Catapillar season has come and gone. Women would go out into the bush for a morning and come back with baskets full of various kinds of
ifishimu, or
catapillars to fry. There was also an abundance of
cishishi, giant furry catapillars. Those ones you can't eat, and you need to watch out for them, because their fur can give you a very bad, itchy rash. The children were terrified of them. Chris put one on a stick once and chased the children with it. They loved that game, and even pointed out more catapillars for him to chase after them with.
Mushroom season is now in full swing. There are many kinds of edible, wild mushrooms that people collect. There's one kind that's about 14 inches in width. Small, yellow eggplants are also being harvested from fields now. Surprisingly, I eat both foods now, but I still don't think this will translate to me actually eating mushrooms willingly in the U.S. Here, I can't be picky when we eat with Zambians, or I'll go hungry. We recently sampled some winged termites, and they are surprisingly very good. People go to a termite mound and just pick them as they come out, then rub the wings so they can't fly away. They cook them with some salt, and they almost taste fried, but I guess the oil comes from the termites bodies.
Chris has been teaching compost-making and permaculture gardening, so I have been teaching about nutrition in conjunction as they go well together. According to a 2007 survey, 50% of children in Northern Province are stunted in growth due to chronic malnutrition. 1 out of 9 children dies before the age of 5. Malnourished children are more likely to be sick and die from illnesses and diseases. Malnutrition would be preventable if people grew a greater variety of vegetables, rather than focusing on carbohydrates like corn, millet, and cassava. Chris and I have also been working together to introduce soya beans for human consumption (most people use them to feed their animals due to ignorance; they don't know how to prepare them). Soya
has more protein than beans and groundnuts, and can be cooked as a relish or ground into a flour to enrich foods. People have actually been very receptive to soya beans, so I have been promising people I will give cooking demonstrations and teach them how to cook them if they will grow them in their fields.
Family planning is also one of my ongoing projects that has intensified since World AIDS Day. Women in Northern Province have an average of eight children, according to the 2007 survey. Spacing births more than three years apart means both mother and baby are healthier, but 2 years is the norm. Shortly after they stop breastfeeding exclusively, they're pregnant again. Women are malnourished and weak during their pregnancy. I see all this everyday. Infant mortality is high, and increases as the duration between births decreases. Babies die often in our village, and no one but us realizes that it doesn't have to be this way. If I can convince people to actually listen, to grow more vegetables, to use contraceptives to plan births, less children will die. We can not only better lives, but save them through knowledge. I strongly believe we can have this impact, as Chris is teaching the techniques to grow food and giving seeds for multiplication; I am teaching what foods to grow; how to use family planning; and supplying family planning; people just need to apply the knowledge we give them from theory to practice.
Last post, I wrote about the stories the twin brothers in my English class wrote for their homework. I'd like to share them exactly as they were written.
picture: Me with my English class
Note: I have struggled with being treated differently not only because I am a white foreigner, but also a woman, since we've arrived. Men will often completely disregard me and direct their conversation at Chris. Men are regarded as smarter, more aggressive, and dominant over women. Education for girls is not as much of a priority for parents, so the cycle is repeated. There are many women in our village who can't even write their own names. Women are supposed to submit to their husbands, the head of the household, even though they do the majority of the work. Before a woman gets married, she is taught by her older female relatives, through song and dance, that she must be submissive to her husband. So it is not just men, but women that believe and are teaching the next generation that they don't have as much worth as a male. There is a clear division of labor, with women cooking, drawing water, collecting firewood, watching the children, sweeping, washing, and cleaning. Both men and women work in their farms. We have been trying to actively challenge these beliefs since we've arrived. Most people blame gender inequality on Bemba culture. I have been trying to get people to understand that culture is always changing. Christianity has become a huge part of the culture, even bumping out most traditional beliefs, since colonization, so why couldn't gender equality do the same thing? Apparently, people are listening:
By Godwin
When I was at home I did the cooking. My Grand Father found me. "Why did you do a cook while your wife is needleing?" said the Grand Father. "It's genda [gender]," I asked. My Grand Father replied, "In our traditional we did not allow men to do a cook, is not for men it's for women." I asked, "I told you that it is a genda issue." "Genda...!" He shouted in a loud voice. "Is it a dog [not quite sure what he meant by this] or a joke?" He threw down the stool and waving his hands around his face like a hundred buffalo. I said in a humble voice, "sorry. Sat down, my dear Grand Father, it is not a dog or a joke, it is a way of living that we have learned from American people Chris and his wife Nicole, the Peace Corps trainers, that husband and wife shall work together without separation. "Can you expect that white men can live in huts?" "No, I can't expect," said my Grand Father. I replied, "It is modern Zambia."
By Edwin
...Rinee said, "At 1500 hours I will start English lessons, so that I must go before the hour 15. I have my English teacher the peace corps from America, her name is Mrs. Nic she is very kind and friendly and I and my classmates we loves her so much." Then Wayne said, "I am also go to learn a permaculture garden and compost manure in order to make soil fertile. Our teacher is Mr. Chris the husband of your class teacher, He is also kind and active in the activities and also friendly as his wife." The two friends went and Wayne said to his friend, "Let us go..." Rinee said "Yes, let's go, after 2 years before they depart we will learn more, let's go."...
Jack fruit, or manna. A really tasty fruit that's the size of my torso.
Before a girl gets married, there's a ceremony in which her female relatives and the banacimbusa teach her some lessons. These were painted on the wall of the bride's house. Every picture represents a lesson. The two red lines on the bottom are a road, so a woman is instructed to look behind her and remember her family and where she came from. She needs to
The BanaBwinga about to get married. I wasn't there, but Chris describes the girl on the right as her "mini bride."
Willow (10 mos. old now) and Tiger. Tiger's adopted us and now wherever we go, we have two dogs following us.
Ba Allan and BanaChrisi, his wife, making nshima. She's a great cook.
Little Chrisi is also an aspiring acrobat.
