You GLOW Girl!!!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has"  -Margaret Mead

G.L.O.W. stands for Girls Leading Our World. Camp GLOW is a Peace Corps program focused on educating the girl child in developing countries. We hold a week long camp where 2 girls and 1 teacher come from each volunteer's village. Over the course of the week the girls and teachers learn life skills, HIV/AIDS basics, business skills, and much more! Camp participants return to their villages with the aim to start a Girls Club at their school. Camps to clubs keeps the ball rolling of girl education and empowerment.

For more information and details about our Camp GLOW check out a website fellow PCV Deanna Dent has created http://nwpglow.wordpress.com

In Northwest Province we run one Province-wide camp with participants covering the 4 districts: Solwezi, Mufumbwe, Mwinilunga, and Ikilenge. This year we had 32 girls, 14 teachers, 4 junior counselors, 2 translators, 5 facilitators, and 17 volunteers involved! The largest camp in PC Zambia to date! We held the camp at Mwinilunga Trades Center. A wonderful site several kilometers outside of Mwinilunga Boma complete with newly constructed classrooms and dormitories. 

Here's a bit of what we did during the camp:

 In the  morning we held different sessions. This included Gender Roles, Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS sessions, Business Skills, Relationships, Rape and Sexual Assault, Decision Making and Communication Skills, Women in Leadership, and Family Planning. 

As co-camp director there were plenty of logistics to do throughout the week to keep each day running smoothly. Everyone came together to make an excellent low-stress week! 

You can't have a camp without some fun and creative sessions. In Art as Expression each girl created a piece of artwork to express themselves in any capacity which was then displayed during our closing ceremony. 

 Wednesday afternoon we hosted a Career Panel. Marjorie, featured far left, is a women politician in Solwezi, District. Each speaker shared her story of how she made it to the position she holds today. Many had stories of struggle and inspired the girls by sharing how they overcame the odds and made it.

One afternoon we made Chitenge Pads. You make a pad out of chitenge scraps (local fabric here) that you button around your underwear with a pouch for removing and replacing a washcloth in the center. Having chitenge pads allows the girls to attend school when they're on their menstrual cycles. A special thanks to Mrs. Moehle for donating all the deluxe sewing kits. The girls were SO excited and loved having the materials they need to sew to take back with them to the village. 

Low ropes course: the spider web. Goal: get everyone from one side to the other without touching the rope! 

Friendship bracelet making time!

 Some of the girls put on a traditional dance to thank the cooks for the delicious meals they made us all week

Thursday afternoon we had rotational IGAs, Income Generating Activities. Pictured above is a Nursery demo lead by on of our Agricultural Volunteers, Larry Maurin. Other IGAs included chitenge doormats, tailoring, bread baking, hair plating, and jewerly making. 

MY VILLAGE!!!!

My teacher on the left Ms. Makaaka, Fridah, Mavis, and Me! 

Closing Ceremony

We finished a wonderful week by a candlelite ceremony. Each girl received a certificate for completing camp (certificates are a huge deal in Zambia). We completed the ceremony with each color team creating a floating latern. Each girl wrote a hope or dream they have for the future that they wrote on the latern. The idea being the latern would float off into the night sky and the girls would always have a reminder of how they felt at the end of camp and the hopes they had for the future by looking at the night sky when they returned to the village. 

Camp GLOW was my last big program of the year and also of my Peace Corps service. I now have about 3 months left. Oh how the time has flown by. I'll be working on finishing my projects and wrapping up loose ends in the village, coming to grips that I'll be leaving this beautiful country in just a short while. 

