This morning we were in a rush to get ready and get to our site. I ran into the kitchen where Chrissy was already eating some cereal and saw that she was eating out of a large mug. I didn’t see that she had set out a bowl for me so I looked in the cupboard for another large mug. As I picked one off of the top shelf and tilted it toward me to see if it was clean, brown-ish and spotted liquid came splashing out and went all over my shirt. I turned around and Chrissy just stared at me and said, “take it off!” I ran back into our room and took off my shirt to wash it off, it smelled foul. Chrissy then informed me that the women who had been cleaning the kitchen just placed the mug back in the cupboard without even rinsing it out – not sure what to think of that….
We took another new bus route to work in the morning. I would have to say that we horribly misjudged the time it takes to get there. Because the blue buses stop every few minutes and wait until they are completely full to keep going we were on them for about an hour. In total it took us about 2 hours to get to our site, missing our first P.E. session of the day. It sucked but now we know that we need to plan more time to get there. Womp.
The session that we did conduct was really fun! Before starting, we got in a big circle and everyone introduced themselves. At one point a boy said his name (or we think it was his name) and the rest of the kids started laughing hysterically. We had absolutely no idea what was funny, so apparently we missed something. I really wish that we understood the jokes in Nyanja…. After that one of the peer leaders, Aaron, led them in some fun songs. We participated and learned what seemed like the Zambian version of the Hokie Pokie (I thought it was cooler). Then we played a game with the kids, kind of a modified version of four square with a middle man. The kids (6th graders) loved it and got really into the game, yelling and cheering. Afterwards we spoke to them about peer pressure and drugs. Some of the questions they asked were really interesting. One little boy asked, “if you have sore muscles or are in pain, is ok to use drugs then.” We explained that drugs you get on the street are always bad and addictive, but that if a doctor prescribes them that it’s ok. However upon saying so, we realized that many of these kids can’t go to the doctor to get medicine. Also, it’s probably unlikely that things like Advil and Tylenol are available to them. Even if they were, it’s also possible to abuse prescription drugs. It’s kind of a lose-lose, and pretty complicated to explain to a bunch of middle school aged kids so we tried to keep it simple.
We left the site earlier than usual, going by the Sport In Action office on our way. After leaving the office we passed by the same street corner where we had received our first marriage proposals. Unfortunately, the same men were there again today. The one who had been the most persistent the other day was once again very forceful. He grabbed Chrissy’s wrist and didn’t understand that we seriously wanted nothing to do with him. Does he really do this every day to every white girl he sees? Wow that must get tiring. He kept asking if he could marry us, and told us “but I really love you, you know that.” Chrissy showed him her ring but he thought she meant she had three husbands because she had three fingers up. She said that she was married, as was I, and we both showed him our rings. He kept asking if we could marry him anyway, but of course we said we only wanted one husband. Then he asked Chrissy if he could marry her daughter instead. (Input From Chrissy: yeah, because I have oh so many daughters to choose from! I’ve had enough of that hooligan. Next time he puts me in a vice grip and tries to convince me to marry him I’m going to use my gold belt). Then he proceeded to ask if he could marry one of our friends. Oh ya sure Mr. drunk gross and homeless, you can totally marry my best girl friend at home! -- NOT. We finally got rid of him, in the most polite way as possible. I’m really starting to get used to having a “husband,” it’s been saving my ass here. We will not be walking via that street corner ever again.
When we got home we met the two new guys, Mike and Dave, who will be staying with us for the next two weeks. They’re Americans from New York who were college lacrosse players. They have been living in England and coaching lacrosse and were asked by Sport In Action to come here to teach kids how to play. When talking to them we found out that a few girls from Duke play with them at Durham University. Ironically, the one person who I know at Durham University (Christy, a girl I played club soccer with at Duke) is someone that they know and played with. Quite the small world!
We decided to go hang out in the kitchen where Ivy was cooking dinner so we could see how she cooks Nshima. She asked us if we had tried it yet, and when we said no she insisted that we have a full meal. Nshima, beans, sausage, and a vegetable called “rape.” Our first Zambian meal, it was so good, and extremely filling! Now we just need to learn how to make it ourselves. We were a little nervous to eat the sausage in case it makes us sick, but we didn’t want to be rude so we had a little. So far, so good. Keep your fingers crossed.
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