Z is for Zambia : H is for Hoping It All Fits!

Our third weekend trip brought us to the town of Choma. It is located about an hour away from Namwianga in the opposite direction of Livingstone. We have all been looking forward to Choma and were promised extraordinary shopping; we were not disappointed. We arrived mid-morning and immediately made our way off the main drive, across the train track, and into the crowded market. The booths are all made out of haphazardly placed wooden sticks and are more like a maze than a market. Booth sellers have all manner of products on their tables from shoes to clothes, posters, phones, fish, and chickens. However we were not there for any of those things, we were there for the chetange. I’ve mentioned it before but chetange (SH TANG EE) is the colorful patterned cloth that is made in factories and sold in markets. Most women tie it around their waists for skirts or it can be sewn into dresses or blankets. It is also used to tie babies on mother’s backs, my favorite use. Once we made it to the back of the market there was booth after booth of colorful chetange. I bought way more than I should have but it was cheaper here than anywhere else and after every purchase I made I repeated my mantra “I may never come back to Africa.”

My favorite purchase however was at the Choma Museum. After eating lunch on the grass we ventured into the museum to shop at the craft store and peruse the displays of early Zambian life. In the craft shop they sold nicer versions of the stools people use in the village; I immediately fell in love. It didn’t matter that it weighs too much to put in my suitcase or that I may have to use it as my second carry on to get it home, I had to have it. I do not regret my purchase because it will always remind of my greatest adventure, staying in the village of Tumango.