Best laid plans......

There are some bittersweet changes that are happening in my life.

In August I had a very drunk man come to my compound and try to force me into my hut, he came back a few days later and left bruises on my arms where he had grabbed me. And he came back yet another day. Each time I was able to get away from him.

In late August, I went to the In-service training and filled out a Safety and Security report on the incidents.
In late October S&S called me and told me to pack, that they would come and get me, take me to the Prov. House in Solwezi and do a S&S review of my village. I loaded my personal belongings and waited for the cruiser to come and get me. I spend the next 2 1/2 weeks in Solwezi while they assessed my village, had a phone counseling sessions with someone in DC and did a review of the incidents with S&S.

The assessment of my village proved to be good, I was to receive a new door, as mine was not in good shape, have locks put on my windows and would have someone watch out for me. It was determined that it was okay for me to go back to my village as the man that had done this was in prison for domestic violence with his family. There are 2 kinds of prisons here, one is a secure one and one is more of a voluntary one, where you can leave when you want. I'm not sure which one he was in.

I was taken back to Kowama on the 8th. A new door was installed and secured. I played with my little brothers that were happy to have me back. I was happy to find out that Krona had had her kittens 5 days before. She had 4 survive, one didn't. I got her settled in my house with her babies and was enjoying playing with them. Everything seemed to be back to normal.

Late that night a man pried open one of my windows and kept calling for me to come out. I was finally able to make him leave, but couldn't rouse my family to come over by yelling, using my whistle or by phone. I called S&S and they told me to stay in my house.

In the morning S&S had finally reach my BaTata and he came over to check on me. I was fine, but it had been a very sleepless night. The Chairman and his (beat the crap out of someone) vigilante committee came over all carrying guns, to see if I could tell them who it was. S&S called and told me to come to Solwezi now! I packed my stuff again, the Committee loaded me into the back of the local "police" car and took me to the tarmac, and stayed with me until I was loaded on the mini bus. It was a long ride back to Solwezi, but I had a whole seat to myself and napped.

Today is the 12th. I rode back in the cruiser to Kowama to pack up the rest of my house, I will not be going back this time, as the village is a S&S risk. It was bittersweet. I was able to say goodbye to my sister Rhoda, and the boys. My BaTata was surprised when I gave him a hug. Zambians do not show emotion, but they all said they were sad to see me leave. My Bamama and the 2 little girls are in Solwezi, so I will try to meet up with them to say goodbye.


I will spend some time at the Prov. House until a new site is chosen and ready for me to move in.  I will be working with a couple of PCVs here with their projects in the area.

I was able to bring Krona and the babies, so they will go with me to a new site.

It's hard to think that I have to start over again, but being safe is a very important part of our lives here. I am in good spirits and looking forward to a new site and new counterparts to work with and a new family to get to know.

Life is about waiting

I am in a holding pattern. With this being the time of year they do no harvesting or planting. I am just working on my garden plot by the river.
I finally got them all dug, with the help of some of the kids in my club. I have not started planting yet as it is not quite the right time.







 Pics of the river. It is the head waters of the Zambezi River.

   

River Plots 

In this one see the termite mounds.

Here are some wild petunias I found by the river.  

My chickens are doing great, I got a double yolk egg the other day it was very big!
I finally gave up trying to get them in a pen, and now they are running around with the others on my family's compound. One is setting on a nest of eggs, one follows the rest of the flock and one keeps getting into my house and lives in the corner.

 

I have been cooking in my Kasansa. Here is a soup that I made with some sausage I purchased.

 We had a big storm and lots of rain for a couple of days 10/9-10. My poor Krona is so sacred of the thunder. She is getting very big, being pregnant. I am going on a trip at the end of October to the Kasanka National Park to see the bats, and am hoping that she will have them before I leave.
When it was raining I found out that I had a leak in my roof. It was very fortunate that the bucket I use for a night time 'chamber pot', just happened to be setting underneath right there, so nothing got wet. That is Zambia for you, where the odds are good and the goods are odd!



