Site Announcement!

Gina's Post:
So yesterday was a big day for the CHIP (health) trainees.  We found out where exactly we will be going for site when we get posted in mid-October.  Scott and I will be in a small village about 17 kilometers biking on a dirt road from Mwnilunga, way up northwest in the Northwest province--read: almost to Angola!  Other stuff we know about our future site is: it's on the road to the chief's compound, telephone coverage will be available but spotty, the water sources are good, it's near a community health center (where I will be working at times), and most importantly . . . it's a first generation site.  In a nutshell, first generation means that NO other Peace Corps volunteers have been put there before.  Specifically, the community asked for a health volunteer and a fish farmer volunteer and apparently Scott and I fit the bill.  The community has been busy building us a place to live, and I will get to check out the site personally in about a week in a half.  That means no more host mama . . . we'll have to fetch our own water, wash our own clothes by hand, and cook over a brazier.  All of the health volunteers are in Lusaka now preparing to meet our hosts, local Zambians who have been chosen to introduce us to our community and help us settle-in come October.

Life has been going well, as Scott stated yesterday, and Scott and I have been able to call each other every day and see each other about every two weeks.  We'll even get to meet up for Scott's big 4-0 coming up, and he'll get to hang with Mama Annie and my fam.  To add to Scott's list of skills acquired, I've learned how to fetch water, but do not intend to ever carry a huge container on top of my head like those strong African women!  I have changed two tires of classmates from thorns in the bush and was proud to say that I had my first flat yesterday on a bush trail and patched the flat in less than 5 min., with my language group and a herd of cows watching me!  I also taught my first yoga class to a group of about 6 volunteers, and one of our training leaders wants me to teach to the staff in Lusaka sometime.  Besides being to talk like a 3-4 year-old in Lunda, we've been learning some interesting topics in our technical training sessions.  A few highlights:

Chief-subject relationship
Most of rural Zambia is divided up by different tribes, who thankfully have had a friendly relationship with each other for over 40 years.  This fact does not in any way undermine the importance of chiefs in everything from giving out land to people in the chiefdom, welcoming visitors, having a hand in community projects, and setting all sorts of disputes ranging from farming/land/water to finding out who is the local witch.  Each chief/chieftaness gets appointed mostly through a maternal lineage, and once appointed, cannot step down.  Most cheifdoms are divided further into smaller areas which are controlled by a local headman.  Basically as Peace Corps volunteers, we will be collaborating often with the headman/headwoman on local issues and health projects.  We even had a whole session on how to great the chief or headman and which types of gifts are appropriate for the first visit.  They recommend a white chicken--not black as it represents witchcraft.  Ironically, I met the chief of my area 5 years ago at the Lunda festival, and my language teacher says he is still in office, although very doubtful he will remember me as I was accompanied by about 15 Peace Corps volunteers.  Who would have thought?

HIV/AIDS:
There has been lots of training on this topic because much of our jobs as health volunteers will be training and education regarding the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.  The current estimated infection rate in Zambia is a little over 14%.  We've had to do several activities with our host families in preparation to going to our communities, and my health trainee Maggie and I did a little informal interview of the village women about health concerns in the Chongwe community.  Although it had never been mentioned to me before by my host family, HIV/AIDS was identified as the #1 problem in the community, although treatment with free anti-retrovirals is available at the local clinic.  The most surprising thing, is that we asked the local women what they knew about HIV, they were right on when it came to treatment options as well as preventing mother-to-child transmission.  Unfortunately, many confused it with TB and thought you could get it by coughing or sharing food.  Looks like we have a LONG way to go!  We're hoping to do a little ladies' education group in the near future, and the women are looking forward to it.

Hope all is well with all of you.  Snail mail is still the easiest way to go, and we just updated our care package wish list in the right-hand column in case you're feeling generous!

Shakenuku!
Gina and Scott