Mulibuti (‘Hello, how are you?’ In Chi Tonga)
Another week has passed in Livingstone and as always I could write all day about the adventures we have had and the amazing experiences that seem to be happening in our everyday lives here. However, as I don’t have all day and only have five hundred words, this week I have chosen to focus on my cultural development.
As I have previously mentioned, the Zambian culture has been one which I have adapted to very well with it being such a friendly, laid back, positive culture. These traits are easy to spot as you walk down a street or through the market place and see the locals spending time together, chatting and making a living, all without a sense of urgency or desperation even though a lot of the locals have so little. Since being in Africa I honestly don’t think I have heard any of the locals complain, the only complaints I have heard have been by me and Harriet, and other travellers passing through Jollyboys! The teachers at school, the staff at Jollyboys, the people we meet in the streets, the children we teach- they are all so thankful for what they have and have such a positive outlook on life. Every morning before class the children sweep their classroom without complaint and they do other duties around the school grounds like gardening and tidying. It forces me to make a comparison with our culture and I am immediately aware of how much I complain in a day, and usually over really small things which aren’t that big a deal in the scheme of things.
Spending time at the orphanage has been a brilliant experience to help me understand that people here are very content with what they have, although in some cases this may be very little. The children don’t have a lot of toys to play with or books to read but they manage to entertain themselves with simple things, like dancing and singing while one of them uses a bucket for a drum, or playing a traditional game with a handful of stones (they have tried to teach me and Harriet but we are hopeless at it!).
We explored the Zambian culture further this week when we taught a series of lessons based on ‘postcards’ with our Grade 6 class, which involved us telling the children about Northern Ireland and letting them ask questions, and then the children wrote about their own country as though they were writing to a Northern Irish school child. This was such a worthwhile activity and it was really inspiring seeing what the children wrote about their country, saying things like “we are a peaceful nation” and “Zambia is good to us”. These children like all the other local people we have met, are so proud of their country and are really truly happy to be Zambian! We also learnt a lot of facts about Zambia; the children told us about the ten provinces of Zambia, Freedom Day, their president and we even learnt some of the seventy three languages. We thought it was quite bad that we have been in Zambia for five weeks now and hadn’t learnt any of the local language so for a morning the pupils became our teachers and gave us some greetings in the languages of Chi Tonga, Bemba, Lozi, and Cinyanga. They have been quizzing us all week to make sure we have been doing our ‘homework’ and learning what they taught us!
Example of one of the postcards made by one of the pupils.
I really am falling in love with this culture and the people here really are beautiful people! As well as gaining an appreciation for this culture, being here is also making me think more about my own culture and see the things I take for granted at home.
A further cultural experience this week was going to Zimbabwe for the weekend, to see the other side of the Falls. Again the views were breath-taking and I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the stunning scenery that was around it. It was strange to be out of Livingstone and the town of Victoria Falls probably couldn’t be more different than Livingstone, with its fancy hotels, air-conditioned gift shops, chain restaurants (they had a Spur restaurant- the steak house in Victoria Square!), casino and lots of Victoria Falls souvenirs (or tack…). It was really good to see this little town but I know that it is not a true representation of Zimbabwe, or indeed Africa, and it was definitely a town built for tourists.
Looking at the view of the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The view of the Falls from the amazing Victoria Falls Hotel which is total luxury!
Otherwise this week has been quite quiet with us starting to think about writing our dissertations and getting our ideas together. It has been a really good week at school, especially today which was just a lovely way to end the week. We had a very relaxed day with the children reading out their postcards, then writing some name poems (amazingly the children had never heard of a ‘poem’), and then doing some CTS where we taught about fertiliser (the curriculum differs greatly in some areas to ours at home!), and finishing off with our new favourite class game- Giants, Wizards and Elves! After school a lot of the pupils walked home some of the way with us and it was lovely to chat to them and hear what they would be doing over the weekend. Another thing that made a fantastic end to the week was getting a package from home! The excitement when I got my little slip of paper at Jollyboys saying I had a package waiting, at the same time as also getting a letter from my Granny, was very exciting and it made me very motivated to get to an internet café, write my blog and do the shopping all within two hours so that I could get to the post office in time! Two visits to the post office later I finally got the package and it was worth the wait! I can now eat all the chocolate I brought because I have a new supply. My mum knows me very well and packed lots of goodies that me and Harriet are going to enjoy over the next few weeks, including toastie bags- I’ve missed those!
My amazing package from my Mum!
We don’t have very much planned for the coming week but sometimes that is nice as it allows us to ‘go with the flow’ a little more and just see what opportunities come our way. Whatever we do, I have no doubt it will be another very enjoyable week in Livingstone!
Naya! (‘I am leaving now’ in Bemba)
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