And I'm Out...

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I find myself once again packing up and departing from Namumu for the States. As always, it’s bittersweet. I’m excited to head back and to see and spend time with my family and friends in the US. I’m sad to leave behind my family and friends in Mother Zambia. It’s always a strange time.

In fact, as of now I have already finished up and left Siavonga. I’m currently in Lusaka, tying up loose ends, typing this from a small internet café downtown. Tomorrow I’ll fly out, flying first to Johannesburg, South Africa and then on to DC.

Due to various circumstances I haven’t been able to blog nearly as much as I would have liked to lately. My sincere apologies. I’ve got a little time here, so I’ll try to catch you up to speed…

As always, I’d love to hear your comments and questions. If you’re so inclined, please don’t hesitate to post a comment or hit me with an email at ssc2x@virginia.edu.



The Kids:

Ahh, going away from my little Namumuans is always tough. Flying away to a land of plenty and leaving behind a gang of orphans and vulnerable children always makes me feel like a big jerk. But, it is comforting to know that they’ll continue to be taken care of.

As always, our kids in residence are getting three solid meals a day, more than can be said for a great many kids in the area. It’s not at all uncommon to talk to local kids who’ll tell you they’re eating two meals a day, or even just one. Some go the whole day with nothing. Some dine on porridge and nshima only (both slightly different versions of corn meal and water). So, while “budget issues” have led to our kids eating a simplified diet of rice, nshima, beans, cabbage and kapenta, they are certainly better off than they would be elsewhere.

School has started this week. They love school. The first week is a time where students clean the classroom and surrounding areas. They won’t start learning again until next week. Still, they’re excited to be back. Namumu Community School is going to take a bit more work than usual to straighten out, however. A storm blew the roof off (much like the latest Lil Wayne single) and we’re still waiting on a group from the local government to come and repair it. A local fishing company owner has been kind enough to assist with organizing repairs, though, and it should be finished soon. Just another nice example of local people helping us out…

And, while we’ve faced failure upon failure in other areas, the children’s computer training programs has been a complete success thus far. Around 25 kids have been equipped with some basic computer skills and can maneuver around Microsoft Windows and Word. Vinod has assured me he’ll keep rocking and rolling after I leave. He’s a good guy. I know he’ll keep working. Maybe one day each and every one of our kids will be computer savvy.


IGAs:

Fishing - I was also sad to leave our fishing operation behind. I’ve spent a great deal of time during the last two years of my life at the local harbor, monitoring sales, strategizing with other company owners and flirting relentlessly with the old lady fish traders (I’ve never claimed to possess a great deal of game, but, for whatever reason, what game I do have appears to be tailor-made for 40 to 60 year old Zambian women). I’m going to miss it all.

Our guys are catching well, consistently better than our neighbors. Kapenta prices remain high, and our boats continue to bring in profits for Namumu’s general operations. Mubita, my right-hand man, continues to work hard and well, though he has been out for a few days, sidelined by arthritis problems, so please, go ahead and pray for that. Personally, I think he just needs to man up, but I suppose we should pray anyways. Perhaps we should just pray that he mans-up.


Carpentry/Welding - This section has been a disappointment, to say the least. In fact, a decision has been made to close down the workshop indefinitely. Will we open back up in the future? Only time will tell.


Poultry - This section has also been a disappointment, I’d say, making small losses consistently ever month. While I won’t air out Namumu dirty laundry here and now, I will say that the management of the poultry section has been less than stellar. A poultry business is not rocket science. There are simple tasks requiring minimal effort and they simply aren’t getting done. I sure hope things can be straightened out in the future.


Gardening - Gardening continues to go well. We’ve cleared and plowed much of the open land and have planted long stretches of maize for this, the rainy season. We’ve planted watermelon and pumpkin, too. If the decent rains continue, it should be a good harvest.


I:

For now, while I may be done working at Namumu, I won’t stop working for Namumu or with Namumu. I’ll keep in touch with them and do my best to keep the IGAs on track (as much as one can from across the Atlantic). I’ll continue to work on project proposals from the States, working along with Vinod and a few other staff members, continuing to search for more funding. If all goes well (and they’ll still have me), I’m hoping to be able to once again visit friends at the churches supporting and partnering with Namumu, to discuss all things Namumu-related (thanks to all of you for bearing with me during a time when my life is in a constant state of flux).

Along with all that, I’ll be moving in a new direction here in the near future. Having decided to pursue a career in medicine, I’ll be starting school in June to knock out my pre-med courses in a year and then, if all goes well, I’ll be giving medical school a shot. It’s a long road, and who knows what might happen, but that’s the plan. If you’re so inclined, please pray for me, that organic chemistry won’t cause me too much physical, emotional or spiritual harm.

And, in the meantime, it looks as though I’ll be joining an up-and-coming group focused on delivering quality health care to the poor, both in the States and abroad, so if you’re interested and want to hear more or help out, please get in touch.

Well, gang, it’s been real. I thank God every day for the opportunities I’ve had over the past two years. What a ride. To all who have supported me financially and through prayer, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And I’m out…

A Very Merry Christmas (For Everyone But The Goat)

As you may recall, around Christmas time last year I high-tailed it out of Siavonga and had a little road trip with some friends of mine to Livingstone, Zambia’s tourist capital, where I partied, played and ate my face off for a week. I saw Victoria Falls, survived an intense baboon encounter and single-handedly prevented a Zambian tribal war (no big deal). This year, I opted for a calmer Christmas experience and decided to stay in Siavonga. It turned out to be a great decision. I had a nice little Christmas weekend with my good friends here in Siavonga.

