4 Weeks

It has been 4 weeks since we left New York for Zambia.  The weeks have gone by fast!  The past couple of weeks have been especially interesting as we have tried to settle into Zambian life.  Here are some highlights:

On our first walk through the open air market in Choma:

We were approached by a man with an offer for us to pay him as a tour guide around the market for 1,000 Kwacha (ZMK), about 20 cents, to which we responded “No thank you.”  His offer was then changed, in an effort to get our business, to ZMK 10,000, about $2.20.  Not sure he understood that we understand the Zambian money system…

We saw behind the butcher shop as we were walking through the market.  Warning…the rest of this may be graphic…An entire cow carcass was being sawed in half, the full head beside it on the ground and the innards lying fully in tact beside that.  I (Erin) wanted to take a picture, but I was lacking in the bravery department. The only thing I can think of to describe it would be “disgustingly cool.”

Delicious cappuccino!

We found Wonderbake!!! An amazing shop where you can buy fresh baked bread, pizza, soft serve icecream and cappuccino!  This has become our favorite place and one of the workers there has started to teach us Tonga.

On our first field visit:

We met with the Headman of Sinambila and received his blessing to move forward in his village with the Village Partnership program (VP).  He seemed grateful that his village had been selected and was excited for the opportunity for the children to attend school and for their village to get clean water and economic development opportunities.

We discovered why pre-trip visits are important because…

We ended up getting stuck in the village stream. We found out how to call AAA in Zambia…WHIZ staff, villagers, tree branches, axes, bricks (basically, any sort of supplies you can find that might help get tires out of huge ruts), bulls, a yoke and a chain.  That is all you need here. While the men were hard at work, I took pictures and made a few new friends.

We also ate our first real village meal with the pastor of Sialubala on our way back from Sinambila – corn on the cob & groundnuts (almost like a peanut).  It was an incredibly generous gesture for them to share with us!

We are definitely stuck

Our "tow truck"

On our third Saturday/Sunday:

We found the church we will most likely attend when teams are not in Zambia.  Jon heard music on our way home from lunch (with other missionaries we know) last Saturday. He, of course, poked his head through the gate to see what was going on.  We were invited in to listen and discovered that it was the worship team from Choma Central Wesleyan Church practicing.  They invited us to church the following day and invited him to play with them this past Saturday.  He spent 3 hours practicing with them and they have asked him to play in worship on the weekends that he can!  The pastor also visited us this past Friday and asked if he would be willing to speak at church every now and then.  Music AND teaching….Jon is pretty excited!

Our first team:

Arrives in Livingstone this Friday!  We are excited for them to come and experience village life.  More on that to come…

Across The Street

Across the street from the WHIZ compound, there is a field of grass, or at least that is what we thought.  We had seen 2 small dirt access roads leading back and a sign for a church that is being built (which we thought was being built right by the road).

Sunday evening, we came colliding with the reality of what real compound living in Choma is as our friend, Joshua, took us for a walk back into the compound of Old Kabanana.

A small dirt access road led us to a small house and an open field.  The house was made of brick, with a small tin roof, and was no more than 12x6.  Outside, was a man, his wife and their 2 children.  The man was wiring a small light bulb for the house, the wife was watering her landscaping around the house, and the 2 children were playing barefoot in their dirt yard.  We were introduced to the family, smiled, made small talk & then went on our way, with the man from the house now part of our little group.

Joshua & our new friend proceeded to lead us through Kabanana,  a massive compound with many houses – some brick with thatched roofs, some brick with tin roofs, some with “fences” (tall grass around the house) – and even more people.  As we walked through, close to dinner, we could smell the coals being burned for cooking.  We saw women sitting around their cooking pots outside getting a meal ready for their family.  We walked over large rice bags filled with sand/dirt to cross a small stream filled with murky water that ran through the compound.  We saw children drawing with “sidewalk chalk” (used/leftover coal from a previous fire) on a small area of concrete in front of a house.  One little girl was drawing a picture of her house (thatched roof included), with her family around the outside.  We passed a young woman Joshua greeted who had just lost her husband (we speculate from AIDS).  We saw Joshua’s thatched roof house and small cooking stall outside his house.  We heard children laughing as we passed (this happens often, as we are a stark contrast to what they are used to seeing).

It was a sobering reality to see such poverty across the street from where we live.  It is interesting though, what people here consider poverty.  If a person has a roof over their head and a meal in front of them, they have what they need.  They are not poor in their mind.  They might not have electricity, running water, flushing toilets, but, that have and they are grateful for that.

Some Photos from Our "Firsts" in Zambia!

The fruits of our first grocery shopping trip

Our first laundry day...all done by hand,
thank you very much!

Our first "pet"...or the lizard that keeps finding his way
into our hallway & then into our room...

Our "first" meal that we remembered to take a picture of
(the first meal we made was actually spaghetti)