Kitchen party

Quick CHRISTMAS POSTAGE ANNOUNCEMENT: if anyone is planning on sending anything to Zambia for Christmas, you should mail it by Nov 20th if you want me to get it before Christmas. This includes letters. I will be away from the post for 3weeks on my Christmas vacation! If there is anything you want me to have before I leave the village around Dec 21st, Nov 20th is your deadline for mailing everything...even cards/letters!.... Hello all! The end of the term is approaching filled with 9th grade exams and one nervous volunteer, revisions, final touches on events and transfers that cometh! More on the last one later. Last week in grade 8 and 9, we played English Jeopardy for revision. They had so much fun. 9b (the too cool for school class) wanted to play more and even do a debate! This week we had a Camp Glow meeting. Things are coming together nicely. We are $350 away from our goal! Thanks to everyone donating and if you havent its not to late ;-) Rainy season has officially hit Mpumba Village. Water equals life and the village came alive this week with the 1st rains of the season. The highlight of the week was the Kitchen Party yesterday. Ba Julie's (my go to/bff in the village) brother is getting married and I got invited to the kitchen party. This was my kitchen party so I had no idea what to expect. A kitchen party is a house warming and bridal shower in one. Everyone comes with gifts that the bride will need in the kitchen and things she will need to be a good wife. I went to Julies at 10hrs and was feed beans, nshima and katapa(casava leaves) ifisashi with a cup of moncoyo. I then sat and waited for directions which ended up being to sit and wait. While waiting: a mayo told her baby to stop crying and look at the "Muzungu" ("white person"/english speaking person/non Zambian), I was told that the kids were so happy to see me that they didnt want to bath and I met the most adorable little girl ever. She was trying to wear a chitenge scarf around her hair like mine so I tied it for her...her eyes lit up. I also practiced dancing. At kitchen parties the owner of the gift dances the gift to the bride, dances while showing the gift off and then explains the gift. I cant dance like a zambian women but I tried! The ladies at Julie's were happy I tried and they were even semi impressed. The party was at a guest house in the next village and there were over 100 women there. Girls arent allowed to go because the dancing taught and done is mainly
the dancing you do for your husband. The community sets up a commitee to arange everything for the party it was really nice. I even had chicken and a CORN MUFFIN which is rare in the village. The party started out with the bride and her 2sisters crawling in with a chitenge covering them. Every few steps they would lay to the left and right and clap 3times as a sign of respect. We all did this throughout the party. Then a women lights a match and the bride unvails herself. The groome even makes an apperance to give the bride a gift of flowers. The bride also give the groome and three high women in the village(1 being future mother in-law and 1 being the Chief's wife) a cake as a sign of love and respect. The whole time matrons are guiding the bride through the ceremony. The bride doesnt talk or smile during the party to show that she's humble. The party was so much fun! All the women had a good time singing and dancing, even the Chief's wife danced. When it was my turn to dance the Chief's wife handed me her chitenge to dance with...HUGE DEAL. All the teachers got up and danced with me to make me feel more comfortable and everyone cheered! The bamayos in the village may not be impressed with my Bemba but the sure do like my dancing! I had too much fun. I ended a great day riding home staring at the stars and listening to bamayos singing the songs Zambian women have been singing for generations. I hope I get invited to the wedding!

