I’ve spent the last two mornings sitting in on the orientation for new Pan-African participants. Last year, I didn’t get to know the participants very well and I decided I would work harder at it this year. One of the few places that I can interact with participants is at their morning tea break. But I find it very difficult to walk into a room full of people I don’t know and just start meeting people. But if I have had a few conversations with people first, then I don’t feel so ill at ease. Just one of my many hang-ups. And seeing as how I didn’t really get an orientation to Zambia from a Zambian’s perspective, I thought it could be informative. So yesterday morning, I listened to our public relations officer espouse the greatness of Zambia to the participants coming from all over Africa. He made grand statements such as, “The Zambian economy is very strong! It will not be affected by the global economic crisis!” and “The infrastructure in Zambia is very good. There are no potholes on the main roads to Lusaka. The roads are only bad in the compounds.” The participant who drove up from Botswana and had to endure the two hours of constant potholes between Livingstone and Choma begged to differ. As Peter said, sometimes the line between P.R. and B.S. is very small indeed!
Then I attended a public health talk by a local doctor. I wanted to hear more on the illnesses rampant in Zambia such as TB, giardia, cholera, and malaria. The doctor intended to cover those topics but there were technical difficulties and he couldn’t get the LCD projector to work. For an hour, we all sat quietly and watched those trying to fix it. Finally, with an hour to go, he decided to start without his powerpoint presentation. He started with HIV/AIDS which I found interesting and learned a few more things about that. But then he took questions and he was unable to go any further with his presentation. We never did get to the other public health issues. Bummer.
I attended chapel with Peter this morning and on Wednesdays it is mostly praise and worship. I had a hard time controlling my giggles when the worship leader kept going on about how we could praise the Lord in many ways, and if you feel like “crapping” to the Lord, do that. “Let’s all crap for the Lord!” Peter, who attends chapel way more often than I do, doesn’t even notice the interchangeable “l’s” and “r’s” anymore. But it affected me today and I had a hard time suppressing my giggles while I clapped along with the songs.
After chapel, we all got on a bus which took us on a tour of Kitwe. This too is something that I have never had. I have heard people talk about different compounds but couldn’t put a name to a location. When we came to the area of town called Nkana West, where the major mines are located, the public relations officer commented, “When we were colonized by the British, this was the rich area where the white people lived, like Mrs. Smith.” The participants groaned in empathy for me. I playfully quipped back, “And now the white people have moved to MEF!” Everyone had a good laugh at that!
But more important than the content of the presentations I attended or the city tour, I had the chance to meet and talk with a number of participants. There are about 30 participants in the Pan-African program, seven of which are in the Peace and Conflict Transformation program. I now know the names of thirteen of them, where they are from, and a bit about them. I don’t know if it is a different type of group than last year, or if I have become more comfortable in this culture, but I found it easier to relate to this current batch of participants. There is one young woman in particular, who is from Kitwe, that I felt like I had seen before. I wondered if she had been to a kitchen party I had attended or church or something like that, but discovered that we hadn’t met before. I sat next to Sophie on the bus and talked more and still wondered where I had seen her before. When we got out to tour a township market, it finally came to me. Sophie is a Zambian Julie Justus! Her face and especially her mouth is strikingly similar to our friend Julie. Even her body shape is the same. And she is friendly and outgoing, quick to laugh, and at ease with herself, just like Julie. So crazy! I told Sophie she has an American twin and we laughed at that. I also really enjoyed talking to a young woman from Uganda, Sara, who is in the Peace program. She is a bit shy but we had a lovely conversation over tea the first morning. It was a good start to the year and I hope that it will help me to feel a bit more connected to MEF. And now going to tea break won’t freak me out because I have people to greet and talk with.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Our weekend was both normal and eventful all at the same time. Saturday morning felt like Grand Central Station at our house. Peggy was working since she had to go to a funeral on Friday, her regular morning to clean. Mr. Tubi was working on replacing our torn screens from the robbery. Anthony was earning his weekly K5,000 washing our car. Emanuel was hard at work in our garden. And there were at least eight neighbor kids playing soccer in the front yard. Goodness me.
Brendan wanted to give Gideon, his best friend at MEF, a birthday party since he had never had one. Birthdays aren’t really celebrated much, except if you count having the dirty dishwater thrown on you. We played a few simple games, they watched a movie, and then ate chocolate cake. Nothing too elaborate but I think he felt celebrated.
Gideon is the one wearing the pink headband. Why, I do not know. But it makes him easier to identify!
