To Market We Go:)

February 1, 2012

My already hectic grand plans for Monday became more complicated when Simon, our driver here at Munda Wanga, came up to me and asked me if I were ready to go. I had just finished measuring the cooler / refrigerator for shelving with our head keeper Raphael and was about to sit down with him and begin designing the shelving at this point and was totally confused. I had been planning on going with Simon and Raphael the next day, Tuesday, on their weekly shopping trip but not today. Just then my cell phone rang and it was Fred, my manager, and he told me that he wanted me to go with Simon and the primate keeper Pheri to a friend of his house and catch a wild Vervet monkey that had taken up residency on her property and was starting to steal food from her pet Vervet monkey. Having pet Vervet monkeys is such a bad idea and yet it seems to be a common problem here in Zambia since they are so common. Normally, trapping a wild animal is something that Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZWA) would do but the lady was afraid to call them because she didn’t have a permit for her Vertvet Monkey pet and didn’t want it to be taken away. As it turns out her pet Vervet monkey was found and raised by her 15 years ago, before there were good options for rehabilitation and release, which is why she still has it. The vets and I convinced Fred to still go to ZWA and talk to them about the situation. Partly because the woman should have a permit for a full grown male Vervet monkey, and also because taking the monkey away from here at this point would be devastating to the monkey, the only person he has ever known his whole life. You can change up a primates “family” when they are young, but the older they get the harder this becomes and at 15 years of age it would be impossible. 
So off we went to attempt to capture a wild Vervet. Once we arrived at her house it was easy to see why the wild Vervet decided to stay around. She had a very large property full of fruit trees and on top of it she was offering the little guy food to stop him from getting into her monkeys food.  Pheri and I step up the catch cage and waited for oven an hour for an appearance but never did see the little guy. So we left the cage full of food so he could get used to it and would come back another day. I felt bad for Pheri, because he still had the entire primate section to take care of since he was the only primate keeper on staff that day and by the time we got back it was close to 1 PM. 

Vervet monkeys I have the feeling as going to become a thorn in my side before too much longer. I’m glad that Coco arrived before I realized how big of an issue pet Vervet monkeys are here in Zambia. There are so many people, mainly white people “mazoongooes”, who either buy the babies from people selling them on the side of the road or they somehow are given the babies to raise. The best option for both the monkey and the people would be to turn the baby over to a sanctuary or rerelease program right away. Many times sanctuaries, like Munda Wanga, have surrogate moms for the babies and other youngsters for them to be friends with, even if they are not visibly on display. The worst thing a person can do is hang onto the monkey for months until they are completely attached to humans and no longer recognize monkeys as themselves. When Coco arrived here he was very close to this point, but we got him with a female Vervet the day after he arrived. Yes he took some time to adjust, but now he no longer looks to humans as friends at all, he looks to other Vervets. 

This last weekend I had a family come out with a 5 month old Vervet female named Mojo who had been raised from the time she was a day or two old by the couple and they were just now looking for a place to put he,r because guess what she was turning into an adult monkey. They did not want to bring her to Munda wanga because they didn’t want her put in a cage, however as they were told by ZWA Munda Wanga is their only option because we are the only rehabilitation and release program for Vervets currently in Zambia. So the lady called me yesterday to inform me that she will be after all brining Mojo to us next week. I am worried for Mojo because she is going to have a very complicated transition. She has never been around other monkeys and from as far as I can tell her family spoiled her and let her get away with anything she wanted to. These things are going to make it that much more difficult for her to integrate with the other Vervets. 

A quick note about yesterday, I went with Raphael and Simon on their weekly shopping trip. First we went to Freshmark, the distribution center to all Shoprite grocery stores in the country, to pick up their less than perfect castoffs. We loaded up the majority of our pick-up truck with a variety of fruits and veggies. It was really cool getting to see a distribution center in Zambia, it really wasn’t much different from America in the way it functioned. 

Then we were off to Soweto Market. Now not many white people ever go to Soweto market because it is dangerous and dirty, not even well to do Zambians go to Soweto Market. However we went because of their super cheap prices on produce. While most of our produce is donated we still need to supplement with corn, cabbage, and cucumbers. So off I went with my two “body guards” and went into Soweto market. To say I stood out would be an understatement. I was the only white person for miles around and I am really glad that I had absolutely nothing on me that could be stolen because I doubt I would have made it out with it. Everyone was yelling mazoongoo mazoongoo! As Raphael translated for me most of the men, the majority of them rather drunk (and this was 9 AM in the morning) kept shouting how beautiful I was, and would I marry them, one who thought I was Raphael’s wife asked if he could buy me from him. It was shall we say a very interesting experience. I also couldn’t go up to the produce places with Raphael until he negotiated a price because they would hike up price just because I’m white, the local white people call it “skin tax” because everything at a market is more expensive for white people than black people.  Here are a couple of pictures Raphael took with his phone of me at the market. It was a very interesting and productive day and I was able to see a side of Lusaka that most Peace Corps volunteers would never get to see. 

Love and miss you all, Tammy