My blog title gives the false illusion that I am riding my bicycle here, there, and everywhere. The truth is I am protesting. It's hot season right now and during the day from the hours of 10 am - 4 pm if there's no breeze that day all you can do is find a nice place to lie. I have not ridden my bicycle in the last two weeks or so; which I'm lucky for the fact that I live near a mine because there's plenty of transport that I can flag down instead of sweating up the hills, the joys of living by a river, it truly is uphill both ways... and I'm not talking small hills. Anyways, this doesn't mean that I don't do any work during the days. Actually most days I'm at the school until around noon and other days I try to continue doing work by laying in my hammock reading education materials/lesson planning/etc..
I feel like every time I make a blog entry I comment on how I've been MIA on the blog front.. but this I think is the longest I've gone without updating you all. Sorry, and at this point many of you may have lost interest after my lack of updating. I know I would get frustrated when my sister was abroad and I'd visit her page multiple times only to find out that she had not graced us with her presence. There's a multitude of excuses: things have been busy, don't have electricity/my computer at my hut so I do have to wait until I get into town, but even so the main reason is I do not have a clue where to start. So much has occurred and I already found it difficult enough to try to describe my experience now I find it next to impossible. But have to start somewhere so here are some life updates.
* Zambia has a new president! President Sata was inaugurated into office on Friday. All of last week we were on standfast in our villages (standfast=you must stay in your villages and not come to your provincial town where the PC house is or travel anywhere else). The elections were held at the school on Tuesday and then the results were announced shortly after midnight, early Friday morning. The previous party had been in power for 20 years so many Zambians wanted a change in office but feared the the elections would be rigged. There were isolated incidents of violence/car burnings in the waiting period before the results were announced because of the fear of an unfair election. From the media that I have heard or seen since the announcement of Zambia's new president they are holding Zambia as an example not only of how fair elections can occur but also how the ruling power can peacefully step down from office. I am glad that we had a fair and relatively peaceful election.
* I built an outdoor oven/grill. With all the hype and excitement around the election school did not occur at all this week so on election day Audra and I finally built an oven at my hut! Two of our Zambian friends also helped us a fair bit.. meaning we probably would have been lost without them. So now we have a fully functioning oven with a top that can be used as a grill. We broke it in on Friday night grilling black bean burgers and baking brownies. Think I'm going to like the ease of baking with an oven instead of having to use the double boiler system on the brazier to bake bread. There are plans to bake pumpkin bread (thanks mom and dad for the fall celebration birthday package :) and for our Christmas celebrations to bake cookies. There seem to be endless possibilities but this also means I need to find a charcoal supplier. I'm always running low and then out before I can locate someone that has charcoal within carrying distance.
* I have a newly thatched roof!! I had some great skylights there for a couple of weeks :) The star gazing was great, the bat squeaks interesting, but the impending rains made it a little nerve wrecking in addition to having to live my life out of containers because everything within the hut would be covered in grass and dirt. The roof looks great. So the story for why I needed a new roof; basically the wrong type of grass was used, the kind of grass that bugs love, so wood weevils ate my beams and so they had to be replaced as well. Now all that's left is to put up some black plastic on the inside against the thatch to cut down on dust/allergies and also to make up for a couple of areas where the sunlight sneaks through.. meaning rain will have a hay day raining within my hut.
* School life: I walk to Lumwana East Basic School almost everyday. I am co-teaching grade 8 geography with Mr. Yambama the science and geography teacher for grade 8 and 9. We just wrapped up teaching about weather and now are moving into teaching about Zambia. We co-teach instead of teach alone following the rationale that it's more sustainable to work with a counterpart and then the teacher you work with practices using student centered learner methods in the classroom while you teach together and then carries on teaching with a variety of methods instead of the standard write the notes on the board and lecture mode. It's been going well when school happens but I find my largest frustration to be the fact that there are so many things that stop school from occurring or from pupils teaching. But that's a separate vent session. Last week we taught about wind speed and direction. They needed to learn about a wind anemometer that measures wind speed but all we had was a black and white picture in the one book my teacher has to teach geography from, so we got creative and made pinwheels to demonstrate how the anemometer works. The following day I made I demonstration model wind vane to demonstrate how you can find out the direction of the wind from an instrument none of them have ever seen. The weather instruments are only found at the weather stations in Zambia and there is definitely not one located near our village. I was proud to see my co-teacher and I already using hands-on methods in the classroom, he made a flipchart diagram of other information for both lessons. He seems to be excited about bringing new ideas into the classroom which is refreshing especially after spending an entire term observing things at the school, getting to know everyone, and figuring out what the community needs help with the most. It's really good to finally be doing something. Integrating into the community was and is essential but refraining from teaching was slowly driving me crazy.
So you might be wondering... what else are you up to besides teaching grade 8 geography. Well, let me tell you about the other projects I have planned for this term. I am starting a literacy club where we do a read-aloud, the children will have access to the 40-ish books we have in the storage room, we'll do a follow up activity from the book, and then they can visit the station of their choice. The main goal is to promote the joy of reading and also improve the English literacy skills of pupils. We're starting the club the first week of October, reading "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It's a bit of a challenge to find quality children's literature over here...
I'm also working on the World Map Project. I'm making a map of the world on the side of the school that faces the road. It's a source of community pride if you have a nice map on the side of your school so it's best to have it visible from the road. I scrubbed the wall clean and then painted it white (half of it was blue). When I get back to site it'll all be painted blue and then my artistic skills will be put to the test. It's based off of a grid system so supposedly you don't need to be artistically inclined. Don't get me wrong I love arts and crafts time but never been particularly talented on the sketching or drawing realm, so we'll see. It'll be great to have the world map there though because of the lack of text books at the school their world knowledge especially geography of where different countries are is a bit lacking through no fault of their own.
The grade 7's and grade 9's have their national exams this term. Grade 7 and 9 are the only grades given national exams and they must pass their exam in order to continue their education. There are a group of motivated pupils that get together and study off of the previous exams. Audra and I have started to do exam review/study session help where we work together through the difficult problems or questions. It is a bit tricky because the tests don't always test what is being taught in the schools. Also they focus on very detailed specific questions such as asking in detail the function and how it works of a froth flotation instrument that uses chemicals and air pressure to separate pieces of copper from other materials. Good information to know if you're going into mining and perhaps to learn at the secondary school or even university level but I am failing to understand why a rural grade 9 pupil needs to know these details when they will likely never encounter such a machine and have never learned about it in class. I completed the grade 9 geography exams paper one and paper two and found myself struggling with the obscure questions as well as vague maps that you are supposed to identify information from. The pupils have the struggle of being educated in rural third world conditions but also of being tested on irrelevant and trickily worded exams. So we're making the best of what the situation because I can make a difference in teaching the children in my school zones but I will not be able to affect the national policy or write new exams for them. An additional struggle exists in the fact that each grade and subject has a specific national syllabus that states all information that should be taught. Which is really great! But the Education Office does not have copies of the upper grade subjects and so teacher do not have access to that information and therefore struggle with what is important to teach and what needs to be focused on.
I also started a PenPal program in our school with the grade 7 pupils. Unfortunately it seems my classrooms letters have been lost in the mail as I mailed them the end of July and they have yet to arrive in Michigan for Mr. Babich's Grade 5 students to read and reply to.. which is just disappointing. The pupils worked really hard on their letters, writing a first draft and then revising, even drawing pictures. But coming to realize you simple must roll with it so will get in contact Mr. Babich and see if his pupils can write us introduction letters...
Another point of focus is teaching at TGMs (Teacher Group Meetings). We have them 'every week' which breaks down to about 7 or 8 times a term, which is a lot better than most schools who do not meet at all or once a term. I am teaching on 5 different topics at Lumwana East Basic, started with Student Centered Learning and will cover other things like making education relevant to the child, literacy help, classroom management, and the list goes on. There are 5 government schools in my zone and I plan to visit each school and teach at least one TGM for their teachers. I have already visited the schools to introduce myself and ask the teachers what topics they would like me to present on.
* Another main project is planning Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). They held the first girls camp for Northwest Province last April and we are holding the second camp in December to accommodate schedules better. Which means the timeline is short and there are many things to do in the meantime. Which is actually why I'm at the house. We worked on some GLOW points today and tomorrow I'm headed down to Lusaka for a two day Training of Trainers where myself, two other PCVs and the Zambian Facilitators who are helping at the camp all come together and we get everything squared away for the sessions we're holding at the camp. The main focus of the camp is girl empowerment and education. Each volunteer involved will bring two girls and a Zambian woman teacher to attend the camp; upon returning they start a Girls Club with the help of the PCV.
There are many other life updates but I have grown tired of typing so I'm going to take a break, post this and add another update soon! Hope life is grand stateside and everyone is enjoying a bit of fall for me :)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Time Keeps Rolling On
"Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air" - Ralph Waldo Emerson. That was the quote on my birthday card from Heather and Matthew last year. Time is a crazy thing. It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed, yet at the same time so much has happened this past year - in my life and those around me. Today I am a year older - 24- seems to hold a lot of potential with work I have planned in my village, with relationships I have formed during my six months in Zambia, and to top it off I even get to see my family in December!! WIth all the potential and excitement of my life in Zambia there is also the realization that life is continuing for everyone stateside. Friends have gotten engaged and married, a friend has a beautiful baby girl, my sister graduated college, friends have moved across America, I realized my sister has been married going on two years this month. Everyone's experiencing milestones while I'm half way across the world. I knew this would happen, no way to freeze time but it's a little bit different knowing versus experiencing it. 6 months of changes and 21 months remaining (I'm really not counting but April and I were excited about our six month anniversary in country on August 3rd).
Back to my opening quote: Definitely up to the two ends of that quote. The African skies are indescribable and unlike any other sky. It can't be captured by film but is best enjoyed by bicycle rides especially when the sun is beginning to set after a full day. And I think many of you know my love of fresh air: be it driving with the windows down whenever possible even a little crack during the cold Michigan winters (mostly just when I'm alone... so as to not torture my passengers) or simply my love of the outdoors and backpacking. I get plenty of fresh air the only time the supply is cut off are the occasional hitch/ride either bwana with air conditioning or minibus style packed full with people and non-functioning windows. Rides or classrooms full of children on hot African afternoons. But even inside my hut where I'm currently pen and papering my blog entry still able to "drink the wild air". Unfortunately I haven't swam since my arrival in Zambia. My favorite place in Zambia so far hands down is Mutanda Falls. About eighty kilometers from my hut on the way to Solwezi. A perfect little place tucked away a little where you can enjoy the rushing water and a cold beverage. The main issue with water starts with the fact that Zambia is a landlocked country. But there are several main rivers. The other issues with swimming involve crocodiles, poisonous snakes, and in calm waters schisto (waterborne disease). But, traveling to Victoria Falls end of August and plan to get my fill of water and swimming there.
I haven't made a blog post in quite some time. Community Entry (first three months at site) has been completed. Meaning now I'm allowed at the Peace Corps House in Solwezi. Which means four days a month I should have internet access. Peace Corps is different than anything I expected. I live in rural Africa but I also live next to the largest open pit mine in Africa. I live in a mud hut but I also live right off the tarmac. I eat local food: nshima, bishu, and soya, but most often I eat food bought from the Shoprite grocery store in Solwezi; groceries that I then carry back to my site in my backpacking bag about twice a month. I get by mostly by speaking English; because of the mine many Zambians around know English well and most of my village/community is Lunda. A little bit of an oversight by Peace Corps. I thought I'd be the only white person and only Peace Corps Volunteer for kilometers. There is a geology exploration camp two kilometers from my hut with Australians, British, Irish, and Canadians. The closest PCV, Audra, a health volunteer lives 7 kilometers from my hut and I see her almost everyday because we both work at the school, share the same market, and frequently have dinner parties/sleepovers. So I am out of touch with the world. I hear news on my static shortwave radio or from the geologists when I run into them, and I have to walk to the top of the hill to have clear phone reception. But I also have internet on my phone for the first time in my life. The month of July was busy and I did not make it on my computer once to use internet, definitely was a process to clear the inbox the first time I went on in August. My life exists in extremes. I either have too much time to think about life or no time to process at all. I go from my mud hut attempting Lunda cooking over a brazier to Solwezi with a pizza place, shoprite, and the PC house full of other Americans. The disparity of my worlds is a constant adjustment. But with the passage of time more and more of everything is becoming the new 'norm'.
And it's on that note that I must depart. I will see what Lusaka has in store for me. Heading out early tomorrow morning for a two week training down in the capital. I will try to update a couple more things on my blog - had plans for this one to also include more about community entry and my schedule/plan for September the beginning of a new school term. Love you all back at home and take care.
Back to my opening quote: Definitely up to the two ends of that quote. The African skies are indescribable and unlike any other sky. It can't be captured by film but is best enjoyed by bicycle rides especially when the sun is beginning to set after a full day. And I think many of you know my love of fresh air: be it driving with the windows down whenever possible even a little crack during the cold Michigan winters (mostly just when I'm alone... so as to not torture my passengers) or simply my love of the outdoors and backpacking. I get plenty of fresh air the only time the supply is cut off are the occasional hitch/ride either bwana with air conditioning or minibus style packed full with people and non-functioning windows. Rides or classrooms full of children on hot African afternoons. But even inside my hut where I'm currently pen and papering my blog entry still able to "drink the wild air". Unfortunately I haven't swam since my arrival in Zambia. My favorite place in Zambia so far hands down is Mutanda Falls. About eighty kilometers from my hut on the way to Solwezi. A perfect little place tucked away a little where you can enjoy the rushing water and a cold beverage. The main issue with water starts with the fact that Zambia is a landlocked country. But there are several main rivers. The other issues with swimming involve crocodiles, poisonous snakes, and in calm waters schisto (waterborne disease). But, traveling to Victoria Falls end of August and plan to get my fill of water and swimming there.
I haven't made a blog post in quite some time. Community Entry (first three months at site) has been completed. Meaning now I'm allowed at the Peace Corps House in Solwezi. Which means four days a month I should have internet access. Peace Corps is different than anything I expected. I live in rural Africa but I also live next to the largest open pit mine in Africa. I live in a mud hut but I also live right off the tarmac. I eat local food: nshima, bishu, and soya, but most often I eat food bought from the Shoprite grocery store in Solwezi; groceries that I then carry back to my site in my backpacking bag about twice a month. I get by mostly by speaking English; because of the mine many Zambians around know English well and most of my village/community is Lunda. A little bit of an oversight by Peace Corps. I thought I'd be the only white person and only Peace Corps Volunteer for kilometers. There is a geology exploration camp two kilometers from my hut with Australians, British, Irish, and Canadians. The closest PCV, Audra, a health volunteer lives 7 kilometers from my hut and I see her almost everyday because we both work at the school, share the same market, and frequently have dinner parties/sleepovers. So I am out of touch with the world. I hear news on my static shortwave radio or from the geologists when I run into them, and I have to walk to the top of the hill to have clear phone reception. But I also have internet on my phone for the first time in my life. The month of July was busy and I did not make it on my computer once to use internet, definitely was a process to clear the inbox the first time I went on in August. My life exists in extremes. I either have too much time to think about life or no time to process at all. I go from my mud hut attempting Lunda cooking over a brazier to Solwezi with a pizza place, shoprite, and the PC house full of other Americans. The disparity of my worlds is a constant adjustment. But with the passage of time more and more of everything is becoming the new 'norm'.
And it's on that note that I must depart. I will see what Lusaka has in store for me. Heading out early tomorrow morning for a two week training down in the capital. I will try to update a couple more things on my blog - had plans for this one to also include more about community entry and my schedule/plan for September the beginning of a new school term. Love you all back at home and take care.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Non-verbal Communication
Typing this up in my hut so I can post it when I go to Solwezi. Laying under my bugnet typing my written out journal entry by candlelight. It seems like a collision of two different worlds using my computer right now in my mud hut in rural Zambia. Well anyways, onto the rest of my entry before my computer battery dies. (Talked about the juxtaposition of our lives last night with April. It's crazy that you can wake up in your hut living village life, interact with a variety of people from the Home for the Aged, to the Sports tournament where I am the only muzungu to then end the day sitting around a table with a bunch of other American Peace Corps volunteers in the city enjoying electricity and small joys like refrigeration and being able to order food. Such is my life for the next two years..)
