Hello again. Other thoughts on Zambia...most all of the people here are very friendly. You are expected to shake each persons hand with a special Zambian handshake. Then you say, "hello, how are you?" Which this is all reciprocated. Also, most people walk around and are excited to smile and wave hello. From what I understand, Zamibians are not only friendly but passive/peaceful. This is good because it lets them be the one nation that has not had a civil war of tribal fighting. This makes Zambia safe. On the other hand, this also makes Zambia a nation that has been taken advantage of in the past by their own government and other greedy outsiders.
The food that is most often eaten here is called nshima. It would not be uncommon for people to eat this with breakfast, lunch and dinner. In this area, the nshima is made from a cooked ground corn maize. Since they eat with their hands, it serves as a means to scoop up relish with, relish in this case just refers to other food. Relish they might eat with it would be some kind of beef or chicken, beans, small dried fish that are extremely sour, soya (meat substitute), or cabbage. In this culture, age is revered. So if there is not a lot of food (and not a lot of variety in the diet to begin with) the eldest males in the household may get the meat to eat, then the eldest women, then the eldest male children and then the female children. If there would be not enough meat then the children may only eat the nshima. So even though they have eaten enough they might still develop a pot belly due to protein deficiency. So not all people are starving they are just eating a carb only diet and are lacking other nutrients.
Some people in Zambia do have cars. The roads in town are paved mostly but have a ridiculous amount of potholes. The road outside of town are all dirt and still have a ridiculous amount of potholes. They also will have big puddles that you either have to drive around or attempt to drive through. Any car apparently can be a taxi if they are going the same direction as you and you both agree on a price. Poorer people either have bicycles or walk. People will put a whole trunk load of stuff (usually a crop of some sort) balanced on their bicycles and then walk their bicycles with this full load. Many people also carry large loads on their heads and walk around. Babies are strapped to their backs by colorful cloths called chitengas . Chitengas also serve as skirts or will be tailored into dresses or shirts for men. They also are rolled into a coil to serve as a base for carrying stuff on their head.
