A Bit of Daily Life in Mambilima

Again Wednesday August 11, 2010

I get up between 6:30-7:00. Eat breakfast (pb&j, toast, cereal, granola if I can get it, or oatmeal) with coffee, usually just put my tea kettle on my family’s fire to heat the water. Sometimes I do a few chores in the morning and then go to a meeting or work on something. Some days I do chores all day. Sweeping my dirt floor, sweeping my bath shelter and pit latrine, dishes, laundry, fetching water. I usually only cook if I’m home all day and not too busy. I cook lunch more than dinner. If I have bread I eat pb&j, maybe I make pasta or just have like a cup-a-soup and a boiled egg if I have eggs. Or if I’ve been to town and have vegetables sometimes I try stir fry or curry. Sometimes I cook for lunch and then just reheat for dinner, but usually I eat with my family for dinner. It’s just easier not to spend 2 hours cooking and then I get to chat with my host father which is usually great. With my host family I eat nshima usually with cooked leafy green vegetables like rape, Chinese cabbage, or pumpkin leaves, sometimes beans, soya pieces, mushrooms and occasionally chicken. My favorite is ifisashi: pumpkin leaves cooked with pounded groundnuts. It’s like a peanut sauce. So good. My family also helps me heat my bathwater which really helps out with time spent on chores. A hot bucket bath can actually be really nice. After dinner I either tidy up my house or try to get some productive reading, journaling or letter writing done. Then, time for bed around 9pm, sometimes 8:30, sometimes closer to 10pm.

(Sunday 8-15-2010 Ah, I was going to try and give more info about other things I do, but there’s too much going on in Lusaka right now. Too many people I love that I don’t see very often and too many things I want to do. Maybe later.)