26 May 2011 - Human Interaction:
It's amazing that you can be connected to another person when there is no verbal communication. The elderly woman who lives on my compound, the grandmother of the Kumwana Family, visits my hut everyday just to check in. She's one of the family members I feel closest to but we've never exchanged more than a simple greeting and thank you. She'll come over we'll greet with the traditional handshake, clap, handshake, clap; that will be followed by our no longer awkward (well at least less awkward) silence when we stare at each other for anywhere from a minute to an hour if she decides to sit and watch me. We share a laugh as we determine we're both just as lost as the day before on understanding the other. When our interaction is completed then she'll get up, I say nasakilili (the Lunda word for Thank You) and then she returns to her sitting area by her hut. She understands that I have a very limited understanding of Lunda and she seems to have no knowledge of Kaonde or English so we're at a bit of loss on the conversation front. Today she said something about my drying rack not being finished and gestured that I was running low on charcoal; or at least that what my charades skills led me to beleive. I wonder if this will continue for the next to two or if I will acquire an ability to understand her in Lunda before my Peace Corps service is completed. She makes me feel welcome and like I am a part of her family and like I am a part of her family which is amazing because we've hardly said a word to each other. Learning there are so many other ways that people communicate besides the straightforward method of speech.
Hot Waffles: I am in temporary ownership of a Zambian puppy named Hot Waffles. he's about 3-4 months old and has quite the personality. Every time I try to leave my hut he somehow knows and shows up out of nowhere from playing the the neighborhood kids or stalking a chicken. Then it's a little game of how long will a Zabmian child hold the dog before he thinks he's going to be bitten. Considering Hot waffles doesn't enjoy being held against his will and he's a teething puppy the answer is never long enough. If I'm lucky eventually an adult will step in and the the dog, I'll give up and hope he gives up when I ride my bike away, or I'll bring his leash (rope/collar I made out of pcord) and have a little boy hold onto him while I'm in my meeting or playing sports with the schoolchildren. He knows he's not supposed to follow me to because I'll turn around give him a look and point my finger - he stops dead in his tracks and as soon as I start to walk farther he continues to trot after me. But other than our little struggle with him staying home when I go to work it's nice to have someone around with me at my hut and doesn't require much more than some food, water, and stick to chew on. While I'm talking about dogs I should also mention that dogs in Zambia are treated much differently than dogs in America. Dogs in Zambia are generally left to fend for themselves for food and water and there is the general idea that if you beat the dog he becomes a better guard dog. There is also the issue of rabies which in the states there are significantly fewer stray dogs and I there is not the issue of having access to the vaccine or having money to pay for the treatment like there is in Zambia. So what I'm getting at is that Zambians are definitely scared of dogs, they are taught at a young age to stay away form them. When I first brought Hot Waffles to my house no children visited for a good week. Now my family has gotten used to him, the boys love to play with him, and the other children have caught on that if they run away from him he will chase them. And now that I've spent a significant amount of time talking about a dog... let's move onto some of the work I've been to in Lumwana.
I'm in community entry which means for the most part I'm not supposed to be starting work but moreso observing lessons in the schools, integrating into the school, my family, and the community as a whole. I've been working on getting to know the teachers at my school, getting to know the kids and have them get used to having me around, meeting different contacts in the community, trying to find potential projects, and also keeping my eye out for potential friends. Two years is a significant amount of time and I intend on doing what I can to truly intergrate.
There are 6 schools in my zone that I can potentially do work at. Five of them are government schools and one of them is a community school. The government schools are funded by the government as the name would imply and then the community school is funded as best it can be by the community where the school has been built. When I first learned about community schools I had a hard time wrapping my head around it; I still struggle. Community schools came about in the 90's for a couple of reasons there was/is overcrowding at the government schools, there are some children that cannot pay school fees (even though grade 1-7 is 'free' there are still PTA fees, uniforms and shoes are also required to attend school), and sometimes the distance to the closest government school is 5k plus (which is a substancial distance especially for younger pupils). The reason community schools were started is logical and I commend all the communities that have pulled together enough to buy/create the supplies necessary to build a school block so that their children (or the vulnerable children/orphans) can attend school. The issue that I have difficulty wrapping my head around is that even once the school block has been built the government still does not provide funding or donations of any sort to the community schools. There are numerous other hoops they must jump through before they can be considered for funding which if a community school is lucky and plays their cards right they can hope to receive funding in some capacity years after the school has been in operation. We had a session on Community Schools during pre-service training where we learned all of this background information and many of us questioned why the government didn't do more to aide the schools. They have development goals for 2030 and there is a focus on the education of its people and this does not seem to be fulfilling that goal properly. The explanation we received was the the government simple does not have the money to support these additional schools. They can be officially acknowledged by the government if they reach certain standards and if they reach a high level of operation the the government will provide them with funding. I know that Zambia is a developing country, the rural government schools are also struggling with funding and they are given funds from the government/teachers there are salaried by the government, but leaving community schools on the outside still seems cold to me. There has to be money somewhere in the national budget that could be reallocated towards at least covering the salaries of a couple of teachers for each community school. It's a harsh reality that the right to an education remains 'a good idea' that has yet become a reality to those living in rural poverty in a third world nation.
So I have started to get familiar with the different schools in my zone to assess potential projects and counterparts for my PC service. I've still need to visit two of the government schools, they are located further out down a dirt road, working with the Head Teacher (think Principle) at my closest school, Lumwana Basic, to coordinate a visit to them. Of the other schools I have been working the most at Lumwana Basic, it's about 800 meters from my hut, a quick little 5-10 minute walk when you factor in the hill. I've been mostly observing lessons of all the grades 1-9 at the school getting an idea of how the lower grades are taught and then trying to identify a potential counterpart to co-teach with next term. I've gotten a good idea of how lessons are taught at the different grades and by the different teachers, almost all teaching is based on lectures, copying notes, and repetition of facts. That's one of the focuses of my job is to introduce learner centered activities into the classroom such as stations, small groups, pair-share, etc.. I am still working to find a good counterpart for co-teaching with because I'm looking for someone that teaches upper basic (my original focus was on gr 7-9); focusing on the upper grades because they have a better understanding of English and will be able to understand me better when I teach. However there is an issue of teachers leaving for town because they are writing exams or doing coursework for their degree. Teachers often do a distance learning program while they are teaching to work towards their diploma (the teachers have their teaching certificate but diploma is a seperate affair). The hitch is that they need to go to town in order to type up their work, sit for exams, or attend class; subsitute teachers do not exist in Zambia (at least not in the rural areas I have not observed classrooms in urban areas). If the teacher leaves then it is up to the other teachers to cover that teacher's class or the pupils are left to sit without instruction for the day. Corporal punishment is also not a thing of the past. It's technically illegal according to a law that was passed I think in the last 10 years or so. There is no one that enforces this law in fact I am pretty sure the law is not even widely known amongst teachers. There is also the question as to what is considered corporal punishment. Many Zambians have the view that corporal punishment is necessary in some circumstances to get through to the pupils. As an American raised in a completely different environment this is another one of those difficult ideas to understand. Taking it from the Zambian perspective you teach how you have been taught, which also includes the way you discipline your students. In no way am I accepting corporal punishment or saying that it is okay for them to hit or pinch children's cheeks when they do not provide the right answer or are considered to be disrupting the classroom but there is a different culture here and part of the issue is that an alternative method of discipline needs to be instigated such as postiive reinforcement and finding the root of the problem for the child's lack of understanding. The issue of hitting children exists at my school, not school-wide but with a couple of the teachers. I have not figured out how to deal with this issue completely yet. I will not work co-teaching with a teacher that in anyway harms a child. For this reason I am continuing my search for a couunterpart and thinking about expanding my search to include grades five and six. I want to confront the teacher(s) and have a discussion with them about their use of corporal punishment; but it has been recommended to me that I develop a relationship/repoire with the teacher(s) first and then breech the concept of corporal punishment and potential alternatives. This is hard to do when I go to their classrooms to observe a lesson and a child is hit or pinched. Trying to bide my time, it is a gray area, but sooner rather than later something needs to be done; I just need to figure out a way to breech the topic keeping communication open and do so in a way that they will be willing to try positive reinforcement, and other non-abusive methods of discipline. There are great things going on both at the school and in the community but just as everywhere else there are also areas of improvement.
Onto positive events. I have started working at the Community School. The school is 4 km away, it's all uphill on the way there but the great thing is once you get there you know it's going to be a breeze getting home - you hardly even have to pedal :) The school is one classroom block, the school was started in 2003 primarily because of the distance to the government schools in the area and because of the cost of attending the government schools. The school teaches grades 1-6; there are currently 2 teachers there that teach mostly as volunteers. There are small school fees of 15 pin - equivalent of 3 USD per term. However there is a large orphan/vulnerable children population and many of the pupils cannot pay the fee. The fee is intended to provide the teachers with a stipend for the cost of living so that they can support themselves; I'm not really sure how they get by but I think mostly because Zambians especially in rural areas live with their extended families and take care of each other is the only way I figure that it works for them to be 'volunteer' teachers at the community school. The teachers at the school are not certified, they have attended government school through grade 12. I had a meeting at the Community School a couple of weeks ago with one of the teachers and a counterpart in the community that works closely with the community school. I learned the specifics about the school and a bit about their needs. Then last week I had a meeting with their executive board, the community members that run and oversee the overall operation of the community school. It was interesting because the entire meeting had to be translated from English into Lunda or vice versa for the board to understand me and me them. I explained my role as a PC volunteer and what I would be able to help with (education, teaching method/knowledge) and what I would not be able to help with (building teacher housing, funding the school, becoming a full time teacher at their school) and we decided that I would best used if I started to teach English class once a week to the 6th graders. I started teaching there on Monday morning. The teacher with classes in the afternoon came in the morning to translate for me and I started to work teaching the grade 6's and the grade 4's; they share a classroom and currently neither grade has a teacher because the third teacher at the community school recently left for actual employment. Together we created an alphabet teaching and learning aide that we could hang above the chalkboard in the classroom. I created an outline of each of the letters the night before on cut-up flipchart paper. We went through the different letters of the alphabet which most of them already knew, they each colored in their letter (those crayons you sent are sure getting their use mom), I gave them a pre-test of 25 sight words to see the level all the pupils were at, and then we finished the class with the children drawing a picture to go with each of the letters of the alphabet (a is for apple, b is for boy... t is for tree... w is for well) and then we hung the letters in order in the front of the classroom. It was a fun lesson and served mostly as a gauge as to where the pupils are at since I had not met them before and only had the information that they should know the alphabet but not sight words to go on. The challenge now is to keep this up. I know I need to start with a focus on phonics but do not really have much/any information on teaching phonics. I also don't think phonics is a strong suit of mine, hooked on phonics as a child, speech class in elementary school, sounds like I'd be a great person to teach young impressionable children how to speak English properly. But looking around they don't even have a teacher right now... something is better than nothing.. and I've come a long way from my childhood self.. if you have any suggestions for teaching phonics or potential materials to use that would be amazing. I have access to the web/printer every couple of weeks. Wishing now I had brought more of my teaching materials from college - and that I had sorted through them better when I was stateside so I could actually remember which books were helpful and which weren't. So that's Community School take one. Take two next week - planning on doing a vowel/consonant review/focus for the fourth graders and getting the sixth graders started on a phonics chart which they can then teach the 4th graders how to use and introduce more sight words..
This week I also had an information meeting for an Adult Literacy Class. We held the meeting in a church over by the community school, near where my counterpart that side also lives. He told me the community was interested in learning English. I told him I could help - I'm supposed to work in the community once a week and have been keeping my eyes open for potential projects - also hoping to look into women's groups through a contact with my nearest PC volunteer neighbor. We set a time and date, this past Thursday at 14 and he took care of spreading the word and there was a great turn up. It was just an introductory meeting to gauge interest, assess the literacy level of the attendees, and gain a general understanding of the idea of Adult Literacy class. We're planning to meet every week on Thursdays at 14 at the church. The literacy levels range from very beginning - being unable to write their own name, to advanced including my counterpart who translated the entire meeting into Lunda for everyone. At the end of the meeting we had 24 people signed up for the class but my counterpart told me to expect even more next week as the word spreads. We'll see how many people really stick with it. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to have separate meeting times for each group: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. My hope is to have everyone meet at the same time and to have separate groups - different activities going on at the same time. Some people learning the alphabet and how to spell their names, others site words and simple phrases, others tenses, others practicing conversations? Somewhat wondering what I've gotten myself into but know that I just need to take my time and see how everything unfolds and what ends up being the best set-up for the class. Everyone wanted to meet at least twice a week which I would love to do.. but also trying to make sure I don't spread myself too thin for when I start co-teaching at the school, get involved in clubs, continue working with the girls football team/playing some football and volleyball myself, and then try to create a literacy program at the school. Everything sounds like a great idea but the reality of the situation is sinking in. There is plenty of work to be done but need to decide to focus on particular projects and hope there is time for others later. Glad to have this problem over not being able to indentify any counterparts or projects that I can contribute to in the community. It's been a bit over a month at site and I feel like I'm getting a good handle on things but know there is still far more to experience and learn and that I'm only just now beginning to see the shape my service will take for the next two years. I'm very hopeful and excited about the different potential for so many things but am trying to hold myself back and continually remind myself that these ideas are great but I need to check myself to make sure the projects I want to work on are indeed what the community wants, that they can remain sustainable after I've gone (or been worthwhile in the meantime in the case of adult literacy haven't figured out how to make that project sustainable), and remind myself that everything I want to do is going to infinitely longer than I expect. I'm living in a rural village without electricity, I get around by foot and bike, everyone in the community is also busy with their own lives, and change takes a substancial amount of time. I hope two years will be enough to accomplish some of my primary goals. Time will tell.
