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
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Life is Different Now
Yeah. Different. Pretty good, too. Having my meals prepared for me, my clothes washed, my bath water drawn and heated, and my schedule laid out is pretty nice here in Zambia. I am learning a lot between language classes, technical classes on fish farming, and just living in a close knit community in the middle of Zambia. That includes everything from avoiding untraveled routes for fear of tire-puncturing thorns, sweeping frequently to keep the ants from setting up a home in my hut, shaking out the mattress and sheets to keep the bed bugs away, making sure I greet my family when I return from class, and how to roll nshima properly so it can be used as a spoon.
Gina has proven to be the master cow-game player here in Zambia. I think the score is something like 12 to 1. I also have to commend Gina on her ability to get Zambians to open up. Whether they are children or adults, Gina seems to attract people with smiles. After I got a less than warm welcome from my host family when I arrived by myself, Gina's visit to my host family last weekend had my host mother, children, and neighbors talking jovially about anything, even if only in broken English. I feel like my host family has warmed up more to me even after Gina has gone back to Chongwe, so I either need to start taking notes on her tactics or must make sure she is around when we get placed to our permanent site in October and when I go to my fish farmer meetings.
I thought I had gotten over most culture shock after staying in Chongwe with Gina, but with my host family in Chipembi there was room for a little more: having my host father strongly suggest that I do not go outside at night and even providing a pee-bucket to keep inside my hut to discourage leaving it at night. I also had to get used to the sounds of pigs snorting and rooting outside my hut for scraps and bugs instead of the Zam-pop I had while I stayed with Gina's host family. Of course, the aforementioned bed bugs, or what i assume are bed bugs, were a change as well.
Highlights for me since the last post:
* Going to a Church of Zambia service with gina and her host mother in Chongwe. It was nearly 3 hours long and was about 60% singing, 30% sermon, and 10% waiting, and worth the experience.
* Going to a church choir practice near my host families house in Chipembi on a saturday. I got to play the drums and learn a popular gospel dance step. Yes, gospel dance.
* Witnessing the skinning and gutting of a freshly killed goat. I missed the killing by about 5 minutes, but from what I hear I think I'm glad I missed it. As it was described to me it was more like a lynching than a sacrifice.
* A mountain bike ride with Gina during her visit to my host family in Chipembi. The Zambian bush is ripe for adventure mountain biking exploitation.
* A football game (note: SOCCER, of course) played on a sloping half sand, half dead grass field. I wasn't expecting much but these teams meant business. You'd never know it but there are official leagues even this deep in the bush.
* An evening of drumming, singing, and dancing with my family and neighbors on a random Tuesday. I didn't know what the occasion was but everyone was happy. Zambians love the concept of the "take your turn in the middle of the dance circle". I even got to play the drum again, though the drum was a water bucket. The family loved it all the same.
* A long lazy day of throwing around a football (American style), playing cards, and hanging out punctuated by brief interviews with the technical staff and a little bike maintenance. It was "chillin'" at it's finest. It is particular noteable for me because the hasn't been a lot of time for that since I've been in Chipembi.
Though not a highlight exactly, I confess that any leaning towards vegetarianism is gone here in Zambia. I'm still eating plenty of vegetables, but it seems most of my reasons for being a pseudo-vegetarian in the States are non-issues in the bush. Bring-on the meat! Though I like the fish here just as good! I've almost got things set up for pictures, so hopefully we'll have some next time. Good bye for now. Any comments are particular appreciated. If not on the blog itself, then just for the heck of it!
Gina has proven to be the master cow-game player here in Zambia. I think the score is something like 12 to 1. I also have to commend Gina on her ability to get Zambians to open up. Whether they are children or adults, Gina seems to attract people with smiles. After I got a less than warm welcome from my host family when I arrived by myself, Gina's visit to my host family last weekend had my host mother, children, and neighbors talking jovially about anything, even if only in broken English. I feel like my host family has warmed up more to me even after Gina has gone back to Chongwe, so I either need to start taking notes on her tactics or must make sure she is around when we get placed to our permanent site in October and when I go to my fish farmer meetings.
I thought I had gotten over most culture shock after staying in Chongwe with Gina, but with my host family in Chipembi there was room for a little more: having my host father strongly suggest that I do not go outside at night and even providing a pee-bucket to keep inside my hut to discourage leaving it at night. I also had to get used to the sounds of pigs snorting and rooting outside my hut for scraps and bugs instead of the Zam-pop I had while I stayed with Gina's host family. Of course, the aforementioned bed bugs, or what i assume are bed bugs, were a change as well.
