Thanksgiving '05 Update
I made it to Solwezi for Thanksgiving, it's been a long two day process, the prospect of finally getting a shower seems to be the next order of business. I wanted to tackle a few more questions that have been asked of me, but forgot that piece of paper back at site. So I'll do what I can from memory and make the rest up as I go along.
Transport
I'd like to be a little more clear on this issue.
From Kitwe to Mwekera, or from Kitwe to Kalulushi, we take little blue(ish) buses that are more rust and dent colored than paint. Most have shatterered windows or missing windows. Some, the side doors may actually fall off if opened by a person other than the 'conductor' (saw it happen as I sat inside). They really can be thought of as deathtraps. There is no schedule that they run on, when one fills up, it leaves. Sometimes that requires waiting five minutes, othertimes up to ninety minutes. They really can be scary, but like most things we can't control here, we try not to think about it. Kitwe to Mwekera costs 2,500 ZKw (plus a three km walk from the last bus stop to Mwekera) and Kitwe to Kalulushi runs at 3,000 ZKw.
From Kitwe to Lusaka or Solwezi, there are bigger-sized buses, up to even charter size. They are more expensive, but usally a little safer. We have to wonder however how safe, when a preacher stands up and prays for our souls at the beginning of each journey. The speil usually includes trusting the Lord on this journey. How about trusting the driver? Trusting that he might not be drunk, that we have a spare tire, that he actually bought some fuel???
Now for the good stuff... Kalulushi to my site. The distance is something around 85km (53mi) and is 95% dirt road. Once you get to Kalulushi you have to go to the bars and try to find a vehicle going 'that side'. Any vehicle leaves only when it fills up to capacity. Two weeks ago I waited on a Suday afternoon six hours surround by drunk people before leaving after sundown for the three hour ride home. Three hours is a fantastic time. Most vehicles are old small pickup trucks. Bob has seen one that has a crank-start in the front. Most need a push start to get running. Once running they often move forward on fumes and their speedometers never function. Up to 19 people fit in the back of these trucks, perched on the sides (1" of metal isn't much of a perch) or on a spare tire (if you're lucky enough to travel with one) or a sack of maize. I have a picture that Bob took of the three pigs that were thrown in the back of the truck with us, before another 15 people climbed in. After the first hour, the swine were stressed enough to urinate and deficate in the back of the truck with us (We try to keep our backpacks off the bed of the truck). Not only is it cheek-to-cheek, but also the people have all their 'stuff' with them, usually strapped down on the open tailgate. Yes, it can be very dangerous, but you simply close your eyes and think of a happy place. No joke. With any luck, the driver will NOT stop at every village for some local beer, but they usually do.
Transporting supplies to my site is a different matter. Whether it be a 5kg sack of rice from the store or a box that was sent from the States, I luckily have a different way to get it out. St Marys Mission has a 'home base' church in Kitwe called Sacred Heart; the office at SH coordinates all the surrounding missions. So my postal mail comes into the Post Office in Kitwe, SH goes to the PO Box every day and retreives the mail, the mail is sorted into boxes at the parish office, the priests coming in from the bush stop by the office and pick up information/supplies. My mail then gets taken to St Marys Mission where I can pick it up when I stop by. Father Mobe at St Marys goes to town once a week. I can usually get to St Marys once a week, it's a 10km bike ride. That's a maximum of two weeks there. Any boxes that come into the Post Office for me produce a slip of paper that is put in the mail box with my name on it. Once that slip of paper reaches St Marys, I know I have a box. When I get into town I take that slip of paper to the Post Office, they give me my package (with a 5000 Zkw fee) and I carry my box several downtown blocks to Sacred Heart. The same goes for any groceries. Without Sacred Heart and Father Mobe, I'd be very screwed.
Getting out of my site to town requires sitting by the side of the road waiting for a vehicle to be going 'that side'. Usually Bob and I are at the roadside by 07:00. One day we gave up by the afternoon and tried the next day, but usually, something passes by between 09:00 and 12:00. The cost from our villages to Kalulushi is 16,000 Zkw.
