Crossing over

I’ve officially crossed over into the second half of my stay in Zambia with 5 weeks left in front of me. I’ve been having an amazing time here. I learn a new thing or two every day by observation, interaction and reflection.

The past week has been a little slower since I’ve been waiting for my boss to help me with some immigration papers (I have to extend my business visa), but I managed to go to work at least on Monday. On the way back from work, we snapped these pictures with Gerald and Harrison. I’ve already posted a picture of a bridge that I cross through every morning. This “bridge” is another way of getting to and from Kabanana. It’s actually a water pipe and we’re officially prohibited from crossing there, but I wanted to get a taste of how the locals cut their way short.

Don’t tell anyone!

Hmm...

I eventually made it through- and will surely do it again!

Miss Be

I have been a bit silent lately for the absence of a cheap internet caffe, but I decided to post at least one snapshot for the refreshment.

Below is one of the best friends I made so far in Lusaka. Her name is Be (short for Bertha) and she's turning 6 shortly. She came to live with us together with her grandmother (Munty's aunt) for a few months to learn English. In her home town of Mongu she only speaks Lozi, and she's super passionate to pick up on English so that she has it easier at school once she's enrolled. It's challenging but fun to try to communicate in English while she responds in Lozi. I think I'm discovering the underestimated value of body language, particularly smiling. Can you resist not answering her?

Cooking a Slovak paprikáš in a Zambian kitchen

With me recovered from the pseudo-malarial illness, we ventured to Rhoda’s house to finally tackle the challenge of preparing a true Slovak dish for my co-workers. Some Hungarians might argue with me abour the ownership of the original recipe but let’s put cross-border culinary fights aside and say that whatever the country of origin, paprikáš is one of Slovakia’s favorite dishes.

I wasn’t sure about the recipe since I didn’t get to internet to look it up online but I had to improvise and cook/taste by memory. The dish itself is quite simple but adding the right amount of spice (especially paprika) is the main point.

You can find the actual recipe here.

I prayed through the process that my cooking intuition guides me to a successful result. A few times, I got a fright tasting the sauce and thinking it was too salty, but then I remembered that the limits for saltiness here are very different from those back home (in fact, even the sweetness threshold is quite high). I had three great helpers in the kitchen-Rhoda, Elizabeth and Grace- all of which did a great job, especially preparing the halušky, or Slovak dumplings. Although the dough is quite simple to make (egg, flour, water and salt), estimating the right consistency and forming the little dumplings can be a challenge. We mastered it well, and had enough of them for everyone to taste.

Rhoda making halušky with excellent precision 

Paprikáš!

We had some curious and hungry participants roaming around.

Final result- stomachs being filled

I omitted cooking cream since it is impossible to get in our local Spar or in the Kabanana market (I assume Zambians don’t cook with it as often as the dairy-obsessed Slovaks do). Talking about the market, it was the fourth one that I’ve been to in Lusaka. The other ones were Chipata, the huge Soweto (inspired by the Johannesburg’s namesake) and Ngombe. From all of them, Kabanana market was special for the names people called me by (apart from the obvious muzungu). The two I noticed were Diana and Maria. I assume that the former may be coming from Princess Diana.For Maria…my guesses would be that I look like a character from one of the ever-watched Brazilian or Philippinotelenovelas. Another interesting thing was to hear the flour and spice sellers who I bought ingredients from say: ‘No keep change?’ I said ‘No, no keep change’ which obviously disappointed them, and I went on to explain that I need change money just like they do. I don’t think they were convinced.

I can pronounce that the final result was delicious, and tasting almost exactly like the paprikáš that my grandma prepares. 

PS: A big lesson that I learned through this improvised yet tasty experience was that I shouldn’t be afraid of the cooking. As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way -- especially for dishes that none else in the kitchen knows apart from me and there is no general expectation other than not getting a running stomach afterward. And, as my grandma likes to say, in the worst case the dogs will eat it. Now I am ready to experiment with another Slovak culinary wonder.

Sick again...

