16.7.06
Hips Don't Lie
On Thursday, Village of Hope had a Variety Show. (Which is a talent show). It started at 10 in the morning, and was still going when we left at 2pm. The show was held on the basketball court, and the audience was lined up on all four sides sitting on desks brought outside from the classrooms. Other kids were sitting on tires (which is much preferable over pavement) and I even saw some kids brining bricks to sit on (I don’t think they knew what was going on, because they were really young).
The show started with the teachers of Agape school doing a dance together. A few singers, and various singing groups followed that, then the ‘dance category’ began. It was amazing.
The first dancer was a young girl, maybe ten or eleven, in ordinary clothes, who was dancing up a storm. Her hips moved in all kinds of directions, and her shoulders in other ones, and they would stop in mid movement, to create this unreal kind of flowing dance. It got even stranger when other people from the audience came out from the crowd, dancing up to her, and throwing money at her feet. I was confused, and it seemed kind of sketchy. (And at this point, my tire seat didn’t matter much, because everyone else stood up, so I had to stand on my tire to be able to see.)
Someone excersizing the art of a sun umbrella
My favourite performance was a traditional dance done by 5-7 year old girls (with the help of a teacher). They were fully dressed with chetenges tied around their waists, grass skirts under those (actually shredded mealie-meal bags), orange head bands, orange ankle bands, and skin painted with orange and white blotches. First they did a circle dance (with hips and shoulders moving like the first girl), and sang along to what they were dancing to. Next it was time for a line dance. The dancers divided themselves into two opposite lines. In pairs across from each other each they danced towards their partner, and when they reached each other, did a dance step to try and take off the other person’s orange ankle band (made of construction paper).
Every once in a while, some MC’s would dance towards them carrying woven baskets, where the audience would once again, dance into the centre, and put money in the basket. It ended up that in almost every act this happened. There were more dances with older kids, but we left before the variety show went on to another category.
The kids who claimed me; you can see one of the girls holding my hand
In the morning before the show, some kids that I hadn’t played with before claimed me. They desperately wanted to hold my hand, so I had about three kids on one hand, and two on the other. When I sat down, this one girl suddenly started playing with my hair – which has happened before, but not to this extent. She was full out running her hands through my hair, and got the other kids going at it as well. Four year olds… I tell ya.
Other interesting things to add about the Variety Show...
I was standing with my parents for awhile, watching, when suddenly my mom points out a little girl in the front row. "That's Graeme's shirt!" Dad and I looked, and it was a turquoise and white striped button/collar shirt that (mom was positive) Graeme had had when he was about four. After that, I was walking back to the office, and I saw someone wearing a pioneer clubs shirt!
He wins for the amazing backpack contest
The Judges
While everyone was waiting for the show to start, music was playing on the huge speakers brought out for the event. First some African music, pretty mellow, then suddenly, Shakira – Hips don’t lie. It was so funny, because suddenly everyone started dancing, and singing along. I found a place on the back of a tire with some kids who had claimed me earlier that day. The show started with the teachers of Agape school doing a dance together. A few singers, and various singing groups followed that, then the ‘dance category’ began. It was amazing.
The first dancer was a young girl, maybe ten or eleven, in ordinary clothes, who was dancing up a storm. Her hips moved in all kinds of directions, and her shoulders in other ones, and they would stop in mid movement, to create this unreal kind of flowing dance. It got even stranger when other people from the audience came out from the crowd, dancing up to her, and throwing money at her feet. I was confused, and it seemed kind of sketchy. (And at this point, my tire seat didn’t matter much, because everyone else stood up, so I had to stand on my tire to be able to see.)
Someone excersizing the art of a sun umbrella I left at various times throughout the show to get out of the sun (it happened to be one of the sunniest/hottest days yet this winter, and I forgot to wear sunscreen, so I ended up with a nice sunglasses burn). 
Girls lined up for the 'Traditional' category of the fashion show - notice the money in the chetenge top of the girl in the middle.
There was another group of 14 older kids who did several fashion shows with different themes each time. First it was casual, then business, then sports, then traditional, (and later evening wear, but I missed that one). For each show, they would walk around the square of the performing area, one at a time, to the beat of the music. The beat of the music was usually slow, so the shows could take up to half an hour. This meant that the music ran out, and had to be played again. And again… and again. (Celine Dion is a little tiring after the sixth time in a row…)
Girls lined up for the 'Traditional' category of the fashion show - notice the money in the chetenge top of the girl in the middle.
My favourite performance was a traditional dance done by 5-7 year old girls (with the help of a teacher). They were fully dressed with chetenges tied around their waists, grass skirts under those (actually shredded mealie-meal bags), orange head bands, orange ankle bands, and skin painted with orange and white blotches. First they did a circle dance (with hips and shoulders moving like the first girl), and sang along to what they were dancing to. Next it was time for a line dance. The dancers divided themselves into two opposite lines. In pairs across from each other each they danced towards their partner, and when they reached each other, did a dance step to try and take off the other person’s orange ankle band (made of construction paper).Every once in a while, some MC’s would dance towards them carrying woven baskets, where the audience would once again, dance into the centre, and put money in the basket. It ended up that in almost every act this happened. There were more dances with older kids, but we left before the variety show went on to another category.
