Everyday Adventures

Once again Trey and I set out with Quintyn to visit locals in the market. We have made good friends with an older gentleman named Marres (pronounced Mars) who I mentioned earlier. Marres has been somewhat questionable up to this point and we were unsure whether to buy in to his unusual kindness towards Americans. Marres is very passionate about Americans (not just whites) and wishes to give us all of his land. We ran into a couple named Frank and Rebecca who helped to run a local charity, but since they were from the U.K. Marres showed no interest in them.

We began walking towards the market in order to meet Marres in front of his cousin’s convenient store. Although this is a two hour walk we were able to hitch a ride from a nice gentleman by the name of Dennis. After chatting with Dennis about his children, he dropped us off a short ways from the market. Soon we were talking with Marres and he began to show us around town. We planned to get to know Marres better, ask him of his intentions, and do a check up on him by interviewing local Zambians. While Marres chatted with Quintyn and me, Trey snuck over to meet locals and ask them their opinion of Marres. Without fail, every person we asked about Marres mentioned what a respectful man he is. They also told us how he was a great father and leader. Marres seemed to know everyone at the market; He even introduced us to the chief’s son! Each time someone approaches Marres they seem very respectful. At one point we were sitting with Marres, and others made a point to kneel and greet him in a respectful manner.
The main reason we met with Marres was because he hoped to give us one of his healthy cows. This is a very generous thing for one to do in Zambia (men buy their wives with cows) and for us to turn such an offer down is not culturally appropriate.

During our tour of the town we ran into a little black boy who had never seen a mukua (white person) before. He began to cry in the middle of the kapenta (sardine) market and all of the women laughed. His mother began pushing him towards us, which caused him to scream and hide. He was horrified of us and this was a hilarious experience that I will never forget. All of the people in Kalomo are very welcoming and accepting of us. Marres later took us to the house of Linda and Mike Johnson. The Johnsons are a very nice couple who run an orphanage about 30 km away. I look forward to visiting them again and talking with them about their work. They have lived here for 17 years now. The fact that Marres had such a good relationship with strong Christian people strengthened our confidence and trust in him.

After visiting with some more locals, Marres took us to the automotive section of town so that we could get a ride to the slaughter house. Once we arrived, I could no longer breathe through my nose. Each time I tried to breathe in through my nose I would gag and almost throw up. The smell was unbearable, but I tried to hide my disgust. Random cow parts were scattered throughout puddles of blood. Complete cow heads were lying around in different spots. Several cows were hung from the ceiling, while others were still kicking with severed necks. We were taken out to the line of cows. One by one the cows are lead into the building, where they will be shot and have their throats slit. The slaughter house was another example in which Zambians work in a less organized fashion than Americans are accustomed to.

The last place Marres showed us was the land that he recently purchased. It is quite a large plot of land that is right on the highway. The land is three blocks total and is very close to the Namwianga Mission. Marres wishes to hand this land over to us, which is very exciting. We have encouraged him to form good relations with Roy Merritt and the people here at Namwianga. We then encouraged him to form connection with Harding University and use us as a connection. Although we cannot occupy the land currently, we hope that Marres will consider giving the land to Namwianga or Harding University so that it may be used for good. Marres is very kind to us and insisted on paying for our drinks and lunch in the market. We had grilled chicken and schema (sp) at a local restaurant. Schema is a ball that has no taste to me; however, many of the locals love its acquired taste. You eat it with your hands by rolling it into a ball and dipping it into a sauce. During lunch Trey did most of the talking and did a wonderful job of speaking with Marres reasonably on issues concerning land and Marres’ visit to the United States. Throughout our stay, I had to be careful to only drink bore whole water or else I will become very sick. Our weak stomachs cannot handle some of the water that locals drink.

Marres is a very kind man and payed for us to be driven back to the mission. We have kept our relationship with Marres as brothers; NOT as business partners. He has been very kind to us and has agreed to bring us a live cow to slaughter today. Although this is a very kind gesture, I sincerely hope he does not bring the cow. If he does I will be sure to film Ba Shawn’s reaction so that we may record as one of the greatest moments in Harding history. Also we have no tree that is big enough to hang a huge cow from. After my experience with killing a goat at H.U.T I can only imagine how chaotic a dying cow may be if we are unsuccessful in slaughtering it. Cleaning a cow will certainly be a new experience for all of us.

The guys got in a dispute with the girls over who was next to play ping pong. The guys put the ping pong on the roof so that one has to climb a huge tree to play. win.