We're inching closer to being finished at the production site ... yesterday, we poured the slab for the rice mill, though I still haven't a clue how we'll lift it. And we negotiated with the prison to dig the trench for the water line. It is something that I definitely have mixed feelings over; we started at K2,000 (about $0.42) per meter, and I got the price down to K1,750 ($0.37) ... afterwards I briefly wondered over the enormity of paying 37 cents to dig a meter of soil to waist-depth by hand and how we bartered over the price as if it was a bunch of bananas. Chalk it up to things I'll have to answer for someday ... all in the name of some greater good.
Today (Saturday) is a bit of a bummer for me; I've been in Zambia in mind for seven years and in body for five, in all those years, the only cultural event I really wanted to see was the Ku'omboka, the great Lozi celebration of the ceremonial movement of the Litunga (Barotse King) out of the Upper Zambezi [Barotse] floodplains just north of Mongu. The urge was even greater given my pseudo-anthropological agricultural research ... to witness the actual representation of a transhumance event, particularly in the modern context, is a unique opportunity.
Over my time in Zambia, I've only had one opportunity to attend Ku'omboka and that was in 2005; unfortunately, that was also a sub-par year for rains, and since the river didn't flood, the Litunga didn't move. Taking this job, one of the major draws for me was the chance to see the Ku'omboka firsthand. Unfortunately, the events of 14 January (the Liundangambo incident) have left a bad taste in the mouth of the Lozi people, directed mostly at the government for what they consider the heavy-handedness of the police's response to protesters on the 14th, resulting in woundings and a few deaths due to gunfire. The people also seem to be upset, though less openly, with the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) over their alleged complicity with the government. Due to the latent anger, rumor has it that the BRE did not want to have the ceremony, but was compelled to do so by the government, which is fearful of losing its standing in the international community due to perceived internal strife. That makes some sense: not staging what is arguably the biggest cultural event in your country due to rumblings of secession or threats of violence would not appear in the trappings of a stable country.
It's also rumored that their will be a protest against the ceremony ... young men in particular will be wearing black shirts and black mushushu (berets) rather than the traditional red as visible sign of mourning. There have been threats of bodily harm against anyone wearing the usual red mushushu or the libisi (traditional dress) ... in sum total, there is a strong desire to both depopulate the ceremony and cause trouble. The government has, in response to the tension, dispatched over 600 police officers to Mongu and has an army regiment on standby east of town.
I must qualify that the above is based on a large amount of rumor. However, two very close associates of mine who aren't given to the vagaries of hearsay both strongly recommended I skip this year's ceremony. It would have been a bad idea to go, anyway ... the U.S. State Dept. has forbidden its employees on visiting, which usually includes us by default. Besides, I don't want to go just because I've seen none of the enthusiasm described with a great deal of poignancy by Lozis; they say that in a usual year, people get into a really festive spirit, lots of dinners, parties ... generally, a great of happiness and pride. This year seems to feature a great deal of apprehension, doubt, and anger.
Hopefully, nothing violent will come of this; it'll all be a bad memory and I'll get to see it sometime in the future, when we can laugh together and affirm one of the greatest qualities of Zambians ... their love for peace and order.
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