Just went into print preview and realized that I just typed something shy of 6 pages.. guess this one's going to be a long entry. Especially since I'm not done yet. If you're still with me way to go :)
I live by a very large mine. Which means a couple of things: there's great transportation when I'm trying to get into town, my market at the top of the hill has far more in it's tuck shops than other areas since it's by a mine turn-off including a refrigerator where I can get cold softies and an amazing shop has started stocking cheese for myself and Audra (I know living a bwana life for a volunteer) (but can only indulge every once in a while on my PC budget), and it also means that there's a budget around for things like sports tournaments. The tournament starts tomorrow and the whole thing includes somewhere around 6-10 schools that live in the area that the mine operates. Tomorrow we're playing Nalaga School in girls football, boys football, netball (only girls really play netball), and volleyball (apparently co-ed but think we only have boys right now..) The mine is going to transport them from our school to Nalaga for the tournament. We play different school next week at our school, the following week is semi-finals, and then finals. The advantages of living by the mines. Without transport non of this tournament would be possible not to mention the organization provided by the mine is clutch for the games actually occurring. So for the last week we have had sports practice everyday of the week. Usually sports is only Monday and Friday afternoon. We've also been working on forming a girls football team. Traditionally the boys play football the girls play netball. So I was really excited when this opportunity presented itself as many of you know i love playing soccer and the opportunity to introduce the girls to it made me very excited! The first sports practice that I went to they introduced me to netball (a game that combines basketball and rugby together.. we play on a dirt pitch which is probably why basketball has not been adopted and they throw the ball to their teammates but cannot run with the ball the objective is to get to the net (basketball net without the mesh net portion) and then they shoot one handed. There are addition rules with how many steps/shuffles you can take when you have the ball that I'm still working on getting down) . After playing some netball then we started a small game of soccer on on the netball pitch. I thought they'd know the rules and be good at football since football seems to be an obsession with Zambians (turns out gender roles it's the men and boys that play football. It was a great laugh 'playing' football that first practice as the girls attempted to kick the ball missing left and right, hammering the ball out of bounds, handballs galore, but the most I had laughed in a long time (and I consider laughing a great pasttime). They have come really far from that first practice - some of the men from the community football team have been coaching them. I started off attending their practices and then turned into more of an assistant coach of sorts. The community coaches are better qualified considering their soccer abilities are superior to mine, they can instruct the girls in Lunda their native language, and they have known the girls for longer. But I'm sticking in there. I provide the ball (possibly the best thing that I brought from the US), provide addtional instruction when I can, and most importantly show them that girls can play football; I may not be as good as the Zambian men in my village but I can handle the ball well enough to set a positive example for the girls. That's the hope at least. Sports provides a positive outlet for the girls, keeps everyone at practice out of trouble they could otherwise be getting involved in if bored in the village (no t.v.'s, limited access to books, plenty of chores... ), it keeps everyone active, and what I love the most is it creates a sense of community amongst everyone on the fields. Yes there are separate teams you have the boys football team, the newly formed girls football team, the community football team, the girls netball team (pretty much the same girls as football), and the co-ed although mostly male volleyball team that included pupils and community members. I play football with the girls sometimes and almost always join in playing volleyball but I also love just sitting there watching everyone play their respective sport sitting with Hot Waffles in my lap and the little children all staring at me because I'm the village muzungu (white person). One of my favorite parts of village life so far. (Lumwana First Games of the tournament was yesterday - we won in Netball, Boys Football and tied in Girls Football and then I had to leave before volleyball was over so I could make it to town before dark. Next weekend we're hosting a different school at our school compound. Keep ya updated :)
Must wrap this up and catch some sleep. Departing early in the morning to bike to Audra's site 7 km and then walk to the church by her house to meet up with the HIV/AIDS drama group she's involved in. Traveling with them to the Old People's Home where they're performing and an event I'm not completely sure of is occurring. The members of the group are really great and recruited to perform at many of the events around the area. They put on hilarious skits involving men dressing as women to fit the roles for the skit and are generally funny; which is saying something because most of the times I've seen them they perform in Kaonde or Lunda so I have only the slightest notion what they're actually saying. The Home for the Aged is an interesting concept within itself for Zambia. It's not like in America where when people get old and need help caring for themselves they are sent by their family to a home to be taken care of. When people in the village get old their family takes care of them. But for the most part the elderly people I have met could give me a run for my money in an arm wrestle. They're still active carrying out the daily chores and cooking for family members. So the people who end up at the Home for the Aged are ones that are vulnerable, don't have a family to take care of them for one reason or another - my guess is one cause could be the prevalence of AIDS. Others are at the home because they're simply so old their families have cast them out suspecting them of witchcraft because they should not still be alive. I have heard about the home from a couple of people and am very interested to find out the history: when it began, who founded the home, who runs it/how is it funded, and to meet these imfamous 'ancient' people. (The event was supposed to start at 8 am - we were picked and brought that side after 11 - continual struggle with 'zam' time. So I had to leave early from the event because I had promised the girls that I would be at the sports tournament. But while I was there I got to meet the Bishop that has been working as the general overseer of the Home. I saw the people in the home - they danced for us at the beginning of the event. It's sad, really sad, to sit there and think that society has abandoned them. It's really great that this home exists and they now have somewhere to live don't get me wrong but the profoundly sad part is that in most cases their families beat them, refused them food, and in general tried to rid themselves of the 'witchcraft' that they represent. They have experienced so much in their lifetimes and should be valued as other elderly members of the community are... )
So I have added in some comments to my blog post used the brackets ( ) to try to help make sense of things.
Life here never ceases to amaze me.
Catch ya later.
26 May 2011 - Human Interaction:
It's amazing that you can be connected to another person when there is no verbal communication. The elderly woman who lives on my compound, the grandmother of the Kumwana Family, visits my hut everyday just to check in. She's one of the family members I feel closest to but we've never exchanged more than a simple greeting and thank you. She'll come over we'll greet with the traditional handshake, clap, handshake, clap; that will be followed by our no longer awkward (well at least less awkward) silence when we stare at each other for anywhere from a minute to an hour if she decides to sit and watch me. We share a laugh as we determine we're both just as lost as the day before on understanding the other. When our interaction is completed then she'll get up, I say nasakilili (the Lunda word for Thank You) and then she returns to her sitting area by her hut. She understands that I have a very limited understanding of Lunda and she seems to have no knowledge of Kaonde or English so we're at a bit of loss on the conversation front. Today she said something about my drying rack not being finished and gestured that I was running low on charcoal; or at least that what my charades skills led me to beleive. I wonder if this will continue for the next to two or if I will acquire an ability to understand her in Lunda before my Peace Corps service is completed. She makes me feel welcome and like I am a part of her family and like I am a part of her family which is amazing because we've hardly said a word to each other. Learning there are so many other ways that people communicate besides the straightforward method of speech.
Hot Waffles: I am in temporary ownership of a Zambian puppy named Hot Waffles. he's about 3-4 months old and has quite the personality. Every time I try to leave my hut he somehow knows and shows up out of nowhere from playing the the neighborhood kids or stalking a chicken. Then it's a little game of how long will a Zabmian child hold the dog before he thinks he's going to be bitten. Considering Hot waffles doesn't enjoy being held against his will and he's a teething puppy the answer is never long enough. If I'm lucky eventually an adult will step in and the the dog, I'll give up and hope he gives up when I ride my bike away, or I'll bring his leash (rope/collar I made out of pcord) and have a little boy hold onto him while I'm in my meeting or playing sports with the schoolchildren. He knows he's not supposed to follow me to because I'll turn around give him a look and point my finger - he stops dead in his tracks and as soon as I start to walk farther he continues to trot after me. But other than our little struggle with him staying home when I go to work it's nice to have someone around with me at my hut and doesn't require much more than some food, water, and stick to chew on. While I'm talking about dogs I should also mention that dogs in Zambia are treated much differently than dogs in America. Dogs in Zambia are generally left to fend for themselves for food and water and there is the general idea that if you beat the dog he becomes a better guard dog. There is also the issue of rabies which in the states there are significantly fewer stray dogs and I there is not the issue of having access to the vaccine or having money to pay for the treatment like there is in Zambia. So what I'm getting at is that Zambians are definitely scared of dogs, they are taught at a young age to stay away form them. When I first brought Hot Waffles to my house no children visited for a good week. Now my family has gotten used to him, the boys love to play with him, and the other children have caught on that if they run away from him he will chase them. And now that I've spent a significant amount of time talking about a dog... let's move onto some of the work I've been to in Lumwana.
I'm in community entry which means for the most part I'm not supposed to be starting work but moreso observing lessons in the schools, integrating into the school, my family, and the community as a whole. I've been working on getting to know the teachers at my school, getting to know the kids and have them get used to having me around, meeting different contacts in the community, trying to find potential projects, and also keeping my eye out for potential friends. Two years is a significant amount of time and I intend on doing what I can to truly intergrate.
There are 6 schools in my zone that I can potentially do work at. Five of them are government schools and one of them is a community school. The government schools are funded by the government as the name would imply and then the community school is funded as best it can be by the community where the school has been built. When I first learned about community schools I had a hard time wrapping my head around it; I still struggle. Community schools came about in the 90's for a couple of reasons there was/is overcrowding at the government schools, there are some children that cannot pay school fees (even though grade 1-7 is 'free' there are still PTA fees, uniforms and shoes are also required to attend school), and sometimes the distance to the closest government school is 5k plus (which is a substancial distance especially for younger pupils). The reason community schools were started is logical and I commend all the communities that have pulled together enough to buy/create the supplies necessary to build a school block so that their children (or the vulnerable children/orphans) can attend school. The issue that I have difficulty wrapping my head around is that even once the school block has been built the government still does not provide funding or donations of any sort to the community schools. There are numerous other hoops they must jump through before they can be considered for funding which if a community school is lucky and plays their cards right they can hope to receive funding in some capacity years after the school has been in operation. We had a session on Community Schools during pre-service training where we learned all of this background information and many of us questioned why the government didn't do more to aide the schools. They have development goals for 2030 and there is a focus on the education of its people and this does not seem to be fulfilling that goal properly. The explanation we received was the the government simple does not have the money to support these additional schools. They can be officially acknowledged by the government if they reach certain standards and if they reach a high level of operation the the government will provide them with funding. I know that Zambia is a developing country, the rural government schools are also struggling with funding and they are given funds from the government/teachers there are salaried by the government, but leaving community schools on the outside still seems cold to me. There has to be money somewhere in the national budget that could be reallocated towards at least covering the salaries of a couple of teachers for each community school. It's a harsh reality that the right to an education remains 'a good idea' that has yet become a reality to those living in rural poverty in a third world nation.
So I have started to get familiar with the different schools in my zone to assess potential projects and counterparts for my PC service. I've still need to visit two of the government schools, they are located further out down a dirt road, working with the Head Teacher (think Principle) at my closest school, Lumwana Basic, to coordinate a visit to them. Of the other schools I have been working the most at Lumwana Basic, it's about 800 meters from my hut, a quick little 5-10 minute walk when you factor in the hill. I've been mostly observing lessons of all the grades 1-9 at the school getting an idea of how the lower grades are taught and then trying to identify a potential counterpart to co-teach with next term. I've gotten a good idea of how lessons are taught at the different grades and by the different teachers, almost all teaching is based on lectures, copying notes, and repetition of facts. That's one of the focuses of my job is to introduce learner centered activities into the classroom such as stations, small groups, pair-share, etc.. I am still working to find a good counterpart for co-teaching with because I'm looking for someone that teaches upper basic (my original focus was on gr 7-9); focusing on the upper grades because they have a better understanding of English and will be able to understand me better when I teach. However there is an issue of teachers leaving for town because they are writing exams or doing coursework for their degree. Teachers often do a distance learning program while they are teaching to work towards their diploma (the teachers have their teaching certificate but diploma is a seperate affair). The hitch is that they need to go to town in order to type up their work, sit for exams, or attend class; subsitute teachers do not exist in Zambia (at least not in the rural areas I have not observed classrooms in urban areas). If the teacher leaves then it is up to the other teachers to cover that teacher's class or the pupils are left to sit without instruction for the day. Corporal punishment is also not a thing of the past. It's technically illegal according to a law that was passed I think in the last 10 years or so. There is no one that enforces this law in fact I am pretty sure the law is not even widely known amongst teachers. There is also the question as to what is considered corporal punishment. Many Zambians have the view that corporal punishment is necessary in some circumstances to get through to the pupils. As an American raised in a completely different environment this is another one of those difficult ideas to understand. Taking it from the Zambian perspective you teach how you have been taught, which also includes the way you discipline your students. In no way am I accepting corporal punishment or saying that it is okay for them to hit or pinch children's cheeks when they do not provide the right answer or are considered to be disrupting the classroom but there is a different culture here and part of the issue is that an alternative method of discipline needs to be instigated such as postiive reinforcement and finding the root of the problem for the child's lack of understanding. The issue of hitting children exists at my school, not school-wide but with a couple of the teachers. I have not figured out how to deal with this issue completely yet. I will not work co-teaching with a teacher that in anyway harms a child. For this reason I am continuing my search for a couunterpart and thinking about expanding my search to include grades five and six. I want to confront the teacher(s) and have a discussion with them about their use of corporal punishment; but it has been recommended to me that I develop a relationship/repoire with the teacher(s) first and then breech the concept of corporal punishment and potential alternatives. This is hard to do when I go to their classrooms to observe a lesson and a child is hit or pinched. Trying to bide my time, it is a gray area, but sooner rather than later something needs to be done; I just need to figure out a way to breech the topic keeping communication open and do so in a way that they will be willing to try positive reinforcement, and other non-abusive methods of discipline. There are great things going on both at the school and in the community but just as everywhere else there are also areas of improvement.
Onto positive events. I have started working at the Community School. The school is 4 km away, it's all uphill on the way there but the great thing is once you get there you know it's going to be a breeze getting home - you hardly even have to pedal :) The school is one classroom block, the school was started in 2003 primarily because of the distance to the government schools in the area and because of the cost of attending the government schools. The school teaches grades 1-6; there are currently 2 teachers there that teach mostly as volunteers. There are small school fees of 15 pin - equivalent of 3 USD per term. However there is a large orphan/vulnerable children population and many of the pupils cannot pay the fee. The fee is intended to provide the teachers with a stipend for the cost of living so that they can support themselves; I'm not really sure how they get by but I think mostly because Zambians especially in rural areas live with their extended families and take care of each other is the only way I figure that it works for them to be 'volunteer' teachers at the community school. The teachers at the school are not certified, they have attended government school through grade 12. I had a meeting at the Community School a couple of weeks ago with one of the teachers and a counterpart in the community that works closely with the community school. I learned the specifics about the school and a bit about their needs. Then last week I had a meeting with their executive board, the community members that run and oversee the overall operation of the community school. It was interesting because the entire meeting had to be translated from English into Lunda or vice versa for the board to understand me and me them. I explained my role as a PC volunteer and what I would be able to help with (education, teaching method/knowledge) and what I would not be able to help with (building teacher housing, funding the school, becoming a full time teacher at their school) and we decided that I would best used if I started to teach English class once a week to the 6th graders. I started teaching there on Monday morning. The teacher with classes in the afternoon came in the morning to translate for me and I started to work teaching the grade 6's and the grade 4's; they share a classroom and currently neither grade has a teacher because the third teacher at the community school recently left for actual employment. Together we created an alphabet teaching and learning aide that we could hang above the chalkboard in the classroom. I created an outline of each of the letters the night before on cut-up flipchart paper. We went through the different letters of the alphabet which most of them already knew, they each colored in their letter (those crayons you sent are sure getting their use mom), I gave them a pre-test of 25 sight words to see the level all the pupils were at, and then we finished the class with the children drawing a picture to go with each of the letters of the alphabet (a is for apple, b is for boy... t is for tree... w is for well) and then we hung the letters in order in the front of the classroom. It was a fun lesson and served mostly as a gauge as to where the pupils are at since I had not met them before and only had the information that they should know the alphabet but not sight words to go on. The challenge now is to keep this up. I know I need to start with a focus on phonics but do not really have much/any information on teaching phonics. I also don't think phonics is a strong suit of mine, hooked on phonics as a child, speech class in elementary school, sounds like I'd be a great person to teach young impressionable children how to speak English properly. But looking around they don't even have a teacher right now... something is better than nothing.. and I've come a long way from my childhood self.. if you have any suggestions for teaching phonics or potential materials to use that would be amazing. I have access to the web/printer every couple of weeks. Wishing now I had brought more of my teaching materials from college - and that I had sorted through them better when I was stateside so I could actually remember which books were helpful and which weren't. So that's Community School take one. Take two next week - planning on doing a vowel/consonant review/focus for the fourth graders and getting the sixth graders started on a phonics chart which they can then teach the 4th graders how to use and introduce more sight words..
This week I also had an information meeting for an Adult Literacy Class. We held the meeting in a church over by the community school, near where my counterpart that side also lives. He told me the community was interested in learning English. I told him I could help - I'm supposed to work in the community once a week and have been keeping my eyes open for potential projects - also hoping to look into women's groups through a contact with my nearest PC volunteer neighbor. We set a time and date, this past Thursday at 14 and he took care of spreading the word and there was a great turn up. It was just an introductory meeting to gauge interest, assess the literacy level of the attendees, and gain a general understanding of the idea of Adult Literacy class. We're planning to meet every week on Thursdays at 14 at the church. The literacy levels range from very beginning - being unable to write their own name, to advanced including my counterpart who translated the entire meeting into Lunda for everyone. At the end of the meeting we had 24 people signed up for the class but my counterpart told me to expect even more next week as the word spreads. We'll see how many people really stick with it. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to have separate meeting times for each group: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. My hope is to have everyone meet at the same time and to have separate groups - different activities going on at the same time. Some people learning the alphabet and how to spell their names, others site words and simple phrases, others tenses, others practicing conversations? Somewhat wondering what I've gotten myself into but know that I just need to take my time and see how everything unfolds and what ends up being the best set-up for the class. Everyone wanted to meet at least twice a week which I would love to do.. but also trying to make sure I don't spread myself too thin for when I start co-teaching at the school, get involved in clubs, continue working with the girls football team/playing some football and volleyball myself, and then try to create a literacy program at the school. Everything sounds like a great idea but the reality of the situation is sinking in. There is plenty of work to be done but need to decide to focus on particular projects and hope there is time for others later. Glad to have this problem over not being able to indentify any counterparts or projects that I can contribute to in the community. It's been a bit over a month at site and I feel like I'm getting a good handle on things but know there is still far more to experience and learn and that I'm only just now beginning to see the shape my service will take for the next two years. I'm very hopeful and excited about the different potential for so many things but am trying to hold myself back and continually remind myself that these ideas are great but I need to check myself to make sure the projects I want to work on are indeed what the community wants, that they can remain sustainable after I've gone (or been worthwhile in the meantime in the case of adult literacy haven't figured out how to make that project sustainable), and remind myself that everything I want to do is going to infinitely longer than I expect. I'm living in a rural village without electricity, I get around by foot and bike, everyone in the community is also busy with their own lives, and change takes a substancial amount of time. I hope two years will be enough to accomplish some of my primary goals. Time will tell.
