11 May 2008

When we spoke to Andy and Ashlee they were both tired because they hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before as mice were running across the tin roof all night. What do you say to that? They were sitting in the yard coloring with the village children. The kids come over randomly and want to color and draw and they have really enjoyed their time with them. They help with the language and laugh at Ashlee when she says things wrong.

It has been hot but since it is nearing the winter season people are wearing their winter clothes, including fleeces, in 95+ heat. They heard that there is a pool at the hospital in Kasempa so they are making plans to visit there. For now they are cooling off by bathing in their large tub. Ashlee has been working on getting the flower beds cleaned up and planting her garden. She is planning the plant large loofa vines around the kitchen hut while Andy has been working hard to get everything else working. Ashlee is planning to continue the canning education with the ladies in the village and Andy will be working on a variety of project including growing the honey business which currently employs 20 men and is a great income generator. Currently when they find a hive they will cut the tree down to harvest the honey so Andy is going to try and make pots that can be used for hives to help reduce the number of trees that are being cut down. They are saving the wood ash from their fires for building the kiln as it is an important ingredient so that the kiln is well insulated and can burn very hot. Andy thought they would have enough ash in a few weeks. They will also be continuing English classes in the village, a program set up by the previous volunteers.

They have been attending the Adventist church but the pastor for that church has 12 other churches so he is rarely there. They asked Ashlee and Andy to do some classes on HIV education as the people are “awed” by Americans and will listen to them concerning HIV/AIDS. It has been difficult to educate people as even the educators are still dying of AIDS and sex is not something that is talked about. Ashlee said that a man from the church was going around and introducing them to people as “one of us” and Ashlee finally asked why he was doing that and he said “ Well you are Adventist, so you are one of us.” They said they were amazed how welcoming everyone was especially after finding out they are Adventists.

Their diet for the last several weeks has consisted of sweet potatoes, onion, cabbage, okra, tomato and eggs. (Sounds like summer meals growing up.) They also have all the regular staples like pasta and rice. Ashlee has been making all kinds of sweet potatoes including a kind of curry stew, home fries and eggs, etc. Their current stove is a brazier that takes about 30 minutes to boil water, so dinner takes about 2 hours to prepare. Andy is planning to build them a stove in a similar method as the kiln and hopes to get that made soon. They have been treating themselves to hot chocolate in the evenings is she can get the water hot, but if not they just go to bed. With no electricity they go to bed when it gets dark.

They said that there is a really good article in the latest Forbes Life about Zambia that they wanted to recommend to everyone. http://search.forbes.com/search/find?MT=Zambia I am not sure which article they were referring to, but here is a link to several recent articles.