Subsistence
III. Except for the city settlements of Lusaka, Ndola, and Kitwe, Zambia is tribal. There are 72 tribes in Zambia, each with its own language. Sixty-five percent of Zambians are under 16 years old.
VI. In the deep Zambian bush, subsistence living still exists, where a scattering of homes is not as centralized as a village in rural India. Even community is too organized a construct to describe the subsistence settings of the dwellings. Rural is also an unhelpful word, because in the West, rural implies not only eventual proximity to a more developed area, but an idyllic setting, a place in some simple ways of plenty: wildlife, wildflowers, abundant woods. Not so in the tribal bush. Subsistence means daily gathering and frightening margins.
VII. A two hours’ drive separates subsistence deep-bush un-electrified poverty and lack of education and basic health care from imported olive oil and capers, toy and pet food aisles, and kiosks selling purple and yellow hair extensions and skinny jeans. Average life expectancy: 34.
Which is exactly twice the age of murdered Virginian Alexis Murphy, whose one-year abduction, defilement, and hideous death anniversary is tomorrow.
By Jane Lillian Vance
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