Yummy Inswa! - by John

Mmm, a big plate of termites

So, a few weeks ago we posted a blog about eating caterpillars. They weren't horrible, but weren't all that great either. Nonetheless, our friends Dave and Ruth posted a comment, something like "Bring it On", so we did. We arranged for our maid to fry up a big batch of Inswa, which we know as termites (see this Wikipedia entry). They are pretty popular around this time of year in southern Africa, they come out, fly around and mate, and then loose their wings, so people pick them up and cook them up.

We did a sort of taste test, and had about a 50/50 reaction. I found them crunchy, oily and pretty good, they make a nice snack. Others had a different reaction.

Danica likes Inswa!Caleb likes Inswa a lot!

Erin is still tasting....

Erin expresses her disappointment

Jordan would prefer other forms of protein

Regardless of the negative reactions, I predict that it's only a matter of time until Inswa hit the frozen food aisle at Superstore, or that we will find the McInswa burger at McDonalds.

Special Guest Correspondent - Dave Sawatsky

Dave getting in touch with his inner African

John and Charlene, our gracious hosts, have invited me to post a “guest blog” entry, and so what follows is a somewhat random set of impressions of our very short time in Africa:

Food: Although we have had much food that is familiar, we can now boast that we have eaten octopus, flying ants (inswa), and impala, as well as several varieties of fish that I’ve already forgotten. J&C are threatening, uh, offering to fry up some caterpillars as well, and we will probably have nshima (corn based staple) before we leave.

Yes, this is a fried ant. Yum Yum.

Commerce: While there are stores & shops that look and feel very western, we have been struck by the number of informal micro-businesses that line the roadways – both inside and outside of the city – selling everything from fruit & vegetables to lawn mowing services, tire repair (“tyre mending”), plumbing, gravel, fish, etc etc using not much more than a makeshift booth or a sign on a tree. Hawkers also stand at many of the busy intersections (the ones with traffic lights) to sell fireworks, hats, DVD’s, and puppies – yes, puppies. And no discussion of commerce would be complete without mentioning the ubiquitous CelTel (cell phone company) booths which are housed in everything from tiny roadway shacks to shipping containers and are virtually everywhere, including the compounds. All in all, there is no shortage of industry.

Streets - the roads less graveled: Easily the worst roads I have ever traveled, many of the secondary streets in Lusaka are barely passable, filled with massive potholes (on streets once asphalted) and ruts carved from draining rainwater. Even the main road to Livingstone has a 60km stretch that takes 1.5 hours to drive because of the poor condition of the road. The roads in the compounds are even worse. There are also no streetlights or sidewalks, unfortunate because many more people walk than drive. In any case, I will never again complain about potholes in Winnipeg…

A casual stroll

Fauna: Our safari day in Chobe park in Botswana probably deserves an entry of its own, but the highlights included elephants and hippos and seeing a pack of wild dogs devouring an impala (even the tour guide took pictures!). On the other end of the scale, there are many interesting & unusual spiders, snails, centipedes, beetles, etc – many of which are co-habitating with us at the MCC guest house. And for all of our preparations to prevent malaria, we have seen very few mosquitoes!

People: We have found people to be very friendly and welcoming to us, whether we are walking down the street or meeting people at the organizations MCC is supporting. The kids said they felt like rock stars when we toured the compound, as kids repeatedly surrounded us, eager to shake our hands and say “How are YOU?”. Finally, it is hard not to notice the slower pace that people take, so much so that seeing someone running (or even walking briskly) is the exception.

Jordan teaches Zambian kids to dance (?!?)

I should stop for now, and leave other stories for friends and family when we return. We are so grateful to have such good friends here who are masters of hospitality and who know their way around Lusaka/Livingstone. Thanks, John and Charlene.

Dave

Christmas in Zanzibar

Hello dear readers - we are far behind in our postings, but now have a bit of free time, so we will try to get caught up.

We are fortunate to have spent Christmas on the exotic spice island of Zanzibar.

Our friends Dave and Ruth and their boys Jordan and Caleb are visiting us for a month, and just about the first thing we did when they arrived was to turn them around and get them on another plane to Dar Es Salaam, and then a short hop to Stone Town in Zanzibar. We met up with Al and Carla Kehler and their girls, Katherine, Elisabeth and Olivia, who are also friends from Winnipeg, and are now living in Kampala, Uganda where Al works with the UN World Food Program.

Here is a picture of all of us together

The first place we stayed was the Mnarani Beach Cottages in Nungwi, which is at the northern tip of the island.

It was a bit surreal to be in a tropical paradise over Christmas, but it was great to be there with good friends.

Merry Christmas!

The kids all got along great, and we did things like snorkeling and a sunset cruise on the ocean.

Getting on the boat for our cruise

Dave and Ruth in the sunset

The water was very warm and very blue, the breezes were warm and the sun shone the whole time we were there.

