Letters from Zambia 17
Nathan wrote:
09/06: After waiting a full day yesterday, three full trucks went by, Bob finally left for town around 0830 this morning. This morning I properly lined up the tin-sheets on the roof, the eaves have the amount I wanted hanging over the sides & two ridges are overlapping on each sheet. My worry is how someone (me) will nail them down without denting them. That'll be Saturday's concern. It's only 1400 but the sun is hot & I'm tired. No clouds for the past week - typical. 80-90 degrees for highs, usually an E breeze of some sort. Currently 83 degrees with a dewpoint of 46 degrees, that's around or below 30% RH, that too has been typical. Things evaporate in minutes, I now have an idea what living in the Western US would be like. Not much exciting to report otherwise. I've been listening to gossip: Patriotic Front (PF)'s candidate is Sata. Apparently he wants to get rid of all whites like Zim. tried, apparently he's second place in opinion polls. Fun to watch this play out. Fr. Mobe left for Chingola yesterday afternoon leaving Fr. George in charge. Fr. G is a bit of an unknown to us, he's hard to read. Tomorrow (Friday) Bob will come back from town, probably late with how transport is. He's planning on spending the night here, maybe I can talk him into helping me nail the roof down. Tomorrow I go to Mafuta A. Feels like I was just there, last Friday - how time flies (good!). They want to discuss harvesting seeds from vegetables, the hot/dry season is prime time to grow gardens near wells. Mr. Michelo also wanted to talk a little about con's of cross-pollination if collecting seeds from veggies. I think he even wanted me to speak a bit about inbreeding of domestic animals, this should be too much fun! I still have 11 chicks and the duck is up to 6 eggs. My bike's chain needs cleaning/lubbing - we'll see how long I can put that off today. I listened to music last night as the villagers made their usual full-moon noise until late. Full moons rise here always at sunset. Tonight will be more of the same.
09/09: So yesterday I went to Mafuta A, it was great. Months ago I didn't realize what they did - but now I do: the people down there that I do things with are "Nathan's Club." The realization has been slowly coming to me this past month. Yesterday they told me that they love meeting with me; even if they don't follow through on an idea they want me to at least try things with them. I'm very worried that I'm beginning to exhaust my ideas & knowledge. I follow Mr. Michelo down a new bushpath that leads to the road near the chief's palace. 17km to Mafuta that way instead of 14 the usual path I take. The new path is complicated enough that I'm pretty sure I'll never learn it. At the end of the cold season (while I was at Mwekera) there were several freezes that hit vegetable gardens & trees, causing many that shed only 1/2 their leaves to completely drop. The canopy has been open from trees that normally drop, but very open in areas that were hit by the extreme cold. (Eliza told me in mid-July Jo-burg had its first snow in 20 years) Now all the trees are starting to respond to the heat by flowering & putting out new growth. The mango flowers appeared in the last month; I'm already looking forward to fruit in Dec/Jan. Bob and I think this has been a superlative year of weather. The rainy season was very wet (almost twice normal in Kantende), the cold season with several freezes was verycold, and now we fear the hot season will be very hot, we've already hit 90 degrees a few times. Crematoria - like October is still a ways off yet. However, the last week has been almost Jul/Aug like with cool nights & windy days.
