Letters from Zambia 13
Nathan wrote:
06/24 Sat: A quick week re-cap: Wed. I put cement blocks in the bathing stall, much cleaner. Thursday I got two tables from St. M, on the back of my bike - yikes. Friday I went to Mafuta A and made vaseline with them. They use it here in their hair, on their lips & skin, so if they can make their own they could save some $ (if not sell for income). Today PCMedical Officer Gilly from Lusaka came out to show Regional PCMO from Pretoria a few Volunteer sites - Eliza's, Bob's, mine - since we were the closest to Mwekera to visit. I had tea for them & we talked before going to Bob's for lunch. It was good & nice to bond a little with Gilly. 1645//
06/26 Mon: I really almost died 10 minutes ago. I was biking home from St. M & I used the bush path through Chinafulwe. There was a column of smoke ahead of me, very windy today & at 1130 it's too soon to be burning. I now think the fire escaped. Anyway, about 3/4 km from Kantende I saw 20' flames off to the east. East/SE winds have been very strong this morning gusting to near 15 mph. I looked ahead & the trail was not yet engulfed in flames but they were quickly approaching. If I turned around I'd be chased & the last fire break was a ways back. So without thinking I charged ahead, pedalling like hell, watching a wall of fire approach from my left. Thinking back, the flames were moving about 10' per second. Towards the end all I could feel was heat & tremendous winds sucking into the flames. I couldn't breathe, so I held what air was in my lungs & just as the flames were 15' away I burst through to the other side. From pedalling & not breathing my side was killing me, so I paused to look back. Where I had been the moment before was already swept over in flames. I was shaking, I was seconds from being swept across with fire. Here, from my insaka I can hear the fire roaring, if it back-burns to Kantende, some homes may be lost. I hope Mrs. Banda has all her maize harvested, her field stands in the way. Damn, that's the biggest fire I've seen yet. I should not have been where I was, but really, my options were limited & I didn't have time to pick & choose. If I had paused 5 more seconds before making the charge through, I might not be writing this...that scares me. That was way too close./
The wind is slackening, the fire is just off to the ENE. If it hits the field near my house I may lose my toilet's roof. Hopefully my house will be okay. It may be a close call./
Two waves of fire moved through just north of the field, the first tried making Pyrocumulus but failed. The winds have let up & now I smell smoke & the air looks a little hazy - I'm no fireman but I doubt that is a good sign.//
07/01 Sat: Monday's massive fire swept E to W just north of my house in about 3 seperate waves, breaks in between, it would back-burn & then flare up in the wind & blow to the W. A gusty day, there were three giant dust devils a few hundred feet South, twice as high as the trees. If anything, the wind direction kept the fire from advancing my direction. Regardless, by 1700 it had crept back into the field North of my house, against the wind. However, by the time the sun's behind the trees, the temp plummets, and the winds slacken. It burned in the field, but didn't make much progress as the RH increased from the temp. drop. Everything now is burning or will be burned in a few weeks. I know it's hard to imagine, but every square inch of this country burns. Right now they're targeting along the road, along paths & just around homes & buildings. People are rushing to finish harvesting their fields. In fact, last night a fire was approaching Brian's uncle's field so they had to stand watch to possibly fight it off. Already they've started burning in the woods, Chinafulwe had already been mostly burned. Soon you'll be able to see for a kilometer under the trees - no more 2.5 m grass! And finally all the fields will be burned. On Wednesday afternoon I went to St. M and finally there was some mail. Yesterday (Friday) I went to Mafuta A. A four-day holiday started on Thurs so the guy that I depend upon there was free from teaching - he's the headmaster (only two teachers, the Ministry of Ed. does not pay them). Also, he's the VRMC Secretary for Maf. A. Mr. Michelo, a Tongan. While we waited we went over his project proposal. He's almost finished but had some questions on organization & content. He'll finish & drop off for me to read through next week. I'll take it to town when I go in July 30 & type it up before we sign it & take it to the P.O. No one showed for our discussion on Nutrition. We rescheduled a time next Thursday. Got back home & Brian was finishing the addition of grass to the shower - was getting a little see-through facing the path. I don't think I told you...last week Fr. Mobe got me two "boss" chairs, like Bob has. I asked if he could pick two up the next time he went to Ndola. They were delivered on Sunday. K25,000 each. And I also got a wooden stool for K4,000. G-pa made one gate for the insaka. Woven bamboo, but I'm having a problem getting the hinges on it. Kantende's VRMC is working on clearing the grass out of the orchard today. I was invited to help last Sat., but I begged off 'cause the doctors were coming. They didn't fully finish & I was re-invited today. I don't want to go. Of course they want me to work with them, but god-forbid I'm ever invited to do anything else. They're afraid the orchard will get burned like last year when they didn't clear a fire break. No idea why the care this year. Bob should be finishing up in Mwekera today & going up to Solwezi to check the P.O. there. Eston should be in the process of moving out of his site & into Solwezi. Eliza sent me a note via the PCMO saying that we have to be out of the Solwezi house by the end of July - the owner died. Eston & Josh will have their hands full trying to find & move into a new house. But Eliza is happy that 3 of us from Team Bemba will be in Solwezi for the next meeting. Also, she suggested that after my PCV of the Week I meet her in Ndola on Sat 5th. Really looking forward to seeing her, two b-days to celebrate, her's is July 2nd. After Ndola I too will take a run up to Solwezi for a couple days of relaxing before heading back to site, should have a new PCVL house by then. Bob should be back sometime around July 4th, next Tuesday, I'm anxious to talk to him about what he's decided on the Keegan-thing. I should finish up two letters, one to my Climatology Prof at GB, and the other to my Scoutmaster, both are great people, I need to write them. 0851//
07/03 Mon: The last two days I've been taking it easy. Fri morning at 1AM I awoke with nausea and it's been continuing. If I don't eat I'm hungry, if I do eat I feel ill. It's getting better but I've dropped my meal size in half out of necessity. Been playing a few games of chess with Mr. Musonda (Euphu's impromptu husband). He has a quick mind, I'm hoping to learn from him, he usually wins. Masuzyo came home late Thursday for the multi-day holiday. I've missed her. They've made some Munkoyo, a maize-based (surprise!) drink flavored with the root of the munkoyo plant. There's fresh munkoyo, you can add sugar and have sweet munkoyo, or you can wait three or four days for alcoholic munkoyo. I refuse to try the alcoholic, but I love the sweet. I'll have 10 L made when you come, if you can. I've been working on the hinges of the first gate. Difficult to figure this out & make it work without lumber, screws & a cordless screwdriver. I'm looking forward to having nice & proper tools in a toolbox. Gorilla glue & nails is the best I can do, hopefully I'll get the gate hung tomorrow. Contemplating going to St. M tomorrow with B, he has school resuming on Wed. from the holiday. I sit on the bicycle rack & he pedals us. Painful for me to hold on (not to mention that I'm 5 times heavier than the recommended weight on the rack) but it gets him to St. M twice as fast as walking. Now I'm just wondering if Bob gets back tonight, hopefully he'll shout from transport if he goes back home tonight. Tante laid her 13th egg today, I'm dying to eat some but since chick mortality is so high, I can't bring myself to. I took Quakers to Brian's uncles where there is a male. Q has been making egg-laying sounds, we'll see if she lays in the next few weeks. As I carried her in my arms she crapped down the front of my shirt. Then we took the last two ducklings out of my yard. The one duckling I was carrying crapped on the clean shirt I just put on. Cute but messy. The nights have been frigid, some into the upper 30's by sunrise, but it's just a guess. If I didn't have 3 blankets on my bed I'd go hypothermic as I tried to sleep. Everyone is awake and out as the sun rises above the trees, dressed in the warmest they have (many can't afford blankets to sleep with) and they stand with their backs to the sun to try to get warm. Since it seems I did not get tea the last time I was in town I too am back-to-the-sun. PJ pants