For the past couple of days- or the whole past week actually- I haven’t been feeling “in my skin”.

On Saturday my running stomach came back as well as joint pains and a headache. I tried drinking lots of water and eat regularly despite the fact that food was the last thing I craved. Saturday night was pretty bad; I haven’t slept much because every side I turned on was hurting, and I kept sweating. When I woke up in the morning, I went to the bathroom and fainted. I woke up sitting on the floor, realizing that my hip, knee and head were hurting. I fell down on the tiles, so now I am carrying a pretty hump on my forehead. It’s looking much better today that on Sunday; then it looked like an extra bone grew out of my head. We rushed to the clinic but I tested negative for everything. The doctor said that all the symptoms suggest it’s malaria but the blood slide didn’t confirm it. I will see if it gets any better until Friday and potentially go back and have the malaria test done again. Let’s hope it’s just exhaustion or getting used to the weather because I really want to go back to work and finally start my research.

 Featuring: My B-complex pills. Nothing terrible, I am just not friends with pills in general.

 

 

 

 

 

Drama-tic Friday

The play went amazingly well! We arrived an hour and half late, but neither the students nor their teacher (and not even most of us acting) seemed to be bothered by it. I am really getting some lessons on Zambian time management (usually, when I turn up to work at 8am, the next person doesn’t arrive until 9:30am).

We started at 12pm and finished at around 2:30pm. The first act dealt with alcohol and drug addiction, the second one talked about HIV/AIDS and we finished off with a skit about arranged and early marriages. I acted as doctor Miriam Phiri (a common name in Zambia), diagnosing Sarah (Idah) with HIV. My next task was to convince her, her boyfriend who gave her the virus and her family that HIV does not mean a death penalty if one takes care of him or herself. I also talked about stigma and prevention in a little wrap-up dialogue with the kids after the skit. It was funny hearing Harrison translate for me into Nyanja- his sentences were approximately twice as long as what I said :)

From the students’ reactions I can say that they liked it. They were very involved and active throughout the play. It reminded me of the awareness performances we had to attend in middle school and high school and of our bored andoften offensive responses to the actors. I think Slovak kids could learn some behavior lessons from their Zambian peers (more about Zambian kids later).

After the play we were having lunch in a little teachers’ room opposite of the classrooms when two girls ran in to ask me if they could take pictures with me. My camera was dead by then, so we had to rely on a camera of a local man they called out from the street.

It was a fun day, which we finished by buying some Freezits on the way home.

Walking back, I found this writing amusing. Don’t know whom to fear more- the dog or the onner.

Learning Nyanja and the like

My little green Study-Buddy

Being a lingophile, I am excited about learning bits and pieces of Nyanja, Bemba, Tonga, Lozi and other Zambian languages. Right now I am mainly focusing on Nyanja since that is what our workplace mainly operates in. As a fellow Bantu language, it's strikingly similar to Swahili, which makes it easier for me to pick up words here and there. Also, lots of people who have settled in Lusaka come from Tanzania or DRC, so sometimes I can use Swahili in times of desperation, if English fails.
I was quite surprised that not even in Lusaka everyone speaks English. The main avenue for learning the language is at school; if someone has dropped out or been out of school for too long without an official English-requiring job, the local languages are all that he or she needs. This is especially true for parts like Kabanana where most people don't travel far out into town where English is used more often in shops and businesses. I therefore have a great motivation to learn Nyanja and the like if I want to interact with Kabananans in their 'heart language' at least at a basic level.
I will keep checking back on my language progress ;)

Getting ready for the Dramatic Friday

I'm back at work, feeling much better than on Monday and Tuesday. After three days of mysterious stomach moves I have surrendered to the promises of Cipro (an anti-diarrhea medicine) and I'm hoping to be recovered fully by tomorrow morning. I went to work today and yesterday but with a jumpy tummy content, and although I am adventurous and use the slum toilets, it gets a bit tricky with a stomach flu (so far I've seen just one water-closet toilet; all others were simple holes in the ground in a makeshift shack outside the house).

