Moments In Between (Part 1)

We’re three-quarters of the way through at time at Chishawasha - it's unbelievable! Last week was extremely busy. We were prepping and delivering workshops for the mothers and school staff. They went very well, but the days have been very long and exhausting as we continue to take in as many moments as we can. We’ll post our blog about last week’s work in a day or so, but wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the “moments in between” – which, we all know, are what life is really all about! =)


Getting Comfy

Shortly after last weekend (when we got engaged), we found that things here started to shift. Our tenure as ‘visitors’ was beginning to give way to a newfound comfort. For the first two weeks we were not allowed to contribute to the dinners we received each night in the houses – as customary, guests were served with incredible hospitality. Our constant requests to say thank you by doing dishes, etc were met with ‘next week’ over and over. Now, though, we’re beginning to be welcomed as more permanent fixtures… at least a little. The children are opening up more and more, and each day previously quiet and shy faces come alive with questions and discussions and requests to play and talk and read together. We’re getting more frequent curious visitors to our makeshift home, which has been a real pleasure, since the unscheduled times are some of the best opportunities to really get to know the kids. They really like to come by for opportunities to practice on our mini djembe and sing and dance, which we also absolutely love! Our Nyanja is getting better (marginally) as our number of language teachers is growing. Our post-dinner time in each house has begun to shift from surface questions like: ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ and ‘what is your favourite thing to eat with nshima?’ – to discussions about politics and football, jam sessions, and (our favourite) dance parties! Moreover, we’re being allowed to do dishes after dinner and hope soon to learn to cook nshima.

“Movious”

Our exposure to daily life and our immersion in it is getting deeper and deeper with every passing hour. The children are so unbelievably kinesthetic! There is a cultural piece to this phenomenon, but with little to do but run around and play football (soccer, remember) and dance, it’s no wonder many of the boys can easily cartwheel into a hand-spring at top speed in bare feet across gravel. A few of them in particular have technique and ability that would make any gymnast jealous. One young gentleman named Ryan is so gifted and inclined towards movement that every now and then when he’s sitting down listening, he just needs to get up and do a back-flip before he can concentrate again. It’s not just that they’re active, and they are very active – one mother remarks that some of them are ‘too movious’ (they move too much. We love the appropriateness of this term so much that we have adopted it!). It’s also that they all have an exceptional understanding of how their bodies move in space and how to express themselves physically. We are constantly in awe.

While most of the boys and a few girls show this off in the field, the rest show it off on the dance floor. The dancing is incredible and beautiful – both traditional and more modern African dancing is all about the hips. Some of the girls can move in ways that make us cross-eyed as we try to follow their waists and torsos, which often appear to be heading in opposing directions seemingly unattached – we’re not exactly sure how they stay in one piece. A number of our dinners have turned into full-fledged dance parties. And while often they start as a show of the best dancers (girls and boys), they soon want to see us dance. We do our best to humbly make a few swing moves before they join in and we all let loose. We’re both trying to learn to do a few traditional dances as well and the lessons are going pretty well, although Jenny’s hips seem incapable of moving independently of her shoulders, which draws a lot of giggles each time we take to the floor.

Rains, Hail and Inswa

As the children and mothers and teachers open up to us, so too does Africa show us more of itself. The rainy season is starting up in good fashion. Some days are cool and overcast, others rain off and on. The storm clouds gather and move in with little warning. Sometimes they will have short pours, sometimes only threats that leave the land humid and sweltering without a real drop. Other times the rain falls intensely, bringing out the frogs and all new kinds of insects.

Last week after our first workshop with the mothers, we got a beautiful sun-shower. The sun was beginning to set and lit the red, red soil with golden light as the rains began to fall gently. It was beautiful and the children playing football were half playing the game and half catching rain in their mouths or sliding through the slippery parts – all loving it. As we were leaving the school we noticed the rain got thicker and very cold. By the time we got to our house, the rain had gotten intense, and as we looked back from our porch we saw balls of hail pounding the ground. Needless to say we were surprised to see hail. Our porch became shelter to two of the girls who were walking by, and they explained that the ice comes when the rain is ‘too much’. Moments later the storm had whipped into something that looked like a hurricane. Windows and doors are often left open here, so within two minutes of the storm intensifying, our bed and couch were soaked and Philip’s electronic cords in the next room had been engulfed by a small but growing lake. As quickly as it began, the storm subsided, and we were able to ensure that no major damage was sustained.

That night the rains continued, and the next day brought some more new experiences. The following evening we were relaxing in our room around 10pm when we heard something like tapping on the tin roof or maybe an animal in bushes behind us. As the sound grew we turned off the lights to peer out the window to see if we could make out the source of the disturbance. The sound immediately stopped and we saw nothing. We shone our flashlight around… still nothing. We turned the lights back on and went back to our reading and relaxing. A few short minutes later, the sound was back and continued to grow. Again we switched off the lights and searched through the window with our flashlight. Again the sound had stopped and there was nothing in sight. So again we put the lights back on and continued our r and r. Again the sound grew louder and we thought maybe some of the children were playing a prank, so Jenny threw aside the curtain (lights still on) and we discovered the culprits. It was not an animal on the roof or in the bushes. It was literally hundreds of insects – each with bodies nearly an inch long and four wings about twice that length – all banging on the screen of our window. They were so light sensitive that they immediately stopped once we turned off the lights. The next day we asked about them and some of our hosts laughed. These were termites (huge ones) or flying ants, though not like any we’ve seen before. Locally they are called ‘Inswa’ (sp?) and they come out of their ‘small mountains’ of dirt after the heavy rains. We were also informed that they are quite delicious and high in fats and protein! The next day we saw a number of children snacking on fried Inswa, and when the Inswa came out next, the children collected hundreds from our windows. And yes… two nights ago we ate our first Inswa at dinner. They have a texture of popcorn with a bit of a flavour – not bad, actually. Hey, we were hoping for an authentic experience!

So there are a few 'snapshots' for sharing.  We promise we'll get some more posts up quickly - we certainly have a lot to share and are quite behind but we've been very busy (which is a good thing - it's why we're here =).  So stay tuned for more stories and reflections very soon.

Until then, Much Love, Jimi and Jenny.