Grubs and other delicacies

 A little while ago an organization called CADS came to MRCH to teach about traditional foods. For breakfast we had porridge with baobab and peanut butter. A clown came and played some games with the little children – they had a great time. At lunch we had rapoko sadza and millet sadza. Some people even ate grubs. It sounds disgusting to me but mummy said they were nice!

Clare

Assembled

On Friday the school had a prize-giving day. The guest of honour was a representative of one of the largest fast-food chains in Zimbabwe, and (predictably) was late. The music was very, VERY loud and the normally shabby hall had been transformed by draping the walls with colourful cloth and balloons.

It started over one hour late, so while we waited the marching girls practiced on stage, in a flurry of red and white uniforms, and after that they got some boys to do some rapping, and then some other boys did some break-dancing, and they looked as if they were being electrocuted!

The guest of honour finally arrived, the marching girls performed, but after that there were a lot of dull speeches, and then someone recited a poem. It would be hard enough to memorize a poem without having to memorize the dramatic actions to go with it. The choir sounded beautiful, almost as good as angels (I have never heard angels singing, but it couldn’t be much better than this). The guest of honour gave her speech, and then there were two more poems. We had been sitting for over two hours, and finally they got started on the prize giving!

     

In assemblies in Australia, if someone gets an award, there is a lot of polite clapping, but here, if someone gets a prize, there is yelling, and screaming, and all that person’s friends and family run up the walkway with prizewinner, and are laughing, and crying. It is chaotic. And funny. It’s like they’ve won the lotto, not the geography award. I enjoyed it lots and lots.

Afterwards, to stop our numb bums falling off (we sat for four and ½ hours!), we walked to the shops and had a juice. It was sweet.

Abbey

Bricks

Yesterday we walked across Epworth to visit a friend who had spent the day repairing damage to her tiny brick house. We found Elizabeth hastily (but joyfully) mixing and applying concrete to large cracks in the walls of her home. The cracks had appeared, literally overnight, when the rains returned to Harare this week. Around Elizabeth’s home, less robust structures had collapsed.

Elizabeth, with the help of her daughters, was boldly removing broken bricks, filling large cracks and strengthening weak joins. She had never laid bricks before but serious damage, as well as the forecast of more heavy rain, left her with few options. She was using the understanding she had gained from watching the scores of houses being constructed very close to her own home.

Elizabeth is more frequently employed selling skincare products around Epworth. This week sales were poor and she was unable to purchase enough cement. As a result, more than an ideal quantity of mud was going into the slurry. If Elizabeth’s home survives the rainy season it will be a miracle borne out of her deep faith and tenacity.

As light faded, Elizabeth invited us inside to pray. She then insisted on walking us part of the way home. I could not be as hospitable and joyful if our shoes were switched.

Grant

Downpour

After six months without rain, the sky fell open on Saturday and delivered a deluge. Potholes became ponds, dust became mud and the air felt cleansed. The rains are early and this is largely good news – wells are filling, the earth is ready for sowing crops and tired gardens have been revived. Sadly, however, many homes around Epworth are cracking and collapsing. There has been a significant rise in “illegal” dwellings being built this year in Epworth and many of these were made with mudbricks and sub-standard mortar. The rain has claimed a number of unfinished and new homes.

The rain has also triggered an explosion of insects (not really an explosion although we did have an exploding goat recently…but that’s a story for another day). There must have been squillions insects waiting to hatch. Ants, beetles, grasshoppers, moths, flying thingamies and crawling whatsits abound. This population increase has, in turn, made life rich for birds and reptiles. We now see plenty of beautiful birds enjoying a feast. We are also enjoying the colourful lizards that are out of hiding and spoilt for snacks.

The other main predators are the children. Insects are a rich source of protein and are also a hoot to catch. At dusk a happy throng of children gambol around trying to catch their preferred critters. Some insects are enjoyed au naturale whilst others are fried and salted.

Grant