My love affair with Zambia....until I got malaria

Day after day I am loving it here more and more. We got our work permits! I can legally work here until 2010....so who knows. The weather is definitely getting hotter, averaging 35-40 degrees. Only to get hotter in October! "This is nothing!" people say. I usually resort to wearing a hair scarf which I wet to cool me down.

A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to travel to Chongwe, a rural village about an hour and a half out of Lusaka - an hour and 20 minutes of that off the beaten track and into the bush. The YWCA is helping to build a skills training centre there which will also double as a boarding house. We went to check on the status of the construction of the building, which we discovered hasn't yet begun. Some of the local residents did not speak any English and and a boy I was playing with I don't think had ever seen a white person before. He was about 8 years old and at first he appeared to be scared of me but after some time he smiled and then we made some drawings with sticks in the dirt. I took a couple photos of him which he just loved and if I get the chance to go back to the village I will develop the photos and give them to him.

Last week I slept over at the CICC, where I work. The girls had been asking me to spend the night for quite some time so I was happy to do so. I brought my laptop, speakers and Zambian music that I have acquired since being here. The girls love dancing! We spent the entire afternoon dancing and laughing and playing. My hips sure are starting to loosen up as I learn to dance like a Zambian. It's really fun. I brought stuff to make dinner - spaghetti, sauce with veggies, garlic bread, and salad. A few of them had never eaten spaghetti before. They helped cook and really had fun doing it. Yum, it was good and everyone enjoyed it. Phew! I taught them limbo and brought some magazines for them to read. It was just such a fun night for us all. The next morning I was asked to accompany one of the girls to school, as it was "parent-teacher interviews". I felt privileged to go. And yes she is doing well, especially in math, science, and baking.

Last Saturday was Melanie's birthday so to celebrate we had a party at a restaurant and karaoke bar. We sang and danced the night away! It was a lot of fun. A couple of my friends from work came along, one of whom had never been to a restaurant before nor had ever used a fork and knife (nshima you eat with your hands of course). She was quite overwhelmed at first but definitely enjoyed herself. A night to remember, she said. I agree.

Last Sunday I was invited to a kitchen party (bachelorette type party), which was originally scheduled for a few weeks ago but was postponed due to national mourning after the president died. There were about 350 women, drumming, dancing, and food galore. A kitchen party is quite the procession - first there is drumming and people just mingling, then we ate, then the bride is brought out, covered with a chitenge (traditional fabric), after which the husband-to-be comes out with flowers and money, hoping she will accept his offer. If she does, she will take the chitenge off her face and they will kiss. Then he will leave and the party continues. Each present is then opened by a "helper" while the bride is seated on a cushion on the floor with her face down not looking too happy. I asked why this was and a woman told me it was a form of respect. When your present is opened you are to go up in front of everyone, explain to the bride what it is and then dance with the drums in the background. So picture a room with 350 women, yelling out in excitement, cheering, laughing, and pointing at the 3 muzungu's (white people) up there trying to shake our hips while not looking too silly. Good thing I have had so much practice with my kids at work (as well as at the club that plays Congolese rhumba, which I just love), otherwise I would have no idea what to do. They were so excited! I was so nervous. But it was fun! I am hoping that their laughing and screaming was with us rather than at us. My guess is that it was a bit of both.

So yup, it's true...I got malaria. Malaria here is like a common cold back in Canada - everyone and there uncle gets it on a yearly basis. I started feeling a bit sick to my stomach Tuesday morning but didnt think much of it and went to work anyway. It didnt get better. I threw up, felt very weak, had a headache, and a fever. I went to a clinic, they did a quick blood test and 15 minutes later I got my results. Malaria it is. It's true what they say - that anti-malaria pills aren't 100%. We automatically think of malaria as a disease that kills, which yes it does but that generally only occurs when people unfortunately can't afford treatment or those who live in the villages who don't have immediate access to medical facilities. In addition to taking the medication, lots of sleep, and 4 days off work, I also did a home-made sauna natural remedy thing that I was advised about from my neighbour. You take the leaves of a weeping willow tree (which look very different from those in Canada) and the leaves of a peach tree (both of which we have in our front yard) and boil them for 30 minutes. Then get under a blanket with the pot, mixing the leaves around for about 5 minutes and the steam takes care of the rest. Apparently the mixture of your body sweating and the natural chemicals in the leaves is beneficial! So no need to worry - I finished my last pill this morning, am feeling much better, and expect to make full recovery in the next few days. I go back to the clinic this week to make sure the parasite is out of my body completely. And hey, it made this blog a little more interesting! So despite getting malaria, I still love it here.

