[Our house at Sikalngo (tw)]September 10, 2008
We have thoroughly enjoyed 11 consecutive days without getting into a vehicle and staying in the same place, but that aspect of relaxation has been offset by the challenges of living in a new cultural setting.
We need to be attentive to just about everything we do or say (we are the only Westerners on the premises) and every day is learning something new. Do we prepare a meal for our night guards? How much is sufficient? How do we relate to the people who stop by asking for food? What are the protocols for morning, afternoon and evening greeting? What food do we buy locally and which do we buy at Choma? How much to pay for food and goods from "vendors." So we've found ourselves quite engaged in learning names, learning to greet, understanding how things are done and working at fitting in to the way things are here.
The one thing that we find most heart-rending and difficult is how to say "No" to the very frequent requests for food and just about anything else one can imagine that come to our door daily. Yes, we have, and we can give food for some, but we can't for the many and we have been counseled by Westerners who've been here, by local leaders and by our wonderful house-assistant Rosa, not to give food indiscriminately or we will have the "many" at our door in no time. So we depend on Rosa to help sort out the mere requests from the people who truly are in difficult circumstances. Nevertheless it is extremely uncomfortable to have so much in the presence of those who have so little. There is no easy way to come to terms with it and so we will be as generous as discretion dictates and live as simply as possible ourselves while we are here.
We seem to be doing OK with all of this but we do find ourselves quite tired by nightfall. Aside from some queasiness that we experience from time to time from our anti-malarial medicine and a occasional intestinal rumblings, we've been well. We're not to quick to start medicating these kinds of things but we monitor temperature, pain level and hydration and watch to see if our bodies take care of themselves.
So far, the days have been remarkably cool, particularly in the shade and the nights downright cold, requiring blankets. Mornings are brisk and refreshing. By early to mid-afternoon the temperature peaks and in the sun it can be quite hot. But after 4:00 (16 hours) the sun loses its punch and things cool off. Evenings are lovely - at least so far. None of the sticky nights we have in Pennsylvania. We know hotter weather is coming and we're learning how to manage sunlight and air-flow through the house.
Rolling power blackouts happen on an unpredictable basis, usually about 2 hours a day but on some days the power is on 24 hours and at other times, off twice in one day. This is due to rising demand throughout the country and power generation has not kept pace. This is likely to get worse in the foreseeable future. But for now, it's just one of those things that happens and more than once a hot meal has been deferred to some other day in favor of bread, peanut butter and fruit. It's interesting to reflect that when Gene's family was in Zimbabwe in the early 1950's, power outages were never a problem because electricity had not yet been run to the mission stations! But they always were able to cook on schedule because it was all done on wood. Ah, the limitations of technical advance.
School began this week - one week later due to the period of mourning for former President Mwanawasa. Gene is teaching two New Testament courses at the Bible Institute, one in the Pastoral Letters (seven students) and the other in Hebrews (three students) and preparation for these courses takes a considerable amount of his time. These men are passionate about the Lord Jesus and their desire to serve Him in the ministry. It's not at all easy for these students to find the financial resources to attend SBI and so they have had to persevere, work hard and make considerable sacrifice just to be here in the first place. Consequently, they take their studies very seriously and are appreciative for the opportunities they have here.
[The BIC Churchat Sikalongo (tw)]Last Sunday, at Sikalongo Church, one of the third-year Bible School students preached a very passionate word from the Lord from Nehemiah Chapter 1. He had done his studies, was faithful to the text and truly opened it to our hearts and minds. We are not only encouraged but personally challenged by the faith and the commitment we find among many of the people we meet here.
Darlene is now helping Paulene Muleya with the children in the pre-school five mornings each week. She will have anywhere between 7 and 22 children ages three through six. They play games, sing, and all the fun things one usually does with pre-schoolers plus a very healthy dose of age-appropriate academics including social studies, science, math, English, phys. ed, art and music, on which they actually receive grades and report cards.
[Darlene, Rosa & Marian] Thursday, September 11 (or as we say it out here 11 September).
The day began with Gene opening the kitchen door only to be greeted by a dozen or so bees who immediately swarmed into the house and took up residence around the kitchen light. There were hundreds still outside around the porch light. Some bug spray took care of the ones inside and quickly dispersed the ones on the porch.
Gene did not have classes today so we went into Choma to have our visa extended (they only gave us 30 days on entry), re-stock on groceries and pay some of our bills for travel and lodging at Nahumba.
Jane Meetwa, who is in charge of Macha Clinic and one of her assistants joined us for the trip after Jane had finished delivering a baby in the wee hours of the morning. We also took Rosa along for help with on-the-street purchasing while we did other shopping. She definitely extended our money! We were unable to get the visa renewed because they only will extend it on the day when it expires, so back we will go on September 26, a trip we were hoping not to have to make. Gene drove the entire way without mishap, even negotiating the traffic in town (which includes cars, trucks, bikes, pedestrians and a variety of animals) while staying in the left lane, but it is quite a workout.
The power was out in Choma the entire six hours we were there (the longest outage we've experienced since being in Zambia). The butcher couldn't even sell us ground beef because of the outage. Fortunately the main grocer in town had a power back-up and so operations there were fairly normal.
The days are heating up and if one is in the direct sun, it's quite hot but not (yet) oppressive. The low humidity makes a huge difference and we're enjoying it. Once the sun goes down everything cools off and the nights are quite pleasant. None of those sticky nights we have in the summer back home.
[Sikalongo Gate (tw)]
[The Jacaranda] Tomorrow Darlene is back with the children and Gene has a class to teach. Then it's the weekend and getting ready for next week.
1 comment:
I am from Ghana, West Africa and used to live in sikalongo with my parents in the early 1990s. seeing the pictures brought so many memories back. we left there in 1992 but things havent changed much. my mother used to work with Jane Mweetwa at the Sikalongo Clinic.
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