Someone asked what happens if people in the village get sick, the flu? Not much happens. My neighbor got malaria last week. He stopped working for two days, popped the pills that are supposed to make you better, and he slowly returned to normal. His son just got back from a clinic after having 'malaria in his bones'. It could be anything. If someone falls ill, they usually continue on with their lives, if it gets severe enough, they hop on the back of a bicycle and ride the 10km to St Marys Clinic. People do die.
Which leads me to reasons of death. Any cause of death that isn't apparent (ie. open gushing wound, broken neck, guts spilling on the ground, snakebite) is basically labeled as 'witchcraft'. There was a 'funeral' near my village several weeks ago. My friend pulled me with to see what goes on. I objected, but went. Four to six guys support the wooden coffin while going down the road to the cemetery. This is when the coffin can point-out witches. It is called a 'flying coffin' and basically consists of the coffin being run around and beating witches up. I saw four witches get beaten, one confessed to killing the man with witchcraft. The coffin even was rammed into a house wall, which was apparently when the coffin found the place where the witch hide the magic, in the wall. Nope, it wasn't that the pallbearers were drunk and stumbling around chasing people. I'll admit, I was appalled and completely annoyed. Drunk people running around with a dead body beating people up. Excellent. The next day the police came out and arrested the four men who now face court charges in Kitwe with possible imprisonment or huge fines. Their lives are now ruined. My friend was quite scared being in the crowd of people as the coffin came flying towards us. He pulled me by the arm this way and that, saying he was afraid. I asked him if he was a witch, he replied of course not, so I reasoned that he shouldn't be afraid, yet he was trembling. I was also warned not to shake anyone's hand, if they are a witch, I could become one by shaking their hand, and the coffin would see this and come beat us up. Just thinking about all of this again makes me very angry. Several hundred people were gathered in the middle of the road watching a coffin being dragged all over the place. Everyone is amazed that I don't believe in witchcraft, asking how after seeing what I saw, I can not believe? I swear, if the coffin ever came up to me, I'm not sure I'd restrain myself. I might be arrested, but for reasons other than witchcraft. Witchcraft belief isn't in every province or tribe. There are Witchcraft Courts in Northwestern Province, and people are often hung/stoned/burned to death in Luapula Province. While in training we received news that the father of a woman in Chankalomo who lived in Luapula was hung for witchcraft. Also, a PCV up there witnessed a stoning of a witch. She was horrified and appalled. The only others to continue this stupidity are my wonderful Lambas. I've been told it doesn't happen in any other places, especially not urban areas. No really. However, if you see a shooting star... that's a witch on their broom.
Temps have still be between 90 and 95F and by 10:00 it is often too hot/humid to do too much work. People often go to their fields to plant and weed as daylight increases, around 05:30.
I wrote this waiting for transport on the side of the road several days ago:
"I have so much to say, yet somehow, so very little. I see how people are able to write a book about their experiences. However, I have no way to simply download the thoughts from my head. Daylight hours are devoted to accomplishing as much as possible before the poisonous snakes come out at dusk - it is the rainy season. Dark hours are spent trying to get some sleep, usually interrupted by drunken talking, blarring music, tropical thunderstorms, rats/mice/shrews, roosters/pigs/goats, heat and humidity. After all of that, writing takes a lower rung on the ladder." I've neglected writting letters in the past month. I apologize to everyone. Many things have been happening here in Zambia. A brief list of PCV incidents would start with Kasama, a vehicle crash in Luapula, a PCV affair with a PC Trainer, and the extremely recent death of a PC Trainee. Much shit has hit the fan and somehow continues to splatter. Many things are in the works of changing in PC/Zambia in the coming months. PCVL houses and PCVLs will be phased out by June. Also of note is the upcoming presidential elections (supposedly) this coming Nov/Dec, along with a possible new constitution in the coming months.
I've now seen three poisonous snakes. 1) A one meter black mamba. 2) A 60cm puff adder. 3) A 50cm baby Mozambique Spitting Cobra. The first was at Mike Bufo's house. The second was a few meters outside of my front door in the pouring rain at 01:00. The third was sitting on the side of the road waiting for transport only two days ago. Of course, the locals trapped and killed it in a matter of minutes. Bob and I were hoping that the parents would be around, alas, they didn't show.