The kids who claimed me; you can see one of the girls holding my handOther interesting things to add about the Variety Show...
I was standing with my parents for awhile, watching, when suddenly my mom points out a little girl in the front row. "That's Graeme's shirt!" Dad and I looked, and it was a turquoise and white striped button/collar shirt that (mom was positive) Graeme had had when he was about four. After that, I was walking back to the office, and I saw someone wearing a pioneer clubs shirt!
The team from Pickering, Ontario left yesterday after being here for two weeks, and Sue, who has been here for a month, is leaving on Monday. Tomorrow we are going on our first vacation – to Livingstone, where Victoria Falls is, as well as going to a game park so my mom and I can see our first wild life. On the way there we’re stopping in Lusaka to pick up my cousin, Shelby, who will be here for about two weeks. We’re going for six days; four of them will be driving.
He wins for the amazing backpack contest
1.7.06
Zamwipe?
So I’m a slacker. I haven’t updated in over a month. Sorry about that. But along with that, I haven’t really had any good stories. In the past month my accomplishments were finishing English 10, finishing half of Math 10 (IN ONE WEEK!!), and doing provincial exams for both those courses. Basically in the past month all I’ve done is school. Half of Social Studies, P.E. and Planning, then I’m done. I saw my first chameleon, which was really cool. I figured out a new combination of food – cold chicken and peanut butter. But other than that, really, not much. Yesterday we went to Ndola to get my driver’s license. My plan was to get the license here, switch it to an international license, and eventually get a B.C. license – pretty much beat the system of the three-year license process. Unfortunately, we got to the building - which my dad described as a yurt with a low ceiling – and after waiting in the chaotic place for a few minutes, a guy who worked there told us that now you had to be 18 to get your license in Zambia. The law was changed two months ago! I’ve been here for three months, which means if I tried to get my license right after I turned sixteen, the law wouldn’t have been changed yet. It was pretty much the worst ever.
We went to the trade fair in Ndola (which was the other reason we went there), because my parents wanted to check it out for HTI. It totally surpassed my expectations. In my mind I was expecting a bunch of the stands that you see on the side of the road with information on different businesses. Apparently not. There were actual fair grounds, complete with rides, food, buildings, drink stands, the works.
The rides weren’t the main attraction, since it was a trade fair, but Lauren and I checked them out. There were about ten different rides, and they looked pretty shady. One of those giant swings was there, but the long chains that hold the person on the swing were rusty! The ferris wheel was old looking.
We went in the health booth, and saw malaria and HIV things underneath a microscope. I thought it was funny that there was a bucket of pills that said, “Get free medicines.” I wasn’t sure if you were just supposed to take them… or if they were advertising.
We also went in the Kenya booth, South Africa booth, took a picture at the Water and Sewerage booth. Pretty sweet. Then we looked at the railway to Tanzania place, the Pakistan Stand, and the agricultural station.
The Pakistan Stand was a building containing a bunch of stands of authentic clothing, leather jackets, wallets, and purses, furniture, carpets, and herbal drugs. Almost every stand had those overstuffed cylinder, Middle Eastern floor cushions. But we left pretty soon, because there was this creepy old man calling Lauren sweety, and asking her name. creep. My favourite stand there was a real live demonstration that was like the shopping channel. It was awesome. It was for equipment that sliced vegetables really thin. The salesman was skilled, because he had mastered the infomercial art of selling while he demonstrated the product. It was fascinating.
We spent forever in the Agricultural station. They had live animals including sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, and baby chicks. Across from the live animals was a station with a guy explaining all of these animal diseases that were contained in jars. A pig fetus, double beaked chick, lumpy skin disease. Gross. Outside were some weird hump backed cows in a corral.
My parents talked
to some men at a coffee tree stand, and ended up buying coffee plants to harvest. Each booth was selling their photocopied brochures for different products. Later on Lauren and I posed with Zamwipes at the sign that said, “1 woman with a Zamwipe can weed the same area as 10 strong men with hoes.” We walked through some mini clothing shops, and Lauren managed to find MAC makeup and it wasn’t even a knock-off. The packaging said Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was awesome.
Throughout the day, announcements over the loudspeaker were calling, “John, your uncle is waiting for you under the large tree.”
Today is Canada Day; so I brought out my Canadian umbrella hat that Kathryn pretended to secretly and stealthily shove into my bag. But Lauren wouldn’t wear it. Too bad. I’m also wearing my cfire shirt with a maple leaf on it – it isn’t red, but it’s the best I can do. I realized that the one kind of socks I don’t have are Canadian ones.