Highlights for me since the last post:
* Going to a Church of Zambia service with gina and her host mother in Chongwe. It was nearly 3 hours long and was about 60% singing, 30% sermon, and 10% waiting, and worth the experience.
* Going to a church choir practice near my host families house in Chipembi on a saturday. I got to play the drums and learn a popular gospel dance step. Yes, gospel dance.
* Witnessing the skinning and gutting of a freshly killed goat. I missed the killing by about 5 minutes, but from what I hear I think I'm glad I missed it. As it was described to me it was more like a lynching than a sacrifice.
* A mountain bike ride with Gina during her visit to my host family in Chipembi. The Zambian bush is ripe for adventure mountain biking exploitation.
* A football game (note: SOCCER, of course) played on a sloping half sand, half dead grass field. I wasn't expecting much but these teams meant business. You'd never know it but there are official leagues even this deep in the bush.
* An evening of drumming, singing, and dancing with my family and neighbors on a random Tuesday. I didn't know what the occasion was but everyone was happy. Zambians love the concept of the "take your turn in the middle of the dance circle". I even got to play the drum again, though the drum was a water bucket. The family loved it all the same.
* A long lazy day of throwing around a football (American style), playing cards, and hanging out punctuated by brief interviews with the technical staff and a little bike maintenance. It was "chillin'" at it's finest. It is particular noteable for me because the hasn't been a lot of time for that since I've been in Chipembi.
Though not a highlight exactly, I confess that any leaning towards vegetarianism is gone here in Zambia. I'm still eating plenty of vegetables, but it seems most of my reasons for being a pseudo-vegetarian in the States are non-issues in the bush. Bring-on the meat! Though I like the fish here just as good! I've almost got things set up for pictures, so hopefully we'll have some next time. Good bye for now. Any comments are particular appreciated. If not on the blog itself, then just for the heck of it!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Zambia Through the Senses
Gina's Post:
We have officially been in Zambia for a little over three weeks and have experienced so many different sights, sounds, and feelings since coming here. Scott and I have been staying in Chongwe until two days ago when he went to Chipembwe to start with his fish farming training. We were issued mountain bikes and have been navigating dirt roads to language sites, our homestay family, and “school”. “School” consists of morning language classes in small groups and either large or small groups where I learn what health care needs are prioritized in Zambia and what we are expected to do as healthcare volunteers. For the most part, the instruction has been very informative, and hopefully I’ll do well on my first Lunda language simulation this Monday.
Although training is just 40 minutes from Lusaka, it seems worlds away as the houses are made of mud brick s (including mine!), none have running water, and very few have electricity, which for all of its downfalls does tend to invoke dancing and games at night as there is not a television to watch. My host family consists of a 52 year-old widow named Annie who has 8 children between the ages of 8 and 36 (yes, it is humanly possible)! Affectionately known as “Amaama” she is a strong, kind-hearted African woman with an amazing belly laugh. Although she has hosted 11 other Peace Corps volunteers, she speaks almost no English, which is great practice for me! I have nothing but respect and admiration as she keeps a positive attitude throughout her daily activities, which include: fetching water by hand, doing laundry by hand in buckets with the water fetched from the bore hole, cooking meals in a round room over a 3-log fire, sweeping red dirt away from the houses and into the surrounding bush several times per day, caring for her young grandchildren and one son with severe CP, doing dishes in buckets, and maintaining Peace Corps such as Scott and myself by making sure we have boiled drinking and bathwater, good food, and clean clothes. Although it seems like glorified camping at first, the reality of Zambian rural living has set in for me and now I realize why health problems are prevalent and life expectancy is short; just everyday living takes so much time! Despite her long days, Annie loves to laugh and has a beautiful singing voice.