I told you in my last blog about going to a festival across the river and had pictures of the boys coming back covered in cloth. There were 3 boys that had got through the circumcision ritual, after that they go into the bush with an uncle for a month. We were there when they came home. Here is some other pics from the festival.

Boys with their families. You will see one girl on the right. She is there because she is a twin to one of the boys. They do not separate twins and she went out to the bush with them.

There were also some men dressed in costumes for the festival. They loved having me take pictures and did a little showing off for me. Those of you that know me well, know I have a deep seated fear of people in animal costumes, I found out this brings out the same anxiety!

My question of the month is "What do you do in America when the baboons eat your tomatoes?" I love this question for some many reasons. It really shows they have no knowledge of America or how we live. So tell me, what should I tell him?

We had an Apostle come and speak at the church across from my house. It was a very interesting talk. He told them that Ebola can only be spread by shaking hands. Just to add to that. We are being told to watch, but there have been no cases in Zambia.

 He also explained that America builds skyscrapers because they are trying to see God. Hadn't really thought of that, maybe so.

We had a huge dinner after with all differnt kinds of meat, I tired to stay away from the rat and bush meat (monkey), but not really sure if I did. But everything I did eat was good and I ate a lot!

I've had a couple of rats or mice in the roof of my house, my pregnant cat is not able to get up there, but she did finally catch 2 of them. I got to listen to her crunching them under my bed. The tarantulas are very active in this hot weather, they climb the walls, but don't stick very well and they fall off. Krona catches them and crunches on them under my bed as well. I did see a camel spider run behind some of my boxes, I ran out of the house, so did Krona, 'fraidy cat!

My Batata explained to me how having chicks works in Zambia. If his rooster fertilizes my chicken's eggs, then the chicks will belong to him.   I told him that this was alright with me, since when I left, I'd leave all my chickens for him anyway. He asked why I couldn't take them with me. I explained that is was not easy to take them on an airplane, he asked, "why, won't the sack fit under the seat, like on a bus?"

I want to thank everyone for the Birthday Wishes. I was nice to get them and the treats that were sent as well. I am planning a trip to the Prov. house for my birthday. I have a can of tomato soup and some grilled cheese waiting for me there. 

Watching chickens

If I had known that chickens were going to be a life line for me, I would have named my blog Watching Chicken in Africa...hindsight!

I have chickens of my own now!















  I got my first egg the next morning, I poached and
ate it It tasted like VICTORY!


















Here are Marongu and Fumpa cutting the posts for the pen, since I can't. Women are not allowed to cut wood for any reason, or at least not get caught doing in.

 
My brothers built a pen for me. I used one of the reed mats I purchased on entry to use as a roof over part of it. I used mealy-meal sacks and bent sticks to make 3 little coops for them.
















 Fumpa in front of my house.

 

I had my friends come up with name for them.
Here is Beyoncé, she is the best egg layer, she lays 2 a day.

Here is Noodle, she had not laid any eggs yet. She may become chicken noodle soup!

 Here is Kululu (it's a name from an anime game and in Kahonde it means Rabbit, I like that)!
















Here is my family's rooster, I named him Thor. He really wants to get into my pen and take advantage of the new hens.

 Here are their nests. And of course, Krona had to check them all out and pick the best one.

They all try to get in the same nest instead of each one of them picking a different one and at night, they won't go in them, they just stand around and squawk, so I wait till it's dark and go put them in. 
We had a freak rain storm this week; I went out to check on the chickens, they were sitting on top of their nests instead of in them. My mom told me chickens were dumb, I just didn't know how dumb.

Chickens are very important here. My Mama's brother is in the hospital and my Tata had the boys catch one of their chickens for him to take to him. I'm not really sure if he was taking it to the hospital or to the family, but I guess a chicken can fix everything.





Rhoda fixed my  hair, it was so nice and so much cooler, but it only lasted about 2 days. sigh...

 

Here is Melda, she had to watch the goings on of the building. She is in her favorite dress, she has no idea it's a princess Halloween costume.

Here is Joseph, he was dancing and I tried to get that, but when I'd put the camera up, he's stop. He is potty training, so all he has on is that shirt. And by the way, stepping in baby poop in the grass is as bad if not worse than stepping in dog poop.











