Walking Around Jemgwe

It’s been a lovely week here with the Lufiyele’s and I’m sad to see it coming to an end. Even as I type this Mufaro is trying to distract me with tickles and kisses J

On Monday our team went with Daniel and his brother Diva to the village of Jengwe. The men started working on a rainwater harvester so that we can document the process and Daniel and Amber can teach the people in the village how to make their own. While they were doing that, the pastor took Lauren and myself around to three different water sources so that we could test them. We got the pH levels, Total Dissolved Solids and e-coli samples. The village is made up of about 250 plots of land that are about 5 acres. Only 3 to 8 people are allowed to live on each section so the village consists of roughly 1500 people. At each source a few people came up to get some water and we got to explain what we were doing. We also stopped along the way to visit a few of the homesteads. Lauren and I recognized a few of the women that had been in the Bible Study last Thursday. The first two sources we visited were boreholes and the last was a well that had been dug in the dry river bed. They simply dig a whole of about 2 feet and put a metal tube in so that it stays and there was about 6 inches of water in the bottom of the whole. It has tested positive for e-coli. My favorite part of that day was our tag-a-long friend, Michael. At the beginning of our walk he simply ran around playing with his football. But as time went on I noticed that he was walking behind me following in my footsteps. So I started to stop suddenly, or turn around and look at him. He seemed to find this quite funny. As time went on things escalated a bit to where he was trying to touch me and get away while I tried to catch him or knock away his ball. I succeed in doing both of those things once. It made the long walk quite enjoyable.

On Tuesday, the men went back to the village to finish digging their whole and start pouring the cement for the floor. Lauren and I stayed back to work on some different projects. But first in the morning we had a ladies day out and we went around Victoria Falls to several different markets to do some shopping. Since the guys had the car we had to take public transportation to town. This consists of a van that has a bench in the back that sits four, two more benches in the middle that sit two or three and extra seats that fold down on the side once the back is full. I saw these in Lusaka and thought they looked a bit like a clown car, trying to see how many people can fit into them. It’s not the fastest way into town since they drive around for a while trying to get as many passengers as possible, but it works. The markets were quite fun. They are nice because they are in the shade, but the aisles can get a bit crowded if someone stops to look at some wares. The first place we went had mostly clothing. We got some chitenge’s and skirts. Chitenge’s are essentially two meters of cloth that you wrap around your waist to protect your clothes, it’s like wearing a skirt. We stopped for some chocolate filled pastries and cokes to rest up a bit and then were on our way to some more markets. One was more of a touristy and place and was quite expensive, but they had some fun live music and I got to touch an alligator. At the next market they seemed to specialize in artwork and jewelry. We went straight to the back to visit Amber’s friend, Simba. He had quite a bit of jewelry and convinced me to get some earrings. I couldn’t resist J Lauren and I also got a couple of bags from the stall next to his, which will definitely come in handy during our travels. In the afternoon we took a walk around the town they live in, Mkhosana. Everyone was quite friendly and wanted to say hello to us. All the kids yelled out “Mkhiwa!” as we walked by, which mean’s white person. We stopped in at a Tuck Shop to get some pop. We had to drink it while we were there so that they could send the bottles back for recycling. All in all it was a lovely walk.

Much happened today, but I don't have time to do it justice right now, so I will just leave you with a few pictures from these adventures. 

Christ In Us at one of the boreholes

Lauren explaining why we were testing the water and what we were doing to a curious bystander.

A young man who came to get some water and so willingly posed for a picture.

Michael and his football

The tuck shop that Lauren and I visited.