Peace Corps Adventure: Hurry up and wait!

I am waiting to start working with the farmers. There is not a lot for me to do until it's planting time again. I was invited to a farmers' co-op meeting. I was told it stared at 9, so I went at 10 and was told they would come at 2. At 2 they came and the first 30 minutes were spend with them complaining about why all meetings started late, of course none of them had shown up either.

I did meet with an agent of the AG field office. She and I are teaming up to make a map of Kowama and doing a census. It's hard to do an accurate census, as they will never tell the truth when you ask personal questions. They will tell you more or less depending on which way they think it will work in their favor.

You do see women getting firewood, but you don't see them cutting trees, this is because it's considered shameful for women to cut trees. No one can really tell me why. I also found out that when they do go to cut trees there are often times accidents and people are killed, because trees fall on them. I told them about saying 'timber' and they thought that was very odd.

I bought 6 sweet potatoes for 2K, that is about .25cents. Each potato is as big as my head. I use that analogy a lot about things, but it's usually true. I killed a spider in my shower that was as big as my head. I was going to take a picture of it, but it started to move, and I ended up beating it with my broom, out of fear, instead. I got a carrot one day that was as big around as my arm and as long as from my wrist to my elbow. I also was avocados that the pits are as bis as the biggest whole avocados I've ever seen in the states.

My kitten spends her day trying to catch the chickens, and being run of by the rooster. She also used my dish rack that sets against my hut to climb on my roof My family still doesn't understand my having a pet. My sister Melda is terrified of Crona. While I was gone, I kept Crona in my hut, my BaTata said he could heard her saying "mew, mew" He was worried she was not okay with me gone.

I have met one of the village's hunters. He has promised to bring me some bush baby and impala meat next time he has some. I really do miss meat.

I am getting better at the language, and have learned a few more proverbs. When I came home after being gone for a few days, my BaMama said a proverb that translates to my goat is home. Because she was glad that I was home. I also learned a proverb that I know I will use on my mom for the rest of her life. It translate to, 'if I had something in my mouth or my nose, I could take it out, but because it's in my eye, I can do nothing about it .' This is ONLY said to Mothers, and it means if you were anyone but my mother I could do something about it. I think we all sometimes feel that way about our mothers.

I also learned a word ndioe, it means to paying a man for work with alcohol. I also found out that each field where a crop is grown has a different name, not just ground nut field and maize field, but a specific name for each field depending on the corp that is grown.

I might understand the language, but still not the culture. My dog was in the trash pit the other day and Fumpa and another boy started shooting it with rocks from their slingshots. I yelled at them to stop and they just laughed at me, even my BaTata didn't understand while I was mad. Animals are just not important.

There are no maps at the school, they asked me how long it took to drive to Zambia. They also are land locked and most have not seen the ocean and don't understand how big they are or why it would take so long to cross them.

My teacher friend and I were trading information one day and he told me he didn't believe that women were or would ever be as smart as men. I asked him what he thought of me, and he said I was different because I was not from Zambai. Even the women teachers he didn't think were as smart as he was.

He also asked me about elective surgery in America, he wanted to know if it was true that women got bigger breast so they could feed more children. When I told him that no, they did it for sexual reasons, he said breasts are not for sex, they are only for food for babies.

My mom send pictures of winter and snow, my BaTata was fascinated and he also wondered if the houses in the pictures were make of tin or plastic.

My brother Maca had a toothache and had to be taken to the hospital Everyone had to be dress in their 'Sunday best'. They had him in the cutest little blue suit. It's very important to be dressed correctly when you go out.

I also showed him pictures of me in the states. He didn't recognize me and said it was because my hair was so short. He also was very disapproving of how short my dress was. I told him that is acceptable in the states, and he said it was not good.

I had found out last month on my trip to the Prov. House that I found out I had lost 10 lbs. So I've been trying to eat a little more. I found out that nshima is good when it is mixed with sorghum. I have been asked by people in the village if I eat, they think since I don't eat nshima, that I don't eat at all. And since they already think that body is different than theirs, I must not need to eat. I've tried to tell them that we are all the same, but they don't understand that. I was also asked how long I'd have to live in Zambia for my skin to turn black.

My sister Maureen is starting to sit up and to keep her upright, my BaMama places a pumpkin in her lap to keep her from falling over. the pumpkin is as big as she is. Maureen chews on it and plays with it.

I sat down with my BaTata to get the names and ages of all the kids. He had the names, though he couldn't spell them but the ages were off, I also found out who the 11th child was. When I met my BaTata the first time in Luska, I asked how many children he had. He said, "my wife now has 11." So last week when I had him to write the names and ages, he only wrote 10. I asked about the 1th, he said you can write your own name and age. I AM the 1th! I felt very humbled and happy. I also want you to notice that he said his wife had 11 children, not he or they. Here the children belong to the mothers, if the wives leave the fathers may never see the kids again.

The other day Maka came over to see if I had some matches, he said Marangu need some to start the morning fire. Later that day while my BaMama was at church I went over to get some coals and I noticed smoke coming from behind the kitchen. I walked around it to see Popo, Maka and Melda, squatting on the ground over cans with nshima in them and fires under them, they were having a race to see which one could cook it the fastest. Just as I was getting ready to ask what they were doing, I heard a village boy come racing through the area yelling something in warning. Then the BaMamas came through on their way home from church and my BaMama stepped into the compound, saw the fires and started yelling, the 3 little cooks took off running in 3 different directions! Guess they weren't supposed to be doing that, and now I know where the matches I gave him that morning really went.

I went with my brothers to a festival called the Intonaga. It is a harvest festival. The pictures I have below are from that. My BaTata is there in one of the pictures. They are all in traditional dress. My language teacher was there with us. He told me to not be scared that they were going to shoot off guns and not to be scared, this was not like in America where people with guns were trying to kill each other. To them all America's carry guns and kill each other all the time. Guess they are not all that far off.

My BaTata is in the blue kitenge and jacket