Listen to your Mother. Do your Chores. Be Happy.

Observations while living in a rural African Christian middleclass home.

Rats never fail to scuttle above us in the ceiling panels around 5:30am, a diligent wake-up call for Mrs. Ngandu to bathe, and get ready for the day. A Christian CD is slid into the music player. The teenage boys and girls rise to divide and conquer: bathroom cleaning, furniture dusting, floor scrubbing and wax polishing, they check if the doilies on the couches need replacing. One member will sweep the dirt outside around the house – to make sure the loose soil is not blown in or trafficked into the house by visiting soles.

Dishes from the previous night are cleaned since water rationing limits usage to 5-9am then 12-2pm and 5-9pm. Every spare pail and the bath tub is religiously filled at all times. We know when the water is cut when the sole leaky sink faucet stops shedding tears. Laundry is washed daily. Each piece scrubbed viciously in a shallow 12 inch diameter pail for about five minutes then hung on a taut wire clothesline.

Finally, breakfast is made; the boys bake scones and heat water for tea on the single-working burner stove. All these activities occur with Afro-Christian music’s bass shaking every bone in the body. The chores conclude around 10am. The music continues to celebrate the relaxation period till the three teens must leave for school at 12:30 and return at 5pm. They fill their free time making slingshots, reading books or dog-eared magazines circulating the neighborhood, dancing, chatting at the neighbors, or watching one of the three available channels on Zambian Broadcasting Network.

The teens’ return from school is celebrated with a game of basketball or soccer with community members till its time to help Mrs. Ngandu with the days final meal at 7pm. The last supper is eaten at 8pm and the dishes are soaked in pails overnight till water is available the next morning. The evening is finally complete when Boyzone or Backstreetboys are welcomed into the livingroom via video CD to serenade the gushing Zambian fans before they retire.

Daily chores and activities occur like a Swiss timepiece. The children obey their mother with military precision, coated with love and respect. Enjoyment during the day is honest, creative, and true. There is peace in the Ngandu Christian house. Problems and “wants” are always kept in perspective. And everyone is always happy.

This is God’s Zambia.