Sweets , Goodbyes & a drum

Monday

Sweets, Goodbyes & a drum

This morning I walked down to the small store just outside the Mission to by some sweets.  Yesterday at church my little friend Ian who is 2 years old asked me in Shona for a sweet.

So a lollypop is 10 cents, and I bought all 20.  I headed to Chengerai & Angie’s hut.  Chengerai’s mother Mrs. Dzapasi she told me he was at the garden she led me.  We walked thru the fields for about 15 minutes. The women were at the well washing clothes in large tubs, which they will carry, the wet clean cloths back to their huts on their heads.

Chengerai and I went down to his family’s garden where he picked greens for lunch.  They are very lucky since the well never dries even in the hot season.  We then crossed over to his mother’s garden.  The cows had broken through the gate and eaten most of her greens.  She is 60…so 2 years older than I.  Mother of 8 children 4 sons and 4 daughters.  There was a well about 20 feet from the garden.  To help his mother Chengerai stepped into the side of the open well and was tossing buckets of water down a small trench to transport the water to where his mother was.  She was bent over with a small bowl scooping up the water and tossing it on the vegetables.  She waters the garden each day.

As Chengerai and I walk home one by one the children appear to greet us and are so happy to get a sweet.  Each child clapped its hands in the thank-you fashion before taking the lollypop.

Chengerai also told me the story of the celebration, which is held in Oct before the first rain.  Families pool resources and make homemade beer they climb up a nearby mountain Gomo in shona to a cave and let the beer ferment overnight.  Then the next day they drink and celebrate.  They are careful to carry raincoats because the ancestors always send the rain, for the trip back to the village.

Chengerai asked a friend to make me an African drum, which we are going to pick up at 1:30. So Cengerai’s friend brought 4 huge drums for me to look at.  I choose the smallest even so we had to cut it in half for me to carry it back to the USA.  Now I just need to keep it out of Sampson’s reach …since he ate the drum I brought back last year L

 My little buddy Ian with his cousins...with sweets heading to the garden to pick greens for lunch

 The baby I can not stop kissing!  She took her lolly pop out long enough to say La LA LA

 Chengerai throwing water from the well down to his mother so she can water the garden

 Mrs Dzapasi watering her garden

 Wash day!  They then carry the wet laundry back in those tubs on their heads

 Cutting the Drum

 The Drum