Out and about

Many apologies for the lack of updates over the past week. Jet lag kicked in with a vengeance last weekend, and I also battled a bad cold that's still lingering. The week was taken up by teaching (which I'll write more about soon) and finishing a paper for WashU that I really should have handed in weeks ago. But today, finally, I got to see more than just the urban bubble around my apartment. Percy, an older student (he's 33), took me out to Lubuto, a suburb of Ndola, to show me the poverty in which so many Zambians and other sub-Saharan Africans still live. As a minister, he hopes to build a church and school to serve the people there.

Minibuses are a popular way to travel short distances in the area.  They stop most anywhere, often illegally, and are cheap enough that many Zambians take them every day.  The trip to Lubuto was about 20 minutes, but that was quite enough given how cramped the thing was: once the regular seats are filled, people sit in the aisle.  There are no seatbelts.  I could have died.

A view out the window of the outskirts of Ndola proper.
A banner advertising a local witch doctor.  Quality medical care is expensive in Zambia, and that combined with widespread distrust of Western medicine causes many people, especially the poor, to seek out the services of people like "Doctor" Chibwanga.

Our bus, parked at the Lubuto depot.  We made it, and it for only $3.

These men wanted a picture.  So there you go.

An abandoned shack on the way up the hill.

At the top of the hill, facing the road leading down the other side.  Stands like the ones you see here are plentiful sources of cigarettes, bottled water, nuts, and other items in rural areas.

A local house of worship, the "New Apostolic Church."

Another church of unknown denomination.

Local children flying kites.  There isn't much to do around here, and many children don't attend school.

Percy, standing on the site of the planned church and school.  He estimates construction costs at $5000 USD.

A pig, rummaging around in some garbage.  Many residents here raise them for food and profit.

The roofs of some typical homes in this area.  The rocks are the only things holding the roof together, I think.

A local boy.  Note the other children in the distance carrying bundles of sticks on their head; on-head transport is ubiquitous here.

More local children.  Malnutrition is surely an issue here.

To support their families, many women here break rocks with a hammer and chisel and sell the gravel for use in construction.  They're often outpriced by large corporate suppliers, however.

Later in the day, Chilao Mutesa, Dean of the university and my de facto host, drove me and his wife and son to the town of Kitwe, about 45 minutes away. We strolled through the Chosokone market, one of the largest in the Copperbelt region.  Thousands of people, hundreds of vendors---all packed into an area perhaps the size of a soccer field.  I only managed a couple of photos before people started shouting at me; I'll have to be more covert next time.

In the market, which extends for roughly a quarter mile in every direction.  I declined to sample the fried caterpillars, protein-rich though they may be.

On the way out of the market; the Mutesa family is on the right.

Artsy photo #1 out the back of the car as we drive away from the market.

Artsy photo #2.

Please note that quality has been massively reduced for the web.  I should be much more regular with updates going forward. My apologies again.