WHEN I am in Chifubu Township in Ndola, I like patronising the recreation club if I want to have a beer.
I like this place because it is one of the few decent surviving Ndola City Council community run drinking places in Ndola. Besides that, there are quite a number of friends I meet there and we engage in a number of discussions.
Some time back, my good friends who I used to work with did not have to phone me to find out where I was in the evening especially when I was off duty. They just had to drive to this place and when they found my battered VW Beetle parked there, they knew I was around and if they did not find me at the club, they knew I was somewhere within reach.
However, of late, it takes quite some time for me to visit this place. One of the reasons I don’t regularly get to this place is because some of the good friends I used to share good times with here are no more while others have moved to other places out of town or township.
So, after having been away for a long time, I recently decided to pass by the club to have one or two for the road. It was around 19:00 hours when I reached the place – just in time for the ZNBC news.
I got to the counter and ordered myself a cold Windhoek lager before I settled on the stool by the counter to listen to the news. It was while I was listening to the news when three men – they were regular patrons of this place – called on the lady known as Bana Kulu who is also a regular at this place and she sells foodstuffs such as boiled eggs, fried groundnuts, finkubala (caterpillars) and ifimbombo (cattle trotters) so that they could buy some ifimbombo.
The lady was behind the counter because she is sometimes in charge of the bar. The three men bought ifimbombo – big ones at that – and the bowls in which they had been served were filled with mouth-watering thick soup. I wished I could have been given a share of that stuff as well, but I was already having my beer and I don’t usually mix beer and food because my tummy easily fills up.
After the men were served with the snacks (if that stuff could be called snack), they sat on stools near me. They seemed to be enjoying the ifimbombo looking at the way they were chewing and sipping the soup.
Soon, they had finished eating and they asked Bana Kulu to give them water and soap so that they could wash their hands and start drinking.
Bana Kulu brought the water, soap and a towel.
The first man washed his hands with soap and passed it to the second man, but this man refused the soap saying just water was enough.
He passed the soap to the third man who also washed his hands and used the soap.
However, the man who passed the soap to the second man insisted that it was important that he used the soap because the smell of the ifimbombo would not go away and he would be in trouble at home.
But the man refused and explained that he did not use soap even when he was bathing at home or anywhere else. When I heard this, I thought the man had a story to tell.
Why did this man not use soap even when he was bathing at home? Was he allergic to it? For all I know, soap has been used from time immemorial because it is an agent which removes the greasy dirty which accumulates on human bodies.
If this man did not use soap, there should have been something he was using to remove the dirty from his body, perhaps washing detergents. I was yet to hear from him.
Fortunately, his friend asked what he used instead when bathing and the man told him he used just water and nothing else.
Bathing without soap! I wondered.
“Awe boyinaiwe.Teti usambe amenshi yekayeka.Ifiko teti fifume.(No my friend. You can’t bath just using water. The dirt can’t be removed) his friend argued.
It was at this time when the man cleared his throat and started explaining why he did not use bath soap. He said it was a long story but he had lived without using soap from the time he was a teenager who was not in employment up to date when he is an adult and working.
He does not use bath soap because there is no soap at home or because he is allergic to it or because he could not afford to buy it, but because of the way he was scolded by his mother long way back.
He explained that his mother severely scolded him when he used the soap he did not buy. This attracted my attention and as an eavesdropper, I wanted to hear more and I lost concentration of listening to the news.
What really could have happened to let this man swear never to use soap again? May be the man had taken one too many and he did not care about what he was about to divulge.
As for me, this was good news and I waited patiently to hear more about what the man had gone through for him to stop using soap.
And so, the man went ahead to narrate his ordeal.
What happened one day was that the man was at home and decided to have a bath. When he went to the bath room, he found that there was no soap.
He got into the house and found the soap which was still in a wrapper. He got the tablet and went to the bathroom and he was the first to use it.
The man did not know who had bought the soap and since he was just a young man who had not reached the time to sponsor anything at home where he was being kept by his parents together with his siblings, it was normal to use things which were provided by those who could afford at home for the family especially parents. It turned out that the soap was not bought by his father or mother, but his elder brother.
Coincidentally, when his brother came back from wherever he had gone, he decided to go and have a bath. He had bought the soap the previous day and when he had checked where he had put it and found that it was missing, he asked his mother.
The mother told him that she had seen his brother coming from the bathroom and she was certain that he had taken the soap. But the brother complained that it was not right for him to use the soap before him who had bought it could use it.
Because of this, a bitter quarrel ensued. The quarrel was so bitter that this forced the mother to call the young man who had taken the soap without ‘permission’.
“After my brother who was fuming with rage complained to my mother about letting me use the soap before him, she approached me and castigated me. She told me that I should be responsible enough to find money to buy certain things such as bath soap for myself other than always entirely depending on others buying things for me.
“My mother and brother were so bitter with me and I wondered why because they knew I was just a young boy who was not even working and could not afford anything for the home,” he explained.
He said the way he had been castigated had affected him so much that he felt it was not right for him to continue using the soap because even the next time he wanted to bath he would need soap and he would be scolded again.
“That is how I stopped using bath soap. This happened a long way back and I only use water,” the man explained.
The person he was telling this appeared to be filled with pity ,just like me.
But was bathing without soap really bathing?
According to the man, it was okay.
He hinted that from the time he stopped using bath soap he had not experienced any problems. The man pointed out that what was important was water because according to him, he did not think that people who lived many, many years back used soap to wash out dirty from their bodies.
He wondered whether the bush men, Masais and Hottentots in Africa, the primitive Indians in Asia, the Patagonians in Australia and those wild human beings in the Amazon in North America use soap and yet they are healthy.
Asked why he continued not using soap when he was now working and he could afford to buy anything for himself, the man said he had made a vow not to use soap and that was that.
Recently, the man had gone home to the village to visit his parents in Luapula Province where they had gone to settle.
He said his mother prepared water and soap for him to bath, but he told the mother to take the soap away because he was still not using soap since that memorable incident happened many years back.
Was this a question of not forgiving?
The man said he had stayed a long time without using soap and he was used to this and it would be strange for him to start using it now.
“I am in good books with my mother and brother. It is just that I can’t use soap any more. I have no bitter feelings for my mother and brother and that is why I often visit them. I love them,” he said.
Looking at the man, he looks quite clean and handsome with natural dark complexion. He does not look like someone who does not use soap.
May be soap is just another expense which could be done away with without any effect. Is it not worth trying?
Potipher 2014@gmail.com.0955929796.