into the heart

the zebras return

i've been spending more time up at the park the past couple months.  lubumbashi is boiling hot but the rains have started in lusinga, and work makes an excellent excuse to retreat to the cooler, breezer climes of the plateau.   

however, with the rains the park will become more and more inaccessible so we are trying to cram as much as we can into the last few dry-ish months.  we've had a number of activities going with the park rangers, including training on gps and developing a new data collection system, pre-selecting new rangers and a workshop to map out the content of the general management plan.  these are some of our big outputs for the year and so it's been good for me to be able to come up and be part of that. 

one of the things that coincides with the onset of rainy season is that the zebra arrive near the park hq.  they come to eat the young shoots of grass, especially vibrant this year after the whole plain was burned.  the grass has come in quickly and the zebras are now just within walking distance.  they don't let you get too close, though.  the male snorts and shakes his head and then trots off to lead his ladies away.  speaking of the ladies, it appears several are pregnant and we hope with the new foals our little population will hit 40 this year.  we shall see.

banana bread as a metaphor for life

when life gives you rotten bananas, what else can you do but make banana bread?  this is currently true for me both metaphorically and literally.  luckily, i'm up at the park with a beautiful view and a newly built wood oven.

to make banana bread in the middle of nowhere:

• 4 bananas, ripe with black spots, smashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, preferably from a nearby hen
• 1/3 cup butter, melted or smushed in until mushy
• 1 tsp triple sec (not necessary, which is good because you probably don't have triple sec... though i actually do)
• 1 tsp baking soda (i had to substitute with baking powder... apparently you can't really do this but some people say it's doable if you do 3 parts powder for 1 part soda... it didn't work great for me)
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

mix all that together, roughly in that order.  pour into a greased tin pan and put that in a hot brick oven full of burning wood.  wait 45 minutes.  check it.  probably leave it another 30 minutes or so until you can put a knife in and it comes out clean.

the lesson: don't be afraid of banana bread coming out wrong.  anything with delicious ingredients and a bit of good intention will be alright in the end.  even if it's baked in a crappy tin pot.  also, even mediocre banana bread tastes better with a view.

le gite

this is the newly finished, minimally decorated guesthouse (gite) at lusinga.  our team and the contractors did a really great job.  it still needs a bit of art on the walls and a comfy sofa in front of the fireplace for these chilly nights at over 1600 meters...

bunkeya

on the long long road from lubumbashi to lusinga, there is a little town called bunkeya.  the other day we stopped to buy rice, tomatoes and snacks: popcorn and peanuts.    

when the battery decided to conk out, we were there for a little longer than expected so i took out my camera.  as usual, i mostly got people running, hiding or yelling angrily in my direction.  but a few kids and a group of ladies selling rice were a bit better humored.

and a little farther down the road, in a hot dry village in the middle of nowhere, bertrand and i entertained some more kids, eager to show off their karate poses.

bucket shower

going on our fourth day without water in the house/office, i thought i'd talk a bit about bucket showers.  yes, bucket showers.

(to be fair, i haven't had to take one in a while.  my gym membership is really starting to pay off... thanks to good management and my $200 a month fee, they somehow keep that shower pumping every day.)

in beni, you may remember, i had running water less than 25% of the time.  but i also had a well.  and a system.  systems are important.  every morning the gardener filled 6 big buckets with water and refilled them after morning showers, laundry or whatever else needed doing during the day.

while it wasn't running out of the tap, we never ran out of water.

in this house, however, the water sometimes just stops and there is no well.  given that we've got 3 people minimum living here, and sometimes up to 6, it's easy to run out completely.  let me tell you, there is a unique type of panic that sets in when the toilets can't be flushed and hands can't be washed in a house full of men.  

to prevent nervous breakdowns and cholera, each day, the driver takes the 6 bidons (big plastic yellow jerrycans) to a public tap somewhere in town where there is water and fill them up.  we then use that water for everything from washing bodies to washing dishes to flushing toilets.  that is until its the weekend and the driver is at home and the rest of us flounder helplessly... but that's another issue.

in this context, i have had to take many bucket showers over the past few years, as have the majority of people living around the world with little or no running water.   

so in the spirit of lots of helpful how-to blog posts on everything from preparing couscous to making a french knot, i thought i'd do a how-to on the essential skill of taking a bucket shower.  bucket showers are a vital part of life and a good, hot bucket shower is nearly as satisfying as a regular shower.  (ok, that's a lie but one i like to tell myself.)  and, when you are water-limited, it's important to know how to get the most shower out of the least water.  

