"Salibonani" from Hwange District







Our African adventure included more than just game-viewing in the bush.  The opportunity to meet and interact with people in all of the countries we visited was a wonderful experience – as OAT puts it in their brochure, a “journey of learning and discovery.”  At the lodges and tented camps we were encouraged to talk with the staff (“Ngiyabonga” [thank you] to Albert at Kashawe Tented Camp in Zimbabwe, for the Ndebele language classes!) We had some very interesting conversations with the staff and drivers in the camps where we stayed about our families, where we lived in the states, and the weather - we had pictures of the snow that had fallen at home just before we left, and several of the camp staff members that we talked with had never seen pictures of snow, much less the real thing.  But stepping, even briefly, into community life beyond the safari camps is really enlightening.

At Kashawe Tented Camp, Albert spent one afternoon teaching Yvonne
and Hilary several words and phrases in Ndebele, the local languag

On one stop, we were split into four teams of three members, and each team was given $2.00 by our tour leader and sent into a community market to buy a specific local product.  Bill, Larie, and Linda bought Chibuku, a traditional beer, fermented mostly from sorghum or millet.  In the past, no social occasion or religious ritual was complete without it — no wedding or funeral, no prayer for rain, no tribute to the gods.  Today, it is the most popular alcoholic drink in Africa.  Usually, one brings his own container to the store and fills it from a large vat of the brew.  Not having brought a container with them, the store sold our shoppers the beer and gave them the container, called a “scud” and named for the missile that we all came to know through CNN’s coverage of the first Gulf War.

Our tour leader, Manuel, with the "scud" of Chibuku that Bill (in background), Larie and Linda
bought in the market.  It may be a favorite in Africa, but I don't think any of us liked the taste.

Chibuku might be consumed while eating the local snack food found by Hillary, Jack and Diane: Mopane worms.  The New York Daily News said “Ready to get more adventurous than potato chips?  In Zimbabwe, mopane worms are a staple in rural areas – and a delicacy in cities.” (January 25, 2013).  Mopane worms are so named because they are caterpillars that feed on the leaves of the mopane tree.  They are dried, then fried crisp, and have somewhat the consistency of fried pork rinds. 


Mopane worms (actually, caterpillars) from the Mopane tree, dried
and then char-broiled.  Tried them once...no, thanks!



Kathy, Ray and “Boston” Ray, in the meantime, located a local non-alcoholic drink, Mague.  While home production is still widely practiced, the drink is also available at many supermarkets, being produced at factories.  Its taste is derived predominantly from lactic acid that is produced during fermentation, but commercial mageu is often flavored, much in the way commercially available yogurt is.  Similar beverages are also made in other parts of Africa.

The final team (Mike, Bryan and Yvonne) was sent after Mutatya, which in the Shona language means “bird plums”.  Smaller than cherries, with a large pit, bird plums taste like dates.  They can be eaten fresh or, like dates, dried and stored for future use.  Since Mike and Bryan had the situation under control, Yvonne wandered off to make some purchases - a cow bell and a wooden spoon - that were not on anyone’s list.  Shop keepers were helpful and simply laughed with us as we mangled the language trying to communicate our product names.

Buying "bird plums"  $1 (US) per cup.  This lady only had one cup left, so
she went to the vendor in the next stall and brought back this pan full

One of the stalls in the outdoor market.  The brick building in the background, made of mud bricks,
is the grocery store.  We bought some gifts in this store for the villagers that we were going to visit.

Never one to miss an opportunity to shop, Yvonne bought a cow bell (in the
foreground, next to the axes) and a wooden cooking spoon from this vendor



Another stop was at St. Mary’s Primary School in the Hwange community.  The school was founded in 1939 by the Catholic Church and is currently supported in part by Grand Circle Foundation (parent company of Overseas Adventure Travel).  The Principal gave us an introduction to the philosophy and the practical daily challenges in creating this educational environment.  All of the students in this school (as in all schools in Zimbabwe) are required to wear uniforms, which their parents must pay for.  We visited a sixth grade and a second grade classroom.  Classes are taught in Ndebele and English.  We were encouraged to chat with the students as such encounters develop their language skills.  The second graders were in the midst of a math lesson - all 44 of them!  The room was calm and the kids all engaged in their work.  I have nothing but admiration for both students and teachers at St. Mary’s Primary School!

St. Mary's Primary School's mission statement



When we arrived, the 7th grade was lined up to greet us...



...and welcomed us with a song.  Note that all the students, including the girls, have their hair
cut very short.  The Principal told us it was worn that way to help prevent ringworm. 



Classes of 40+ students are the norm, but the kids are very well behaved.  Like kids
everywhere, they crave attention and love to show visitors their schoolwork.



Math problems on the blackboard in the 2nd grade classroom.  With few
books, lessons are written on the board, and the students copy them in
notebooks with blank pages, and then solve the problems.  



A fairly modern brick school, but the "restrooms" are all outside, and do not have running water



Three sixth-grade boys in class.  Boys wear khaki uniforms and the girls wear blue with white trim

The Principal (left foreground) and a student from each grade level accepting some of the
gifts our group brought, including pens and pencils, maps and globes, stickers and
all manner of school supplies plus three soccer balls.

This sign hangs in the school library as a "life lesson" for
the kids, but it is good advice for all of us.



After leaving the school we stopped at a family compound in the Hwange community.  The social structure is based on paternal lineage so family units consist of sons and grandsons and their families.  Families work together to provide the daily necessities for the extended family unit. The daughters-in-law of the patriarch showed us how they ground millet, which is very labor intensive.  In order to make the task less mundane, they sang while working, in rhythm with the pounding of the grain.  Our hosts had a huge garden and raised both chickens and goats.   They had the luxury of “running water”, a single spigot on a pipe emerging from the ground outside, near the center of the compound.  Nothing is wasted and everything is used and then re-imagined to be made useful in a different context.  Rusty bed springs become one of the walls in the goat enclosure; an axe is fashioned using an old leaf spring from a truck, honed to a razor-sharp edge, for the blade.  Old tin cans are used to make a bluish-gray dye to color the leaves when weaving baskets.  Other dyes are made from the roots, berries and bark of various trees and shrubs.  Self-sufficiency calls for creative measures.

Grocery store in the village in Hwange District that we visited.  We stopped
here to buy additional food for the family we were going to see.

 

Our host family.  The round building is for cooking, eating and family gatherings.
Individual buildings in the compound provide sleeping quarters for the extended family.



Inside the central building looking up to the roof.  Because of the way it is constructed
the inside is surprisingly light and well-ventilated.



Two of the daughters-in-law grind millet into flour.  In this patriarchal society,
following marriage, women become part of their husband's extended family.



This family is better off than many and are proud that they have running
water, even if it is a single spigot in one corner of their family compound



The family's corn crib, raised on stilts to keep animals out, and their ox cart (covered)



Goat pen.  Nothing is wasted...an old bed spring becomes the back fence of the pen

Cooking pots and baskets dry on a rack outside after meals are prepared

Communal cattle pen.  It is built of poles and looks like a fort.  It is strong
enough to keep lions and other predators away from the cattle at night



The women of our host family bid us farewell

Our brief but interesting visits to a local market, a primary school, and a family compound helped to give a human dimension to our safari experience.  Encounters and interaction with individuals in the community as well as in the camps added a personal touch to our Road Stories.

 

Here's a sign you don't see in the U.S. - Elephant Crossing.