Noise Pollution

We have rented a house in a new neighborhood of Chalata. The area was recently designated for new development and plots are sold fairly inexpensively on the condition that the owner begin building within a year and the houses must all be modern houses and no mud huts. This area was designated about the same time that the government initiated a new loan program for teachers in which they can essentially get a loan with no questions asked. So, many of the teachers in Chalata have taken out loans and built or are building houses in this new neighborhood. Most of them have completed their own houses and are also completing rental houses for income generation. While, Zambians need options for loans and better banking services, I do not think this is the best system. When teachers receive loans, without having to make a plan for repayment, they will likely default on the loan in the end. The idea of renting out houses as a stable way to generate income and repay the $15,000 loan is unlikely to succeed as there are not that many potential renters and few can afford to pay a reasonable price. My husband and I are obviously an exception to this. We happened to relocate to Chalata right as a few teachers were finishing these modern rental houses and naturally the $100 of rent per month is nothing for us compared to what we would pay back home in the states. We chose the one house that includes access to water from the landlord's pump/tank and quickly moved in. We were happy to move into this nice 3 bedroom house that even has electricity. We also thought that living with relatively well-off neighbors, most of whom are educated and work as teachers, would be convenient. Despite the many rules for the neighborhood, there is little real enforcement so we still find some "village problems" that we had hoped to avoid. For example, one neighbor refuses to adhere to the rule that chickens must be penned and he allows his 4 hens, 12 chicks, and rooster to roam the area in search of food so that he doesn't have to buy feed for them. The problem with this is that the chickens quickly find all the gardens and help themselves. We lost all of our papaya seeds, and other seedlings to chickens and now the garden beds we prepared remain empty until we can find a solution to the chicken problem. If we want to plant, we would have to pay for a fence or use hanging pots all because one selfish man refuses to follow the rule that would benefit not only me, but all my other neighbors who have gardens as well. I have threatened the man, by saying that if I find his chicken in my garden again, I will eat it for dinner, but he must not believe me because they still roam free. I am currently in the process of training my cat to kill the chicks and chase the adults away, hopefully it will help some. In the meantime, my husband just throws rocks at them whenever he sees them in the yard. In addition to the chicken issue, we have had a huge noise issue. Because the source of water is very near to our house and in particular, our bedroom window, there are frequently people gathering outside our window waiting to fill buckets and jerrycans. They usually greet each other and gossip a bit, which doesn't bother me. However, many of them like to entertain themselves by listening to music on their phones. In America, when one listens to music on a phone in public, one would use headphones, but not here. They turn on the music as loud as it will possibly go. By music, I should clarify that it is really just noise. "Zampop," the preferred genre of music is excessive bass, annoying fake sounding tricks from the keyboard and random words spoken in a variety of local languages and English...it's terrible. In addition the speakers on the cheap phones here are not made for musical enjoyment and begin screeching at the high volumes. Unfortunately, the noise issue has been the biggest cultural difference to overcome. Zambians actually think it is kind and generous to play their music as loud as possible because this gives everyone else the opportunity to enjoy it as well. Using headphones or reducing the volume, is almost considered selfish. No one would think for a minute, that their choice of music and their poor quality speakers might not be enjoyed at 6:00 in the morning. No, I can't do anything about the culture here and I won't begin to try, but I do desperately seek to set rules for my own yard. I constantly, walk out to the water tank and ask people to reduce the volume of their music while they are in my yard. I usually blame it on my husband sleeping, or say he is not feeling well, but mostly I just don't care to listen to your terrible noise from inside my own house. If I want to hear music, I will select my own preferred songs and will play them on my own, good quality Samsung, phone at a volume which allows me to hear fine, but cannot be heard at any of the neighboring houses.

