A little background first. After living in "town" in Zambia for about 9 months, we really felt like God was calling us to move out into the bush and live like the Zambian people really do. There was a rural area that was 3 hours from the nearest grocery store that we felt drawn to--Chitongo. We did the culturally appropriate things of going to talk to the headman and request some land to build our mud hut. The "city councilor" (yes, in the bush...Zambians love to be "official") showed us where our land was on July 4, 2004.
As we looked at our 1/2 acre of land, we thought about what needed to be done first. "Well, ya know, the Zambians always burn fires to clear their land!" We knew this, yet we didn't know any of the specifics. It shouldn't matter though, right? We had some matches in the truck and we knew enough to go and grab an axe and chop down some branches to use to beat out the fire once our land was clear.
*(IMPORTANT NOTE FOR FUTURE AFRICAN FIRES--AFRICANS ONLY CLEAR THEIR LAND IN THE EVENINGS WHEN THERE IS NO WIND)*
So, Blu struck a match, and lit a small fire on our land. We noticed immediately that a neighbor girl came by, chopped a limb off of a tree, and stood nearby watching. We wondered if she wanted to help? Suddenly, we realize that the fire is spreading pretty quickly. I (wearing a skirt and big clunky shoes) was not willing to help beat the fire, but I was quite content to point out to Blu "oh honey it's getting bigger over there" and he would then run over and beat it. (see picture below..this is the start of the fire)
We realized quickly that the fire was out of control. How do I even describe it? Blu was running from one side to the next trying to keep it small. In a period of about 45 seconds, the fire just came alive and we were completely helpless. It was roaring and there was so much heat. We can laugh about it now, but it was the most terrified we have ever been. You see, we look up and see the fire burning as far as we can see..and all we can see beyond the fire are little huts with grass roofs. Blu is screaming and begging people to help us--people are running up and grabbing huge branches and doing what they can to help. I am standing there helplessly trying not to cry!
To make a long and terrifying story a little shorter, the fire reached the huts and there were several men sitting outside. They didn't look worried until they realized that a white man had started this fire. They quickly went to their wells and poured water around their huts in a circle to keep out the fire, then they calmly went and sat back down and laughed as Blu continued to try to beat it out! The fire finally reached the road where it died out. Blu ran over to me pouring sweat, covered in black ash, and his throat was burning and he was hoarse. When it was all said and done, every bit of ground you can see in the above picture was black...
FUNNY SIDENOTES FROM THE FIRE:
*When it was all over the people who helped us just stood there looking at us. I realized we had some chocolate chip cookies in the truck so I ran to get them and passed them out. They all walked away happy! (Keep in mind, this was only our 2nd visit to the village, so nobody knew who we were or what we were doing there!)
*When the fire was gone, we realized that Blu had started the fire at the END of our land, and because of the wind it had blown the opposite way..so looking back, we had burned an entire field of land that wasn't ours.
*A year later, when we would meet people, they would say "oh! we were talking around the fire last night telling the story of you starting the fire!!" Everyone knew who we were after that!
*2 years later, when we were back in the States, our supervisors were at our village when someone else started a fire that got out of control. People didn't know what was going on, but they knew that our supervisors were there, so they started yelling at them and blaming them for starting the fire again! We gave white people a bad reputation I guess!
*This fire story is just the tip of the iceberg...there is another fire story...coming soon....
:)
4 comments:
hey that was one of the first stories you guys told us when you first came to the church!
Erika
Oh Darbi, I love your stories. When are you going to come for a visit? We have a pellet stove you guys can tell stories by! We can pop popcorn (ok microwave) have some wassel and just enjoy each others company!
I got such a kick from this story. I had to look back at the picture to try to imagine the rest of the field burnt out. Thanks for sharing!
Christine
Darbi, this is just hysterical......NOW! I'm fascinated by your stories about Zambia. Would love to hear more as you get time. Missy
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