Our 40/40 African Culture Adeventure

We have been in Africa for about 7 weeks now. Most of that was in Zambia going through the orientation they call 40/40. What an experience that was. We were in Lusaka for the first 12 day. Our accommodations were somewhat modern, by African standards. We stayed at the Baptist Seminary of Lusaka. There were about 20 rooms that shared 1 ladies bathroom and 1 mens bathroom. The largest cemetery I have ever seen surrounds the seminary. It is called Leopards Hill cemetery. It is not what we picture when we Americans think of a cemetery. There was everything from well-manicured grave sites to just unmarked mounds of dirt. The whole cemetery was over grown with weeds and bushes. The people attending a funeral would arrive on the back of a large flatbed truck and I don’t mean a Ford F-150. It was a large transport type truck. One that carries building materials in the U.S. This group of funeral goer’s could be heard from a distance because of their beautiful singing. One would have thought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was in town.

We were divided into teams of 2 with a Zambian helper and sent into the communities and market areas to do specific DFAs, Daily Field Assignments. We started by going and just observing. We were to learn by just watching. We also had to learn to ride the mini busses. These are small vans that are packed with riders. Learning to ride a mini bus sounds simple enough but there is not a set fair so that has to be negotiated with the driver. Of course the price is doubled when they see our white faces. I was the one assigned the task of negotiating the price for the groups that were in the same market place we were. The price started at 5,000 Kwacha per person. That sounds like a lot but in Zambia, 1 U.S. dollar is equal to ZK 5,000 (Zambian Kwacha). I was able to negotiate the fair down to ZK 2,000. I guess this was a fair price because the mini bus driver would come to the seminary each day to pick us up. Riding a mini bus is the next best thing to buying a ticket at Six Flags and riding the most outrageous roller coaster there. The only difference is that we didn’t go upside down. I’m not sure all mini bus riders can say that.

The last day we went into the market in Lusaka, our DFA was to eat in a local restaurant, and I use the word restaurant very loosely. I think there is nothing in the U.S I can compare it to. It was a very pleasant experience. I had nsima, beans, sweet potato leaves, and a small piece of beef. Nsima is the staple food of this part of Africa. It is made of finely ground maze (corn) and is the consistency of play dough. The way it is eaten is to pinch off a portion and roll it in the right hand using your fingers until it resembles a golf ball, without the little dimples. Then you take this ball and press some of what they call garnish against it and shoot it into your mouth. Just like a hole in one! There is really an art to it. You are really viewed as an amateur if you require a spoon or fork. Another tasty treat that I tried in the market was fried, well they kind of looked fried, caterpillar. It was crunchy but had a surprisingly pleasant taste. No, it did not taste like chicken. I also tried Capenta, which is a small dead dried minnow (fish). It tasted just like a small dead dried minnow smells. I can’t be too critical because the African way is to cook it with tomatoes and oil, and I was not fortunate enough to try it that way.

The next part of the adventure was a 6-hour bus ride to a smaller town called Petauke. There we had the good fortune of living in a tent. I must admit it was a nice tent but sleeping on the floor, tent floor that is, did take away from the glamor. The roots under our too thin mattress experienced a growth spurt just after we got there. I told Claudia I thought a large turtle had crawled under our tent and died. Do you remember soap on a rope? Our shower was a bucket on a rope. The ladies showers were small canvas enclosures. The men’s were a different story. The showers were grass matt enclosures. We had the real experience of communing with nature.

Do you recall the flat bed trucks I mentioned earlier? That was our “mini bus” at the bush camp. We would all load up in this lorry, which is what a truck is called in Africa, and head off to town or boma, as it is called. The Zambians sure got a laugh out of seeing a truckload of “Muzingas”. That is what the African lovingly call white folks. We were about 6 kilometers from town. ( I’m surprised they didn’t make us walk. Now don’t repeat that to any leadership around these parts!!)

Our daily assignments were pretty much the same as in Lusaka. We were to learn the difference in the culture between a large city and a smaller town. After doing this a few days we transitioned to walking to villages with the same daily assignments. We discovered that the small town culture was more formal than the large city and the village are even more culturally formal. Greetings are very important in the African culture. Business is never conducted until you take the time to find our about the family, their health, if the maze crop was good, if not, why not, and anything else that seem appropriate at the time. The relationship is much more important than anything else.

After our stint at the bush camp, we moved into the homes of a Zambian family in the village. Claudia and I stayed with Eric Ngoma and his wife Margaret. Eric is 58 and Margaret is 48. They treated us like visiting royalty. You have heard of “free range chickens”. Well, there were free range chickens, free range pigs, free range goats, free range dogs, free range children, and the cows were kind of free range. They did have young herd boys attending them. These young herd boys will watch the cattle for 4 years in exchange for a calf of their own to start their own herd. I can’t even imagine what that pay scale would be.

Our food at the home stay was great. Lots of nsima, a little cabbage, beans, sweet potato leaves, and a little chicken. I don’t mean a small chicken, I mean a small amount. We were familiar with the chicken in the yard where we spent most of our time so we stared trying to figure out who was missing. No, it’s not the brown and white one. There she is. There is the bronze one. Where is the white one? I don’t see the white one!

There is no electricity in the village so there are no lights after dark. I have never seen so many stars. The Milky Way is like a cloud of stars and the Big Dipper is upside down. I can’t say the nights were quiet. There were howls, growls, grunts, snorts, squeals, and unrecognizable sounds of all sorts. The roosters started their pre-sunrise serenade around 4:00am and the herd boys bring the cattle through shortly after that. The cows are definitely not morning people and protested loudly about being up so early. By 6:00 the village is alive with activity.

On Monday, after the village stay, we were whisked away to Ibis Gardens. I’m not sure a 7 hour bus ride over rough roads, without a bathroom can be considered whisking though. At Ibis Gardens we actually slept in real beds and ate food from a buffet.

We were at Ibis for about 4 days before returning to Lilongwe, Malawi. Our house is almost ready so we will be traveling there tomorrow.