From the Bush Bungalow: The Real Africa: Babies!

Well, there goes another term and another term break. And here I am, with only eight months left in the village-- two school terms. I've been busy running around having too much fun. Mom and Meaghan came in July and we had a great time in the village, camping, hitching, and visiting Victoria Falls.

When I got back from vacation, I was welcomed by a new baby sister! Loveness Sampa was born on Saturday July 21--- the sixth girl of seven in the Sampa family.

My co-teacher also just had a baby girl and my GLOW teacher also just had a baby girl. I am thinking I can make a mini- GLOW club of under-one's.

I'm quite sure that my family's decision to expand is motivated by the hope of another boy to take up the family name. Gender balance is important here. Another important factor in the family structure is birth order. The most popular getting-to-know-you phrases seems to always be "what number in your family are you?" One always seems to get a nod of approval if you respond "first born." They usually ask me how many boys, girls, and in what order. If my birth order matches up with their birth order-- we automatically have something awesome in common and we're best friends because Hey! We're second-borns!

Also, parents are selective with what name they give their first born. By giving their child a name, they are also actually giving themselves a new name as parents. Once a mother gives birth to her first child---for example; her first child is named Chanda---- she is then referred to as mother-of-Chanda, (in Bemba Bana Chanda). Father-of-Chanda; BaciChanda. This is a Bemba thing and most Bembas have an English name which they use more formally and at school. Their Bemba name is primarily used at home and it usually one of the following; Mulenga, Chanda, Bwalya, Musonda, Mutale, Mwansa, Chilufya. My host sister, who was born first in her family has the Bemba name of Mutale but her English name is Prisca. Her mother calls her Mutale but her in school she writes Prisca on the top of her homework. Her mothers name is Matildah- but we call her BanaMutale and her father is Lesho but we call him BaciMutale. Get it?

So the actual nine months of Matildah's pregnancy with Loveness (Bemba name-Chanda) wasn't anything out of the ordinary, at least on the outside. She worked just as hard, carrying firewood on her head, harvesting groundnuts, maize, cassava. Bathing all of her kids, cooking for her family. And as she got bigger, she simply added more layers; three or four citenge now wrapped around her. And the alarming concept about pregnancy here is that nobody talks about it. Call it juju (withcraft), call it jealousy, or call it high infant mortality rate. But we don't talk about the big obvious belly in the room.

And because of all this, I had no idea my host mother was pregnant until the last two weeks before she had her baby.

But anyways, Loveness is here and she is beautiful! We call her Love for short. A little peanut...Groundnut! She just rests gently on the back of all my host sisters, wrapped in piles of blankets and citenge. She sleeps and cries, and we sing "all you need is Love." Esther is a pro at the "do do do do do do" part.

She is just like every baby brought fresh into the world. A canvas, clean of decisions, experiences, emotion, impurities. A little armful of life just waiting to unfold. She'll spend most of her three years perched in a citenge on her mother's back. She'll go to the fields, cook over the brazier, be carried to church- all before she will walk. Then she'll teeter around on the uneven earth, falling and tumbling and roughing up her skin. Reaching for a stick or a finger or a piece of charcoal to put in her mouth. Here there are no pacifiers, no soft toys, no playpens, no baby shoes. The motor skills are neglected and development relies on their limited environment. But they are preparing for the lifestyle they will soon walk and talk in.

I observe Trust, my 2 year old neighbor who has learned how to walk and talk in the same amount of time I've learned how to work and develop and adapt. I actually feel I can relate to him and the baby steps we take as we walk toward success. I am no different from him in some ways. When I arrived he was scarred of me, would scream when he saw me. But as the months went by he took his chances, started crawling, laughing, talking, growing. When I arrived I was just as scared, and have grown just as much.

The coolest part about Trust is how he's started to sit out simple English phrases at the same pace he's learning Bemba. Okay, he's learning Bemba faster but all these words only recently started coming out. And it's so cool! He'll say Muli Shani? But he'll also respond when I ask him "how are you?"

Anyways, I think babies are pretty cool . I'm already jealous of my replacement volunteers who gets to watch Loveness grown up. I wonder what her life will be like 20 years from now.

Hey so check out some pictures from the Linehan girl power vacation at http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/slinehan7/4th%20wallet%20vacation/#!cpZZ26QQtppZZ16

Only one camera survived the trip but the pictures are still pretty good! Also, here are some pictures of all the babies!!! babies!!

Also are some pictures of the preschool project. For those of you who aren't aware, my preschool is currently held in a large open insaka (like a gazebo). With the generosity of some of the lovely folks in America, several unexpected donations have allowed us to build a real building! Where we can store our teaching materials, hang up posters without them getting blown away, and upgrade from the dirt floor. We've also been blessed with books, toys, and learning materials from family and friends back home. What a special thing you've all done for us. I will keep you updated at the project progresses. Right now-- the parents have molded the bricks, cleared a plot of land, and dug a foundation. Our hopes are that the building will be up and ready before the rains come. And learning will start inside the building itself ASAP.