Here and there and everywhere

Well life in the village in October and November has continued to be hot. But we've started to get some good thunderstorms. You know it's a good storm if the thunders loud enough to shake your entire hut. Means it should definitely be cooler the next day! Anywho. Figured I'd add in a new post about what I've been up to - mostly in the village - with a side trip down to Lusaka for our Training of Facilitators for our Girls Camp. That'll the next post - girls camp!!! Coming up in a  mere 4 weeks and much to do! Which is what I've primarly been up to when I'm not teaching at the school. Grade 9 exams begin monday and last two weeks so teaching and school is coming to a close for the year. So, enjoy the pictures and a little snapshot into the last couple of weeks. 

Hanging out at the school practice for Independence Day. Two of the teacher's daughters (different families)

Practicing traditional dances in one of the teacher's yards. 

Check it out! Yep I biked that grass several km to my hut to fill in some holes in my kinzanza and kimbusu roof. Rainy season I'm completely ready, please bring the cool weather.

Zambia's Independence Day!!! October 24th, 1964

They went all out for celebrations. Put up a tent at the school where vips got to sit, as the visiting American made it as a VIP and a judge of talent! 

Grade 5 and 6 girls performing traditional dances to celebrate independence! 

And my favorite part of the day - the eating contest. Take one was with bread and zam-cokes and take two featured above is with nshima and beans. The boys just couldn't figure out if they should roll their nshima into balls first or bite hunks out of it (not quite as amusing unless you have some background of nshima..)

Sun and Seafood

It's hot season here right now in Zambia. The perfect time to pack you bags and head to the ocean for cooler weather or at least hot weather with water to cool off in. Here are some photos and such from my trip to Mozambique. It was an Andge and Audge trip - my closest PC neighbor who has just finished up her service. We flew from Lusaka to Johannesburg and then took an overnight bus (really nice - comfy, reclining seats, toilet on board) to Maputo and then the following day another this time cramped rosa bus to Tofo and beach time. Here are some photos from the trip...

We took a running taxi to the Fish Market in Maputo. This is our attempt to capture the scene. Running taxi is basically a little car/cart thing that is placed over a motorcycle. 

Exploring Maputo. Audra posing at the Fort the Portuguese used to defend the city. Fort walls quite short, but seemed to have done the trick.

Carved stone Portuguese signs in the fort

Wandering the streets of Maputo we discovered a museum, solely devoted to coins. And what coin museum would be complete without a coin man.  

Laurentina Dark - My favorite beer in Mozambique. Only African country I've visited that has a dark beer as one of their standard offerings. 

Fish Market enjoying a cold beverage waiting for our food.

Fish Market. You go into the fish market part chose what you want to eat, purchase it and then bring it to one of the many table areas where they prepare the food for you. Delicious and a great price for seafood! And yes I did eat them, took off their heads and legs and everything.

Maputo from the waterfront. Water in the city has become too polluted to swim in, but still a nice view.

Sitting on the beach in Tofo. Absolutely beautiful beach. 

We went to Barra, a resort area, to camp for a night. We sat on the beach and had the most delicious bun, cheese, pepperoni sandwich I have ever tasted. Finally arriving after some crowded minibus rides, walking in the dead heat of the day and then catching a couple other rides, it was perfect to sit on the beach watching the sun, water, and eat our delicious sandwiches.

Beach at Barra 

Old carved out wooden canoe, complete with some giant snails living inside the water filled boat 

Just couldn't get enough of the fish market. Visited it again with the couple of hours we had between the tofo bus and the bus back to joburg

Lobster!!! My first one ever. And I must say my favorite seafood dish I had in Mozambique.

That's a little snapshot into our trip. To get a true perspective I should have taken way more pictures on the beach as that's where we spent most of our time. We also went out on an ocean safari in Tofo hoping to see some whale sharks or a migrating humpback whale, but to no avail. But did find some dolphin and got to jump in with them and swim with them - well mostly over them but still awesome. And had my first  experience with some jelly fish. got stung a couple of time but discovered its mostly just uncomfortable wouldn't say painful so must say the ocean is growing on me. Delicious food comes out of it, good swimming, great beaches, and even getting used to the sand crabs. 

