The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music

Thought some of you would like this title, but it is also apt because Lusaka is both hilly and full of music. In fact, one of the things I love about this place is the sounds. All kinds of sounds are interesting - just as the sights and smells differ radically from life in Canada, the sounds are also different. I often wish I had a tape recorder along with me so I could record some of these moments, take a "photograph" of the audio world. Alas, I don't have the technology, so I will have to resort to reporting on it, in particular music.

I regularly hear music, even when just biking to school. There are often church choirs, or funeral gatherings, singing, practicing, and praising God. If it has been stereotyped that Mennonites can sing well, the same can be said for Zambians. When I listen to the choir at church I often think that this group could easily be recorded and sold on a CD. Every church I've been to - I think I've been to six different denominations now - had wonderful singing. Some sing acapella, others with the accompaniment of a keyboard but the sound is always wonderful. The combination of powerful bass voices with soaring sopranos, usually accentuated by some ululations from the audience, combine for a wonderful listening experience. The singing portion is definitely my favourite part of the church service. Although I have no idea what we are singing about (I presume its about God, but that's about all I know) I do recognize good music when I hear it.

Zambian pop music, the stuff that people listen to most on the radio (although gospel music also has a very strong presence) all sounds basically the same. High on artificial synth music, low on anything to do with an instrument. When describing Zambian music to one colleague I was listing the different major musicians and after each I concluded that "he sounds like K'Millian." K'Millian is, from what I can tell, the IT performer on the Zambian scene. I have purchased a small collection of the most popular singers which I will bring home in order to relive my Zambian days. At some point I will get some church music to round out my collection.

The sound of music then is one of many on the list of defining experiences this year. To walk down the street and hear choirs practicing, people on the back of a truck singing for joy or sadness, and to hear music pouring out of churches throughout the city has been an unforgettable experience.

The Challenge of Teaching

One of the major challenges I have found in teaching is the wide range of skill levels possessed by the students. In my Grade 8 class, for example, there are some that are very intelligent and grasp everything right away. There are others who can't read. There are only a few at the top end, quite a few in the middle, and then some at the bottom. This leads me to wonder: to whom should I be aiming my instruction at. If I aim only at the top end then most of the class will flounder but the top end, who actually have a chance of passing the exams next year, will be well prepared. If I aim at the bottom end, I might be able to bring them up a little bit but they still won't pass and the top end will be left bored.

I still haven't quite developed a consistent answer to this question. Probably in effect I am aiming at the top end and the middle or upper middle of the class. I have to, after all, make some progress in the curriculum and can't go over the same things over and over again. Nonetheless, I often wonder if I should be doing more for the other kids as well or if this would not make much difference in the end anyways.

When the Sun Shines

The sun is shining again after a month of frequent rain making me a very happy person. Rainy season is not technically over yet - rains will continue off-and-on until March - but it is certainly slowing down and it is a very welcome change. It is wonderful to wake up in the morning and see nothing but brilliant blue sky, especially after waking up every day to the drudgery of endless miles of dark grey cloud.

The sunshine has also had many very practical applications in my life. I can take my bike to school every day again instead of having to weigh the odds of rain and choose to take the bus. Another perk is that the muddy roads that resulted in slow travelling and dirty trousers have now dried up and are passible again. Some roads had turned into large lakes and you had to cling to a very narrow mud path around the edge, fighting for space with vegetation and other pedestrians, while trying to avoid slipping into the murky waters.

The sun also puts me in a much better mood. After weeks of cloud I found myself a little grumpy and I think it might have had something to do with the weather. With the sun in the sky nothing can bother me. For the first few months after I arrived in Zambia I hardly saw a single cloud. I almost had to remind myself what they were when they started to appear. I'm really looking forward to going back to that picture perfect weather for the rest of my stay - especially when it starts to cool down a bit in a couple of months.

The blue sky here is wonderful. It has a depth and texture all its own. When you look around and see nothing but but blue and try and stare into it for awhile, I am made very aware of my finite smallness. That may sound a little cliche, but its the truth.

Its another sunny day, which makes it another good day in the life of Stefan.

Failed System Fails Failing Students

There. Just wanted to see how many uses of the word "fail" I could throw into one failure of a title. It was for good reason, however, as the Grade 9 examination results from November have just been announced, and in Lusaka only 27% of students have progressed to Grade 10.

