Sampling for snails and educating children. They were VERY interested in what we were doing.
John sampling for snails in a small pond at our last sight, where there is a home made distillery nearby.John and I are usually making a spectacle of ourselves, not intentionally but... it just seems to happen.
On Sunday we went to a Catholic mass at a local village center (church). Before the service began we were talking with a few people and were introduced to the church secretary. One man came forward with his young son to greet us. John bent down to greet the small child too... but the poor kid was scared! He we was crying and screaming (John is pretty good a frigthening small children). The service was in Bemba so we didn't really know what was going on. There was lots of dancing and drumming and singing! The service was very lively! Towards the end they invited John and I up to the front to greet us and everyone came forward to shake our hands. They were very welcoming and we thanked them for having us there.
In the evening we went for a walk and visited some of our neighbors. This is one of my favorite things to do and John is really good about asking questions and getting people to laugh! We tried to understand their system of naming (I am still not sure how it really works) and we were curious as to why few Zambian men have facial hair, even when they live way out in the bush. We didn't get a real answer for that but they thought it was really funny that we were curious about that!
Yesterday we were back out in the field sampling for snails. At our first sight there were MANY children and they were VERY interested in what we were doing. They thought it was hilarious when John put on his hip-waders and were interested in his bald head and the hair on his arms. My hair was also very interesting, and everyone wanted a chance to touch it. They also wanted us to sing some songs, so we did! Sadly there were many snails at this sight (the type that can carry bilharzia) so we tried to warn the kids about swimming/playing in this water. The other two sights of the day were much calmer, but we still found quite a number of snails. Today we will be shedding them to see if any have the parasite and tomorrow we will be back out sampling.
This is shaping up to be quite a busy week!
When you sang some songs for the children, did you happen to sing the one about "Grundy County?" I'm sure they would have enjoyed hearing that one ... even though they may not have understood the words!
ReplyDeleteJohn, I hope you don't get a complex about scaring that little child. Perhaps it was the first time he saw someone of a different race and color. Maybe you should carry a little toy with you at all times so that you can make an instant friend!
Love, Mom