Sunday, January 25, 2009

Well one minute you have internet service and the next you do not, so I usually make a word document and try to seek it on the internet at the right moment. Today let’s chat a bit about the living conditions. We are staying in Choma, Zambia. I have asked several people what the population of Choma is and no one seems to know because people just set up housekeeping wherever they want.

Villages are not what you see in pictures 20-30 huts all close together in a community. There may be 3 here, 5 there, 1 a half mile in another direction, so they are scattered throughout the countryside. I am not even sure how they know who is in what village. Most of the huts we have seen this far are about eight foot square built from handmade bricks, about six foot tall with a peaked thatched roof and open places on maybe two sides for windows, and an open doorway; very dark inside. Sometimes they hang material over the windows and doorway, but not usually

We are staying in a somewhat regular house by ourselves Yippee! The floors are concrete, indoor plumbing, all the conveniences of home even a microwave. It has three bedroom and two baths and someone comes in two times a week to sweep all the sand up off the floors and do a few minor cleaning tasks. They sweep with a large handmade whisk boom all bent over. They do their laundry in a plastic tub and hang it on the line and guess what, so do we. No one has air conditioning and we really do not need it at this time of the year. All windows in all homes have bars on the windows; however, they say they almost zero hard crime. Stealing is their largest problem because people are starving.

Almost all houses have walls around them from thatched to eight foot high concrete brick. Many of the brick walls have barb wire, electric lines, or broken glass bottles embedded into the top block to prevent someone from climbing over. There is usually a swinging metal door across the driveway with a smaller pedestrian entrance door cut into the large driveway door. There is a small guard house, three foot square, with a guard that opens and locks the door for you. The house where the students are staying has this type of set up. Since Brad and I are on the World Hope Compound with four other houses, used as offices, we just have a guard that walks the premises at night. You never get to see the houses from the road just the roofs unless the driveway door has been left open.

Usually foreigners have cars – some German people run an orphanage (we saw two white girls at church and a man of 60 in town, but have not had a chance to talk with them yet), Indian people are doctors in town, a few Indian shopkeepers, and Americans from relief agencies; I have seen two or three Zambians with cars. There is public bus transportation, but we do not see them much. We see about 10 cars a day on the roads. In town which is about three blocks, on the same road, of shops we see more traffic; you can really call it traffic. By the way they drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver sits on the right in the car to drive.

Within the last year they got a supermarket, which is about the size of a Gap store in the mall; by no way a Wal-Mart. Very limited brands – only 5 types of cereal. Junk food consists of crackers, chips (fruit flavored chips, tomato chips – we like these the best, and other strange flavors), and a few candies which taste like cough drops.. They do not have the money for snacks nor do they like sweets. It seems like only the boys are losing weight, it isn’t fair. In the supermarket there is a guard posted at the door and you have to check your bags, backpacks, etc., but not your purse. There are one or two guards walking around inside the store also. Most of the shops are smaller than a classroom and offer a little bit of everything. In the very small all purpose stores the stock of items are behind a metal cage. You tell the shopkeeper what you want and he gets it for you.

Many vendors have small booths, 3 x 4 foot stalls right beside the sidewalk with a small stock of 5-10 items. Still other vendors lay their wares right on the sidewalk. Vegetables and fruits are sold the same way. Of course they follow you down the sidewalk asking you to buy something. We were looking for a Zambian umbrella and two guys ran in and out of stores looking for one for us. Then they charge American at least two times what it is worth, so you bicker.

Well that is about all for today. Once again thank you for your prayers.