At the property we found the team back at work shucking corn. It is astonishing how much of it there is! They looked like a work of art, there in a group, shucking, virtually buried in kernels.
How much maize would you need for a family of 8 for one day?
This much?
Did we say buried in kernels?
While Jen, Friday and Theresa went to meet about building projects, Tracey went to check in with the tailors. They had two blankets complete and a third almost done. The blankets are beautiful! When Tracey looked at them to help determine whether these would pass muster with western consumers, she pointed out small areas where the lines were not quite straight and discovered that their only tool to create straight lines is an old piece of lumber that is not straight itself! It reminded us of a comment Gertrude made a few days back about how impressed she was with how the cooperative tailors do so much with so little. We feel confident that once they have the right tools they will be unstoppable.
Georgina finishes up a blanket while Nellie patiently waits to use the machine
Tracey marveling at how well the baby blankets were crafted with the limited tools available
A part waiting to become a whole
Meanwhile, back at the building projects meeting (so great to be able to divide forces—essential, really, on such a short trip), Friday was outlining his brilliant plan for a new outhouse. Our last outhouse ended up collapsing into its hole due to extraordinarily heavy rains. We need some strategy for building new ones that can withstand the extreme weather without using incredible amounts of concrete. So, picture this: Friday plans to acquire the chassis of an old semi tractor-trailer that will span the entire hole, which will be dug large enough for four “toilets.” The chassis will reach well beyond the holes in order to support the structure that will be built over them. Nothing is wasted in Africa!
Jen and Friday imagining the size of a semi tractor-trailer chassis, the proposed foundation for the new four-unit "toliets"
Then a consultation on the status of the hammermill building
As we walked off the area where this new structure will go, Tracey brought out the baby blankets for all to admire. Truly impressive.
Tracey shows off one of the baby blankets
We finished with Friday just in time for Rose to arrive. Rose is the woman from Theresa’s neighborhood who expressed an interest in providing part-time nursing care at the project. We liked her very much, especially her focus on prevention. When we asked if she could do malaria testing at the site, she replied, “Yes, but don’t you want to focus also on prevention?” Rose will return on Tuesday to meet the rest of the cooperative.
Jen meeting with Rose, our new part-time nurse
Before we left for the day, we had some fun with the sewing crew brainstorming pattern ideas for the remaining two baby blanket samples. Jasmine sent us with three patterns and suggested we let the tailors get creative with their own ideas as well.
The team brainstorming pattern ideas for the remaining two blankets we will bring back for Jasmine
Nellie ironing the cotton chitinge before we cut the new patterns
Foster and Baby Jen, now three years old!
Muyunda delivered us back to the guesthouse, and we got his computer that we had left charging. He has no electricity at home and wanted a fully charged battery so he could continue his learning overnight.
Tomorrow is our meeting with the Leadership team of the cooperative. They are coming to Castle Lodge for lunch. There is a great deal to do to prepare for this big meeting that will lay the foundation for the next phase of the project.