Random

Solving Problems

NgoniVillage.jpg

BY PAMELA BOWMAN, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA — I thought the first day of shooting would be today. I was wrong. No news there! We actually had an unexpected opportunity yesterday. Our bus driver is a dancer for the Ngoni warriors. He actually organizes his troup to dance at parties and such. So we thought it would be cool to see his group dance. Our host graciously located a village about 5 miles from where we are staying. So Cyndi had this bright idea to shoot it. She is brilliant like that. It took FOREVER to get there. Lovely roads! Anyways, the dancers were all in authentic dance attire and we landed at the village just in time for a sunset shoot. AWESOME! Our whole crew pulled together and captured amazing footage of these native dancers among these real African huts. Most of the village people were so sweet and curious and cooperative. We loved it. After, we came back to our resort and watched the footage. The colors of Africa are amazing. We are so proud of ourselves!

Then today happened. We started our shoot. We had to wait a couple of hours for our bus. ARGHH! Finally we were off to the theater house and had a small rehersal. Then we went to the location. We got everything set up and the actors were ready, the cameras were ready and we were ready. Lights, camera….wait lights, pop. Big problem. The electricity couldn’t handle the lights. But being the seasoned crew that we are. I mean we did shoot the night before! We remained calm. Figured out we had a problem we couldn’t solve, broke down the set, fed the crew, loaded up the crew and began figuring out how to solve the electicity issue. Cyndi, Jabbes and Jacob, Mike, John and Susan went to ZNBC and received the information they needed for tomorrow’s shoot. Problem solved.

The rest of the crew went back to our resort to do laundry by hand. That is easy for me because I only have one change of clothing. Homeless in Africa, Need of clothing. Please help the airlines find my luggage. I am borrowing one piece of clothing from each crew member! It’s all good. I don’t care because I am in Africa shooting a film! I am also still queen of all card games. The crew has been humilited by the old lady!

Tomorrow is another day. It will be a good one. Hopefully we will be able to blog more often soon. Another problem we are working out. We are great problem solvers. In the mean time we are learning about Africa, each others families and about each other! Scary stuff!