If you would like me to send you a postcard or letter please e-mail me your address and I will do so! Alternatively, you can send me a letter (hint hint, haha) with your return address and I will write you back:

Laura Shugar (obviously)
P.O. box 34906
Lusaka, Zambia
Africa

I would give you my plot number to send letters directly to my flat but apparently if you do that, and your letter looks somewhat interesting, the mail person may get curious and open it. Sending to the P.O box is safer.

Vic falls

The photos worked this time. They are both taken at Victoria falls. The first photo is of my at the top of the falls, looking down...a long, long way down! The other photo is of the falls - the right side of the picture is a section of the Zambian side and the left is the Zimbabwe side. As you can see from the mist, the Zim side has much more flow in the dry season. Photos just doesn't do it justice.

Hippos and crocs and elephants, oh my!

So not this past weekend but the weekend before we traveled down to Livingstone, home to Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world). It was beautiful, despite there not being much water at all. Keep in mind that it has not rained a single drop in about 5 months so one can only expect the falls to be less spectacular this time of year. With this said however, there are advantages to going now. The falls are also called Mosi-oa-Tunya (The smoke that thunders), and the spray from it (in the rainy season) can be seen from 30km away.

So we boarded the 6am bus on Friday morning and off we were! The first 5 hours went by fairly quickly but come hour 6, when we began driving on an unpaved path, the bumpy road began and the driver swerved from left to right and right to left in attempt to avoid all the potholes, bumps, and ditches. But alas, we made it safe and sound in just over 6 hours. We were even given cookies and a drink on the bus! Luckily we had a few friends, also CIDA interns, who are living in Livingstone and gladly took us in for the weekend. First thing Saturday morning we headed to the falls, no time to waste. We hit up every viewing point, and considered crossing over to the Zimbabwe side (as in the dry season, the Zim side has much more water) but it was quite expensive.

"In high water a raincoat is largely ineffective as the spray blows all around and soaks you in seconds" (yes, quoted from a guide book). Thus, it is obviously much more difficult to take photos in the rainy season. Also, because it was the dry season we were able to walk on top of the falls, looking down! We rock-hopped to where the falls were and it was spectacular. There was a lovely rainbow and the water sprayed us a bit (which was nice because it was so hot). On our way back however, the water had risen (who knew there would be a tide?!) and the route we had originally taken was submerged under water. My anxiety grew and I was somewhat concerned we would get stranded on top of the waterfall. "Coincidentally" there are local guys strategically waiting here for tourists such as ourselves to take us back to dry land. Not without getting wet first though. Off our shoes came and into the water we went - at one point up to our knees, balancing on not-so-steady rocks. The only way back was to shuffle side to side along a man-made ledge the width of a balance beam. We created a human chain, holding hands to create more stability as the current increased in strength (does it sound like a cheesy suspense novel yet?!). After the initial shock of actually doing this wore off, it became quite an exciting adventure! We even almost had a few run-ins with wild monkeys in the parking lot on our way back into town.

In the evening we boarded a sunset cruise along the Zambezi river, which runs along a national park. Here we saw an elephant, crocs, hippos, and many different species of birds. We had dinner - a braii (bbq), and drinks and just relaxed. The sunset here is spectacular, going from a bright orange to pink and ending with a purple sky.

Our bus trip back was not quite as pleasant as the trip there. We started off an hour and a half late (after taping up the cracked windshield with clear packing tape), broke down about 30 minutes into the trip (whereby they fixed a broken tube by wrapping around an old t-shirt), had to back track when they realized that they had left tools behind where we had broken down, and made lengthy stops about 12 times. Ten hours later, we finally arrived home. And back to work we went. I am definitely hoping to make it back to Livingstone in the rainy season, to see the falls in full force.

I tried to upload photos of the falls but the internet kept cutting out before the photos loaded properly. Hopefully it will work next time.

Hello! Just wanted to add a couple photos. The first is my learning to cook nshima at the market. It's hard work! The second is of a skirt I had made by my new tailor friend at one of the markets. Not bad for $12 (including the chitenge fabric)! The third is one of the many powerful signs in Lusaka.

More to come soon!