learning

The weekend before last (Jan13ish) I went to Harare to renew my visa. Rory and Judy have three sons that play cricket professionally, and at the same time I was in town they had a 20/20 cricket tournament. Over the course of four days I progressed from cluelessly asking 25 questions per game to clenching my pants (or skirt) in anticipation and yelling and groaning with the rest of the crowd. It was really quite fun.

I also managed to get my visa renewed. In order to get anything done that involves governement in Zimbabwe, there is a certain amount of finagling and playing the system. How do I explain this? You have to be extremely patient. It's best to get them laughing if possible, or at least crack a smile. You can't necessarily answer questions honestly: there are some things that are a tip-off that you are "doing something" the gov doesn't like (even if you aren't). For example, I am coming in on a holiday visa, and will never ever mention the word 'work' to Zimbabwean officials.You also cannot let them make you scared: If they think you are scared, they will try to take advantage of you. This time getting my visa the guy behind the counter wanted to know how much US currency I brought into the country with me. (There is a space for this on the form I fill out, but before I've left it blank.) But the conversation was very round-about.
I said, "Do you mean on me right now, or how much total?"
"In the country total."

"I don't know off the top of my head." (Playing the clueless young female he presumes me to be.)

"Just give an estimate."

"Maybe a hundred US?" (This is a lie, but I don't want him to decide to "tax" me and put it in his pocket.)

"How much you have determines the length of the visa I give you, so I can only give you 30 days..." (This is also a lie. He definitely wants my money.)

"Oh. Okay. 30 days it is." (You can hardly EVER get more than 30 days, and I think they've made it illegal to ever give more than 30 days.)



Some folks have asked about food. I’ve been eating both fresh food from the gardens or animals and some purchased foods. We get eggs, chickens, milk, butter, and cream, and we’re currently eating Jasmine, an old dairy cow. We get a variety of veggies and fruits from the gardens, but never a lot of any one thing. Food is grown year round, but it’s not always the same food. (Ex: Pawpaws grow best in the hot, dry season.) So right now we have a little bit of a lot: lettuce (~5 different kinds), rape, carrots, cabbage, asian greens, pawpaw, bananas, pepperdews, tomatoes, butternut, arugula, collards, oregano, basil, ginger mint, lemon grass, other types of peppers, broccoli, winged beans, etc, etc. A lot of the fruit trees are almost in season, and I’m waiting not so patiently—avocado, oranges, grapefruit, lemon, lime, lichi (sp?) and guava. Despite all the home-grown food, the Frys also purchase a substantial amount as well: flour, mangos (ours are DYIING), yogurt, rice, some spices, crackers, cocoa powder, coffee, tea, cheese…
Shona food is pretty simple: sadza (thick corn meal mash) with onions, tomatoes, and rugare. Occaisonally there are beans or butternut, or they will kill a chicken and fry it. They eat the whole chicken, bones and all. Fruit is eaten ALL the time, especially pawpaw, bananas and mangos. Pumpkin was traditionally eaten almost constantly, but there are a lot of insect problems. I'm not sure of the details, but an insect (a wasp?) "stings" the pumpkin or butternut just before it's ready to be picked. The fruit quickly rots to the core.

I don't want to be too specific, but there’s pain and baggage here in unexpected places. I've been talking with Rory and Judy about a lot of this, and they have been helpful explaining situations a bit more. I also got to talk with Rory and Judy more about the different cultures, and how they clash and reconcile. There is a lot of historical pain between blacks (Shona) and whites (British, but anyone white really). It’s easy to theoretically understand that pain, but another thing to experience it and see how that pain manifests itself here in this place right now. Without going into details, God has done a great work in Judy! Sometimes reconciliation is frustratingly slow, but God is working here. When I was in Harare I got to go to a wonderful church service that filled me with hope as well. The worship was both in English and Shona, and the crowd was full of all kinds of different people. Shona, white Zimbabweans, South Africans, and a few Americans were all worshipping God together, bringing the goodness from each culture to the table. It was wonderful!

Some things I've learned about Shona culture:

- You never get straight to the point. You must go in circles. 

- In takes only the smallest excuse to burst out in laughter and "Colgate smiles."

- A female widow with children frequently gets remarried. Her new husband may decide to starve her children because they are of another man.

- Polygamy is still common. (One husband, many wives.)

- Time is slow, and stress doesn't exist. 
- Every Shona person knows how to work miracles with their badza, or hoe. (They look different from our hoes, but the principle is the same.)

- You are not really a woman until you have a child. You are passed from father to husband so you always have someone taking care of you. 

- Every Shona person has better rythm that you. Even the five year olds. Singing, dancing, and clapping are a part of life from very young.

- The man of the house always eats first. What he doesn't eat goes to the children and wife. Because of this kids and wives are much more likely to suffer from malnutrition. 

- Knees are considered more sexual than breasts. Women always wear skirts past their knees. Traditionally they also never wear pants.

- Traditionally when twins were born, one was considered good and the other evil. The evil one (I don't know if it's the first or second born) was left in the forest to die. Nowadays I'm not sure how much that happens. Sometimes the "evil" child is allowed to live, but is given a curse name. (The worst I've heard is Molester.) Eden is lucky enough to have four or five sets of twins. A remnant of the tradtition still remains though... One set is named Emmanuel and Elvis-- God with us and the king of rock.

At the same time that I've been working in permaculture, I've had some interesting conversations with Ghani and a couple other guys that sometimes show up. (They get assigned different places to work at Eden depending on the day and time of year.) Possibly because I have been working down there for a while now, they are not afraid of me anymore and seem to treat me as an equal of sorts. Most of the women won't say much to me at all unless I do something worth laughing at. Anywho, it's fun to hear stories and laugh along with them-- one day they were laughing at a guy who wanted to check if a power line was good or not. He climbed up into a tree with a nail and apparently got quite a shock. He didn't die, but the story circulated quickly and I bet everybody for miles was laughing at him. Another day they were laughing and slightly making fun of a guy who saw a lion and passed out. Maybe this isn't the appropriate manly reaction?
It's also good to be able to laugh at yourself. I'm very glad I'm not more self-conscious! To make a longer story short, one day I was looking for mulching materials and accidentally used a little bit of sugar cane. Oops. They got a laugh out of that one. Another day I nicked my toe with a hatchet-- "You want to compost your toe?" I also tend to stay away from banana trees since the wasp incidents.
Projects recently have included: composting in perma (the one in the gardens failed-- we think there was not enough manure and too much rain), planting beans as cover crop, transplanting pawpaws, mulching tomatoes, planting rape and cabbage, etc, etc. Hopefully the next largish things to do will be 1) an experiment planting Native American style-- maize, beans, and pumpkins together and 2) starting a vermiculture project (raising worms) for both their feces as fertilizer and their bodies as chicken feed.

Shona language lesson: 
Mascati = good afternoon ; Onay akore manghani? How old are you ; Indini akore 23. = I am 23. ; Indini ndoda kuduga.= I want to eat. ; Enda= GO! ; Daga= dirt ; Myoko= hands ; moto=fire ; mvuora=water; makadini= greeting after not seeing someone for awhile ; nditsireo= help; ruraygurewo= sorry; tapedza= we're finished.