Bricks and Basic School

One thing I dread about coming back home is trying to explain what I’ve seen and done. It’s not that it’s so special or that it takes a special person to do it, because anyone can move to another country and become comfortable in daily life. The difficult thing is that it’s something you can only learn experientially. So I’ve had this amazing experience, learned so much and probably changed without knowing it, and then I will come home and be speechless trying to explain what I’ve seen and done, probably because it needs to be seen and done to understand, not explained. Africa is such a different place. I’ve been to every inhabited continent on the planet, not extensively, but Africa is such a different place from any other. The way things work, what people say, WHAT THEY THINK, how they react, it’s so SO foreign.

You have to leave the bubble for so long just to learn simple things. There is a combination of reasons:

1. Things are different and complex here
2. Whatever word means more than subtle, that can be used to explain Zambians

Zambians are so indirect. I sent a friend to interview for a job with another one of my friends. After the interview there were 4 of us in the car and I asked “So Michael, what did you think of my friend you just interviewed?” There was a pause and then the driver said “You Canadians are so direct! You ask such short questions that really make people think and you go right to the point! Ha ha ha” Now that type of question is normal in Canada, but here it’s very uncommon and leads to a difficult environment to learn in!

Example:

March: I saw a small building that was being constructed, it had brick walls about 1.5m high at this point. Some of the parents had contributed money but (most) that didn’t have money had come and helped in construction first hand by making bricks.

April: I was walking with a friend who didn’t speak great English named Mr. Phiri. We were near his house and I saw an area cleared of trees that had about 8 different 2mx3m holes dug into the ground filled with water.
Ben: What are those holes from?
Phiri: They’re for the basic school?
B: What do you mean they’re for the basic school?
P: They’re for the basic school?
B: Why did they make holes in the ground?
P: To help with the school
At that point I gave up.

July: I visited a friend in the village Mathius Mwale and he was building a new house so we went to view the construction. There was a guy knee deep in mud in a hole in the ground, he took a brick form, dipped it in the mud and then carried it out and over to a row of drying bricks where he dumped it.

August: I drove past the same place where the mysterious holes were and then suddenly realized they were holes dug to make bricks by parents for the basic school!!!! I was so happy I figured it out and it only took 5 months experience!