Yesterday I went out to the workshop with Br. Max. The
workshop is a fairly large facility where they process maize and put it into
bags for storage and selling. With the rainy months approaching quickly the
month of October is crucial for processing and storing maize. This will help
with getting through the rainy months when food becomes scarce and harvesting
is hard to accomplish.
Today, I was supposed to make the trek into Chinsali to
renew my Zambian visa. It was put off on Friday and then again on Monday for
some reason so I thought today would be the day. I was wrong. In America when
someone says they are going to do something there is about a 98% chance that
something will get done. In Africa it’s about 10%. Now I am supposed to be
going tomorrow or Friday. It looks like I may be spending my birthday in a car
traveling to Chinsali. I just hope it happens so I can become a Zambian citizen
for another 90 days!
As I venture out into the village every day I can’t help but
notice how many people are drunk. Each day you are able to find someone
intoxicated no matter what time it is. There is a bad alcohol problem in each
society, but especially in one’s like Katibunga. Things are undeveloped, there
isn’t much to do during the day and most people are uneducated. Therefore,
alcoholics emerge. It is quite easy to get alcohol because there are a few
shops (like 2 or 3) that sell alcohol and they make sure to stock up on it
because the shop owners know that it will be bought. I wouldn’t be surprised to
hear that alcohol was the number one purchased item.
I once was walking to school at 7:30AM and a number of men
approached me to say hi and it was very evident that they were inebriated
(hammered). Yes, at 7:30AM. The drinking age is 18 here so it is also very easy
for students to drink. Also, no one cards (probably because nobody has an ID)
which means anyone can purchase.
This is another reason why I make sure to touch on how bad
alcohol is during class. I have had some students tell me that they would like
to stop drinking and smoking which is great to hear. Will they? I have no idea,
but it is good sign to hear that they are questioning their habits and health
choices.
I have found one shop that does sell mango juice, though,
which is fantastic because I love mango juice. It costs 5 kwacha which is 50
cents because the exchange rate has now become 10 kwacha to 1 US dollar. So I
have now created Mango Juice Thursdays. I make sure to buy one each Thursday
after class just to sweeten things up. With the lack of sugar in the food/diet
it is nice to have something sweet.
Lately I have noticed that my name is becoming much more
popular and well-known. I go for my long walks (which have increased to about
10 miles) and the village kids run outside to yell ‘hi’ and ‘how are you’ which
are now followed by Joseph. I am unsure if they know that Joseph is my name or
if that is what word they have come to call the ‘white man’ ha either way works
for me.
I tend to follow my long walks with a few minutes of jump
roping. I brought a jump rope to Africa to help with my exercise. It is nice to
switch things up a bit. My legs are super sore, but after doing this for a
number of weeks that will go away. All the exercise helps with sleeping at
night. It tends to get quite hot at night, but after wearing myself out during
the day sleep comes quite easy.
Sundays have become my days for laundry. Considering Sundays
are the lazy days because there isn’t any work to do I fill my mornings with
cleaning my clothes. I actually like it because it is relaxing and I enjoy
being able to clean my own things. Additionally, a few other monks clean their
clothes at this time which allows me to speak with them.
Through doing my laundry by hand I have come to appreciate
yet another thing about life in America. Water softener. Seriously, I would
have never thought I would come to appreciate something all of us never think
about. After scrubbing the dirt from my clothes and rinsing them I hang them on
the clothes line to dry. When I come back in the evening to pick them up my
clothes are tough and crusty. This is because there is no water softener. All
you have to do is shake out each piece of clothing till it becomes flimsy and
soft again, but it does make you think and appreciate all the small things in
life.
When doing laundry, the monks and I tend to discuss a few
different topics with one being culture. I find it crucial to understand one’s
culture to understand them and their way of life. Just like understanding
religion can help you understand the reasons why someone does something the
same goes for culture.
Br. Adrian (who once was Br. Frederick, but has now taken a
new name) and I were discussing the differences between American and Zambian
cultures. The topic of marriage was brought up. Br. Adrian explained to me that
Zambians are able to marry their cousins. However, their cousins are their
dad’s sister’s children (or something like that). It’s super confusing. The
father’s family is regarded as higher than the mothers so everything is done on
the father’s side. This doesn’t mean they must marry their cousins, but they
can. It is common for cousins to call one another ‘husband’ or ‘wife’. For
example, “How is my husband doing today?” would be appropriate even if they are
not married. Interesting.
Furthermore, the father’s brother (the uncle) has more
control over the children than the father does. Personally, this doesn’t make
any sense to me, but that’s just the Zambian culture. For example, if I wanted
to marry I would go to my Uncle Tom and ask him to help find me a wife. In this
culture, it would be weird to go to your father and ask.
Just as we must understand culture we must also understand
religion. Zambia is a Christian nation, but Tanzania is not. Tanzania obviously
has Christianity, but it also has other religions such as Islam. So, religious
celebrations in Zambia are much more accepted and open than they are in
Tanzania. I’m not saying that because there is Islam in Tanzania that there is
conflict, but it just adds another dynamic. I believe it is extremely important
to understand culture and religion in order to understand humanity. We can find
out so much from exploring both topics.
Tomorrow is my 23rd birthday! Wooooo! It will be
strange to be celebrating it by myself, but it will be good to experience it
like this at least once in my life. Hey, I’ll have my mango juice to sweeten it
up ha. I will be kicking-off a fundraising project next week so if you feel
inclined to give me something for my birthday you can just donate the $5 to the
project that will raise money for the students at my school. I’ll explain more
in my next post.
Happy 23rd Birthday to me!
Thanks for reading!
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