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peaceableness, black icons, punk ethos, muhammad ali, bill cosby, bad brains, anarchist principles, gifs, vintage motorbikes and cars, clever design
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we are the people. we are not the pig.
So…my mom is living in Africa…x
It’s caterpillar season! The caterpillars here are enormous and apparently quite a delicacy. Everyone goes out collecting them. They are also an income maker for many people as they collect huge quantities of them and transport them to bigger cities like Lusaka to sell. They are cleaned (meaning the guts are squashed out of them, yuck) and then dried and cooked and served with nshima. Several people have tried to get me to try one but there is no way that is getting passed my lips! I was picking them out of trees on my way home from Chilonga the other day. I had a branch that I was hanging them on like Christmas ornaments. People I passed on the road were laughing at me. “Musungu (white person) are you going to eat those caterpillars!” NOOOO, I’m going to give them away. So funny! I gave them to an old couple in the village along with some tomatoes and greens. So they enjoyed a nice caterpillar dinner that night.
I went with Nyambe to the water source this morning. There was no water in the village and he needed to find the problem. It was fun and challenging as we had to climb up the rocks and waterfalls to reach it. The problem was at the water intake where the pipe was blocked with leaves. Now that it is clear the water is flowing again. Because of the very hot temps here, there is some sort of bacteria in the water that is giving many people very bad stomach pains. They have been advised to either boil their drinking water or add clorine to it. Most people don’t heed the advice though as they have been drinking water straight from the river for generations.
I’ve seen many awesome birds since I’ve been here. Some have long flowing tails that are 3 times the length of their bodies. Some are beautiful colors, red, blue, green,yellow and even purple. I’ve been keeping a log of what I see with dates and locations. The water source is a good place to birdwatch. There is plenty of trees and water and it is secluded.
I came to Chilonga to us the internet today, and to get a cold soda. You know I must be desperate for a cold drink if I’ll walk an hour each way to get one!
Moses is so excited to be going to Ndola. He is counting the days on the calender. His english is getting very good and we are working on his english reading skills. There is a childrens library at the Mango Tree where we borrow books. Right now he is probably reading on a 1st grade level, but he is learning quickly.
Well, that’s all for now. Hope you are all fine.
XXXOOO
hey, friends. this is a blog post that my mother wrote this morning. she’s currently in zambia (central eastern africa) working to finalize the adoption of my new kid brother. her words are beautiful.
please follow the link, read them, and share them.
-marcus
Hi Everyone,
I know that some of you have visited African villages but for those of you who haven’t, I’d like to give you an idea of what it’s like.
From the road you may not even notice that there is a village as it is mostly hidden in trees and bush. At night, because there is no light…