I have settled into a nice little routine here, and at some times can’t believe I’ve only been taking bucket baths and sleeping in a mud hut for two weeks. Because I’m worried that the novel may soon become mundane, I’d like to highlight my Zambian experience up to now through the five senses:
1) Sights
- Women with brightly-colored chitenge cloth skirts wrapped around their waists, normally carrying something on their head and sometimes a baby on their back
- A handful of chickens that somehow strategically climb the mango tree 10-12 feet to roost and peer at me as I take my bucket bath in the thatch-walled outdoor bathing shelter
- A blood-orange sun poking out over rolling hills of bushes and fruit trees at sunrise and sunset
- The orange glow on the horizon as fields and trees burning in the distance to clear for the next planting season
- Bright star constellations when there is no moon, moon shadows when there is just half a moon, and a full-on spotlight when the moon is full
- Any type of farm animal you could imagine walking nonchalantly just feet away from our class, including baby piglets, cows with bells, goats, pigs, and chickens everywhere. Fencing doesn’t seem to be an issue as they graze on whatever they can find.
- A panorama of mud huts and thatched roofs interspersed through windy dirt roads that sometimes makes me feel like I’m in a movie set.
2) Sounds
- Motor bikes and diesel trucks rumbling over the nearby dirt road
- Zam-pop blaring through speakers noon to midnight with the occasional drunk stumbling past my front door (interesting how the houses don’t have power but the bars sure do).
- Political songs and slogans and busloads of people rallying with drums preparing for the September 20th presidential election—this one may need its own blog post
- Children laughing and women chattering
- Dogs barking in the wee hours of the morning, stray cats mating, and roosters foreshadowing the daytime starting at midnight.
- Dried maize kernels being sifted, sorted and dumped by hand in preparation to sell to the government
- A capella choirs resonating like angelic voices in a concrete church on Sunday
- Termites chewing on the reed mat where my mattress lies—okay, some things I may NEVER get used to.
- The friendly Nyanja greeting Muli Bwanji! Whenever I bike or walk past people walking down the road.
3) Smells
- Smoke from burning both organic and non-organic trash as there is no garbage service around these parts
- Fresh dust spewed up from cars whizzing by on the road
- The fragrant little white flower buds on some of the trees that I can only hope will be mangoes after the rains come.
- Freshly hand-washed, sun-dried clothes
- Surprisingly the pit latrine doesn’t smell too bad as Amaama pours ashes from the cooking fire down it every day
4) Tastes
- Dust from the road when a car whizzes by my mountain bike on my way to school.
- Peanut butter on everything that is a breakfast food, including bananas, fritters, porridge and bread
- Nshima, the Zambian staple, which is eaten at every meal. Imagine grits cooked up and stirred to mashed potato consistency and served two of the following relishes, cooked in oil and salt: eggs, dried fish, chicken, soy bits, cabbage, beans, rape (similar to Chinese cabbage), cabbage, tomato stew. Doesn’t sound too appealing at first, but all of the above foods I actually now enjoy.
5) Physical Sensations
- Warm bucket bathwater on a crisp evening. Yes, it has been a bit chilly at night as we are in the middle of winter and at about 4,000 feet. My synthetic down jacket has come to good use as I can see my breath most nights.
- Playing barefoot soccer on the dirt with a bunch of kids using a ball made of plastic bags and rope
- The sun beating down just right on my hat during outdoor language sessions.
- The squish squish of soap on clothes which indicates they are being properly washed by hand, as the village kids let us know!
- Rolling nshima into a ball with my right hand, pressing a dent in the center to make a spoon, and then picking up the relish with your little dough ball. I have yet to see a fork at Amaama Annie’s house.
- Flying by on a brand new front-suspension Trek mountain bike (thanks Peace Corps!) on curvy, smooth, sandy and bumpy bush trails on our way to school.
Signing off for the next month of so as internet access only comes with a special visit to Lusaka. Keep in touch via snail mail address to the right.
Shalenuhu!
Scott and Gina
Thursday, August 4, 2011
2 weeks in!
This is Scott on his first Blogpost ever. Bare with me.
Gina and I are with her host family learning Lunda, another Bantu-derived language of Africa that is not spoken in many places except Mwinilunga in the Northwest province, so that is likely where we are going. Turns out Gina visited Mwinilunga in 2006. Coincidence? We have both visited Peace Corps Volunteers at their villages out in the Bush, separately since our programs are different. At my site visit I learned a lot about how to live comfortably in the Bush and got a taste of what it will be like to interact with the locals who are interested in fish farming. We went to a Zambian school where we met a headmaster who speaks 7 of the 72 languages of Zambia. I tried to explain how I respected him and other Zambians who know at least 2 languages fluently and can get by with 1 or 3 others, while Americans usually only know one. He seemed to understand and was greatful but I think the effect I was trying to achieve was lost a little. Most Zambians know that many languages because they have to, not because they want to.
