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!!
No comments:
Post a Comment