Letters from Zambia 11
Nathan wrote:
05/30. Back at Kantende this morning. Plan A (Kitwe to Kantende) failed. Plan B (leave Solwezi Fri/Sat) failed: Bob was feeling lazy & I wasn't feeling well. So we left at first light on Sunday. I forgot how bumpy Mujimanzovu Rd really is. Bob thinks it's worse than the last time we were on it in Oct. Imagine a one lane dirt road, through hills, forests & dambos. Now imagine it being uneven cobblestone. My back felt like it was beaten by a hammer, not far from the truth, even the bolts in my bike rack started loosening. That road is 99 km from Solwezi/Chingola Rd. to Kalulushi Rd. We stopped for 40 min at Mujimanzovu and got water at Buffy's, but pushed on to Chipupushi/Mapunga. So we left Solwezi at 0620 and arrived at Chipu around 1700. We did 142 km, it would have been faster except for the jackhammer beating we received. We had a few buns and a woman made Nshima & Rape & Chicken for us for k5000. So damn good. After two Eagle we passed out at the guest house. A flatbed was parked there the next morning (taking maize to town) so we hopped on. It finally left at 1150 and we got to Lushwishi at 1600. It was overloaded, stopped at every village, and broke down/flat tire at Lumwana. We hoped off as they tried to fix the tire at Lushwishi & load on even more maize & biked the last 12 km to St. M. Brian M. is there at school, he found me & we talked, he really missed me; Fr Mobe had us over for dinner & talking. Irish potatoes, rice, rape, coleslaw & tea. Also got mail. This morning I accepted a cup of tea from Bob and hurried home. Unpacked, fetched 40 L of water, went to find Euphu, found out that the women that were supposed to come at 1300 were "unorganized" so won't come. Glad I hurried home for them. Washed a few clothes today, mending my rear inner-tube (fun stuff coming home), finished a book, and now am boiling a very, very small pumpkin for dinner. I literally have no food in the house, this is the last. Lucky me there is just a little sugar left to make the pumpkin palatable. Tomorrow I head out to Shikelele for the harvest, I'll be fed there & I'll have to steal some food from Bob to make it 'til our supply run next week. Sunny all day, but now that the sun's approaching the horizon, cooling off fast. Very windy all day, biking eastward, even 7 km was difficult. Sand/dust blown around, I wish you could see the dry season. Off to a shower....
Biking down Muji Rd. I was wondering if maybe I shouldn't have accepted the offer to go to Luapula. I'm probably going to do the "what if" until I leave. Maybe I made a mistake. All the ducklings & chicks survived. Mrs. Banda's ducklings kept returning to my place & Ba Kapopwe still hasn't come for his two, so all 4 brats are still here. The chicks have gotten much bigger since I last saw them. I almost don't want to give them away. Luk is fine. Between you and me, I actually missed him a lot. Maybe it's just that he is a comfort, something I'm using as a crutch. Or maybe I actually do like this cat. I'm almost frightened by that. I don't want to return to the States and find myself wanting a cat. Not acceptable.