Just went into print preview and realized that I just typed something shy of 6 pages.. guess this one's going to be a long entry. Especially since I'm not done yet. If you're still with me way to go :)
I live by a very large mine. Which means a couple of things: there's great transportation when I'm trying to get into town, my market at the top of the hill has far more in it's tuck shops than other areas since it's by a mine turn-off including a refrigerator where I can get cold softies and an amazing shop has started stocking cheese for myself and Audra (I know living a bwana life for a volunteer) (but can only indulge every once in a while on my PC budget), and it also means that there's a budget around for things like sports tournaments. The tournament starts tomorrow and the whole thing includes somewhere around 6-10 schools that live in the area that the mine operates. Tomorrow we're playing Nalaga School in girls football, boys football, netball (only girls really play netball), and volleyball (apparently co-ed but think we only have boys right now..) The mine is going to transport them from our school to Nalaga for the tournament. We play different school next week at our school, the following week is semi-finals, and then finals. The advantages of living by the mines. Without transport non of this tournament would be possible not to mention the organization provided by the mine is clutch for the games actually occurring. So for the last week we have had sports practice everyday of the week. Usually sports is only Monday and Friday afternoon. We've also been working on forming a girls football team. Traditionally the boys play football the girls play netball. So I was really excited when this opportunity presented itself as many of you know i love playing soccer and the opportunity to introduce the girls to it made me very excited! The first sports practice that I went to they introduced me to netball (a game that combines basketball and rugby together.. we play on a dirt pitch which is probably why basketball has not been adopted and they throw the ball to their teammates but cannot run with the ball the objective is to get to the net (basketball net without the mesh net portion) and then they shoot one handed. There are addition rules with how many steps/shuffles you can take when you have the ball that I'm still working on getting down) . After playing some netball then we started a small game of soccer on on the netball pitch. I thought they'd know the rules and be good at football since football seems to be an obsession with Zambians (turns out gender roles it's the men and boys that play football. It was a great laugh 'playing' football that first practice as the girls attempted to kick the ball missing left and right, hammering the ball out of bounds, handballs galore, but the most I had laughed in a long time (and I consider laughing a great pasttime). They have come really far from that first practice - some of the men from the community football team have been coaching them. I started off attending their practices and then turned into more of an assistant coach of sorts. The community coaches are better qualified considering their soccer abilities are superior to mine, they can instruct the girls in Lunda their native language, and they have known the girls for longer. But I'm sticking in there. I provide the ball (possibly the best thing that I brought from the US), provide addtional instruction when I can, and most importantly show them that girls can play football; I may not be as good as the Zambian men in my village but I can handle the ball well enough to set a positive example for the girls. That's the hope at least. Sports provides a positive outlet for the girls, keeps everyone at practice out of trouble they could otherwise be getting involved in if bored in the village (no t.v.'s, limited access to books, plenty of chores... ), it keeps everyone active, and what I love the most is it creates a sense of community amongst everyone on the fields. Yes there are separate teams you have the boys football team, the newly formed girls football team, the community football team, the girls netball team (pretty much the same girls as football), and the co-ed although mostly male volleyball team that included pupils and community members. I play football with the girls sometimes and almost always join in playing volleyball but I also love just sitting there watching everyone play their respective sport sitting with Hot Waffles in my lap and the little children all staring at me because I'm the village muzungu (white person). One of my favorite parts of village life so far. (Lumwana First Games of the tournament was yesterday - we won in Netball, Boys Football and tied in Girls Football and then I had to leave before volleyball was over so I could make it to town before dark. Next weekend we're hosting a different school at our school compound. Keep ya updated :)
Must wrap this up and catch some sleep. Departing early in the morning to bike to Audra's site 7 km and then walk to the church by her house to meet up with the HIV/AIDS drama group she's involved in. Traveling with them to the Old People's Home where they're performing and an event I'm not completely sure of is occurring. The members of the group are really great and recruited to perform at many of the events around the area. They put on hilarious skits involving men dressing as women to fit the roles for the skit and are generally funny; which is saying something because most of the times I've seen them they perform in Kaonde or Lunda so I have only the slightest notion what they're actually saying. The Home for the Aged is an interesting concept within itself for Zambia. It's not like in America where when people get old and need help caring for themselves they are sent by their family to a home to be taken care of. When people in the village get old their family takes care of them. But for the most part the elderly people I have met could give me a run for my money in an arm wrestle. They're still active carrying out the daily chores and cooking for family members. So the people who end up at the Home for the Aged are ones that are vulnerable, don't have a family to take care of them for one reason or another - my guess is one cause could be the prevalence of AIDS. Others are at the home because they're simply so old their families have cast them out suspecting them of witchcraft because they should not still be alive. I have heard about the home from a couple of people and am very interested to find out the history: when it began, who founded the home, who runs it/how is it funded, and to meet these imfamous 'ancient' people. (The event was supposed to start at 8 am - we were picked and brought that side after 11 - continual struggle with 'zam' time. So I had to leave early from the event because I had promised the girls that I would be at the sports tournament. But while I was there I got to meet the Bishop that has been working as the general overseer of the Home. I saw the people in the home - they danced for us at the beginning of the event. It's sad, really sad, to sit there and think that society has abandoned them. It's really great that this home exists and they now have somewhere to live don't get me wrong but the profoundly sad part is that in most cases their families beat them, refused them food, and in general tried to rid themselves of the 'witchcraft' that they represent. They have experienced so much in their lifetimes and should be valued as other elderly members of the community are... )
So I have added in some comments to my blog post used the brackets ( ) to try to help make sense of things.
Life here never ceases to amaze me.
Catch ya later.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Community Entry first 3 weeks at site!!
jThis is my life. Sometimes I have to repeat that to myself when it just doesn't seem possible. So right now I'm in Solwezi trying to run a couple of errands - attempted to skype with Heather for her birthday yesterday before the internet went out. It's crazy how just seeing the other person makes such a difference. Got to see her and Matthew for a minute or so before the internet when out. Happy Birthday sis :)
I've been out at my site now for three weeks. Here are some updates of things that have occurred/thought processes.
* When I first arrived after we unpacked all of my things, the cruiser pulled away, my family greeted me and then left me... it all got a lot more real. I was like that for probably a good half hour as I pretended to concentrate on unpacking. And then I turned on some familiar tunes and life was good again. Funny how that works.
* That night as I was taking my first bucket bath as a new home owner I had an attack by impashi ants. It happened slowly - at first I noticed a fair number of ants on the tree that's part of my bafa (showering area) and then there were ants dropping into my bucket of water... and that's when I realized I should probably be done showering and get the heck out. Which I promptly did and after dressing in my hut returned to the scene. They were covering now the entire bathing shelter and moving towards the hut. Not really the welcoming party I was hoping for. I went to my family's house and told Michael one of the men in the Kumwana family that I share my compound with. He came over took one look at the situation and then ran off to his house and returned with rubber strips to burn. Other men from the family came over and we had a little burning party trying to keep the ants away from the hut. We burned the rubber and then started burning dried grasses for probably a good hour before the invasion was evaded and we retired to make dinner and then I passed out.
* The next day I went to the new mine opening with Roy my cousin. Roy is a supervisor with the Lumwana mines and they just opened a new mine officially. It was a long day of waiting around for people to arrive and then many long speeches. But it was excited because it was my first whole day out at site and I was taking it all in. I got within 2 meters of the President of Zambia - Rupiah Banda- I took a fair number of pictures of the event and working to send it home so my parents can hopefully upload some of the pictures.
* There haven't been that many other big events. I've been working at the government school that is closest to my hut - Lumwana East Basic School. Getting to know the teachers, students, and observing lessons. Last Friday I went to sports practice and was taught by the girls how to play netball and afterwards I taught them how to play some football which was hilarious. Even though they grow up surrounded by boys and men that LOVE football the girls seem to have always been busy with other things - probably cooking and cleaning at their houses. But so the girls didn't understand the idea of getting their bodies in front of the ball or have any aim when they kicked the ball. But we're working on it and in a couple of weeks there is going to be a tournament that the mine is organizing where a boys football team, girls football team, girls netball team, and co-ed volleyball team from our school competes with different schools in the mining area each weekend. That's the theory at least - we'll see what comes of it. I LOVED playing with the girls though; I had forgotten how much I loved and missed playing soccer and it also felt like part of the school. Great day.
* Oh and after the first week that I was out at site I decided it would be a great idea to see if I could bike the 70 km to Mutanda Falls from my site to meet up with April. I started off later than I wanted just before 9 am and it took be a total of 6 hours, almost two of which were spent taking a break and also exploring Manyema the other town on the way about 30 km from my house. All in all typing it up it doesn't sound bad but in actuality after the first half of the ride my legs started burning and the zambian hills started getting to me. I had to stop more often and kept hoping the next turn I would find out I was closer than I was. But hours later I made it!!! I have NEVER been so happy to see the junction by the falls as much as I was when I pedaled up. I reached a tree by the school right at the junction and just laid there for a good five minutes. Zambians passing by me talking about me in English or Kaonde trying to figure out what the strange muzungu was doing laying in the dirt. Pulled myself together and made it down to the falls thankfully it was all downhill off the tarmac pulled up and met up with April and some South African miners that she had made friends with while she waited. We had an amazing brai that night and enjoyed ice cold beverages. Means so much more when you've biked that far. Needless to say on Sunday when I headed home I caught I ride with a mining vehicle instead of attempting the bike back. Need to work up to things before the next long ride.
* On Saturday this weekend I went to a traditional ceremony at my chief's palace. It was a ceremony where Cheif Mukumbi tastes munkoyo. It's a big event that everyone comes out to even though his palace is 25 km down a dirt road off the tarmac. When I arrived there around 9 am I couldn't help but be reminded of tailgating days at Michigan. The air was cool like September fall days and in the ceremony area shade had been created by taking dried grasses and making a roof and the ground was also covered in dried grasses for the sitting areas without chairs. Combination of American tailgates meet a stationary hay ride meets traditional Zambian ceremony. Quite the combination of things. The tailgating idea fit because of the smell of meat being cooked over a grill and the fact that fermented munkoyo is an alcoholic drink and people were also pounding packets (packages of cheap alcohol). All in all it made for an interesting day we waited around for the ceremony to start for 4 hours and then when it started they carried the chief in and the tasting of munkoyo was done, traditional dancing, presentation of presents, and long long speeches. The event ended finally around 17 and then we found a ride home, I made some quick food, packed for coming into Solwezi, and passed out in my bug net bubble.
I think this is most of the memorable moments from the last couple of weeks. I will try to journal more for the next blog entry. Love you all and hope everyone is doing good stateside :)
I've been out at my site now for three weeks. Here are some updates of things that have occurred/thought processes.
* When I first arrived after we unpacked all of my things, the cruiser pulled away, my family greeted me and then left me... it all got a lot more real. I was like that for probably a good half hour as I pretended to concentrate on unpacking. And then I turned on some familiar tunes and life was good again. Funny how that works.
* That night as I was taking my first bucket bath as a new home owner I had an attack by impashi ants. It happened slowly - at first I noticed a fair number of ants on the tree that's part of my bafa (showering area) and then there were ants dropping into my bucket of water... and that's when I realized I should probably be done showering and get the heck out. Which I promptly did and after dressing in my hut returned to the scene. They were covering now the entire bathing shelter and moving towards the hut. Not really the welcoming party I was hoping for. I went to my family's house and told Michael one of the men in the Kumwana family that I share my compound with. He came over took one look at the situation and then ran off to his house and returned with rubber strips to burn. Other men from the family came over and we had a little burning party trying to keep the ants away from the hut. We burned the rubber and then started burning dried grasses for probably a good hour before the invasion was evaded and we retired to make dinner and then I passed out.
* The next day I went to the new mine opening with Roy my cousin. Roy is a supervisor with the Lumwana mines and they just opened a new mine officially. It was a long day of waiting around for people to arrive and then many long speeches. But it was excited because it was my first whole day out at site and I was taking it all in. I got within 2 meters of the President of Zambia - Rupiah Banda- I took a fair number of pictures of the event and working to send it home so my parents can hopefully upload some of the pictures.
* There haven't been that many other big events. I've been working at the government school that is closest to my hut - Lumwana East Basic School. Getting to know the teachers, students, and observing lessons. Last Friday I went to sports practice and was taught by the girls how to play netball and afterwards I taught them how to play some football which was hilarious. Even though they grow up surrounded by boys and men that LOVE football the girls seem to have always been busy with other things - probably cooking and cleaning at their houses. But so the girls didn't understand the idea of getting their bodies in front of the ball or have any aim when they kicked the ball. But we're working on it and in a couple of weeks there is going to be a tournament that the mine is organizing where a boys football team, girls football team, girls netball team, and co-ed volleyball team from our school competes with different schools in the mining area each weekend. That's the theory at least - we'll see what comes of it. I LOVED playing with the girls though; I had forgotten how much I loved and missed playing soccer and it also felt like part of the school. Great day.
* Oh and after the first week that I was out at site I decided it would be a great idea to see if I could bike the 70 km to Mutanda Falls from my site to meet up with April. I started off later than I wanted just before 9 am and it took be a total of 6 hours, almost two of which were spent taking a break and also exploring Manyema the other town on the way about 30 km from my house. All in all typing it up it doesn't sound bad but in actuality after the first half of the ride my legs started burning and the zambian hills started getting to me. I had to stop more often and kept hoping the next turn I would find out I was closer than I was. But hours later I made it!!! I have NEVER been so happy to see the junction by the falls as much as I was when I pedaled up. I reached a tree by the school right at the junction and just laid there for a good five minutes. Zambians passing by me talking about me in English or Kaonde trying to figure out what the strange muzungu was doing laying in the dirt. Pulled myself together and made it down to the falls thankfully it was all downhill off the tarmac pulled up and met up with April and some South African miners that she had made friends with while she waited. We had an amazing brai that night and enjoyed ice cold beverages. Means so much more when you've biked that far. Needless to say on Sunday when I headed home I caught I ride with a mining vehicle instead of attempting the bike back. Need to work up to things before the next long ride.
* On Saturday this weekend I went to a traditional ceremony at my chief's palace. It was a ceremony where Cheif Mukumbi tastes munkoyo. It's a big event that everyone comes out to even though his palace is 25 km down a dirt road off the tarmac. When I arrived there around 9 am I couldn't help but be reminded of tailgating days at Michigan. The air was cool like September fall days and in the ceremony area shade had been created by taking dried grasses and making a roof and the ground was also covered in dried grasses for the sitting areas without chairs. Combination of American tailgates meet a stationary hay ride meets traditional Zambian ceremony. Quite the combination of things. The tailgating idea fit because of the smell of meat being cooked over a grill and the fact that fermented munkoyo is an alcoholic drink and people were also pounding packets (packages of cheap alcohol). All in all it made for an interesting day we waited around for the ceremony to start for 4 hours and then when it started they carried the chief in and the tasting of munkoyo was done, traditional dancing, presentation of presents, and long long speeches. The event ended finally around 17 and then we found a ride home, I made some quick food, packed for coming into Solwezi, and passed out in my bug net bubble.
I think this is most of the memorable moments from the last couple of weeks. I will try to journal more for the next blog entry. Love you all and hope everyone is doing good stateside :)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Ready or not....
I'M OFFICIALLY A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!!!!!!!!! I am up in Northwest Province after a 12 hour drive up from Lusaka. It's good to finally be in my provence for good. I've been at the Peace Corps Provincial House for Easter weekend hanging out and getting to know some of the other volunteers in Northwest. I will be posted on Thursday to my site in Lumwana East Village.
