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(Written on December 4^th – the internet is totally buggard.)

I heard that some of you are big fans of Chipo. Me too! As I mentioned in this last blog, I spend most of my time at school but after school, it’s all Chipo. We pretty much do everything together except bathe. I only mention that because Zambian children do bathe together regularly.

Side story: When the 7^th graders were here, I was sitting on our balcony with Chipo talking. As we were talking, I noticed that these hands kept coming up out of the grass bath house that belongs to our neighbor. There were far more than two hands coming out of the bath house. We counted three different girls bathing and then there were two girls watching. I asked Chipo what the girls who were watching were doing. I thought maybe there was a purpose in them watching their naked friends bathe. I thought maybe they were the water fetchers or something. Nope. They were just there for the show. I thought that was pretty comical. I couldn’t imagine being 13 or 14 years old and watching my friends bathe. I asked Chipo why girls do that. Her quote: “I don’t know. I was just born and I found it here this way. It’s just what we do.” I always love her explanations of things.

Chipo’s mother, Royce, will be coming to stay with us for a few days starting on Monday (the 6^th) and then they will both leave to go to their new home in Jembo on Wednesday (the 8^th). I love Royce – she’s a funny lady, maybe where Chipo gets it from. She’s 40-something and a very tough Zambian lady – she can carry a 25 kg (55 pounds) bag of mealie meal on her head! I am really kind of nervous for her to be here for two days. It will be a new experience for sure. For one, I won’t say that I’ve converted Chipo to anything specific but I might have made her lazy in the eyes of a Zambian. On our days off, we will usually sleep until 7:30 – 8:00. We don’t sweep the entire house every day but we do mop at least once a week. Sometimes we get really crazy and do it twice but never more than that. Royce (some of these things I’m speculating but some I know as fact because of Chipo) will wake up at least by 5:00 every day. She will sweep outside the house, fetch water for her husband and herself to bathe, wash the dishes, prepare some breakfast, cook relish for lunch, and maybe even wash some clothes before she goes to class. By my early morning standards, I pretty much turned Chipo into a lazy slob. I’m sure that Chipo will have zero difficulties converting back to her old routine but I’m not really prepared for someone banging pots and pans in our kitchen at 5:30. I think I’ll need to have a serious chat with Royce that there is to be no noise-making in this house until at least 7:00. Even the owls obey this rule.

Since Chipo will be leaving soon, she wanted to have an overnight party to hang out with her friends before her mom gets here. Since I was confused and thought an overnight party really was the American equivalent of a sleepover, let me inform you, a Zambian overnight party involves no sleep. I really agreed to this shindig before I knew all the details – not one of my best parenting moves. Chipo invited five of her friends for the night and I borrowed Abson’s stereo and bought three loaves of bread. Don’t laugh. I know that pizza would be the staple food of an American sleepover but bread was the best I could do. I at least gussied it up with peanut butter and jelly.

The party was supposed to start at 19:00. By 20:00, there were 12 kids in the apartment! I know 12 kids don’t sound like a lot but I had planned for five and our apartment isn’t exactly accommodating for large parties. I was surprised and excited to see older kids here – the ages were seven year-olds to 17 year-olds. The little kids left about 22:00, they weren’t going to make it the whole night. The party involved watching movies, playing cards, lots of dancing, a few mock weddings, and a short swim in the dam at 5:00AM. Every time they put in a movie, I made sure to slip off to my bedroom for an hour of sleep. Unfortunately, Disney movies don’t have a deep story line that takes a few hours to develop. I really had a great time at the party. It was nice to see Chipo so happy and let her have time with her friends before she has to leave the farm.

It’s so hard to believe that on Wednesday, I have to say goodbye to a child that totally changed my experience in Zambia. I needed Chipo more than she ever needed someone to take care of her.  We developed an amazing relationship in those three months and I will never forget all the hilarious times I had with her. (There were tons that didn’t make the blog.) If that is a glimpse of what parenthood is like, then someone should warn you that it is dangerous business. I never thought I could love a child as I do Chipo and it will literally be heartbreaking to see her go.

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