Into the Bush to Visit Andrea and Neal

Jon and Neal outside the Nsaka

Jon and I arrived in Zambia after a 15 hour bus ride from Lilongwe (capitol of Malawi) to Lusaka (capitol of Zambia).  We were very excited as our friend, Andrea, has been living and working in Zambia for the Peace Corps for the past year.  We met Andrea and her boyfriend, our new friend, Neal, in Lusaka and made plans to leave the following day for the village where Andrea has been working and living.  After an evening of celebrating our reunion in Africa, we woke up early the next day and started our journey north to the Mkushi district.  We took a bus about 3 hours and then were able to hitch a ride for the remaining 50 kilometers.  We were very lucky that the man giving us a ride was curious to see Andrea's village so drove us all the way to her house rather than us having to walk from the main road for about 45 minutes in the mid-day heat.   In total the trip took us most of the day because, despite it  being only about 150 or so miles north, transportation is not a smooth process in Africa.

Andrea's house

When we arrived at Andrea's home we were greeted with big smiles and warm handshakes by her Zambian family.  Andrea's Zambian family are polygamists, having two wives, and also many children on their family compound.  However, several of the children are their nieces and nephews as most of their children are grown.  Many of the children shook our hands while simultaneously bending down to one knee as is customary when greeting someone older than you here.

We settled our bags into Andrea's hut, a small brick building with a traditional grass roof, and rested from the journey.  Next, Andrea showed us around the family compound which consisted of several other small buildings where the family lived, open air huts for cooking and lounging, pit toilets, a watering hole and lots of chickens.  The water hole was a five minute walk where we lowered the empty jug into a pit and raised it to fill the larger water jugs.  Then we lifted the heavy jugs onto our heads and brought them back to the house.   This process was repeated several times daily.  Andrea also had a round, open hut with a grass roof (called a Nsaka) that her and Neal had constructed for cooking and lounging.  It was cooler than the house and allowed you to see the events taking place in the family compound.  This is where we spent a lot of our time. That night Andrea's family invited us for dinner.  We discussed our days events and talked about Zambia qualifying for the African cup of Nations finals! They were so warm and friendly and were happy to have Andrea and Neal return.  After dinner Neal and Andrea played guitar and Jon and I joined in vocally for a nice musical session, it was such a treat to be with good friends again!

The avocado tree planting ceremony

 The next day we did chores around the compound.  I started on laundry which had been long neglected and was was filthy from Mulanje.  Its not easy to hand wash clothes and meant fetching the water even more often.  It was an all day event.  Jon, Andrea, and Neal worked in the garden and planted trees around the compound, including papaya and avocado trees.  It was a leisurely, great day.  We also cooked and ate well.  Cooking was over a brassier, which are tin or clay and hold coal or wood, and then can have one pot placed on top.  Ours was a tin brassier with coal that Neal had perfected in starting.  Again we stayed up late and caught up on time passed.  Again it was just awesome to be with friends again and to be in this small African village. 

Brassier

We spent three more days in the village and with Andrea and Neal.  We also visited the closest  town one afternoon and a neighbors farm. Andrea and Neal work closely with the local population to teach then about Conservation Farming techniques. This neighbor had adopted several of the principles and was excited to show off her results.   It was a great few days and Jon and I could have easily stayed longer had our time in Africa not been slipping past so quickly.  On day five we said our see-you-laters.  It was sad to say goodbye but a bit of a consolation that Jon and I headed next to Victoria Falls.