likeable links

These are just few interesting links. These links that friends have sent me or links to some awesome projects my friends are doing.

www.bbc.com (Because facebook is NOT the news)

www.psychologytoday.com (Because Im a dork and love reading the articles at night

http://wuot.org (There's a podcast on the increase of HIV in TN)

PaintTheMovement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke-l_BnAzko

www.paintthemovement.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/paintthemovement

* These girls are returned Peace Corps Zambia Volunteers and still making a difference

Color Me In

Another RPCV from Zambia who's doing a lot of great work for local businesses

http://www.colormein.org

No I am not posting anything about this KONY2012 campaign (If you dot know who Joseph Kony is you should look him up) BUT if you want to know my opinion on him and the capaign PLEASE ask me!

Lucky Newbie

My replacement came last week and I’ve been kicked out of my house until she leaves. I’m spending my time getting some work done at the office, hence the slew of blog updates.
I went through the same thing but since I was first generation the process was a bit different. I’m sure it’s strange for her to be staying 5 days in a fully furnished house where someone else has been living and working for two years. EEK! But its also strange to think that in 2 weeks that will be her house and not mine, she will have the life that I once had and shell be paving her own way in a village that I will still call home. She’ll do great I know it, but I can’t help but feel a little jealous.

Its funny now to think Ill be jealous of someone just beginning their service when my start was so difficult, but Id do it again especially knowing what I know now. I remember being bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to work. We sort of get “used” or jaded as the days, weeks, months go on and it’s hard to remember what it was like to be new. We have adapted to this life and
it’s hard to remember what it was like hitchhiking for the first time and learning new social cues and finding our way to live and cope.

I’m not ready to clean my house and say goodbye. People ask me how it feels to be done and going home and I try to remember what it was like leaving home initially. I almost think this is worse. But the time has come and in two weeks (16 days) and less than a month I will be leaving my village and then leaving Zambia. Crazy! More people are trying to marry me off then ever before because to them that’s my only way of staying. No matter how often I tell people that in a few years after grad school I want to come back, we all know that this may be the last time we’re with each other. It’s such a strange thought. These people have gone from being just the villagers to being family and from just being teachers to being friends. The good bye will be rough.

But I do feel its time to go home. I miss my family and simple first world pleasure (indoor plumbing!!!!!) I miss sushi and cartoons and being able to be on my own time. I miss the concept of lines and knowing that no matter how long the line is, Ill get to the front. I feel like its time
to move on the next adventure whatever that may be.

But I am still jealous. I’m going to miss the Zambian sunrise and the stars that twinkle at night. I’m going to miss constant dancing and the laughter of my iwe. I’m going to miss Zamlogic and the slow deliberate pace of things. Of course I’m going to miss all the people that have made these two years amazing (despite the downs) but I am excited that someone else gets
to experience what I did, in her own way of course. Just like it was hard to
leave home, it’ll be hard to leave this place I call home but I’ve enjoyed my adventure and its time to let someone start theirs. But I can still be a little jealous. :)

Development Complete?

With two weeks left in the village I naturally have been evaluating my work, my relationships and contentment with it all. As I write reports explaining my work and highlighting my relationships within the communities in which I work, I have realized I’ve done a good job. I have worked in every component of my project framework and have had some success in each aspect. I feel I have done as much as I could as far as my project is concerned.

But it’s been so much more than hitting benchmarks and calculating numbers. Looking back on my two years I can’t believe how much I have done. Not in a tooting my own horn sort of way but “professionally” and personally I’ve come a LONG way.

I remember the days of sitting and waiting 2 hours for a meeting to start and then feeling
unaccomplished at the end. I remember how hurt and let down I felt when I would give my opinion in a meeting and just be cast aside because my ideas were “too American” and I was too young. I remember how it felt not having a host family and being so sad that I didn’t have anyone to call my “maayo” (mother) and how I felt like I couldn’t really talk to anyone in the village because I was so afraid of my lack of Bemba and the cultural differences were just too big.

