The Feast, The Festival and The Fall

The days here begin very early, hence Saturday morning, instead of a nice lie-in, I was up at 6.30 getting ready to go to watch a Youth Debating Competition being held in the council chambers. Thoroughly enjoyed it too, the motions being debated were serious issues and the standard of those taking part was very high.

Afternoon/evening was spent waiting for a delivery…Earlier in the week, Francis & Alan had ordered two tables (a small kitchen table and a full size dining table) to be made by a local carpenter and they were to be delivered that evening. Two hours after the delivery was due, the guy finally phoned to say he was close by with the delivery. Alan and I went down to open the gates ready for the delivery vehicle. We waited patiently for about 10 minutes wondering what could have been taking so long when we saw, coming up a steep dirt track ahead, two men carrying one table each above their heads!! Fair play to them, practicalities such as not owning a delivery truck doesn’t deter them..!

Sunday morning I was once again up at stupid o’clock! This time to accompany Sampson, one of my YDF colleagues, to church..! There are many and varied churches here, this one was St Pauls. It is a traditional Anglican church building which would be far more suited to an English village and looks ridiculously out of place in Chipata! However, the service was fun – apart from the fact I had to stand up and introduce myself to the congregation! The whole event was filled with wonderful, vibrant, enthusiastic singing and clapping …one of the hymns was Bread of Heaven so I felt very much at home.
The Feast
Sunday afternoon, Rosie, a Chipata based VSO of one year, held a tea-party in honour of us newbies where we all feasted on biscuits & cake ….My gosh, she’s got some contacts. It was like the United Nations there with people from Italy, Germany, Finland, Holland, Brazil & India. Most if not all are working as volunteers in some capacity. One guy, Marco from Italy, was amazing. He has set up a school for orphans out in a remote part of Chipata. He was here about 7 years ago, saw that there was no schooling provision for orphans…so he established a school. What a hero!
The Festival
8th March is International Women’s Day, it’s a public holiday here so we went along to the Women’s Day March in town. There were hundreds of women marching and signing, all in colourful traditional dress ….a fabulous sight to behold. The march ended up at the Golf Course where a festival of singing and dancing ensued. Great stuff..!!

The Fall
Being totally engrossed in the Women’s Day March and trying to get good photos, I thought it was a good idea to walk backwards while looking at the picture viewer on my camera. Next thing I know, my feet are flying up in the air while the rest of my body is hurling itself to the ground!! The pain of cutting my leg on one of the randomly placed rocks at the side of the road (!!) was nothing compared to my embarrassment as a group of concerned locals flocked to my aid. I immediately jumped up (as you do), insisting to all that I was fine. In reality, the cut hurt, the blood trickling down my leg was making me feel queasy ….and I wanted to cry!

Oh well, that’ll teach me!!