Natural mystic....mini update

Hey Everybody! Hope all is well with everyone. Im in the boma using a computer but don't have much time to type so I apologize in advance for the short post. Things have been going great in the village. Finally got a bookshelf and will get the rest of my furniture just in time for a visit from PCMO(medical officers)! I have started teaching grade 8 English and its really fun. Ive seen so many improvements to my 9a English class and I am so proud of them but my 9b class think they are too cool for school! They have exams in Nov and its crunch time. I really want them to do well. The
We had Honours day(awards day) at my school and it was great. I made certificates for club members, smartest dressed, best actor, best literacy and 1st position in class. The school wrote letters to the community and asked for donations and the day was a success. The teachers loved it and the parents saw value in their child's education. It was sad to see that some parents did care enough to come and accept awards(more that just certificate) with their children but it was amazing to see the teachers step up. You could tell some of these teachers really care about their pupils!
I also went on a field trip to Nachikufu Cave which is the largest Cave in Zambia and its in my district! It was amazing to see these kids go on a "field trip". I didn't even know that was allowed! The wanted to know and do everything. We had to climb up the cave to see somethings and they loved it, even the girls in their skirts and ties had a blast. My co-teacher impressed me, she even did some climbing too. We sang songs on the way to the cave and ate lunch there. There were even rock paintings and tools at the cave that were used and made by the Bush people there. We learned about the spirit of the cave and the wars fought in the area it was nice.
I then headed off to Isanga Bay at Lake Tanganyika Zambia. AMAZING! I did a 4 hr hike to Kalambo falls to see the 2nd tallest falls in Africa and I got to lay on a beach for a few days. R and R was needed. It was nice to see new parts of the country. Zambia is so beautiful is unbelievable.
ok im getting kicked off the computer now. BUT!!!! PLEASE remember to donate to CAMP GLOW throught the Peace Corps website!!!! We are half way to our goal. Also if you are still interested in having a Zambian penpal (other than me) please let me know. I am mailing the first batch of letters next week!!!! So proud of them! Love you all and talk to you soon. Thanks for all the love, support and help that you all continue to give! It means the world to me!!!!

To donate to camp glow to go: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cmf?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-062 or just go to www.peacecorps.gov click "donate to voulnteer projects" and search under the name "FRITZLER"

seeing is believing...pictures!!!

Chishimba falls with Christine

Chishimbe falls (yes I love this place)

Sunset on the Savanna...literally

Hendrix and her favorite ball

Do you see it? Its a rock painting of an elephant at Nachikufu Cave

Jess and I on the boat after our 4 hour hike to Kalombo falls

Honors day! The school's cultural dance club performing

Mpumba Basic goes on a Field Trip!!!

Grade 8 girls getting ready to explore Nachikufu Cave

All of the grade 8s outside the cave

Ceclia and I after Honors day. She is one of the leaders in the Girl's Club at my School

At Honors day. She won an award for best literacy and she's only in grade 2! She is super smart but since her parents werent there to help her get the award the teacher accepted the award with her....

Honors day!!!! My teachers dancin' it up...

Two of the leaders in the Girl's club reading a speech they wrote for Honors day...I was so proud. I got so nervous when all 4 leaders got up and read a poem we wrote together that I forgot to take pictures....oops!

Saw this little guy while walking home from school...villagers are soo afraid of them. It has something to do with juju (witchcraft).

This ball saves my life!!!

The end result of my 4 hour hike...up a mountain...in hot season....so worth it...but ill never do it again!

playing on rocks at Kalambo Falls

View from Kalambo Falls

Cooling off after our hike!

Rainbow at the top of Kalambo Falls

Isanga Bay- Lake Tanganyika Zambia

Paradise!

The kids in the village where the falls were giving us a send off!

Do you see what I see....(pictures!)

Left to right: 1) My 9th graders joining me for some craft time. 2) At the waterfalls. 3) Hendrix and I. 4) Me stirring Nshima in the biggest pot ever. 5)Jen and Julie my unofficial Bemba/Zambian culture teachers. 6)Sunrise on the Savanna...waiting for a hitch to the boma. 7)More water falls. 8)Hendrix falling asleep in my backpack. 9) My HOUSE! See told you I had a bright blue door. 10) My bathing shelter and Chimbusu (toilet)

