Our Place

Well I thought it was about time I told you about where we live.
We live at the top of a hill and have an amazing view of Lake Bangweulu. Sometimes the lake looks like the sea. It is very beautiful. It is fresh water. Fishing is a big part of the way people live. At night time when you look across the water you would think it was a city out there not a lake as the fishermen are out and all have a light on their boats.

As Donald has told us many times Lake Bangweulu means ‘where the water meets the sky’ and let me tell you that is exactly what you see.

The house we are in belongs to Mark and Carmen Brubaker. They are missionaries here and work with the orphan project. The house has 4 bedrooms, lounge, formal dining, 2 kitchens (I will tell you about that later), and an upstairs loft (which has a tv with our equivalent of sky on it!), 2 bathrooms (with flush toilets yay) and for the moment 2 dogs. The house itself isn’t completely finished but is very liveable. Things like the breakfast bar needs to go in and some more painting done, but as I said very liveable.

Now by two kitchens I mean that there is the main kitchen and then opposite the formal lounge there is a long kitchen bench, which is also where the breakfast bar is to go and is to have a sink in it! For the moment however all the water is in the main kitchen behind the wall. Most of the dishes are not in the main kitchen which means when you are cooking you are constantly going backwards and forwards and also when you are doing the dishes. The oven is in the other kitchen – not the main one. I think the main kitchen is called a butlers Kitchen.

The two dogs. Well one belongs to Mark and Carmen and his name is Copper. The other one belongs to Mr and Mrs Fuller who are missionaries as well, but are on furlough and her name is Spice. Spice is the one who attacked the village dog that Donald wrote about! She is actually a very loving dog! Both these dogs are used to being inside. They are very big! Well we have moved their food and water outside and they are not allowed inside during the day. At night they sleep in the lounge! That is for security – however it means that we have to have all the other doors in the place closed as copper likes to visit everyone during the night. He also loves our bed and if he happens to come inside... well he loves to lounge on our bed!!! Naughty dog!!!!

We are about 15 minutes walk away from the Bible School. Katie and I walk there 3 times a week for the ladies Bible Study. They don’t want to come here because of the dogs! The Bible School has a great veggie garden which is where we buy, silverbeet(they call it spinach!), rape, and now carrots. We also buy our chickens there but we get them to ‘dress’ it before we get it! Donald is constantly bringing home fresh fruit which he buys from the ladies on the side of the road. Ohhh the fruit here is amazing. It tastes so great! Bananas and pawpaw are just wonderful! They taste so different to home!

Katie and I try to go as often as we can on the big walk and that takes about half an hour and also some of it is uphill. There are stores up this end of Samfya and Katie and I will go there to get groceries that we need. The other end of town is where you would buy whatever you need (as long as they have it!) including a fish market. The smell there is ... well I am sure you can use your imagination. There is no refrigeration! Katie and I don’t like going down there. It is a very sleezy part of town! However Katie and I feel safe when we are out walking. Most people greet you as you go.

Now we have a housekeeper whose name is Rosemary. She is great and gets rid of all the spiders, lizards and stuff like that. She also does the washing if I haven’t done it first, hangs it out and when it is in does the ironing!
Then there is Morgan and he is the gardener but will do anything and when Rosemary isn’t here. He will do dishes and even the washing and washing the floor – I don’t ask him. We just come home and it is all done!

Well finally there is the night watchman - Bwalya! He is really funny! The other day we were showing him photos of home and he told me “madam you are fat!” Yes that is what he said. Well I got the giggles and he said “yes you are”. Well what do you say to that. He then saw a picture of my Mother and told me that she was very beautiful. He saw a photo of Donald’s Mother and I told him that she was beautiful and he asked me if she was fat too!!! He is so funny. For a lot of Zambians being fat is a good thing. It means that you are wealthy and healthy. Being skinny means that you don’t have enough food and possibly are even sick. Donald remembers when he lost 22kgs and then came here no one said anything about the weight loss in case he was sick! So by telling me I was fat – he was trying to tell me I was beautiful ohhhhhh how lovely (I think!).

Well I hope you are able to see in your mind where we are. It is really nice. We have been really fortunate to be living here. We wouldn’t be if Mark and Carmen weren’t back in the USA and Canada.
Love to everyone
Gwen