In letters and emails I may have referred to a few people. Let me go back over them:
Bob Mason (RAP 2003 who is my nearest PC neighbor), Brian Bwalya (a great friend in the village), Euphraizia Banda (22yo and just finished grade 12), Mrs Banda (Head SchoolMistress), Mr/Mrs Makamu (Kantende PFAP members), Ba Tapson Chibuboka (the 'grandfather' of the sub-village I live in, donator of the house I'm living in, Kantende PFAP member), Ba S. Kapopwe (retired Diesel Mechanics Prof from the Uni in Ndola who has taken up Permaculture in the middle of no-where), Ba Cello (another very motivated farmer farther out in our district). Father Peter Mobe (Priest-in-charge at St Marys Mission, speaks English very well, has offered refuge if/when we ever need it), Donald Phiri (Program Assistant for LIFE, currently acting program director for LIFE, technical trainer for Mwekera, one of the smartest men in his field, college in Ottawa, Canada). Allison (PCVL for Central/Copperbelt Provinces, based in Serenje), Josh (PCVL for Northwestern Province, based in Solwezi). Dave Morris (Country Director of PC/Z).
I hope to get letters out in the coming months, but things will be very busy until the end of January. December 11th I have to be in Lusaka for In-service Training (IST) for two weeks. Brian will come for a visit immediately after that. January 6th might be Quarterly Provincial Meetings one last time in our provincial capitals. After that I'll head down to see Victoria Falls before Brian flies out of Livingstone. After that I should be able to get back to my site and spend some time there. Bob will be headed home for a month of home-leave (since he is extending another year) and will be gone the middle of January to the middle of February.
Please keep the letters and questions coming. I'll get to what I can when I can, I promise. I just received a box from Cally that she sent on 3 Oct, so things are a little slow right now on the AirMail side of the ocean crossing.
Tomorrow morning I'll be off to the bus stop here in Solwezi at 05:00 to catch the early bus for the 3hr ride to Kitwe. Hopefully I'll get back to my village by tomorrow night, but that's a lot to ask for in one day.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Love, n
Transport
I'd like to be a little more clear on this issue.
From Kitwe to Mwekera, or from Kitwe to Kalulushi, we take little blue(ish) buses that are more rust and dent colored than paint. Most have shatterered windows or missing windows. Some, the side doors may actually fall off if opened by a person other than the 'conductor' (saw it happen as I sat inside). They really can be thought of as deathtraps. There is no schedule that they run on, when one fills up, it leaves. Sometimes that requires waiting five minutes, othertimes up to ninety minutes. They really can be scary, but like most things we can't control here, we try not to think about it. Kitwe to Mwekera costs 2,500 ZKw (plus a three km walk from the last bus stop to Mwekera) and Kitwe to Kalulushi runs at 3,000 ZKw.
From Kitwe to Lusaka or Solwezi, there are bigger-sized buses, up to even charter size. They are more expensive, but usally a little safer. We have to wonder however how safe, when a preacher stands up and prays for our souls at the beginning of each journey. The speil usually includes trusting the Lord on this journey. How about trusting the driver? Trusting that he might not be drunk, that we have a spare tire, that he actually bought some fuel???
Now for the good stuff... Kalulushi to my site. The distance is something around 85km (53mi) and is 95% dirt road. Once you get to Kalulushi you have to go to the bars and try to find a vehicle going 'that side'. Any vehicle leaves only when it fills up to capacity. Two weeks ago I waited on a Suday afternoon six hours surround by drunk people before leaving after sundown for the three hour ride home. Three hours is a fantastic time. Most vehicles are old small pickup trucks. Bob has seen one that has a crank-start in the front. Most need a push start to get running. Once running they often move forward on fumes and their speedometers never function. Up to 19 people fit in the back of these trucks, perched on the sides (1" of metal isn't much of a perch) or on a spare tire (if you're lucky enough to travel with one) or a sack of maize. I have a picture that Bob took of the three pigs that were thrown in the back of the truck with us, before another 15 people climbed in. After the first hour, the swine were stressed enough to urinate and deficate in the back of the truck with us (We try to keep our backpacks off the bed of the truck). Not only is it cheek-to-cheek, but also the people have all their 'stuff' with them, usually strapped down on the open tailgate. Yes, it can be very dangerous, but you simply close your eyes and think of a happy place. No joke. With any luck, the driver will NOT stop at every village for some local beer, but they usually do.