Miss. Rae is teaching. Miss. Rae has been teaching all day

First let me say thank you to everyone taking the time to donate to the Girls Leadership Camp(camp glow) and for the interest in pen pals! You can still donate to the camp through the PeaceCorps website and let me know if you want to be a pen pal! This week was crazy busy! Wednesday I co-lead a community training. This week was about my role and expectations as a pcv and the concepts of development and sustainability.Thursday i taught 3 classes and had 2 meetings all before 11:30am! Friday was open day, think parent teacher conference! But it was a good week even found a new carpenter and tailor this week. The new carpenter was cheaper and is less busy so maybe just maybe by halloween ill be sitting in a chair and not on a jerry can. The tailor is pretty good. I ordered a skirt and a dress from her. Of course they are made from chitenge material. I love both my skirt and my dress but it looks like I need to ride my bike more and fry my soya less! So on thursday I taught all 3 classes by myself all grade 9. I co-planned 1, talked about the other and the 3rd class that was really just for fun. The 1st class was a 80min english comprehension for 9b. The subject was our favorite animals and the passage was about my favorite animal the giraffe. It went well and they did a good job with the lesson. They also wrote about their favorite animals. Their stories were fun to read. In 9a we worked on structure in English. The lesson was on present continuous and present perfect continuous(hince the title of this post). Role play/acting was involved in this lesson and they loved that! They had to create sentences using our new tenses and they got all fancy on me. They really tried, I was proud of them. I continued teaching English when I realized (after the pupils pointed it out and begged me to stop teaching English..hehe) that the period was over and it was time for Religious Education (RE). The teacher was out so I asked them if it was ok for me to teach RE and they said yes. Id never taught RE before and didnt know where to start. We spent approx. 2mins reviewing their previous lesson on sexual feelings but I switched topics because I knew where that was heading! I started by asking them their thoughts on spirituality and religion just to get their opinion. They then started discussing religious text. They told me all the ones they knew and I added 4 noble truths just to see if theyd heard of it. This lead to questions about Islam. We then created a "characteristics chart" of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. For each faith we discussed: phrophets, name of the creator and the meaning of the name, who wrote the text and the language, place of worship and name of worshippers etc. It was AMAZING! They filled in what they knew and I helped with the rest. The topics came from their questions. The whole class was based on their questions and interest. HANDS DOWN THAT WAS MY FAVORITE CLASS/LESSON SO FAR! (Also partly due to the fact that I knew the answers to their question without looking at notes or a book!) I even had 7 pupils come to me during their break to ask me MORE question about the 3 faiths and Buddhism/4 noble truths. Ah cisuma sana! Ill teach that class until the teacher comes back next month. For a Hendrix update: Hendrix is a girl! Long story but my puppy is a girl and her name will stay the same. She had her 1st visit with the "vet" and she did well except for using my hand as a chew toy! The pigs near my house gave her maggots in her paws but shes all better now. She has started staying on a chain when Im at school so she stays out of trouble and doesnt reck my house. All is well this side and Ill be traveling to Kasama next week for a workshop and to visit other pcv's sites. LOVE YOU ALL! P.S. I hate ants and the mouse in my roof! Ants are much worse here and come out of no where and the mouse is annoying and keeps getting louder! T.I.A! AMAPALO...

Help from Americaland!