09/10: I meant to keep writing yesterday but I ran out of daylight. By candlelight in bed now. Yesterday morning Mulenga & I nailed the tin sheets up on the roof. Bob got back from town the late afternoon before & was tired & cranky, so didn't even ask for help. He biked straight home instead. I crawled up on the roof, arms & legs splayed on to distribute weight & nailed as Mule helped line up the sheets from the "ladder." By 1030 the sun was killing me up there, we knocked off then to the shade. The next step will be to take my old grass & lash that up there for heat insulation & rain-noise reduction. But already I'm relieved, I'm ready now for rain, Nov. is still a ways off. Last night my abs were killing me. Today is no better. Ab-skating over corrugated tin sheets seems to have bruised the muscles I was skating with. More to look forward to when I do the grass. No way am I letting Mule up there, he weighs more & Z's seem to not care about things like denting the roof. As is, two panels seem weaker & I couldn't help but make a few dents in them. Also an upset GI tract. I saw a small (for Z) bat hanging from the ceiling of the pit latrine. First time I stuck my head in she circled once and resumed her perch. After telling her that this was non-negotiable I chased her out. However, I do hope she sticks around. Today stomach troubles seem to have passed. Went to Bob's for brunch & was beat at Scrabble, doesn't take much. This morning I found all 7 of the duck eggs were missing. We found 5 shells on the other side of the fence, something ate them. One was beneath the nest, it fell through & she laid another this morning, I'm back up to 2 eggs. Tante also started laying again, even though she still is tending 11 chicks. She laid them in the duck's eggs, so I put them in a separate nest. Now the duck is sitting on the chicken's eggs tonight. What a freaking mess. Tomorrow I leave for Solwezi, God knows what I come back to. / It's 2130 and g-pa et al. are still playing a church tape (and singing along) that they played for the past two days non-stop. STOP!!!! All they talk about, sing about, preach about is "how God loves us, we should praise Him." Where is the info about going to hell for all the adultery and stealing? On top of these wonderful thoughts I now know that the mangy neighbor's cat slept on my bed last time I was gone, Lusaka I think, and seems to have left fleas. This past week I've been getting bites from my chest down, now I actually found a couple biting me. I hate her. She's about 9 months old but hasn't grown in 5 months. They refuse to feed her. Typical of their attitude. Dogs usually aren't fed either. Mulenga's uncle's dog had 5 pups in my hedge - she did it cause I'm the only one who never threatens her. I refused to feed her - she's not my dog & I simply don't have enough food, but no one else seemed to care. Mule's uncle was so proud & boastful of the 5 new pups, but it ended there, they're on their own. Mother dog is nothing but ribs. They also take pups away at 1 month and wonder why the pups don't eat their food & usually die. So yeah, a quick early death may be kinder. Also, here's an example. Eston had a cat in the village ukuluka (translation: v : to vomit) that he took with him to Solwezi, on public transport, that's like 12 hours riding in a box. The day guard Ba Kahonda borrowed the cat for mice in his house & the neighbor kids stoned it to death. Bob jokes that the same fate awaits Lukipela, he's only half joking. So yeah, can't fall asleep. Tried listening to Enigma but even that didn't help, usually does. Heard on BBC tonight that a police officer in Lsk shot two teenagers to death at a funeral, a riot ensued & 70 people arrested after torching cars and stones thrown. The officer is on the run, the nearest police station was apparently burned, but calm now. A bit strange but significant in that it proves a people that are called "peaceful" are capable of more. It may have put ideas into people's heads for the elections. It may also show that tensions are mounting in Lsk. I've had enough, I could be ready to come home. 2200 and the music/singing continue....ahhhh!!!
