Daily Life in Zambia

I taught Orleen, a college sponsored student, how to bake a poppy seed sheet cake! Her sponsors were here from Victoria and she treated them with her cake!

We've had Bob Bernard and Terry Harkness from Victoria for a couple of weeks, so my days have been quite occupied. Cooking and cleaning take at least twice as long as at home due to lack of a few conveniences e.g. dishwasher, sometimes no water, sometimes no electricity, lack of what I'm used to as far as convenience foods, no bags of chicken breasts, no frozen cut up veggies, ... But, we are still well fed and everyone is patient as I try to figure out how to cook in Zambia. I've learned to pasteurize milk and re-learned how to cut up a chicken (after pulling some missed feathers off). I jik (bleach) just about everything, even my shirt at times by accident. I wash lettuce at least four times - and use jik in one of the washes.

My days start at 0545 because I need to get the guy's lunches ready for Katungu. Bob takes vegetables and fruit and Terry likes sandwiches and fruit. Then I spend about an hour cleaning up before Winnie and the "door knockers' - usually kids, arrive. The Katungu folks think Canadians have strange lunches as they've been told Nshima is the filler and we don't eat nshima!

We're often out the door by 0900 checking on some of our "kids" or doing business on the construction projects. Sometimes we are back at lunch time but most days we are not. By 1600 we try to return so I can get supper ready. The guys clothes are very dirty with sand, so Winnie and I have figured out a washing system so she doesn't have to do much of the washing.

Anyway, I think I'll make some pancakes and see if that will work for a Sunday night supper! Not too creative, but I have lots of eggs and some farm milk. I made rice pudding last night for dessert and the guys really liked that. I noted that Wendy and Richard and a few others wouldn't think it was such a great dessert, but... for some of us... it is "just ok".

Enough for now.