Can We, who live in 21c, live in the bush which doesn’t have electronic and other good life’s stuff? In Africa it is really hard for me that I can’t use Internet often. Especially I am from Korea which has awesome faster speed internet. But how will it be that it is very usual thing for someone who doesn’t have electronic and lives in the bush?
16th June 2013
Twelve tomatoes are 5K (1$). I don’t need all of them, but I don’t want to deal with local people that I buy all of them.
The road is the same every day that there are hill and a reed.
These days there are many villages between towns. Today I try to go to one of villages. Official language of Zambia is five, and in the most of city people can speak English. But village people speak usually Bemba, Nyanja or Tonga.
It is hard to communicate with a village people that I draw a tent on the ground and the family lets me pitch my tent.
The picture is traditional African silo for corns.
It is an African night sky. Tonight is also very cold. This family has six children, and one of them calls Headwoman who can speak English. All of us sit around charcoal burning.
We also eat Nshima which is Zambian food with hand. It is so peaceful night.
In the morning temperature drops and it is so cold. I overcome a fear of the darkness and take the picture of the night sky.
17th June 2013
The next day my tent is wet with dew that I don’t fold it, but hang on the back to dry during cycling. Before leaving, we take the picture together. The little girl on the front of the picture is so cute ever. I couldn’t take the picture of her smiling, but I still remember of her cute smiling.
In the morning there are many students going to school on the highway. Many of them drop education at middle school or high school, because it is too expensive to pay school fee and other things.
Every twenty or thirty kilometer there is small village. On the center of the picture, it is water pump. .
Today is really really really cold that it is really cloudy and windy. My tonsil is susceptible to colds in the strong wind. Tonight I set up my tent at Electronic Power Station.
18th June 2013
It is cloudy again. On the side people are selling charcoal which is 30 K (6$) for one big bag.
It is cloudy, strong headwind and cold. I feel so lonely that I loudly sing a song which I am listening from Mp3.
When I push my bike on an uphill, I see some tourists or Volunteers. I talk with them, and they tell me that they are hitchhikers! Four of them are from Paris and one of them is from Holland. Two of them had stayed in Kenya over one year. They start from Nairobi, capital of Kenya, and it takes only one week from there to here. Their destination is to Cape Town, South Africa in three weeks! What an awesome!
I take a byroad to look for the place for tent. On the back of bike it is garbage bag that I don’t like throw my garbage on the road. I’ve heard that local people are burning their garbage after gathering it on the hole which they dig. I usually throw away in a gas station.
Today again I sleep in front of the African house. The wife of this house can’t speak English but understand a bit of English that it is hard to communicate with them. The right on the picture is a bathroom. She heats water for me, but it is really hard to rinse well. I am not sure how I can do rinsing perfectly with only one bucket. Anyway I am so happy that I can take the shower.
This is a local Zambian kitchen. These days I’ve stayed in a village that I figure out the Zambian traditional house. Usually it is separated by five areas which are a sleeping place, kitchen, bathroom, toilet and silo for corns. Also there are a few relative houses around one house.
She on the photo is cooking nshima which is made of corn flour. She is one year older than me, but she has already three babies! I think African village culture is similar to Korean’s 1940~1950 age.
When nshima is watery, she stirs it and puts more corn flour. Wood grip is creative thing! We eat nshima and beans with hands, but before eating we wash hands with hot water. (Without soap). They say all of thing is from their farm.
Maybe people can think it is unsanitary to eat food with hands. I read some book recently and there is some interesting word.
“When African people eat food, they don’t use spoon, but use hands. First of all they take some food with hands, and they eat food by hands first as kneading. Feel food with hands first.”
19th June 2013
Scenery is not much changed as yesterday.
Around 3 pm, I am suffering with being hungry. There are no groceries which sell slice bread. It is kind of emergency that I buy some snacks first. While eating it, some Caucasian is walking in front of me. Her name is Lauren. She says she is doing volunteer as Peace Corps. I know that there is national cooperation. KOICA is Korea national cooperation, JAICA is for Japan and Peace Corps is for the U.S.
Peace Corps’s term is 2 years, and KOICA is 3 years. But it seems KOICA’s Volunteers get three times more money than Peace Corps. I’ve heard that KOICA gets 700$ per month, and Peace Corps gets 200$ per months. But the different thing is Peace Corps’s volunteers get a house for free from the main office, and KOICA’s volunteers have to find a house by themselves.
She invites me at her house.
The right one is a bathroom and the left one is a toilet. It is like labyrinth that it doesn’t have a door. I feel a bit afraid of coming someone during taking shower. However, it has been never happened. I am so surprised that she lives totally the same way as local people!!! How come!
