Misengo's Agriculture Show

Yesterday I participated in Misengo's second Agriculture Show. It was actually a lot of fun! I spent literally the day before the show with a local women's group cooking and baking a variety of foods. They wanted to enter the competition. First prize 75 kwacha. 

I had my own booth. I taught several simple appropriate technologies. All of which are extremely simple to do and cost little to no money. I demonstrated how to generate chlorine, solar disinfection (leaving water in the sun for 6 hours in a clear plastic bottle and it's safe to drink), using ash as an alternative to soap to wash your hands, a homemade level, and of course a condom demonstration. My booth had a lot of visitors and I really hope that a few of them will incorporate my teachings into their daily lives.  

It's Raining Impashi

I was drifting off to sleep in my nice warm bed when suddenly I felt a bite, another, and another. I thought it was only a few impashi (flesh eating ants) that had been stuck on my clothes when I went to sleep. Then I started feeling bites on my head. I look up and realize that my pillows are swarming with impashi...my mosquito net an inefficient barrier for these little demons. As I sat staring, trying to comprehend what I saw I began hearing drip, drip, drip. It was as if rain was dripping from my roof. Impossible, because the rains have already stopped until December. Then I saw it, my walls looked liked there were black rivers flowing down from top to bottom. The dripping sound was not water, but impashi dripping from a vicious waterfall of ants. I left the house grabbing my hammock and a blanket. Hoping to get some sleep while waiting for them to pass through my house on their never ending journey. I went to some trees in the corner of my yard, hoping this would be far enough away from the madness. It wasn't. In the two minutes it takes for me to set up the hammock the army had appeared. I had to stand under a tree for hours, in the cold, waiting for the impashi river to flow past my home. Impashi had gotten stuck in my hair when I was lying in bed. The whole time I was waiting, they were biting my hair. It was enough to drive someone mad. All I wanted was some sweet relief. Some sleep. Finally my bedroom had been cleared out, not the rest of my house, but that was enough for me. I fell into a deep, blissful sleep.