Muli Shani Bonse! I just wrote this blog once and it erased! Joys and curse of writing on a Computer I guess (beware of spelling and grammar mistakes anyway)! It has been a while since I have written, a lot has happened! I’ve been in the village for about a month now (4 months in Zambia) and I am getting “adjusted”. I am cooking all my meals on the Brazier (thank God for fire starters) and I only use my cook stove for reheating purposes. Cooking is my new favorite past time for several reasons. 1) It takes up so much time 2) Its cold season so being by the fire is nice 3) Its always an adventure to see how my food will come out. So far I’ve made: sweet and sour soya stir fry, spicy veggie lo mein noodles, goulash, spaghetti, “chicken” and rice, “French toast”, Mac and cheese and or course the staples of tuna, egg and oatmeal. I get chicken during my bi-weekly visits to the Boma or when the teachers feed me. They get a kick out of the fact that I like Nshima besides the fact of trying to make me “fat”. I fetch water and do laundry every week and I’m getting into a routine. My hut is becoming a home despite my lack of furniture. I’m going to the carpenter this week to make a deal. The only furniture I have in by house is my bed, a table and jerry cans that double as water carrying containers and chairs. My kitchen (insaka) is also still in the remodeling stages. Once I get a table, a spice rack an someone to put the chain on my door I will move all my food in there and it will be a proper kitchen. At least I’m no longer living out of a suitcase; except for on laundry day (we keep our laundry in our suitcase for 3days after drying to avoid bot flies). I get my water from a boar hole/mono pump and it’s relatively clean but I filter it nonetheless (there are still parasites in the water, unfortunately from experience). I have also developed the habit o f sweeping at least twice a day. Yes it gives me something to do but it is also very sandy in this area. I love my white house with the bright blue door! Although that blue door will become purple in due time. I’ve been had countless introductions with my community where I explain “I am a Black American from the United States Peace Corps and I am here to teach and work in the community for two years. I live in the village just like you and I have no money only knowledge and skills!” Of course I’m supposed to say this in Bemba which is fine until someone screams at me. It’s tricky because the kids want me to speak in English because they want to practice their English. All the adults want me to speak in Bemba 1) because they don’t know English; 2) they want me to be fluent in Bemba, 3) the get a kick out of my accent. Either way someone is always screaming at me. I understand Bemba I just can’t speak it very well. So when a Bamayo came over to visit the other day and told me I needed to sweep my yard in Bemba, she was shocked when I responded.
Since I am in Community Entry (CE) and techniqucally not suppose to work, I’ve just been having a lot of meetings with local leaders, the Community Development Officer and the Clinic staff. I am in the classroom 4 days a week and once a week I will be doing community work. All the projects that I want to do (HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (VCT) days, Child health and nutrition edu, HIV/AIDS awareness, working with women’s groups, local group registration, literacy and food security) will be working with these people. I’m sure they will get tired of me quick. Since I’m still in this integration/CE period I have not done much traveling to schools in my zone. I am a Zonal Volunteer meaning I will eventually work at all the 7 schools (5 governments and 2 community) in my zone in the next two years...in theory. I will work at the 3 closest schools the first year. They are 7k, 9k and 1k away. I am lucky because my Zonal Center School is in my front yard almost (1k) and the ZIC (Zonal In-service Coordinator) and Zonal Head are based there so I get to tag along on all their official zonal meetings/business. A few weeks ago I went to the GRACE mtg. This is where all the schools in the zonal talk about the possible challenges and solutions facing each grade. I will be doing monitoring with the ZIC and Zonal Head for the next 3 weeks which gives me a chance to go to the schools that are the farthest away (24 and 30k). I won’t be riding my bike to those schools just yet…maybe one day.
In addition to co-teaching Ill also be working with the after school clubs. I start my clubs this week! There is only so much I can do in a classroom (laws and such) but these clubs are a way for me to do something positive. I am “starting” an Art club to identify those kids with talent and interest in the arts. There is already a cultural dance, music, and drama club but I am not sure how well they are doing. If they are active then my “art” club will turn into a “sit and write with Ba/Madame Rae “club. Or maybe even a “help me make teacher/learning aids” club. I just want the kids to have an outlet. My “baby” is the girls club, the GLOW club. GLOW stands Girls Leading Our World. It is a club based off of a Camp that Peace Corps Zambia puts on. The camp is for girls grades 6 through 8. The Camp is to empower girls, give them a safe space to discuss any issues or problems they have, to show them they don’t have to feed into the roles that society gives them and to give them a break because they work so hard and do so much. My district (Mpika) is sponsoring the club in December. Each volunteer will bring 2 girls and one teacher to the camp. This is why I’m starting the club so early so I can send the right people in an attempt to find peer educators for the club once I am gone. Clubs started last week and I announced I was starting a club last Monday. I was in Kasama for PC business last Friday but found out today that there were girls looking for me on club day. Sounds Promising! I really want to be there for these girls. They are dealing with way more then I could even imagine at 15 (and in grade 7!). If you all want to help with the Camp, there will be a way for you to donate trough the Peace Corps website, and Ill add a link to blog. We have to submit the grant so Ill keep you posted. Also if anyone has any craft ideas throw them at me, I’m in charge of crafts for the district camp…imagine that.
My bike skills are improving and I blame it all on my Peace Corps neighbor Annie. LOVE HER! It’s so nice to be near someone who gets it. She lives about 2k from one of my schools, which is nice until she leaves me in Sept! good thing she’s getting replaced. It’s good to talk to someone who’s been here for two years and isn’t completely over it yet. She’s my dose of reality. We talk about what can and can’t work and the challenges that are inevitable. I’ve already discovered that some of my goals and ideas just wont work here be it due to law, culture, apathy, language barrier, ignorance or what have you and its better to realize that now. Within the last month I’ve realized that there are something’s that I have to get use to like COLD SEASON, iwe (kids) going through my trash, and random farm animals paying a visit (in fairness I like the random farm animals.) There are something’s I will never get use to like corporal punishment, gender disparity and people staring at me and not speaking even when I greet them in English, Bemba and sometimes Spanish(just to make sure). There will be more challenges then successes but that will just make me savior/cherish the successes that much more.
Things are going well. There are ups and downs, and good days and bad days just like anything else. With every bad day (or sick day) I remember that anything worth having is worth fighting for and that with each rough day comes an indescribable beauty in some way shape or form. My intake (PCV 2010 RED and LIFE) has a saying “TIA- This is Africa”. We always say this when life here does what it wants without talking to us first (good and bad). TIA this is Africa where the stars twinkle, the sunsets are purple and you find happiness/beauty in the simple things. TIA-This is Africa where iwe go through your trash, it takes 2 hours to make pasta, and there is a COLD season…COLD season in AFRICA! Really?! Finding humor in everything is another thing my intake does….
Sorry this was so long, but I figured I should write as much as I could seeing as I’m typing on a computer and not a phone (for the 2nd time today). Also sorry for my bad English! I’ve been using Zamlish and so I’m kind of stuck in broken English mode. Thank you soooooo much for all the letters, cards, packages, email, text messages, and phone calls. It’s so nice to keep in touch with people back home and to get updates from America Land! I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!! Amapalo (blessings) elyo shalenipo (stay well).
Sorry no pictures of the house me and my flash drive are having issues :(
