May 31, 2005
Housing
Ok Jen. My house is a rental. All the PC peeps who live in towns rent their houses. The range is from $50 to maybe $80 or so a month. That's for a small house in town. For a big house in town you'd pay considerably more (depending on the neighborhood). I think that PC pays a lot for location and security. Land dispersement here is very strange. If you want to build a house or farm a plot in the village, no need to buy the property (or rent for that matter), you just go to the headman, senior headman, or chief and ask for permission. Always bring a chicken to him as a show of respect and offering (BEWARE: never bring a black chicken). Those lands belong to certain tribes. Then of course there are HUGE amounts of land that have basically been given to white Zambian (and former white Zimbabweans kicked-out by Mugabe) farmers. The people who work their land (for little to nothing) live in villages on their land. The other people who live in villages live on tribal lands (as headed by the peeps named earlier). Oh! And then there are what are called "settlement farms." Basically the government gives people who used to work for the government (cops, teachers... think HUD retirement farms or something) big tracts of land where they get to make money in their old age. They usually employ a family or two of workers to live and work the farm while living their comfortable life in town. Ok, I can smell the meat pies from Star Snacks down the street calling my name.
Peace.
ARV
Posted by ringo at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)
May 27, 2005
Transportation
Well, I was waiting to get questions or requests about what y'all want to hear about... no one seems to want to know anything specific. Today's topic, boys and girls, will be transport Zam-style. Well, there is a saying in Tonga: "Mwende Kabotu." It literally means, "Walk well." To most Zambians, walking is the main mode of transportation. A step up from that would be owning a bicycle (something that would cost the average worker or farmer about half to a full year's salary= $60). Then you have the village-popular but town inefficient ox cart. Then there's the problems with hoof and mouth and maintaining expensive animals. Only the richest people (maybe 1%) own actual cars or trucks to drive. For me getting around within Choma, walking is my chosen method. I have a really nice Peace Corps bike, and I use that to go any distance that would be more than 20 minutes to walk. If I go out at night I take a taxi home or hitch a ride with a friend. Getting to other towns or when I go visit Rue in her village requires a mixture of transport. There's a lot of riding on the back of flatbed trucks with sacks of mealie meal.
There's a lot of waving the hand around to try and flag a ride. If I'm going to Lusaka or Livingstone, then I have to take a bus. Now, there are the chicken bus options (very cheap) all the way up to a luxury coach. It really is easy for me to get around because I live a block off The Great North Road... my friends in other provinces don't have it so easy. Southern Province is the most developed in terms of roads and transport. Okay, well, like I said, post a comment if you want to hear about something specific.
Mwende Kabotu,
RINGO
Posted by ringo at 10:23 AM | Comments (3)
May 20, 2005
ONE WHOLE DOLLAR (or about 5,000 Zambian Kwacha)
Per Joyce's request, all of these things will cost you roughly kw 5,000 OR LESS:
-loaf of bread
-a rubber (get your mind out of the gutter, I mean long pieces of rubber to tie things to your bicycle)
-a cheap pen
-enough rape to feed a family of 12
-10 minutes on the internet (but don't forget that I only get paid $5 a day)
-two Zambian newspapers (and yes, there are more than 2 national rags)
-a crappy chitenge (more on that later)
-a soda in a can
-a beer (Zambian of course)
-5 apples
-chips (french fries)
-a meat pie
-a samosa
-3 bags of hair (for a nice weave or braids)
-admission to the local "sports club" (a bunch of white and Indian guys)
-laundry detergent
-a bar of soap
-a broom
-a pair of flop flops (otherwise known as pata patas)
-1 minute of talk time on your Zam cell phone
-a handmade basket
-15 condoms (since your mind was in the gutter anyway)
Ok, and that's some stuff you can buy for a dollar here in Zambia. I will honor all requests for posts or lists of stuff or whatever, if only you ask! Take care!
