On Saturday 25th of January I finally made my first trip to Munada, the traveling market, that makes a monthly visit to my area. Actually, this was my second time to Munada, the first being in my friend's village. I was armed with 200 condoms to be passed out. They were gone in a matter of minutes. Next month I'll be better prepared. I'm thinking about a mandatory condom demo they have to watch before receiving condoms.
It was fun looking at all the wares for sale. Most "booths" sold almost the same things. This is common in Zambia. I sense that product diversity had never been a strong point of this country. Never-the-less they had different things than I could find in my village, and that was exciting for me. I bought some pens and pencils for my kids to use at school and a new chitenge for me. A successful venture I'd say.
I even ran into a few people that I knew there. I saw a few of my neighbors shopping together and spent most of my time with them. There was just one big downside to my day...
The words muzungu! Muzungu! Marry me! Are still ringing in my ears. I was everybody's favorite attraction at the traveling market. In America we consider it wrong to point out someone by the color of their skin. But, here in Zambia, they think it's just ok. Being a white woman I get a lot of harassment outside of my village. Being an American it's easy to take offense to all of this unwanted attention.
Great idea about passing out condoms!! I remember being burned a couple of times when I first arrived because I had no transport to Kasama because the buses took people to Munada instead!
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