When I'm posted on Thursday I'll begin three months of community entry; which means that I will remain in my district and get to work on intergrating into my community, getting a lay of the land, and learning where I can be most effective working for the next two years. Community entry also means that I can't visit the PC house so I won't have computer access for the next 6-8 weeks until the provencial house meeting sometime in June. After that I'll be back at the house around the end of July or beginning of August. Planning for sure to be back at the house for my birthday (August 6th) because the RED 2011 intake has in-service training back in Lusaka that we have to travel down to on the 7th of August. I'll be down there for two weeks and then not really sure past that point...
So now onto some recent happenings (in no particular order)
* Acquired my alien registration card today. They had to take a picture for the card and of course I wanted to smile but was informed that it was not allowed. But the hardest thing to do is to remain straight faced when all you can think about is laughing and your friends are laughing at your sad attempts. So the Zambian immigration man took the picture right in the middle of my struggle with laughter - great picture. Made immigration a more enjoyable experience though :)
* Alright so I tried to post pictures but the internet speed isn't having it. I will try again tonight sometimes it works better at night but if there isn't a picture update my apologizes (mom and dad might talk to you about sending pictures home to you on a jumpdrive? and then you posting pictures along the way? we'll see) Til then hopefully you can see some of the pictures that everyone else from my intake have been adding.
* SWEAR-IN: Was last Thursday at the Ambassador's house. The house/grounds are quite the contrast to the life that I will be living for the next two years; but it was great to be able to sip good coffee and eat chocolate chip cookies while chatting with the other volunteers in the RED intake. Most of the volunteers got chitenge (kitenge in Kaondo) outfits made. I know I already commented on it but wore the dress my host home stay brother made for me. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of it sometime soon. The ceremony was about two hours long complete with the new volunteers singing a couple of Zambian songs, taking the official oath, and then taking pictures on the beautiful grounds and saying goodbye to the PC staff that we would be leaving behind in Lusaka as we all departed for our provinces.
It is quite strange to be leaving one phase of my life in Zambia behind and starting a new phase all within Peace Corps but with mostly everything else changing. No longer will I be sitting in the classroom all day: Ba Fanny teaching April and I Kaonde under the banana tree in Ba Fanny's yard, tech sessions every afternoon learning about the Zambian classroom, culture, and how to live the rural Zambian lifestyle from my host family. Now all of that has been left behind and in two days I will find myself standing in front of my hut wondering where to go from there.
I have several community entry (first 3 months at site) projects to keep me going. This includes cementing the floor of my kinzana (outdoor sitting area), putting up mealie meal bags on the inside of my thatch roof (have a large termite problem and would prefer one more layer between them and me as well as an additional noise barrier from the termites, I'm also working on my quilting/sewing skills and have started what will surely be a long process of hand sewing a chitenge quilt/duvay cover that I will then use on my bed (see how many months that one takes - cross my fingers it's done in time to actually use in Zambia before I return home in two years), also working on learning Lunda so I can communicate with some of the women in my family and the younger children, have about 30 books to keep me busy once I set up my hammock, and have a couple of cooking and other various projects. My list of projects is in addition to the goals/objectives that we're supposed to accomplish through our program during community entry but the personal projects are to give me direction when I need it the most.
I'm really excited to get to know my family in Lumwana East. There is my new Bamaama and her three sons and their families that live on the compound; in addition to a cousin and his family. All in all it seems like there should always be someone around to sit with and children about to play a game of soccer or one of the many other Zambian games that children here play with minimal resources. I need to make a family tree to get down everyone's names especially because I find most Zambian names hard to understand especially without seeing it written down. Going to have some interesting cultural and language exchanges with my family I'm sure. I'm also looking forward to getting to know the area better. I think my game plan will be to bike around on the tarmac (paved road) and also the bush paths to see what path goes where and meet more of my neighbors.
Finally getting to my village is what I have been waiting for since I first stepped off the airplane 3 months ago and I'm really excited to start this new leg of my PC experience but at the same time a bit nervous to be completely off on my own (don't worry Heather or Mom not safety nervous but moreso being on my own nervous). April and I were chatting today and realized that when we're posted in the next couple of days it will be the first time we have ever lived by ourselves. Go figures that we would pick a rural African village to start that one. Suppose it's all part of the go big or go home mentality. First time ever traveling abroad and I depart for the next two years of my life. Learn a new language for first time (really learn - enough to actually communicate something of meaning - so high school french is out) I would learn an African tribal language only spoken by 1.6% of the population of Zambia... and then continue on to need to learn a least the elementals of an additional African tribal language.
On that note ready or not site here I come.
On a completely separate note. Was able to skype with my family and one of my friends back at home while I've been at the Peace Corps house. Absolutely wonderful to be see their faces again and be able to communicate more clearly than just over the telephone. My family has taken to saying "over" "roger" or "10-4" when we're done with a sentence so that we do not cut off each other with the slight time delay. Laura decided to make up one of her own "9-10" (love you Laura). Also quite enjoying making faces and what not (eyebrow raises, etc...) while chattering on skype. So thanks for those that skyped with me and to others hopefully the next time I'm in the house (not for a bit) we'll be able to make it a date :)
So hopefully some of this blog post is coherent and hope everyone back at home is doing well and enjoying the beginning of spring :)
Over and out,
~Andrea
When I'm posted on Thursday I'll begin three months of community entry; which means that I will remain in my district and get to work on intergrating into my community, getting a lay of the land, and learning where I can be most effective working for the next two years. Community entry also means that I can't visit the PC house so I won't have computer access for the next 6-8 weeks until the provencial house meeting sometime in June. After that I'll be back at the house around the end of July or beginning of August. Planning for sure to be back at the house for my birthday (August 6th) because the RED 2011 intake has in-service training back in Lusaka that we have to travel down to on the 7th of August. I'll be down there for two weeks and then not really sure past that point...
So now onto some recent happenings (in no particular order)
* Acquired my alien registration card today. They had to take a picture for the card and of course I wanted to smile but was informed that it was not allowed. But the hardest thing to do is to remain straight faced when all you can think about is laughing and your friends are laughing at your sad attempts. So the Zambian immigration man took the picture right in the middle of my struggle with laughter - great picture. Made immigration a more enjoyable experience though :)
* Alright so I tried to post pictures but the internet speed isn't having it. I will try again tonight sometimes it works better at night but if there isn't a picture update my apologizes (mom and dad might talk to you about sending pictures home to you on a jumpdrive? and then you posting pictures along the way? we'll see) Til then hopefully you can see some of the pictures that everyone else from my intake have been adding.
* SWEAR-IN: Was last Thursday at the Ambassador's house. The house/grounds are quite the contrast to the life that I will be living for the next two years; but it was great to be able to sip good coffee and eat chocolate chip cookies while chatting with the other volunteers in the RED intake. Most of the volunteers got chitenge (kitenge in Kaondo) outfits made. I know I already commented on it but wore the dress my host home stay brother made for me. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of it sometime soon. The ceremony was about two hours long complete with the new volunteers singing a couple of Zambian songs, taking the official oath, and then taking pictures on the beautiful grounds and saying goodbye to the PC staff that we would be leaving behind in Lusaka as we all departed for our provinces.
It is quite strange to be leaving one phase of my life in Zambia behind and starting a new phase all within Peace Corps but with mostly everything else changing. No longer will I be sitting in the classroom all day: Ba Fanny teaching April and I Kaonde under the banana tree in Ba Fanny's yard, tech sessions every afternoon learning about the Zambian classroom, culture, and how to live the rural Zambian lifestyle from my host family. Now all of that has been left behind and in two days I will find myself standing in front of my hut wondering where to go from there.
I have several community entry (first 3 months at site) projects to keep me going. This includes cementing the floor of my kinzana (outdoor sitting area), putting up mealie meal bags on the inside of my thatch roof (have a large termite problem and would prefer one more layer between them and me as well as an additional noise barrier from the termites, I'm also working on my quilting/sewing skills and have started what will surely be a long process of hand sewing a chitenge quilt/duvay cover that I will then use on my bed (see how many months that one takes - cross my fingers it's done in time to actually use in Zambia before I return home in two years), also working on learning Lunda so I can communicate with some of the women in my family and the younger children, have about 30 books to keep me busy once I set up my hammock, and have a couple of cooking and other various projects. My list of projects is in addition to the goals/objectives that we're supposed to accomplish through our program during community entry but the personal projects are to give me direction when I need it the most.
I'm really excited to get to know my family in Lumwana East. There is my new Bamaama and her three sons and their families that live on the compound; in addition to a cousin and his family. All in all it seems like there should always be someone around to sit with and children about to play a game of soccer or one of the many other Zambian games that children here play with minimal resources. I need to make a family tree to get down everyone's names especially because I find most Zambian names hard to understand especially without seeing it written down. Going to have some interesting cultural and language exchanges with my family I'm sure. I'm also looking forward to getting to know the area better. I think my game plan will be to bike around on the tarmac (paved road) and also the bush paths to see what path goes where and meet more of my neighbors.
Finally getting to my village is what I have been waiting for since I first stepped off the airplane 3 months ago and I'm really excited to start this new leg of my PC experience but at the same time a bit nervous to be completely off on my own (don't worry Heather or Mom not safety nervous but moreso being on my own nervous). April and I were chatting today and realized that when we're posted in the next couple of days it will be the first time we have ever lived by ourselves. Go figures that we would pick a rural African village to start that one. Suppose it's all part of the go big or go home mentality. First time ever traveling abroad and I depart for the next two years of my life. Learn a new language for first time (really learn - enough to actually communicate something of meaning - so high school french is out) I would learn an African tribal language only spoken by 1.6% of the population of Zambia... and then continue on to need to learn a least the elementals of an additional African tribal language.
On that note ready or not site here I come.
On a completely separate note. Was able to skype with my family and one of my friends back at home while I've been at the Peace Corps house. Absolutely wonderful to be see their faces again and be able to communicate more clearly than just over the telephone. My family has taken to saying "over" "roger" or "10-4" when we're done with a sentence so that we do not cut off each other with the slight time delay. Laura decided to make up one of her own "9-10" (love you Laura). Also quite enjoying making faces and what not (eyebrow raises, etc...) while chattering on skype. So thanks for those that skyped with me and to others hopefully the next time I'm in the house (not for a bit) we'll be able to make it a date :)
So hopefully some of this blog post is coherent and hope everyone back at home is doing well and enjoying the beginning of spring :)
Over and out,
~Andrea
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Smorgesborg
Alright. So I've been slacking in my blog posts. Partially because I have not had energy/time at the end of the day and partially because whenever I go to town (where internet exists to blog) I am quite distracted by all the sensory intake my mind is in a different place and not in a reflective blogging mood. Ndekelaiko (sorry in Kaonde). This post is a smorgesborg (Charlotte's web reference and likely misspelled) of past things I've left out and may not be in chronilogical order with other other blog posts.
Lessons/Learning random notes (self reminders):
* Roosters crow at all hours. Mine lives in the mango tree right outside of my hut and likes to start off all the other roosters starting at 4 am. I have been learning to ignore it and sleep until 5/5:30 am now :)
* It's the small things that mean the most most
* Wall spiders will do no harm and are actually helpful at keeping the bug level down in your hut.
* Cochroaches can escape container entrapment, can crawl under your bug net and end up on you (not a pleasant surprise), and even if you hit them with your broom they're resilent so you'll have to hit them a minimum of three times and then sweep them outside just to be sure.
* Life here is less stressful in many ways: people here especially in the rural areas seem to spend less time wishing they had a different life/different possessions and spend more time with family and friends.
* Money has little meaning in this lifestyle - your basic means are met and therefore money can buy you the extra chitange or a bar of chocolate but at least so far there does not seem to be the same level of stress regarding money and payments for me as there was in the U.S.
* Want to live a greener life? PC Zambia is the way to go. Life in the village has got to have a tiny carbon footprint. Ride your bike everywhere and live with no electricity...
Things I Love Zambian Style:
* Working with passionate loving people (volunteers and staff)
* When Combe (four year old at my site) dances around with me and his smile :)
* The shy smiles of the little girls Bessy, Matilda, and Kiumbo
* Sitting contently with my host Bamaama in the eating hut just enjoying the food on our plates
* Constant fresh air intake
* Drinking tea in the morning and the PB/J bread for breakfast. Great way to start the day
* The sunrises/sunsets, and the starry nights
* Guavas
* No longer waiting to live life. Everyday is lived.
* The possibilities
* Doing just one thing
* Everyone greets everyone
22 March 2011
I am officially a new homeowner of a lovely mud hut in Lumwana East village in Northwest Provence in Zambia. Brings a new meaning to life finally meeting my village and where I will spend the next two years. Many things have been happening...
1. Zambians think I am strange because I drink my tea plain without sugar or dried milk
2. Zambians are used to the 3 meals a day deal... American grazing is a strange concept. 3. Fried chicken - hadn't had since my childhood - really good. High on the health factor too right Laura :)
4. Met my nearest Peace Corps neighbor - Audra - she's awesome. I live in the middle of Solwezi and Munilunga and there are about 5 Peace Corps volunteers about half way in the middle. Basically in the middle of no where so that section we call Zam-vegas. Met the rest of the Zam-vegas crew the Friday night of my second site visit. Excited to move in.
5. Learning a village worth of Zambian names is next to impossible especially when you're a visual learning. Short of carrying my notebook everyhwere and having everyone spell their name out I'm plum out of luck.
6. Even though I'm in a mining area and Audra (the other PC volunteer) has been doing HIV/AIDS work in the area I still make small children cry when they see me. I frighten the really young ones that have never seen a muzungu (white person) before - pretty sure they think that I'm a ghost or alien.
7. I can really get used to candlight evenings
8. Phone charger connection to the solar charger totally works - thanks so much Matthew and Dad :)
9. I hope termites stick to munching on wood and leave my tent alone. I also hope they don't eat all the way through my roof...
10. Zambians are very giving people. The Kumwana family (my new NW family) gave me 2 chairs, a stool, and a bed mattress all to use during my site visit.
11. Living by a river means both are up a large hill. Great times.
12. NW rainy season doesn't mess around. Weather fact: it rains more in Northern Zambia - starts earlier in the season and the rains stay longer.
13. Three school children and two family children sat for over an hour watching me sew one side of my chitange. We just sat and watched each other occasionally laughing. But they speak only Lunda and I speak only English and Kaonde. Going to work on the Lunda when I go out to site.
14. My sewing skills leave a lot of room for improvement. One of my community entry projects is going to be to sew my own chitenge quilt by hand.
15. Eat raw onion with breakfast - say hello to onion breath for the day
As many of you know I have not traveled much internationally. Countries I've been to include the United States, Canada, and now Zambia. First time in such a different culture. Realizing differences or explaining how it's done/or thought of in the United States has been interesting. Such as...
.. Soccer positions are described by numbers. Keeper =1, sweeper=2, etc.. and at least with my talk with the deputy head they have a different set-up of field positions then at least what I experienced during my years playing soccer state-side
.. Americans are really a blend of many different cultures. We do not have a staple food that is consumed daily. Think the closest we have would either be something along the lines of fast food or our love of pizza. Not exactly traditional. The teacher I spent the day with had never had pizza before.. or even heard of it.
.. Describing my family, showing pictures of them, I've always appreciated them - but very grateful for the close relationships I have with them. Need to work on my long distance relations, what are the worthwhile things to mention, balance between immediate short contact through my internet phone versus extended delay of contact with letter writing.
7 April 2011
Times are a-changing. I was washing my hands and face yesterday morning using my water filter (has a tab to turn it on and off and then I have a bucket to catch the water), when the contrast struck me. There are numerous things in Zambia that are becoming second nature and I do not even think twice about the difference with American life anymore. To highlight water sources for now..