Now the teachers at my school have tears in their eyes when I tell them I’m leaving in two weeks, they consider my opinion valuable not because I’m the American but because I’ve worked alongside them for two years and I love the kids just as much as they do. I now bring a book to read during my 2 hour wait for meetings and am not bothered by the fact that meetings get
cancelled or rescheduled because it’s planting season and its all about give and take. My opinions aren’t too “American” anymore, they are just “Rae’s opinion” and while most people still don’t agree, at the end of the day there’s still tolerance and respect…. For the most part. I’m not too young anymore, I’ve told several times that I speak the truth and am wise for my age. I now
have a “little brother” who lives next door who I don’t know what I’m going to do without and so many “maayos” and “bambuyas” (grandmothers) that I’ve lost count. I have learned to communicate with the Bemba that I do know (even though I still wish I knew more) and that’s more than enough for people. And if I can’t get my point across with my Bemba, my hand gestures, dancing and shoulder shrugs usually do the trick.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons here, too many to count and all things that I hope will stick with me even in the fast paced, anti-social place that I call home. I’ve learned that silence really is ok and while you can only be alone with your thoughts for so long, it’s important that you get to know
yourself as well as others. I am strong; physically, emotionally and spiritually and I’m grateful that living in a mud hut for two years has reminded me of and accept this fact. It’s really ok to ask for help. I’m still struggling with that because I want to be wonder woman and do it all myself but
its good to know that when I REALLY need help and think I’m about to break, I have a support system wither it be from my PCZ peeps, my Americland family, my “little brother” with his broken English or from my teachers who I can genuinely call my friends. Patience with myself and others around me has made me calmer and less stressed. You really do get what you give and the life is nothing but a balancing act between the two. But I think the most valuable
lesson Zambia has taught me is gratitude.

So while I’ve completed my project goals, this has been a journey of progression, balance and development on a personal level as well. Development complete? Hardly, this is just the first step of my journey to re-define and shape myself. Some people go on week long retreats to try to find
themselves, others travel the world with just a backpack. I chose a mud hut for two years attempting to live like the people I would learn to love and I will always be grateful for this journey.

Know your Status... and the ABCs of Safe Sex

Every volunteer wants to do at least one big thing in their village. They want to do something they can immediately see the results of and know that an impact was made at least for a day. I’m no different. A few months ago- October- I applied for a grant to do a teacher workshop and do a big event for World AIDS Day on December 1, unfortunately the grant money didn’t come in
time and I wasn’t able to do that event (I took GLOW girls to meet former President George W. Bush instead). I hadn’t even heard that my grant had been approved so it was kind of upsetting. During my COS conference in January I was finally told that I got approved for the grant….but
had 3 months before the end of my service and the project had to be completed.

Since World AIDS Day was over I had to come up with a new program. There was already a Zonal Workshop component but I needed something else. I don’t know what made me think of the idea but I thought it would be fun to have a Zonal Quiz and Debate competition with all the schools in the Zone. But with getting the money in February and having other projects as well, there
wasn’t a lot of time to prepare.

The teachers were already aware that there would be a workshop but they didn’t know when and they didn’t know the topic of the workshop. Since the grant was a HIV awareness grant, the topic of the teacher workshop and the quiz and debate were all focused on HIV awareness, prevention,
stigma and Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). I wanted to focus on these issues anyway seeing as there are a lot of orphans in my area and the stigma surrounding condom use, getting tested and being positive is really high and I wanted to address these issues with the teachers as well as with the community.