Transporting supplies to my site is a different matter. Whether it be a 5kg sack of rice from the store or a box that was sent from the States, I luckily have a different way to get it out. St Marys Mission has a 'home base' church in Kitwe called Sacred Heart; the office at SH coordinates all the surrounding missions. So my postal mail comes into the Post Office in Kitwe, SH goes to the PO Box every day and retreives the mail, the mail is sorted into boxes at the parish office, the priests coming in from the bush stop by the office and pick up information/supplies. My mail then gets taken to St Marys Mission where I can pick it up when I stop by. Father Mobe at St Marys goes to town once a week. I can usually get to St Marys once a week, it's a 10km bike ride. That's a maximum of two weeks there. Any boxes that come into the Post Office for me produce a slip of paper that is put in the mail box with my name on it. Once that slip of paper reaches St Marys, I know I have a box. When I get into town I take that slip of paper to the Post Office, they give me my package (with a 5000 Zkw fee) and I carry my box several downtown blocks to Sacred Heart. The same goes for any groceries. Without Sacred Heart and Father Mobe, I'd be very screwed.
Getting out of my site to town requires sitting by the side of the road waiting for a vehicle to be going 'that side'. Usually Bob and I are at the roadside by 07:00. One day we gave up by the afternoon and tried the next day, but usually, something passes by between 09:00 and 12:00. The cost from our villages to Kalulushi is 16,000 Zkw.
Someone asked what happens if people in the village get sick, the flu? Not much happens. My neighbor got malaria last week. He stopped working for two days, popped the pills that are supposed to make you better, and he slowly returned to normal. His son just got back from a clinic after having 'malaria in his bones'. It could be anything. If someone falls ill, they usually continue on with their lives, if it gets severe enough, they hop on the back of a bicycle and ride the 10km to St Marys Clinic. People do die.
Which leads me to reasons of death. Any cause of death that isn't apparent (ie. open gushing wound, broken neck, guts spilling on the ground, snakebite) is basically labeled as 'witchcraft'. There was a 'funeral' near my village several weeks ago. My friend pulled me with to see what goes on. I objected, but went. Four to six guys support the wooden coffin while going down the road to the cemetery. This is when the coffin can point-out witches. It is called a 'flying coffin' and basically consists of the coffin being run around and beating witches up. I saw four witches get beaten, one confessed to killing the man with witchcraft. The coffin even was rammed into a house wall, which was apparently when the coffin found the place where the witch hide the magic, in the wall. Nope, it wasn't that the pallbearers were drunk and stumbling around chasing people. I'll admit, I was appalled and completely annoyed. Drunk people running around with a dead body beating people up. Excellent. The next day the police came out and arrested the four men who now face court charges in Kitwe with possible imprisonment or huge fines. Their lives are now ruined. My friend was quite scared being in the crowd of people as the coffin came flying towards us. He pulled me by the arm this way and that, saying he was afraid. I asked him if he was a witch, he replied of course not, so I reasoned that he shouldn't be afraid, yet he was trembling. I was also warned not to shake anyone's hand, if they are a witch, I could become one by shaking their hand, and the coffin would see this and come beat us up. Just thinking about all of this again makes me very angry. Several hundred people were gathered in the middle of the road watching a coffin being dragged all over the place. Everyone is amazed that I don't believe in witchcraft, asking how after seeing what I saw, I can not believe? I swear, if the coffin ever came up to me, I'm not sure I'd restrain myself. I might be arrested, but for reasons other than witchcraft. Witchcraft belief isn't in every province or tribe. There are Witchcraft Courts in Northwestern Province, and people are often hung/stoned/burned to death in Luapula Province. While in training we received news that the father of a woman in Chankalomo who lived in Luapula was hung for witchcraft. Also, a PCV up there witnessed a stoning of a witch. She was horrified and appalled. The only others to continue this stupidity are my wonderful Lambas. I've been told it doesn't happen in any other places, especially not urban areas. No really. However, if you see a shooting star... that's a witch on their broom.
