- Holding a two month old twin girl for a few hours
- Learning how traditional, affordable foods are cooked
- Improving my tan
- Becoming very aware that I am a "mzungu"
Today I was expecting to be picked up at 9am but again time being very relative Musonda showed up at 8:30 just before I returned from my run. I knew it was hot but I realized that 7:30am is too late to start a run here; my face was beet red when I got back. On my run I had gone past the UN High Commission of Refugees, a USAID office, a "Swedish neighborhood" as the sign claimed, two little boys selling eggs, a BP gas station, lots of staring eyes, a Lusaka Disability and Development office, s small market--all within the residential area of Kabulonga. The PCI office is on the same road at the Peace Corps offices where Meg goes in the morning and the Embassy of the State of Palestine with a small flag flapping within the stone fence. Since Musonda had already come and gone I rushed through a cold shower and figured I could manage the two right turns it took to get to the PCI office. It took me about 10 minutes to walk to the PCI office and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to see the neighborhood.
Around 10:30 we headed to Bauleni, another large, successful HBC based out of a Catholic church. I wore a chwenga for the day--a wrap over my trousers. (pants are considered "underpants" here) We spent the day with the HBC director and a few PCI staff leading a cooking demonstration for the mothers. I learned how to peel the fibers off a pumpkin leaf that was later boiled with other vegetables. None of the mothers spoke English so they enjoyed talking about me. I could only smile and nod realizing I was the object of their attention when I was learning tasks that was almost first nature to them.
Majority of the mothers had little babies that were passed around to anyone willing to hold or carry them on their back. Several of the mothers had two or three children under the age of two. I got to hold a little twin girl for awhile. She was fascinated by my appearance and stared at my face for the first half hour I held her. Her attention then transitioned to all the gadgets on my bag and camera grabbing onto anything she could. She would occassionally laugh at me just like all the other women! I never was able to get her name; I was told that since she's a twin they call her mewemba (phonetical spelling of course).
The preparation and cooking for the group lunch took practically all afternoon. The menu included
- : chicken in some oil and peanut sauce,
- lots of porridge like-white stuff called ndwema?,
- a salad of pumpkin leaves, tomatoes, and onions which was boiled and looked like canned spinnach,
- more vegatables cooked in peanut butter,
- and the most appetizing part of the meal was sardines cooked in peanut butter and tomatoes!
I was often distracted by Patrick during all the cooking. He is a mischevious little three year old who would hit the other children then run away when chastised. He used tatics to get more biscuits than his siblings and of course very resistant to share them. There were several occassions where he found it necessary to pee or poo in the courtyard. At that point the mothers just rolled their eyes and didn't feel like the fight was worth it. Needless to say this little terror was quite entertaining! As the day went on the older children got out of school and it seemed like they were pouring out of the woodworks of the diocese. Many of the older ones were playing in the game rooms next door that serve as an afterschool service of play, education, and "learning the Word of God".
I offered to help stir the ndwema after I had put down the little girl. The instructors said I should learn only on a small pot because it was difficult and they didn't want me to hurt my little wrists. My slight feminism was quite offended but I kept my defenses to myself and became determined to help at some point. My opportunity came when all the dishes were ready and they began to divy up the servings onto plate. I helped carry the pots inside (I had to reinforce that yes, I could manage them) and serve the food onto 27+ plates.
After the mothers had been served, with more porridge given to women with more children, it was our turn to eat. I dodged the sardines saying I was allergic to fish; they were surprised I knew what it was. I'm sorry for not being more daring but their little eyes popping out of the peanut butter? Ugh gross. Everything else was quite alright. The vegetables were very salty for me but I'm always a fan of more veggies! The porridge helped neutralize some of the less enjoyable tastes. I would not advise peanut butter on chicken...ever.
Before we began to eat we washed our hands. For staff being so aware of sanitation needs I was surprised that washing just entailed pouring water over hands and rinsing. I had been touching the ground that a live chicken had been flapping on, holding a baby, sweating. I knew that we would be eating with our hands but I didn't want to be rude and whip out my hand sanitizer in front of all these women. I simply had to ignore all the microbiology knowledge screaming inside of my head.
I had watched the mothers roll the porridge into a ball in their palms then pinch the vegetables and eat it. I attempted the rolling but it was so hot!! How did they just grab it like that? I tried not to wince. My finger tips are peeling from the slight burn. Helen, an Austrian volunteer at the church who joined us late into the demonstratoin, was much more open about how hot it was but the other women kept on trucking like it was nothing.
After we ate Namonje gathered the Bauleni staff and some caregivers so I could ask questions and debrief from the afternoon. Talk about PCI's resources to create an OVC program and mother nutrition education has become a recurring theme. PCI's mission to "save the lives of children and families by preventing disease, providing access to clean water, and nutritious food" was very evident today. Irene the director of Bauleni HBC was very informative. I just hope you can hear her on the video because the children were playing foozball and table hockey quite loudly next door on top of the loud music. In fact, I think you make out Jayz's "New York" song in the background during the video!
I enjoyed talking (via translation) to the caregivers to hear about their passion for others. They got involved because the other clinics are very crowded and the quality of care is therefore limited. They are able to offer more personal care and time to these patients as well as talk with them about Jesus Christ. These women had been doing carework in the rural community since 1997 and received bikes in 2007; some serious dedication to travel as far as they do for that long. The bikes were used as incentives because the more dedicated and furthest traveling caregivers received bikes first.
We didn't drop a bike off for them today. Tomorrow Namonje says I'm going on a home visit where I will be able to ride the bike with a caregiver. I am so excited about that! So I will need to use the bike before handing it over to them tomorrow. When I got back to the PCI office one of the drivers Adrian noted the change of color in my skin. He didn't understand my excitement in the noticeable tan. How do you explain the vanity of being tan?
I had been in the heat all day. When I got back to the cool of the house, the exhausation set in. I sat down to look through pictures and it turned into a four hour nap. If you know me, you know that I am nearly incapable of having a normal "nap" that lasts half an hour or so. When I'm out, I'm dead to the world! I woke up when Jen came back from a tennis match. We talked about cultural differences and how the modesty of Zambians often keeps them from taking initiative or making demands of others. She suggested using the words "lessons learned" or "if you could do things differently" in order to get constructive criticism out of the interviewees because I was having a hard time getting that kind of feedback. She was surprised I was able to get into the community so quickly and get people to talk to me. She said it took her months to get the trust of the staff and it is rare that people arrive and head straight to the communities. I credit the reputation Namonje and PCI has established with people's readiness to speak to me and my camera.
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