Here is a picture of a spider I had to kill with my frying pan, it even dented the pan. Well, okay, so the wall dented it, but it sounds more exciting to say it was the spider.

When taking to people here, if you tell them something they didn't know or are not sure that they believe, they say Sure?, but it sounds like SHORE-wa. It's a funny word to hear them say, I find myself using it often when taking back to them.



The rain storm this week was a very welcome change. It cooled off and rained all day. First rain we’ve had since the end of April. And of course all my electronics were dead or dying and I had no sun to charge them. I was not prepared. My poor Krona, hid under the bed and cried, she had never heard thunder or seen rain since she was born after the rains stopped. I talked to my Tata about the storm and would we have more, he said, no there would be no more, until October 24 & 25, it always rains those days then no more until December. I’m marking my calendar to see if he’s right.





Marongu also finished putting up new bricks around the bottom of  kasansa, (kitchen). It looks nice and I am enjoying cooking out there now that it is so hot. 

Language and other barriers

While people are the same everywhere, it's so much easier to see the differences.

In Zambian culture, its not normal for husbands and wives to show any affection in public, fathers do not hug their daughters and mothers do not hug their sons. For us touch starved Americans, this is very hard to understand. When we get together as we did this month for In-Service Training, we hug, hold hands and simply nap together, just for comfort and closeness. We miss the affection in touch.

We also learned that things we hate or put up with are sometimes the things Zambians love. Have you ever been to a meeting where they did the "icebreakers", or the "stand up and stretch". We put up with those, tolerate them, but do not generally find them fun. Zambians on the other hand call them energizers and they LOVE them!

Our Training this month was on Grass Roots Soccer (a way to teach kids about AIDS/HIV prevention). They gave us soccer balls, training kits with games and a book full of energizers. We came to training with a counterpart from our villages to learn and train with us. My BaTata came with me, he had fun, sometimes too much fun, as drinking for the Zambian men was a normal, daily activity, but something our trainers were used to. He loved the energizers so much he asked if he could take the book with him to the Palace for meetings, I have visions of the king and other dignitaries standing up and doing the Hokey Pokey (one of the favorite ones in the book) at important meetings!

Our training went well, we all learned a lot from each other. We also cussed and discussed life in our villages, with our families and other pitfalls or highlights of our service. I learned that my village was more formal than I thought it was, and that I was well respected in some ways and not in others. I learned that my wearing skirts and not going into places where men were drinking saved me a lot of hassle by the men in my village.

It was also wonderful to have hot water, showers, internet and I got to Skype with family and friends, and spent lots of time on the internet.  I ate lots of food, we went out often to restaurants. I did some shopping, and did I mention internet! I also ended up getting sick, a good old cold. I went back to Solwezi, to the Prov House and spent a couple of extra days there resting before going back to Kowama.

I was excited to see my family and my cat, Korna. She was excited to see me as well. She had gotten up in my family's roof and not sure how long she had been up there, but she ate and drank a lot when I got her down, then followed me around for 2 days not letting me out of her sight. I mostly laid in bed and rested, her right there with me.

Also since the fire and my cat's rescue during it, I have found that when people greet me as they pass my compound, they have started greeting my cat. I also found out that while they thinks it's odd we have pets, they like our's better than the ones that freely roam the countryside because they think they are American animals and therefore smarter. Most of the PCVs show up to a site with a pet, so they think we bring them with us from the USA. I can't decide to tell them the truth that she is a Zambian cat and they might start treating her badly, or just let it go......

My family was excited to have me back, my BaMama hugged me and in English said, "Welcome back, my daughter." I found out that Maureen no longer needs a pumpkin to hold to help her sit up and even the boys were glad I was there and for a few sweeties, they ran to get my water. Lot of yard work to do, leaves have piled up since I was gone. Krona killed a bird in my house, feathers everywhere, more cleaning. Also killed a spider with my frying pan, yes...it was that big. A little sweeping will hopefully take care of any others.

