Peri-Urban town in Monze:
Bore-hole in peri-urban town
Dam for livestock/village water supply
Rasta's home
Rasta's home
So continue now where Minh left off…
Monze was great. Slady’s family was so kind and generous and the Nshima (the staple Zambian food) was delicious. We had a good night’s sleep after our trek from Lusaka in preparation for our journey to the village the following day.
Village: Sinyendende
We woke up quite early on Wednesday and went around town gathering a few items before heading off to the village. On our way there, we excited the city compound and entered the peri-urban area. Jenn described to us the problems with this area: it is where people tend to live when they leave the village and are trying to enter the more urban areas. Unfortunately there is a lot of poverty, very close living areas, extremely low levels of sanitation, low access to water and just all in all an unhealthy area to live in. It was just striking to see the difference of that sort of community just past the town of Monze.
We continued on our way and saw our first water point. Basically it is a very deep hole drilled into the ground where water can then be drawn from. There is a pump created to fill the water containers of those using the water point. This first one we saw was surrounded by children and livestock and although it was pulling water efficiently, Jenn pointed out that the lack of run off (halfpipe type structure that allows the water to flow out of the pump and down the pipe a further distance away) is a problem because having a build up of water so close to the pump itseld brings on a whole new onslaught of problems ie mosquitos breeding malaria and other diseases, the livestock contaminating the water source etc… makes you appreciate going to the tap and pouring out a clean glass of water every time.
So we continue walking (6km in heat with packs) and pass a man made dam that is great for livestock, we saw plenty of people brinigng their animals down for water. Again the downside is that most of the people bringing the animals there are children and since the animals need to be brought down everyday, this prevents them from attending school.
Before we reach the village, we get to see something I have never seen before: a tree house carved out and dug out underneath its roots… wait for the pictures, it will make a lot more sense. The man who has created this one of a kind project is named Rasta and he a local who has the most intense schedule I’ve ever heard of: He works nights (1700 to 8am) at a local club in Monze (ie he has to walk the 5km every night and morning) he sleeps for 2-3 hours, then gets up and digs by hand his trenches and dams and tree… and all he owns is his field and a little brick square hut and a thatch made maize holder. That’s it. It was amazing seeing what he had done, I’ve never stood underneath a tree before.
Continuing on, Rasta escorts us to the family we are staying with in the village. We are actually privileged enough to be staying with the headman and his family (they adore Jenn). We meet his wife, Mrs Chilaw and slowly start to appreciate the role of a rural African woman. Her tasks are simply endless. She is the first up in the morning, last to go to sleep and is working all day. Not one minute the whole time we were there was she relaxing. Notice the picture with her and Jenn where they are holding sticks. They are pounding the maize in preparation for lunch time. I tried it for about 2 minutes and my arms felt like they were on fire. Mrs Chilaw was pounding for over 30 minutes after that. Wow. PS I look ridiculous in the morning in villages apparently lol
After meeting some of the family (most of which are children that are not necessarily the headman’s, they mostly seem to just have been welcomed into their family, us not knowing where their family is but excepting they probably don’t have one anymore.) Rasta takes us on a little tour of Sinyendende. We cross over a stream (Mulonga) which is dried up due to it being the hot and dry season and he tells us that this stream divides Sinyendende A and Sinyendende B and that during the wet season when the stream is full and running that no one can pass over. What a concept, no one can cross because there is no bridge, no path, no alternative. You are just fully stuck on one side or the other. We keep walking and stop at a house where an older lady offers us some of the local drink of choice (maize with a root…EVERYTHING they eat involves maize. They grow it, tend to it, harvest it, sell it, and rely on it for everyday function. Breakfast is a drink made of maize, lunch is pounded maize that has been boiled, supper is Nshima which is ground maize and snacks if permissible are boiled maize)
Rasta brings us to a gravesite for the village, we see a football (soccer) field and we visit a few more houses, including a mute lady and her elderly husband and a family who very graciously offers us a pigeon to take with us to eat. I politely declined.
