Housing at the Model Village

Mwizenge Village will have very simple basic housing and furnishing modelled after the simple village structures. There will be so many huts and a couple of conventional red brick houses. The outside of all the houses will have similar kuhutya colors and decoration as is typical of village huts and houses. I hope that Mwizenge Model Village will never have any tall walls built around these homes and all the premises.

On the left hand side of the entrance to Mwizenge Model Village is a small 3 room concrete block house for the caretaker. There is a kitchen cooking place and a latrine or toilet on the right. Three hundred meters from there is already a bush path to the village structures. On the left there will be a line of 6 round huts built out of red pan bricks. The 3 one of the huts will have an outside mphungu, nkhokwe for storing maize and peanuts. The 7th structure will be the main house which will be built using the red pan bricks. The house will be located north-south. It will have 1 self-contained bedroom and 2 other bedrooms, 2 toilets, 1 large kitchen and one living room and dining room. There will be my large writing and reading room will large shelves for all my books. The window to this reading room will face east toward the sunrise. The living room will face west toward the setting sun. There will be a back porch and front porch. There will be an outhouse or latrine behind the house.

Two women residents of the village, Nya Bota (left) and Nya Phiri pounding and sieving maize or corn in preparation of of the traditional Zambian musele breakfast. This is the pounded maize cooked with delicious fresh peanut powder.

Behind the house there will be an outside mphungu or kitchen and nkhokwe village structures for storing maize and peanuts. There will be a chicken coup for 20 chickens. About fifty meters south from the house, there will be a large and tall wall about 30ft high will a village mural painted on it. In front of the wall will be a performance stage. In front of the stage in an oval shape will be the audience seating. This will be an open theater from plays, traditional dances, and other public performances. On the right of the stage will men and women’s toilets. About 30 yards from the toilets will be the mphala large round open but roofed structure for arts and crafts for boys and men. Another similar structure next to this, called Chisangano which has already been built, will be arts and craft structure for girls and women.