Cultural Notes:
* During site visit I slept in a tent and woke up to the sound of what sounded like crinkling paper. Turns out I put my tent on top of a budding termite colony. Luckily they aren't interested in eating nylon.
* Child care is blazingly different in the Bush. 4 and 6 year olds are in charge of minding the cows during the day. Others who don't have a task run around villages with zero supervision. Somehow this works. The Zambian population is growing.
* When I returned from the Bush I was able to take a real shower. But the only water coming out was a trickle of scalding hot while there was zero cold water. Imagine looking forward to a hot shower but being unable to take one because it's too hot!
*I've had Zambian fish for lunch once. A whole fish. Gina's host family mother deboned it with her bare hands right there in front of me. Hopefully she washed her hands. The next day I went to a market where she got that fish. Lined up nicely, stiff as a board and covered with flies, were the same kind of fish I ate yesterday. I had more to worry about than unclean hands at that point, but luckily I have had no stomach or digestive issues since I've been here.
* I went to the 82nd Agriculture Show in Lusaka earlier this week. The lines to get in were 7 people wide and about 100 yards long. It was like being in Times Square on New Year's Eve day. Otherwise, the fish farming community and the Peace Corps had a nice exhibit. It is nice to know that the program I'm here for has some support.
* Sunglass are for sale everywhere. Funny thing is that rarely do I see Zambians wearing sunglasses. And the places I've seen them are not tourist places. This is a weird spin on the phrase "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". It doesn't really work when you get lemons all the time.
* As I wait outside of a shop watching after our bicycles (Yes, we have brand new Trek bikes!) while Gina get's a few essentials, a Zambian man strolls up to me and says, "Hello, I would like to go to church with you". Apparently religion is the topic of choice as opposed to the weather.
Gina and I are doing good. She had a cold that slowed her down a little, but no major or minor health or safety issues so far! I will leave for my host family on August 10th, so Gina and I will be apart for about 2 months with occasional visits. We can verify that everything that people have said about how friendly people are in Zambia is true. We are looking forward to more language and technical training and can't wait to start our assignments in October. More later!
Gina and I are with her host family learning Lunda, another Bantu-derived language of Africa that is not spoken in many places except Mwinilunga in the Northwest province, so that is likely where we are going. Turns out Gina visited Mwinilunga in 2006. Coincidence? We have both visited Peace Corps Volunteers at their villages out in the Bush, separately since our programs are different. At my site visit I learned a lot about how to live comfortably in the Bush and got a taste of what it will be like to interact with the locals who are interested in fish farming. We went to a Zambian school where we met a headmaster who speaks 7 of the 72 languages of Zambia. I tried to explain how I respected him and other Zambians who know at least 2 languages fluently and can get by with 1 or 3 others, while Americans usually only know one. He seemed to understand and was greatful but I think the effect I was trying to achieve was lost a little. Most Zambians know that many languages because they have to, not because they want to.
Cultural Notes:
* During site visit I slept in a tent and woke up to the sound of what sounded like crinkling paper. Turns out I put my tent on top of a budding termite colony. Luckily they aren't interested in eating nylon.
* Child care is blazingly different in the Bush. 4 and 6 year olds are in charge of minding the cows during the day. Others who don't have a task run around villages with zero supervision. Somehow this works. The Zambian population is growing.
* When I returned from the Bush I was able to take a real shower. But the only water coming out was a trickle of scalding hot while there was zero cold water. Imagine looking forward to a hot shower but being unable to take one because it's too hot!
*I've had Zambian fish for lunch once. A whole fish. Gina's host family mother deboned it with her bare hands right there in front of me. Hopefully she washed her hands. The next day I went to a market where she got that fish. Lined up nicely, stiff as a board and covered with flies, were the same kind of fish I ate yesterday. I had more to worry about than unclean hands at that point, but luckily I have had no stomach or digestive issues since I've been here.
* I went to the 82nd Agriculture Show in Lusaka earlier this week. The lines to get in were 7 people wide and about 100 yards long. It was like being in Times Square on New Year's Eve day. Otherwise, the fish farming community and the Peace Corps had a nice exhibit. It is nice to know that the program I'm here for has some support.
* Sunglass are for sale everywhere. Funny thing is that rarely do I see Zambians wearing sunglasses. And the places I've seen them are not tourist places. This is a weird spin on the phrase "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". It doesn't really work when you get lemons all the time.