This week I started teaching an English class at school, it's fun to talk about different American things with them and find out what they do and don't know. I found a box marked Literature, it had never been opened. It was full of different books in English. I asked why they weren't using them, they said they didn't know what Literature meant, so they never opened it.

I looked through them with some of the kids. There was a book with Asian people in it and they wanted to know if they were blind, I didn't understand until they pointed out that their eyes were slanted and looked shut to them, so they assumed they were blind. In our part of Northwest, there are not many Asian people until you get closer to the copper mines, they had just never seen any. There was another book that caught their fancy it was about the movie Star Wars, they liked the pictures, wanted to know what kind of an animal Jabba the Hut and did we have them in America, was not really able to convince them he was not a real animal. They tried to fix my hair in all the Princess Leia styles.

But at least now we have a few books to go over. Mom sent me world map so we will use that as well. I was excited to get a letter and package from the Chapel Haven West School in Tucson, AZ, where a friend Lori Busiek works. We will be answering and sharing letters from our school to their's.

Hot season has hit at full blast! It is hot, sticky and sweaty. I make fans out of anything I can think of. I really need some of the ones you used to see and church revival meetings, big square and on a stick!

A few of my favorite words.
Mwulala bulungo- good evening
mute- sun
mwabucca biepi - how is the morning or good morning
mute bulungo - good afternoon

If you ask how are you today, they might say -bululnguto - this means "just good" to us but to them means "there is nothing bad", which is better. 

adding an m before a word makes it formal, such as
wane is thanks, I'd say it to the kids,
but to people that deserve respect just as adults/parents/teachers/strangers  I'd say mwane
such as
mwane sankuyo- thanks for...

mtaco -butt (great for the Hokey Pokey dance)

and my favorite is
kafwako - is literally means silence but is used as I have no answer, or nothing to say about something.
When I ask the kids at school, do you have any questions, if no one answers I say kafwako. Besides being a fun word to say ka-fwak (like hawk) -o. it has so many uses, just ask my Mom, I say it to her on the phone all the time. It's kafwako, no way to explain!

Thanks to everyone that is supporting me and enjoying my blog. You can write or send packages to me at
Hannah Perry
C/O Peace Corps
PO Box 110264
Solwezi, Zambia
 You can also comment below.

I have included some pictures that I was able to get downloaded.
You will see pictures of the area around my compound before the fire and after.

These are the before, you can see it is browner than when I took pictures of the area in Feb and March, in older blog post, that is just the seasons changing.

These are from all around my house.

In the back ground you can see smoke from another area that is burning.

mango blooms

The whole tree

My kitchen in the back ground

These are after the fire. All round the same area.

Mango tree a little scorched.

I have string up where my garden is going to be. I have about 20 different plants and seeds to try.

The carving on my pounder stick

The pounder was made by the Witch Doctor I met. The reed mat standing to the left I used to rebuild the walls of my baffa (bathhouse). Also my ever present eggs. They have no idea why I buy so many. I love eggs!

This also shows how close the fire got, that is my dishrack that sets next to my house.

Little House on the Savannah on FIRE

I read all the Little House on the Prairie books, but I wish I'd paid more attention to some parts of it. Such as...

Being sick
I am been a little sick the last week. I tend to get sick when the weather changes, sore throat, runny nose and upset stomach. So I have not been feeling well, and the normal things I take in the states are not working quite as well.

Cooking
It's harder than you think to come up with things to cook when you only have a braiser to use. I miss bread. I dream of eating sandwiches, something I never liked at home. Mom sent me ketchup, because I was craving it. It was horrible, I'm now used to Zambian ketchup and hated the taste of the old standby Hunts.

Building
I am not crafty, I really need my Mom here! I have trouble figuring out ways to build and make something out of nothing.  Mom can explain most things over the phone, so I can try.

Animals
I don't know much about chickens or goats, but thanks to Mom and Dad, for putting how to books on my Kindle, I'm learning.

Fires
I wish I remembered what they did to combat prairie fires. It would have been very help today. My sister Rhoda asked me to go to church with her, it is one that starts a little later, so I said yes. About 8am I smelled smoke looked out and saw the savannah was burning again.

