Visit to Chisomo – by Charlene

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Chisomo drop-in centre which is one of MCC’s partner organizations here in Lusaka. We are helping them set up a basic website that they will be able to use in fund-raising efforts in the United States. Chisomo offers schooling, food and lodging to help get kids off of the street and I was there to take photos and get some stories of the children involved in the programs there.

After a very short period of initial shyness the kids warmed up to me very quickly. It seemed that all it took was for me to take out my camera and then they were all ready to pose. Zambians love to have their photo taken and they are aware of digital technology and right away ask to see the picture displayed on the window on the back of the camera. Whenever I took a group photo the question was right away “Can you make them one, one, one?” Which translates to can they have one each.

The kids were keen to show off their talents and soon there were kids hanging upside down out of trees, kids drumming and kids singing and dancing. So much for the idea of being discreet and taking casual photos of everyday life!

These boys are making toy cars out of barbed wire

The Drummers

The Dancers

Most people in Zambia get their clothes from salaulas which are markets that sell used clothes that get donated from North America and the U.K. I got a kick out of reading all of their T-shirts, they said everything from Tim Hortons (sigh…), 4H, Spiderman, the Ontario Rodeo (who knew?) to Siemens electronics.

I also sat with a few of the kids to record their stories to go on the Chisomo website. The stories they told just boggled my mind but they spoke them very matter-of-factly and seemingly without exaggeration. I’d like you to meet a girl named Memory…

Memory

“I will be a nurse” was the statement from the quiet 11 year old when asked what her hopes are for the future. Not long ago, this girl didn’t have any dreams beyond getting her next meal.

Memory lived with her grandmother in Kabwe after her mother had died. While living with her grandmother she was not allowed to go to school and her grandmother would beat her and leave her in a room padlocked from the outside all day long and she did not get enough food. At night she and her siblings were forced to sleep on the floor rather than on the available beds. Memory describes her life there as a constant struggle.

One day she was told that they were going on a trip to visit some relatives and she was brought from Kabwe to Lusaka where her family abandoned her and left her to fend for herself on the streets. At only ten years old she was very scared and she spent the first night in a police station. While walking in town the next day, a woman stopped and talked to Memory and then took her to Chisomo drop-in centre.

Memory was spared from having to live on the streets and she is really enjoying staying at Chisomo. She is currently studying in Grade 4. She has very few memories of her mother but she remembers her as a beautiful, tall, slender lady with a dark complexion and she remembers that her mother said that nurses are good people so Memory has set herself a goal for when she grows up.

Pioneer Days - Zambian Style - By John

As we slip into September, I am reminded that Pioneer Days, that celebration of all things Mennonite and old fashioned, is held around now at the Mennonite Village Museum in Steinbach. You know, the place where they butcher a hog, just to show the kids how it was done in the old days? One of the things they would make from the pig would be tubs of Lard.

Lard happens to be one of the few things I have missed and have not been able to find in Africa. It just isn’t available, you can only buy something called "Half Fat Spread" or Baking Margarine, which is strange and unnatural, and so my pie crusts aren’t as flaky as they should be. Do you remember the old Lard commercial from the seventies?

When I bake a pie
For the apple of my eye
I bake it with a crust
I know that I can trust
I bake it so good he (or she) can smell it from the yard
I’ll tell you what my secret is
My secret is my Lard.

Well, I wanted a crust that was good and flaky and I needed good lard, so I decided to follow in my forefathers footsteps and try to make my own. First I had to find a pig. Luckily there was already a dead and dismembered one at Rudi's (“The Swiss Butcher”), and so instead of all that killing and skinning all I had to do was buy a bag of fat.

Mmmm, pig fat!

Then I took the fat home, cut it up into little pieces and put it in a pot to render. Unfortunately,
this was exactly the time that Zesco, the local power utility, decided to cut the power in our neighbourhood! What to do with that pot full of slightly warm pieces of fat (other than get out a fork and dig in)? Well, the Zambian way is to pull out the brazier, fill it with charcoal, light it up and render away, which is exactly what I did.

The cooking apparatus, much like the pioneers used

It worked out really well, actually. All the smelly cooking happened outdoors, and the fire was good and hot, and in no time we had a pot full of lard and some cracklings to snack on later.

All I had to do was stir the pot

This is what it looked like while it was cooking

The result - almost 1Kg. of pure goodness

The final product will surely go into a yummy pie, just like Oma used to make.

Bon Appetit!

Polo, the sport of ....er....Farmers - by John

A few days ago we went to see our first Polo game. A friend of ours from church belongs to a local team and we thought it would be fun to get out to the country and see the horses run. My preconceptions around Polo have been formed by media coverage of the British royal family and the people who wear a certain brand of golf shirt, so frankly I didn’t have any clue about what we were going to see.