The guidance teacher and the m/patron of the AIDS Action club were invited to this workshop. There were a total of 10 teachers present. During the workshop we discussed HIV transmission, risk behaviors, the ABCs of safe sex (Abstinence, Be faithful, Condoms), stigma and why stigma exist and OVCs. The teachers did so well. They were involved in the workshop the whole time. I lead the sessions so I was afraid they would get bored but they didn’t. They seemed to be really taking to the conversation. We had some really good conversations about what to do when
its obvious that abstinence only education isn’t working. I told them we have the same problem in the States. I enjoyed the workshop myself. I love leading things like that and having discussions with the teachers and getting their opinions. It was also cool to have some of them chime in and explain things totheir collogues who didn’t know the information. You could tell they learned some new things and also they got to see my style of teaching since I haven’t
been able to teach at all the schools. They all said they want more workshops, wish I would’ve know that before the end of my service but maybe the new volunteer could help in that area.

A week later we had the zonal quiz and debate competition where all the schools sent pupils to compete against each other. In addition to the quiz and debate, we also had a clinic worker talking about prevention of mother to child transmission and a mobile clinic doing HIV
testing and counseling. There were 6 kids from each school (3 for quiz, 3 for debate) and one teacher. There are 5 schools in my zone. The kids were given a “study guide” to help them but they weren’t given the questions for the quiz. They got their debate topic and the school they were debating against the night before the debate so everyone had the same amount of time to prepare. All the quiz questions were related to HIV. The categories were: HIV transmission, the
ABCs of safe sex, Acronyms (since there are so many relating to HIV), Voluntary Counseling and Testing and Living positively. The quiz was set up as a jeopardy game and they got to pick their category and point value, they did not have to answer in the form of a question.

The debate was all focused on stigma surrounding HIV. The motions were based on real conversations that happen in the village. The three motions that were debated were: People with HIV should be removed from the community, Condom Demonstrations shouldn’t be allowed in schools and People with HIV shouldn’t be allowed to have children. There were two schools that
debated in English and the rest used local language.

The day was so amazing. I was so proud of the kids and was happy everything worked out. The day before I was bitten by a dog and knew after the event I needed to go to Lusaka so I was dealing with a lot of emotions, but everything worked out as it always does. The debate was great. The kids got really into it and you couldn’t even tell they were nervous. The presented their points and made great interjections. So proud of all of them. The District Education Board Secretary was there to watch and he was also impressed. It was evidence that just because
these kids live in the village it doesn’t mean they are dumb. It was also a motivator for them; people actually DO care about them and their education.

There were so many members from the community there which was great because they also got to learn some things as well. They enjoyed watching the kids debate and were picking their sides according to the arguments. At the end of the day there were over 250 people at the event and
113 people were tested for HIV. This was big because people are so afraid to be tested. Even one of my teachers told me she was afraid and wasn’t going to go check her status; she was the 113th person to be tested that day! There was a raffle for people who got tested. The prizes came from Americaland (Thanks mom and dad and Maryville College J-term trip!!!!) and some in country donations. Everyone had a good time and I think learned something.

The money from the grant paid for food, transport, and prizes for the quiz and debate winners. I lived off of the high of that program for a few days. I was proud of myself for pulling it off in a few weeks time and not being overwhelmed with everything. It was one day but it changed me to
see how involved the community was. It was even more surprising because the event was not in my village; it was at a school 8km away during rainy season. Two strikes but it worked out just the same. They were invested in their kids and their health that day. They wanted to know their status and keep themselves safe. It was great to see everyone coming together and hopefully they’ll use and remember what they learned.

A case of the Tuesdays

Most people hate Mondays, they have to go back to work and feel sluggish and something- in their minds- always goes wrong. But I seem to always have a case of the Tuesdays. My mom pointed this out to me as I recapped what happened to me two Tuesdays ago.

I was getting ready for a BIG event that I was putting on in a neighboring village. It was Tuesday and the event was Wednesday so I had a lot to do. I woke up did some yoga (typical Peace Corps volunteer right) and started to get ready for my day. I noticed my bike had a flat and I was
determined to fix it myself. It was the back tire which is always tricky and I couldn’t even unscrew the wheel. So as usual I asked one of my teachers to fix it but that meant I had to do all my running around (carrying chickens, buying maze, prepping the school which was 8km away) on foot. I start my errands and try to arrange transport for the chickens luckily they weren’t alive or I really would’ve had a problem.