1. Water Source: My family has a well on our compound so about once a week I draw water from the well (mushima in Kaonde). This consists of tkaing the plastic jerry can (bucket) and dropping it into the well, waiting for it to be filled with water, you'll know because the whole container will be submerged adn then you pull the bucket out hand over hand with the rope. Luckily for me, during training my Bamaama draws the water for my bucket bath and heats it over the fire so I can have a warm 'shower'. A bucket bath is exactly what is sounds like. You have a large bucket filled with water that you carry to your bafa (bathing shelter). The bafa is a structure built outside constisting of 4 walls made out of dried tall grass (same material used for the thatch roof of mud huts) with medium/small downed trees/branches used as the supports. Think high fence with dried grass tied closely together to create a private bathing area. All the cooking is also done by my Bamaama so she has to visit the well to get water then as well. I'm telling you she's a very strong woman. When I move to site in 11 days :) I will be drawing water from my family's well about 200 meters from my home. However I've been advisted to get my drinking water from the borehole at my school about a kilometer away and up a hill. So usage of water will become even more efficent and hopefully my arm muscles will pull through. Zambian women are exceptionally strong/talented and will often carry large buckets full of water on their heads. PCV's have continually been advisted to to follow suit because our necks are not as strong. I briefly mentioned a water filter but to touch on it a bit more - all volunteers/foreigners are advisted to filter their water. We are not accustomed to their water and even Zambians can get sick from their water sources. I'm not sure the specific bacteria or protozoans.. or whatnot that are present (yes, my trip leader/outdoor side is coming out). There must not usually be an issue of viruses because we do not need to boil our water in most cases. We use a ceramic filter that PC gave us (stationary that holds 5 L) and are also given iodine tablets for when we're on the go/emergencies. This explanation ended up being much longer than I anticipated but hopefully it gives you a better idea of my life in the village.
Lessons/Learning random notes (self reminders):
* Roosters crow at all hours. Mine lives in the mango tree right outside of my hut and likes to start off all the other roosters starting at 4 am. I have been learning to ignore it and sleep until 5/5:30 am now :)
* It's the small things that mean the most most
* Wall spiders will do no harm and are actually helpful at keeping the bug level down in your hut.
* Cochroaches can escape container entrapment, can crawl under your bug net and end up on you (not a pleasant surprise), and even if you hit them with your broom they're resilent so you'll have to hit them a minimum of three times and then sweep them outside just to be sure.
* Life here is less stressful in many ways: people here especially in the rural areas seem to spend less time wishing they had a different life/different possessions and spend more time with family and friends.
* Money has little meaning in this lifestyle - your basic means are met and therefore money can buy you the extra chitange or a bar of chocolate but at least so far there does not seem to be the same level of stress regarding money and payments for me as there was in the U.S.
* Want to live a greener life? PC Zambia is the way to go. Life in the village has got to have a tiny carbon footprint. Ride your bike everywhere and live with no electricity...
Things I Love Zambian Style:
* Working with passionate loving people (volunteers and staff)
* When Combe (four year old at my site) dances around with me and his smile :)
* The shy smiles of the little girls Bessy, Matilda, and Kiumbo
* Sitting contently with my host Bamaama in the eating hut just enjoying the food on our plates
* Constant fresh air intake
* Drinking tea in the morning and the PB/J bread for breakfast. Great way to start the day
* The sunrises/sunsets, and the starry nights
* Guavas
* No longer waiting to live life. Everyday is lived.
* The possibilities
* Doing just one thing
* Everyone greets everyone
22 March 2011
I am officially a new homeowner of a lovely mud hut in Lumwana East village in Northwest Provence in Zambia. Brings a new meaning to life finally meeting my village and where I will spend the next two years. Many things have been happening...
1. Zambians think I am strange because I drink my tea plain without sugar or dried milk
2. Zambians are used to the 3 meals a day deal... American grazing is a strange concept. 3. Fried chicken - hadn't had since my childhood - really good. High on the health factor too right Laura :)
4. Met my nearest Peace Corps neighbor - Audra - she's awesome. I live in the middle of Solwezi and Munilunga and there are about 5 Peace Corps volunteers about half way in the middle. Basically in the middle of no where so that section we call Zam-vegas. Met the rest of the Zam-vegas crew the Friday night of my second site visit. Excited to move in.
5. Learning a village worth of Zambian names is next to impossible especially when you're a visual learning. Short of carrying my notebook everyhwere and having everyone spell their name out I'm plum out of luck.
6. Even though I'm in a mining area and Audra (the other PC volunteer) has been doing HIV/AIDS work in the area I still make small children cry when they see me. I frighten the really young ones that have never seen a muzungu (white person) before - pretty sure they think that I'm a ghost or alien.
7. I can really get used to candlight evenings
8. Phone charger connection to the solar charger totally works - thanks so much Matthew and Dad :)
9. I hope termites stick to munching on wood and leave my tent alone. I also hope they don't eat all the way through my roof...
10. Zambians are very giving people. The Kumwana family (my new NW family) gave me 2 chairs, a stool, and a bed mattress all to use during my site visit.
11. Living by a river means both are up a large hill. Great times.
12. NW rainy season doesn't mess around. Weather fact: it rains more in Northern Zambia - starts earlier in the season and the rains stay longer.
13. Three school children and two family children sat for over an hour watching me sew one side of my chitange. We just sat and watched each other occasionally laughing. But they speak only Lunda and I speak only English and Kaonde. Going to work on the Lunda when I go out to site.
14. My sewing skills leave a lot of room for improvement. One of my community entry projects is going to be to sew my own chitenge quilt by hand.
15. Eat raw onion with breakfast - say hello to onion breath for the day
As many of you know I have not traveled much internationally. Countries I've been to include the United States, Canada, and now Zambia. First time in such a different culture. Realizing differences or explaining how it's done/or thought of in the United States has been interesting. Such as...
.. Soccer positions are described by numbers. Keeper =1, sweeper=2, etc.. and at least with my talk with the deputy head they have a different set-up of field positions then at least what I experienced during my years playing soccer state-side
.. Americans are really a blend of many different cultures. We do not have a staple food that is consumed daily. Think the closest we have would either be something along the lines of fast food or our love of pizza. Not exactly traditional. The teacher I spent the day with had never had pizza before.. or even heard of it.
.. Describing my family, showing pictures of them, I've always appreciated them - but very grateful for the close relationships I have with them. Need to work on my long distance relations, what are the worthwhile things to mention, balance between immediate short contact through my internet phone versus extended delay of contact with letter writing.
7 April 2011
Times are a-changing. I was washing my hands and face yesterday morning using my water filter (has a tab to turn it on and off and then I have a bucket to catch the water), when the contrast struck me. There are numerous things in Zambia that are becoming second nature and I do not even think twice about the difference with American life anymore. To highlight water sources for now..
1. Water Source: My family has a well on our compound so about once a week I draw water from the well (mushima in Kaonde). This consists of tkaing the plastic jerry can (bucket) and dropping it into the well, waiting for it to be filled with water, you'll know because the whole container will be submerged adn then you pull the bucket out hand over hand with the rope. Luckily for me, during training my Bamaama draws the water for my bucket bath and heats it over the fire so I can have a warm 'shower'. A bucket bath is exactly what is sounds like. You have a large bucket filled with water that you carry to your bafa (bathing shelter). The bafa is a structure built outside constisting of 4 walls made out of dried tall grass (same material used for the thatch roof of mud huts) with medium/small downed trees/branches used as the supports. Think high fence with dried grass tied closely together to create a private bathing area. All the cooking is also done by my Bamaama so she has to visit the well to get water then as well. I'm telling you she's a very strong woman. When I move to site in 11 days :) I will be drawing water from my family's well about 200 meters from my home. However I've been advisted to get my drinking water from the borehole at my school about a kilometer away and up a hill. So usage of water will become even more efficent and hopefully my arm muscles will pull through. Zambian women are exceptionally strong/talented and will often carry large buckets full of water on their heads. PCV's have continually been advisted to to follow suit because our necks are not as strong. I briefly mentioned a water filter but to touch on it a bit more - all volunteers/foreigners are advisted to filter their water. We are not accustomed to their water and even Zambians can get sick from their water sources. I'm not sure the specific bacteria or protozoans.. or whatnot that are present (yes, my trip leader/outdoor side is coming out). There must not usually be an issue of viruses because we do not need to boil our water in most cases. We use a ceramic filter that PC gave us (stationary that holds 5 L) and are also given iodine tablets for when we're on the go/emergencies. This explanation ended up being much longer than I anticipated but hopefully it gives you a better idea of my life in the village.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Becoming a Northwesterner (and new address)
First of all before I forget here is my new address for Northwestern Provence:
Andrea Moehle PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 110264
Solwezi Zambia
Back down in Lusaka Provence for training. I have two and a half weeks left until swear in and then I'll be heading back to Northwestern Provence for good! Really excited to make it out to my site and finally settle into my mud hut. I've been traveling between places now since August. Before coming to Peace Corps it was between my parents and sisters house and now it's been living out of the storage locker and my smaller hut at my host family's during training. Having visited Northwest I now feel like my mind is in three places at once (Lusaka, North West and America) and looking forward to taking it down to two again.
Life has been flying by. Here are a couple of updates. Northwest Provence has about 32 other Peace Corps volunteers that are currently serving so while I was up there I was able to meet a handful of them. I am about half way between Solwezi and Mwinilunga and live near the largest mine in Zambia possibly the largest in Africa currently. They are continuing to find large deposits of copper and I think I couple other minerals. I hope to find out more about all the mining when I return to Northwest. Because it is the mining region there is constant transport. Buses come by in the morning to pick up the miners for work around 4 or 5 am and then drop them off again around 17/17:30. So long day for them. Most of the miners know english which is helpful. I have been learning Kaonde which is the official language of the schools where I am living. But because I live nearby the border with Mwinilunga District my entire family and village speak Lunda. So going to be working on learning Lunda once I get out to site. For right now I need to continue with the Kaonde so I can pass the final language exam.
Northwest is absolutely beautiful especially compared to the Lusaka area. It's the rainy season right now so everything is very green. It rains far more in North West Provence than down in Lusaka because it is closer to Rain Belt so every day I was there it poured at least two or three times. And I must say the rains that come down in Africa are nothing like anything I've ever seen anywhere in America. The rains grow delicious pineapples which is another thing Northwest is known for. I'm hoping to make some pineapple jam once I finally move up there. The country's currency is kwacha and it's about 5,000 kwacha to the dollar. You can get a pineapple when they're in season for somewhere between 500-1500 kwacha - which is about 10-30 cents. If only Peace Corps paid us an American salary instead of Zambian.
Going back to swear-in my brother is a tailor and he finished sewing my dress for swear-in while I was in Northwest. Everyone in Africa wears a 2 meter colorful patterned fabric called Chitenge. Everything for the next two weeks is getting to the point where we're ready to head out to our village so swear-in on April 21st is the next big date on everyone's mind.
I'm getting way more used to navigating around Zambia as well. I feel more oriented after making out to Northwest. We were lucky enough to get a cruiser (Peace Corps vehicle) ride all the way up to our provence about a 12 hour ride to Solwezi and another hour and a half to my site. And then since being back navigating out to Lusaka to Arcades (a shopping complex) where I am now. Used to the mini-bus business and how much fare should be to get to one place or another. My brain is also starting to think in terms of Kwacha and no longer converting to USD (well except for earlier in this post with the pineapples). Zambia is becoming my new home, which is completely necessary if I'm going to successfully spend the next two years here. I feel most comfortable in Chongwe where we are doing training and with my host family. I'm looking forward to the challenge of making Northwest my permanent home and intergrating myself into the community and my family.
Love and miss you all.Take a moment to enjoy your light switch or your constant ability to obtain chocolate :) Thank you to all that have mailed me letters - training is a crazy time. Your letter will not go unanswered and once I'm at post my responses will be speedier. If you mail me a letter you will receive some zambian mail - it just might be on zambian time (most zambians in the rural area tell time by using the sun - so most things are not prompt/timely)
Mushale Bulongo (remain well)
Andrea Moehle PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 110264
Solwezi Zambia
Back down in Lusaka Provence for training. I have two and a half weeks left until swear in and then I'll be heading back to Northwestern Provence for good! Really excited to make it out to my site and finally settle into my mud hut. I've been traveling between places now since August. Before coming to Peace Corps it was between my parents and sisters house and now it's been living out of the storage locker and my smaller hut at my host family's during training. Having visited Northwest I now feel like my mind is in three places at once (Lusaka, North West and America) and looking forward to taking it down to two again.
Life has been flying by. Here are a couple of updates. Northwest Provence has about 32 other Peace Corps volunteers that are currently serving so while I was up there I was able to meet a handful of them. I am about half way between Solwezi and Mwinilunga and live near the largest mine in Zambia possibly the largest in Africa currently. They are continuing to find large deposits of copper and I think I couple other minerals. I hope to find out more about all the mining when I return to Northwest. Because it is the mining region there is constant transport. Buses come by in the morning to pick up the miners for work around 4 or 5 am and then drop them off again around 17/17:30. So long day for them. Most of the miners know english which is helpful. I have been learning Kaonde which is the official language of the schools where I am living. But because I live nearby the border with Mwinilunga District my entire family and village speak Lunda. So going to be working on learning Lunda once I get out to site. For right now I need to continue with the Kaonde so I can pass the final language exam.
Northwest is absolutely beautiful especially compared to the Lusaka area. It's the rainy season right now so everything is very green. It rains far more in North West Provence than down in Lusaka because it is closer to Rain Belt so every day I was there it poured at least two or three times. And I must say the rains that come down in Africa are nothing like anything I've ever seen anywhere in America. The rains grow delicious pineapples which is another thing Northwest is known for. I'm hoping to make some pineapple jam once I finally move up there. The country's currency is kwacha and it's about 5,000 kwacha to the dollar. You can get a pineapple when they're in season for somewhere between 500-1500 kwacha - which is about 10-30 cents. If only Peace Corps paid us an American salary instead of Zambian.
Going back to swear-in my brother is a tailor and he finished sewing my dress for swear-in while I was in Northwest. Everyone in Africa wears a 2 meter colorful patterned fabric called Chitenge. Everything for the next two weeks is getting to the point where we're ready to head out to our village so swear-in on April 21st is the next big date on everyone's mind.
I'm getting way more used to navigating around Zambia as well. I feel more oriented after making out to Northwest. We were lucky enough to get a cruiser (Peace Corps vehicle) ride all the way up to our provence about a 12 hour ride to Solwezi and another hour and a half to my site. And then since being back navigating out to Lusaka to Arcades (a shopping complex) where I am now. Used to the mini-bus business and how much fare should be to get to one place or another. My brain is also starting to think in terms of Kwacha and no longer converting to USD (well except for earlier in this post with the pineapples). Zambia is becoming my new home, which is completely necessary if I'm going to successfully spend the next two years here. I feel most comfortable in Chongwe where we are doing training and with my host family. I'm looking forward to the challenge of making Northwest my permanent home and intergrating myself into the community and my family.
Love and miss you all.Take a moment to enjoy your light switch or your constant ability to obtain chocolate :) Thank you to all that have mailed me letters - training is a crazy time. Your letter will not go unanswered and once I'm at post my responses will be speedier. If you mail me a letter you will receive some zambian mail - it just might be on zambian time (most zambians in the rural area tell time by using the sun - so most things are not prompt/timely)
Mushale Bulongo (remain well)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Butemwe (my Kaondo name)
Hello everyone!!!!
So going to start off with a little overview of logistics and then share some interesting thoughts/tidbits :)
Back in Lusaka right now. That's right one week later - I'm a lucky duck. This past week we had a supervisors workshop where we met the head teacher at our closest government school. Tonight we're camping out at the tech center and then tomorrow morning bright and early at 6:00 leaving for Northwest!!! Very excited. There is a mud hut waiting for me made by a village that is also waiting to meet me. Almost a homeowner :) Sunday, tomorrow, we'll drive up to Northwest and then spend the night at the Provencial house before heading out Monday morning to my village. I'll spend the week (M-F) in the village by myself getting to know everyone and the surroundings a bit. Then Saturday I'll head back to Solwezi, stay just outside the city with Sarah a RED volunteer. There our language instructor will meet up with us and we'll have some cultural and language time before heading home on Wednesday, March 30th. Then we have 2 1/2 weeks to learn some more language, tech it out a bit more, and then swear-in on April 21st and heading to Northwest for good!!!
Interesting thoughts/tidbits:
* Butemwe - this is my kaonde name - it means love. My head teacher from Lumwana East Basic School gave me my Kaonde name when I met her at the supervisors workshop. There is a CHIP (health) volunteer Audra 7 k from my hut that works teaching HIV/AIDS in their school - her name means blessing.