I found out that they burn the savannah to flush out the rats to catch and eat them.  If someone starts a fire, and it burns fields, the person that started it has to pay the farmers, so you rarely find out who starts them.

As for the rats, I know it's rats, but they are as big as ground hogs. I have not been able to bring myself to eat them yet, even though my American family keeps reminding me that I ate squirrels and they are rats too, but I just can't do it yet.

So anyway, the savannah by my house is burning, about 9am I see my brother Fumpa with Maureen strapped to his back standing in my yard watching the fire as it comes closer. A few minutes later, I see Rhoda, with her son Joseph strapped to her back, come running from their yard to mine, with a handful of brush on fire, and she starts setting the grass around my house on fire.

I go outside to see the fire just meters away. My Bamama, brothers and sisters and I are running around putting out fires and it is getting hot, smokey, loud and closer.

The people in the church across the road come out and head to my house to help. The men are putting out embers that are landing on my roof. As others start helping me carry stuff out of my house. My bike is the first thing they yell for me to grab. Remember, when that is your most expensive item as well as your only mode of transportation, it's very important. I hate biking and am thinking, just let it burn! I am grabbing my electronics and bug-out bag and Krona my cat. It's all about your priorities.

Krona jumps down, is scared and heads straight into the fire, I yell for her and for the boys to grab her, which actually scares her more, I'm devastated, but keep working on putting out fires.

I watch as my baff, bathhouse, goes up in flames.

I am a little worried about people clearing things out of my house, one PCV worker had a fire and the villagers that took things out of her house, stole them. I can't worry about it now.

The smoke is awful, tears running down all our faces, everyone covered in soot and the fire is moving towards my family's compound. Krona comes running out of the fire straight to me, I pick her up and she is a little singed. My brother Popo brings over a cup of water and starts brushing it over her fur. I've said before that everyone including my family thinks it strange I have a pet cat, but they were all looking out for her and even the men from the church tried to catch her for me. Popo said he was worried about her. They know how important she is to me. She hid up under my skirt and tucked in to my leggings.

My house in now in the clear and we are all working our way to my family's compound. They are having more trouble putting out the fire on their roof and have lost bits of it here and there.I help carry thing out of their house, then Mama and I head to her silo to keep it from catching on fire. She is throwing water on it and yelling "ena, ena", which means "no, no"! We were able to save her silo, but she lost all her fields. Most of them only had a little harvest left in them, and they are not dependent on farming for their income, so they will be alright.

After things settled down the kids went to the fields and only came back with a few handfuls of what was left.

Nothing was stolen from my house, I live in a wonderful village with great people that have become friends. And the people at the church know me, as I do attend there every few Sundays.

My Mama kept asking me if I was alright, I told her I was. She was distressed that my baff was gone, but I can't tell her it's okay, as I something bath in my house, they think that is very dirty, so I told her, I could use theirs and that made her feel better. I also ate with lunch with them. I tried to take a small piece of chicken, but Mama yelled at me (the first time) and took the small piece and gave me a big one, and made me eat 2 lumps of nshima, because she knew I had been sick.

My sore throat is now worse from the smoke and I can hardly talk. But I hate to say I think the nshima helped my stomach and I do feel a little better.

I sure hope the rest of the week will be much quieter, I could use it.

Change of seasons

I have said that the seasons here, are Wet, Hot, Cold and Hungry. The Wet season will start with it is hot and end when it starts to get cold.

One night last week the wind started blowing and it was so loud and fierce it woke me up. I looked out to see the grasses blowing sideways. I was afraid my roof would come off. But my morning it had stopped. But I also noticed that the temperature at gone up a lot. It's been in the lower 50s at night and lower 70s during the day. But now it felt much hotter.

I went to get fire at my family's and my BaTata asked if I heard the wind. I told him I had. He said that was the change of the season. That we were now in the hot season. It has been highs in the upper 80s and lows in the upper 60s. He said a wind will always mark the change of the seasons.

I'm thinking the wind brings change like in the movies Mary Poppins or Chocolat. Can't wait till the next change sometime in Feb.