Water Update

(Gina’s Post)

A lot of you were very interested in the water situation we last blogged about on our May 16^th post.  There was FINALLY a little bit of a resolution when we could pull the villagers away from their busy harvest time for yet another meeting about the bore hole. 

We learned a little bit of info from the NGO who helped install the bore hole about two years ago.  Apparently it has broken twice in the past two years, which is way over the average amount of breakdowns, even if the villagers were “pumping incorrectly” as the folks from the local water district would like us to believe.  Unfortunately the NGO contracted with a Chinese company who they suspect installed the bore hole at a slant, causing excess strain on the pump.  This Chinese company is nowhere to be seen and the NGO has no more funds to build additional bore holes in our area.  They have turned all water projects over to the district government’s water and sanitation department, which has no funds of its own and charges the villagers exorbitant transport fees whenever it is called to repair a bore hole.  The NGO did offer to train the villagers to learn to fix the bore hole, but could not promise tools and said they suspected the bore hole would break down again in the next year, no matter how carefully the villagers pumped it.

In the meantime, there was quite a bit of tension in our neighborhood between villagers who paid their 10,000 kwacha ($2) fee for bore hole repair and those who didn’t.  Some literally didn’t have the money and some said they did not want to pay for something unless they could see it fixed.  Collectively, they had gathered 145,000 kwacha ready to help pay for bore hole reparations.

So . . . at the meeting we had about 12 men and 1 woman, and they were busy quarreling about who did and did not pay the fee.  Scott and I again presented the different options (see May 16^th post), drawing a picture of the suspected slant in the current bore hole design as well as a model for a do-it-yourself covered well.  We explained that the 145,000 they had collected would be enough to buy at least two pockets of cement, which could help cover the current well to keep it cleaner.

At first, the villagers really wanted to pay to get the bore hole fixed, but when they calculated they would probably be doing this at least every year because of the slant of the bore hole, they quickly realized that this option was NOT sustainable.  Some offered to go to the NGO borehole-fixing training, but they also made a point that the correct tools and parts replacement would be very expensive for the villagers themselves to cover.  

What they decided to do next was completely unexpected for myself and Scott.  Apparently the current well was on a single family’s property, and this was causing problems because all of the villagers were using what was supposed to be a private compound’s well. 

Villagers gather abound the initial groundbreaking of the well

So, they decided to do what any logical rural Zambian with a hoe and an axe would do . . . dig.  They divided themselves into four work groups, and decided that each group would dig every four days until they reached the water table, which they suspected was about 15 meters below the ground.  No helmets, no ropes, no safety equipment and DEFINITELY no power tools.  Just a lot of manpower and the desire to take ownership of a problem they were tired of waiting for “someone else” to fix.  These guys are not afraid of hard labor and against Scott and my warnings about the apparent safety risks of the project, they assured us that Lundas are very good at digging their own wells.

What could we do but go along with this plan?  After exhausting all government and NGO resources in the area, Scott and I realized that trying to repair the existing bore hole was not only unsustainable, but a royal runaround of chasing various people in the BOMA and never hearing anyone take accountability for the problem.  Although we were thrilled that the villagers finally wanted to take responsibility for their own problems, we were more than a little worried for their safety.  But . . . reluctantly we agreed to assist them with the concrete cover and handle once the well was dug. 

They were already a few meters deep by lunchtime the first day!

As of yesterday, they had dug a little over 5 meters, painstakingly picking thick iron rocks and lifting it up one bucket at a time.  One worker at a time carefully lowers himself using small hand and footholds chiseled into the walls of the well, and sends the debris up in a bucket, where men on the top lift it with a rope and send it back down again.  Most are shirtless and covered in dust when they come up from their shift, and say it is “very hot” down below.  At night when they aren’t working, they cover it up with large tree branches so goats and children don’t accidently fall in.  They have taken a few-day break for the maize harvest, but have made remarkable progress since beginning only one week ago.

So I guess that’s our resolution (at least right now) to our water issue.  If completed, this will be a true community well with a cover to keep out contaminants.  Scott and I will definitely be involved with the transport and logistics of the concrete, but we are excited that the villagers have raised the money themselves to tackle this problem.  Cross your fingers and keep your eyes peeled for water update #3.

One Year Anniversary in Zambia: The Year in Review

(Gina's Post)

July 18^th, 2012.  One year ago today we touched down in a plane in a completely different world.  It’s hard to believe how much we’ve experienced since the moment we stepped foot on the tarmac of a distant land called Zambia. 