* I will be learning Lunda. My head teacher during the workshop informed me the family I am staying by is Lunda, the other promenent language in NW. I am near the border between Kaonde and Lunda land. So my family and the village I am living in is Lunda but the schools teach in Kaonde from grade 1-6 and then in English grade 7-9. I'm so great at language they figured I should learn two! (sarcasm if you didn't catch it Heather or Laura :) Going to learn a couple of elemental phrases from the volunteers in my intake that speak Lunda.
* It's crazy to me when I step back and think about it. Here is a country working to become a developed country while most of its citizens are at least bilingual, with it not uncommon to find tri- or quadlingual Zambians. It you're a Lunda family for example living in Lumwana East (where I'll be living) the children must learn Kaonde in order to understand information at school, their family speaks Lunda at home, and then by grade 7 they must know English in order to continue in school. Crazy to me. If I had to have been even bilingual growing up pretty sure I would have flunked out or at least not have reached the level I am at today. But at the same time I am glad the Zambians have retained their language because it is part of their culture and a large part of their identity.
More thoughts to come in a couple of weeks. Out of internet time. Love you all and keep in touch :)
So going to start off with a little overview of logistics and then share some interesting thoughts/tidbits :)
Back in Lusaka right now. That's right one week later - I'm a lucky duck. This past week we had a supervisors workshop where we met the head teacher at our closest government school. Tonight we're camping out at the tech center and then tomorrow morning bright and early at 6:00 leaving for Northwest!!! Very excited. There is a mud hut waiting for me made by a village that is also waiting to meet me. Almost a homeowner :) Sunday, tomorrow, we'll drive up to Northwest and then spend the night at the Provencial house before heading out Monday morning to my village. I'll spend the week (M-F) in the village by myself getting to know everyone and the surroundings a bit. Then Saturday I'll head back to Solwezi, stay just outside the city with Sarah a RED volunteer. There our language instructor will meet up with us and we'll have some cultural and language time before heading home on Wednesday, March 30th. Then we have 2 1/2 weeks to learn some more language, tech it out a bit more, and then swear-in on April 21st and heading to Northwest for good!!!
Interesting thoughts/tidbits:
* Butemwe - this is my kaonde name - it means love. My head teacher from Lumwana East Basic School gave me my Kaonde name when I met her at the supervisors workshop. There is a CHIP (health) volunteer Audra 7 k from my hut that works teaching HIV/AIDS in their school - her name means blessing.
* I will be learning Lunda. My head teacher during the workshop informed me the family I am staying by is Lunda, the other promenent language in NW. I am near the border between Kaonde and Lunda land. So my family and the village I am living in is Lunda but the schools teach in Kaonde from grade 1-6 and then in English grade 7-9. I'm so great at language they figured I should learn two! (sarcasm if you didn't catch it Heather or Laura :) Going to learn a couple of elemental phrases from the volunteers in my intake that speak Lunda.
* It's crazy to me when I step back and think about it. Here is a country working to become a developed country while most of its citizens are at least bilingual, with it not uncommon to find tri- or quadlingual Zambians. It you're a Lunda family for example living in Lumwana East (where I'll be living) the children must learn Kaonde in order to understand information at school, their family speaks Lunda at home, and then by grade 7 they must know English in order to continue in school. Crazy to me. If I had to have been even bilingual growing up pretty sure I would have flunked out or at least not have reached the level I am at today. But at the same time I am glad the Zambians have retained their language because it is part of their culture and a large part of their identity.
More thoughts to come in a couple of weeks. Out of internet time. Love you all and keep in touch :)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Truckin' through Training
Hello everyone! I'm alive and well in Zambia. Been in country for around 6 weeks or something of the sort now... it's strange because it feels like such a long time since I've been in the states. Here are some highlights of what all I've been up to/what's going on in my neck of the woods.
* We get our site announcements TOMMORROW!!!! (just a bit excited). Although being one of two remaining Kaonde speakers in the RED program means I already have a fairy good idea of where I'm headed come April 22nd. Just where is that? Northwest Provence at a site either ~60 km or ~120 km west of Solwezi. I will be at one of the sites and April the other Kaonde will be at the other site. Both are new sites (other sites are second generation meaning they're replacing another volunteer).
* I'm actually retaining the Kaonde language!!! We have had two language simulations to prepare us and gauge where we're at and I've done 'above average' on both according to where we're supposed to be at along their timeline. Which is exciting because you have to pass a language test to be sworn in as a volunteer and I was nervous I would be the volunteer that was held back from swearing in with the group. I've never been a strong language learner attempting french all through high school or that year of Italian Freshman year of college. Still crossing my fingers though until I make it through the real assessment.
* What's my family/host site like? My Bamaama (host mom) is the one that takes care of me. She heats the water in the morning for tea, makes me lunch and dinner, we eat all of our meals together, heats my water for bucket showers in the baafa, and washes my clothes if I don't get to it on the weekends. She's an amazing woman. Also on my compound are Ba Brave, Ba Harriet, and Ba Rona, my host brother and host sisters. I see them in passing but they're mostly busy with their families and working on the family farm. Ba Brave is also a tailor which is awesome because he's going to make my dress for swear in. Traditionally volunteers buy chitange (colorful fabric that's 2 yards in length that's used to make clothes, wrapped around as skirts, serves as a towel, tied to mothers' backs to carry infants around, all in all I very multifunctional piece of cloth). So volunteers buy chitange at that market and then the women have skirts or dresses made for them for swear in and the men have chitange shirts or whole shirt/pant suits made for them. Sorry about all my sidenotes but so much to explain/share. Back to describing my family.. there are 6 younger children on my compound ranging from 2-13 years old. They are the children from Ba Rona and Ba Harriet and two are the grandchildren of Ba Brave (his daughter is away at university most of the time). My host Bamaama is therefore a great grandmother and probably the strongest elderly woman I have and will ever meet. She is a small shorter woman that can outstir me when we make nshima and carry far more water than I will ever be able to manage.
* What do you eat/what is nshima? Are two questions I've gotten a fair amount from people back at home. Here's a little overview:
Breakfast: White bread (really hard to find wheat bread around here), peanut butter, and pineapple jam (this stuff is absolutely amazing - NW provence is known for their pinneapples and I really want to try out making my own pinneapple jam when I go up there). Oh and we drink tea. Really great way to wake up in the morning.
Lunch: Rice with soupu (tomatoes and onions cooked in a lot of oil) or rice with groundnuts (bit bland and not my favorite meal) Love the rice with soupu.
Dinner: Nshima. This is a Zambian food staple. Essentially it's finely ground dried maize that is cooked in a large pot, stirred and stirred until it's really thick and then you scoop out the nshima into lumps. The nshima lumps are then served as the base of all Zambian dinners. You take bits off of you nshima lump and use your right hand to form it into a smaller ball which you then poke a hole into and then fill with your relish. Relish is just the term used for anything you serve with nshima. We always have a vegetable (bishu) relish and also a protein source. The Bishu is most often pumpkin leaves, cassava, or cabbage cooked with tomatoes and onions added to it. The protein source depends a lot of the family you live with but ours has had a fair amount of meat: sausage (first time ever having sausage - don't think I was missing out on much, village chicken (has a lot more flavor than the store bought chickens, or so I'm told), fish (fresh and petrified), beans, or soya (soy bits cooked and flavored.
* It's also the rainy season here right now and then around end of April/beginning of May we go into the cold season. As I type there's a downpour going on outside. Happens a fair bit.
I'm trying to think of other major updates but think that pretty much covers things. I spend my days in language class and education tech classes. I have co-taught twice in the Zambian classroom. Once in a grade 8 civics class and once in a grade 7 language arts class. The pupils are very attentive and always interested in the random muzungu (white person). Well that's all I have time for now my internet is about to run out. Hope all is well with everyone and hope to hear from you soon!!
* We get our site announcements TOMMORROW!!!! (just a bit excited). Although being one of two remaining Kaonde speakers in the RED program means I already have a fairy good idea of where I'm headed come April 22nd. Just where is that? Northwest Provence at a site either ~60 km or ~120 km west of Solwezi. I will be at one of the sites and April the other Kaonde will be at the other site. Both are new sites (other sites are second generation meaning they're replacing another volunteer).
* I'm actually retaining the Kaonde language!!! We have had two language simulations to prepare us and gauge where we're at and I've done 'above average' on both according to where we're supposed to be at along their timeline. Which is exciting because you have to pass a language test to be sworn in as a volunteer and I was nervous I would be the volunteer that was held back from swearing in with the group. I've never been a strong language learner attempting french all through high school or that year of Italian Freshman year of college. Still crossing my fingers though until I make it through the real assessment.
* What's my family/host site like? My Bamaama (host mom) is the one that takes care of me. She heats the water in the morning for tea, makes me lunch and dinner, we eat all of our meals together, heats my water for bucket showers in the baafa, and washes my clothes if I don't get to it on the weekends. She's an amazing woman. Also on my compound are Ba Brave, Ba Harriet, and Ba Rona, my host brother and host sisters. I see them in passing but they're mostly busy with their families and working on the family farm. Ba Brave is also a tailor which is awesome because he's going to make my dress for swear in. Traditionally volunteers buy chitange (colorful fabric that's 2 yards in length that's used to make clothes, wrapped around as skirts, serves as a towel, tied to mothers' backs to carry infants around, all in all I very multifunctional piece of cloth). So volunteers buy chitange at that market and then the women have skirts or dresses made for them for swear in and the men have chitange shirts or whole shirt/pant suits made for them. Sorry about all my sidenotes but so much to explain/share. Back to describing my family.. there are 6 younger children on my compound ranging from 2-13 years old. They are the children from Ba Rona and Ba Harriet and two are the grandchildren of Ba Brave (his daughter is away at university most of the time). My host Bamaama is therefore a great grandmother and probably the strongest elderly woman I have and will ever meet. She is a small shorter woman that can outstir me when we make nshima and carry far more water than I will ever be able to manage.
* What do you eat/what is nshima? Are two questions I've gotten a fair amount from people back at home. Here's a little overview:
Breakfast: White bread (really hard to find wheat bread around here), peanut butter, and pineapple jam (this stuff is absolutely amazing - NW provence is known for their pinneapples and I really want to try out making my own pinneapple jam when I go up there). Oh and we drink tea. Really great way to wake up in the morning.
Lunch: Rice with soupu (tomatoes and onions cooked in a lot of oil) or rice with groundnuts (bit bland and not my favorite meal) Love the rice with soupu.
Dinner: Nshima. This is a Zambian food staple. Essentially it's finely ground dried maize that is cooked in a large pot, stirred and stirred until it's really thick and then you scoop out the nshima into lumps. The nshima lumps are then served as the base of all Zambian dinners. You take bits off of you nshima lump and use your right hand to form it into a smaller ball which you then poke a hole into and then fill with your relish. Relish is just the term used for anything you serve with nshima. We always have a vegetable (bishu) relish and also a protein source. The Bishu is most often pumpkin leaves, cassava, or cabbage cooked with tomatoes and onions added to it. The protein source depends a lot of the family you live with but ours has had a fair amount of meat: sausage (first time ever having sausage - don't think I was missing out on much, village chicken (has a lot more flavor than the store bought chickens, or so I'm told), fish (fresh and petrified), beans, or soya (soy bits cooked and flavored.
* It's also the rainy season here right now and then around end of April/beginning of May we go into the cold season. As I type there's a downpour going on outside. Happens a fair bit.
I'm trying to think of other major updates but think that pretty much covers things. I spend my days in language class and education tech classes. I have co-taught twice in the Zambian classroom. Once in a grade 8 civics class and once in a grade 7 language arts class. The pupils are very attentive and always interested in the random muzungu (white person). Well that's all I have time for now my internet is about to run out. Hope all is well with everyone and hope to hear from you soon!!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
hello from afar!!!
Hello all!!!
It's crazy to think of all the things that have happened since I last posted. I've arrived safely in Zambia after a little excitement with the snow storm, flight delays, and hanging out a fair bit of time in different airports (Johanesburg has a really nice airport).
So also an important point to make is that I do not have internet at the training site that I'll be at so blog updates are going to very scarce because there's very little free time and few times that computer and internet come together.
Right now I'm writing from an internet cafe in Lusaka. We have some free time after grocery shopping for our site visit. Here's a little overview of what I've been up to/will be doing.
There are 29 people in the RED project group, 7 men and 22 women. Everyone's really great; we all have a similiar go with the flow type of mindset but bring all different types of things to the table. The staff here in Zambia are personable and have given us a really friendly welcome.
My favorite thing so far was last night when I broke out my soccer ball after we finished sessions before dinner. A fair number of volunteers play soccer so we started passing the ball around, minutes later to be joined by a group of about 20-30 Zambian children who asked if they could join. It turned into a massive game of keep away. The children all running around after the ball reminded me of the eight year old soccer teams that I used to referee, all moving around in a mass. It was just so perfect playing soccer with peace corps volunteers and the local children while the sun set. If it's like that in the village I'm going to be alright :)
So quick update for the next bit of time.
Going out on a site visit with two other PCV's to the Eastern Provence on Monday.
Returning on Thursday to Lusaka and then departing on Friday to go out to our training site.
Friday I'll find out what language I'm learning and meet my host family.
That's all that I have time to post right but I'll post another update as soon as I have internet. Feel free to send me some snail mail - I've heard it can arrive as quick a week - here's to hoping!
Additional note: Malaria pill wise I'm in doxacycline (spelling?) permentantly - everyone else using Myfloquine unless they have issues. Have low blood pressure so doxy it is. I take it daily, two days in and so far no issues.
Love you all back at home and hope everyone is doing well!!! Send me an update via mail!
It's crazy to think of all the things that have happened since I last posted. I've arrived safely in Zambia after a little excitement with the snow storm, flight delays, and hanging out a fair bit of time in different airports (Johanesburg has a really nice airport).
So also an important point to make is that I do not have internet at the training site that I'll be at so blog updates are going to very scarce because there's very little free time and few times that computer and internet come together.
Right now I'm writing from an internet cafe in Lusaka. We have some free time after grocery shopping for our site visit. Here's a little overview of what I've been up to/will be doing.
There are 29 people in the RED project group, 7 men and 22 women. Everyone's really great; we all have a similiar go with the flow type of mindset but bring all different types of things to the table. The staff here in Zambia are personable and have given us a really friendly welcome.
My favorite thing so far was last night when I broke out my soccer ball after we finished sessions before dinner. A fair number of volunteers play soccer so we started passing the ball around, minutes later to be joined by a group of about 20-30 Zambian children who asked if they could join. It turned into a massive game of keep away. The children all running around after the ball reminded me of the eight year old soccer teams that I used to referee, all moving around in a mass. It was just so perfect playing soccer with peace corps volunteers and the local children while the sun set. If it's like that in the village I'm going to be alright :)
So quick update for the next bit of time.
Going out on a site visit with two other PCV's to the Eastern Provence on Monday.
Returning on Thursday to Lusaka and then departing on Friday to go out to our training site.
Friday I'll find out what language I'm learning and meet my host family.
That's all that I have time to post right but I'll post another update as soon as I have internet. Feel free to send me some snail mail - I've heard it can arrive as quick a week - here's to hoping!
Additional note: Malaria pill wise I'm in doxacycline (spelling?) permentantly - everyone else using Myfloquine unless they have issues. Have low blood pressure so doxy it is. I take it daily, two days in and so far no issues.
Love you all back at home and hope everyone is doing well!!! Send me an update via mail!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Guess this is it...
All this talking... about Zambia, what I'm going to be doing with Peace Corps, saying goodbyes and wrapping up loose ends... has come to an end and it's time to put this adventure in motion. Departing today at 2 pm for Philadelphia. Wednesday will find me on an airplane for longer than I'd like (15 hrs) and Thursday I'll be in Zambia!!!
These past couple of weeks have been amazing spending time with friends and family. I will forever cherish the time I was able to spend with each of you. I'm excited to see where everyone is two years from now when I return (not saying I don't expect snail mail/email updates to keep me in the loop in the meantime). Thank you everyone for being supportive of my decision to join Peace Corps - I know it hasn't been the easiest, especially on my family, for me to leave for such a long period of time. I'll be safe, keep my wits about me, and question situations more than I do/have during my time in Michigan where I have gotten quite comfortable and relaxed/trusting in most situations.
On a lighter note... some developments on the home front. It seems everyone has their own way of coping with a loved one departing for a long period of time; my family took it upon themselves to build a life size cardboard cut out named Andrea 1.5.