It turns out that because of the economics of horse ownership in Zambia (as it was explained to me), you don’t have to be a zillionaire to play Polo, you just have to be farmer. So, instead of the mink and manure set of people with very refined English accents and more pedigrees than the horses they were riding, we watched a bunch of rough and ready white Zambian and ex-Zimbabwean farmers, with a couple of South Africans thrown in for good measure, riding local ponies and whooping it up.

Going over the boards, Polo style

What a game! The action was fast and furious, the horses were aggressive and amazingly fast, and the players were not averse to some serious jostling, often at full gallop and while swinging a very long mallet. It was pretty thrilling to watch all eight players and two referees galloping past amid the thunder of hoofbeats. Half the fun was the fans, screaming support and offering scathing and hilarious criticism of the on-field action, often at the expense of their spouses. Everyone was very friendly, a player on one team asked if we were “horse people”. I said “I can recognize a horse at a fair distance” and he said “Great, come out to practice next week”. I think I will spare the horses that kind of suffering. In the end, “our” team, the Lilay Lodge beat the team from Mazabuka by 13-12, hurrah.

Everyone after the ball!

I just had to throw in this next picture. I went for a bike ride and luckily I had my camera along. I just don’t know what to think and can come up with no reasonable explanation, other than to think that western history isn’t a subject that gets a lot of attention here.

And they serve what?

Observed along the way

After a very active early July with Vince, Stacey, Madison and Carter things have settled down into a bit of lethargy. The weather is warming up a bit, it now regularly hits the low thirties in the afternoon, but the mornings are still cool and comfortable. Small details of life in Lusaka are getting our attention, here are some examples:

1) I was recently driving through Kabanana compound with our friend Mr. Mpundu when I noticed a very nice house among the very much less nice houses. This house was very large, had a very nice painted wall around it, a big electric gate and most incongruously, a nice patch of golf course quality green grass outside the wall. When I expressed my wonder to Mr Mpundu, he explained that it belonged to a certain rich lawyer. I was still a little curious and so asked “Why would a rich lawyer build a fancy house in the middle of a compound (i.e.slum). “Ah”, Mr. Mpundu explained “the lawyer lives in town, this is for one of his wives”. All has now become clear! I guess if you are juggling multiple wives it’s good to be a lawyer.

2) I have been fortunate to inherit Stefan’s mountain bike until the next SALTers come, and I have been taking every opportunity to bike around Lusaka. With the crazy traffic, you have to ride both defensively (everyone is going to cut you off) and offensively (darting between mini-buses before they cut you off). One of the great parts of biking around is discovering new places, I found a lovely little valley filled with market gardens, only about two kilometers from our place, an oasis of green during our dry season. Another fun experience is greeting all the little kids. When they see a white guy riding by they all shout “Muzungu” and point, and then say “HOWAREYOU?” (pretty much as one word). The correct reply is “I AM FINE, HOW ARE YOU?” to which they are supposed to say “FINE”. When you are biking along and about a hundred kids a minute are greeting you, it ends up being a non stop travelling greetings festival, sort of like “HOW ARE YOU FINE HOW ARE YOU FINE, FINE, FINE, HOW ARE YOU…”, you get the idea. I used the bike to ride over to Chimwemwe where Stefan worked, and not only got the standard greeting but also lots of “HELLO STEFAN” and “MR. EEEEP”. I guess a white guy riding Stefan’s bike and wearing Stefan’s helmet looks a lot like Stefan.

3) Yoga has entered our lives in a big way. Before anyone gets worried that I will start wearing a loin cloth and a little red dot on my forehead, I should tell you that I am doing Yoga to increase my flexibility because I have a sore back, and I figure a little stretching wouldn’t hurt. Vince and Stacey brought us a couple of Yoga DVDs and Charlene and I have been doing the exercises very regularly. The DVDs feature some very attractive and flexible people doing Yoga in a park like setting (somewhere in BC I think), all to a super relaxing soundtrack somewhere between nature sounds and anesthesia. The teacher is incredibly buff and speaks with a blissed out voice peppered with phrases like “This should feel like someone is licking Ice Cream off your body” and “This should be shiver sweet”. Hmmm... you would think all of this would be very relaxing, eh? Meanwhile we are trying to do exercises in which we are told to touch our left ear with our right thigh and so on, and the soothing soundtrack doesn’t muffle our grunts, groans and the giggles of the girls watching our struggles. I think it’s making a difference, now I don’t notice the pain in my back because of the pain in my hips, thighs and abdomen.

4) Our IVEPers are on their way to North America. IVEP (International Volunteers Exchange Program) is a program of MCC where young adults from developing countries like Zambia spend a year in Canada or the U.S. This year MCC Zambia is sending two people, Alex and Ginah. We were going to send three, but for some mysterious reason the American visa process rejected Beverly, the other applicant. No rhyme or reason, just a form letter explaining that they have the right to reject applicants and you can’t really re-apply. We put Alex and Ginah on the plane on Thursday morning. Neither of them had ever been on an airplane before so they were nervous and to tell you the truth so were we, since they were routed through Jo’burg and London, two very big and busy airports. We are still waiting to find out that they have arrived at their orientation in Akron PA safe and sound. If you want a great experience, think about hosting an IVEPer for a year, you will get to know some great people and learn about another culture.

