The Namumu computer training program is going well, though the kids’ progress is often slow and it’s often very, very frustrating. Sometimes I wonder if we’re just wasting our time teaching these kids a skill they’re never going to be able to use in their rural-dwelling lives. But you know what? The more I think about it, the more I think it might actually pay off. There aren’t a lot of computers around in rural Zambia at the moment, but maybe there will be someday soon. After all, almost everyone has a cell phone out here these days. Even the poorest families usually have at least one person with a cell phone. Maybe someday soon everyone will have a computer and our kids will be ahead of the game and will be able to score a job with their skills, typing or repairing or whatever. You never know. We’ll keep plugging away just in case.
So far, two 14 year old girls, Vivian and Florence, are my superstars. At this point they can type faster than most of the adults working in the Namumu office. It’s impressive. Lately I’ve been giving them copies of People magazine and Entertainment Weekly that my mother sent me and I’m having them re-type the articles they read. The “Sexiest Man Alive” edition of People caused quite a stir for a few girls and led to a number of heated debates over who was better looking than whom. I was and am a staunch supporter of Johnny Depp. The girls love Ryan Reynolds. Love, love, love him. It’s awful. Just awful.
The next time I’m feeling like I’m getting the short end of the stick in life I’m going to think about my new friend Kristin. Kristin is a lady of around 40 who lives nearby and stops by the clinic to chat with Saviour and me every now and then. She’s a real sweetheart and has become a real good friend of mine.
Kristin has HIV. Her husband has TB. They live in a small hut nearby and they are very poor. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, one of their children is deaf and dumb, I recently found out. Getting an education and even just surviving is hard enough for most completely healthy kids in Zambia. I can’t imagine what it’s like for that kid.
Kristin seems to be taking everything in stride. Fortunately, for many in Siavonga these days, being diagnosed with HIV is not longer a death sentence. She’s getting ARVs from the hospital in town and is taking them daily. She’s doing her best to stay healthy. She’s hanging in there.
If you’re looking for someone to pray for this week, pray for Kristin and her family. Pray that her husband can find a better job. Pray that she stays healthy. And pray that her child can find a way to make something of himself and live a happy life.
We had a pretty good fishing month last month with net profits somewhere around US$1,500, not too shabby for a small fishing company in the midst of a time where all companies on Lake Kariba are experiencing low catches. It’s helped that our selling prices have gone up lately. Last year around this time we were selling a 20kg bag of kapenta for ZMK400,000 (about US$85). Now, each bag is selling at ZMK600,000 (about US$130). One of the reasons the prices are higher is that the supply is low all across the country. Like I said, all companies are catching poorly. Another reason is that Mubita and I have led a collusion charge at the harbor, gathering up the owners of our neighboring companies on a weekly basis and setting the prices as high as we think we can, based on the prices we hear reported from Zambia’s big cities. The local traders we sell to complain a lot more these days, but it doesn’t faze us. They’re making a living. We’re making money to support orphans and vulnerable children, so we run those prices right up and don’t think twice. Mubita and I ain’t messin’ around no mo’. No siree.
Well, that’s about it for now. I’m trying to arrange a goat slaughtering for Christmas, so if that goes down I’ll be sure to describe it in graphic detail for you all very soon. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy Scrooged without me, Lyles and Crosses. Maybe I’ll catch you next year.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Love Coca-Cola. Hate Cusack.
My apologies for the recent lag between posts. There’s a lot going on at the moment here at Namumu and I’ve been busy with some other things. Allow me to catch you up with a few updates:
Vinod, my roommate/workmate, is the man. There’s no doubt about it. He’s smart, he works hard and he gets along great with the children. Every single night he’s in the Namumu front office, doing computer training with a different group of kids. I work with my groups after his each night, and most days after I finish and walk home I’ll find him reading with one or two of the girls out on our front porch. I’ve been very impressed with the effort he’s put in with it all.
I’m more impressed, though, with his capacity for slamming Coca-Colas. Good lord this guy is ridiculous. I used to think I could put that stuff down, but this guy is going through bottle after bottle after bottle with such ease that even I am amazed. We’ve got plastic bottles and glass bottles piled up in the corner of our kitchen and it is a big, big pile. I recently challenged him to a Coke drinking contest, which he has accepted. I’m not completely sure of what the set up will be, but I’m picturing something like the scene in “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” when Indiana’s boo-piece drinks that other guy under the table in a drink off. Will I be the guy under the table, or Indiana’s boo-piece in this scenario? Only time will tell.
As the rain season is upon us once again it’s maize planting time. Maize is the big national crop here, and while Siavonga is not a big farming town (most of it is rocky and hilly) almost all of the families in the villages around Namumu are preparing their plots and planting their seeds. We’ve got a lot of land here at Namumu and we’re putting it to good use these days. We’ve plowed most of it using Jailas’ (the Namumu Administration Manager) cows and a rented plow, and we’ve started planting early. I’ve gotten to join in and, donning my plaid, button-up, cut-off farmer shirt from my Manakintowne days I’ve gotten to plow and plant along with the group. My farmer tan is rocking again, which feels good. I’ll be sure to keep my little Namumu minions working in the field, weeding, hoeing and planting, and I’ll keep you updated on the results.
I’ve been working with Saviour, Namumu’s girls care-giver and nurse, in the clinic almost every day recently and have had some interesting experiences.
The clinic is only open during the day, from 8 am to 5 pm, but we had a late night emergency one night last week and got called in. Royd, a 14 year old boy who lives next door to me, got stung by a scorpion and was brought in screaming and crying from the pain. Apparently all you can do for a scorpion sting out here is give the patient something for the pain. I suggested we whiskey the kid up to help him out and put some hair on his chest. Saviour, in what was probably a wiser course of action, chose to inject an anesthetic near the sting. Good move. Royd’s pain was relieved right away. Man, it looked terrible. I’m going to do my best to never mess with a scorpion. Ever.