First order of business, go pick up 10 chickens and the 3 gallons of beans, which I had already bought. I walked 5km (not bad) to Tazama where I bought the chickens, as I pass the fence I see a new dog in the yard of the house where I bought the chickens. The dog runs to the gate and I greet it- no biggie I greet all dogs. But this dog was evil and decided it would be a good idea to run behind me and bite me! So the dog bites me and just like it takes a baby a while to realize that its hurt after it falls, it took me a second to realize the pain in my leg was from this dog biting me. I look down and see blood and immediately start screaming at the dog and crying. I wasn’t
crying because it hurt, which it did, I was crying because I knew I was going to have to travel to Lusaka a good 8-10 hours away. Finally the owner comes and we go inside to do business over these chickens. My leg is still bleeding but I’m just worried about getting my chickens and leaving. The boys who were getting things together kept telling me to go to the clinic, 5k in the opposite direction. My leg HURTS now and I can’t imagine walking that far anymore. So I leave the boys to gather the chickens and beans as I start walking to the clinic, luckily a car passes and
drives me there instead.

It’s still pretty early so no one is at the clinic so I try getting a hold of Lusaka. I step outside and wait for medical to call me back and out of no where a puppy jumps in my lap. It was of course none other than Nikki- one of Hendrix’s puppies. She finds me every Tuesday because I have class at the Church where she lives that happens to be next to clinic. (Needless to say class was
cancelled that day). But since I’ve just been bitten by a dog, I’m out of it and not realizing that this is a nice dog, so I freak out. In the middle of my “freaking out” one of the clinic officers came out and got me. I FINALLY realize which dog it was a calmed down and the clinic officer starts to clean my leg. He couldn’t do much more than that, medical had called me back and told me that
I needed to get to Lusaka as fast as I could but since I had a rabies shot already I could wait a day and do my event (YAY!) but the only thing the clinic could do was help me clean my leg. While I’m at the clinic, my best friend in the village Julie calls to ask me a question. She happens to ask me where I was and once I told her what happened she told me she was coming to the clinic, 5
mins later she was there holding my and telling me not to worry. All while I’m getting cleaned up, talking to Lusaka and holding Julie’s hand, Nikki is waiting outside the door whining, making sure I was ok. That made all the Zambians laughs because they couldn’t believe that this dog remembered me and was actually concerned. After I got cleaned up, I went back to finding
transport for the chickens. Since I had missed my original transport I had to hitch with a bag of 10 chickens and 3 gallons of beans. Great. But it wasn’t so bad. I dropped those off at the school and headed back to my village. On the way to the school, several people stopped to ask me if I was ok, word had gotten around that I was bitten. It’s funny. People I didn’t even know well
were telling me sorry and trying to help me. My teachers saw the bandage on my leg and got really worried until I told them that I was sure the dog was vaccinated-which it was, and I had already had a rabies shot. I was never worried about rabies just and infection. Hard to keep a wound clean in the village especially since it was rainy season and the path to my house is just
one big mud puddle.

This was when my mom told me I had a case of the Tuesdays seeing as the Tuesday before I had fallen off my bike…trying to make sure Nikki didn’t follow me to the road. Typical.

If this would have happened in the beginning of my service I’m sure I would not have found humor in the situation. But since it’s at the end and I feel like I’ve been through everything. Just the night before while I was cooking dinner a bat flew in the kitchen, and I jokingly said it would be just my luck that Id get rabies and not being able to do my event. I am used as they say. The rest of the Tuesday was great through. A teacher bought me a Pepsi, I had a phone interview with the Girl Scouts to work at a camp this summer and I had a warm bucket bath.

My event was a GREAT success on Wednesday; I went to Lusaka Thursday and was put on antibiotics and got two post exposure shots. And I ended up getting a PC ride from Lusaka
all the way to my door! I’m fine now. The infection is going away and the wound is healing slowly but surely. Just another Tuesday in the Vil.

