Earthcharter

The Chief looked at us from the chair of honor in the small meeting hut. “Protocol says that you must kneel before the Chief when you come into his presence.” He had a small smile around the edges of his mostly stern face.

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 00:27

The Chief looked at us from the chair of honor in the small meeting hut. “Protocol says that you must kneel before the Chief when you come into his presence.” He had a small smile around the edges of his mostly stern face. The Retainer, in his military uniform looked uncomfortable. What, I wondered, would be the consequence. We had started the last part of the adventure from Zambezi at 5 AM, in the dark without power as usual. No breakfast or coffee, Fr. Dominic threw a few Cokes and some water into the truck, and we were off like the wind. The sun was up, but it was very cold, when we arrived at the pontoon ferry. Again it was on the opposite side of the river from us. They were attempting to load a very large truck onto the deck, but since it lacked brakes (a luxury, I suppose) they brought it down the steep slop by chocking the front wheels with logs every few feet, then backing up to allow the logs to be moved a few feet more. Another hour delay! When we hit the Black Forest, the bush driver in Fr. Dominic really rushed out. 100 – 120 kilometers per hour along a sandy track barely wider than the truck. This time we could see the trees, the land, the environment as we flew, literally since the bumps were so frequent, past. The land is hauntingly beautiful, with wide open plains followed by cramped trees holding limbs over the track. We stopped at one point to drink a coke, eat a muffin, put the fender back on, try to reattach the windshield to the truck, and put the light that had fallen off the roof into the map case! We made it into Kaoma in 6 hours of physical abuse. Fr. Dominic remained as cheerful as ever, and when he drove into town, we felt we were with a rock star as people yelled and screamed and waved! People ran up to the truck to talk and shake his hand. He took us to the central bus square, a large and dusty lot surrounded by bus companies, each begging for our business. We would have been eager to give it to them, but none had buses leaving anytime in the foreseeable future. We settled on a company that said its bus would be there momentarily, and we foolishly agreed. Instead of the Greyhound style bus we came on, this blue mini-van showed up. They told us to look inside to see if it would work. It was cramped, but only two other people were on it, so we agreed. After paying our money and leaving the lot, the van immediately stopped and let more people on. This happened twice more, and we left Kaoma with 16 people in an 8 passenger van. This time on the ride through the wildlife park, we saw elephants! They were right next to the road, and as a favor, the driver stopped for 2 or 3 minutes for us to watch. Then we sped off, past the Zebras, the elephant herd rolling in the mud, the gazelles and the wart hogs. We did, however, stop for 30 minutes so the driver and conductor could eat supper! 6 hours later, and well after dark, we arrived in Lusaka. We went to the Intercontinental to meet up with the rest of the Team, who had been in Livingstone. We had a quick debriefing, which included beer and wine! The next day we went to see Chief Bandu Bandu, who is in charge of Chongwe, where our Chilipula Village project is located. He asked for a visit, and one cannot say no to a Chief. We hired a cab, driven by our sometimes friend Mike, to take us the 30 km to the Palace. We waited in the appointed open hut for the required 20 minutes until the Retainer came and asked us to follow him to the Chief's meeting hut. We entered, bowed, clapped our hands, and sat down. That is when Chief Bandu Bandu informed us of our breech of protocol. All in all, he was a nice guy, and he laughed at our nervous response. He thanked us for working in one of his villages, then took us for a tour of his compound. He was a very articulate and worldly man who worked in the government before becoming Chief. He told us about the details of the Chiefly life. He introduced us to his wife, who immediately fell in love with Val. He showed us, at a safe distance, the shrine to past Chiefs, where their symbols of power were kept, like canes, and axes, whatever. He also said that if we tried to look inside, the people around the compound would rush over and kill us. I do not think he was kidding this time. Then we went to our new hotel. We are staying in an industrial area not far from downtown. It cost us less for the last 5 nights we are staying here than one night at the Intercontinental. The amenities are a little more sparse, but the people are friendly. When we went to dinner last night the waitress asked what we wanted for supper. No menus, just choose between T-Bone, pork, or chicken. Served with nshima, of course, and some sort of vegetable to be determined after cooking. We returned to our room, and she came around 30 minutes later to let us know the meal was ready for us. The food was delicious, Sunday is a rest day, so I have been developing a report on the COPE Project for WEAZ and ECUS. And reading a fascinating novel by a Zambian called “Bitterness”, and it exactly matches what we saw. Bitterness of the poor that the promises made after the whites were kicked out were never met, and that the corruption, cruelty, and harshness remained. It is the rich predating on the poor, the strong predating on the weak, the privileged predating on the abandoned. And through it all I remember the pleas of the villagers were met. “Please do not abandon us.” They cannot stand to be abandoned once again.

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