I have been feeling a little bit of pressure this term because I am now teaching an examination class - Grade 9 Civics. At the end of Grade 7 and Grade 9 there are mandatory exams. If you succeed you go on to the next grade at a government school. If not, then you either drop out of school, try again next year, or try and find a school that will take you. So, teaching one of these classes means that if I don't teach well then the future of kids could well be ruined. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but teaching Grade 9 is a different beast than Grade 8 or Grade 10. I needn't have worried. With the results that are coming out I now realize that no matter what I do very few of my students have a hope of having even a chance of progressing to the next grade.

There are two problems with the Grade 9 exam. First, it is made impossibly hard for most students because there are not many Grade 10 places to put successful exam writers. Secondly, most students have very little knowledge for the exams even if they study hard. Partly that's because many of them have very poor English skills.

The national progression rate this year was about 37%. Lusaka was by far the lowest province at 27%. This doesn't mean that city kids are stupid - it just means that there are fewer places to put them so the standards are much higher. Progressing has absolutely no relation to passing the exam. A pass is considered to be 240 of 600. Progression in Lusaka was 336 for girls and 376 for boys (in order to encourage female education). It is not terribly encouraging that only a quarter of students were able to get slightly over 50%.

The story was not particularly good at the schools where I work. One had 7 of 60 progress to Grade 10. Last year that school had 5 progressions out of 40 kids. At the other school the number 4 progressions out of 60 pupils has been used (but someone else told me they hadn't actually gone for any results yet). The same person that told me 4 of 60 also mentioned that only 11 kids in the whole examination centre progressed out of 600+ kids. Ouch.

It must be a scary time for Grade 9s - preparing for a nearly impossible exam that you will pass only if you are among an elite lucky few. A crazy system it seems to me, but I guess one indicative of the limitations placed on the education system by a lack of places in secondary schools and the poor quality of education that most kids receive (especially among the urban poor and in rural areas).

Coaching Career Off to Poor Start

A week ago we discovered that the inter-school leagues were about to start and so last week we set about training our players in boys football and girls netball. I have been working with the netball team (despite the fact that I know nothing about the game except what I was able to garner on Wikipedia) and we had our first training session on Wednesday. After the practice I was feeling pretty good about the team - some people were good at defence, we had some good shooters, and it seemed like we could pass well. Boy was I wrong.

Things got off to a bad start in our first game on Friday when our players didn't know how to line up at the beginning of the game. Lots of them had never played before, I myself didn't know, and hadn't thought to tell them. The other team ran circles around us from the first whistle to the last and the final score was nothing less than a 15-0 thrashing. This may seem bad but first it has to be put into perspective: we had raw rookies in Grade 8 playing against players with several years of experience in Grades 11 and 12. The league system is so bizarre that instead of matching schools up against opponents with similar grade levels, we are stuck playing secondary schools. As a result the other team was taller, faster, better trained, and even had nice uniforms!

A question that many might have is what is this game netball. Basically netball is to basketball what ringette is to hockey - a game invented for women to play in an era when women weren't supposed to play real sports. Each player has assigned zones where they can go, you can't dribble (have to pass right away), only certain players can shoot and must do so within a "shooting circle" and the hoop has no backboard. That's netball in a nutshell.

So we'll go back to the drawing board this week and try and improve some of the fundamentals - passing under pressure, getting open, playing defence, where to stand. Hopefully our opponents next week will be of a similar grade level and we have a chance to play a decent game, otherwise another thrashing is in our future. The team is fun though and the game is actually not so bad once you get into it - after all I like pretty much any sport that involves a ball and two teams.

Caterpillar or Termite?

I've eaten a few strange things lately so I thought I should provide an update on my recent swallowings.

Awhile ago I had fried termites - known as inswa. This was actually pretty tasty. The primary taste is oil and salt with a little crunch. These I had absolutely no problem eating and actually quite enjoyed myself in the process.

More recently I had caterpillars. These are bought dried, then soaked and fried. They were really chewy and almost reminded me a little of black licorice. I didn't particularly enjoy them although they weren't horrible either. I was a little disappointed though, when after finishing my first helping of caterpillar, my host dad gave me a second helping.

One not particularly Zambian delicacy that I have eaten a lot of lately is soy chunks. I guess this isn't exactly a weird food as such but it is something new to my diet. At work the staff is provided lunch and often it is nshima with soy chunks. These chunks look kind of fleshy to the point where the first time I ate them I thought for awhile that it might be chicken and then thought it might be mushroom. Once again, salt is the primary flavour and they actually taste alright. They had better be healthy too, and are presumably quite cheap considering they are being used for large scale staff feeding. It was certainly a step up from the dried fish we had the first week.