* As I wait outside of a shop watching after our bicycles (Yes, we have brand new Trek bikes!) while Gina get's a few essentials, a Zambian man strolls up to me and says, "Hello, I would like to go to church with you". Apparently religion is the topic of choice as opposed to the weather.
Gina and I are doing good. She had a cold that slowed her down a little, but no major or minor health or safety issues so far! I will leave for my host family on August 10th, so Gina and I will be apart for about 2 months with occasional visits. We can verify that everything that people have said about how friendly people are in Zambia is true. We are looking forward to more language and technical training and can't wait to start our assignments in October. More later!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
We've arrived!
Mwli shani!
So the internet in Zambia is extremely SLOW, and we probably won't get much access to it for the next 2-3 months, BUT we just wanted everyone to know that we have arrived safely and soundly and are doing well. We have begun training outside of Lusaka and learned many things such as safety and security, cultural customs, etc. We have 39 people in our training group from all over the U.S. Tomorrow, we go to visit small towns all over Zambia at our first site visit, and then go to a training center outside of Lusaka where we will live with a host family and begin language training. We HAVE found out that we'll be living in either Northwest or Central province, and will be speaking either Bemba, Lunda, OR Kaonde. They actually give us our language on Wednesday, so we'll have a better idea of WHERE we will be living by then.
We did get cell phones, which are MUCH more efficient than internet, so if you need to reach us until the end of the month, just call our US home phone number or Gina's cell phone number, and we will check messages on those up through the end of the month. Leave a message and we'll give you our Zambian numbers.
MANY pictures to come, but it will probably be via us mailing a photo chip to a friend who will have to upload it to the internet. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a mental image that we saw while on a walk outside of our training center yesterday: Two Zambian men and a women dressed in high heels with a hot pink belt around her waist carrying a cage made out of sticks carrying about 15 chickens. And this was in the outskirts of Lusaka. The people are very friendly and have awesome handshakes :).
Before we have more regular internet access, we would LOVE snail mail, and out address is in the top right of this blog. They said it gets there best if you label it in RED ink with Bible verses or religious quotes written on the outside of the envelope. Yes, Zambia is a very Christian country. We will definitely reply via snail mail!
Take care,
Gina and Scott
So the internet in Zambia is extremely SLOW, and we probably won't get much access to it for the next 2-3 months, BUT we just wanted everyone to know that we have arrived safely and soundly and are doing well. We have begun training outside of Lusaka and learned many things such as safety and security, cultural customs, etc. We have 39 people in our training group from all over the U.S. Tomorrow, we go to visit small towns all over Zambia at our first site visit, and then go to a training center outside of Lusaka where we will live with a host family and begin language training. We HAVE found out that we'll be living in either Northwest or Central province, and will be speaking either Bemba, Lunda, OR Kaonde. They actually give us our language on Wednesday, so we'll have a better idea of WHERE we will be living by then.
We did get cell phones, which are MUCH more efficient than internet, so if you need to reach us until the end of the month, just call our US home phone number or Gina's cell phone number, and we will check messages on those up through the end of the month. Leave a message and we'll give you our Zambian numbers.
MANY pictures to come, but it will probably be via us mailing a photo chip to a friend who will have to upload it to the internet. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a mental image that we saw while on a walk outside of our training center yesterday: Two Zambian men and a women dressed in high heels with a hot pink belt around her waist carrying a cage made out of sticks carrying about 15 chickens. And this was in the outskirts of Lusaka. The people are very friendly and have awesome handshakes :).
Before we have more regular internet access, we would LOVE snail mail, and out address is in the top right of this blog. They said it gets there best if you label it in RED ink with Bible verses or religious quotes written on the outside of the envelope. Yes, Zambia is a very Christian country. We will definitely reply via snail mail!
Take care,
Gina and Scott
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Two More Days
Gina's post:
We officially have less than two days until our plane officially leaves for South Africa and then Zambia after a brief period in Philadelphia where we get to meet about 35 other PC volunteers from the health program (Scott will meet his group from the fish program 2 weeks later).
This past month has been a whirlwind of packing, moving, leaving work, and saying goodbye to friends and family in different parts of the country. This week has been a blessing with some much needed R&R with Scott's family in Virginia and Delaware and even a day at the beach!