on, jeans over that. Socks, shoes, hat, long sleeve shirt & my light CNNF jacket. Even then my hands are too cold to do anything with. August will moderate before the heat begins in Sept. July is just sunny, windy & cold. When the PCMOs came last week they saw Luk. Brian tried to grab him to hide at g-pa's house but Luk got away. So PC/Z PCMO Gilly saw him come in the insaka & asked. No I have not gotten him rabies shots yet. Yes I have to get the 1st (of two) ASAP. I'll have to quickly talk to Fr. Mobe & see if he is doing a one day "go-come." The real PCMO site visit will be July 19th by the other doctor, a Zambian, Dr. Nobutu. Sometime after late July Fr. Mobe will leave, going to Chingola. Between the wind & dust I've been cleaning my glasses on & off throughout the day. Just the chickens walking kick up dust. The mango trees are going through their shedding. I'd guess they lose half their leaves, the new ones came out as the rains stopped. The old trees are showing that they'll flower soon. My four basil plants have been flowering, the seeds will be ready soon. The dill seeds will ripen soon too. I've been collecting the seeds off my African Daisy, it's lost all of it's leaves. I'll prune it back when the seedheads finish. The oranges & g-pa's mandarins are now finished. I was enjoying having an orange in the mornings. No more. :( The guavas finished a few weeks ago, I've been thinking about American food a lot lately. A huge fire swept up from the south, came within a few feet of burning g-pa's nephew's roof before it roared up the road edge in a firestorm. 20 foot flames on gusty SE winds at 1430. It jumped across the road and roared into the abandoned field behind my house. Brian was here, he lit a couple fires ahead of it to save my toilet, even though we burned a fire-break last month, not enough for this fire. I got some good pictures, I'll have to sort through them & delete the poor shots.//
07/04 Tues: Happy 4th of July! I just got back from St. M. The long holiday must have forced Bob to change plans. Thurs-Tues is the Free Trade Holiday. I really have no idea what that really means...except four days plus a weekend of doing nothing and drinking vomit-beer (sounds like a Sunday in Kalulushi). Fr. Mobe was in town too, until Thurs. You mentioned that Mary W. had a package returned. That must be one of the three I was told about in late January. That leaves me wondering of the other two. The P.O. should not give me any more problems...we'll see. Mrs. Banda & Mr. Musonda will go to town for their paychecks tomorrow, I'll finish and have them take two letters to town. I have just enough to post yours. Looking out of my insaka I can see across the abandoned field behind my house. An old fallen log & stump are still smoking from yesterday's fire. It will burn for days and only leave a light grey trail of ash on the black grass ash that blankets the field & woods. Today I saw that the fire jumped the road in 4 spots & got into the crowns of several live trees. This morning, as I lay in bed with the blankets over my head, the cold air was heavy with the acrid smell of the burned grass. It's less in the warmth of the day now. I finally got two bags of charcoal yesterday, I hit rock bottom on Sunday when I ran out. I've been asking around for two weeks, but from Kabundia to St. M to Kambale, there's been none. Everyone has been too busy harvesting in fear of the fire. A guy started yesterday's blaze, named Victor, he lives across the road from the tuk shops, everyone calls him a maize thief. He'll probably have to pay for the church roof that burned. I scored a small cabbage today at St. M's market & got some cookies at the mission's tuk. I don't think I will cook today, just heat up some water for a shower. I'm still worried/cautious about last week's nausea. I'll probably head to St. M on Fri, Thursday I'll go to Mafuta & try Nutrition for the 3rd time. Tomorrow, Wed., I'm free. I like to just sit in the sun on these cold days & read. I borrowed two books from Bob. The Illyiad & The Odyssey. I had memories of reading them in H.S., bad memories. But these two translations are great-no problems. They're actually great stories once you get rid of all the prose & lines. Tante hasn't left the nest today, assuming she laid today, that's 13. Now if all works out, I'll have chicks in 3 weeks. I kinda wanted to steal one egg to try a rice pudding recipe I have - no eggs (as usual) at St. M today. :( I may have missed my thieving window. Take care.
