Things that matter

Musings about things that matter, in the US and in Zambia.  Just ramblings, really.  In the US, accomplishments, organization, and timeliness count.  In Zambia, people matter more than accomplishments, and asking about a person and his family is the way to start EVERY conversation.  It doesn’t matter whether you are applying for a work visa, or checking out at a store, or meeting someone who works on your property, this is an important part of every conversation.  In the US, people get frustrated (very much including me) about inefficiency.  In Zambia it is a given that things will take time, and people just expect it.  In the US most people wear a watch, or have a cellphone with the time on it, and schedule their day according to time.  In Zambia, people don’t wear watches, wake up with the sun (6 am), walk to work, catch buses, and do all their daily business completely unscheduled.  Buses just come at regular intervals, not at specific times.  In the US, people talk about what they want to accomplish in the next week, or in their lifetime.  In Zambia people don’t talk about their hopes and dreams, they are just working for the next bag of Nshima.  The average lifespan here is 38 years, so people aren’t dreaming about retirement.  In the US, we can’t put our bare hands into burning charcoal to move the charcoal around to cook more evenly.  In Zambia, we have seen this done!  No blisters, no pain, and really good food after all the charcoal shifting.  In the US, we don’t use our teeth to rip off the hard outside of sugar cane to expose the soft, juicy, inner core, or break the cane in one deft movement over our knee.  In Zambia, this is an inexpensive treat, and even children can do both of these tasks!  In the US, we don’t burn brush on the side of the road, for fear of forest fires, and here it is regularly done, even though it hasn’t rained even once in the 6 weeks we’ve been here.  (Keeps snakes away from where people walk on the sides of the roads!) In the US, we don’t burn trash, ever. In Zambia, every day, people burn trash, and the burning smell is starting to become normal to our noses, and not so odd.  In the US, people only dress as nicely as they have to to get a job done, and love ‘dress down’ days.  In Zambia, those who have clothes, and have a job, are so proud of those facts that they dress to the hilt, and look very dapper, or lovely, walking one hour each way to work in a suit or dress and heels.  In the US, people diet and pay money to be slimmer.  In Zambia, being fat is an honor.  It means you are wealthy enough to have more than just enough to eat.  In the US, the only people you see walking usually are walking for exercise.  In Zambia, people walk everywhere, and every road, every crosswalk, and even car lanes are filled with people walking.  By the hundreds, and thousands in the mornings and afternoons.  Most people don’t own cars, and use buses when they go more than an hour’s walk from home.  Just some differences.  None right, and none wrong.  Just really different!