When you work hard every day, power outages at night can be nice! The loud Friday night music stopped abruptly in our hotel’s courtyard and we slept like a log.
Every morning we get picked up early by van to go to the same school for a week. In the afternoon we go to a different school and we ride there on an old, converted safari vehicle that holds some 5,000 books! It’s amazing to bump along the red dirt roads, watching women carry baskets of bananas on their heads, and seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Rainbow Fish in the book bins on the vehicle. In fact, the Book Bus vehicles have all been named for Roald Dahl characters, in honour of illustrator Quentin Blake who is the Book Bus’ patron. The smaller van is Sophie, the big safari vehicle is Charlie, there’s also Matilda.
The schools have been carefully selected and the Book Bus team works with the teachers to support them in the use of books, teaching writing and increase literacy. Eventually, most schools in the area will get Book Bus support and the books make a huge difference in the children’s lives. The schools have no resources so the Book Bus visit is a valuable highlight.
The students don’t actually borrow books during our current visits. Multiple copies of one book allow the kids to read along, to improve their spelling and comprehension skills and to all share the same book. In addition to a chapter a day, we share several different picturebooks each day and do crafts or games based on the stories. During our two weeks here, we visit 4 schools: one in the morning, one in the afternoon and different ones each week.
Everyone who sees us driving by, asks for books! Adults walking by, a truck driver from his window, they all call out asking for books. They know that books are the ticket to the world!
The administrators and teachers are caring and wonderful, wanting the students to have the best but the schools are terribly poor - sometimes there is no toilet and no teaching resources. In other schools I see paper and chalk. We cannot eat food where anyone else can see us because the children here are often hungry.
Our afternoon school.
When we first arrived at the afternoon school, I mistook it for a chicken coop because chickens did walk in and out. Roughly hewn slats and a corrugated metal roof protected the children from the sun. The building was divided into three separate spaces, two of which had a few very old, crooked desks. Three or four students shared one desk. The floors are dirt and sapling trunks hold up the roof. But the children are delightful. They have huge grins, want to be next to each of us and hold our hands. We start each session with welcome songs.
Nico teaches kids the makarena, first with numbers, then with the months of the year. Aidan shows them how to dance the Hokey Pokey and we made up lots of games the boys remember from school. The dance moves of those little kids are way better than ours!
When we first arrived, I noticed some kids playing soccer. When I looked closer, I saw that the ball was a bundle of plastic bags. We ended up buying several soccer balls and making many kids very, very happy!
One day after school we are invited to a home near the school. The lady asks if we wanted to see how Zambians live, and we are honoured. Her small home is one room built from locally made bricks.
A home visit.
We drive by these brick towers each day. They almost look like pillars of a bridge that is gone. But they are piled up bricks in a tower, squat and square. Inside a fire smoulders. This is how the bricks get baked in a week. Then they sell the bricks.
Her dirt yard is swept with a bundle of twigs. A table outside of lashed together branches serves as kitchen counter, with some plastic dishes on it. She has to walk 200 meters to a bore hole for water. A large stone is the seat in the ‘kitchen’ with a small charcoal fire smouldering in a tin container. It’s where they cook all their food.
A woven wicker (branches) ’shed’ contained corn stalks for drying and eating.
The staple food in Zambia is nshima. Corn kernels are pounded into a coarse flour called mielie meal. When water is added and brought to a boil, it becomes a thick paste, the colour and consistency of thick mashed potatoes. At meal time, this ‘dough’ is rolled into a small ball in one hand and used to pick up a piece of fish, chicken or vegetables and then all eaten. Aidan loves nshima since he gets to eat with his fingers. It’s a bit like eating with playdoh. Playing with your food!
One day after school, we stop at the morning market we passed each day. Our wonderful leader quickly finds the market manager who gives me permission to take photos.
All the stalls are lashed together branches with thatched roofs. Women mostly sit on the ground with their wares: tasty fried fritters, fish, vegetables, tomatoes, fabric, tools, clothing, etc. etc. We seem to be the talk of the town. We’re basically the only white people everywhere we go. We, in turn, love seeing the proud tall women with straight backs, carrying babies and baskets and bags. The men are notoriously absent from the hustle and bustle of the market.
Cooking nsima.
The area is very industrial. The main employer in the Copperbelt is the mines, with huge tail pilings. The area is very dusty and very smoky with fires smouldering everywhere. Garbage has blown along the roads. There is no wildlife except for birds. It’s great that the stories we share this week are all about the environment and include local books about protecting wildlife and water quality. We talk about how bad charcoal making is - so many trees are being cut everywhere. But how do you cook when you don’t have electricity and only access to charcoal? There are no other resources…
During our last week we are in a school quite far out of Kitwe. It’s a nice brick building with a lovely courtyard. And this school has something special: a large building with a cement floor. Ideal for skateboarding in the shade! We are amazed and impressed that the Book Bus team has been able to find such a school building, ánd obtained permission for us to use it. Grandson Aidan is an avid skateboarder and has sponsors in Canada. Our local skate shop Axe & Reel has donated wheels and axels, tools and other equipment. His sponsor Vault of Nanaimo has donated skateboard decks. They filled our biggest suitcase and now we have them here! Aidan patiently demonstrates how to assemble wheels and trucks and attach them to a board. He has applied grip take and makes sure the P.E. teacher and the Book Bus driver know how to repair if needed.
Then he demonstrates the basics. The kids are delighted and can’t wait to have a try. They line up and take turns. Most wobble and squeal while a few of the older kids seem naturals. They all love it, from the oldest to the very youngest. Skateboarding is a huge success. We also brought books about skateboarding to tie it all together and we have fun reading, colouring skateboard pictures ánd riding! Aidan is the most popular kid this week!
On our very last day here, Aidan officially presents the skateboards to the school principal. She tells us that these boards will help to keep the kids focuses on school and athletics and will help to provide an alternative to ‘hanging around’. A win-win situation
And one day, as we were leaving the school, we discovered that two stools we had been sitting on could be used as drum. Within minutes this happened…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mozkwcnQDUE