Saturday, January 28, 2012

LANDMARK!

soooooooooooooo I finally SUCCESSFULLY made Nshima!! And a 'whole' nshima at that, called 'roller nshima'. It brought back so many memories. it was like being back at my parents house in Togo 15 years ago. Peanut sauce and some chicken YUM!! even those that weren't a big fan of nshima enjoyed the meal.
pictures below are just fr the web, to give you an idea of what it looks like.\

Thursday, January 26, 2012

COPPERBELT!!

here we are in the Copperbelt of Zambia visiting the amazing Speedys.
[Copperbelt Province in Zambia covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immediate post-independence period, but its economic importance was severely damaged by a crash in global copper prices in 1973 and the nationalization of the copper mines by the government of Kenneth Kaunda]

P.Adam and Melinda Speedy



KITWE is one of the main cities of the Copperbelt area, North of Zambia.
We left Lusaka Tuesday on a cool early morning. Picked up Kennedy at a filling (gas) station on the way, and off we were on our FIRST african-with our own car-road trip as a family! 5 hours later and no incidents whatsoever, only beautiful countryside, cows and a Welcome to the Copperbelt sign....









... we finally hit Kitwe, second biggest city of Zambia of about 550,000 pple. As we got on one of it's main roads, we got pulled over by the police for supposedly speeding. Jediah tried to talk himself out of the fine ($180,000 -> $35) but the officerjust gave him a cold shoulder. Now. these guys had just knocked at the wrong door. this was part of our food money for the week and i wasn't ready to see it go down somebody's unofficial pocket.[remember this is africa] Mama bear got out of the car with her 2 cubbs and showed up at the window of the officer who had been sitting and playing on his phone the whole time. "Hello officer, I just wanted to ask you for mercy and let you know that this money is our food money, we are not like other Muzungus, blabla bla" Oh boy, i could have insulted him in 15 languages and the reaction wouldn't have been anymore virulent. To make a long story short -after scolding us for treating them like ignorants of the english language for using a word in their dialect and for accusing them of corruption - he told us we could go. [understand; we could go without paying a dime, or a kwacha in this case] I think the most offensive part of it all was that it was woman addressing him. But as Jediah put it, the 'insult' got him distracted from the real offense. With sighs of relief we resumed our journey and arrived at the Speedys dwelling place.

Directly accross from their house, a miracle awaited us. The owners hd agreed to let us stay -free of charge- in their 'cottage' for rent for a week or 2! They even furnished it with 2 beds, a couch, a table and chairs, and a refrigerator! Along with a few items generously supplied by Mindy and a few we brought, we feel very much at home.
Our bed has an amazing mosquito net with a frame at the top, just all perfectly convenient, invented by some genius if you ask me. I want one like that for my birthday. [JED!]
You have to have slept under a regular net in a mosquito infested room to truly appreciate the difference.

So. Kitwe. Yes we are considering it being our next move. So far it's only been blessings. Soon i will post photos taken on outreach and at a bible study in one of the lady's house. Kitwe-ans seem to be a spunky, open, generous, happy pple. They speak Bemba. Bulishani? How are you! Toatotela! Thank you! I'm sure i am totally misspelling those phrases. But i am sure P Adam will correct me (lol)
And so besides a few upset stomachs, we are loving our visit to the Copperbelt!

It rained like crazy yesterday. View fr the living room window.

Monday, January 23, 2012

LUSAKA LIFE









breakfast dinner w/ the Armans!