Returned now from Mozambique and back into hot season. Headed to the village right about now-ish after I finish some Camp GLOW (girls leading our world) paperwork that we're putting on in December. Life in the village is going well although I'm in and out a lot this term so less productive with my programs. On the bright side most of my programs seem to be sustainable as they are still operating while I'm out of the village. It's crazy to think I'm the oldest intake in Zambia now and have just 6 months left. 

On that note over and out :) 

Alternative Technology Workshop

This week I've been attending an Alternative Technology Workshop in Solvwezi with a counterpart from my village. Total there were ten of us: five volunteers and five counterparts and our two facilitators. Check out the pictures below for a bit on the projects we built, learned about, and will bring ideas of back to the village.

We jump started our brains with a maize stacking challenge. Rules: two pieces of paper, stack as many corn cobs as possible. Our team won with 7 corn cobs. 

Teamwork 

Contemplating

 What is this machine you ask? Why a groundnut sheller. The metal one is from the capital - around 3 million - ie 600 USD. So we made a wooden one in my group - price likely around 20 USD. 

Close up of our groundnut sheller. How's it work? Add groundnuts and pull handle back and forth. The nails on the bottom break groundnuts and they fall through the slots between the wooden dowels. Final step separate shells from nuts. 

 Clay pot inside another clay pot. Sand inbetween you add water to. Damp cloth on top. Cassava or your choice of something kept cold. Yep that's right it's an evaporative cooler. The clay is porous and draws the moisture away from the veg or whatever you add to your pot therefore making it cooler. Store in the shade.

Northwest Province does not have a clay pot market. Instead take a large jerry can and small jerry can, add sand inbetween, dampen a cloth, and cement the inside of the small jerry can. The cement has similar qualities to the interior clay pot. Mission accomplished. 

Another group completed a drip irrigation project. Take two used bicycle tires, attach them together, and then attach that to a jerry can, make small holes at the correct spacing for your garden and then add lollypop sticks to the hole. Drip irrigation at its best. They did another project with bamboo and water bottles inverted in them that accomplished the same idea. 

Hard at work - building a solar dryer frame

You can use a zam-bike and the blue metal machine... creating a cycle powered maize shelling machine

The mesh top of a homemade smoker (used mainly for fish smoking)

And this project wins most creative. What do you think this is? 

(Wait for it... hah.. will tell you at the end of this post)

Everyone loves a bit of pyromania. 

Even better when it's saving the environment. That's right folks. Burning corn cobs in that metal drum. You then crush the carbonated corn cobs and then make them into brickettes using the corn cob ash and a mixture of cassava goo. And cutting down 0 trees in the process. Which is great because Zambia is one of the leading countries in deforestation.  

There were a couple other project we worked on that didn't make it in here - mostly no photos. Will keep you updated on which projects we decide to try in the village. And did you figure out the swinging jerry can contraption? That's right it's a honey press. We didn't have honey comb so couldn't test it's effectiveness - but at least makes a fun game.

August Family Adventures!!!

My chalkboard countdown started... mmm... probably 70 days out - slightly premature but heck excitement does that to a person. So finally the countdown dropped to the single digits and it was time to leave the village for solwezi, and then on down to Lusaka to pick up the parentals!!!

I made friends with a taxi driver, Wilfred, and so we arrive at the airport an hour early.. turns out to be WAY early - more like 3 hrs when you add in customs and baggage claim. Not an efficient process here in Zambia. Acquired my parents and then took them on an adventure right off the bat! Another volunteer had recommended Pioneer Lodge as a great place to stay... which it was; but a fair bit off the beaten track as well. So Wilfred in his two wheel drive vehicle takes us down this dirt track that just looks shady as all heck at midnight... and just when I was beginning to wonder if I was just leading them down a bad two way track leading to pure wilderness when we arrived.

