Rainbow and Mumbuluma Falls

Here are some pictures of the Zambian country side! The one with the rainbow was taken just a few minutes walk from our house here. The other two were taken at Mumbuluma Falls, about 40km outside of Mansa. We stopped for a visit on our way back from Mwense, a town north of Mansa. The government is working on developing the Falls area into a tourist location, but for now it is remote, mostly undeveloped and cost $4US for a car full of people to visit. It is a beautiful place!

In Mwense we were delivering cuttings to a local farmer for on-farm research and extension. The goal of the project is to get farmers to grow the new varieties and then pass cuttings along to their neighbors to spread the new, higher yielding varieties. There is a great potential for the cassava market, millers are requesting 450 Tons for processing, but demand can not be met. However, a communication link is missing because the farmers in Mwense who grow cassava say that there is not market in it, that they can not sell their goods. So, there is work going on to try and connect the growers to the market.

John was also able to sample some streams on the way back from our trip yesterday. He always has a large group of children following him around, wondering what he is doing and wanting to help. We also saw the Luapula river on our drive yesterday (there is so much water) and looked across the boarder into Congo (it is so close). Apparently Zambians sell many of their goods to Congo like fish, cassava, goats, and ground nuts since the market is very good. We passed the hydro-electric dam which powers much of the Luaplua region of Zambia and bought bananas and reed mats in Mwense-town (everything for $1US). The bananas come in bunches of 5 and are smaller than the bananas in a US grocery store, but they are very delicious! The reed mats are a nice surface to do exercises on in the morning or bring outside to sit in the yard. We have been calling about our immigration study permits but have had trouble getting through, I got through today but they told me to just have someone come by and check. I think we will go to Lusaka to pick them up next week. We love you all very much and think of you often!