Now compare my list of weird eating items with the responses given to my be the kids in my Bible/games club when I asked them if they had ever eaten any weird foods. Almost all of them said that the weirdest food that they had ever eaten was pig. Pig?! They also almost all declared that pig was their least favourite food. I guess this shows the contrast - for me pork products are completely normal and caterpillar is quite bizarre whereas for them it was the opposite.

The Evolution of My English

Zambian English has many subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, differences from Canadian English. The longer I'm here I increasingly take on characteristics of speech that will be very unusual upon my return home. For example:

1. I am now trained to commence every conversation with a "How are you?" and to answer reflexively "I am fine." I am thrown for a loop if this is not how a conversation starts and it takes me a little while to regain my footing.

2. I repeat words a lot. For example: "Do it fast fast" "yes yes yes" "thank you thank you" etc. My host dad and the headmaster at Chimwemwe do this and I presume that that is where I picked it up.

3. "staying within" (not going far), "this side" (here), "that side" (there) - I think I've commented on these before

4. "I am asking for a..." I have only done this a few times now but it is a slippery slope. Instead of saying "May I please have a..." people use "I am asking for a..." I thought that that was really strange at first, but I find myself doing it occasionally.

5. I am getting better at speaking really slowly - especially in class. That took some work.

6. When doing internet lessons I would be spelling out a website address and when I side "o, r, g" I found that students were hearing "o, i, g". So I've adapted the pronounciation of r to more like "ara".

7. I've picked up a little bit of an accent sometimes, especially when speaking with Zambians. Fortunately, I still have some skills to turn it on and off, but these gradually are fading little by little.

So there you have it. Just think, I still have five more months to lose all sense of what Canadian English is about.

Top 5 Things To Eat on the Street

1. Fritters - it seems every society has its own deep fried dough product, and Zambia is no different. For only K200 (about 5 cents) this tasty round treat helps fill the stomach. Usually I buy them in groups of two or three for my morning snack. Some ladies on the street sell big ones for K500 - these are really good. Nothing like oil and dough. Yummm.

2. Roasted Maize - this is a treat that my family often gets. Think corn on the cob except maize and roasted. You eat it straight off the cob. This is available all over the place.

3. Cream filled long john type thing - more deep fried dough, except this time they are long and cylindrical with a stuffing of a sweet, whipped cream like substance. These are especially good in the morning when they are fresh. At K1000 (25 cents) they are a little more pricey but are well worth it.

4. Popcorn - available in K200 or K500 bags. It is made with old, large commercial popcorn makers. It tastes pretty much like popcorn - no explanation is needed.

5. Not home made products such as Chicco's biscuits and sweets. Chiccos are sold for K500 (13 cents) and come in a variety of flavours - the best of which is Malt and Milk but others that include Chocolate, Coconut, and Butter. Butter is kind of gross because it actually tastes like eating, well, butter. Sweets are available for K50 (just over a cent) and are popular with the school kids.

There you have it, five quality items available on a street corner near you (well, probably not near to you, but pretty close to me). Tasty, cheap, and enjoyable! "Is it safe?" you ask. Sure it is, at least I have yet to get sick from a street product (knock on wood!).

China and Africa: A Marriage Made in Heaven or Neocolonialism?

Zambia welcomed Chinese president Hu Jintao last week as part of his eight nation tour of Africa. President Hu spent a few days signing economic deals, shaking hands, celebrating the "One China Policy" and sharing platitudes about how wonderful each other's country is. Except that when I say "Zambia welcomed" perhaps I should have said, "a few people welcomed." The role of China in Africa in general, and in Zambia particularly, is still one of much debate. It was controversial enough for President Hu to cancel most of his planned visit here for fear of protests.

The pro-China argument goes like this. China needs resources for its growing economy. Africa has resources it needs to sell and it needs jobs and investments at home to generate job opportunities for Africans. Thus, the argument goes, China's gestures of goodwill (forgiving debts, creating economic zones of investment in numerous countries throughout the continent, building infrastructure, etc.) are in good faith and will have huge benefits for African countries. In Zambia, for example, an economic zone was created, and with it an expected 60,000 jobs. Speaking of 60,000, the Chinese are also building an "ultramodern" (whatever that means) stadium to seat 60,000 people. Needless to say, the government is tickled pink by the arrangement. So far so good right?

