This Is Africa!
Namwianga was hit last weekend by one of the worst storms of the past 5 years; it tore off roofs, blew down fences, and damaged trees. We experienced straight-line winds, hail, thunder, and lightning! What made it most exciting was being caught out IN this storm! A few of us had walked to Kalomo that morning and the storm began while we were on our way home. We sought shelter at the Namwianga clinic, but not before we were soaked to the bone and shivering cold! We then watched and listened as the storm was loosed!
The recent increase in rain has plagued us with millions of insects! We first experienced an ant infestation in our house; they came in large numbers under our front and back doors and got into everything! Next came the flying termites; they’re a couple centimeters long and have wings similar to dragonflies’. They are attracted to light and come out only at night, so it’s best to leave porch lights off! Otherwise they will accumulate in layers, one on top of another, right outside the front door! These also crawl under the doors and get into our house! I feel as if we’re getting a taste of the Old Testament plagues!
And if the bugs’ just existing wasn’t enough, here they are also a snack. The Zambians catch the termites, roast or fry them, and eat them! They are called “nswa.” Soon after the termites’ appearance, Charity (one of our GBCC friends) brought us a bag of roasted nswa. They taste like burnt popcorn, but are small enough that it’s difficult to chew and swallow them – they just stick in your teeth!
I haven’t yet learned how to prepare nswa, but last night Falesi and Christine (GBCC girls) taught Katie and me to make nshima and several kinds of relish. Nshima is Zambia’s staple dish, made from ground maize. It’s eaten with “relish” which could be meat, vegetables, or broth. We had green beans fried with tomatoes, okra boiled in water and baking soda, and kapenta – baby fish!
This week we are studying for finals and spending as much time as we can with our GBCC friends and haven babies. Kiki is finally taking her first steps, and I’m hoping Bethany is close behind! It is my goal to have them both walking by the time we leave!
On Thursday, as our “final” for our Tonga class, we will be performing skits – in Tonga – during GBCC chapel. The President of Harding, Dr. Burks, arrives with his wife on Saturday and will be with us as we travel to Kenya and Uganda.
Please pray for us as we prepare for our trip to Kenya and Uganda and especially as we wrap up things here and get ready to leave Namwianga. We prefer to not talk about it, but as the time draws near we are faced with reality, and already we are experiencing the difficulties of saying goodbye.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
It's November already??
The month of October passed by so quickly! We spent the last several days around Livingstone. It was a nice break and a chance for us to do some fun African things!
Friday I went with 11 others to a bridge over the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and had an absolutely incredible "Big Air" experience!! I went bungee jumping, swung on the gorge swing, and ziplined across the gorge! The gorge swing was the scariest; once you're hooked up, you basically just step off a platform face forward and swing ~400 feet down into the gorge! Bungee jumping was also so intense, and was my favorite thing! You stand at the edge of the platform and a man calls "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Bungee!" before pushing you off to dive into the gorge! And before you realize you're at the bottom, you start moving back up toward the bridge! Each time, once you've slowed down, a guy rapels down and brings you back up to the bridge. Ziplining was the last thing we did, and was fun, but after the first two activities seemed almost boring!
Saturday we crossed the border into Botswana and went on safari in Chobe! It was AMAZING! We first took a boat safari on the Chobe River (flows into the Zambezi) and saw hippos, crocodiles, impala, antelope, cape buffalo, water bucks, sable, kudu... and finally, toward the end, dozens of elephants started walking down to the river! We went right up to the edge and were within feet of lots of them as they bathed and drank. It was so much fun! After lunch, we went on a driving safari. We saw lots more of the same animals - including the elephants - up close! We also saw several giraffe; they were so beautiful! We were hoping to see lions, but didn't... however, we go on safari again at Masai Mara in Kenya in 2 weeks.
Sunday we went to church in Livingstone and ate lunch there before driving the 3 hours back to Namwianga. I ate Subway in Africa-- not the same, of course, but surprisingly similar!
Last night we had an interesting experience just after arriving home; Patrick, a man from a neighboring village, brought a black mamba he had just killed! He had been walking through the village and heard a commotion in a tree; birds were attacking a snake that was in the tree. He took a slingshot and killed the snake, which turned out to be an 8 foot long black mamba! Black mambas are EXTREMELY poisonous, and probably my greatest fear in Africa! The Africans fondly refer to it as the "look at your house and die" snake, because once it bites you, you only have time to look back at your house before dying! That is obviously an exaggeration, but their bites can certainly be fatal. Luckily this was the first one we have seen or heard about since coming to Zambia!
We have two more weeks here at Namwianga; unfortunately, much of that time will be spent finishing up our projects for our classes and taking tests/finals. We will also be hanging out with our Zambian friends and our haven babies as much as possible! And we're looking forward to our two week tour of Kenya and Uganda before returning home November 28.
Friday I went with 11 others to a bridge over the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and had an absolutely incredible "Big Air" experience!! I went bungee jumping, swung on the gorge swing, and ziplined across the gorge! The gorge swing was the scariest; once you're hooked up, you basically just step off a platform face forward and swing ~400 feet down into the gorge! Bungee jumping was also so intense, and was my favorite thing! You stand at the edge of the platform and a man calls "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Bungee!" before pushing you off to dive into the gorge! And before you realize you're at the bottom, you start moving back up toward the bridge! Each time, once you've slowed down, a guy rapels down and brings you back up to the bridge. Ziplining was the last thing we did, and was fun, but after the first two activities seemed almost boring!
Saturday we crossed the border into Botswana and went on safari in Chobe! It was AMAZING! We first took a boat safari on the Chobe River (flows into the Zambezi) and saw hippos, crocodiles, impala, antelope, cape buffalo, water bucks, sable, kudu... and finally, toward the end, dozens of elephants started walking down to the river! We went right up to the edge and were within feet of lots of them as they bathed and drank. It was so much fun! After lunch, we went on a driving safari. We saw lots more of the same animals - including the elephants - up close! We also saw several giraffe; they were so beautiful! We were hoping to see lions, but didn't... however, we go on safari again at Masai Mara in Kenya in 2 weeks.
Sunday we went to church in Livingstone and ate lunch there before driving the 3 hours back to Namwianga. I ate Subway in Africa-- not the same, of course, but surprisingly similar!
Last night we had an interesting experience just after arriving home; Patrick, a man from a neighboring village, brought a black mamba he had just killed! He had been walking through the village and heard a commotion in a tree; birds were attacking a snake that was in the tree. He took a slingshot and killed the snake, which turned out to be an 8 foot long black mamba! Black mambas are EXTREMELY poisonous, and probably my greatest fear in Africa! The Africans fondly refer to it as the "look at your house and die" snake, because once it bites you, you only have time to look back at your house before dying! That is obviously an exaggeration, but their bites can certainly be fatal. Luckily this was the first one we have seen or heard about since coming to Zambia!
We have two more weeks here at Namwianga; unfortunately, much of that time will be spent finishing up our projects for our classes and taking tests/finals. We will also be hanging out with our Zambian friends and our haven babies as much as possible! And we're looking forward to our two week tour of Kenya and Uganda before returning home November 28.
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