First Rain

**This blog was written September 30, 2011 as a journal entry in my village**

Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year for Jews around the world. Today we had our first rain in Zambia, the official mark to the end of dry season. Although seemingly different, both symbolize a beginning. Rosh Hashanah is a time where we are suppose to look back and think about our past year. We are suppose to think back on things we did wrong, sins committed and decisions we hope to learn from. We are also suppose to look at the parts we did right; prideful things, ways we have grown and changed throughout the past year. Rainy season, or the first rain, is similar to Rosh Hashanah in a lot of ways. It's a clean start, everything has been burned (my yard was just burned last night-the scariest/coolest thing I have ever seen) and people are ready and waiting to plant again. It's a new season, maybe a chance to plant something you have never planted before, for Ba Shaderick that will be watermelon, for others maybe cabbage. For Zambians just like Jews and all Americans really, the timing of Rosh Hashanah, is the calm before the storm. For Zambians, it is hot season. A time to rest and try to survive the immense heat which has appropriately been named "Suicide Month". For Americans October it a time to enjoy the cool weather, the new football season where every team still has a fighting chance, and halloween where everyone gets to revert back to childhood and just have a night for dress up.

Next comes November. For Zambians this marks the beginning of rainy season because when and only when the rains begin can they start planting. Everyday from 04:00 am to 07:00 am they will all be in their fields planting. Being precise with every seed is crucial for a good crop. As that one head of cabbage, or row of maize could feed their family for a week later in the year. They will timelessly plant and hope that the rain will continue to fall. For with every drop, their harvest will improve.

For Americans November means one thing, Thanksgiving. Although many (mostly men, no offense) don't know this, mothers across America will start planning, cooking and preparing for Thanksgiving the first day of November. Whether it is deciding which family to visit, where to have it or who will attend, there is always something to do. November 1st, start your engines. It takes a whole months to plan Thanksgiving because after Thanksgiving (and for some literally the day after) Christmas begins. Lights start going up, presents start being bought , holiday cards being sent out, the list never ends. This falls true for Zambians as well. December is also a crucial month for rain as January will be when the first crops start trickling out of the ground. December is also when the children get out of school here, although at the beginning of the month, rather than in the end like in America. It is scheduled this way so fathers have more hands in the field, while women have more kids in the kitchen. However this is where things start to differ drastically.

The end of December in America means gorging yourself. Gorging on Christmas dinners, festive holiday drinks and work parties galore. It's a time where you keep telling yourself you will start that new diet at the first of the year. In a lot of ways December means excess in America. Excess food, drink, presents and cheer. In Zambia, December means hunger. It marks the beginning of "hunger season". A time where crops from last year are running low and crops from this year haven't come up yet. It's a time where children will go a little hungrier, mothers more warn out and fathers less prideful. It's a month where families will go a whole day with just one meal and patiently wait for the night to fall. Although this is partially the families and farmers faults as the opposite of hunger season is waste season. Food sustainability is a big problem in Zambia and you will see many children in April (when crops are plenty) throwing maize meal at each other as a game or feeding the whole village while they should be saving it for later in the year (like December). Whatever the reason, December is not an easy month for most Zambians.

The longer I am here the more I notice the similarities and differences in my two worlds. On one hand we are all the same, mothers worrying, fathers working and children playing. On the other hand, like when it comes to December, we are worlds apart.