One of the two unknown agogos started to ask me questions. Do i chop down trees for fire? Do I farm? I had a hard time understanding her & when I glanced over at one of my host moms, Amai Nkhoma, and my favorite Agogo & my sisters Dai & Lonti I could see them smirking as i answered. I think they enjoyed the obvious surprise of the unknown agogo when I said women in Zambia work a lot, but I don't like to and I don't farm. next came the part when she offered to bring her son to marry me. She was even more astounded when I said I didn't want a man, and he wouldn't like me because i wouldn't work or have kids. it was a good feeling seeing my family smile knowingly. After a year they know I'm lazy & I'm not getting married. I may be a crazy young woman but they know me & may even be happy to have me around.
After lunch, Dai sat with Amai Nkhoma and an english reader notebook teaching her to read the sentences and put the right word in the blank as we all sat in the shelter & enjoyed the rain.
I'm back in my own hut now. It's still raining and thundering. I can hear goats running around under my eves to seek shelter & chickens squaking. the rain is gently falling, the pour has trickled down to a drizzle & kids have their tongues & out & are chattering & standing under the eves of the nearby huts. The other day someone asked me if life in Zambia is more simple. I cant answer that entirely, the challenges are different, the struggles people face are unlike anything in the states. But i do think that happiness is more readily available & maybe even more simple. After months of not even a cold drink in all this heat, a little rain is much more appreciated than the new iphone 6s.