That's it for now, in a couple of weeks our new SALTers are coming and a new family (the Smiths, who are vaguely related to us in a fourth cousin by marriage kind of way) and who will be working in Kitwe. When everyone shows up, it will be busy and fun!

Back to Work - by Charlene

Our vacation time is over and it’s time to get back to work. We had a great time with Vince and Stacey and Stacey’s luggage finally arrived on the last flight into Lusaka before the one that was to take them home (Day 16!). At that point we were just really glad that it arrived at all and Danica was especially happy since her birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa was in there.

Before they left we spent a day at Chaminuka Lodge where we went on a safari drive and saw lions, a hyena, zebras, sables, giraffes, many impala and came eye to eye with an elephant who tried to confiscate my camera. We went horseback riding, had a fabulous buffet lunch and the kids got to go swimming in the first heated pool we have seen on this continent. We also got to tour a cheese factory and especially enjoyed the “cheese cave” where we got to sample their products and they made deep fried mozza sticks as well as a Swiss cheese fondue for us – yum, yum.

How close have YOU ever been to an elephant?

Ready to ride - Carter had to concentrate really hard on giving his "thumbs up".

Danica and Madi started off riding together but by the end Madi was on her own.

This week’s focus is delivering text books to community schools in Lusaka. These books arrived in the container that was sent from the U.S. a few months ago and the text books are in brand new condition. They were obtained for free since they were about to be shredded due to curriculum changes. Because Danica and Erin are on their school break they helped with the sorting of the thousands of books and within the next couple of days we will finish the distribution. We have a new volunteer arriving next month who will be spending some time with the teachers to instruct them on how to teach with textbooks since most of these schools have never had any school books before.Danica and Erin helping to sort the new school books

The students of Chimwemwe School helped to unload their boxes of new books.

Zambia, Day 14 ....still no luggage for Stacey - by Special Guest Correspondent Vince Boschman

It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of our time in Lusaka. The roads, street vendors and lack of other Muzungus (white people) that seemed so bizarre when we first arrived are now a part of our normal life.

One of the highlights was our road trip to Lake Kariba, Livingstone and our time spent at Victoria Falls. We spent 3 nights at Lake Kariba, where we took a sunset cruise, toured a crocodile farm and spent a morning fishing for Tiger fish.

Not a Tiger Fish, just a little Bream
The kids caught more fish than the Dads

Once we made it to Livingstone we enjoyed seeing the falls up close and getting drenched was breathtaking and only outmatched by the views from the air.

Vic Falls from a normal perspective

John and I took a Microlight flight over the falls and Erin and I took the zipline off a cliff and out to the middle of the gorge.

Vic Falls from a different perspective
highly recommended

Fearless Erin on the zip line over the gorge

We've also had the opportunity to do some non-touristy things like visit Chimwemwe, a local school in one of the compounds and see the excitement and energy kids have at the opportunity to learn. We also visited Chisomo a local drop in center for street kids where we met Aaron and discussed his vision for the facility and how he'd like to make a bigger impact in the lives of these kids. Coming from Canada it is a real eye opener to see how people live with so much less, both in terms of material wealth but also in terms of opportunity. In Lusaka, more than 70% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day....try that for a day or two.

Last night we headed over to the weekly hockey game at the Swedish embassy and today John and I spent the morning golfing on the finest course in Zambia, the Lusaka Golf Club. It was one of the most unique golf experiences I've had. It's not often you have the chance to step back in time and use clubs and balls from the early 70s. It was definitely an experience I will not soon forget.

We would highly recommend a trip out here to everyone. The accommodations are great, we have built in babysitters and our chef is spoiling us.

p.s. Stacey's luggage hasn't arrived and we just aren't talking about it.

Happy Canada Day!

There were no official Canada Day celebrations going on in Lusaka today (imagine!) so we had to plan our own. We went out for lunch to a nice garden centre/cafe and then went to Munda Wanga - a place with a beautiful botanical garden as well as an environmental education centre with lions, a tiger, an elephant, zebras and a few of the other "regular" African animals.
Here are our guests of honor: Vince, Stacey, Madison and Carter Boschman. They are still recovering from the jet lag but the kids seem to have enough energy to keep us on our toes.
What's for lunch? Chicken!
Yesterday we went to Kalimba reptile park and saw lots of snakes and crocodiles. Danica and Erin were quite keen to have a boa constrictor wrapped around their neck. Madison and Carter didn't want to give it a try but they did touch the snake.