On Friday we are performing a peer education drama play at a nearby school, and I am quite excited about it. I will be acting as a doctor who diagnoses a young patient with HIV (not the brightest task...) and later in the play I will visit his home and talk to the family who stigmatize him because of his condition (which should make it a bit more positive). Eventually, I will come to the stage and talk briefly about HIV/AIDS and answer questions from the audience. At first I found my role in the play a bit paradoxical because in Slovakia we have maybe 200 persons (out of 5.4 million) living with HIV/AIDS, and the awareness education is not really on its high. I was a bit frightened as I didn't know if I had enough information myself, but after talking to Munty and browsing the Internet for additional details, I think I got it. I will be speaking in front of more than 100 kids aged 12-19, so quite a demanding audience! I will be speaking in English with Gerald translating it to either Bemba or Nyanja (two most common languages in Lusaka). Idah, Gerald, Harrison and other members from COBACO will be in the play, addressing issues such as early marriages, drug abuse or violence against women. It should be funny and entertaining, while also being educational and reflective.

Keep fingers crossed for us!

A sickly windy day

I woke up feeling sick today so I stayed in to catch a breath and relax. 

We all are having a lazy day. It's really windy outside, and it has gotten cold recently. Therefore, watching a movie, and a warm cup of black tea with a piece of bread and butter (simple is beautiful, right) has done it. Also, my tummy is not feeling right so this diet might help put it back in shape.

Introducing COBACO

As I have mentioned earlier, my main mission on this trip is conducting research about rural-urban migration. To get access to the interviewees (migrant workers and their families), I am also interning with the local NGO, Human Settlements of Zambia (HUZA), as a research affiliate. I am based at an office belonging to another NGO that HUZA collaborates with, COBACO (short for Community Based Counseling Organization) in Kabanana. The organization focuses on providing youths and young adults with education and job opportunities, both venues that are very scarce in Kabanana and the surrounding slums. Most of COBACO members are unemployed or underemployed, and many of them have not completed primary or secondary school. Not surprisingly, women comprise over 3/4 of the members. They are often single mothers, or women who married early in order to help their family financially (the dowry, or Lobola, is charged at very high prices even in the squatters). 

Despite the poor living conditions in tiny and overcrowded houses and little or no income, you don't get the sense of disillusionment or hopelessness from the youths that is often described in foreign journals as the main trait of slum living. All the people in COBACO that I have talked to are very "Zambitious" (a pun used by a Zambian cellphone network); they know what they want to do with their lives, they know how to get there, and are hopeful that one day, very soon, they will be able to fulfill their dreams of higher education, a good job or better housing without succumbing to the snares of corruption. Although COBACO is not religiously affiliated, most of the members are Christians- Pentecostal or Catholic- and I think that their faith is what drives them to keep that vision alive every day.

 

COBACO office in Kabanana

I also want to say a few words about the people I work with. Mrs. Lungu is the lady in charge of the organization, but we see her rarely as she has a lot of commitments on the administration side. The people I am in touch with most are Gerald, Idah and Harrison, all holding executive functions. Working with them feels more like hanging out with friends. We joke around, discuss various topics like gender roles or corruption, and walk around Kabanana and other districts (sometimes being maybe a bit too loud :D) meeting other COBACO members. Next week we will start performing awareness drama plays and do peer education at the Chipata clinic. All three of them have helped me enormously in adjusting and finding my way around (literally) in the often chaotic streets of Kabanana. They have also arranged for me, from their own initiative, 'cooking lessons'. They decided that until I get the official approval to start doing my research, they will be taking me to different compounds each day where I will be meeting the people I might potentially interview while learning how to cook Zambian dishes! (I will soon be posting about how that part of my internship is going.)

Meet Gerald (he always smiles, but I think he wanted to look official in this one)

 

 Idah and Harrison (they never stop teasing each other)

Finally, I had to add this picture.

Crossing this bridge missing planks on both sides is a good morning exercise of concentration and balance (I constantly admire the construction workers successfully pushing fully loaded wheelbarrows across).