Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sundays in Zambia




In May we took a trip to the South Luangwa National Park in the Eastern Province. Luangwa is a game preserve – next week I'll post a handful of pictures from my experience there – you will note that my camera left a LOT to be desired. So mostly there are pictures of bush & trees where there may or may not be animals – except for the elephants – they showed up quite well!

Anyway, on our way to the park we stopped in a village near Chipata. This is the kind of Africa that all my friends were expecting. I kept telling them "I live in a city!" but this is what they wanted to see. Huts, dirt…




People carrying things on their heads…





What I saw were smiles. And lots of hard work. See the little girl pounding the grain? Hard work.




They let me try. It wasn't pretty. At all. Embarrassing, really.




I should never, ever complain about typing a letter at work. Or cooking a meal. Or shopping for groceries. At least I gave them something to laugh at.

7 comments:

  1. Sort of puts things into perspective for sure... :c)

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  2. We did a job for a guy who is a big game hunter. Has killed all those beauties. He wanted acacia trees and these african huts on the glass side lites of his study...the whole time being such a racist asshole about how stupid, lazy, ignorant the people are. I about bit my tongue off. I couldn't done with that guy's job fast enough.

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  3. Have you seen the mini-series on HBO called The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency? Although the show takes place in Botswana, it is this sort of gentle, lovely show that you can slip easily into. That's what I love about your Zambia posts.

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  4. Oh this is fun to see. And I love the other comments. I so often think of the women who have to spend half the day, or all day, getting water, especially when I think I have something to complain about.

    I'm so glad the poor of Africa, Asia and all warm countries don't have to contend with the cold at least.

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  5. What great memories these are! That stick does look heavy!!!
    I love the mountain dog on your sidebar.

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  6. Dear The Bug,
    The part where you say your companions were looking at exotics and you were looking at smiles is so very profound.

    I don't say they were wrong. Sometimes the push for the trophy or the exotic means a chance to learn more, and that's the known way to measure it, to push to some new limit.

    I think they will go further faster next time. Or, they can be like ellen abbott's big game hunter/ player, and never see a thing.

    But this is really insightful. Thanks for sharing.

    Sincerely,
    Ann T. Hathaway

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  7. Time spent in other cultures really does work to shine light back into our own lives. Sometimes I think we are better off without the "time-saving devices" that spoil us with leisure time. But then, I wouldn't be getting to know you!

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Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

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