My Family!

Family!

I haven’t talked too much about my new family here in Africa, but now I will introduce you to all of them. They have been my family for 3 weeks now, and they have been outstanding. I am very pleased with them and since they have had 2 Norwegian volunteers previously they know what they are dealing with. From the first day the mother, Doreen, asked me what I wanted for breakfast (I mentioned porridge (and have had it served every morning since), yoghurt and brown bread). They live in a simple apartment in Kabwata, abaout 30 min walk from work/town. I haven’t had a single problem with them, and I hope and believe I won’t have any in the future either. When they want to watch Telemundo (soap series) or wrestling I read or write.

David, the father

David loves nshima! Here with the nshima of the day!

David is my host dad, and he was the one that met me when I was at General Orientation at UNZA during my 2 first weeks in Lusaka. He is a pastor who also works a bit on the side. Is a caring and loving dad who always carries a smile. You can hear him laugh far away; he is always in such a good mood. It’s great to talk to him when I get back from a long day at work, he also helps me to learn Nyanja, the local language here, even though he speaks Bemba as a native language.

Doreen, the mother

I cleaned my wound with salt and water, I screamed so loud I woke up Doreen. 

I’m very glad to have Doreen as a mother. She is so worried I will get homesick or won’t like the food she is serving me. In the beginning, she made chicken and rice just for me, while the rest of the family ate the fish and (more boring and tasteless) nshima. I have told her that I eat whatever they eat, doesn’t matter what it is. So now I eat nshima almost every day (sometimes she makes rice for the whole family, to keep the food varied). Doreen works at a office from 9-17 every day, but she is up even before me (I get up at 06:20) cleaning the house and cooking breakfast. In the weekends she does all the laundry (we got a washing machine!) and relax with the South American soap series which are very popular here.

Dinah, oldest sister

Dinah is a 16 year old who goes to college on the other side of town, which means she is up around 5 AM and takes public transport all the way through town and up north past OYDC. She has the long African hair which looks really cool. If I can get my hair long enough, I’ll try to do something similar. She usually sleep during the afternoon (understandable considering how early she gets up) so she can join our dinner at 8:00 - 8:30 PM.

Dawn, youngest sister

Dawn is only 12, but very smart. She is the brightest in her class, and I can tell. We give each other “brain teasers” to challenge ourselves. She is the one who does the praying before every supper/dinner and does the dishes after the meal with Dinah.

Daniel, the brother

Daniel is awesome

Dan is the youngest in the family, and even though he is nine, he calls himself a baby. He loves cars and I think he is happy to have a brother around. We play football in the back “garden” when my feet are not injured (on sand, rocks and broken glass). When I shaved for the first time, I was standing in the bathroom using the tiny mirror on the wall while I used my shaver (electronic), suddenly I saw his reflection in the mirror. He though it was very interesting what I was doing. We ended up talking about what he wanted to do when he becomes an adult. How many houses he wanted, dogs and cars. For he loves cars and dogs, it’s a shame we don’t have the space to have a dog around.

The family is very understanding, and they always ask me when they are going somewhere if I want to come. I remember the first day I was here, David said he wanted to talk to me, so he took me to my room where we could talk one to one. Then he asked me if I wanted to come to a wedding (where only Doreen and David was going to), and I think that was so cool of him to not put me on any pressure. If I didn’t want to go, it would have been easier for me to say no just to him instead of saying it in front of the whole family. 

Dan found a bird without wings the other day, and he took care of it. Unfortunately it died the following day

Caterpillars for dinner!! It was awesome! 

They were tasty! Some were chewy others were crispy!

When I go to bed, I always find someone who wants to sleep with me!

Walking towards town centre. All the clothes on the right is for sale, I think...

Can you see how packed that bus is? It's completely full with food and people!

On Saturday (yesterday) we had a seminar at OYDC. Here the President of ZAA is speaking, Elias Mpondela

I' getting used to eating with my hands. I always keep one hand clean though. Chicken, nshima, veggies and some rice

Daniel trying to fake a cry, which David finds very funny :)

I hurt my foot and needs to clean it with salt and water. I was a bit sceptic 

I'm about to say something very bad. This was during the salt+water "treatment"

Dawn though it was very funny. I didn't

I was the entertainment of the evening

The worst pain is gone, and I can smile again :)

Here the wound is cleaned and dried. 

Nshima and some fish (mostly bones and skin)

The men always get served first (and gets the best pieces)