Our Humble Abode

Hi Again, Friends

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH!

I realized I haven't discussed yet our humble abode. We live in a mud-brick, thatch-roof house that's about 15 ft. by 15 ft.  We've been told it's small for a married couple of PCVs, and the previous two generations of PCVs who lived here were both single. That said, our neighbor told us that before PCVs lived in the house, a family of ELEVEN dwelled here. I'm finding that hard to believe, but that's what he said!


Mud-brick houses:
I find this amazing. Clay soil is dug up out of the ground by hand, and then formed by hand into brick shape. Then, the bricks are piled together in a sort of pyramid with a gap at the bottom. In that gap, a wood fire is created and then the whole pyramid of clay bricks is covered in mud and left for days to burn the bricks into solid, home-building material.

Our walls were at some point cemented, meaning after the house was built, someone (probably the first-generation PCV) mixed and then smeared cement over the mud-brick walls. This is a very nice touch, as it fortifies the walls (especially during rainy season) and deters termites. With just the cement, however, the walls are a dull gray cement color (as you'd expect). So, Shaun and I recently limed our walls and now they are brilliantly whitewashed making the corners not so dark and scary, making the walls even more termite-resistant, and making it feel less like a garage and more like a humble abode. It reminds me now of the village homes I visited years ago in northern Morocco. I remember being taken aback by how bright, cool and relieving the homes seemed inside, despite the blistering North African sun outside.


Thatch-Roofs:
Our roof is made of grass that's cut in the dry season, before burn season (starting in September) when farmers slash and burn large swaths of land to prepare it for cultivation (a practice known locally as "Chitemene"). When we first moved in, we'd look up to see wooden beams, our thatch roof and a small patch of sunlight right above our bed (which is only movable if we dismantle it so it stays put). To help with the rains and to keep thatch and other debris from falling on us, our neighbor lined the inside of our roof with black plastic (provided by Peace Corps). Bless his heart, he and his sons covered every inch of the roof creating a barrier between us and that patch of daylight above our bed.

Nonetheless, we had neighbors come by and tell us, rightly so, that our roof looked in poor shape and that we needed to gather more grass for re-thatching before the rains came. We bought 20 bundles of grass (3,000 kwacha each) and our neighbor said he'd help us re-thatch our roof. So, we waited, a bit nervously, for the first rains. In adding thatch to maintain your roof, we learned you must wait until the first rains, which is a bit disconcerting to American PCVs who are used to, well, American roofing. As it was explained to me, the reasons for waiting until the first rains is because the water causes the grass to expand a bit (like wood or another organic material does when wet), and it also weights down the grass so that the additional grass can be shoved underneath the existing grass and stay put.

So, even with our expertly done black plastic, we imagined waking up in a puddle during the first rain (after all, Zambia gets torrential rains and Luapula is known to be one of the wettest regions). The first hard rain came in late-October and to our pleasant surprise we stayed dry! So, all's well and dry at our house.


Our Patio:
In front of our house, we've laid a 5ft. x 7 ft. cement patio where we spend a lot of time entertaining, having meetings, quizzing the children on their timestables, swinging the brazier, cooking and eating breakfasts and dinners, and doing dishes (naturally). Most Zambian homes have an insaka- an outdoor, covered structure, where these things take place- but we do not.  The insaka at our house fell down a couple years ago and hasn't been replaced yet. We are thinking of replacing it after this rainy season (when bricks can once again be burned).


The Grand, Sand Entrance:
Leading up to our patio is a long, sandy walkway. It leads from the main dirt road/path that the village sits along to our front door. The walkway is flanked on either side by bush. Right now it's rainy season so it's mostly tall grasses and other native plants, but we've tamed a section of it and planted a garden.


Our Garden:

Just before leaving for Thanksgiving 2010 and again when we returned to our village in December 2010, we planted a garden in front of our house. We planted half out of our own interest in understanding Zambian gardening and half out of our neighbors' gentle but constant insistence that we cultivate the land in front of our house. Everyone in Zambia is a farmer- including American PCVs!

We found we were beginning to understand our fellow villagers' concern about the very late rainfall. Neither Shaun nor I are interested in irrigating our garden by hand. And, truth be told, we realize daily that we are in the very fortunate position of not having to depend on our garden to provide our household food. Peace Corps provides us a monthly salary that, while small by the standards of the western world, is sufficient for us to live, not like kings, but “comfortably” (i.e. meet our basic needs and then some) in rural Zambia.

What we've planted grows relatively easily in Zambian soil, sun and rainfall. We've sown soybean, cowpea, maize, sunflowers and moringa tree seeds- in addition to a mysterious black seed I found in back of our house (we'll see what comes up!). Our neighbor's sons helped us build the garden beds and planted the maize for us (from their own seed stock). In that bed, we've also planted cowpea, which is a nitrogen-fixing legume, and it should help replace soil nutrients where the maize extracts allowing the maize to grow more heartily (this was the case with another neighbor's maize crop last year). Also, cowpea produces a good source of protein (so we're told) and it's also great as compost in fish ponds. We've intercropped the cowpea with the maize also so the cowpea, a climbing plant, has something to climb on (its maize companion!).  We've also planted cowpea around the bed in hopes that it will grow into a living fence around the maize bed, further enriching the soil.

In the bed closer to the house, we've planted soybeans and moringa tree seeds. Soybeans are also nitrogen-fixing legumes and will help enrich the soil. In addition, soybeans are excellent sources of protein in the village (where protein deficiency is evident in stunted statures). I am very excited about the soybean crop we'll harvest later this growing season, as our friend and fellow Luapula PCV gave me two resource books on what can be made from soybeans and how they can be utilized in the village to provide good nutrition. I'm talking recipes for high-protein nshima & bread to mango soybean milk- I can't wait to share these with the women's groups in the area. Unfortunately, the soybean seeds we planted did not germinate (which happens), but if we find another batch of seeds soon we can still re-plant and harvest this year.

We also have high hopes for the moringa tree nursery we've planted. Moringa is a an agroforestry tree Peace Corps, the Zambian Forestry Department and others are promoting to combat deforestation and hunger. From what I've been told, these trees are easy to grow from seed and even cuttings, grow comparatively fast, can be used for charcoal, medicine, food and fish pond compost/food. We can't wait to see how these do. We got the seeds from the tree in front of the home of our pastor friend who lives in the Mwense township.

Kitty:

In other news, we have a new member of our household- Kitty. Kitty is our snake protection. She's a very cuddly, friendly orange kitten (about 4 months old) and a great hunter.  Her job is to keep the mice and rats away. Mice and rats are unwanted house guests, of course, but even more unwanted are the hungry snakes they attract. So far, Kitty's been earning her keep by pouncing on and eating just about everything that creeps into the house- mice, lizards, even roaches. We just adore her!

Here are some pictures of our house to give you a better idea:

Shaun, our PCV friend Jessica and our neighborhood kids hanging out on our porch. The grass structure to the left of the house is our bathing shelter ("ulusasa" in Bemba) and the structure behind it is our pit latrine ("icimbusu" in Bemba).

Shaun and our neighbor's children helping us dig beds for the garden in our "front yard".

Our friend Cola (pronounced Chola) playing our "My Little Pony Matching Card Game" on our front patio. The little orange kitty is "Kitty', our snake protection.

Here's where I'll sign off for now (because of our slow Internet connection it took hours to upload those photos), but I hope to post again in the coming weeks with more information and fun tales. Thanks for tuning in and here's to you having a lovely Valentine's Day!