09/14: Monday the CD came for a few minutes on site visit with Eston to Bob & I, we jumped in with him for a ride to Solwezi, took 4 or 5 hours through Muyimanzovu. Tuesday was the meetings. I refused to go to the Forestry Officers there. Why would I want to? I didn't sleep the night before, simply not enough beds & I wasn't in a good mood to even attempt to sleep on the couch. Proving me right weeks ago when I didn't want to go to Solwezi. So 49 hours of no sleep. Tuesday night I followed Eliza to a guest house & shared a bed with her, I slept solidly, the first time in months. Almost killed herself by plugging a fan in during the night, bare wires. Wed. AM we hopped on a hopelessly long bus to Ndola, got here by 1600 - yikes! Had to change plans to stay an extra day (today) to do our stuff. Got a room at New Ambassador, nice shower, no fan in the room, no news on TV, but good enough. We did pizza & beer last night, so damn good. Today met the PFO, checked/wrote email, bought a rosemary plant, found an awesome restaurant for lunch called C'est Ban. American burgers & fries...funny. I burned the CD at a shop that has good internet. I'm sure we did more but I really can't remember. It was so hot today, we hid out in the room, taught Eliza a line dance - Cannibal Stomp. We found a place that had cables so we could plug our MP3 players into TV AV. Works well. I'll try finding a place tomorrow to send this letter & CD home. Mom & Cally called tonight. Wine & chocolate with Eliza & Bob. I'm tired and need to repass out. Yours - N
09/06: After waiting a full day yesterday, three full trucks went by, Bob finally left for town around 0830 this morning. This morning I properly lined up the tin-sheets on the roof, the eaves have the amount I wanted hanging over the sides & two ridges are overlapping on each sheet. My worry is how someone (me) will nail them down without denting them. That'll be Saturday's concern. It's only 1400 but the sun is hot & I'm tired. No clouds for the past week - typical. 80-90 degrees for highs, usually an E breeze of some sort. Currently 83 degrees with a dewpoint of 46 degrees, that's around or below 30% RH, that too has been typical. Things evaporate in minutes, I now have an idea what living in the Western US would be like. Not much exciting to report otherwise. I've been listening to gossip: Patriotic Front (PF)'s candidate is Sata. Apparently he wants to get rid of all whites like Zim. tried, apparently he's second place in opinion polls. Fun to watch this play out. Fr. Mobe left for Chingola yesterday afternoon leaving Fr. George in charge. Fr. G is a bit of an unknown to us, he's hard to read. Tomorrow (Friday) Bob will come back from town, probably late with how transport is. He's planning on spending the night here, maybe I can talk him into helping me nail the roof down. Tomorrow I go to Mafuta A. Feels like I was just there, last Friday - how time flies (good!). They want to discuss harvesting seeds from vegetables, the hot/dry season is prime time to grow gardens near wells. Mr. Michelo also wanted to talk a little about con's of cross-pollination if collecting seeds from veggies. I think he even wanted me to speak a bit about inbreeding of domestic animals, this should be too much fun! I still have 11 chicks and the duck is up to 6 eggs. My bike's chain needs cleaning/lubbing - we'll see how long I can put that off today. I listened to music last night as the villagers made their usual full-moon noise until late. Full moons rise here always at sunset. Tonight will be more of the same.
09/09: So yesterday I went to Mafuta A, it was great. Months ago I didn't realize what they did - but now I do: the people down there that I do things with are "Nathan's Club." The realization has been slowly coming to me this past month. Yesterday they told me that they love meeting with me; even if they don't follow through on an idea they want me to at least try things with them. I'm very worried that I'm beginning to exhaust my ideas & knowledge. I follow Mr. Michelo down a new bushpath that leads to the road near the chief's palace. 17km to Mafuta that way instead of 14 the usual path I take. The new path is complicated enough that I'm pretty sure I'll never learn it. At the end of the cold season (while I was at Mwekera) there were several freezes that hit vegetable gardens & trees, causing many that shed only 1/2 their leaves to completely drop. The canopy has been open from trees that normally drop, but very open in areas that were hit by the extreme cold. (Eliza told me in mid-July Jo-burg had its first snow in 20 years) Now all the trees are starting to respond to the heat by flowering & putting out new growth. The mango flowers appeared in the last month; I'm already looking forward to fruit in Dec/Jan. Bob and I think this has been a superlative year of weather. The rainy season was very wet (almost twice normal in Kantende), the cold season with several freezes was verycold, and now we fear the hot season will be very hot, we've already hit 90 degrees a few times. Crematoria - like October is still a ways off yet. However, the last week has been almost Jul/Aug like with cool nights & windy days.