Before re-capping some of the highlights and lowlights of our service so far (15 months to go!), I wanted to take this time to thank Scott for his sense of adventure that brought us here in the first place, his endless patience with all frustrations that come with living in the rural Zambian bush, and his resourcefulness in making our hut truly a home.   This is truly an experience the two of us have shared that has shown us so much about one another and about the important things in life.  I would also like to give a special thanks to the people back home who have taken care of things in order to let us live this extraordinary adventure: Adam, Eric, Mell and Rachael to name a few.  We also have enjoyed the countless pictures, letters, and packages from family and friends that have given us those so-important reminders of life in America. We deeply appreciate all that you do!

Life has been in full swing with village projects lately.  Scott is working on a contest to motivate his fish farmers to better manage their ponds as well as designing and supervising the digging of new ones.  In his spare time, he has a huge hut-improvement project underway that involves making a bike storage shed and an outdoor bathing shelter out of mud bricks molded from the nearby anthill (aka Home Depot of the bush).  I’ve been busy working on a community health volunteer training, mosquito net distribution, HIV drama group contest, and community-based child nutrition program. 

We’re so excited to take our FIRST official vacation in September with visitors Brad, Jane and Julie.  It’ll include Victoria Falls, the chief’s ceremony near our village, Chimpfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, wildlife watching, hot springs, and Lake Tanganyika.  We have been busy with a few weekend getaways, including this last one at Nyambwezu Falls: 

 Zambia Lowlights July 2011-July 2012:

-       After 6 months of preparing in the Spanish language, the original disappointment in hearing the Latin American program of our nomination was cut due to budget cuts and we’d instead be going to sub-Saharan Africa.

-       The stress of learning our departure date was bumped up from September to July, giving us exactly 6 weeks to quit our jobs, pack up our house, sell our car and most of our stuff, apply for visas and say goodbye to family and friends.

-       Living in separate towns for 3 months, and seeing each other weekend for Peace Corps training

-       Some kids in the village afraid of us when they first met us.

-       Struggling through learning an entirely new language.

-       The awkwardness of people in the village asking for money or things that we cannot give.

-       The village bore hole breaking and countless meetings with government and NGO’s who refuse to fix it.

-       Multiple programs cancelled because different government officers and NGO’s couldn’t or wouldn’t travel to our bush village.

-       Getting soap stolen from our bath shelter

-       Scott accidentally dropping our kitten on the head (he survived just fine)

-       Staring, staring, and more staring from our villagers.  In a village without televisions, we never cease to be the entertainment.

-       Scott’s fish farmers having massive fish kills and losing most of the fish in their ponds due to low oxygen levels

-       Gina witnessing a small child die of malaria fever and the mother’s anguish that followed.

-       Watching villagers suffer from various medical ailments that would have been easily prevented/treated in the states

-       Cooks for certain programs skimming food and money

-       Watching blatant bribery at bus checkpoints, especially when the bus is overcrowded

-       Gina crossing a river carrying a bicycle over a flooded bridge thigh-deep in water just to get back from a medical outreach site.

-       Gina having to travel 6 days to Lusaka just to get her work permit, which was misplaced at the disorganized immigration office.

-       Solwezi dust

-       Scott getting spat at by a cobra while walking in the the bush, which incapacitated him for the remainder of the day (the highlight is that the cobra slithered away rather than biting him)

-       A 5-inch deep lake in front of our house before we dug a furrow in early rainy season

-       Some of our fellow Peace Corps volunteers showing disrespectful behavior that affected the entire group of volunteers

-       Marital misunderstandings that get especially magnified when you’re living in a 2-room hut far from the usual social supports

-       Gina’s broken pinky toe at the end of training

-       Gina walking home with a broken bicycle in the pouring rain.

-       Ants and termites EVERYWHERE (what do you expect when your house is made of an anthill?)