Temps have still be between 90 and 95F and by 10:00 it is often too hot/humid to do too much work. People often go to their fields to plant and weed as daylight increases, around 05:30.
I wrote this waiting for transport on the side of the road several days ago:
"I have so much to say, yet somehow, so very little. I see how people are able to write a book about their experiences. However, I have no way to simply download the thoughts from my head. Daylight hours are devoted to accomplishing as much as possible before the poisonous snakes come out at dusk - it is the rainy season. Dark hours are spent trying to get some sleep, usually interrupted by drunken talking, blarring music, tropical thunderstorms, rats/mice/shrews, roosters/pigs/goats, heat and humidity. After all of that, writing takes a lower rung on the ladder." I've neglected writting letters in the past month. I apologize to everyone. Many things have been happening here in Zambia. A brief list of PCV incidents would start with Kasama, a vehicle crash in Luapula, a PCV affair with a PC Trainer, and the extremely recent death of a PC Trainee. Much shit has hit the fan and somehow continues to splatter. Many things are in the works of changing in PC/Zambia in the coming months. PCVL houses and PCVLs will be phased out by June. Also of note is the upcoming presidential elections (supposedly) this coming Nov/Dec, along with a possible new constitution in the coming months.
I've now seen three poisonous snakes. 1) A one meter black mamba. 2) A 60cm puff adder. 3) A 50cm baby Mozambique Spitting Cobra. The first was at Mike Bufo's house. The second was a few meters outside of my front door in the pouring rain at 01:00. The third was sitting on the side of the road waiting for transport only two days ago. Of course, the locals trapped and killed it in a matter of minutes. Bob and I were hoping that the parents would be around, alas, they didn't show.
In letters and emails I may have referred to a few people. Let me go back over them:
Bob Mason (RAP 2003 who is my nearest PC neighbor), Brian Bwalya (a great friend in the village), Euphraizia Banda (22yo and just finished grade 12), Mrs Banda (Head SchoolMistress), Mr/Mrs Makamu (Kantende PFAP members), Ba Tapson Chibuboka (the 'grandfather' of the sub-village I live in, donator of the house I'm living in, Kantende PFAP member), Ba S. Kapopwe (retired Diesel Mechanics Prof from the Uni in Ndola who has taken up Permaculture in the middle of no-where), Ba Cello (another very motivated farmer farther out in our district). Father Peter Mobe (Priest-in-charge at St Marys Mission, speaks English very well, has offered refuge if/when we ever need it), Donald Phiri (Program Assistant for LIFE, currently acting program director for LIFE, technical trainer for Mwekera, one of the smartest men in his field, college in Ottawa, Canada). Allison (PCVL for Central/Copperbelt Provinces, based in Serenje), Josh (PCVL for Northwestern Province, based in Solwezi). Dave Morris (Country Director of PC/Z).
I hope to get letters out in the coming months, but things will be very busy until the end of January. December 11th I have to be in Lusaka for In-service Training (IST) for two weeks. Brian will come for a visit immediately after that. January 6th might be Quarterly Provincial Meetings one last time in our provincial capitals. After that I'll head down to see Victoria Falls before Brian flies out of Livingstone. After that I should be able to get back to my site and spend some time there. Bob will be headed home for a month of home-leave (since he is extending another year) and will be gone the middle of January to the middle of February.
Please keep the letters and questions coming. I'll get to what I can when I can, I promise. I just received a box from Cally that she sent on 3 Oct, so things are a little slow right now on the AirMail side of the ocean crossing.
Tomorrow morning I'll be off to the bus stop here in Solwezi at 05:00 to catch the early bus for the 3hr ride to Kitwe. Hopefully I'll get back to my village by tomorrow night, but that's a lot to ask for in one day.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Love, n
posted by nathan at 13:03
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