In Search of Mulenje Community

Yesterday we set off from Lusaka to layout the perimeter of the Mulenje Community in the Chongwe District of the Lusaka Province, Zambia.  A few weeks ago we went to follow up on a lead that the Mulenje Community School was in need of a water source.  The school has 60 K-2 students that come from around 150 households.  A lot of the households do not have access to clean water either so we wanted to find  the location of these households.  The community is not centralized but is scattered over about 28 square kilometers of African bush.  When we visited the school we took GPS coordinates so we could look at the area on Google Earth.  But doing that still did not give us a clear picture of who belonged to the community.  So off we went to see if we could find the limit of the community by taking more GPS coordinates of the area.  We were not sure if we could drive to the limits of the area.  We took with us Mbewe Banda, our friend who is the Water Officer for the Chongwe District, and headed off to the Community School to start our search.  Mbewe had contacted a young man who works for Community Development and lives in the area so we met him at the school. 

Mulenje School Classroom

 

We picked up Gracious at the school and headed down this road to what we thought was going to be the Southeast corner of the community.

 

 

As we traveled we passed some local points of interest.  Here are a couple of the local stores.  This is the local Grocery/Barber shop.

 

   And then there is the local Hardware store. When you read the writing on the door it tells you that and also gives a phone number to call in case you want something.

 

 

The local sitting room had a couple of these easy chairs. They say that they are quite comfortable.

 

  We headed on down the road.  Past the tall grass and fields of dried maize.

 



 

Past the local net ball court.

 

 

And the local football field (soccer for you in America).

 

 

The local Seventh Day Adventist Church where they were holding their worship because it was Saturday.  They wanted us to join them but we needed to keep moving so we could finish our task.

 

 

 

Continuing down the road through dry creek beds.

 

 

And some wet also. 

 

 

Instead of arriving at the southeast corner we ended up at the Assistant Headman's home and picked him up to help us find our points.  Then we backtracted some and headed for the southeast corner on a road that in some places was not more than a trail.

 

 

Along the way we stopped to check the direction we needed to follow.  This is Mbewe, Steven Manyoma, the Assistant Headman, and Gracious.  They are looking at a Google Earth snapshot we had made of the area.

 

 

 We took the road less traveled and ended up in a field of maize.  We actually drove on a little farther than where this picture was taken from our "dash cam".

 

 

 And then it was a walking trail.  We were headed to the southeast corner of the community, the confluence of the Nyangwena Creek and the Chongwe river.

 

 

By the fuzzy bean.  We were told not to touch it or let it touch you because it would sting.  We didn't try it much to the dismay of "GBo".  When Papa Howie was young "GBo" had his scouts rub some stinging nettle on their wrists so they would know how it felt and would learn to avoid it.

 

 

Under the brush.

 

 

Down a steep hill to the end of land at the conflunce.  We took our data, 15 degrees 20 minutes 40.32 seconds South and 28 degrees 47 minutes 53.64 seconds East.

 

 

We did not see any wild creatures so we headed back to the truck for cheese and crackers, and apples.

 

 

So what do you do when your phone rings while out in the bush? Answer it.  Cell coverage is excellent is Africa and most everyone has one.

 

 

 Then off to talk to the owner of the field where we stopped.  They would like a borehole for clean water.

 

 

We passed fields where they were growing vegetables to be sold 50-60 kilometers away in Lusaka. 

 

 

A leafy product called rape in the forground and tomatoes behind growing up the poles.

 

 

 

When they are close to water some are fortunate to have a small pump so that they can irrigate and grow crops all year instead of waiting for the rain.  This pump was being repaired.

 

 

Others have other types of modern amenities like this grass roof with a solar panel.

 

 

We were now on our way to the northeast corner of the community.  We crossed the Nyangwena creek so we were in the neighboring community and came across a new handpump that was recently built.  It was very nice compared to most we have seen and well protected from cattle. 

 

 

We found the northeast corner where the Great East road crosses the Nyangwena and then the northwest corner which was about 3 kilometers to the west.  Then we were headed to the southwest corner cross country thru the bush. Because Mbewe is the Water Officer for the district she has had to study all applicable subjects to locating water sources.  As we drove she would point out geological formations and types that were good for available ground water.  She would also point our the different types of trees and vegetation that would suggest the presence of ground water.  This tree she called a cactus tree and they usually grow out of an ant mound and the ants know where to find water.

 

And then back down along the Chongwe river at the southwest corner where the yellow daisys were in bloom.

 



 

So now we will plot our points on Google Earth and then look around to see where the households are located and where we might be able to place a few boreholes to help their life be better.  We still will need South Africas approval to make this a reality.