Wrapping Things Up!

This is our last day out into the Compounds and we are heading for a Catholic Church in the Linda Compound! (Imagine, she has only been here 17 days and already has a Compound named after her!).  We have managed to talk Matilda into driving with us and we are peppering her with questions.  She was born and raised in one of the small villages outside of Livingstone. She tells us that many children in the villages do not start school until they are 7 or 8 because they have such a long way to walk (and usually have to do it on their own).  Each day her mom would pack her some food in a bowl for her lunch, but she had to walk several miles to school and would get tired and eat it before she got there.  At lunchtime she would cry because she was hungry and had nothing.  She decided that she did not want to go to school.  There is no law that says that you have to go to school, but Matilda's parents know it is important and send her to live with her half brother, who lives close to a school.  It is unfathomable how many barriers these children must overcome just to attend school!  Matilda lived in a grass thatched roof hut and said that it was cool, even in the hottest time of the summer!

Now, it's time for Matilda to ask us some questions - she will be moving to the states while Kevin goes to college.  We assure her that with a little one, it will be easy to strike up a conversation with other moms and to make friends.  We laughed together at some of the cultural differences that she has run up against - she doesn't think she would ever be able to wear a bikini in public....we all agreed, we wouldn't be caught dead in one either....of course her reason was cultural modesty, ours was cultural mortification.  Matilda is a modern African woman who is comfortable in both American business clothes, and traditional chitengas.  She wields a cell phone with the best of them.

The Linda Compound is a little bit different than the others that we have visited.  This one is further outside the city and seems to be a little more spread out than the others.  There is a big crowd of women here and we are disappointed that we don't have any balloons for them, but the bubbles are a big hit.  This time we give the bubble bottles to some of the young ladies that are here (many with babies strapped to them) and let them do the blowing.  Keeps us from hyperventilating!  We watched one of the girls slip the bubble bottle into her chitenga with the baby she is carrying - happy that we had something to give her!

Superman and his brother had a great time riding this barrow-less wheel barrow!  A valuable piece of transportation in the compound.

On the way home, Suzanne decided that we should try our hand in buying something from one of the vendors who come to the van windows.  We located one with chips (Caribbean onion and balsamic vinegar- our new favorite) and she opens the window and calls out!  He comes over and she gets out her wallet (this is where Matilda figures out what we're doing and tells her to put her wallet down, get the chips before you get the money, etc.)  She pays K2.5.  Well what good is it to successfully buy something from a street vendor if it has not been immortalized on film....do over.  She gets her money ready and she locates another chip guy (she could also have bought cell phone time, car chargers, oranges, maps of Africa, or a plunger)- Janet has the camera ready.....He tells her it is K3!  She has no more single Kwachas and traffic begins to move, she has the chips, he runs us down, Janet gets involved - somehow we end up with 2 bags, have overpaid him and still don't have a picture.  I think Matilda and Everito (our driver today) think that we are crazy.