My two morenga trees are still alive, as well as my Senna & avocado. The pigs finished destroying the PawPaw (papaya) and are doing their best on my Pigeon Pea & Tephrosia. The goats have stripped the leaves off my two young banana trees and are trying to digest my Af. Daisy. The goats have even crawled up on my concrete planter & mowed my Geraniums. Pig crap all over the yard, only a matter of days until my first jigger. I was finally able to turn BBC news on today, an earthquake happened Sat. on Java, 5500 dead, but I have no idea the magnitude or depth. And E. Timor is descending back into war, I've no idea why I have a feeling of connection with that place. Yikes. Once darkness falls, always between 1800/1900, it gets cold enough to crawl into bed. I can read a little, write a little, but then the obvious choice is to fall asleep. I wish I could flick a switch and have light to illuminate my hut, climate control wouldn't hurt either. Waking up to 40-45 F inside is painful, I don't like how cold the Cold Season is here. Okay, enough complaining, I guess I'll try to finish another book before drifting off to sleep.//
06/03 Sat: Got back to St. M yesterday afternoon from Shikelele. The harvest was on the first, I went out the day before to help prepare. The pond took longer than expected to drain, some the night before, most early the next morning (Bob was up at 0500). It took about two hours to catch & sort through the fish, weighing the catch along the way. It took me back to Electrofishing & Rosgen Stream surveys on Dale's crew with Carol. The total harvest was 48 kg, 30 would have RAP-standard. Next harvest in Oct/Nov should be higher. 28 kg for sale. Bob and I each bought 1 kg, the price was k10,000/kg, very fair. Ba Kapopwe made about k25,000, about 1/4th the overall total investment. Everyone's pretty happy. Fish for lunch, dinner and breakfast, I've had enough, and unlike the locals, I refuse to eat the bones, tail, fins & head. Bob cooked a celebratory dinner at his place. He brought back some spiced mead from the States for this occasion. Today, here at Kantende I've been writing out some postcards & chilling. I've resolved myself to not feeling guilty about doing so little, especially concerning my program. Dry & breezy with an almost constant chill in the air, the cold season is fully here. I'm hating it. Too cold. Starts to get chilly at 1700, and the sun quickly sets, very hard to stay warm while sleeping. Even with sunrise just before 0700, it's cold until 0900. I'm actually terrified of the idea of facing a N. Wisconsin winter.//
06/04 Sun: Got up after sunrise and read a little while sitting in the sun to stay warm. Windy over night (today also) so the morning wasn't so bitter. Brian stopped by before heading back to St. M for school tomorrow. We went to one of the teachers here and inquired about any extra cement blocks from their building of the school. I'd buy a few and make a better seat & floor for the bathing stall, a mole-rat is digging a bloody mess in there. After he left & everyone disappeared to church, I washed some clothes. Jeans are painful to do by hand in a basin. At least our g.g.grandparents used washboards! I was supposed to go play chess with Euphu after 1500, but she just sent a note saying she'll be out. I've been writing out postcards since we'll go to town tomorrow. They're difficult to figure out what to write. Bob will walk over tomorrow morning and we'll try to catch a ride to town. I really need a chair and a blanket, not to mention some food. Also, my lighter is out of fuel, Zam-matches are worth crap. Hopefully I'll be able to get one to strike for tonight's dinner of 1/2 cup rice & soya and then a second strike for candlelight.//
06/07 Wed: Got to Kalulushi at 1400, sat in the sun until 1720 when we finally left. Thank God I had my jacket, even then I still froze from the wind. Folk wisdom says that because of the unusually heavy rainy season, it will be a very cold, cold season. Even Bob is shocked at how very cold it is so early in the season. He made a half-joke about the ponds icing over. I know he fears for Ba Kapopwe's next fish harvest, an abnormal cold spell could impact the marketable size. All I know is that already I'm freezing my ass off. I bought another blanket while in town, my total will be 3. We got back to Kantende at 2100. I've been talking with Mrs. Banda about buying a few extra cement blocks from the school building. It seems that there are 9 or 10 that are left over. In the process I got talking to Mr. Musonda, a teacher here that Euphu is trying to marry, he's 23. The tin sheets for the school roof were not all the right size, so they will have to sell some sheets, and I need, so hopefully we'll measure this afternoon and they'll be perfect. 1522/ This morning Tante (my egg laying feather duster) was acting strange. I didn't realize until this afternoon she was showing me that she's going to lay eggs again. I'm so blind. So by the time I got to repairing the chicken cloche, she already popped one out over in g-pa's porch, just like the freaking duck. So, one egg. Tonight we'll try to move her over to my house where it's a little safer from dogs & kids. I'm excited she's laying again! I wouldn't mind a few more chicks, one or two for me, maybe one for g-pa. Next time I can go for hard-boiled. 1702//
