scheduling regular meetings with one of the local elders who has taught
several previous 'muzungus' to speak better Kaonde. Steve and Heather,
our local Peace Corps workers, think that it may be effort better spent
elsewhere as there are almost always translators available, and learning
Kikaonde is like learning Icelandic, or Latin -- you're unlikely to ever
find someone to speak with outside of the local area. Even in Zambia,
when I travel to Lusaka I can't really communicate very well. But you
notice a big difference in the way patients see you when you learn the
language; even a few words provokes laughter throughout the ward
(good-natured laughter that you're speaking Kaonde, not laughing because
it's so bad) and smiles and a torrent of information that you just don't
get when you use the translators.
Anyway, I started meeting with Mr. Kapanza this week, and enjoyed my
time immensely. One of the things he's struggling with this year is a
very poor maize crop; although he worked really hard and planted a lot
of maize, about February 3 hippos came and stayed for a week in his
fields, eating all of his hard work, so that he only ended up with maybe
1/10 of what his crop would have been. It's illegal to kill hippos,
although the game wardens are supposed to do it for you if a situation
like that happens. Unfortunately, the wardens didn't show up until even
a week after the hippos had left, obviously at which time the damage had
been done. The hippos returned again 2 weeks ago, a fact which amazes
me since our river isn't that big (maybe 15-20 feet across at the
widest), but the harvest had been finished at that time. The game
wardens once again arrived to late to chase the hippos, so they are
still roaming at large. Maybe they'll show up again if they get hungry
enough....
No comments:
Post a Comment