The first of many

Appologies friends for the delay of my first blog. As you can imagine finding a computer with good internet is not the easiest thing to do. But I managed to find some time on a good one now. I've been in Zambia now for ten days, though soooo much has happened I don't know where to begin.
We arrived safely and without problems with the customs agents, even though the five of us had a total of 18 large bags and carry-ons. The five of us being myslf, my aunt and uncle and two cousins whom I am living with now in Kabwe, although in first arriving in Lusaka we didn't go immedietly to Kabwe because it was late. The journey from US to Africa took about 5 days during which we took no showers or had a change of clothes since all our luggage was always in the possestion of the airport people. Needless to say the first shower I took in Kabwe, although weak in pressure and reletivly cold, was heavenly.
The house in which we stay lies in the center of a preperty completely boxed in by high brick walls and glass shards, and a large steel gate. Don't be alarmed, in fact these security measures are generally mild compared to that of our neighbors, with thier electric fences and vicious gaurd dogs.
We live in the house with another family, a father, mother and two sons, one is 1 and the other is 13. The 13 year old and I becam fast friends. His name is Mwape and he's sharp as a whip and very clever. For the first order of buisness him and I made a basketball rim with a shower net and a wire hanger fastened to a board and hung on the water tower out back. Although cool to look at, completely ineffective as a basketball rim, but was fun anyway to make.

As far as adjusting to to the culture here it is actually not very different from the Bahamas, in climate and in social behavior, although people here are much friendlier and the roads are much more bumpy. Driving through the heart of Lusaka is not unlike driving down Bay Street in Nassua, except for the glaring absence of a beautiful beach and salt in the air. There is an abundance of Baha'i youth there in Lusaka, the Baha'i community itself is about 300. It seems every youth I meet is a Baha'i, raised Baha'i even, which I always find a surprise to hear, simply because I'm not used to the fact. However in Kabwe the comminute is almost nonexistant and I'll tell you why: Because the purpose for my aunt and uncle being there, and by extention the reason I'm there, is to work with a program called Inshindo which focusses on essencially teaching people, mainly youth, how to teach themselves and take their education into thier own hands. The program is not affiliated with the Baha'i faith, and in an effort to keep it that way, the faith is taught very seldom. We don't want people to think we're using Inshindo to try and spread the faith, lest we scare them away form the program, but rather to support them as two seperate grwoing entities that have no connection with eachother.

The culture here is very rich. In addition to english most people of Kabwe speak Bemba, which I'm learning, and Nyanja. Nyanja is a very blocky language in the way it sounds and reminds me of japanes when spoken by men. But bemba is alot more lyrical and flowing with alot of 'wah' sounds and 'ns' inbetween words. For example the word for no is 'awe' and the word for you or hey is 'iwe'. 'Mulishani' is how are you to which you respond Bwino', good, and 'nga iwe' and you, etc.
The FOOD here is phenominal! They eat a maize product similar to grits called inshima or in Bemba 'Ubwali'. Shima is much thicker than grits and very packable, and they eat it with any kind of flavorful side dish: vegetables, muchrooms, beans, chicken, pork, with lots of sauce and without fork or spoon but rather by taking bots of it and rolling into balls in thier hands and dipping it in the sause. The technique takes some practice to get used to but in time I'll have it down pat. Of course food here is similar or just the same as food home, but I'll mention two exceptions. One, Kapenta, which is small fish like minoes which is dried and boiled and eaten with shima. Certainly fish is no strange characteristic of food for us islanders but believe me when I say a bowl of Kapenta is like no dish a Bahamian has seen.
Two, is of course, Inswa, which is large termites. They come in swarms after the rains and thier wings fall off, and large quanteties of wings can be fuond in places where there are windows. After which people go and collect the wingless Inswa and fry them in oil. I"ve been told they taste like crispy bacon though I haven't had the pleasure myself of trying them yet. Soon though, I promise you, I can't wait.

This blog is extensive though it doesn't nearly cover the extent of the details of my stay so far. I will try to make more frequent updates so that too much doesn't go by.

With love from Banani

Jens