We’ve had a good number of people come in with diarrhea lately and we think it likely has something to do with the water people are drinking. We’ve been looking into where all the sick people have been drawing water to see if we can detect any patterns. There are two bore holes nearby that many are drawing from, but a large number are drawing from the lake and drinking that. We’re thinking that the onset of the rain season might have had some effect, that maybe some of the run off going into the lake is causing all the stomach problems. We’ve been advising people to boil their water or use some sort of purifying solution (aid organizations have brought over a good amount of them and have distributed them to the local people at no cost, which is awesome). I hope they all take our advice.
I really love working with Saviour. She’s wonderful. She’s big, gap-toothed and has a great sense of humor. Such women are my kryptonite. We have a great time working together and she’s helped me learn a lot.
Speaking of illnesses, I got rocked by something going around last week and was out of commission for a few days. I’ll spare you the details, but man, I was down and out. And the worst part about getting sick out here is knowing all along that if you get really bad the nearest decent hospital is a long, long ways away and you are more or less screwed. No, I take that back. The worst part is the lack of entertainment while you’re down. I didn’t leave my room for two days, and as I’ve burned through my meager DVD collection already I was forced to go to new lows. Not only did I watch “Must Love Dogs” starring John Cusack and Diane Lane, but I even watched it again with the director’s commentary directly after. A little piece of me died just typing that. I have enough trouble dealing with John Cusack when I’m completely healthy, so you can imagine how bored I must have been to endure such a thing. Man, that guy is the worst.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for you now. I’ll try to get back to you soon. Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season.
Vinod, my roommate/workmate, is the man. There’s no doubt about it. He’s smart, he works hard and he gets along great with the children. Every single night he’s in the Namumu front office, doing computer training with a different group of kids. I work with my groups after his each night, and most days after I finish and walk home I’ll find him reading with one or two of the girls out on our front porch. I’ve been very impressed with the effort he’s put in with it all.
I’m more impressed, though, with his capacity for slamming Coca-Colas. Good lord this guy is ridiculous. I used to think I could put that stuff down, but this guy is going through bottle after bottle after bottle with such ease that even I am amazed. We’ve got plastic bottles and glass bottles piled up in the corner of our kitchen and it is a big, big pile. I recently challenged him to a Coke drinking contest, which he has accepted. I’m not completely sure of what the set up will be, but I’m picturing something like the scene in “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” when Indiana’s boo-piece drinks that other guy under the table in a drink off. Will I be the guy under the table, or Indiana’s boo-piece in this scenario? Only time will tell.
As the rain season is upon us once again it’s maize planting time. Maize is the big national crop here, and while Siavonga is not a big farming town (most of it is rocky and hilly) almost all of the families in the villages around Namumu are preparing their plots and planting their seeds. We’ve got a lot of land here at Namumu and we’re putting it to good use these days. We’ve plowed most of it using Jailas’ (the Namumu Administration Manager) cows and a rented plow, and we’ve started planting early. I’ve gotten to join in and, donning my plaid, button-up, cut-off farmer shirt from my Manakintowne days I’ve gotten to plow and plant along with the group. My farmer tan is rocking again, which feels good. I’ll be sure to keep my little Namumu minions working in the field, weeding, hoeing and planting, and I’ll keep you updated on the results.
I’ve been working with Saviour, Namumu’s girls care-giver and nurse, in the clinic almost every day recently and have had some interesting experiences.
The clinic is only open during the day, from 8 am to 5 pm, but we had a late night emergency one night last week and got called in. Royd, a 14 year old boy who lives next door to me, got stung by a scorpion and was brought in screaming and crying from the pain. Apparently all you can do for a scorpion sting out here is give the patient something for the pain. I suggested we whiskey the kid up to help him out and put some hair on his chest. Saviour, in what was probably a wiser course of action, chose to inject an anesthetic near the sting. Good move. Royd’s pain was relieved right away. Man, it looked terrible. I’m going to do my best to never mess with a scorpion. Ever.
We’ve had a good number of people come in with diarrhea lately and we think it likely has something to do with the water people are drinking. We’ve been looking into where all the sick people have been drawing water to see if we can detect any patterns. There are two bore holes nearby that many are drawing from, but a large number are drawing from the lake and drinking that. We’re thinking that the onset of the rain season might have had some effect, that maybe some of the run off going into the lake is causing all the stomach problems. We’ve been advising people to boil their water or use some sort of purifying solution (aid organizations have brought over a good amount of them and have distributed them to the local people at no cost, which is awesome). I hope they all take our advice.
I really love working with Saviour. She’s wonderful. She’s big, gap-toothed and has a great sense of humor. Such women are my kryptonite. We have a great time working together and she’s helped me learn a lot.
Speaking of illnesses, I got rocked by something going around last week and was out of commission for a few days. I’ll spare you the details, but man, I was down and out. And the worst part about getting sick out here is knowing all along that if you get really bad the nearest decent hospital is a long, long ways away and you are more or less screwed. No, I take that back. The worst part is the lack of entertainment while you’re down. I didn’t leave my room for two days, and as I’ve burned through my meager DVD collection already I was forced to go to new lows. Not only did I watch “Must Love Dogs” starring John Cusack and Diane Lane, but I even watched it again with the director’s commentary directly after. A little piece of me died just typing that. I have enough trouble dealing with John Cusack when I’m completely healthy, so you can imagine how bored I must have been to endure such a thing. Man, that guy is the worst.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for you now. I’ll try to get back to you soon. Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season.
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