With all of the stress of moving behind us and the anticipation ahead, I wanted to post one of my most vivid memories of our second to last night in Yakima one week ago:
The house was completely empty except for a few boxes in the living room as remnants to go to storage the next day. We had just taken down the bed, which was replaced by therma-rests in our bedroom. The kitchen shelves had some food left, but all of our pots, pans and eating utensils were packed. And then we had the "Zambia room" in the basement . . . the place where we put everything that just MIGHT go to Zambia that we found during our move and had to consolidate to 80 pounds each.
Other than that, the house was completely empty. The house that Scott lived in for the last 5 years and we shared for the last 3. The house that we lovingly painted by the summer after we got married and that hosted plenty of dance parties, summer barbecues, and bonfires. The house that we crammed 16 friends and family into for Christmas dinner and hosted dozens of out of town visitors. The house where Scott dug irrigation ditches by hand and we zealously planted a garden. The house that we sat by our cozy gas fireplace on cold November days and watch from the window the leaves falling from our tree-lined street. The house that we will leave in exchange for a mud hut in an unknown area of Zambia that will become our new home for two years after we finish training.
On the second-to-last night, we had one last hurrah for the friends that have come into our lives during Scott's past 12 and my past 5 years in Yakima. We saw co-workers that have worked with us since we started our jobs, neighbors, my former business partner, and lots and lots of friends. Their children picked berries from our bushes, chased the neighbor's cats, played baseball and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs in our fire pit. We gave friends free reign of our kitchen to take any leftover food from our fridge and pantry. The evening was simple but memorable with many of our closest friends a few tears, and good long hugs.
As the evening progressed, Scott and his friend Brad started some African rhythms on the djembes and we burned the last of our piles of no longer-needed documents that pertained to the past few years of our lives as we chatted, said goodbyes, and drank wine around the campfire. We were basking by the fire in the carefree Yakima summer night.
The evening as I saw it was a bridge to our upcoming lives, as we will most likely have plenty of opportunities for drumming, fires, and new friends. Although the fires will most likely be for cooking real food or burning almost all trash, or warmth during cold winter nights and the new friends may not speak English. And we won't be surrounded by irrigation systems that turn on with timers and gas fireplaces and tree-lined streets. Instead, we'll be able to see glorious stars and beautiful skies. We'll listen to sounds of voices joining in unison in song for the sheer joy of celebrating the night. What I do hope, is that when we leave our new village, the hugs, the children's laughter and the tears will penetrate us no less deeply than they did the second-to-last night in our Yakima house.
We officially have less than two days until our plane officially leaves for South Africa and then Zambia after a brief period in Philadelphia where we get to meet about 35 other PC volunteers from the health program (Scott will meet his group from the fish program 2 weeks later).
This past month has been a whirlwind of packing, moving, leaving work, and saying goodbye to friends and family in different parts of the country. This week has been a blessing with some much needed R&R with Scott's family in Virginia and Delaware and even a day at the beach!
With all of the stress of moving behind us and the anticipation ahead, I wanted to post one of my most vivid memories of our second to last night in Yakima one week ago:
The house was completely empty except for a few boxes in the living room as remnants to go to storage the next day. We had just taken down the bed, which was replaced by therma-rests in our bedroom. The kitchen shelves had some food left, but all of our pots, pans and eating utensils were packed. And then we had the "Zambia room" in the basement . . . the place where we put everything that just MIGHT go to Zambia that we found during our move and had to consolidate to 80 pounds each.
Other than that, the house was completely empty. The house that Scott lived in for the last 5 years and we shared for the last 3. The house that we lovingly painted by the summer after we got married and that hosted plenty of dance parties, summer barbecues, and bonfires. The house that we crammed 16 friends and family into for Christmas dinner and hosted dozens of out of town visitors. The house where Scott dug irrigation ditches by hand and we zealously planted a garden. The house that we sat by our cozy gas fireplace on cold November days and watch from the window the leaves falling from our tree-lined street. The house that we will leave in exchange for a mud hut in an unknown area of Zambia that will become our new home for two years after we finish training.
On the second-to-last night, we had one last hurrah for the friends that have come into our lives during Scott's past 12 and my past 5 years in Yakima. We saw co-workers that have worked with us since we started our jobs, neighbors, my former business partner, and lots and lots of friends. Their children picked berries from our bushes, chased the neighbor's cats, played baseball and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs in our fire pit. We gave friends free reign of our kitchen to take any leftover food from our fridge and pantry. The evening was simple but memorable with many of our closest friends a few tears, and good long hugs.