Posted by ringo at 3:03 PM | Comments (3)
May 16, 2005
Zambian Food
Ok, so I've had a lot of questions about the food that I've been eating and what the traditional fare is like and the such. Let me take this opportunity to explain, albeit limited, my experience with Zambian food. First and foremost I have to say that I LOVE the food. Then again, as my friend Rue would say, I'll eat anything, so I'm probably not the best judge. In fact, I have yet to discover even one Zambian dish that I don't like. Okay, so maize is the staple food of all of Zambia. Everyone in the villages has thier own field of miaze that they harvest twice a year. From what I can tell, it is like feed corn in the US. When harvested green the common practice is to boil or roast it and eat it off the cob. Not as tasty as sweet corn, but yummy nonetheless. Most often, however, the maize is left in the field until it is hard and brown. Then it is harvested for the grinding and made into melie meal (a fine maize powder not unlike cornmeal). From there they make it into the food item that they have with EVERY meal... nshima (in-she-ma). Water is boiled, mealie meal is added (and stirred in until your arm feels like it is going to fall off) until it becomes a thick paste. Then it is scooped out in lumps. With nshima you usually have two relishes... one vegetable and a protien. The most common vegetables are rape and cabbage. Greens are shredded and then cooked with tomatoes and onions in saladie (cooking oil). They are served dripping with oil and salt is added to taste. Other common veggies are: chard, okra, green beans, mushrooms, and maybe even spinach. In the protien department again everything is cooked in a lot of saladie with tomatoes and onions for flavor. Expensive, but most common is chicken. Other options include: beef, kapenta (dried minnow-like fish), buga fish, sausage, soya pieces (think wheat glutin), caterpillars, or termites. The last two of these are not common except when in-season. You take a couple lumps of nshima, then you pick off a chunk of it, ball it in your hand (right hand only) and scoop the relishes into your mouth using the nshima. It is coustomary to leave a bit of food on your plate to signify that you have been satisfied and that you are finished eating. For breakfast popular foods include: jungle oats (just like Quaker), sweet potatoes (boiled), bread, or poridge (nshima not exactly made into the paste but a cream-of-wheat consistency with added ground-nut powder).
SO! That's what I eat most often. Of course when I'm cooking for myself I just make regular western food, but I eat with Vena a lot and sometimes go to a Zambian food restaurant. Let me know via comments what other items of Zambian life you'd like to hear the most about and my postings will be info-packed.
Peace.
RINGO
Posted by ringo at 10:37 AM | Comments (4)
May 14, 2005
Life in General
Ok. So I've shifted, begun work, and settled into life here in Choma. The PCVL house is about to be here permanently, so that's exciting, although I was liking being the only PCV in Choma. The weather is wonderful, cool at night and warm in the day. The cats that I live with are all named and seem to be getting used to sharing their space with me. They look like a little lion family: Scar (daddy), Muffin (mommy), Scout (baby boy), Scab (baby boy, and Mutinta (baby girl). Let's hope that they don't multiply like the kittens on my parents' farm, hey? How many are there now Mom? Ok, well, I hope that everyone is having a great time and thanks for the posts and letters and waves of love.
ARV
Posted by ringo at 10:15 AM | Comments (2)
May 3, 2005
I Have Shifted!
Home Sweet Home!
Well, after a long wait, I moved into my house yesterday! It is pretty much done, now all I need is somewhere to put my clothes! Vena and Mukesh helped me move-in... what would we do in this world without good friends? My front room/sitting room/bedroom is purple! I even had some chitenge curtains made.
I started work today. More on that later...
If you want to call, a good website to get phone cards from is www.pinonsale.com IT has good rates to Zambia. Beware the African Dream card.
Just to remind you:
Annie Ringo Vine
PO BOX 630109
Choma, Zambia
phone: 01126097574635
Peace.
RINGO
Posted by ringo at 2:48 PM | Comments (4)