Well, others would say that China is merely looking to exploit Africa for its resources and are embarking on a new form of economic colonialism. Cheap Chinese goods, they say, will flood African markets and thus drive local industries under. Meanwhile, the Chinese will extract large amounts of resources to fuel their growth and will leave Africa for broke once the resources are gone. It is also argued that the Chinese investors have exploited their African employees and provide terrible working conditions. This argument is especially put forth in Zambia by the Patriotic Front and their president Michael Sata. In fact, he decided to embark on a visit to Taiwan coinciding with the Hu's visit to Zambia and will be expelling the mayor of Lusaka (elected as a PF councillor) who made the "wrong" decision to attend the welcoming and farewell ceremonies for the Chinese entourage. Sata also allegedly received considerable campaign financing from Taiwanese businessmen and met with them in Malawi a few days before the election.

So the debate in Zambia rages on about the benefits of Chinese investment. Hu has now gone on to Namibia and Mozambique dropping goodies all along the way. Certainly China wants something out of its relationship with African nations, but it may be too early to tell whether or not the relationship will work out as well for both parties as they wish it.

A Woman for President?

This is the question I put to my Grade 9 Civics class. We had been studying democracy and, most specifically, the threats to democracy. One of the threats that the textbook listed was that women tend to not be involved in public life - they don't vote as much as men and they don't run for office. This could be said for the Western world as well, but it is especially true here.

I was expecting my question to be rhetorical. Certainly the students have been taught something to at least answer the question correctly even if they didn't believe it. To my surprise, however, I found myself debating the merits of females in politics. My male students told me that no, a woman could not be a president. "Why not?" I probed. I was told that a woman would be too vulnerable to being influenced by men. Additionally, neighbouring nations would think that they could sway Zambia too easily because of the female president. Men, I was told, were more objective, more reasonable, and less swayed by emotion. Once I lifted my jaw off the floor after hearing such nineteenth-century chauvinism I tried to counter by pointing out that many women had been successful leaders and also tried to counter the charge that women were some how less objective than their male counterparts.

What was surprising to me about this incident was not the beliefs that the kids had. After all, women are treated like second class citizens in many ways here. (Although, interesting, a large proportion of the police force is female - I don't know how to explain that phenomenon). What did surprise me was that they would actually come out and say it and then vigorously defend their position. Schools, I had thought, at least paid lip service to the idea of equality in a theoretical sense.

I guess Zambia won't be having a woman president any time soon.

Young People

Youth is a very different time in Zambia than in Canada. In church, for example, the youth group extends from early teens up until one gets married - whether this happens at 18 or 25 or 30. Considering the life expectancy in Zambia is 39 this means that one has, potentially, nine years of adulthood. Better pack it all in in a hurry!

The thing that I find quite strange about youth here, though, is that they don't do anything. After graduating from high school they sit around at home for two or three years, not working, not schooling, just sitting around. From the Western cultural lens through which I view the world, I cannot help but see this as laziness and mooching taken to the maximum. Clearly I am missing something, and it is far more acceptable here than in Canada, where one would be told fairly quickly to either get to school or get a job. I guess on one hand there aren't a whole lot of jobs to be had (although people don't exactly look for them either). On the other hand, I am told that Zambians have certain expectations about the kind of jobs that they want and, if one is a high school grad, certain jobs are just beneath you.

My host family is fairly middle class - perhaps verging on upper middle class. Currently we have two of the young 20s crowd who have graduated from high school but are in this in-between stage. They help with the house work and other than that sort of wander aimlessly and talk in vague platitudes about their next step in life. Its not as if they have to work to support the family (I wonder if it would be different in a poorer family which needed the income) so they just sit around.

I must be missing something. Has it always been like this, I wonder? How long does this period normally last? What is enjoyable about it (they often complain of boredom)? Why don't they want to get on with their life? Ah, maybe it is time that I stop making Western value judgements and start just accepting.

Bible and Games Club

One of the activities that I have been doing at Aisha School is a club that on Tuesdays does a little Bible lesson with an activity and then on Thursday does games. This has been a big hit and people like coming so the attendance is remarkably regular. Since Christmas things have changed because about half the people went to another grade, so we got a little smaller, but that's OK. We also lost all our boys - so now it is informally a girls club. This isn't so bad either - the guys were harder to deal with and cheated a lot more when playing games.