The neighbors and I kicked things off on Christmas Eve with our usual celebratory practice of slaughtering a live animal. More chickens? No sir, not this Christmas Eve. This time we decided to step it up and go with a goat. Have you ever tasted goat meat before? It’s delicious. Boy, was I excited. A live goat costs around ZMK80,000 (US$17), a bit more than a chicken, but it’s more meat and I would say it tastes much better.

In what I would consider a tactical error, my neighbors purchased the goat a few days ahead of time, and to keep it from running away they tied it to a tree in our back yard. For days we had to listen to it whining and watched it occasionally try to make a getaway. Did it make me sad? Yes, yes it did. Did it stop me from killing and eating it? No, no it didn’t. After all, I’m a grown ass man and I had a family to feed.

Sadly, I did not have the opportunity to slaughter this particular goat, a skill I’ve been looking to acquire for some time. I was working on the computers with a couple of the Namumu girls and the boys next door went ahead and killed it without me (which I of course scolded them for because they know the rules…I do the killing, they do the cooking, we all do the eating…and how dare they violate said rules?) However, I did make it home in time to do a significant amount of slicing, chopping, skinning and disemboweling. I got some great action photos, as well as some nice before and afters of the goat for your viewing pleasure when I’m back Stateside. So be looking forward to that.

Anyway, I took a big hunk back home to my kitchen, cooked it up myself, soaked it in chipotle-flavored Tabasco sauce, and went to town. Mmm Mmm Mmm. No, Debra, it was no Cornish game hen, but man oh man it hit the spot.

The good times and good food continued on into Christmas Day as I awoke and kicked off Jesus’ birthday with a big bowl of Cocoa Puffs. I never get to have cereal out here, but a few days before I had tracked down a box in one of the stores in town and on Christmas morning I hammered it and hammered it hard. Delightful. Just delightful.

Like much of the Siavonga population I made it out to a Christmas morning church service. I joined my usual Siavonga church family out at St. Marks Presbyterian, including the big man, Munjongo Namuyamba. It was a small crowd but the singing was beautiful and the pastor’s words were lovely (the ones I could understand were lovely, anyway…the whole thing was in Tonga.) As is befitting a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, everyone was very happy.

Next, I made a trip out to the Pieterse’s place on Lake Kariba. The Pieterses own a local fishing company and have done a lot for Namumu over the years, doing repairs for our boats for free, dropping food by the orphanage for the kids every now and then, and I’m sure even more that I’m not even aware of. They’re great. They were nice enough to invite me over on Christmas Day, and I spent the day eating my face off and swimming in their pool. Not bad.

Finally, I made it back home to Namumu in the late afternoon to find all the kids packed into the dining hall and engaged in a wild, sweaty, high-energy dance party. Someone had hooked up a TV and speakers and they were pumping Zambian music videos at full blast. It was ridiculous. Let me tell you something, I’ve been a part of dance parties all across the US and all over southern Africa, and this was about as wild a dance party as I’ve ever seen. Everyone was so happy. I got some great video footage, too. I enjoyed myself about as much as I possibly could listening to music that’s not Lil Wayne. It was a great way to cap off the night.

So, while it would have been nice to celebrate Jesus’ birthday back home at Crestwood, I can’t complain too much at all.

Grade Seven Exam Results - 2010

The results are in. The Namumu Community School received its official Grade 7 Exam scores the other day and there was reason to celebrate. Out of the 42 Grade 7 students taking the exam, 29 passed to move on to Grade 8 at Siavonga Basic School next year. Out of the 13 who didn’t pass, it’s likely that 7 or 8, all of which barely missed the cutoff, will qualify for a remedial Grade 8 program that will allow them to work through to Grade 9 next year.

Relative to other Primary Schools throughout Zambia, especially ones in very rural areas, like Namumu, these results are very, very good. I was talking about it all with Moses Fwanyanga, the Namumu Community School’s Assistant Teacher-In-Charge, and he was very pleased. We were chatting with a former Namumu teacher who now works at another Primary School outside of Siavonga, and it turns out his group passed only around 10 out of 70, far behind the performance of Namumu.

I asked Moses why he thought Namumu did so well year after year. He suggested the smaller class sizes may have something to do with it. Namumu has around 30 kids per class, whereas some local schools sometimes have anywhere from 40 to 50 or more. He also attributed the success to Namumu’s teachers, who he thought were more hard-working and focused than other teachers around town. He was bursting with pride as he told me this. It was nice to see.

Passing the Grade 7 Exam is a big deal. Those who do get to move on to Grade 8 in the Basic School in town. They get to wear new, different colored uniforms and go to school with older kids. There’s a status attached. For those who don’t pass, they’re allowed to repeat Grade 7 next year and take the exam again, but still, failing is pretty discouraging, especially when all of your friends have passed. And those who fail again often drop out of school, never to return.

Of the children boarding at Namumu who took the exam, all but two passed on to Grade 8. It was really sad, actually. I was around when the kids found out the results and everyone started cheering and jumping and screaming because they had passed and passing is a big deal. Everyone except for the two girls who failed. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, but I’d imagine it’s been a tough week for them.

So, let’s pray that Namumu Community School can keep up the good work, and that our two non-passing girls can pick things up next year.