High Fashion

Finding clothing that fits here has proven to be a bit of a challenge for me. What's for sale in the shops is mostly from Indonesia and way too small as most Zambian women wear small sizes even though many of them are quite tall. Finding pants is especially hard, and due to this every time I go home I bring a few pairs back with me. The last time I was in the U.S. I was very busy, and didn't have a lot of time to go shopping. While I was in Costco I saw the Gloria Vanderbilt brand of blue jeans for sale. I remembered hearing a friend say how nice these pants were, so grabbed a few pairs and threw them in my suitcase on the way back to Zambia.

As it turns out, my body must not be shaped the same way hers is, as they are the right size, but really don't fit well, and have sat in my closet mostly unworn for almost a year. Last Sunday I decided to make room in my closet so put them, along with some other things that I don't wear often, into a big black plastic bag on the veranda. When Benson came to work on Monday I asked him if he thought they might fit his wife. He was sure they would, and took the bag of clothing home with him last night.

This morning Benson came to work. He was wearing a pale yellow blouse I had purchased in Botswana that is very clearly (to a westerner) a woman's blouse. It's sleeveless, has a very large collar, different African animals embroidered on the bodice, and side slits. With this he was proudly wearing a pair of the Gloria Vanderbilt blue jeans cinched in with his Barack Obama holographic belt. He was quite a sight!

It was very high fashion indeed! I hope he left something for his wife to wear.

Complacency

Well here I am, living yet another day in paradise...... The weather was absolutely beautiful today. The rains have turned my yard, and surrounding enviorns, into a lush carpet of green filled with birds of all shapes and sizes singing from dawn to dusk. The golf course now has impala, and zebra, and at nite it isn't unusual to see a large owl keeping watch over my yard, perched atop the fencepost.

Some say the Great Rift Valley was where human life began on this planet, with Broken Hill being the site of some of the oldest known human-like remains. (Broken hill is named after the old Broken Hill Mine - in Kabwe, just outside Lusaka) After living here over three years I tend to agree that yes, the Garden of Eden, if it indeed exists/existed is/was located somewhere in or very near to Zambia.

Life is old here, and in some ways still very simple. The earth still provides bananas, plantains, mangos, papayas, guavas, casavas, all growing wild for the taking. Time is fluid, and not given great importance. Most people 20 years old or older cannot give you their birthdate, or birth year with any certainty - they just make a stab at how old they think they are, and pick a date that they like. Here there seems to be overwhelming support for the old addage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," or even if it is, don't rush into action - let things work themselves out.

I read today that it is important to keep a sense of challange in your life - here that seems to me to be especially true. It is all too easy to slip into the place of living with perfect weather, pleniful food, shelter, etc. and become an unthinking mass of inactivity.