Setting Up Home

Setting up home in a second place is inevitably a very inefficient process.  We’ve packed up most of our belongings into storage and come 5,000 miles to where we need to have pretty much the same things.  The school provide the basics for which we are extremely grateful.  Beds, some bedding, crockery, cutlery and basic cooking equipment.  Dining chairs and table (finally), sofa and armchair, coffee table, rug and bookcase, and of course the house in which to put everything.  But it doesn’t make it home, and that we have to do by ourselves.  It took us six slow years in Reigate and five before that in Watford, to which my family will attest, to create a home!  I think it can be safely assumed that neither Steve nor I are skilled in this art - but we are trying!

We received our shipment of 13 boxes in fairly good time, 2 weeks after it was supposed to arrive.  The state of them, however, was unbelievable.  Hard to imagine quite how any responsible company could think that it was showing duty of care to let this happen.  Several of the boxes were so badly water damaged that they were round instead of cuboid.  We estimate there to be in the range of £700 worth of permanent damage and the matter is not yet settled with our shipping company, Brooklands, who have so far refused to take ownership of the issue.  I find it hard to talk about without getting angry – so I’ll leave it there, hoping that next time I mention it, it will be to say that Brooklands have accepted their responsibility and sorted it out for us.

Two of our shipped boxes

The House

Lukasu cottages are situated in one corner of the ISL compound, with our own entrance away from the school entrances.  There are four terraced cottages each with a private garden within the compound.

Our compound is shown in red and our house and garden in
 yellow.  The ISL grounds are bounded by Nangwenya Road
 to the north and Lukasu Road to the south.  The east and
west roads don't have names - calm, Mum P, calm!

Front of out little house

Back of the house, you can see the washing machine under the
 lean-to and beyond the wall, our neighbour Sherif's house

And for Dad, who likes precision, the layout of the house!

There is adequate room for the three of us but if anyone comes to visit we’ll have to borrow someone else’s house.  Should be alright since Katell and Fraser will be borrowing our house over Christmas for their family.

Becca and Benson

Becca is our maid, the term I guess not having changed since domestic service was still common in Europe.  If she were employed in England now I suppose she would more likely be called a house keeper.  Becca is originally from the Copperbelt so she speaks Bemba as her main language but she also speaks Nyanja and a goodish amount of English. We have some good old misunderstandings principally due to the fact that Bemba doesn’t distinguish between r and l the same way Japanese doesn’t.  I asked her what these strange brownish, yellowish fruit were on sale at a market and she told me “raymonds”.  My mind had to play with it for some time before I worked out she meant “lemons”.  I spent 10 minutes looking for “loller” mealie meal and realised she meant “roller”.

So, she is an easy-going, cheerful lady in her late 30s.  She has four children aged between 6 and 15, Jefta, Soromon (or Solomon), Beverery (Beverley) and Aretha (could be Aletha but I think the r is good here).  Becca’s husband drowned 6 years ago and her family in-law took their quite substantial farm and other land making Becca and children homeless.  Becca’s father advised her not to waste emotional energy fighting a case that was likely to be long and drawn out and probably fruitless, so she moved her family to Lusaka.  She works here Monday to Friday 12-17 cooking, cleaning, ironing, washing, looking after Callum, helping me with my Nyanja and if I ever get round to giving her a list of fruit and veg she’d go to the Tuesday market for me.  To us she is the appropriate mixture of Mary Poppins and Jeeves.

When we got the washing machine, it was Becca who set it up and helped me work out that I had to turn the taps on to make the water come in (yes, Sue Lock, water trouble again).

Without the advent of vacuum cleaners, washing machines (although we have bought one most people don't have one, they are expensive, not very good quality and there is little infrastructure to support having one) and dish washers, and the vast quantity of dust, termite mess, washing and washing up, it is hard to manage without a maid.

Termite construction under the basin - appears
 within hours of cleaning.  Who knows where the
 material comes from or what the termites are hoping to achieve!

Benson is the compound gardener.  He is a thin chap, I estimate also in his late 30s though, you know, he could be anywhere between 35 and 55.  He keeps the compound tidy of the constant flow of leaves from all the fruit trees and generally tends the gardens.  Each house gets a turn and he does our garden on a Wednesday when he also washes our car.  He looks constantly hungry and when Becca cooks him lunch on a Wednesday, he makes good on the look, putting away more nshima than I’d have thought possible.  I enjoy Benson’s company, he’s funny and wise, a man of few but choice words.  The world seems right when I can hear his slightly tuneless hum.

Both of them call me "Madum" and I find it hard to have someone address me as if I am somehow more worthy of respect than they.  That's how it feels to me anyway; maybe it's their way of not having to learn the names of new people every two years - who knows!  They are two people from such different backgrounds to my own, I can't begin to imagine their lives and I hope we are privileged enough to really get to know them better.

Benson and Becca relaxing over lunch in the back garden

The Ground

Here is something I didn’t know: “Relatively high and stable temperatures encourage growth when the soil is fertile and the rainfall is good.  But there is a downside: the annual round of warm temperatures, with no seasonal change, means there is no relief from the activities of harmful bacteria or disease-bearing insects, such as hard winter frosts bring to temperate climes.  Furthermore, the total decomposition of vegetable matter is rapidly accomplished in consistently warm temperatures, leaving no time for the accumulation of humus, with the result that extensive layers of deep fertile topsoil are rare in Africa.” (John Reader, Africa – A Biography of the Continent).

That explains a few things to me.  It seems odd that there were so few plant varieties and that most are plants I recognise.  Those that we have in our garden have to be watered and fertilised for them to thrive.  Mind you, there are plenty of fruit trees in our compound: mango, banana, avocado, guava, lemon, pomegranate and maybe a few more.  Throughout Africa the soil seems to be this characteristic red and it gets everywhere, creating a film of gritty dust over everything that doesn't move.

The Weather

Since we've arrived we've barely worn much more than t-shirts and shorts because of the heat.  At first the nights were much cooler and we needed a light duvet but recently we've needed just a sheet.  It's hot hot during the day, probably 38 or 39 but doesn't feel too zapping because it's a dry heat and of course we have a swimming pool...and I don't have to work...maybe Steve and Callum would disagree!  The problem comes in the evening when the house is still so warm but I have to pop trousers and socks on to avoid being bitten.  That is a touch uncomfortable.

It has been very windy over the last couple of days which has brought the temperature down again and blown away all those pesky mosquitoes.  Callum slept in his tiger outfit last night - and looked jolly cute too!  It's getting awfully tight Aunty Rhona.

Ready for lights out ritual