Zambia Highlights July 2011-July 2012

-       Stepping off the plane to meet an amazing group of Peace Corps staff who gave us a warm welcome into this country

-       Scott living with a host family who had never before had contact with Americans

-       Dancing, drumming, and hula-hooping with the host family children

-       Gina helping her host brother with range-of-motion stretches for his CP

-       Visiting other volunteers-in-training on brand-new Treks in Chongwe and Chipembi

-       Seeing dika, warthogs, and giraffes whenever we visited each other on weekends during training

-       Waking up at 1am to jubilation when election results were given after 3 days of tensely waiting for the new president

-       Scott visiting Kariba Farms crocodile farm with his fellow trainees

-       Salsa dancing and clubbing in Lusaka

-       ***Eating a feast of game meat and other Zambian delicacies at the State House along with President Sata for Scott’s swear-in***

-       Taking our host from a bush village to see a 3D movie in Lusaka

-       Jerry can drumming and watching villagers play a makeshift guitar

-       Being in a crowded Lusaka bar the night Chipolopolo won the Africa Cup of Nations and witnessing the subsequent national pride

-       Watching the players and coach parade through the streets the next day in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans

-       Scott being an honored guest at our neighbor’s wedding meal

-       Interesting and colorful caterpillars, spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, and lizards in our very own backyard

-       Sitting under our thatch-roof kitchen watching lightning in all directions, and then being perfectly dry under sheets of rain

-       Making and delivering Christmas cookies to see our neighbors’ faces light up.

-       Making treats over a charcoal brazier (thanks in good part to our Bush Baby cast iron pot) that we never possible: cinnamon rolls, pizza, pumpkin pie, and gingerbread to name a few

-       Gina watching the successful delivery of our next-door-neighbor girl Priscilla’s baby in the clinic with very competent birth attendants

-       Seeing the clinic bore hole get up and running so patients no longer had to drink and wash in river water

-       Setting up an HIV counseling and testing program at the clinic where before there was none.

-       Scott’s first fish-farming training, which attracted over 45 villagers

-       Swimming and lounging in the Zambezi rapids near Ikelenge

-       Waterfalls, waterfalls, more waterfalls, and the Zambians’ amazement that we can actually swim where we can’t touch the bottom.

-       Our first formal visit to the chief with the villagers followed by a second, less formal visit where the chief invited us into his living room, invited us for a drink, played the guitar for us and sat down for a nshima meal with us.

-       Awesome hitches on roads where transportation is usually difficult: notably an organic honey distributer, a Chinese cell tower worker, an American president historian, and a South African woman with a dog

-       Zambian smiles

-       Scott meeting our next door neighbor at a remote bus stop 300k from our house and being invited for lunch at her sister’s house

-       Palm Sunday procession down our road complete with the spiritual singing and carrying of palms

-       Discovering amazing bush trail shortcuts on our mountain bikes

-       Rasmod’s singing for joy in the mornings with no particular audience

-       Scott teaching math to people truly interested in learning

-       Seeing the pride in 8^th and 9^th graders writing letters to America

-       Finally reaching semi-proficiency in the Lunda language as shown by the village women telling Gina “you speak Lunda very well” and Scott being able to sustain a 10-minute conversation

-       Sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, countless stars, and full moons (what more can we say?)

-       The chief coming by our house and commenting on how much he liked our solar dehydrator made of bush materials

-       Gina’s homestay with an amazing embassy family in Lusaka

-       Meeting Brother Joe and hearing stories of him hunting elephants in our neck of the woods before Zambia was Zambia

-       Joyfull dancing, clapping and singing at church or whenever a new baby is born in the village.

-       Thanksgiving and Easter dinner feasts at the Solwezi house, with subsequent dance parties that followed

-       Turning on our phones and finding that network coverage was in our hut!

-       Both of us being malaria-free for 1 year

-       Friendly greetings by name from various compounds as we ride our bikes up and down the dirt road in front of our house.

-       Valentine’s dinner at the Golfview Hotel in Lusaka

-       Opening up surprise care packages, especially from unexpected people like Stephanie and Nick’s mom

-       Gina teaching yoga to teenage boys at camp ELITE

-       Watching the villagers implement some of the projects we encouraged, like perma-gardening and giving health talks at antenatal clinic

-       Fresh cowmilk tea, good conversation with Brits, and a beautiful view from our front porch veranda on a weekend getaway in Nyangombe

-       An exhausting bike ride to a remote waterfall where the villagers happily greeted us, brought us to their headman, and cooked us a chicken

-       The warm, welcoming, hardworking yet easygoing attitude of the Zambian people coupled with being constantly surrounded by natural beauty which has captured our hearts and made us realize there’s no place in the world we’d rather be right now than Zambia!

Here’s to a great year behind us and 15 more months of meaningful work and play in the country we have come to call home!