06/08 Thurs: Cold enough last night that I didn't move while sleeping. I just got back from biking to Funda turnoff to send you a text message. Mulenga went yesterday to try and find sugar out here & I showed him how to press SEND. He failed on both accounts. None of the tuk shops here have sugar, they told him if you want sugar, go to Kalulushi. k6000 for 2 kg of sugar + k16000 to town + k16000 to get back. k38000 = $11.17 at current rate. Why have a shop open if you've nothing to sell? (aside: the exchange is quavering from it's crazy low of 2800= 1 USD is up to 3400, but was as high as 4700 when I got here). Biking back home I bumped into the Forestry Ext. Officer who is trying to set up a meeting at St. M tomorrow, even the Provincial Forestry Officer is supposed to be come. We'll see. After that I should go out to Shikelele and help them make bricks for our house there. That's okay, at least I'll be fed, while I wait for my supplies to come from town. Also, with no sugar in the house, my addiction is on hold. 1008/ I just realized that I should post this tomorrow as I'll be at St. M. Otherwise, it may be another week before I get "that-side" again. Heard on the news that the Mt. in Java is still scaling up for an eruption, possibly influenced by the previous earthquake, which I finally found out was mag. 6.3. I'm left wondering if it wasn't vise versa, a rising magma plume may have triggered the earthquake. I've been reviewing two booklets I have on Joint Forestry Management (JFM). National Forestry Policy - July 1998 (even older than the proposed forestry act of 1999) and Joint Forest Management Guidelines from PFAP (the program the Finnish Gov funded in my forest for years before pulling the plug on funding because nothing was happening). If there actually is a meeting tomorrow (I'm doubting) it may be the push needed here to get things moving. My money, however, is that nothing will change. Big surprise. Did you ever eat Kapenta while here? Mulenga has been forcing me to eat nshima and chisense, his favorite relish. They're basically the same as Kapenta but white instead of brown. At least I'm getting calcium with my protein. I was able to request two small tables from a carpenter 8 km NW of St. M. They'll be about the size of a nightstand, but big enough to play chess on. K15000 each, out of mukwa, the same very strong wood as my bedframe. Hopefully I'll have them in a week or two. One I'll use for a nightstand, to hold the wine bottle candle holders. Anyway, I need to get going soon.
Yours-N
05/30. Back at Kantende this morning. Plan A (Kitwe to Kantende) failed. Plan B (leave Solwezi Fri/Sat) failed: Bob was feeling lazy & I wasn't feeling well. So we left at first light on Sunday. I forgot how bumpy Mujimanzovu Rd really is. Bob thinks it's worse than the last time we were on it in Oct. Imagine a one lane dirt road, through hills, forests & dambos. Now imagine it being uneven cobblestone. My back felt like it was beaten by a hammer, not far from the truth, even the bolts in my bike rack started loosening. That road is 99 km from Solwezi/Chingola Rd. to Kalulushi Rd. We stopped for 40 min at Mujimanzovu and got water at Buffy's, but pushed on to Chipupushi/Mapunga. So we left Solwezi at 0620 and arrived at Chipu around 1700. We did 142 km, it would have been faster except for the jackhammer beating we received. We had a few buns and a woman made Nshima & Rape & Chicken for us for k5000. So damn good. After two Eagle we passed out at the guest house. A flatbed was parked there the next morning (taking maize to town) so we hopped on. It finally left at 1150 and we got to Lushwishi at 1600. It was overloaded, stopped at every village, and broke down/flat tire at Lumwana. We hoped off as they tried to fix the tire at Lushwishi & load on even more maize & biked the last 12 km to St. M. Brian M. is there at school, he found me & we talked, he really missed me; Fr Mobe had us over for dinner & talking. Irish potatoes, rice, rape, coleslaw & tea. Also got mail. This morning I accepted a cup of tea from Bob and hurried home. Unpacked, fetched 40 L of water, went to find Euphu, found out that the women that were supposed to come at 1300 were "unorganized" so won't come. Glad I hurried home for them. Washed a few clothes today, mending my rear inner-tube (fun stuff coming home), finished a book, and now am boiling a very, very small pumpkin for dinner. I literally have no food in the house, this is the last. Lucky me there is just a little sugar left to make the pumpkin palatable. Tomorrow I head out to Shikelele for the harvest, I'll be fed there & I'll have to steal some food from Bob to make it 'til our supply run next week. Sunny all day, but now that the sun's approaching the horizon, cooling off fast. Very windy all day, biking eastward, even 7 km was difficult. Sand/dust blown around, I wish you could see the dry season. Off to a shower....