My supplies for the games are three tennis balls so sometimes some innovation is necessary. Some games require no supplies - like musical chairs and a few other little games. Dodgeball was a big pre-Christmas hit. I was always a little scared that someone would get hurt because the two sides were very close together and some of them were throwing the balls pretty hard. Fortunately, nothing untowards occurred. Then, just before Christmas, I had an epiphany and we started playing an adaptation of ultimate frisbee - ultimate ball I call it. We don't have a lot of space, but the kids really enjoy it and I usually get to play as well, especially if one team falls behind. My most recent crossover from North America was 500. All these games (dodgeball, ultimate, 500) were new to the kids and they seem to lap them up. I am trying to figure out how to play kick baseball (or Chinese baseball as my elementary school gym teacher called it - I'm guessing they can't do that anymore!) in our limited space.

That's the good news. I started thinking yesterday and began wondering how many of the girls will become teen moms, how many will be sexually abused, how many will get AIDS. Not a pleasant thought. If they follow statistical averages then probably half will be teen moms, most will be abused, and about a third will get HIV/AIDS. A bit of a sobering thought when watching these energetic, enthusiastic youngsters enjoying simple tennis ball games.

School Supplies

This past week I had the opportunity to accompany the MCC school supplies delivery trips in Lusaka. The goods we were delivering aren't quite the same as the bags that everyone fills in Canada - we purchased the supplies locally this time to maximize the amount that we could provide.

Four schools were part of this trip - the two that I teach at and two others. It was really neat to see the wide range of community schools that exist. The first school we visited was housed in a church. This is not abnormal for schools here, however, this particular church only was about 1/3 roofed. All the grades were in one room sitting on benches facing a small blackboard fragment propped up on a chair. I can only imagine what happens when it rains. As we drove up kids on the road were yelling "abuku, abuku" (I presume a translation is unnecessary on that one - it means book). Clearly, the purpose of our visit was well known.

The second school was a much different story. Over time they had built up several classrooms and a small library. They have also just started taking in a few orphans in a small dormitory facility and have a dream of building a new chapel and classroom space. They are supported by a local church and, presumably, some international donors. Every morning they run a feeding program for their students and we saw the big vats in which they cook the mush.

On this trip we just delivered the supplies to the schools. It is up to them to figure out how to best distribute them. I will get to take part in the distribution at Chimwemwe next week and hopefully at Aisha as well.

A Day in the Life of Me

06:00 Wake up, shake off sleep, and begin wait for the bathroom
06:05 Walk around the house to see if anyone is up to make breakfast
06:15 A host brother frantically asks if I can use my bike to buy bread as we have none
06:25 The host brother returns with the bread, I quickly swallow a couple of sandwiches
06:30 I'm on my way to school
07:30 I arrive at school if I take the bike
08:15 I arrive at school if I bus
08:30 My first class starts - primary school computer lessons
09:15 The kids are on break, I check e-mail
09:30 The deaf class is on the computers, once again I have no idea what to do with them so we do the same stuff over and over again
10:10 At this point I will eventually be doing extracurricular activities but right now is is free!
10:15 I buy my morning snack of three fritters for K600
11:30 I head outside with a football and watch chaos ensue as kids delight in playing
12:30 Afternoon classes start
15:10 Break - I may get a lunch or may not. If not then it is back to the fritter lady
15:25 School starts again
17:25 I "knock off" and start for home
18:30 I arrive home (or 18:45 if I'm on the bus) and collapse exhausted in my room
19:30 "Gardener's Daughter," the family's favourite soap comes on TV. I will watch TV/do work until supper
21:30ish Supper time
22:30 I'm off to bed

School Begins

After a lengthy break I was more than eager to get back to the hustle and bustle of teaching. My teaching load is also much different this term than last. I have gone from being predominantly a secondary teacher (teaching Grades 8 and 10) to a primary/secondary teacher and I think I like the change.

Right now I am teaching computer classes to Grades 3-9. I also teach Grade 8 English, Math, and RE and Grade 9 Civics. In a couple of weeks I will begin coaching a sports team (either basketball or football) and probably will be involved with another club as well. At my other school I teach computer lessons to Grade 8s and 9s as well as the staff and am involved in a Bible Club and a Games Club.

The first week of school is always quite hectic. Not all the students bother showing up till the second week so mostly things are just review. The school also did not hire a couple of teachers until a week into the term so I was busy filling in wherever I could. This meant I got to spend a lot of time with the Grade 3s and 4s. This was lots of fun. I am really enjoying my experiences as a primary teacher so far. The secondary classes so far haven't been as great. The Grade 8s are a little less disciplined than last year's bunch so I'll have to crack down on them a little bit. Hopefully they will straighten out and the term will be as good as the last one, or even better!

