You go in a house and they'll pull the doilies out from under their lamps and give them to you as gifts, he said. They truly are some of the nicest people you can meet. Ditto, says Anne, of the families she works with as a science teacher in the Zimbabwe town of Chipanangayi. The poverty is striking, but the people do everything they can with what they have, she said. They may have threadbare clothing, but it is cleaned and pressed every day they wear it.
Children take pieces of wire and broken pottery and make amazing cars and toys.
After three months of Peace Corps training in a larger community, she moved to her assignment and took up residence in a tiny house next to the school where she teaches. She has become an integral part of her community, to the point where she dislikes being taken for a tourist. I was stopped by a police chief for speeding once, when mother visited and I rented a car to see some of the country, she recalled. Once I spoke his language, and told him what town I was from, he let me go. Of course, he couldn't have chased me anyway, because he was on foot with a radar gun.