Visiting Jennipher's Village

Time flies! This will almost certainly be the last blog I write in Zambia this year.

Jennipher rang before 9 hrs to say that she had sent someone to pick me up and take me to Pemba. At about 9.30 the driver, or the conductor! of the car rang to say he was on his way. He rang again at about 10 hrs. Jennipher asked me to ring him a few minutes later to check that he was still coming! He arrived at about 10.20 in, by local standards, a very smart car.

So we started off towards Pemba picking up passengers as we went. I was privileged having the front passenger seat to myself. There were at least 5 people in the back of this small car at one point – plus a child or two which aren't counted here. Eventually we picked up speed at came to the outskirts of the town. We dropped off two passengers and turned around heading back into town! When we reached the centre we turned again and swapped drivers!. We then slowly set off again in the direction of Pemba picking up further passengers whenever possible. I suppose that by about 11.15 we were out of Monze and on our way.

At Pemba Jennipher was waiting – probably for the past three hours! She swiftly loaded me and Solomon into another car and we set of on a dirt road into the bush. Gradually the roads became narrower and very far from flat! I have driven one or two of these myself and they are very challenging.

Jennipher's village is about 5 km from Pemba. This is the village where she grew up. A Zambian village is not a place with tarred roads, mains electricity or water – though these days mobile phones are commonplace and the signal is good! Even cars are a rarity. I was told that you could go for a week without seeing a car. Buildings are far apart. A family might have a few structures – a house, kitchen, store etc. Then 200 or 300 metres away another family would have the same. It was unusual to be able to see a neighbours house from another. It would be found by following a winding path or two through the light bush.

For me it was wonderful to be somewhere without any traffic noise! Beautiful peaceful countryside, but of course I can now return to my comforts.

The young children cannot walk the 4 km each way to school so they are wanting to build a pre-school in the village. They have started constructing a church and thought that since services are only once a week, they could use the structure for the rest of the week. They can get bricks, but would need to buy cement. Something like £60 is needed to complete the job.

They have two boreholes nearby, but the land is high and at this time of year the boreholes are dry. Women have to walk at least 2 km to fetch water. It's possible that the boreholes can be made deeper, but this sounds like an expensive job.

The youngsters haven't anything to do and are tempted to go into town and get into trouble. They want footballs and netballs. At least here I was able to help with two footballs which were given to me to bring to Zambia – one which the boys joyfully took and the other that the girls were given.

Many other challenges face this very poor community. A group of women who are vulnerable through AIDS or being widowed have got together as a formal group. They want to start raising village chickens to make some income. They will also need to find money to register the group in order to access seed, fertiliser and other items.

We walked around the village with various members of the community including Jennipher's aunt. We visited several graves including those of her mother and paternal grandmother. Jennipher would like to make the graves better by making a concrete top and a covering of black tiles – as would others in the community. At the moment the graves are marked with mounds of earth and a scattering of concrete pieces – the names of those interred are not present. They rely on relatives recognising the graves.

I try to help a bit where I can, but my resources are limited. It would be nice to be able to make a significant difference to the lives of the people in this village. It was a memorable day and I hope to visit again when I return to Monze.

I was provided with village chicken and nshima for lunch and after listening to the people and thanking them for their welcome we made our way back.

Bye from Monze,

Chris