09/10: I meant to keep writing yesterday but I ran out of daylight. By candlelight in bed now. Yesterday morning Mulenga & I nailed the tin sheets up on the roof. Bob got back from town the late afternoon before & was tired & cranky, so didn't even ask for help. He biked straight home instead. I crawled up on the roof, arms & legs splayed on to distribute weight & nailed as Mule helped line up the sheets from the "ladder." By 1030 the sun was killing me up there, we knocked off then to the shade. The next step will be to take my old grass & lash that up there for heat insulation & rain-noise reduction. But already I'm relieved, I'm ready now for rain, Nov. is still a ways off. Last night my abs were killing me. Today is no better. Ab-skating over corrugated tin sheets seems to have bruised the muscles I was skating with. More to look forward to when I do the grass. No way am I letting Mule up there, he weighs more & Z's seem to not care about things like denting the roof. As is, two panels seem weaker & I couldn't help but make a few dents in them. Also an upset GI tract. I saw a small (for Z) bat hanging from the ceiling of the pit latrine. First time I stuck my head in she circled once and resumed her perch. After telling her that this was non-negotiable I chased her out. However, I do hope she sticks around. Today stomach troubles seem to have passed. Went to Bob's for brunch & was beat at Scrabble, doesn't take much. This morning I found all 7 of the duck eggs were missing. We found 5 shells on the other side of the fence, something ate them. One was beneath the nest, it fell through & she laid another this morning, I'm back up to 2 eggs. Tante also started laying again, even though she still is tending 11 chicks. She laid them in the duck's eggs, so I put them in a separate nest. Now the duck is sitting on the chicken's eggs tonight. What a freaking mess. Tomorrow I leave for Solwezi, God knows what I come back to. / It's 2130 and g-pa et al. are still playing a church tape (and singing along) that they played for the past two days non-stop. STOP!!!! All they talk about, sing about, preach about is "how God loves us, we should praise Him." Where is the info about going to hell for all the adultery and stealing? On top of these wonderful thoughts I now know that the mangy neighbor's cat slept on my bed last time I was gone, Lusaka I think, and seems to have left fleas. This past week I've been getting bites from my chest down, now I actually found a couple biting me. I hate her. She's about 9 months old but hasn't grown in 5 months. They refuse to feed her. Typical of their attitude. Dogs usually aren't fed either. Mulenga's uncle's dog had 5 pups in my hedge - she did it cause I'm the only one who never threatens her. I refused to feed her - she's not my dog & I simply don't have enough food, but no one else seemed to care. Mule's uncle was so proud & boastful of the 5 new pups, but it ended there, they're on their own. Mother dog is nothing but ribs. They also take pups away at 1 month and wonder why the pups don't eat their food & usually die. So yeah, a quick early death may be kinder. Also, here's an example. Eston had a cat in the village ukuluka (translation: v : to vomit) that he took with him to Solwezi, on public transport, that's like 12 hours riding in a box. The day guard Ba Kahonda borrowed the cat for mice in his house & the neighbor kids stoned it to death. Bob jokes that the same fate awaits Lukipela, he's only half joking. So yeah, can't fall asleep. Tried listening to Enigma but even that didn't help, usually does. Heard on BBC tonight that a police officer in Lsk shot two teenagers to death at a funeral, a riot ensued & 70 people arrested after torching cars and stones thrown. The officer is on the run, the nearest police station was apparently burned, but calm now. A bit strange but significant in that it proves a people that are called "peaceful" are capable of more. It may have put ideas into people's heads for the elections. It may also show that tensions are mounting in Lsk. I've had enough, I could be ready to come home. 2200 and the music/singing continue....ahhhh!!!
09/14: Monday the CD came for a few minutes on site visit with Eston to Bob & I, we jumped in with him for a ride to Solwezi, took 4 or 5 hours through Muyimanzovu. Tuesday was the meetings. I refused to go to the Forestry Officers there. Why would I want to? I didn't sleep the night before, simply not enough beds & I wasn't in a good mood to even attempt to sleep on the couch. Proving me right weeks ago when I didn't want to go to Solwezi. So 49 hours of no sleep. Tuesday night I followed Eliza to a guest house & shared a bed with her, I slept solidly, the first time in months. Almost killed herself by plugging a fan in during the night, bare wires. Wed. AM we hopped on a hopelessly long bus to Ndola, got here by 1600 - yikes! Had to change plans to stay an extra day (today) to do our stuff. Got a room at New Ambassador, nice shower, no fan in the room, no news on TV, but good enough. We did pizza & beer last night, so damn good. Today met the PFO, checked/wrote email, bought a rosemary plant, found an awesome restaurant for lunch called C'est Ban. American burgers & fries...funny. I burned the CD at a shop that has good internet. I'm sure we did more but I really can't remember. It was so hot today, we hid out in the room, taught Eliza a line dance - Cannibal Stomp. We found a place that had cables so we could plug our MP3 players into TV AV. Works well. I'll try finding a place tomorrow to send this letter & CD home. Mom & Cally called tonight. Wine & chocolate with Eliza & Bob. I'm tired and need to repass out. Yours - N
posted by nathan at 20:12
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