Biking down Muji Rd. I was wondering if maybe I shouldn't have accepted the offer to go to Luapula. I'm probably going to do the "what if" until I leave. Maybe I made a mistake. All the ducklings & chicks survived. Mrs. Banda's ducklings kept returning to my place & Ba Kapopwe still hasn't come for his two, so all 4 brats are still here. The chicks have gotten much bigger since I last saw them. I almost don't want to give them away. Luk is fine. Between you and me, I actually missed him a lot. Maybe it's just that he is a comfort, something I'm using as a crutch. Or maybe I actually do like this cat. I'm almost frightened by that. I don't want to return to the States and find myself wanting a cat. Not acceptable.
My two morenga trees are still alive, as well as my Senna & avocado. The pigs finished destroying the PawPaw (papaya) and are doing their best on my Pigeon Pea & Tephrosia. The goats have stripped the leaves off my two young banana trees and are trying to digest my Af. Daisy. The goats have even crawled up on my concrete planter & mowed my Geraniums. Pig crap all over the yard, only a matter of days until my first jigger. I was finally able to turn BBC news on today, an earthquake happened Sat. on Java, 5500 dead, but I have no idea the magnitude or depth. And E. Timor is descending back into war, I've no idea why I have a feeling of connection with that place. Yikes. Once darkness falls, always between 1800/1900, it gets cold enough to crawl into bed. I can read a little, write a little, but then the obvious choice is to fall asleep. I wish I could flick a switch and have light to illuminate my hut, climate control wouldn't hurt either. Waking up to 40-45 F inside is painful, I don't like how cold the Cold Season is here. Okay, enough complaining, I guess I'll try to finish another book before drifting off to sleep.//
06/03 Sat: Got back to St. M yesterday afternoon from Shikelele. The harvest was on the first, I went out the day before to help prepare. The pond took longer than expected to drain, some the night before, most early the next morning (Bob was up at 0500). It took about two hours to catch & sort through the fish, weighing the catch along the way. It took me back to Electrofishing & Rosgen Stream surveys on Dale's crew with Carol. The total harvest was 48 kg, 30 would have RAP-standard. Next harvest in Oct/Nov should be higher. 28 kg for sale. Bob and I each bought 1 kg, the price was k10,000/kg, very fair. Ba Kapopwe made about k25,000, about 1/4th the overall total investment. Everyone's pretty happy. Fish for lunch, dinner and breakfast, I've had enough, and unlike the locals, I refuse to eat the bones, tail, fins & head. Bob cooked a celebratory dinner at his place. He brought back some spiced mead from the States for this occasion. Today, here at Kantende I've been writing out some postcards & chilling. I've resolved myself to not feeling guilty about doing so little, especially concerning my program. Dry & breezy with an almost constant chill in the air, the cold season is fully here. I'm hating it. Too cold. Starts to get chilly at 1700, and the sun quickly sets, very hard to stay warm while sleeping. Even with sunrise just before 0700, it's cold until 0900. I'm actually terrified of the idea of facing a N. Wisconsin winter.//
06/04 Sun: Got up after sunrise and read a little while sitting in the sun to stay warm. Windy over night (today also) so the morning wasn't so bitter. Brian stopped by before heading back to St. M for school tomorrow. We went to one of the teachers here and inquired about any extra cement blocks from their building of the school. I'd buy a few and make a better seat & floor for the bathing stall, a mole-rat is digging a bloody mess in there. After he left & everyone disappeared to church, I washed some clothes. Jeans are painful to do by hand in a basin. At least our g.g.grandparents used washboards! I was supposed to go play chess with Euphu after 1500, but she just sent a note saying she'll be out. I've been writing out postcards since we'll go to town tomorrow. They're difficult to figure out what to write. Bob will walk over tomorrow morning and we'll try to catch a ride to town. I really need a chair and a blanket, not to mention some food. Also, my lighter is out of fuel, Zam-matches are worth crap. Hopefully I'll be able to get one to strike for tonight's dinner of 1/2 cup rice & soya and then a second strike for candlelight.//
