so much to tell

So the other day I came home from dinner with the Zulus and found my NEW bathing shelter partially destroyed. Mrs. Zulu assured me it was not a derranged person. She thought it was a cow. A WILD cow? you may be asking...because what other type of cow would be left unattended to roam the night destroying people's bathing shelters?! No I believe it was not a wild cow but a cow owned by some negligent person. I would like the name of this person. Though I suppose it is only a hypothetical non-wild cow. Perhaps it was a tiny tornado. Or a witch falling from their flying basket overhead. But probably it was a cow. All fixed now.

I ate a rat. It was BBQ'd. Imagine a small rat if you will. Then imagine a scooped out bowl where the intestines use to be but the rest just the same as a live rat. Little charred claws and long charred tail. Little teeth sticking out of it's charred little dead head. Then imagine eatting it. It wasn't so bad. Charred crunchy and slightly meaty. The little liver tasted like liver. I gave the head to Junior because I am not that curious.

How did this come about? Well Ruthie was asking me if I ate rats and I said I hadn't but only because no one had brought any to me and I would certainly try them sometime. Then she pulled a bowl of rats out from under the bed and I was able to try one sooner than I had expected.

The rat was better than the goat offals they gave we last week. I couldn't stomach those at all. Goat offals are awfully well named.

tee hee
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There was a witch finder afoot in the village. He found 10 witches in Shapola and 15 in mine. I was waiting for my English class one day, idlely looking at the people milling about. Then the PTA president came over and I asked what kind of meeting this was. Agricultural? It was the witchfinders business. And those old women there? Witches. A coven of witches paitently waiting in the grass to pay their fees for the witch finder's services. 1.25 million kwacha each - which is no small bit of money - then the witch finder will take away their juju tools and give them medicine so they can't practice anymore. How does he find the witches? He has them look in a mirrow. And gives them an interview. All so tame. More like a witch scan than a witch hunt. Every once in a while you just need to de-witch your village. Like viruses from your computer or worms from your child. And what if they don't pay? the villagers beat them or run them off. Not so tame. No one questions the witch finer either. He is a wealthy man. You can see where there is some room for abuse. And once a witch pays the fine what happens? Do they loose their friends? For a few months there is that stigma but then people forget. Forget that they supposedly killed people. Hmm. Strange.

The only bit I got to watch was when the witchfinders lacky showed the villagers the objects taken from Mr. Kapapos house. A bird's head. A leg of an animal wrapped in something. A necklace of posion pouches. A bone of a child. Or a bone that kills children. I am not entirely sure. I asked to photopgraph them and he said we could negotiate a price. So I didn't.

The man that Mr. Zulu thinks killed his first born daughter was accused. Also John the senile old man who has nothing and asks for the borehole every day was accused. He can't pay. I don't believe he is a witch. He is so jovial. And poor. Someone speculated maybe it was accidental witchcraft - trying to find out who had betwitched him. Because apparently John worked as a pilot for Zambian Airways for many years. And now he has nothing. No food. The same man that may have killed Mr. Zulu's daughter also may have taken all of John's money. And when the money was finished chased him off. Witch or not he is a bad man.

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Now that it is cold the fashions are changing in Zambia. One glove only. Disembodied ski jacket hoods without a jacket to button too. A style I will rock in the states just you wait. and a man in a women's one piece pink ski suit walking down the streets of Lusaka. Legs hit at his ankles and shaped is butt nicely. Amazing.