Salaula Market

Awhile ago I had written about the used clothes markets here where North American and European thrift is shipped over here in big bales and then sold at low prices. This gives people clothes to wear at affordable prices but has also had the unfortunate side effect of killing the local textile industry.

This past weekend was my first visit to one of the larger salaula markets in town. I went with my fellow SALTers who were in town for a meeting. You can basically buy any kind of clothing for any age group in this place - endless stretches of stands selling endless numbers of clothes. After some looking I finally solved my trousers crisis (I needed another pair) and picked up a pair of nice pants which were originally from Mark's Work Warehouse. They are quite comfy - indeed, I'm wearing them right now.

The best was yet to come however. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Maple Leafs jersey and we went to go check it out. Sure enough, there was a whole stand dedicated to only sports clothes. The guy must have gone through the other sellers' wares and bought the sports stuff. Mark and I picked up matching bike jerseys and there was even a third one there that we bought for our friend in Tanzania. I also bought another bike jersey while he bought a bike jersey and a couple of baseball shirts. What a shopping experience! I will certainly be going back to that stand some day to see what kind of new merchandise the vendor has brought in.

Shave and a Haircut...Two Bits!

Awhile ago I made a deal with myself. I promised never to purchase goods at the fancy North American style shopping centers and, instead, find everything I wanted to purchase either in the market, on the street, or in worst case scenarios, in a shop downtown. This way I could get the full Zambian experience, put money into the communities in which I work instead of shipping it to Johannesburg or New Delhi, and, almost always, get a much better price. There were two exceptions to this arrangement: photo development and if I absolutely could not find a good somewhere else.

This has been very fruitful so far and with the assistance of one of my colleagues, Fred, who has sort of been my guide through Zambian life I have found everything I have needed within the local market. I surely could not have found these things by myself - assistance was definitely needed - but, since we've had lots of time over the break, a walk to the market now and then was not a problem.

The test, however, was to come with my first hair cut on the street. I had had one at Manda Hill, a glorified strip mall which serves as the primary shopping destination for local expats, because I was told that people here don't know how to cut "muzungu" hair. It cost K30,000, not bad by North American standards, but pretty pricey in the Zambian world. I began to think, however, that this was not way to get things done. I figured, since I was just getting a shave anyways (not a cut with scissors), that any street barber could accomplish such a task and that my hair isn't particularly "muzunguish" (as in straight) anyways. So I told Fred that I would like to go to a barber. "No problem," he said. He would take me to his guy.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I thought it quite likely that I would be walking out with very little hair. The barber was quite cautious, however. At first he had trouble believing that I was actually there for a haircut and not a shave. Once he overcame his incredulity he put an attachment on his shaver that took almost nothing off. I told him we could go a little shorter, by this time breathing a little easier myself that he seemed to know what he was doing. So he did it again, this time cutting down a little shorter, and did a very good job. Certainly, just as good as the barber at Manda Hill. By this point quite the crowd had developed - I don't think that it is every day that people get to watch a white man get his hair cut on the side of the road.

I also wanted a shave because I had developed quite the goatee over the fall. Again, he had a hard time believing that I wanted it to come off. First he took the bottom off but then questioned if I was sure that I wanted the little blip under the lip gone. "Yes," I said, "take it all off." Once again we had a similar pause at the mustache and again I replied that I wanted it off.

After all this hard work I wasn't quite sure how much I would owe. I was told that it would be K5,000 (or, $1.25 US)! I said that I could give him K6,000 seeing as he had done such a good job. It was K3,000 ($0.75) for the hair cut and K2,000 ($0.50) for the shave. What an unbelievable deal - I could get ten haircuts there for the price of one at Manda Hill. Needless to say, I'm hooked! I think that this is the closest I'll ever get to that old saying, "shave and a haircut, two bits!"

An Update on Zambian Politics

Seeing as Zambian news probably isn't making a lot of headlines across the pond I will fill you in on the current Zambian political situation. The last time I mentioned politics I believe I was dodging rocks in an angry mob. Things have calmed down since then but there are many interesting narratives playing themselves out.

First, there is the leader of the largest opposition party (the Patriotic Front - PF), Michael Sata. This populist leader has been raising a ruckus ever since the election came to a close. Sata is a controversial figure although very popular in urban areas. He says some things that I can appreciate but also some very scary things as well. He held numerous "thank you" rallies and eventually was banned by the police from holding rallies. This action was then condemned and he is now calling for mass protests against the government. The major issue is constitutional change, something which had commenced prior to the election, but on which the government is dragging its heels in a serious way. This is because if there was a change it would be to reduce the powers of the president. Naturally, the ruling party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), has little time for such things.

