Hi!!!

Hello from Zambia! I know it seems that I have long forgotten this blog, but I promise I haven’t! Below you will find two posts written back in March, but I held off on posting them as I was waiting for my mother to post the accompanying pictures. She has yet to do so (hint, hint, mom), but I thought I should go ahead with these anyway so that y’all back home would know that I am still alive and doing well! Hope you are doing well too!


NC’WALA

In Februay, I attended NC’WALA, a traditional ceremony for the Ngoni people (the folks in my village are from the Ngoni tribe). I went with some other Peace Corps Volunteers and friends from my village. My family did not attend, as they feel that the ceremony is barbaric because some female participants dance topless. (Their chosen religion, Jehovah’s Witness, has shaped many of their views of traditional practices, some for the better, but also has in many ways robbed them of some rich cultural traditions. This, however, is not something I should discuss further on the blog, so I will stop there : / ). I am so glad that I went to this ceremony. There were thousands of people there, as the Ngoni tribe is also found in many of Zambia’s neighboring countries and people from all over were in attendance. The paramount chief of the Ngoni people was there, as well as President Banda.

The ceremony was mostly dancing done in a huge circle involving men in animal skins wearing bells on their ankles, and topless women chanting, singing and clapping. The dancing is done in a particular pattern of stomping (too difficult for this white girl to attempt) and involved waving of dancing sticks and shields. I believe that the Ngoni people were known for being great hunters and warriors, hence the skins and shields.

To accompany the dancing there was the presentation of a gift to the chief. This year, the gift was a chest freezer and refrigerator. In addition, there was also the slaughter of the sacrificial cow. I was able to get a pretty good seat and was just a few yards away from the cow as this was happening. I didn’t watch, of course, but a friend that was with me videotaped the whole thing and said that the cow was speared all the way through. Ugh! I was told that after the sacrificial killing, all of the important people involved in the ceremony drink the blood. However, I also heard rumors that now-a-days they just pretend to drink it for show.

I took a few pictures and videos, so hopefully, those will be up soon for your viewing pleasure!



Daily Life

I feel like I have yet to give you an idea of what my day to day routine is like in the village, so to give you a better understanding, I have come up with a general itinerary:

5:00-5:30 Awake to roosters crowing and the sound of my Zam Fam starting their day. Usually this involves my 10 year old sister walking past my house on her way to fetch water making ridiculously loud animal noises as she goes, Atate hammering something very noisily, and goats running up on my porch, or rubbing themselves along the sides of my house to scratch an itch. These noises have become very familiar to me now and are my alarm clock to awake and get started with the day.

5:30-6:30 Lay in bed contemplating my day’s schedule, checking email and facebook, etc.

6:30-7:00 Get up, put on my chosen chitenge for the day, wash face, empty chamber pot, and sweep porch (usually covered in dust and goat poop!)

7:00-7:30 Breakfast – usually cereal with powdered milk, bananas or apples with peanut butter, or bread/buns with peanut butter (there is a grocery store in town where I can purchase some of these things) along with whatever fruit is in season in the village – previously mangos and guavas

7:30-1:30 Chores around the house – dishes, fetching water, washing clothes, sweeping, weeding my yard, planning for meetings, starting a fire and cooking lunch (During this time of year, I cannot schedule meetings in the morning, because everyone is busy in their fields. I usually plan for one afternoon meeting per day). (On Wednesday mornings, I will go to the clinic around 8-9 to help with growth monitoring for children under 5 years. I have also started a mothers’ education program and have begun presenting health talks on these days as well.)

1:30-2:00 Lunch with the family or neighbor, depending on the day

2:00-4:00 Meeting (some meetings require biking to, and thus Atate and I will eat an earlier lunch and leave around 12:30)

4ish/5ish Bucket Bath! I have really perfected my technique and use 10 liters of water for bathing

6:30-8:30 Family Time – paying games with the kids, sitting by the fire and helping Amai and the girls cook, eating supper (Occasionally, I will eat by myself or with a friend, but most times I am with the family). My family has one light bulb powered by their solar panels, so we try to eat quickly before the light fades. (during rainy season, it was often too cloudy to provide more than an hour or two of indoor lighting at night)

8:30-9:00 Getting ready for bed, reading, or phone calls home if I have a phone date with one of you : )

By 10pm, if not sooner, I am usually fast asleep.

Pretty exciting, huh?