After this huge walk, we end up back at what I will refer to as “home” for while we are in the village ie Mr and Mrs Chilaw’s house. It’s more different than I ever thought it could be. The bathroom is a latrine with a bucket on the outside to rinse your hands with, the bathing area is sheets of metal propped up together, the kitchen is a brick oval with log roof (the latrine and bathing shelter have no roofs), there is a maize thatch container, a stick pen for the cattle and the main house. There is no electricity, no running water, no oven, no stove, no fridge. All this and really this family is so kind and welcoming and generous and just amazing. This is their reality and they were so happy to share it with us. It was just amazing. To see how hard they all work together to get everything together and keep the household full of positive energy and purpose. They wake up with the sun, light a few candles at night for lights, all meals are cooked over charcoal and baths are done with a bucket.
We had the most amazing opportunity to go and collect water with the family. The first night we were there, Minh was given the responsibility of putting the yoke on the cattle that were going to pull the scotch cart where we put the containers for water collection. It was amazing to see that this is the children’s job. A ten year old was directing the cattle over the dirt paths rough terrain as he does everyday and I held on for my life as we blindly bumped over on our way. It must have been about a 1.5km from the house to the water point. And they are fortunate to A) have a scotch cart and B) have cattle to pull it because when we got there we saw the true burden as women were walking away from the water point with their babies on their back and their 20L water containers on their heads. And for those of you who have painted with me at LCS we’re talking those type of containers… 1.5km or more….on your head…with a baby on your back… in the blistering heat… SAVE YOUR WATER, KEEP THE TAP OFF WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH! There are just too many emotions to describe when you see how important water is to the quality of life of a family, a village. Even pumping is demanding, we determining that it takes about a minute and a half to pump enough for a 20L container, it’s like a minute and a half of push ups. This water point however was quite interesting because it did have quite an extensive run off and the community had constructed a wooden fence around the water point so that animals could only drink from the very end of the run off… see the pictures, it’ll be easier to understand.
There were just so many different things we were feeling and asking about and I think I personally just in awe of everything that was happening around me. An October night and I am in Africa, pumping the water I will be using for bathing, drinking (after treating with chlorine), cooking with, washing my hands. I am watching the sunset and the stars come out as the children run around me amazed at my digital camera. A headman’s wife is beside me and we’re all talking even though our languages are completely different.
Now it is dark and we’ve returned with all the water. Supper is almost ready and by tradition the wife does not sit with the husband to eat so Slady, Jenn, Minh and I eat with Mr Chilaw as Mrs Chilaw eats in the kitchen with the children and the visitors. We learn that the young lady visitor to their home has had a fight with her husband and it is up to the husband to come and get her before she can go back. If he comes to get her… This leads into the one of the most engaging dinner time conversations I’ve even been a part of. Thanks to Slady’s interpretational skills (he speaks Tonga and English wonderfully) the 5 of us spend the whole evening talking about Tonga traditions and ways of life. There is a lot I don’t understand and that I don’t agree with, but it was fascinating. The best part being Jenn’s million dollar question just as we emerge from a long segment on the multiple wife issue: “Mr Chilaw – what if a woman has two husbands?” His face was priceless. This vibrant, exciting old man with his warm smile that is missing some teeth just stared at Jenn like she was absolutely 100 percent clinically insane. Like he had never even thought that her question could have actually existed. We laughed and laughed and laughed and even though we are worlds apart there are just some things that are too funny to be bothered by. I will never forget that face!
After a long evening we head to bed equipped with mosquito nets and full body clothing and have quite the night. The cat jumps in and out through the little hole window in the brick wall and the crazy rooster thinks that sunrise happens at midnight, 3 am and 5 am. We are laughing as my mosquito nets falls on my face and well, we’ve just had an unbelievable day.
As you can see so far the village is quite the adventure. At least no one here called me fat.