The second largest opposition party, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is actually a combination of three parties - UPND, FDD, and UNIP. They ran a joint campaign in a remarkable display of setting aside self-interest. They likely would have won too, except that their well-respected leader died a few months before the election, and was replaced by a much younger, unknown leader. UPND, the largest of the three in the partnership is also quite tribalist. Their support is focussed solely in the Tongan area of the country and their leaders are Tongas. The parties, however, had nothing in common except for a dislike of the government and a desire for constitutional change, and so have been bickering ever since the election finished and now the Alliance is in the process of falling apart.

One of the recent incidents of political intrigue happened when Frederick Chiluba, former president of Zambia and leader of MMD, claimed that he had to be sent to South Africa for specialized medical care. The catch was that he is also on bail for charges of corruption. After weeks of back and forth between medical doctors and the government about the necessity of the trip (for which the Zambian taxpayers picked up the tab), charges of government intimidation of doctors to produce medical reports saying that Chiluba did not need the trip, and several trips to court, the president, Levy Mwanawasa decided to let Chiluba travel. Then, another catch. Chiluba's wife, Mwanawasa said, would not be allowed to travel with him, as she too is under charges of corruption-related activity. Eventually the court let her go to, thus ending the drama. In the middle of all this was Michael Sata and the PF. Chiluba left the MMD and joined the PF. During the just finished elections he also endorsed Sata. All the media footage of the events show Chiluba surrounded by supportive PF cadres accusing the MMD of playing with the life of the former president.

The year 2007 will be an interesting time for politics here. It will be interesting to see how those organizations interested in constitutional change - the opposition parties, the church, and labour unions - coordinate their efforts (or struggle against each other for that matter) and what impact this has on the government. I think the only thing that can be counted on for the coming year is to expect the unexpected.

Dining With Polygamists (and other New Years Stories)

After the dud Christmas I was expecting a big New Years - after all, I had been told several times that it, and not Christmas, was the big celebration here.

The 31st began just like any other Sunday - we piled in our minibus and headed off to church. The amazing thing at church this Sunday was that there was a FEMALE PREACHER!!! I was shocked and amazed - that is not something you would expect from churches here. It's not as if she was a great beacon of progressive thought (she once referred to women as "weaker vessels" that men must have mercy on) but it's a start I guess. After the service a church party started. In addition to large amounts of food there was also singing and people had to go up and introduce themselves - say there first and last names and give a quick personal history.

There had been plans to go to a church overnight in the evening. This would have involved praying, singing, and sermons right through the night. For reasons unexplained to me, we never went. On one hand, it would have been a good cultural experience. On the other, listening to sermons at three in the morning (likely not even in English) struck me as a recipe for agony. Instead, we stayed at home with the family which was just as well. In the evening we had loud dance music going and the whole family was dancing away - particularly the young ones, who all had far more skill than I could dream of mustering. One even commented on my dancing, "that's not dancing, that's stepping." Oh well, I've never claimed to be a great dancer.

As midnight approached the dancing lessened and we settled in to watch some of the New Years party on ZNBC. They were playing a variety of music videos and interviewing guests at their studios. Out of nowhere, at about 11:50, they played the music video for "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks. After a long time of my host family singing along to local Zampop songs, there was finally a song for which I knew the words! This may seem entirely insignificant but it felt special at the time. After all, the Texan pop-country trio is one of the few musical acts that crosses the divide of the musical tastes in my family back home.

At the stroke of midnight we went outside for fireworks. We had a few of our own but the most spectacular displays were coming from Chilenje, a compound just to the south of us. It was actually quite impressive - people certainly put a lot of money into their displays. Then it was back inside for more dancing and TV.

The 1st was very much like Christmas in a lot of ways. Most of the day was spent preparing the big meal. I was asked to reprise my Christmas meal so once again I prepared a couple of chickens, stuffing, and seasoned potatoes. We had a few of my host father's relatives over to enjoy dinner (it's hard to call it lunch, considering it happened at 5:45 - nor can it be called supper as this happened at about 10:30). Among them was a polygamist with his two wives. I don't think I'd ever eaten at the same table as a polygamist before.

One comment that I heard many times is people giving thanks to God for surviving another year. This struck me as strange at first, but it does make a lot of sense. Back in Canada we sort of take survival for granted. As a young person, especially, I don't know a whole lot of people who died over the past 12 months. Here, with the scourge of AIDS, TB, malaria, etc. it is certainly not a given that you will make it to see the next year and you do know lots of people who did not make it. Thus, it becomes a cause for celebration and thanksgiving that you have made it to see 2007.

