Hurray, Pictures! Part I

Well folks, I figured it was time to mix things up a bit this week, but after battling it out with my camera, my computer and the Namumu Internet connection I only have two photos to share. I’d post more but my goodness these took a long time to load. I’ll try to get you some more soon. Enjoy:

I faced a real dilemma in getting you a picture of my little next-door neighbor, Junior. Now, I can’t very well go around posting pictures of naked children on the internet. However, in order to capture one of the rare moments when he’s actually wearing pants I’d probably have to stake out his house for weeks.

My solution? This tasteful little number here. Here’s Junior, on the right, next to Royd, his older cousin who also lives next door, sitting on my front porch, a place where I’ve spent hours upon hours sitting, eating, sleeping, reading and day-dreaming. I think I had just finished reading the ever-popular “Berenstein Bears” with Royd, though here he’s holding some other children’s book. Here you see Junior trying to get a handle on Ernest Hemingway’s “Snows of Kilimanjaro”. He had a tough time with it, so I think we’ll wait a few years and then get him started with the “Berenstein Bears”, too.

Speaking of Junior, I had an interesting realization the other day.

His mother and other relatives often call him “Tata”, the literal Tonga translation of which is “Father”. It’s actually a pretty common nickname for little guys like him. So, naturally, I started calling him “Tata” as well from time to time.

These days, Junior is doing his fair share of talking, and one of the first things he’s learned to say is “Tata”. Whenever I’d say “Tata” to him he’d say it back to me. Then, not long thereafter, he’d start yelling “Tata” at me all the time to get my attention.

For a while I just figured he was yelling that out at me because he didn’t know any other words to yell, but then I started to really think about it...

I think it’s quite possible that Junior thinks I’m his actual father. Yikes.

It actually make sense. His real father, the brother to Jailas, Namumu’s Administration Manager that lives next door, is enrolled in some schooling program in another part of the country and hasn’t been around much for the first months of Junior’s life. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the family next door and therefore with Junior as well. I’ve helped feed him and put him to bed. When I come home from work one of the first things I do is throw down my bag and play around with him. He may very well be calling my “Father” on purpose.

Man, oh man, I don’t know how I’ll handle this one. I suppose I should take care of it soon before it becomes a major point of confusion in his life. I wouldn’t want his mother to eventually have to deal with his inevitable question of, “You mean I’m gonna stay this color?”

In the meantime, let me clear up any rumors before they get out. Even though he may say that I am the one, the kid is not my son.

Taken way back in April, this photo documents one of our first bean harvests at Namumu (the handfuls of beans here are just a sample).

From left to right you see Chuck Norris, Clivert aka the Sweater, Kabuba aka Mabboli aka Eye Booger, Lucky (yes, that’s his real name) aka Mabisi aka Sour Milk, Nancy aka Mrs. Jealousy and Jailas, Namumu’s Administration Manager, who appears to be taking a nap.

Yes, I’m proud to say that I contributed to the nick-naming of every child just mentioned.

Ahhh, these were the good ol’ days, before cows and water pipe failures destroyed our beautiful gardens. Hopefully soon we’ll get them back soon...

Incoherent Rainy Season Ramblings

The rainy season has officially begun here in Zambia, which has led to a few interesting changes in my life.

Most importantly, it has cooled things down quite a bit, which has made me considerably less miserable throughout each and every day.

Unfortunately, however, the onset of rains has forced me to change my sleeping arrangements.

For a while there, like many of my local Zambians I was sleeping outside on my porch every night (yes, mom, under a mosquito net). Inside it was feeling a bit too much like a sauna for me, which, though lovely after a good hard workout is not so lovely when one is trying to get a good night's sleep. So, every night I would set up my little area, putting out a mattress and sheets under the net, and every morning I would move it all back inside. It was a pain at first, but after daily practice I got so I could do it with NASCAR pit-crew like precision and speed.

It was very, very nice being able to lay back and stare at the stars, thinking about life before drifting off to sleep, and to feel the breeze throughout the night.

Now, however, it rains at night from time to time, so in an effort to stay dry I’ve had to pack up and move inside.

Although, the rain isn’t the only reason I’ve moved my bed inside. Much to my chagrin, the rainy season has brought with it a new slew of insects, most notably scorpions. As a matter of fact, I just killed a small one with my shoe a few short minutes ago. Wow, those things are ugly and terrifying, and as much as I’d like to wake up in a bed full of them like that chick from Charlie Sheen’s “The Arrival” (awesome movie by the way, if you’re into unintentional comedy) I figured I’d better pack things up and sleep inside from now on.

Speaking of insects, I was surprised the other day to see many of my little Namumuans chasing, catching and stockpiling a certain type of winged insect. I saw them doing it in the late afternoon the other day and assumed that these insects did something cool, perhaps lighting up at night like fireflies.

No, no, they were catching them so that they could fry them and eat them. Yikes. They keep trying to get me to try them too. Double yikes.

Otherwise, things are just swell here at Namumu.

Junior has been out of town with his mother for a few days, so I haven’t been pooped on lately, which is nice.

Wendy is on book number five with me. I’ve gotten her going on Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game”, one of my all-time favorites. It’s science fiction, so I had my doubts as to how she’d handle it, but luckily Wendy is nerdy enough to enjoy it.

Mubita, my trusty kapenta fishing rig foreman has been in rough shape lately. His hands and feet have swollen up so badly that he hasn’t been able to walk or even hold a pen in his hand. He’s tried to convince me that somebody must have dropped a Black Magic spell on him or something of the sort (I’ve heard a number of people blame their illnesses on something similar). I told him that regardless of the cause, I’d ask people to pray for him. So, if you could, go ahead and pray for Mubita to heal up soon, for my sake as well, because it’s tough doing my job without him.

