Iola High School students looking for a glimpse of the primitive side of life, got a liberal dose Friday from Tyson and Daphne Mayes.
The Mayeses’ presentation was part of a daylong career experience event.
The couple returned just Monday from a two-year Peace Corps mission to Mishingo, an isolated village in Zambia. While there they lived in a mud-brick hut with thatch roof.
Their job was to tutor villagers in environmental issues — mainly food production — and help to improve educational opportunities for the children. High absenteeism from school was due to children called to the field to tend a family’s crops.
THE MAYESES are from Emporia and earned bachelor of science degrees in biology at Emporia State University. She soon will return to school to seek a master’s degree and he will work, although “I have no idea doing what right now.”
Because they wanted to serve to together, finding a suitable place for their educational background took about two years.
“It can be a long process to get into the Peace Corps,” Tyson said. But, “some get a phone call right away.”
Once assigned to Zambia, they spent two months honing their language skills before arriving in Mishingo.
By necessity, as well as design, they assimilated to the rural African culture.
Daphne recalled going out each morning and sweeping the dirt from around their mud hut with a short broom, leaving a series of swirl patterns — just like their neighbors’. She also told about having to spend all day washing her and Tyson’s clothing.
She rubbed soap into the material and did a series of scrubbings and twists, to remove soil and soap, before dipping it in rinse water. More squeezing followed before she hung the clothing on a line to dry.
MUCH OF their presentation was driven by questions.
Tyson said the average life span of rural Zambians was 32 or so, because of the prevalence of HIV.
Many in their village lived in extended families, with as many as three sets of parents in one household. If both parents die, the orphaned children are accepted by their aunts and uncles to raise.
The locals grow maize (corn), Daphne said, and eat it twice a day, usually accompanied by a relish. The Mayeses also taught beekeeping and fish-farming skills.
A hazard of rural life there are flesh-eating ants called impashi.
The ants swarm in narrow bands “hunting for food,” Tyson said. Typically people are safe from the ants if they leave them alone, Tyson said.
Zambians know the protocols.
If a stream of thousands of ants enters a mud hut, the residents flee. The ants devour spiders and termites, which often live in large numbers in the huts, leaving them squeaky clean.
The ants are relentless, Daphne said, noting she watched them eat an entire snake in about two hours.
Mosquitoes also are a nuisance in the sub-tropical country.
The Mayeses slept under nets and frequently used repellents to discourage attacks. Even so, Tyson contacted malaria, during which he had a temperature of 104 degrees.
WITH THEIR help, the village of Mishingo got a new government school, where kids up to seventh grade attend classes. Daphne said the closest middle school was four miles away and the nearest high school was 10 miles distant.
“The students have to walk to get to either,” she said. For the Mayseses, their typical mode of transportation was by bicycle.
Iola students intrigued by what they heard may find out more about the Peace Corps, including how to obtain an application, at www.peacecorps.gov.