We spent the next day in Lusaka visiting the Sunday Market for souvenirs, enjoying a lovely lunch, and stocking up on groceries before heading to the village. Monday we drove village side with our great driver Choonya. It was also my birthday so we enjoyed some brunch on the road and when we got to solwezi introduced my mom to Indian food (which she was trying for the first time - crazy).

This first bit of the blog is picture-less because we recorded life on my mom's camera....

Highlights of the village
* Dad had great fun with the children. He was quite excited when he asked the kids if they knew four square and they responded yes. Little did he know, but quickly did he find out, that none of his question was understood because the little ones have very limited english.
* Girls Club: Mom brought a sewing box arts and craft project using mint boxes, fun foam flowers, magnets, and sewing supplies. The girls loved it. Reminded me of my girl scout days when my mom led our troop.
* Teacher Dinner: That evening we attended a traditional zambian dinner at the school. They hooked up the classroom with a couple light bulbs and sound system using a borrowed generator. Mom and Dad tasted nshima for the first time, enjoyed some fried chicken, and vegetables. At the end of the evening we were gifted a whole deep fried chicken and a nice chitenge (colorful fabric) for my parents to make their own Zambia outfits when they return to America.
* Village Party: The girls pretty much made the Zambian meal after I was deemed incompetent at mostly every task, even my cabbage cutting was critiqued. So thank you girls! We had nshima, chicken, beans, cabbage, and rape (green vegetable). The whole family came over from the compound I live on so we had at least 40 people. Following dinner I introduced the kids to s'mores and got them all on sugar highs followed by some zam-dancing. I even got my host grandmother to dance as well as my mom and dad. A definite yet exhausting success of a village party.
* We visited Mwinilunga, about 2 1/2 hrs from my village to the west. We stayed at a nice lodge right on the Lunga River. Dad made friends with some crocs at night with their noises and in the early morning hours when he attempted to become crocodile breakfast. On that trip we also visited some falls along the way, the Nyambwezu Falls by the proposed site for a hydroelectric dam. Although bit of a hitch that you have to walk over this village made bridge of small logs. Needless to say mom was not a fan and opted out after the bumpy ride of about an hour to get them. The rest of us carried on and enjoyed a picnic lunch by the falls. In Mwinilunga also brought the parents to the market. The market in a main town is full of different vegetables, fish, chitenge, clothes from the congo, maize, etc...

Post village James met up with us and we headed back to Solwezi for the evening before heading off early the next morning for Lusaka and REUNITED WITH THE SISTERS AND MATTHEW!! And then the whole family was back together. A bit tired but all in the same place. Heck who would have ever thought the whole Moehle family would be together in Africa? Not I said the fly.

Victoria Falls.
The next day we headed off early for Victoria Falls. James became our driver so we could all cram into a 7 person vehicle. It was tight but we had plenty of left over pizza, a stop at a tire store following a blown tire in the first couple of hours.

  Family REUNION + a wonder of the world

 Found a Dietitian!!!

And the next day hit up Botswana! And went on my first safari!!!! This is what we saw:

Herd of Elephants

       Somebody's hungry!

     Contagious Yawn... just worked

      splits time!

      LION KING

  The whole crew

And the adventures didn't stop there. Onto Kilimanjaro!!!

    There it is off in the distance, looks doable...

                                                     

We hiked and hiked, and barely got closer. Day 5?... 

 but the O2 started to disappear. 

The whole gang: sisters, matthew, james, me, and sam & jodie (geos from the camp)

 

  Sister Time & Michigan Representing 

Summit!!! Mission Accomplished. 

Although all I wanted to do was get back down to where I could breathe... and warm up my hands. 

 SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!!!! 

 Love being below cloud level where life is easy.

Sunrise at the Summit.

Top of the World... well Africa anyhow

Summarizes the trip. Sleep, Eat, Hike, Eat, Hike, Sleep...repeat

Popcorn, tea, tent party

We made it. From the village, to Vic Falls, Lion Encounters, and the Top of Africa.