Ivy and I had to go back to the University Teaching Hospital this morning to meet with yet another person at administration. Not to anyone’s surprise, they told us to come back tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll actually get approval to observe in the hospital before Sarah and I are scheduled to leave. We went straight to Munali instead of trying to make it to the clinic at Fountain for only 20 or 25 minutes.
We only had one session scheduled at Munali and it was really uneventful. The students were supposed to take their life skills quiz administered by Sport In Action tomorrow, so we spent the entire time reviewing topics. Each peer leader would choose a topic (peer pressure, drug abuse, HIV, decision making, etc.), we’d split the class into groups, and then rotate the groups between the leaders. It sounds really simple but apparently not. A couple of the peer leaders kept sending their groups in random directions to different leaders, so some students ended up hearing about the same topic twice and others, not at all. Since our HIV session at Tionge was cancelled, we left after the session and were feeling pretty frustrated.
When we got home, the house was out of running water. That happens occasionally and there are power outages sometimes, too. We’ve gotten used to it. We used the stock of bottled tap water in the pantry to make hot bucket showers and get ready for a big party! Every year since 2006, a partnership of universities in the UK has sent a bunch of students to volunteer with Sport In Action. Two of the athletic directors at those universities, Ian from North Umbria University and Peter from Durham University, were largely responsible for setting up the partnership. Ian is retiring from North Umbria this year, so Sport In Action had a big party for him!
All of the Sport In Action employees and volunteers rode together in rented blue mini buses. I had so much fun sitting in the conductor’s seat and hanging out the window shouting at the local Zambians—“Cuela mami! Cuela!”—and seeing their faces when they saw the bus conductor was just a puny little muzungu girl. Everyone was laughing because it was just so out of place.
Clemente Chileshe, the president at Sport In Action, hosted the party. He just moved into his house with his wife and little daughter. Even though the house still needed a little bit of work, it was really beautiful. The party was fully catered with lots of yummy food, drinks, a full band with dance groups for entertainment, and all of our friends were there! The dinner was so good. I don’t really know what half of what we ate actually was, but there were delicious vegetable dishes, potatoes, chicken and beef, bread, and some fish that I didn’t try but certainly looked tasty. They had traditional Mosi beers and a type of alcoholic cider that we don’t have in the states. It tastes like a mix of carbonated apple juice and ginger ale. Sarah and I were huge fans!
After dinner, there were several speeches by Frank, Mwape, Frevious, and more. Everyone was sad to see Ian go and eager to share all of his accomplishments and contributions to Zambia with the audience. When Ian spoke, he was very gracious and said that his relationship with Zambia would surely continue. After the speeches, all of the dance groups started to perform. The highlight was easily a pair of Zambian girls in tight white mini shorts and bright pink tops. They started dancing across the dance floor and then, completely out of the blue, one of them hurtled across the room, jumped up, and straddled Frank, the director of Sport In Action. With her feet still off the ground, she started literally humping him. There actually isn’t a more polite way of saying it. She was just completely humping him with her legs wrapped around his waist. All of the international volunteers were so torn between laughing hysterically and being completely revolted. The two girls continued around the room, occasionally hump dancing / lap dancing with random men at the party. I feel ridiculous even typing that.
After that little show, we all started dancing together in a big circle. It was much more appropriate haha and really fun to see all of our Zambian friends busting out their traditional dance moves. People would run into the middle of the circle, show off some skills, and then choose a new person to showcase their abilities on the d-floor. It was hysterical and such a good way to bond with all of our Zambian buddies. Sarah and I were so bummed when the party ended and everyone started going home. We finished off the night by taking a bunch of “family photos”, first with our Zambian friends, and second with Mubanga and Ivy, our lovely housemates. It was probably one of the most fun nights we’ve had in the six weeks we’ve been here.
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