A Day in the Village!

We just arrived back from a day in a traditional African village. What an experience!

The day started with us being introduced to a community worker who is supported by the mission base in establishing agricultural and educational practice within the villages. Our workers name was Felix. We spent the first hour and a half working with groups of about 25 children singing songs, playing games, and just encouraging the children to be active. We then left and were taken to the hut of the village Headman who controls the coming and going within the village. The language they speak here is Lumba and most of the conversations today were in Lumba, and then translated for us. The headman blessed our presence in the village and then sent his nephew to tour us around and meet the various families. At about 11:00 we left our first village and walked about a kilometre to the next village where we were greeted by a family who was hosting us for a traditional Lumba lunch. From 11:30 until 1:30 we sat on chairs outside under the shade of a Mango tree and just visited. Relationship building is a huge part of the Lumba culture and time is almost irrelevant. This pause in our day was a challenge for all of us, as we are not use to just sitting in one spot and simply "being there".

At 1:30 we were invited into their house for lunch. In the Lumba culture, the sharing of food is very important and symbolic of a relationship being developed. To not accept what is placed before you, or to not try something, would be considered a huge insult. The lunch was composed of a number of local vegetable dishes (including cabbage), Shumi, and Kepunta. To start the meal the female of the house brings around a basin of water and has each person wash their hands. She then begins bringing the food around one dish at a time and dishing it for the guests. The Shumi, which is Maize, looks like a mashed potato pattie and had very little taste, the vegetable dishes were nothing like our dishes at home and had a very distinctive taste to them. The Kepunta is a mash of tiny minnow sized fish that includes their heads and bodies...yes that is right, eye balls and all. The Kepunta was quite foul tasting and it was all I could do to eat it and keep it down.

We then sat in the house for another hour and just relaxed. At times we visited and at other times we just sat in silence. Again this is quite counter cultural for us Canadians and all of us were feeling a little uncomfortable with this different perspective on how to use your day.

At 2:30 we did a tour of the second village and met a number of other families. Once again all of the people were very welcoming and made us feel quite at home.

Today was a really good day to reflect and evaluate on our "task focused" nature and the importance of relationships. I think there is some learning that we can take from the Lumba culture specifically; the need to slow down, invest time in those that are near to you, and to not get so busy focusing on a destination that you forget the journey.

All in all...today was a great experience!

Tomorrow morning we are driving further north into Zambia and I will have no internet access until at least Monday night. I will ensure I write a post on Monday about our time in Northern Zambia and Malawi which we will visit on Sunday.

The picture below is from our time yesterday working with the children of a local trading centre.