As the evening progressed, Scott and his friend Brad started some African rhythms on the djembes and we burned the last of our piles of no longer-needed documents that pertained to the past few years of our lives as we chatted, said goodbyes, and drank wine around the campfire. We were basking by the fire in the carefree Yakima summer night.
The evening as I saw it was a bridge to our upcoming lives, as we will most likely have plenty of opportunities for drumming, fires, and new friends. Although the fires will most likely be for cooking real food or burning almost all trash, or warmth during cold winter nights and the new friends may not speak English. And we won't be surrounded by irrigation systems that turn on with timers and gas fireplaces and tree-lined streets. Instead, we'll be able to see glorious stars and beautiful skies. We'll listen to sounds of voices joining in unison in song for the sheer joy of celebrating the night. What I do hope, is that when we leave our new village, the hugs, the children's laughter and the tears will penetrate us no less deeply than they did the second-to-last night in our Yakima house.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Q&A: Let the adventure begin!
People have been asking us a multitude of questions before we leave, so we thought we’d do our best to answer them using information from Peace Corps materials including the Zambia Welcome Book, other volunteers’ blogs, talking with returned volunteers, and our own experience in Tanzania and Zambia in ’06.
1. Where are you going?
We’re going to Zambia, which is a landlocked country in South-Central Africa. Neighboring countries include: Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Its land area is slightly larger than Texas. As of now, we know we will be training in the small villages a few hours outside of Lusaka until mid-October. More on training in a bit (#19 to be exact). After that, we will be assigned to a rural placement in one of the provinces of Zambia. We will not know our exact site until mid-training. We do know that we will be placed in a remote village in Northern, Luapula, Central, Eastern or Northwestern province.
2. What will you be doing?
2. What will you be doing?
Here are our program descriptions from the Welcome Book:
Scott: Rural Aquaculture Promotion (RAP) Project
Volunteers are helping the Department of Fisheries to develop
fish-farming projects that will improve livelihoods in rural
communities. After determining rural farmers’ needs and
resources, Volunteers provide technical assistance in establishing
dams, furrows, fishponds, and integrated agriculture. In addition
to providing an excellent source of nutrition for rural families,
surplus fish and agricultural products are sold to provide
substantial supplementary income. Volunteers provide training in
small agribusiness skills to assist farmers in applying a business
orientation toward their farming activities. Volunteers also help
build the organizational development capacity of fish-farming
associations.
Gina: Rural Health Project
In the fall of 2008, Peace Corps/Zambia combined the
Community Action for Health Project (CAHP) and the HIV/
AIDS Project (HAP) to form a new comprehensive rural health
project. The project, delivered at the district and community
levels, focuses on improving rural health in the areas of malaria,
maternal health, child health and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS
awareness, education, prevention, and nutrition. Being a rural-
based project, Volunteers work to facilitate the formation and
training of community-based organizations that spearhead the
planning, implementation, and sustainable management of
community-led intervention in malaria, maternal health, child
health and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS mitigation and management.
The project is implemented under the Ministry of Health and,
therefore, the primary contact for the Volunteer is the Rural
Health Center and it staff. The Volunteers also work with
other line ministries and other sector organizations to mobilize
resources for the training and implementation of sustainable
health interventions in the above stated health areas.
3. What language do they speak there?
English is an official language, as Zambia was a former British colony that recently gained independence in 1964, so English is widely spoken in the cities and urban areas. That said, all or almost all of the people living where will be placed will speak a tribal language only. We will know which tribal language we will learn within the first few weeks of training.
4. When do you leave?
We report for staging in Philadelphia on July 18th, 2011 and arrive in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia July 20th.
3. What language do they speak there?
English is an official language, as Zambia was a former British colony that recently gained independence in 1964, so English is widely spoken in the cities and urban areas. That said, all or almost all of the people living where will be placed will speak a tribal language only. We will know which tribal language we will learn within the first few weeks of training.
4. When do you leave?
We report for staging in Philadelphia on July 18th, 2011 and arrive in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia July 20th.
5. When will you return to the US?
We will be gone for about 27 months, with 3 months of training and 24 months of service. We will be finished around October 7th, 2013 unless we extend our placement or for some reason have to leave early. We also may travel for a few months before heading home.
6. Do you get vacation?
We get two days of vacation for every month we serve. Plus we also get the Zambian holidays. However, we cannot leave our site/country for the first six months of service (that includes training) and the last three months of our service.