Yes it's true that we joked of something of the sort over Christmas, researched and learned that it's actually expensive to have one made, along the lines of 100 bucks. So I thought it was out of the picture. That is until my sister discovered large cardboard treadmill box left out for recycling on her walk home from the bar one night in Northville. Features of Andrea 1.5 include changeable heads, limited range of motion of arms, extremely like-able personality (smiles all the time although also quite passive), and considering a hinge at the waist so she can travel better.
My sisters have been posing her all over the house and Laura even took her out to the backyard to enjoy the fire and hopefully not go up in flames. I have to say Andrea 1.5 is a lot of fun, was cause for a fair number of laughs/jokes this weekend, and keeps my sisters entertained when I'm occupied trying to do something (such as last minute packing things..). So this is the now-famous Andrea 1.5 sure to be making appearances I'm sure at family events, on facebook, and out in the world. And here she is....
Also here's a short animal video my sister sent me from BBC. Absolutely hilarious.
"Nighttime... Daytime.... Nighttime... Daytime... " Hope to find one of these birds in the Zambian bush.
That's it for now. I'm not sure the next time I'll have internet. When I do I'll post an update. Don't be worried about radio silence on average I should have internet every 4-6 weeks. Which means letter writing is actually fast 2-4 weeks (hint. hint). Take care.
These past couple of weeks have been amazing spending time with friends and family. I will forever cherish the time I was able to spend with each of you. I'm excited to see where everyone is two years from now when I return (not saying I don't expect snail mail/email updates to keep me in the loop in the meantime). Thank you everyone for being supportive of my decision to join Peace Corps - I know it hasn't been the easiest, especially on my family, for me to leave for such a long period of time. I'll be safe, keep my wits about me, and question situations more than I do/have during my time in Michigan where I have gotten quite comfortable and relaxed/trusting in most situations.
On a lighter note... some developments on the home front. It seems everyone has their own way of coping with a loved one departing for a long period of time; my family took it upon themselves to build a life size cardboard cut out named Andrea 1.5.
Yes it's true that we joked of something of the sort over Christmas, researched and learned that it's actually expensive to have one made, along the lines of 100 bucks. So I thought it was out of the picture. That is until my sister discovered large cardboard treadmill box left out for recycling on her walk home from the bar one night in Northville. Features of Andrea 1.5 include changeable heads, limited range of motion of arms, extremely like-able personality (smiles all the time although also quite passive), and considering a hinge at the waist so she can travel better.
My sisters have been posing her all over the house and Laura even took her out to the backyard to enjoy the fire and hopefully not go up in flames. I have to say Andrea 1.5 is a lot of fun, was cause for a fair number of laughs/jokes this weekend, and keeps my sisters entertained when I'm occupied trying to do something (such as last minute packing things..). So this is the now-famous Andrea 1.5 sure to be making appearances I'm sure at family events, on facebook, and out in the world. And here she is....
Also here's a short animal video my sister sent me from BBC. Absolutely hilarious.
"Nighttime... Daytime.... Nighttime... Daytime... " Hope to find one of these birds in the Zambian bush.
That's it for now. I'm not sure the next time I'll have internet. When I do I'll post an update. Don't be worried about radio silence on average I should have internet every 4-6 weeks. Which means letter writing is actually fast 2-4 weeks (hint. hint). Take care.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Packing Completed!!!
After packing, repacking, acquiring more things, removing some, repeat a couple of times... it's FINISHED!!!
So a question I've gotten from a fair number of people "How do you go about packing for 2 years?" It's actually fairly easy in the capacity that there are suggested packing lists the Peace Corps provides specific for each country (compiled from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers). I took the list decided what applied to me and then went about figuring what I had and what I needed to acquire (acquired a fair bit... but think that process was bound to happen regardless as many of my clothes are worn out and developing holes).
The packing requirements to follow:
2 checked pieces of luggage- bringing my small and large backpacking bags
combined dimensions not to exceed 107" - measures in at 104" just made it!
total weight not exceeding 80 pounds - just weighed in at 71.5 pounds
Here's a before picture of all my potential things...
And what is all that on my bed you might ask? Here's my list:
Education materials:
- 2 maps of the World
- Travel size dictionary
(Wanted to bring a chalkboard but it got nixed because despite what you think doesn't fit the best in a backpacking bag...)
Clothing:
- Raincoat
- Fleece windproof jacket
- 4 long sleeves
- down vest
- 4 t-shirts
- 10 pairs of outdoor underwear
- spandex shorts
- 2 pairs of leggings (one 3/4, one full length)
- 10 pairs of wool socks (mostly lightweight running variety)
- bathing suit
- 10 bras (sports and regular)
- 2 tank top sports bras
- 4 tank tops
- fleece pants
- light weight louning pants
- 5 pairs of shorts
- 3 pairs of pants
Dress Clothes: (for wearing in the schools)
- 5 button up shirts
- 4 skirts
- 1 nice dress for special occasions
Shoes:
- 2 pairs of chacos (green striped ones and black ones)
- Nice sandal (patagonia strapy ones)
- Running Shoes
- Hiking boots (wearing on plane)
Toiletries:
4 toothpastes
4 toothbrushes
2 floss
Razor and extra blades
Q-tips
Hair ties
Solid shampoo and conditioner
Solid face wash
Soap
4 deodorants
2 pairs of glasses
Contacts
Chapstick
Cosmetics
Jewelry (couple of necklaces, change of earrings)
Nail Polish
Other Camping Goods:
- Spices
- NOLS cookbook
- Ice plastic bags (ones we use for Outdoor Adventure trips)
- 1 box of shot blocks (for low electrolyte time)
- Headlamp (+old headlamp with broken attachment point for spare parts)
- Sleeping pad (ridgerest)
- 2 nalgenes
- Camelbak
- Bivy sack
- Hammock
- Bandannas and buff
- UV light and solar charger case
- Camping stove
- Benchmade knife
- Rain covers for packs
- 2 dry bags
- Duct tape
- 2 lock and seal containers
- Titanium cookset
- Compass
- Flint stick, lighter, and matches
- 2 small wildmed books
- Where There is No Doctor book
- SAMS splint
- potentially some meds?
Miscellaneous:
- Ipod (luxury item)
- Mini speakers
- Sunglasses and case
- Camera
- Extra camera batteries and memory card
- Solar panel
- Travel alarm clock
- Money belt
- Journal (and two waterproof journals)
- 2 books: Art and the Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance and On the Road
- Small sewing kit
- Pictures of family, friends, favorite places
- 2 Belts
- Book of U.S. stamps (to send letters with people returning to the states)
- Netbook laptop
Recreational:
- Light up Frisbee (friend making ploy in my village)
- Soccer ball and pump
- Cards
K.. when write it all out - seems like a lot... but hey it all fits into the packs and fits the requirements. Check it out!
The next two years of my life - possession wise - you're looking at it :) Life simplification.
So a question I've gotten from a fair number of people "How do you go about packing for 2 years?" It's actually fairly easy in the capacity that there are suggested packing lists the Peace Corps provides specific for each country (compiled from Returned Peace Corps Volunteers). I took the list decided what applied to me and then went about figuring what I had and what I needed to acquire (acquired a fair bit... but think that process was bound to happen regardless as many of my clothes are worn out and developing holes).
The packing requirements to follow:
2 checked pieces of luggage- bringing my small and large backpacking bags
combined dimensions not to exceed 107" - measures in at 104" just made it!
total weight not exceeding 80 pounds - just weighed in at 71.5 pounds
Here's a before picture of all my potential things...
And what is all that on my bed you might ask? Here's my list:
Education materials:
- 2 maps of the World
- Travel size dictionary
(Wanted to bring a chalkboard but it got nixed because despite what you think doesn't fit the best in a backpacking bag...)
Clothing:
- Raincoat
- Fleece windproof jacket
- 4 long sleeves
- down vest
- 4 t-shirts
- 10 pairs of outdoor underwear
- spandex shorts
- 2 pairs of leggings (one 3/4, one full length)
- 10 pairs of wool socks (mostly lightweight running variety)
- bathing suit
- 10 bras (sports and regular)
- 2 tank top sports bras
- 4 tank tops
- fleece pants
- light weight louning pants
- 5 pairs of shorts
- 3 pairs of pants
Dress Clothes: (for wearing in the schools)
- 5 button up shirts
- 4 skirts
- 1 nice dress for special occasions
Shoes:
- 2 pairs of chacos (green striped ones and black ones)
- Nice sandal (patagonia strapy ones)
- Running Shoes
- Hiking boots (wearing on plane)
Toiletries:
4 toothpastes
4 toothbrushes
2 floss
Razor and extra blades
Q-tips
Hair ties
Solid shampoo and conditioner
Solid face wash
Soap
4 deodorants
2 pairs of glasses
Contacts
Chapstick
Cosmetics
Jewelry (couple of necklaces, change of earrings)
Nail Polish
Other Camping Goods:
- Spices
- NOLS cookbook
- Ice plastic bags (ones we use for Outdoor Adventure trips)
- 1 box of shot blocks (for low electrolyte time)
- Headlamp (+old headlamp with broken attachment point for spare parts)
- Sleeping pad (ridgerest)
- 2 nalgenes
- Camelbak
- Bivy sack
- Hammock
- Bandannas and buff
- UV light and solar charger case
- Camping stove
- Benchmade knife
- Rain covers for packs
- 2 dry bags
- Duct tape
- 2 lock and seal containers
- Titanium cookset
- Compass
- Flint stick, lighter, and matches
- 2 small wildmed books
- Where There is No Doctor book
- SAMS splint
- potentially some meds?
Miscellaneous:
- Ipod (luxury item)
- Mini speakers
- Sunglasses and case
- Camera
- Extra camera batteries and memory card
- Solar panel
- Travel alarm clock
- Money belt
- Journal (and two waterproof journals)
- 2 books: Art and the Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance and On the Road
- Small sewing kit
- Pictures of family, friends, favorite places
- 2 Belts
- Book of U.S. stamps (to send letters with people returning to the states)
- Netbook laptop
Recreational:
- Light up Frisbee (friend making ploy in my village)
- Soccer ball and pump
- Cards
K.. when write it all out - seems like a lot... but hey it all fits into the packs and fits the requirements. Check it out!
The next two years of my life - possession wise - you're looking at it :) Life simplification.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Staging Updates
Well it's officially a week away. Bit crazy - this is my last Monday at home. Below I'm posting an update of what I'm doing when I depart from Michigan on the 31st.
Schedule
January 31st
2 pm Fly out of Detroit
3:43 pm Arrive in Philadelphia for training
6 pm Peace Corps Registration (paperwork time :)
February 1st
AM clinic time
PM expectations/what's next
February 2nd
2:30 AM (that's right not a typo) bus to New York
10:40 AM Fly to Johannesburg
February 3rd
8:40 AM Arrive in Johannesburg (15 hour flight + 7 hour time change)
10:30 AM Depart for Lusaka
12:30 PM Arrive in Lusaka, Zambia!!!!!
Stay at the In-service Training Trust (ISTT) site in Lusaka for 3 nights
February 4th and 5th
Orientation/training at ISTT
February 6th and 7th
First Site Visit
February 8th
ISTT
February 9th-Mid April
After the site visit we'll go to the training site hub located at the Farmer Training Institute (FTI) in Chalimbana, Chongwe (~45 km east of Lusaka).
During this time we'll stay with families in villages within 11 km of the FTI. Our living conditions will the same as when we serve: mud huts with no electricity or running water (ie no internet at our homes or the FTI).
We'll eat regularly with our host families. Foods we'll experience include: maize meal nshima, sautéed cabbage, chicken, beef, and a small sardine called kapenta. Should be an interesting experience.
Typical M-F schedule:
8:00-12:00 Language *
12:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00 -17:00 Technical
* We'll learn what language we're assigned within the first week there are six they train volunteers in. They are: Bemba, Nyanja, Lunda, Tonga, Mambwe and Kaonde.
April 21st, 2011
Officially sworn into Peace Corps after successfully completing all training
Communication:
Mail:
We will have very limited access to internet during training as well. I had originally thought we'd have internet daily/weekly - apparently not the case. Going to work on my snail mailing - my address during training is
Andrea Moehle
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia
... you can also find my address on the "My Address" page which also gives you some advice of how to mail things so check it out (located on the right hand side of my blog right on top of the map of Africa). I'd love to hear from you and what's going on in your life stateside. Promise if you write me a letter (snail mail) I will write you one in return. Emails I'll read them all and do my best to respond to them but the simple fact is I'll have far more time away from computers/internet then I'll have with my paper and pen.
Phone:
Planning on getting a phone when I arrive in Zambia. Land lines in Zambia are quite expensive. I'm not sure how this entire process works or what the cost is associated with it. I'll post an update when more develops. Apparently there's service in cities and perhaps towns? And a Returned Peace Corps volunteer from Zambia that I had coffee with was able to text in his rural village (pending the battery was charged) so we'll see what my situation's like. Who'd have thought perhaps my parents will get texting?
Blog Posts:
It's just a guess but think I should have internet every 4-6 weeks once I'm at my site (end of April). Not all that often but I do have to ride my mountain bike from my village however many kilometers to the Peace Corps Provincial house on a day I have off/a weekend. During training not really sure how often I'll have internet at all... when I do I'll post updates even if they're brief.
.... Basically, let's keep in touch.
Schedule
January 31st
2 pm Fly out of Detroit
3:43 pm Arrive in Philadelphia for training
6 pm Peace Corps Registration (paperwork time :)
February 1st
AM clinic time
PM expectations/what's next
February 2nd
2:30 AM (that's right not a typo) bus to New York
10:40 AM Fly to Johannesburg
February 3rd
8:40 AM Arrive in Johannesburg (15 hour flight + 7 hour time change)
10:30 AM Depart for Lusaka
12:30 PM Arrive in Lusaka, Zambia!!!!!
Stay at the In-service Training Trust (ISTT) site in Lusaka for 3 nights
February 4th and 5th
Orientation/training at ISTT
February 6th and 7th
First Site Visit
February 8th
ISTT
February 9th-Mid April
After the site visit we'll go to the training site hub located at the Farmer Training Institute (FTI) in Chalimbana, Chongwe (~45 km east of Lusaka).
During this time we'll stay with families in villages within 11 km of the FTI. Our living conditions will the same as when we serve: mud huts with no electricity or running water (ie no internet at our homes or the FTI).
We'll eat regularly with our host families. Foods we'll experience include: maize meal nshima, sautéed cabbage, chicken, beef, and a small sardine called kapenta. Should be an interesting experience.
Typical M-F schedule:
8:00-12:00 Language *
12:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00 -17:00 Technical
* We'll learn what language we're assigned within the first week there are six they train volunteers in. They are: Bemba, Nyanja, Lunda, Tonga, Mambwe and Kaonde.
April 21st, 2011
Officially sworn into Peace Corps after successfully completing all training
Communication:
Mail:
We will have very limited access to internet during training as well. I had originally thought we'd have internet daily/weekly - apparently not the case. Going to work on my snail mailing - my address during training is
Andrea Moehle
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia
... you can also find my address on the "My Address" page which also gives you some advice of how to mail things so check it out (located on the right hand side of my blog right on top of the map of Africa). I'd love to hear from you and what's going on in your life stateside. Promise if you write me a letter (snail mail) I will write you one in return. Emails I'll read them all and do my best to respond to them but the simple fact is I'll have far more time away from computers/internet then I'll have with my paper and pen.
Phone:
Planning on getting a phone when I arrive in Zambia. Land lines in Zambia are quite expensive. I'm not sure how this entire process works or what the cost is associated with it. I'll post an update when more develops. Apparently there's service in cities and perhaps towns? And a Returned Peace Corps volunteer from Zambia that I had coffee with was able to text in his rural village (pending the battery was charged) so we'll see what my situation's like. Who'd have thought perhaps my parents will get texting?
Blog Posts:
It's just a guess but think I should have internet every 4-6 weeks once I'm at my site (end of April). Not all that often but I do have to ride my mountain bike from my village however many kilometers to the Peace Corps Provincial house on a day I have off/a weekend. During training not really sure how often I'll have internet at all... when I do I'll post updates even if they're brief.
.... Basically, let's keep in touch.
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