A Village Wedding Fairy Tale, Part 1

Once upon a time, there was a poor young pauper named Adam who had a dead-end job in America due to his choice to study philosophy at university.  He spent days and days under a tree pondering the true meaning of life, feeling like he could be someone better.  One day, an acorn dropped on his head, and his fairy godfather came to him in a vision saying that if he joined the Peace Corps and moved to the Faraway Land of Zambia, he would transform into a Prince Charming and meet the Woman of his dreams.

Upon arrival in Zambia Adam was disillusioned to realize that the lovely ladies there would have nothing to do with him.

So he learned domestic duties in the hopes of winning one of their hearts.

But alas, it was to no avail, and he had to learn the survival skills to live as a bachelor in the Zambian bush.

Peace Corps was impressed by his culinary progress, even though he hadn't yet transformed into Prince Charming, so they swore him in anyway in the Royal city of Lusaka.

Then one day a messenger named Larry from the distant land of Ikelenge came bearing two magical items: a razor that would magically remove the extra scruff and a bicycle that would magically remove the extra kilos.

Little by little, Adam won the hearts of the village children and used his magical tools to transform into Prince Charming, ready to meet his Princess Bride.

A Village Wedding Fairy Tale, Part 2

 . . . Until one sunny day on the tropical island of Zanzibar, handsome Prince Adam met beautiful Jodana and knew at that instant it was a dream come true.  As an English literature major, Jo was cultivated and refined--the perfect person to ponder the meaning of life together in a mud hut.

But unfortunately Prince Adam could not have his lovely princess until she took a crash 3-day course from prominent female members of the Bemba and Lunda tribes about how to please a man.  They treated her as one of their own and adopted her into their secret rituals.

On a dark August night, Jodana was kidnapped and blindly escorted to Adam's house and matrimonial bed, where the two consumated the marriage while Lunda villagers danced outside.

Jodana woke up a transformed woman, but still required the help of her Bemba and Lunda stepmothers for the ceremonial bath before the big celebration.  They sprinkled magical spring water on her body that had been boiled to just the right temperature and scrubbed her down with soap.

Even fellow Peace Corps volunteers helped in the magical transformation, although Prince Adam was forbidden to see his beautiful bride until the Lundas deemed appropriate.

He waited in his hut next to his newly-consumated marriage bed and wondered what kind of magic was going on in the ladies' hut.

Finally Prince Adam was led out, under a chitenge cloth of his own, so he could not take a sneak peak of his Princess Bride.

The photographer staged her position for the big event . . . .

. . . and the crowd gathered in anticipation

The Princess Bride was led out by her Fairy Bemba godmother under her own chitenge . . .

Led by a procession of Royal dancers, sent forth by the king of the Lunda tribe.

Finally the two were able to meet, and put under a joint chitenge cloth.

The magical cloth was lifted, and the crowd went wild!

Finally Prince Adam's adopted father led the happy couple's ceremony with some words of wisdom.

And he knew it was the best day of his life, for he was no longer an awkward philosophical Peace Corps volunteer.  He had found the Meaning of Life with his Princess Bride.

And the cake was danced to the stage

And the happy couple partook in festivities and merriment.

With even more Royal entertainment,

Until the fairy godmother walked them back to their hut . . .

And Ba Chunda and the Peace Corps volunteers ate a marvelous feast of nshima, pig, chicken, and goat.

 AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END.

July/August Pictures 2013

 You can't have a long-distance bus in Zambia without a preacher man!

 Peace Corps put us up in a beautiful lodge for our final conferance.  Good views of "wildlife," which were basically a really tame water buck and other deer-like animals.

The female initiation ceremony, or "kankanka" usually happens just before a wedding.  A (very) young woman sits next to a girl under a chitenge cloth for hours while women dance and sing around her.  The woman to the left is the matron, who teaches her all kinds of lessons about how to please a male.  Finally the chitenge is lifted right before she sees her future husband, but she's not allowed to look happy at all.

Digging a fish pond by hand with proper sloped walls and inlet/outlet is hard work!

The pupils at the Basic School show off their supplies donated by Washington Middle School.  These are the ones who wrote the pen-pal letters for the World Wise Schools Project.

Gina and Grace teach mothers of underweight children developmental songs and games.

Moses shows off his bush rat that he's about to roast and enjoy!

These ladies were so excited to show off the dress they "won" for having a completed hygenic pit latrine.

At one of our Peace Corps' neighbors' village, people cross the river to get to their fields using traditional dugout canoes.


Making a sign in rural Zambia involves hand-painting from a grid.

Kids enjoying a homemade swing.

Our cat Badger mothering two newborn kittens.  Unfortunately, the tan one died after a day.

Our neighbor Beatty cooking nshima for her family.  It gets so hard to stir the women have to put the pot between their feet to stabilize it.  They still make fun of Gina for not being able to cook nshima.

The children do a celebration dance after a new baby is born!

Gina showing our 2-day old kitten to the village kids.

The remains of the hut that Gina's friend Colleen stayed in as a Peace Corps volunteer in 2005.

PC volunteers Constantine and Travis learning how to make lard at Mujila Falls livestock workshop.

The Peace Corps volunteers each bring a village counterpart to take this knowledge back to the village.

Peace Corps volunteers and their counterparts travel on a crowded cantor truck back to their villages full of knowledge about how to raise animals.

Stores in the villages have very creative names.  This by far best summarizes the Zambian Peace Corps experience.

A return trip to our favorite waterfall in Mwinilunga, Nyambwezu Falls, although we've seen at least four other noteworthy ones.

Scott pondering live overlooking the Nyambwezu Falls river basin.

 Our neighbor Elena shows off traditional foods she just brought from the field to feed the family for the following day.  Clockwise from top: crickets in their larval stage, cassava leaves, fermented dried cassava before it is pounded into flour, and pumpkin seeds driving with their shell.

Scott helps Ryvus and Ryford learn the complicated American game they had donated from a local NGO.  It had just been sitting in their hut unused for years.