Ants vs. HIZ

Although I have not been in Zambia long, I have already gotten use to seeing huge spiders, wasps, and ants everywhere. Often times there will be a huge spider on my bedroom wall and it no longer fazes me. If anything, we hope that they will kill the ants and mosquitoes. Much like in America, there are good bugs and bad bugs. Here at Namwianga the ants are invading, and ants are BAD. I must inform you that ants here in Zambia are huge and have pinchers. These ants bite and are nothing like one seen in America.

At first the ants invaded the Mann House, which is where half of the ladies in our group are staying. Here in Zambia, one cannot just call a terminator; they must take care of the problem themselves. This has given the guys a great chance to mess with the bugs; something we have loved doing since childhood anyways. We were able to kill all the ants surrounding the Mann House and the problem seemed to be taken care of; especially since we covered the edge of the house with ash. If you know anything about ants you know that we did not attack the main source, which would be underground. Sometimes killing ants in this way can make the queen ant very angry and only make problems worse. We ignored this reality and hoped that the ants would invade somewhere else. Little did we know that we were very wrong and the ants were only preparing for their next attack.

Last night twelve of us were watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (very funny childish movie) on a twelve inch Mac computer screen. We were having a blast in the Mann House living room, drinking soda and enjoying the movie. The room was very dark, so the ants chose this hour to schedule their revenge. Throughout the entire movie, ants were swarming back into the living room from the ceiling above and we had NO IDEA. The reaction on everyone’s face when the lights came on is priceless! Tons and tons of ants were pouring into the room and covered the living room floor and some of the furniture. As the girls were screaming I remember looking over at Quityn as he emptied ants out of his shirt and pants. Shortly after we discovered the ants he was bitten a couple times. Those that were sitting on the couch near the wall had ants in their pants and didn’t even know! The whole episode was hilarious; however, action had to be taken.

While some of the guys began spraying the ants and stomping, several of us made a mixture of boric acid and flour. This was Ba Shawn’s idea and worked quite brilliantly. The ants will either eat the boric acid and flour and die or carry it back to their home and kill the other ants. Once we walked outside and discovered where the ants were coming from, chills ran up my spine. Although the number of ants was overwhelming, they did not stand a chance. Since the spiders didn’t do their job, the men stepped up. Dead ants were everywhere in the house and how we got rid of them is a whole different blog entry in itself. While spot checking the area I found a black snake with white stripes. It escaped and we were unable to identify it. So if you have any ideas let me know. Miss you all.