Sunday we came home to no electricity. We had invited Bob and Adrian to come for dinner that night so I was a bit stymied as to what to make. Originally, it was going to be black bean enchiladas but I scrapped that. I decided to make soup since I could make that on our little propane stove, and if the power came on, I would make some bread. The power didn’t come on so I asked Peter to pick up some bread on the way home from his men’s meeting. I forgot that stores close early on Sunday so he came back emptyhanded. I brought out whatever crackers I had and we ate that with our simple meal. Maybe it was a good thing that we ate by candlelight! After dinner, we all played Uno by the light of candles and a few headlamps. Thankfully, the power came on at 20:00 so we didn’t have to attempt to teach Cities and Knights to Bob by flickering candlelight. The day was an exercise in flexibility and I think I passed. But only thanks to friends who are equally flexible!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Well, I had good intentions of making it to tea break to continue meeting the participants. But this past week, the boys had their mid-term break and were off from school. The first part of the week was spent at soccer, playing with friends, and working on Brendan’s science project for school. Our plans for the second half of the week came to a grinding halt when Jason got malaria. He and Brendan had gone for their first sleepover at a friend’s house but Jason was acting funny in the afternoon. I got a call around 19:30 saying that he had a fever so I went to fetch him home. We were going to meet with the missionaries at Mindolo Dam on Wednesday but stayed at home instead. Brendan was a bit disappointed but it turned out to be a nice, quiet day at home, with lots of time to work on Brendan’s science project.
We were beginning to think that Jason only had a mild bout of malaria but then by Friday, it hit full force. Fever, vomiting, the whole nine yards. On top of that, he developed a deep rattling cough. I made a sick bed for him on the couch in the living room. From there, he would groan, “Coming to Zambia was your idea, Mom. There is no malaria in America.” He continued to have fever off and on over the weekend and the cough persisted. I wasn't sure if it was still malaria or something different. So I had my Australian doctor friend, Georgi, come by after school and give him a check up (stethoscope and all). She recommended that I take him in for another malaria test because sometimes it is recurrent and it takes two rounds of anti-malarials to kick it. She also said to get a white blood cell count to see if it was a bacterial infection in which case he would need antibiotics for that. So Monday afternoon we were back at the clinic. I called Georgi when I got the results and she interpreted the numbers (that way I didn't have to wait to see a doctor there and pay more). No malaria but he did have a bacterial infection so now he is on antibiotics. For Jason, this week has meant lots of medicine to try to get down. Lots of throw up as the medicine does not make it to the intended destination. Even a bedwetting incident thrown in for good measure (an extremely rare occurrence). This morning, he says to me, “Let me ask you a strange question, Mom. There’s no malaria in heaven, right?” No, thank goodness.
Brendan was fighting his own health battles over the week. He had stomach cramps and intermittent low grade fevers. I took him for a malaria test on Friday just to be sure it wasn’t that but I really suspected giardia. The malaria test was negative so I got a container for a stool specimen and we took it back on Monday. It came back negative for giardia. I figured it was just some flu and he would get over it. But then Monday night he came down with a very high fever that was a bit scary. We managed to get his temperature down and Tuesday morning we went back to the clinic for a second malaria test. The nurse already knew our names by then. He tested positive for malaria this time but it looks like there is no bacterial infection even though he is coughing like Jason.
I was quite ready for the boys to go back to school this week after having them home last week. I am used to having the mornings to myself so that I can shop at the market, check internet, and do my own work. Instead there have been more matches of “Dino-war” than I care to count, and numerous games of “Sorry.” One of these days we will manage to get both boys well at the same time and they will both be back in school. Just not yet.
In the middle of our home being Smith Central Hospital, we managed to have a fabulous weekend. The two SALTers (Serving And Learning Together – 1 yr MCC workers) came to visit us. Chris Taylor is working in Lusaka with refugee advocacy. He is wrestling with deep issues, eager to learn and grow, and easygoing. Ashley Kraybill is teaching math and science in a village. She exudes a natural confidence, is at ease with herself, and challenges herself to make the best of things. They ask questions and readily share their own experiences, making for good conversation. Both live with Zambian host families which is both difficult and rewarding. Not only do they need to get away and relax but they are also encouraged to visit other MCC workers and see what they are doing. We enjoy both Chris and Ashley very much, as do our boys, and it was wonderful to hang out with them for a few days. At the points when our kids were feeling well, we played games together. Ashley taught Brendan proper field hockey technique. Chris watched the “Little Rascals” movie with the boys which was a real treat for them (maybe even for Chris!). We played games one night and watched the documentary “Spellbound” another night. We ate and talked and relaxed. It was good for all of us!
I probably shouldn’t post a blog without even mentioning Peter. What can I say about Peter? He’s got a full plate. The participants are here so he is getting to know those in the peace program. He is teaching two new classes this academic year that need prepping. He has been mandated to develop a distance learning program which has already been advertised and has students wanting to enroll. Silly Peter is of the mind that you should think through a program before launching it. But now he is under pressure to get it up and running. Africa Peacebuilding Institute (API) requires a lot of administration for Peter to stay on top of if it is to happen in May. He is also trying to teach his peace participants how to use computers which they will use all year for their papers and projects. Most have had absolutely no exposure to computers. Though not in his job description, he is the de facto IT guy for MEF. The real IT guy seems to see Peter like a supervisor, I think. All I know is that when Peter is around, we have a better chance of the internet having the capability of loading a webpage. Several mornings a week he runs, several evenings a week he works on his dissertation revisions, and in between all that, he does dishes, reads to the boys, and this week, cleans up Jason’s puke. He’s a good man.
No comments:
Post a Comment