So was going to start with a hazily remembered quote about "emotion recollected in tranquillity" (which I think was Wordsworth) but then got sidetracked by a spat between poets (as you do) because apparently T.S.Eliot said:
"We must believe that emotion recollected in tranquillity is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity.
Well, sorry T.S. but it`s the best I can do, as this last post is being done in relatively tranquil circumstances, 9 days after leaving Zambia: it may well, therefore, contain some `inexactitudes` so anyone who spots them please correct them!
During the rest of our week at Sende we spent some time at each session learning names(written in black marker on strips of masking tape - instant badges).
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They ranged from the familiar - Ruth, Joshua,Kerry,Henry - to those which Kelly explained would have related to something specific at the time of that child`s birth - what could have inspired the name Loveness for instance? - to the ones that made you smile - Innocent for example might have been more appropriately named Mischief.
The week included a guided tour of the village conducted by Lillian, one of the pre-school teachers.
It felt like a genuine privilege to be invited to do this. Each family, or extended family, have their own designated plot and there was a feeling of security and community support which probably has a lot to do with the fact that it takes several weeks and interviews by the headman before a family is permitted to live in the village.
Lillian explained about the buildings and way of life, introduced us to the headman and generously answered our questions.
There was the expected:
the local carrier
complete with parking attendant to ensure the animals don`t wander off,
a relatively recently installed well for water,
which then has to be carried home for the chores
and without wishing to fall into generalised cliché it was impossible not to note how elegantly poised these strong, hard-working women were.
But there was also the unexpected: the snooker table - albeit one with ripped baize - under cover in a communal building or the satellite dish on the roof.
Satellite dish? Where there`s no electricity? Lillian simply smiles and says when there`s football being televised they have a generator and everyone gathers round to watch the match...including some of the women..and yes they have a football pitch in the village (there was a game scheduled for the following day against Livingstone) - and yes, some of the girls did play football.
And there were other sights that gave pause for thought where we were working that week: the child and woman carrying a bucket of water they`d just pulled up from the well, the woman using a mobile phone with her spare hand.
Or the slightly larger but still traditionally built mud-building with two massive speakers attached to the exterior wall - the local bar.
Inevitably the last morning arrived. After a spirited rendition of Eric Carle`s From Head to Toe which involved a lot of stomping, bending and and back-arching,(my crocodile wiggling only surpassed by Lena`s monkey arm waving)
and the colouring and stapling and glueing of countless fish plus the ever popular (and thankfully quite simple) crowns,we were able to actually hand out some books for the children to take home.
No doubt word had spread for there seemed more children than ever but thanks to all the extra hands (Cathy, a volunteer arrived from the UK the previous Friday,Sarah, newly arrived and due to run another Bookbus project, local volunteer Evans, Lillian and trainee teacher Claudia) orderly queues formed and it was an amazing way to finish the week.
All that remained was the final (for some of us)group photo,
much waving and cries of goodbye as we left, weary, dusty but exhilarated and with some of the children hanging on, literally, to the last possible moment.......
And while we packed in as much as we could with the children that second week we were also aware of our time running out for exploration of Livingstone and our little bit of Africa.
There was a local meal of nshima ** to experience (excellent by the way, washed down with the local beer);
the museum to visit and the market to wander through again
not to mention more good coffee at W.B.,negotiating with the artists and craftsmen who sold us our souvenirs and simply strolling the streets of Livingstone.
Our penultimate afternoon and evening, once we`d scrubbed up a bit, was spent at the Royal Livingstone on the shores of the Zambezi within sight of the Smoke-That-Thunders,firstly to take High Tea, a strangely wonderful experience, especially if limitless quantities of cake is your thing
and then, as the sun began to sink below the yardarm to shimmy down to the sundecks and partake of what the hotel blurb tells us the "early settlers" called the "sundowner ritual",
serenaded somewhat bizarrely by a man perched on a fence behind us quietly playing old Beatles tunes on a flute while monkeys scampered about pinching as many of the snacks they could get away with.
Last but not least, Friday night was spent at Olga`s again, more amazing pizza, good company and plans already being hatched for more Bookbus adventures......did someone mention India? ;)
Which about wraps it up really. Huge credit to Kelly, who single-handedly but with a light touch, guided and informed us, laughed with us, shopped, cooked and cared for us and without whom the whole experience would have been much diminished. Saying goodbye was not easy:
to Grubby`s beautiful Grotto
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to `Cuzzie` who mooched round companionably the whole fortnight keeping an eye on things
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to the wonderful Wonder Bake coffee
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to new friends
and of course, to the inestimable Kelly.
We`ll be back!
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nshima
Oh and there were chickens btw - but there were a lot more elephants.........
Keep up to date with the other Aberdeenshire contingent @
www.fionazambia.blogspot.com
and keep following the BookBus @
http://thebookbusuk.blogspot.co.uk/
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