06/07 Wed: Got to Kalulushi at 1400, sat in the sun until 1720 when we finally left. Thank God I had my jacket, even then I still froze from the wind. Folk wisdom says that because of the unusually heavy rainy season, it will be a very cold, cold season. Even Bob is shocked at how very cold it is so early in the season. He made a half-joke about the ponds icing over. I know he fears for Ba Kapopwe's next fish harvest, an abnormal cold spell could impact the marketable size. All I know is that already I'm freezing my ass off. I bought another blanket while in town, my total will be 3. We got back to Kantende at 2100. I've been talking with Mrs. Banda about buying a few extra cement blocks from the school building. It seems that there are 9 or 10 that are left over. In the process I got talking to Mr. Musonda, a teacher here that Euphu is trying to marry, he's 23. The tin sheets for the school roof were not all the right size, so they will have to sell some sheets, and I need, so hopefully we'll measure this afternoon and they'll be perfect. 1522/ This morning Tante (my egg laying feather duster) was acting strange. I didn't realize until this afternoon she was showing me that she's going to lay eggs again. I'm so blind. So by the time I got to repairing the chicken cloche, she already popped one out over in g-pa's porch, just like the freaking duck. So, one egg. Tonight we'll try to move her over to my house where it's a little safer from dogs & kids. I'm excited she's laying again! I wouldn't mind a few more chicks, one or two for me, maybe one for g-pa. Next time I can go for hard-boiled. 1702//
06/08 Thurs: Cold enough last night that I didn't move while sleeping. I just got back from biking to Funda turnoff to send you a text message. Mulenga went yesterday to try and find sugar out here & I showed him how to press SEND. He failed on both accounts. None of the tuk shops here have sugar, they told him if you want sugar, go to Kalulushi. k6000 for 2 kg of sugar + k16000 to town + k16000 to get back. k38000 = $11.17 at current rate. Why have a shop open if you've nothing to sell? (aside: the exchange is quavering from it's crazy low of 2800= 1 USD is up to 3400, but was as high as 4700 when I got here). Biking back home I bumped into the Forestry Ext. Officer who is trying to set up a meeting at St. M tomorrow, even the Provincial Forestry Officer is supposed to be come. We'll see. After that I should go out to Shikelele and help them make bricks for our house there. That's okay, at least I'll be fed, while I wait for my supplies to come from town. Also, with no sugar in the house, my addiction is on hold. 1008/ I just realized that I should post this tomorrow as I'll be at St. M. Otherwise, it may be another week before I get "that-side" again. Heard on the news that the Mt. in Java is still scaling up for an eruption, possibly influenced by the previous earthquake, which I finally found out was mag. 6.3. I'm left wondering if it wasn't vise versa, a rising magma plume may have triggered the earthquake. I've been reviewing two booklets I have on Joint Forestry Management (JFM). National Forestry Policy - July 1998 (even older than the proposed forestry act of 1999) and Joint Forest Management Guidelines from PFAP (the program the Finnish Gov funded in my forest for years before pulling the plug on funding because nothing was happening). If there actually is a meeting tomorrow (I'm doubting) it may be the push needed here to get things moving. My money, however, is that nothing will change. Big surprise. Did you ever eat Kapenta while here? Mulenga has been forcing me to eat nshima and chisense, his favorite relish. They're basically the same as Kapenta but white instead of brown. At least I'm getting calcium with my protein. I was able to request two small tables from a carpenter 8 km NW of St. M. They'll be about the size of a nightstand, but big enough to play chess on. K15000 each, out of mukwa, the same very strong wood as my bedframe. Hopefully I'll have them in a week or two. One I'll use for a nightstand, to hold the wine bottle candle holders. Anyway, I need to get going soon.
Yours-N
posted by nathan at 22:02
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