Happy New Year everyone or, as they say here, "Compliments of the Season!"

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

I had no idea what to expect out of this Christmas season. I occasionally would ask people what was done here for Christmas but the answers were usually vague and not terribly helpful so as the season approached I was still in the dark as to what was about to happen.

The first Christmassy things occurred when I spent my Saturday with my host parents in two absolutely packed grocery stores buying food for Monday. This marathon shopping trip, which took about six hours from start to finish, netted us a lot of food, some fire crackers, and an artificial Christmas tree.

Saturday also marked a crisis point for my Christmas. I had been told by a few different people in my family that there was no tradition of gift giving in their family. Since I had received the information from multiple sources I was feeling pretty confident in my decision that I was in the clear and would not need to find gifts for the numerous family members (this also would have been difficult because people come and go with some regularity, especially during the holiday season. There would have been no way of knowing who exactly required a gift). On the evening of the 23rd, however, I thought that, just in case, I should ask my host father one last time. "Oh, yes, we do gifts," he said. As my heart palpitated I asked, "so should I have gifts ready for Christmas?" The response was yes. Shoot! I was told that gifts would be done on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. This did not give me a lot of time to prepare.

After much frantic thinking I developed a plan. I had enough things to cover myself for the rest of the family, I figured, as long as I could get a soccer ball for the little boys. So on Christmas Eve before church I went to the market in search of a soccer ball. None was to be found. It was time to move to Plan B. I figured I would give the boys some Chicco biscuits (cookies) with the promise of a soccer ball to come on Tuesday. The problem was solved, at least temporarily.

The Christmas Eve church service was pretty much like any other, although much of the singing was familiar Christmas songs. These, however, were translated into Nyanja. Fortunately, they all appeared in the song book and so I could easily sing along, even if I wasn't always sure what I was singing. The sermon, I presume, was something Christmas related but I can't be sure because I didn't understand any of it (I busied myself reading the short New Testament letters).

After church I was dreading the gift moment. It never came, however. The rest of the day passed as if nothing was out of the ordinary. It must be coming on Christmas Day, I figured.

There was a Christmas morning service but I was assigned to stay home to cook. Males don't cook in Zambian society, but I had made my family a "Canadian" meal once (spaghetti) and they asked me to cook them a Christmas dinner Canadian-style. I was a little disappointed to miss the Christmas service - maybe this was where a Zambian Christmas would finally reveal itself - but when those who went returned 5 hours later (from a service that was supposed to take an hour) I was glad that I had been assigned to stay behind. We had searched high and low for a turkey but none was to be found so I made roast chicken, stuffing, cooked beans and carrots, and seasoned potatoes. One interesting side note is that we have no cooking dishes but pots so everything had to be stuck in the oven in pots.

I finished cooking at about 13:30 and just as I was leaving the kitchen the girls of the family came in and started to cook. In addition to our chicken dinner we also had plenty of rice, beef, pasta and sauce, potato salad, cabbage salad, and a cake. While waiting for this food to be prepared we did what Zambians love to do - watch TV. Some programming was OK - the South African adaptation of Dickens's "Christmas Carol" was well done. Others, such as a half-hour infomercial on a local grocery store were less exciting. We ate at about 16:30ish, a long wait after having breakfast at 9:00!

In the evening we dropped off a family who had visited for the day and then settled in to the TV shows we watch every week day. One of the boys even asked me to tutor him with his Grade 7 Social Studies. I was shocked - here it was Christmas Day and he wanted to be taught! I told him to wait till the next day.

Back to the gifts. There was no moment of giving. No one gave any one a gift either big or small. So at the end of the day I gave a gift to my family as a whole - a Christmas book from Canada - that was very much appreciated.

Christmas, therefore, was pretty much a normal day. The only difference was that I was home all day instead of being at work. By the end of the day I was so happy, though. Normally I experience joy because it is Christmas. This year I experienced joy because Christmas was finally over. The days preceeding it had been pretty tough as far as homesickness goes so I was happy to have it done with. I could finally move on with regular life.

While Christmas might have been a bit of a let down, I'm told that the real celebration is at New Years. Since I am not one that usually does a whole lot for this occassion I am sure that I will get more than normal. Even if Christmas here is nothing to write home about, I'm thinking that New Years will be and am really looking forward to it.