The Q Fund Blog

“Now now” (three days later than now!) is the first time in weeks I have been able to sit down in front of my laptop uninterrupted, or had not been too tired to write. The days here are extraordinarily hot for the onset of winter. The leaves are just beginning to turn a yellowish brown. The flowers have almost all fallen from the tallest trees, however the avocados are ripe and lie on the sandy lane leading to Chimoza. The size of one fruit is as big as a small basketball and so tasty at times this is all I have for dinner, with this, a hint of fresh lime juice squeezed over the two open halves.

Chimoza’s 4th grade teacher Eustis invited me, Leeca, Clare and Will over to his small house for a typical Zambian dinner the other evening. The food was prepared all day. First the Casaba leafs are taken from the tips of the plant and pounded down inside a wooden bowl with a wooden mixing tool. This is how almost every food is prepared. The corn is a staple diet here. The tin roofs are piled high with drying corn cobs. Corn nibs are crushed into a fine white powder and cooked on an open charcoal laden iron basket sitting inside an abandoned tire rim. The corn mixture is whipped quickly over the heat with water and resembles mashed potatoes but taste like cornmeal. On top of the “shema” goes a mixture of cooked tomatoes, onions and finely chopped red cabbage leaves. Delicious!

After dinner we sat around small fires and talked about life in Ndola and looked up at the stars in the sky, trying to guess what constellation we were sitting under. It looked like the photographs of the Milky Way. In the background we heard the sounds of ladies late at church singing, and farther away people huddled around one TV set, in a bar cheering and yelling while watching the soccer game between Ghana and Zambia. Zambia scored the winning goal and should have won. The referee called the man who scored “off-side”. This was the final match for Zambia to tell which team goes to the world cup in Johannesburg in 2010.

I cannot remember what day it is or which month we are in most days as every day is so full. The Hickox family was here with me for three weeks, I met them in Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls was depressing. Everyone is hungry and begging to work for pennies just to feed their families. The change since Zimbabwe, 2002 is unimaginable. The local currency has a date on it. When the date expires, so does the money. Shocking how a mad man can destroy a country where its people are so well educated and so kind. Having Leeca, Clare and Will here was lovely; they loved the children and jumped right to work. Will made a garden with the teachers and Claire painted the newest classroom outside wall with the name of the school and under that the Q Fund logo. To the right of that reads “Enter to learn, depart to serve”, and on the other side of the logo this is written also in Bemba. Bemba is the regional language. It is a beautiful language, similar to Italian, Spanish and Portuguese all mixed together.

Leeca became ill three days prior to the family heading to the UK to spend a week in London, so we sent the kids on before her. She finally let me convince her to go see the doctor, who took a blood test and, as she was on prophylactics the test for malaria can back negative. Leeca had all the classic signs of malaria, so together we decided she should take the medicine for the parasite. One day later she was back to herself, so we don’t know for sure if she has malaria or not, but as I always say, if one was ever to contract this bugger, do get it here. Zambia is the world authority on both malaria and HIV/AIDS. The doctors have the exact combination of pharmaceuticals that do not have awful side effects. Leeca is now with Claire and Will in London feeling great! All say they cried on the airplane, missing the children. And all what to come back asap. ;-)

Last evening we had our first Columbia MBA student arrive. Jackie will be staying three months and will be helping out at Chimoza with nutrition and health care information as well as teaching English to one of the grades, I think Ireen our head teachers has already nabbed her. . Jackie is Asian and today the children keep trying to see why this new face was not the girl with the blond haired and blue eyed of Clair. But already she is loved and running around playing games with the kids who stay after school every day.

Tonight three additional interns arrive. I have asked Albert my driver, saint, body guard (not that one would EVER need one) all around help, to pick up the last 2 girls. Tomorrow morning we all head to Chimoza to help Seeds Of Hope fix (yet again) the bore-hole pump.