Day 2 in the village = the day village life almost consumes Minh’s life
We wake up after not really much sleep at all, but we bathe and have a light breakfast and are ready for the day. Minh gets up earlier and helps bring in wood from the fields and is amazed, like ranting and raving amazed at the organized piles of cow manure set up in preparation for the upcoming planting season. Also notice how dirty he got during the first hour of his life as a rural farmer.
And so here starts a day we will never ever forget. Let me set the scene. It was 9am and already SO hot. Like Montreal in the middle of July times 4. We were ready to go for our walk around Sinyendende and the surrounding areas to talk to locals about water and sanitation and the projects that have been implemented in their communities and the impacts. Mr Chilaw joined us for this trek. This springy elderly man really showed us up this day.First I’ll describe the more objective observations along our way. We met some really interesting people and had a lot of questions answered. Jenn told us about the 5 signs of sanitation: a dish drying rack, a latrine, a hand washing station, a rubbish pit and a bathing station. It was amazing to see how few households had all the components. Even the local health worker, Patrick did not have a latrine built. How was the community supposed to take his example??? Problems like these were everywhere. We passed by a half completed dam that was an initiative started by the community where they went to the government and asked to have dam built so that during the dry season there would still be water for their livestock etc. The dam was like I said, half built, cement wasted, no water reserve and animals lying in the little water there was there breeding filth and disease. The contractors had apparently done a 2 week job in 5 days and clearly had not come close to finishing. But no, they do not intend on coming back and the community will not get back the 25% they put in to contribute to the project. It is clear that accountability is also a huge theme in development. People are also hungry, the rainy season last year was so powerful that many crops were destroyed. The hardships of these people are so hard to digest. And water, wow, the importance of water and the distance to the closest source and the quality of that source etc, what a pivotal role it plays.
And to further prove how strong these people are, well, me and Minh almost became part of the dry bush as we nearly passed out from heat exhaustion and thirst. A short walk turned into over 6km over 4 hours of talking and visiting and well let’s just say, we did not feel so great when we finally made it back home. See the problem was that with the headman with us, and Patrick, we had to visit every household we passed, and every household was so gracious and inviting and talkative that it was a very slow moving process. Also the concept of distance is very different for Tonga people. “It’s just over that hill” to me means “hey you’re close” but to them it means “another few houses, over that hill, across that field, through that path, another few houses… “ Jenn, who speaks Tonga, after about 2/3rds of our trip, started to tell Patrick and Mr Chilaw that we were tired. This didn’t seem to stray them from their energetic goal of visiting everyone in a 5 km radius so she eventually resorted to telling them we were sick. Still nothing haha. At this point, I couldn’t really speak and I actually contemplated, like seriously contemplated, just collapsing on the path to see if that would have allowed us to go home quicker. But I decided this wouldn’t really help the situation at all so we trekked until finally we made it back. Notice the picture of the tree with the very flat bottom -- it’s a mango tree. There were a lot of them on our trek from hell but unfortunately it was of course, NOT mango season. It was a Zambian mirage.
Back at home, Minh honestly looks like he is not going to make it, so Jenn fills the washing bucket and we splash ourselves back to health and wait the designated half hour for the chlorine to kick in before drinking our water. And there is Mr Chilaw, still laughing and happy and in great shape. We officially were wimps. What an adventure!
The evening ends up being quite relaxing, Mr Chilaw and Minh naps in chairs outside and eventually Jenn and I also take a quick nap. We all feel better and go again to get water before having dinner and another great conversation. We sleep so much better that evening, personally because I am much more comfortable and yes so so tired.
We wake up with the sun the following morning and head back to Monze. I’ll let Minh take it from here… Jenn asked us to write down a few moments and questions we have in general about our tirp so far, just items that have made us think, and I think we’ll include them and perhaps they will provide a bit of insight on the pertinent humanitarian questions we have been facing…
Just some of the picture that might be worthwhile explaning:- The one where Jenn is dancing with the children, well we learned where the harlem shake comes from thanks to an 8 year old
The ride out of Zimba
EWB Home in Lusaka