N
06/24 Sat: A quick week re-cap: Wed. I put cement blocks in the bathing stall, much cleaner. Thursday I got two tables from St. M, on the back of my bike - yikes. Friday I went to Mafuta A and made vaseline with them. They use it here in their hair, on their lips & skin, so if they can make their own they could save some $ (if not sell for income). Today PCMedical Officer Gilly from Lusaka came out to show Regional PCMO from Pretoria a few Volunteer sites - Eliza's, Bob's, mine - since we were the closest to Mwekera to visit. I had tea for them & we talked before going to Bob's for lunch. It was good & nice to bond a little with Gilly. 1645//
06/26 Mon: I really almost died 10 minutes ago. I was biking home from St. M & I used the bush path through Chinafulwe. There was a column of smoke ahead of me, very windy today & at 1130 it's too soon to be burning. I now think the fire escaped. Anyway, about 3/4 km from Kantende I saw 20' flames off to the east. East/SE winds have been very strong this morning gusting to near 15 mph. I looked ahead & the trail was not yet engulfed in flames but they were quickly approaching. If I turned around I'd be chased & the last fire break was a ways back. So without thinking I charged ahead, pedalling like hell, watching a wall of fire approach from my left. Thinking back, the flames were moving about 10' per second. Towards the end all I could feel was heat & tremendous winds sucking into the flames. I couldn't breathe, so I held what air was in my lungs & just as the flames were 15' away I burst through to the other side. From pedalling & not breathing my side was killing me, so I paused to look back. Where I had been the moment before was already swept over in flames. I was shaking, I was seconds from being swept across with fire. Here, from my insaka I can hear the fire roaring, if it back-burns to Kantende, some homes may be lost. I hope Mrs. Banda has all her maize harvested, her field stands in the way. Damn, that's the biggest fire I've seen yet. I should not have been where I was, but really, my options were limited & I didn't have time to pick & choose. If I had paused 5 more seconds before making the charge through, I might not be writing this...that scares me. That was way too close./
The wind is slackening, the fire is just off to the ENE. If it hits the field near my house I may lose my toilet's roof. Hopefully my house will be okay. It may be a close call./
Two waves of fire moved through just north of the field, the first tried making Pyrocumulus but failed. The winds have let up & now I smell smoke & the air looks a little hazy - I'm no fireman but I doubt that is a good sign.//
07/01 Sat: Monday's massive fire swept E to W just north of my house in about 3 seperate waves, breaks in between, it would back-burn & then flare up in the wind & blow to the W. A gusty day, there were three giant dust devils a few hundred feet South, twice as high as the trees. If anything, the wind direction kept the fire from advancing my direction. Regardless, by 1700 it had crept back into the field North of my house, against the wind. However, by the time the sun's behind the trees, the temp plummets, and the winds slacken. It burned in the field, but didn't make much progress as the RH increased from the temp. drop. Everything now is burning or will be burned in a few weeks. I know it's hard to imagine, but every square inch of this country burns. Right now they're targeting along the road, along paths & just around homes & buildings. People are rushing to finish harvesting their fields. In fact, last night a fire was approaching Brian's uncle's field so they had to stand watch to possibly fight it off. Already they've started burning in the woods, Chinafulwe had already been mostly burned. Soon you'll be able to see for a kilometer under the trees - no more 2.5 m grass! And finally all the fields will be burned. On Wednesday afternoon I went to St. M and finally there was some mail. Yesterday (Friday) I went to Mafuta A. A four-day holiday started on Thurs so the guy that I depend upon there was free from teaching - he's the headmaster (only two teachers, the Ministry of Ed. does not pay them). Also, he's the VRMC Secretary for Maf. A. Mr. Michelo, a Tongan. While we waited we went over his project proposal. He's almost finished but had some questions on organization & content. He'll finish & drop off for me to read through next week. I'll take it to town when I go in July 30 & type it up before we sign it & take it to the