Mzungu Prices

Here in Zambia, us foreigners like to joke about what we call mzungu prices. Mzungu literally refers to a foreigner, but is almost exclusively used for Americans and Europeans (even Asians are usually put into a different category.) While the term itself is mostly used to refer to our race, it is become associated with a class difference as well. All mzungu are assumed to be rich and therefore, local Zambians often see us as a money-making opportunity. When going to a market or hiring a taxi, you may find that the price quoted to a mzungu is much higher than the price for a local. Of course this system is extremely frustrating for those of us who live in Zambia, especially if you are a volunteer living off a meager salary. When one knows the system and learns the fair price for items, it is much easier to haggle and get the local price instead of the mzungu price, but you must always be vigilant or you will be taken advantage of. As soon as you speak in the local language and mention that you know the normal price, you will usually be offered the fair deal, but the original price is almost always ridiculously high. In order to illustrate this concept, I must use an example that was recently shared with me by a friend. This friend of mine is half Asian and half African. Her husband is half African and half European. When the two of them applied for their marriage permit here in Zambia, they encountered an issue. The government office actually has two different official prices for marriage permits, one for Mzungu and one for black Zambians. The officials had no idea which price to charge for two people that were half in each category. Each official went to their supervisor until my friend was finally sent to the most senior official in the entire office. After much discussion, she even offered to pay the mzungu price, which was significantly higher, 300 kwacha instead of 50. The official refused the higher price saying it was not possible to charge a non-mzungu the 300 kwacha, but also refused the lower price as neither of them were 100% black Zambians despite having resident status and everything. Finally, the officials determined an innovative solution of splitting the difference at 175 kwacha which was quickly agreed upon by my friend in an effort to save time. Still this presented an issue of writing the official receipt for a non-standard price. The moral of this story is that mzungu prices are real and they exist on multiple different levels. And as a foreigner, especially a white foreigner, living or travelling in Zambia, you must always be cautious in order to avoid paying double or triple the normal price.

On Becoming a Hoarder (again)

I am reinitiating my old Peace Corps blog about life in Zambia. I am no longer in Peace Corps, but am living in Zambia about 12 kilometers from my old village. I have started an NGO and am working to send orphan students to secondary school. More information on this can be found at our website www.IIMInternational.com. And now back to blogging about life in Zambia... During my Peace Corps service I sort of became a hoarder which is not uncommon, at least for volunteers in Zambia. When things are so difficult to obtain, you suddenly start seeing every object as potentially useful. It becomes difficult to throw anything out because it might someday be useful and also because you become more conscious of your waste when you have to dig a trash pit yourself and burn the items every so often rather than just leaving them at the curb for the trash pick-up: out of sight, out of mind. After moving into our new house with only the bare minimum of household supplies, a few buckets, a few pots/pans, a few dishes, 3 chairs, and 2 small folding tables, we were forced to be somewhat resourceful. Already, we have sewn some curtains from cheap cloth and built shelves for the pantry. As we accumulate what would normally be considered trash, we have held onto these valuable items and turned them into really useful things. For example: the light bulb boxes make good pen holders, the plastic coke bottles can become fly traps, former bottles of oil are used for fetching/storing water, the peanut butter jar is now home to papaya seeds. For the most part this reusing of materials is incredibly resourceful and beneficial for the environment. However, I will be the first to admit that there is a tipping point at which this behavior can go too far. Now when I shop at the grocery, instead of bringing my own reusable bags, I encourage the cashier to use as many bags as possible so that I can have enough trash bags and not have to purchase any. And yes, I am well aware that this isn’t the most environmentally friendly behavior, but it gets worse. That empty glass bottle of Heinz 57 ketchup that we just finished seemed like a priceless gem. I carefully washed it and found a spot for it on our pantry shelf. What will I do with it, you ask. I have no idea, but it seems way too potentially valuable just to throw away. This is where I start heading down a slippery slope of someday waking to find the spare bedroom full of potentially useful items that I have no use for, but feel they are too valuable to simply discard. Thankfully, this time around, Aaron and I have each other so hopefully we will be able to keep each other in check, but maybe we will just become twice as bad as before, who knows? In the meantime I have put most of the items I’ve saved so far to good use and I remain with only a few saved for future use.