After Al and Carla left, we moved to another hotel near Stone Town. From there we took a tour of the town, did a bunch of shopping and sightseeing. Stone Town is known for it's elaborately carved doors and other interesting architectural touches that show a wide range of Arabic and Indian influences.

A very fancy door

We also went on a spice tour, where we learned all about how different spices are grown. Cloves and other spices are still a big part of Zanzibar’s export business.

On the spice tour

Our Spice Girls

This is Nutmeg

Our time on the island was nicely wrapped up by a great meal on the beach of our resort. We loved Zanzibar and want to come back.

Christmas Nativity Play

Yesterday was the children's nativity play at our church. Our girls were angels - in the literal sense. Much to our surprise, the shepherds had real, live sheep! We remarked to others that we would never see this in Winnipeg and they responded "Really?" The sheep were terribly cute and you can guess that by the end of the morning Danica and Erin were begging for some new pets: "But Daddy, then the lawn wouldn't have to be mowed!"

Regional Retreat

We've just returned from our MCC Southern Africa Regional Retreat. It was held just outside Lusaka, at a place called "Pioneer Camp", which (unlike the Canadian Pioneer Camp) is a guest lodge. We had MCCers come from Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

It's very interesting learning about MCC work in this part of the world. MCC is doing all sorts of things, everything from drilling wells by hand and building sand dams to working with HIV/AIDS support groups, education, and agricultural development. MCC has a special emphasis on working with local partners, so a lot of the work is at a very grass roots level. Perhaps the most interesting part of the retreat was hearing first hand about the situation in Zimbabwe. Needless to say, it's very difficult for everyone but especially for the poor. Runaway inflation has destroyed the economy, and now starvation is a very real possibility for most of the population. Meanwhile, there are groups of people who are benefiting from the chaos and are amassing great wealth. It's a place where there is a great cry for justice, please remember the people of Zimbabwe in your prayers.

It's also great getting to know the MCCers themselves. The stories about how people got involved in MCC in the first place are interesting and uplifting. One of the nice aspects of the retreat is that local MCC employees also attended, and they had all sorts of interesting stories to tell as well.

The entire Southern Africa MCC Team

The MCC Zambia Team

We also had an opportunity to have a bunch of fun together. One day we all went to Zambia's only water slide park for a slide and a picnic.

The traditional "talent show" was a big hit with many laughs.

The Limbo contest was one of the less serious moments of the retreat

The 5K fun run was held on a nice hot and steamy afternoon with the sun coming out to make the country side look like a shimmering emerald. Even the kids completed the run!

Finally, a big Christmas dinner and a time of reflection and sharing was a wonderful way to end our time together. Being part of a team has been a big positive part of our MCC experience, and retreats like this are a big and memorable part of team building.

A Taste of Zambia - by Charlene

There are several purposes for this blog:

1. to introduce you to the culinary experiences of Zambia
2. to show how adventurous “we” are (meaning John)
3. to really freak out our friends Dave & Ruth who are visiting later this month

Miriam, our maid, cooks her lunch at our place and often eats together with some of the other people who are working on our property. Today they were eating at our house and as I was making my salad in the kitchen they invited me to come and taste their food.

from left - Rape Relish, Nshima and Chinkubala

The two staple foods of the Zambian diet are Nshima (bottom centre) which is a corn maize product and Rape (upper left) which is a green leafy vegetable (from the Rapeseed and Canola family) which when fried in oil with a bit of onion and tomato is called a "relish".

Mmmm....Chinkubala!

I hesitated because Zambian food is not my favourite, but when I discovered today’s menu included Chinkubala I suddenly remembered some urgent emails that needed to be sent! Chinkubala are caterpillars, picked from the trees and dried. To cook them you soak them in water for a while, and then fry them up with onion and tomatoes.

Luckily John drove up just in time to save the day, his adventurous palate was more than happy to give it a try. While the Zambian ladies were disappointed that I wouldn’t taste the caterpillars, they all had looks of horror when I offered them a taste of my salad . (A lot of Zambians don’t really eat raw food or fresh vegetables). We decided to call a truce and each stick to our own foods!

Mmm, crunchy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside

Also in season now are the flying ants known as "Inswa", they are on the top of John's "Must Taste" list (apparently crunchy and buttery) . So, we've asked Miriam to make a "special" Zambian meal for when Dave and Ruth come.

The Snow Queen

ISL had their primary school production of the play Snow Queen last night. The kids and staff had all put forth a huge amount of effort and it was a great show. Erin was thrilled to be cast in the title role of the Snow Queen.All dressed and ready to go

Katrina (the witch of Finland), Erin and Shanelle who had the lead role of Gerda

Erin as the Snow Queen surrounded by her Sprites

Erin delivering her address of her desire to capture a boy and freeze his little heart!

The entire cast delivering the final song

A congratulatory hug from her sister, time to go out for ice cream now