P.O. No one showed for our discussion on Nutrition. We rescheduled a time next Thursday. Got back home & Brian was finishing the addition of grass to the shower - was getting a little see-through facing the path. I don't think I told you...last week Fr. Mobe got me two "boss" chairs, like Bob has. I asked if he could pick two up the next time he went to Ndola. They were delivered on Sunday. K25,000 each. And I also got a wooden stool for K4,000. G-pa made one gate for the insaka. Woven bamboo, but I'm having a problem getting the hinges on it. Kantende's VRMC is working on clearing the grass out of the orchard today. I was invited to help last Sat., but I begged off 'cause the doctors were coming. They didn't fully finish & I was re-invited today. I don't want to go. Of course they want me to work with them, but god-forbid I'm ever invited to do anything else. They're afraid the orchard will get burned like last year when they didn't clear a fire break. No idea why the care this year. Bob should be finishing up in Mwekera today & going up to Solwezi to check the P.O. there. Eston should be in the process of moving out of his site & into Solwezi. Eliza sent me a note via the PCMO saying that we have to be out of the Solwezi house by the end of July - the owner died. Eston & Josh will have their hands full trying to find & move into a new house. But Eliza is happy that 3 of us from Team Bemba will be in Solwezi for the next meeting. Also, she suggested that after my PCV of the Week I meet her in Ndola on Sat 5th. Really looking forward to seeing her, two b-days to celebrate, her's is July 2nd. After Ndola I too will take a run up to Solwezi for a couple days of relaxing before heading back to site, should have a new PCVL house by then. Bob should be back sometime around July 4th, next Tuesday, I'm anxious to talk to him about what he's decided on the Keegan-thing. I should finish up two letters, one to my Climatology Prof at GB, and the other to my Scoutmaster, both are great people, I need to write them. 0851//
07/03 Mon: The last two days I've been taking it easy. Fri morning at 1AM I awoke with nausea and it's been continuing. If I don't eat I'm hungry, if I do eat I feel ill. It's getting better but I've dropped my meal size in half out of necessity. Been playing a few games of chess with Mr. Musonda (Euphu's impromptu husband). He has a quick mind, I'm hoping to learn from him, he usually wins. Masuzyo came home late Thursday for the multi-day holiday. I've missed her. They've made some Munkoyo, a maize-based (surprise!) drink flavored with the root of the munkoyo plant. There's fresh munkoyo, you can add sugar and have sweet munkoyo, or you can wait three or four days for alcoholic munkoyo. I refuse to try the alcoholic, but I love the sweet. I'll have 10 L made when you come, if you can. I've been working on the hinges of the first gate. Difficult to figure this out & make it work without lumber, screws & a cordless screwdriver. I'm looking forward to having nice & proper tools in a toolbox. Gorilla glue & nails is the best I can do, hopefully I'll get the gate hung tomorrow. Contemplating going to St. M tomorrow with B, he has school resuming on Wed. from the holiday. I sit on the bicycle rack & he pedals us. Painful for me to hold on (not to mention that I'm 5 times heavier than the recommended weight on the rack) but it gets him to St. M twice as fast as walking. Now I'm just wondering if Bob gets back tonight, hopefully he'll shout from transport if he goes back home tonight. Tante laid her 13th egg today, I'm dying to eat some but since chick mortality is so high, I can't bring myself to. I took Quakers to Brian's uncles where there is a male. Q has been making egg-laying sounds, we'll see if she lays in the next few weeks. As I carried her in my arms she crapped down the front of my shirt. Then we took the last two ducklings out of my yard. The one duckling I was carrying crapped on the clean shirt I just put on. Cute but messy. The nights have been frigid, some into the upper 30's by sunrise, but it's just a guess. If I didn't have 3 blankets on my bed I'd go hypothermic as I tried to sleep. Everyone is awake and out as the sun rises above the trees, dressed in the warmest they have (many can't afford blankets to sleep with) and they stand with their backs to the sun to try to get warm. Since it seems I did not get tea the last time I was in town I too am back-to-the-sun. PJ pants on, jeans over that. Socks, shoes, hat, long sleeve shirt & my light