She heats water for my shower. Today finally amazingly I get the trick of how to take shower with one bucket.
The knowhow to take shower with one bucket is a cup!
Local people use their hands to rinse, that’s why they didn’t give me a cup. Of course, I tried to rinse with my hands, but it was impossible.
Today I have perfect shower with one cup. Even I left some water after finishing rinsing! Awesome!!! I will cut half of bottle of water to make a cup for bathing.
This is her kitchen. She uses Kitchen at inside home. Her village doesn’t sell bread. She says she bake at home. “What? How can you bake at home? You don’t have electronic!” “Hey, I will show you tonight!”
This is how to bake at the bush. She uses another pot for cover, and she puts charcoal on the top! It is wild camping oven!
When we eat bread, one small cockroach runs round on the top. She catches it, throws and presses down with foot. And we eat bread very well as if nothing happened.
She says it was very hard of this unsanitary circumstance at first. But now she is getting used to it. So do I. She says many African people die with diarrhea because of unsanitary thing. That’s why these days I always buy water, although it is too expensive. But one cockroach will not kill me I am sure.
She says that she buy cooking oil, flour and other stuff at the city which is 300 km (187 mi) far. There is no any good transportation that she hitchhikes to do shopping. One day she waited seven hours, but she couldn’t get any lift so that she came back home after seven hours waiting.
The worst part is she couldn’t get a lift at the way she was coming from the big town!!! So, she had to sleep in the motel. Oh.. What a pity.
I am shocking how she, who used to have city life, can live in the bush for a long time. Her house doesn’t have electronic and any other city life’s comfortable thing. She has a small sun panel light for the night. Once a week she charges her electronic stuff in the one place which has electronic in a village.
Every time she has to carry water from the pump for cooking and showering. Fortunately she has water filter that she can drink water without problem.
It is my turn to say what usually people tell me. “Hey, Lauren! I can never do what you are doing. How can you live at this lonely place in the bush, even you are alone girl.” I say.
“No it needs only time. After times, you will get used to it.” She says.
“Oh nono.. I can never live in this lonely place which doesn’t have electronic. Especially I can’t stay at one place longer. You are super awesome. I admire! ”
It is her kitchen.
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change”
She tells me that she likes that word. Actually I can’t understand why she likes. “Why do you like that word?” I ask.
“Many Americans are too busy to have time to look one flower.” She says.
Oh, I got it. It is the same as Korean. Maybe All city life is the same?
“I realized I had nowhere else to be and the only thing that matters is the sound of the wind”
I love this word so much ever.
I want to change it with my way.
“I’ve realized I have nowhere else to be and the only thing that matters is to keep cycling, be out there and listen to the sound of the earth.”
I think Peace Corps and KOICA’s volunteers are really amazing that how they can live at the third country with that small salary for years. I can volunteer for short time, but I can’t volunteer for years in one place.
I say to her that she should write the book of her life. She says already many Peace Corps’s volunteers publish some book.
20th June 2013
I have really nice conversation with her. Good conversation makes me so happy and feels alive. I really thank to Lauren who invited me at her place.
Today I will go to the Lodge she introduced me.
I ask her three things.
“Toilet is at the inside? There is hot water? There is electronic?”
She says “YES!”
YEAH!!!! Hurrah!
20th~ 24th June 2013
It is impressing that I can use electronic and hot running water. Oh..
Lodge runs bar together that it is quite noisy, but it is okay because at least I can use toilet at the inside!
But I feel weird that Lauren has to live in the place which doesn’t have Electronic and running water. I just didn’t have Electronic and running water for one week. I think I am too weak animal.
Anyway I am so happy that I can use the room alone, and it is only 14$! So, I decide to stay over five nights.
Fuel for stove is running out. I go to get camping fuel in a gas station, but they don’t have it.
‘There is nothing impossible’. I like this kind of mind. If somebody has the problem to do something, I always tell them “hey, give me that, give me, give me, I will solve it!”
I really enjoy solving something by myself. It is time to creative something!
It is candle stove!!! Yeah!
The time for cooking is similar to using my stove fuel which is very weak.
How is the taste?
Awesome! It is kind of egg stew, Korean food. Receipt is three eggs, half cup water (250ml), one tsp salt. That’s all. I put some red pepper which I have only. (You can put any vegetable like an onion or green onion. It should be chopped as very small piece.)
It is the best cook I’ve ever done. Awesome!
Here is one problem that people should not cook with candle. Bottom of Pot will be turned to the black with smoke.
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