For the love of learning

written 2/11/12

It’s almost that time of year in Zambia. The
time of year where your yard becomes one big puddle, creatures find a new home
in your roof and mangos and cucumbers fill the market. That’s right, its almost
rainy season. I have a love hate relationship with rainy season. Meetings get
cancelled, it’s hard to go anywhere and living in a mud hut gets harder if that
could ever be possible. At the same time, the village is busy farming and
providing food for their families, the market is stocked with amazing veggies
and I get to read and drink time more than just on the weekends. The rains are
especially important this year. Last year, it rained just enough for maize but
there wasn’t enough water for reserves. This year the village has a water
shortage. I have no water in my village and the boar hole (water pumps) is
broken as well. The water we get for drinking is 3-4k (2.5miles) away and even
with a bike its difficult to carry 20 liters of water that far. Water is life
for sure and being here has made me more aware of this fact. But again when it
rains it pours…no pun intended.

These last few months have been busy with lots
of work. I have ordered books for the resource center in my zone and hopefully
they will be in early next year. The grade 7s and 9s are taking their exams and
there are preparations for World AIDS Day. I haven’t received the money from
the grant I applied for so our event will just be a small one but at least we
can continue the discussion on HIV/AIDS in my area.

With the arrival of exams at my
school, I have realized how much some children love to learn. I found out that
one of my pupils (a girl who also gets water for me) spent all her evenings studying
in the school. She would go to school after dinner around 7pm to study and go home around 1am. She was in grade 9 last year but
didn’t pass, this year she is studying harder to pass all her subjects. It’s
really encouraging to see someone who wants to learn so badly. She is such a
smart, outgoing, beautiful girl. I hope she can go on to grade 10. It’s hard to
watch some of the girls because the mentality is that girls don’t need and
education. The Ministry of Education is trying very hard to fight this
traditional ideal with emphasizes on education of the girl child. Peace Corps
Zambia is

Last week, I took my neighbor’s
daughter, Ester, to preschool with me. She always greets me in English and is
a very smart and adorable 4 years old. I told her if she could manage that I
would take her to school with me. She told her father to buy her new shoes so she
could walk with me. Monday morning comes around and I see Easter walking toward
my house. She’s dressed in her Sunday best including a brand new pair of shoes,
which isn’t easy to come by in the village. She has her snack of Amasuku (a
village fruit) and she’s ready to go. After a quick breakfast we start our
journey to the preschool, a mere 5k walk away. I was worried that her little
legs would be too tired to make it and she seemed so worried I was starting to
reconsider. After our break at the tuck shop at the road to get her more snacks
she was finally getting excited. We finished our 5k walk and were greeted by 15
other preshoolers and she introduced herself to the class. She seemed really
overwhelmed but was excited to learn. She comes from a family that doesn’t
speak English at home where as most of the other students come from a more
literate background. She comes from the village whereas the other kids live at
the Oil pipeline where the preschool is located, which is more like town than
village. We continued our day by having
snack time, pretending to be jungle, farm and safari animals and
finger-painting. It was a perfect preschool day and a great first day for her. After
we walked back home she quietly ate the rest of her snack and beamed when asked
about her day at preschool. These kids go through so much to get an education
and its one of the many things we take for granted. All kids go through the “I
hate school phase” and that phase doesn’t stop with college, but it just seems
as though you never realize how important it is until you don’t have access to
it or you have to climb mountains and cross streams to get there.

UPDATE: We finally got the results
back from the grade 9 exams. 34 out of 68 pupils passed English! It’s so good
to know that all my pep talks, occasional rants and hard work actually helped.
There were 36 pupils who have passed to go to the 10th grade. This
doesn’t seem like a lot but there were only 21 in the previous year. Hopefully
this will be good motivation for the teachers and the kids to keep working
hard. I’m really proud of them but also sad to see my 2nd grade 9
class go.