CNNF jacket. Even then my hands are too cold to do anything with. August will moderate before the heat begins in Sept. July is just sunny, windy & cold. When the PCMOs came last week they saw Luk. Brian tried to grab him to hide at g-pa's house but Luk got away. So PC/Z PCMO Gilly saw him come in the insaka & asked. No I have not gotten him rabies shots yet. Yes I have to get the 1st (of two) ASAP. I'll have to quickly talk to Fr. Mobe & see if he is doing a one day "go-come." The real PCMO site visit will be July 19th by the other doctor, a Zambian, Dr. Nobutu. Sometime after late July Fr. Mobe will leave, going to Chingola. Between the wind & dust I've been cleaning my glasses on & off throughout the day. Just the chickens walking kick up dust. The mango trees are going through their shedding. I'd guess they lose half their leaves, the new ones came out as the rains stopped. The old trees are showing that they'll flower soon. My four basil plants have been flowering, the seeds will be ready soon. The dill seeds will ripen soon too. I've been collecting the seeds off my African Daisy, it's lost all of it's leaves. I'll prune it back when the seedheads finish. The oranges & g-pa's mandarins are now finished. I was enjoying having an orange in the mornings. No more. :( The guavas finished a few weeks ago, I've been thinking about American food a lot lately. A huge fire swept up from the south, came within a few feet of burning g-pa's nephew's roof before it roared up the road edge in a firestorm. 20 foot flames on gusty SE winds at 1430. It jumped across the road and roared into the abandoned field behind my house. Brian was here, he lit a couple fires ahead of it to save my toilet, even though we burned a fire-break last month, not enough for this fire. I got some good pictures, I'll have to sort through them & delete the poor shots.//
07/04 Tues: Happy 4th of July! I just got back from St. M. The long holiday must have forced Bob to change plans. Thurs-Tues is the Free Trade Holiday. I really have no idea what that really means...except four days plus a weekend of doing nothing and drinking vomit-beer (sounds like a Sunday in Kalulushi). Fr. Mobe was in town too, until Thurs. You mentioned that Mary W. had a package returned. That must be one of the three I was told about in late January. That leaves me wondering of the other two. The P.O. should not give me any more problems...we'll see. Mrs. Banda & Mr. Musonda will go to town for their paychecks tomorrow, I'll finish and have them take two letters to town. I have just enough to post yours. Looking out of my insaka I can see across the abandoned field behind my house. An old fallen log & stump are still smoking from yesterday's fire. It will burn for days and only leave a light grey trail of ash on the black grass ash that blankets the field & woods. Today I saw that the fire jumped the road in 4 spots & got into the crowns of several live trees. This morning, as I lay in bed with the blankets over my head, the cold air was heavy with the acrid smell of the burned grass. It's less in the warmth of the day now. I finally got two bags of charcoal yesterday, I hit rock bottom on Sunday when I ran out. I've been asking around for two weeks, but from Kabundia to St. M to Kambale, there's been none. Everyone has been too busy harvesting in fear of the fire. A guy started yesterday's blaze, named Victor, he lives across the road from the tuk shops, everyone calls him a maize thief. He'll probably have to pay for the church roof that burned. I scored a small cabbage today at St. M's market & got some cookies at the mission's tuk. I don't think I will cook today, just heat up some water for a shower. I'm still worried/cautious about last week's nausea. I'll probably head to St. M on Fri, Thursday I'll go to Mafuta & try Nutrition for the 3rd time. Tomorrow, Wed., I'm free. I like to just sit in the sun on these cold days & read. I borrowed two books from Bob. The Illyiad & The Odyssey. I had memories of reading them in H.S., bad memories. But these two translations are great-no problems. They're actually great stories once you get rid of all the prose & lines. Tante hasn't left the nest today, assuming she laid today, that's 13. Now if all works out, I'll have chicks in 3 weeks. I kinda wanted to steal one egg to try a rice pudding recipe I have - no eggs (as usual) at St. M today. :( I may have missed my thieving window. Take care.
N
posted by nathan at 01:09
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