The week
I had the opportunity this past week to travel out in the bush area.
Bush area is just a generic term for traveling out in the “country”.
It’s called bush because usually that is what is out there, you and
the bushes. By the way, bushes is where you go to the bathroom.
I won’t give any more details on that…
We (Larry, Dianne, and I) left at 6 am on Monday
morning. We arrived at our location at about 9:00 am or
so. It wasn't that far, 125 or so kilometers but I
think the top speed was about 40 mph on the bumpy roads.
We set up the tent first thing before the day got any
hotter. Then we unloaded our supplies, etc. Teaching
started at about 10:15 am or so. The students were all
waiting on us to arrive. Some of them had come the
night before after walking a long distance on Sunday or
riding a bike.
There were 9 students in the literacy part and about 9
students in Larry's part. Larry is teaching leaders in
the church who have the desire to be pastors. Dianne led
the literacy part which I'll
eventually be leading. These are people in the church
who desire to teach the literacy classes. It was good
to see some of the stuff in "action" like the pamphlets
which I helped make during the July literacy translation
workshop. Some of these from past years were handed out
in the literacy training time.
At about 2:00 pm on Monday we finally had lunch and I
was ready. It was rice, chema-the main staple food
here, no taste and no nutrition it basically fills a
whole in your stomach. The big "catch" of the day was a
duck which was the meat for the meal.
We ate the lunch meal
with the villagers and for the other meals we took our food.
When they don't have a lot it's a hardship on them to
try and provide all the meals for us. Africans are very much a
part of a community so the people who lived in the
village made sure that if they had food then the
students had food too. They didn't have enough plates
so they just put a bowl in front of a group of 5 to 10
people and people just eat out of the bowls as a
community. If you are African and you don't eat out of
the community plate then it's like you are insulting the
others saying I'm better than you and I don't want to
eat with you. They are used to Americans and since we
were the special guests we ate at a table in the church
which they had set up. We had taken our own plates.
Finally at about 8 pm we went to bed...I was ready.
The sun comes up at about 5 am or a little before. Some
mornings Africans start having conversations at about 4
am and they don't worry about keeping quiet...Anyway. I
slept good.
Tuesday morning we started with class between 7:30 and 8 am.
The literacy training was finished at lunchtime (1:00
pm). So in the afternoon Dianne and I wanted a bath.
We walked down to the pond area where they collect
water. Well, of course we couldn't go by ourselves, we
had a whole group go with us. It was fun. The water
felt so good. At first the African ladies were just on
the side watching us. Then I offered one of them some
soap so she came in and then the others came and joined
us. I must say it was the first time I had gotten in
the water in a skirt....It was so refreshing. Evidently
they had made it clear to the young guys to stay away
b/c they were on a rock waiting for us as we were
walking back up the path after our refreshing bath.
Then I was ready to play some ball with the kids. We
had a soccer circle going kind of. It turned into
volleyball some when it was easier to hit it with my
hand instead of chasing after us. The ladies sat on the
side. I tried to get one of them to play but she said I
don't know how. I said I can show you but she was too
shy. They did get a jump rope out and turned that for
some of the young girls to do. It was like open play
time at the gym. And of course this was all done b/t
picture taken time. They loved having their pictures
made especially to see the picture immediately. We
played until the sun went down about 5:30 pm or so.
This morning we got up and then they took us to the dam
so we could take pictures. We didn't know if we were
taken one car or two cars. Well, as I tried to get in
Larry's truck and I kept loosing my space I saw that we
would be taken both cars. For many of them this was
their first time in a car. There were two ladies
sitting in the front bucket seat and they didn't know
how to open and close the door so I know it was their
first time in a car. One lady tried to get in the
driver's seat with me. I didn't realize at first what
was happening and then I could tell she didn't know what
she was doing so I opened the back door for her. I
think there were 5 adults and 3 kids in the truck with
me. They were all happy though b/c they were going
about 4 kilometers down the road riding in a car. By
the way, the lake was pretty but we didn't see the dam,
not sure where that was.
Then we went back to the village said our goodbyes and
went on our way. I actually came back to Nampula by
myself. Larry and Dianne went to another village to
stay so he can teach until the end of the week.
By the way, I'm sure you are saying was there a bathroom?
Well, there was a hole in the ground which is considered
a bathroom. After all it had bamboo walls around it so
it was enclosed even if you could see the heads of the
tall people when we went in....Love, Carol
