July 2017

The building crew was building a rondoval at the compound and had gotten to the point where they needed to pour a ring beam for the second floor.  In order to make a form they knocked holes through the wall they had just built to put wire through to hold the wood forms.  When they were done with the ring beam they would have to fix the holes they’d made.  This sort of thing is frustrating to me, because it doesn’t show any foresight to the next few steps and takes more work and time.  I called the crew together and asked them how they could do this part of the job more efficiently.  I explained that efficient means ‘better and faster,’ as some of them didn’t understand the word.  I told them that I had an idea, but I wanted them to come up with some.  This isn’t normal for them, they usually wait to be told how to do everything, but I wanted them to take some time to think it through for themselves and see what they could come up with.

It was a fun process to watch.  They were very hesitant at first, but soon ideas were being tossed out, and usually shot down by the others.  After about 10 minutes of animated talking and sometimes yelling and laughing Langton had an idea, which was to lay the wire in the mortar as they built, rather than makes holes afterwards that would need to be fixed.  It was the simplest, easiest and fastest way to do it, and they came up with the idea themselves.  I suggested they do it that way next time and congratulated Langton on his good idea.  It was great to see the men slapping him on the back and shaking his hand for a job well done.  Langton can’t read or write and his English isn’t very good, but he is one of the smartest men on the crew and is always happy and works very hard.  The men would remember to do it this way the next time because they were the ones who thought of the idea and were going to take ownership of it, rather than just following the murungu’s instructions.  I love those moments!

In Africa they use minivans as taxis which they call ‘combis’ and they drive at reckless speeds and are generally not in good repair.  Accidents are a common occurrence, usually with a few fatalities.  These drivers like to ‘hoot’ their horns when they go past to signal that they are there and are open to pick people up.  There is one that goes past our compound every day at 6am.  Sometimes I think he likes to give his horn an extra long hoot as he goes past.

The smells of Africa are body odor and diesel fuel.  Shona people out where we are don’t use deodorant or antiperspirant so when I’m working with the men it is always very ‘fragrant’.  It’s strange, but it is just one more thing that you get used to and don’t even really care about after a while.  I still choose to use deodorant, but it doesn’t bother me that nobody else does.  Diesel is the primary fuel of choice for vehicles in Africa and it is easier to obtain than petrol.  Our trucks, tractors and generators are all diesel powered so I often get diesel on my hands when I’m fueling up my generator and it takes a good scrubbing to the get smell off.

When I think about the sounds of Africa I think about birds singing early in the morning and the sound of generators.  The birds are fantastic and there is such a variety.  The funniest is the purple crested lourie because it makes a call that sounds like ‘go away’, and thus is nick-named the ‘go away bird.’  The fish eagle is much like the bald eagle in size and appearance, but sounds like a seagull, which sort of takes away from the majesty of this terrific bird.

There is no power supply to our compound so we rely on solar power and diesel generators for our electricity.  Ian’s house has a good solar power system, but he still needs to run his generator for 6 to 8 hours a day, to top up the batteries in the morning after being drained all night, and in the evening to top them up to be used all night.  Our house and the one next to us are solely generator powered, now that our solar equipment was lost in the fire.

We always breathe a sigh of relief when the last generator is turned off and the silence of the night begins.  We hadn’t anticipated the noise of generators and how normal it became.  The locals call our compound ‘generator village’ because of how much we use our generators and the noise they make.  I often need to use a generator to use American power tools, as they use a different voltage than we have in Africa.

There is a group of tiny shops and a bar about a kilometre away and on weekends the bar plays music very loudly into the wee hours of the morning.  We also hear the people walking by on the path or on the road after being at the bar and drinking the local beer, chibuku.  Thankfully our security guard is there to keep them from making too much noise or entering our compound.  The head of security for Eden is a policeman and a good friend of mine and he gets very upset if he hears about any drunk people making a fuss near our houses.

We don’t have much in the way of wildlife in Doma.  Most of the wildlife in the country has been hunted out of existence unfortunately.  Conservation isn’t a priority.  Some nights you could hear hyenas in the distance and there were rumours of a leopard on the kopje, the mountain, but we never saw it.  There are baboons around the mountain, but they don’t come near our compound.

We do have plenty of snakes in the area, but surprisingly you don’t hear of people getting bitten very often.  A seven foot long cobra was killed in our backyard by the gardeners.  I helped Brighton dig a cobra out from under the step of the house next to ours and kill it.  It was 20 feet from our house.  At first we were paranoid about snakes and every stick would make us jump, but after a while you stop worrying about it and just keep your eyes open.  Snakes don’t like to be around humans so the grass is kept cut low around the houses and we just kill any snake that comes around, unless it’s a python because they are protected and are not poisonous.

We have many different birds that I’ve started to photograph and am learning to identify.  One day a pangolin was caught going through the Ervines’ garden so we took it far out to the bush to release it.  The Shona people believe pangolins have gold in their skulls and will kill them.  They are an endangered species in Zimbabwe.  It was a great experience to get to see and hold one.  Lia loves all manner of creatures and it’s a normal occurrence to her come into the house with a frog or a chameleon on her shoulder.  Shona people hate all reptiles, but especially chameleons because of the independent eye movement.  Lia likes to walk up to a group of Shona people with a chameleon on her shoulder and see how long it takes for them to notice.  Lia never tires of seeing grown men jump away with a small screech.

September and October is fire season.  In Zimbabwe it is custom to burn off the land to get it ready for spring planting.  Some people believe that it brings the rain.  In September of 2015 a wildfire swept through the farm and burned down the teen girls’ house and the two chicken barns and a number of the worker’s homes.  A local man had started a fire to scare lions away from his herd of goats but the wind was strong and the fire quickly became a wildfire and spread.

Fire is a real danger at Eden Children’s Village so we cut the grass, which grows to almost 8 feet tall, all around the orphanage and then burn firebreaks to protect the buildings.  We are always on the lookout for fires during this time and if we see smoke someone goes to investigate and everyone who is able goes to help fight the fire if it is coming our way.  In a period of four weeks we will go fight 4 or 5 fires.  All the workmen jump into the trucks or onto tractors and we take matches and go light a fire across a field in front of the approaching fire.  It is hard and can be dangerous work, but it’s necessary to protect our buildings and our neighbours.  I’ve helped fight fires around our neighbours’ farms and it’s great to see the community come together to help one another.