Today may not go down in Zambian history, but it will certainly go down in the history of Living Compassion in Zambia! But let’s begin at the beginning.
We walked to town to check with the University about internet access, to load up on kwacha, and check in with Godfrey at the internet café. We were successful with the kwacha.
At the University we met a lovely woman who offered to help us this one time, but explained that they have a policy against allowing anyone except students to use their connection. We told her about our work in Kantolomba and that we would be willing to rent an office space at least in the short term in order to be able to send word home. She brightened at that prospect and agreed to look into the matter for us.
The internet café was a complete bust. Godfrey tried to plug our computer directly into the system and the result was slower than the dinosaur systems the other customers were using.
We decided to take advantage of what we had heard was the vegetarian option for dining out before heading off to Kantolomba. We chose to try this one, the Starscape, because the other choice was Indian food, and we wanted to save that for a special luncheon with our “board.” The Starscape is owned and operated by an Indian family, so we had Indian food called things like “Greek salad” and “egg fried rice.” Delicious.
Gershom picked us up at the District Commissioner’s office and, bearing samples of future business possibilities (wooden tongs and copper bracelets, among others), we took off to meet Teresa in Kantolomba. First we visited the potter and selected two sizes of Giving Bowls. While there we spoke with her husband, the carpenter, about the wooden tongs. He said he would need to find another tool to do part of the job and would search for that over the weekend and let us know on Monday when we return to meet with the census team. We then visited with the blacksmith who agreed to find the materials and make two samples of copper bracelets for our inspection on Monday.
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One of the potter’s assistants
To put this in perspective, these people have no money and no transportation. They will come up with a little cash, and then walk for miles to find the supplies they need. Do they have a particular interest in the project we’re offering? No. But they will do anything in order to have work and the prospect of making some money. So, please keep them in mind for your holiday gift-giving.
As we were leaving, Teresa mentioned a property that we should see—a possibility for the Community Center. As soon as we stopped in front of the building, we knew it was the one. Filthy, unbearably hot, and desperately in need of soapy water and paint, it is PERFECT. The lot on which it sits is large (1/3 to 1/2 acre), plenty big enough for the addition of the medical clinic and a couple of schoolrooms. The neighboring houses are tidy and well-kept, electricity is nearby, and on one side is a new community school serving 20 children, operated by some folks from Great Britain.
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The Coordinator (the newly elected Area Councilor) was with us on the tour and agreed to write up the contract. The cost of the property is—wait for it—about $200. Now, of course, we will see how it shakes out when all is said and done, but we’re happy-dancing excited over here, boss!
Stopping by the District Commissioner’s office to pick up Mr. Kayula, we got two more pieces of good news: The government is ready to dig our well at a fraction of the cost a private company would charge. We will meet the lady engineer to settle details on Tuesday. We also learned from the D.C. that, contrary to his assumptions—and he was clearly delighted to be wrong—he had managed to find three construction companies headed by women. It has become apparent to us (and we get this information at every turn), that hiring women is the way to go. Women are doing all the work anyway, and paying them to do what they’re currently doing for free just makes sense. We will meet with these contractors before we leave to discover which will be able to continue the communication via email.
It was hard to come down to earth for mundane tasks like ShopRite, but it is necessary to eat even in these states of great excitement. Besides, Teresa was coming over to eat dinner with us to strategize the next steps we’ll be taking with the new building and to prepare for our meeting with Ignatius about future changes in Living Compassion House.
Writing this up, we marveled that we have been here for 2 ½ days! It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.