September 5th – Interviews begin

Interviews began on September 5^th. I wrote a few questions the night before after realizing we’d be working with a translator. My questions were too complex for the language barrier. Did you ever realize that when we’re talking in English we tend to ask multiple questions on one?

At 8am we drove to the seminary to pick up Paul, a recent addition to the H&D Program and a support person to Alisad Banda, the program’s director. He speaks English, Chewa, Bemba and others. He is really passionate about the work they’re doing in water sanitation, which is his main focus.

On the way we picked Pastor Tarisayi up along the way to Linda, a small town on the outskirts of Lusaka. With traffic and roads that haven’t been paved in 15 years, it took over an hour to get there.

Pastor Tarisayi and me inside the Linda church

We pulled up a dirt path, past vegetable and clothing stands, and arrived at the church where I’d be holding interviews. It was a white brick building with wooden benches, a nice altar and electric lights. This is where I conducted my first interview with Pastor Tarisayi, who is from Mwembezhi.

Me, talking with four volunteers and Paul, my translator.

Two girls in school uniforms pump water from a borehole.

Talking with Pastor Tarisayi was formal but still comfortable. From the beginning I started cutting out questions and adding other to try to get at the root of why we were there: to improve communication among levels of the program so the work can be carried out more efficiently.

Kids just got home from school in Linda.

Then I met with four female volunteers who work with home-based care and bio-sand filters. Paul did an excellent job translating, and the women were great. They are beautiful women, and from talking with them for less than an hour I could tell their hearts are huge to be doing all of this volunteer work for their community.

Back in Lusaka Jason, Paul and I went to a grocery store to pick up dinners for the week. I also picked up some Zambian coffee and South African wine to take back home.

After a short visit with Jason and Amanda I walked to the seminary offices where I met with Alisad. We discussed the state of the programs, and his vision for H&D and its relationship with the Lutheran Church in Zambia. Alisad complimented my chitengi (a cotton cloth wrap women wear over their pants). I’d been feeling self-conscious about it all day, so his comment made me really happy!

After our talk I joined some of the missionaries’ wives for their twice-weekly walk. It’s dusty and rocky, but not too hot. Plus, they’re really nice ladies and really nice to talk casually with after a long day of enunciation with a translator! We talked about home…

That evening I had the guest house to myself, as Jason and Amanda went to dinner with some good friends from when they lived in Zambia. I transcribed the first interviews, cooked my dinner and read a bit. It was a low-tech night because the internet was down that night. At least we had power (the seminary was out until about 4pm that day).

The first day wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. People are people, and the ones I was fortunate to meet and talk with were very nice ones.