Speaking of fishing, I was out on the lake fishing with our guys the other night and on the way out we spotted a big ol’ hippopotamus. A very big ol’ hippopotamus, actually. It was out roaming around and eating on a small island out on the lake. It was a hungry hungry hippo indeed.

Oh, and back to the rain, that same night fishing we got absolutely pounded by a storm, and while there is a small tin roof covering the deck of the boat we still got gooshed.

There was a little bit of stinging rain, big ol’ fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes the rain even seemed to come up from underneath.

So, not a very fun night, but an interesting experience nonetheless.

Well, that’s about all I got for now. Thanks to all that have posted comments and sent me emails recently, I’ve enjoyed them all. Holler at me any time...

Training our little Namumu-ans (Namumu-ites? Namum-ans?)

The Official Namumu Carpentry and Welding Training Program is up and running smoothly these days. Finally.

Here’s the thing. These kids won’t be staying at Namumu forever. When they turn 18 and finish school they will be expected to move out of the Orphanage. They’ll be out, living with other relatives or perhaps on their own. Obviously, it’s important for Namumu to help them gain the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare them for post-Namumu life.

And that’s why we have started programs like this carpentry and welding training for some selected children. Carpenters and Welders don’t make too much money around here. Most just eek out a living. But, in a developing country plagued by unemployment, both are still jobs that pay the bills. While we’d like all our Namumu children to grow up to be doctors or lawyers or scientists or journalists, it probably won’t happen. Hence, we have this program.

In our carpentry and welding operations we have a senior carpenter and a senior welder, both with assistants. In the past we’ve encouraged certain children to stop by the workshop whenever they are free to learn a thing or two. Some actually got pretty good. But we never really had a formal training system in place. Not one that lasted, anyway. Things were never really organized well and therefore the training wasn’t as effective as it could be.

Now, I know that putting together a simple training program for a few children sounds incredibly simple. Many of you may even be wondering why it has taken so long to get things like this going. In fact, if I was reading this from back home, I know I’d be wondering that myself.

Well, there were a number of obstacles for starting this program in particular, most of which are difficult to foresee if you’ve never lived in southern Africa. I think that by looking at this program in particular it gives you a good idea about what general obstacles we face here and what will and won’t work.

So here’s why it took so long...

First of all, we’re dealing with kids here. The ones we are training are in the 12 to 16 age range. Like many early teens all over the world, these children can be very difficult to keep in line, with short attention spans and wavering interests. Maybe they felt like doing carpentry yesterday but have changed their mind today. Maybe today they want to be something else. Or maybe they don’t feel like doing anything at all. Even though they are growing up and maturing (most of them, anyway), they are still children and it can be difficult to keep them on track.

And, given the fact that they are all living at an Orphanage, it’s not like I can call up their parents and ask them to get their children in line. Both the boys and girls have a caretaker, but that’s not quite the same.

Secondly, there’s the issue of time. Time is treated differently here in Africa. It’s one of the first things you notice when you get here. Nobody is on a tight schedule. Church services that are scheduled to begin around 10 am usually start around 10:30 or even 11. Sometimes they might start around 10, but who knows. It’s totally unpredictable. Nobody knows and nobody seems to care much. It’s just the way it is.

So, setting up a system where children come at 2 pm after school and work until 5 pm is doomed to failure. It will never happen. Schedules just don’t exist.

Third, there’s the fact that their school schedules are ridiculous here. Because the Namumu Community School caters to grades 1 through 7, and because there are only 4 classrooms, they have a staggered schedule. And not only that, sometimes their schedules shift throughout the year. And not only that, sometimes the teachers set things up in the afternoons where the children have to come back to the school to clean it up.

Needless to say, setting up a training program around the school system is not easy.

Finally, there are limitations to what can and can’t be done at our carpentry and welding workshop. It is not a big workshop. In fact, it’s really not much of a workshop at all. There are a few tables and benches set up underneath two small tin-roof shelters. There are a limited number of tools. Namumu is always financially strapped and this is probably the way the workshop will stay. This puts a limit on how many children can be taught and how effective that teaching can be.

So, there you go, that’s what we’re dealing with.

Now, instead of going into all the wrong ways we’ve tried to set up a program, I’ll just go ahead and tell you the way we’ve got things now. The right way.

At the moment we’ve got 2 boys training in carpentry and 1 training in welding. At first, Namumu Management pushed for more children to be taught at once, but this way has been much more effective. With small numbers they get the individual attention that they wouldn’t get if they were part of a big group.

This small group will only be training for 3 months, at which point their skills will be evaluated. After that, we will start with another small group. Three months is enough time for them to pick up the basic skills that they need but is short enough of a time period that the guys can remain focused and motivated throughout. There’s an end in sight and gives them something to work towards.

There is no set schedule. They are simply expected to come over to the workshop in the afternoons whenever they aren’t at the school. If they can only make it for 30 minutes or an hour, that’s fine, as long as they make it over. They are expected to be there every week day unless they have a good excuse.

As for enforcement, I’ve happily taken on that roll. I do a little patrol every afternoon, walking around to the boys’ dormitory to make sure they aren’t just lazing around and giving them a George Lyle Ear Flick if they are. Kebby, the boys’ caretaker, is on patrol as well. We had some problems at first, but now they’ve caught on and usually get over without my prodding.

So, there it is, the program is up and running. Our carpentry and welding guys are doing a great job with the children. They’ve already learned a lot. While it may be just a small accomplishment, it’s still a step in the right direction.