Greetings from Bembaland! Its been a busy day. I had a convo with a elderly bamama (grandmother) on my way to school. She was impressed with my Bemba, so was I. I co-taught an 80min 9b English class. The lesson was on past simple/past continuous tense and comprehension. We played a game called "Think fast" where I threw a ball to a student, told them a verb and what tense I wanted them to put the verb in. They had fun with the game. Then I told them a story I made up (but prepared before hand) where they had to identify the verbs, tell me what tense (past or past continuous) the verbs were in and give my story an ending. Lets just say the story ended with Hendrix being eaten by a lion. I will teach the same lesson tomorrow to grade 9a, hopefully they wont kill off my dog. Also tomorrow, we have our 1st Girl's club meeting of the term. Im excited to talk to all my girls again! Im also preparing for a workshop/ community sensitization training im co-leading with the Community Development Officer next week. The training is on my role as a volunteer and community mobilization/development. Super busy but busy is good! So...the real reason for the update. I need help from Americaland! Ive gotten a lot of people asking me what I need or need help with. I added a wish list of sorts on here but there are 2 things I really need help with now now (Zambian for ASAP) : 1)DONATE TO CAMP GLOW! - My district is putting on a empowerment/leadership camp for girls in Dec. Its up to the volunteers to find a hosting site, speakers, materials and funds. All 7 of us have a role (Im helping with arts and crafts and ideas are welcomed) and we all are bringing 1 teacher and 2 studentr to the camp. We have already started planning but we still need to raise money. This is where you can help! But DON'T SEND THE MONEY TO ME! Go to www.peacecorps.gov -then go to "Donate to volunteer projects". You can then either search by volunteer name, in this case its "FRITZLER" or search by the project number, which is "611-062". The project title is "Girl's Leadership Camp". Any amount is helpful! I really appreciate it! Plus its a tax write off! You would be helping at least 14 girls gain self esteem and they will in turn become leaders in their schools & communities. This is why I started the girl's club at my school. 2) PEN PALS!- So my classes are learning how to write letters and they want American pen pals. My classes are grades 5-9 and are between the ages of 10-16. If your kids, family members, classes, youth groups, student teaching classes, the sports teams you coach and even if you want to write to a child in Mpumba Zone PLEASE email me (raekenya.walker@gmail.com) and let me know! We all would appreciate your help with this one. Its also achieves pc goals 2 & 3...CULTURAL EXCHANGE! They have so many questions and want to be heard. It could turn into a good outlet for them too. Im working with 7 schools so the more interest the better! Im willing to sacrifice getting my own letters if it means letters for the kids ;-) Thank you all in advance! I have amazing friends and family back home who I know will help if they can! Ill keep you posted on the Camp. Feel free to email me any questions, suggestions, quotes, positive vibes, etc. Id love to have them! THANK YOU! As a side note to all of this Hendrix got into a "fight" with a goat and lost! He is fine but he has a battle scar on his nose now. Also after spending a full day cooking with bamayos I was told I am a good cook, a good dancer and that I speak the truth! So there you go :-) ... LOVE YOU ALL and miss you much! Amapalo!

6 months in Zambia: Riding rollarcoasters and loving the little things.

Thats right its been 6 months since I embarked on this tiny little adventure! 3mos in the village. I always say a lot has happened since I last wrote but mid July until now has been a rollarcoaster! In training they told us that the few weeks before IST(in service training) there would be a few "dips" in the rollarcoaster...understatement! So the week I was suppose to cook with my womens group I caught the flu. Yup flu in Africa, it lasted about 2weeks. The teachers at my school told me that I wasnt well and forced me to go home during classes. During this same time puppy Hendrix decided to eat, yes eat, my cell phone charger as well as pages from my journal. I was not a happy camper. Luckly the boma sells chargers. I also hurt my ankle during this time. Im clumsy and tripped twice in one day. It didnt seem like a big deal until my ankle was still hurting 3weeks later. While in Lusaka for IST medical made me get an x-ray and concluded that I tore ligaments and tendons in my ankle. I now have to wear a brace/bandage for 4-8 weeks. To top it all off in the grand scheme of it all I was dreading my trip to Lusaka. 2weeks away from the village and my dog and being blinded by the bright city lights, No thanks! But as a nice send off i had my 1st encounter(hopefully my last) with the black mamba. While walking to school I spotted a "hose" in the path. As I got closer, I noticed the "hose" was really a 6ft long black mamba. I told the kids to kill it and everyone came running. It was already dead the kids just left it there to see my reaction. Nice. But the good thing about being here(guess its really how you look at it) is that just as easily as something can change your day and make it seem bad, the tiniest things can turn it all around and make you realize its all about balance. Like sunsets that remind you to say "thank you", school visits where you are told you are a blessing and feed bush rabbit(my new fav meat). When bamayos come to your house to show you their culture and to invite you to be apart of it. When candy, crystal light and dance parties with local kids are kept afloat by the light of a full moon. When you show up to the post and every letter is for you... Its about taking the bad with the good and knowing that your reaction to it all is just as important as the situation it self. During the time of "the dip" I went to a zampop concert and had a really good time with friends in Lusaka so it wasnt all bad. And despite the fact that I still dont have funiture, apparently there are no more dips in the rollarcoaster untill APRIL! There are good days and bad days just like anything else but its the little things that make it worth it!