(and to those of you in the developed world: you just never know when the infrastruture will collapse under the strain of one more lawn sprinkler or the libertarians will cut funding for pipe maintenence, and you'll be living like the rest of us!  mwah ha ha ha!)

so without further ado...

how to take a bucket shower 

what you'll need:

• water in a jerry can or some other source
• one large plastic bucket
• a large plastic cup (e.g. a camping cup, nesquick container, large plastic water bottle with the neck cut off...)
• a large pot (optional, for hot water)
• a stove/campfire (optional, for hot water)

how to do it:

1. fill your bucket up about 2/3.  it doesn't look like a lot of water, but trust me.

2. if you want a hot bucket shower (hmm... that sounds like a band name or some sort of obscene euphemism) dip your big pot into your bucket until it fills.  this will probably be about 1/3 of the water you've got.  stick it on the stove, covered to save water, until it's just starting to boil.  pour it back in to your bucket.  (test your water to make it's not too hot.)

3. use one big cupful to just get your hair wet and splash a little water on the rest of you.  shampoo.

4. use two big cupfuls to rinse out the shampoo.  apply conditioner.

5. using the water that's on you from washing your hair, soap yourself.

6. use three big cupfuls to rinse out conditioner and rinse yourself.  remember to switch hands so you can wash both arms.

7. be amazed at how little water you actually used.  consider whether you should save the rest for a later shower or hand washing.  if you have ample supply or are feeling sorry for yourself because you hate bucket showers, even hot ones, pick up the bucket and slowly pour the rest of the water over your head with your eyes closed, pretending like it's coming from a showerhead.

you are clean!  bucket shower success.

serengeti

it's been approximately 1 million years since i posted here.  the internet's been terrible again in lubumbashi and since my vacation i've been so busy during the day that in the evenings i want to just watch dvds and zone out.  and since i pretty much commute from my bed to my desk to my bed again it's hard to think of anything interesting to say.  (the whole 5 meters between my bed and desk does make for a very very short commute.... too short one might say. sometimes i forget to put on shoes.) 

but i did head back to serengeti for an fzs workshop.  these are some photos.  it's funny... i spent 80% of my time there in meetings and 95% of my time in congo in front of my desk or asleep, but you'd think from this post i'm out frolicking in the wilderness!  

i guess it gets back to what i mentioned in my post in december... most people work to live and in my case it's not really any different... the only thing is the my work puts me a bit closer to the places i want to do my living.... and my living can be quite extraordinary.

case in point: even though we just had a couple hours to set out in the morning before meetings, it was pretty amazing to catch a glimpse of these three male lions loving on each other.  we found them making their way across a big open plain.  three bachelors.  they couldn't help but stop and cuddle every few minutes!  they'd walk apart and then get in really close, rubbing cheeks and sides against each other... and then just drop down and start wrestling.  so so cute.  

you could almost forget, just for a second, how extremely scary they are.  

i was lucky to be in seronera, the middle of the park, to catch part of the great migration.  this is when wildebeest (aka. gnu) and zebra move across serengeti in tanzania, north to the mara in kenya and then back by the thousands.  they lead the charge, but the predators that hunt them follow eagerly.  seemingly endless herds of zebra and wildebeest with their young is already pretty dramatic... and then to consider that every night they are getting picked off by lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dog, cheetahs... it's the definition of drama.  (and yes, the sky really was that color... a storm was on its way.)

but the eles... they are my favorite.  growing up in thailand we got so used to seeing elephants everywhere.  petting them, feeding them bananas, seeing them in rural towns and villages... i didn't feel any more scared walking up to an adult elephant than i did a dog!  i can still remember the feel of their wrinkley, leathery skin and thick hairs, and that they like to be scratched, the way their trunks curl around your hands or search your pockets for treats.  the way their eyes are a warm reddish brown color and seem a little too small for their bodies, but their long long lashes make up for it.  i didn't realize until recently quite how amazing and unique that experience was.  i have been so close to elephants and yet i am still drawn to and in awe of them every time.  

elephants

i took this photo in serengeti in december.  the two bulls were far away.  my lens was good but not that good.  the photos were blurry and the colors washed out in the late morning sun.  but i played around with this one because i loved the memory.  i loved watching these two, in the distance, playing and nuzzling.  this photo is still not brilliant and definitely not novel.  but i love it anyway.  it says to me that they belong there.  this is their home and they are their people.  i have always loved elephants, but the more i see them in the wild and the greater the threats against them grow, the more my adoration for their complexity and beauty grows as well.

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

― Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation

central park and amnh

swinging down...

 

... and up again.

 

a tiny new yorker.

 

the dinosaurs' view.

 

biodiversity.

 

out of the deep.

 

proof of life on earth.

i love new york city

...even on the greyest days and darkest nights.