7. Can you leave the country?
Yes, (except for the first six months of service and the last 3 months of service). Of course any travel we do will be at our own expense.
8. Can people visit you?
YES! Please do. However we’re not supposed to have visitors for the six months of service and the last 3 months. The best time to visit would be during the dry season in Zambia, which lasts from May through October. This coincides very nicely with US summer 2012 and early summer 2013. Besides visiting us in our bush village, there are many amazing tourist opportunities such as safaris, tribal festivals, and the famous Victoria Falls that can be found at: http://www.zambiatourism.com/. For those planning trips to Zambia, you should definitely let us know when you might be thinking of coming so we can plan OUR vacation time accordingly. You will also need to plan ahead by asking for at least two weeks off work to give ample time for jet lag on both ends and slow transportation in Zambia, as well as visit a travel doctor to get all your shots.
9. Does the Peace Corps pay you?
6. Do you get vacation?
We get two days of vacation for every month we serve. Plus we also get the Zambian holidays. However, we cannot leave our site/country for the first six months of service (that includes training) and the last three months of our service.
7. Can you leave the country?
Yes, (except for the first six months of service and the last 3 months of service). Of course any travel we do will be at our own expense.
8. Can people visit you?
YES! Please do. However we’re not supposed to have visitors for the six months of service and the last 3 months. The best time to visit would be during the dry season in Zambia, which lasts from May through October. This coincides very nicely with US summer 2012 and early summer 2013. Besides visiting us in our bush village, there are many amazing tourist opportunities such as safaris, tribal festivals, and the famous Victoria Falls that can be found at: http://www.zambiatourism.com/. For those planning trips to Zambia, you should definitely let us know when you might be thinking of coming so we can plan OUR vacation time accordingly. You will also need to plan ahead by asking for at least two weeks off work to give ample time for jet lag on both ends and slow transportation in Zambia, as well as visit a travel doctor to get all your shots.
9. Does the Peace Corps pay you?
Yes and no. Peace Corps expects its volunteers to live at the same level as the people they serve, so a living stipend for food, clothing, and housing will be paid in kwacha, which is the national currency. This ends up being about $200-300 per month, USD for each of us. Peace Corps pays for our medical and dental care while we are serving as well as our round-trip ticket to Zambia and travel within the country. A recently-returned volunteer just told us she was able to live very easily on her given allowance and that married couples are sometimes able to save more for a little spending money since they will be sharing a house. Additionally, we will accrue a small allowance each month that we can only withdraw when we finish our service. This is called a readjustment allowance and will help us buy essentials when we return to the States.
10. What is the food like?
10. What is the food like?
From the Peace Corps Zambia Welcome Book:
Your access to Western-style foods may be very limited, but you
will soon become familiar, and even enamored with, nshima
(cornmeal porridge), cabbage, and kapenta (fish), as well
as other staple foods like local leaf sauces and smoked fish.
Fruits such as mangoes, guavas, and especially bananas, can
be found commonly everywhere, but mangoes are seasonal;
vegetable variety is generally good, but can be seasonally difficult,
and meat is not readily available for Volunteers while at their site.
Most likely, we will be cooking on a charcoal-powered stove called a brazier. I remember when I visited Zambia in ’06 that peanuts were also quite common, and local peanut butter was a staple. Processed foods are quite a novelty and will only be available when we visit the larger towns.
11. What kind of living arrangements will you have?
For the three months of training, we will live with separate host families at our training sites, which will be good because it will help us learn the language. After training, we will move to our village, and live together, most likely with yet another family for the first month or two to get adjusted to our village. After that, it will depend on circumstances, but we will either stay with that host family or move into our own mud hut on a family compound.
12. Will you have electricity?
No. Not in our hut, possibly somewhere in our village, but most likely a good biking distance away from where we will be living. We have bought a solar charger which we plan to use to charge our cell phones that we will buy when we get to Zambia.
13. Will you have a western toilet?
No. Although Peace Corps requires that all volunteers have their own personal pit latrines (fancy for a hole in the ground surrounded by a thatched screen) for sanitation purposes. Do you think they will let Scott and I share one?
14. Will you have running water?
No. We will most likely be fetching our own water from the village well. This might be very near our hut or a kilometer two away. We will treat our own water using a gravity-fed filter and chlorine drops provided by the Peace Corps. We will boil our own water for bathing and take “bucket baths” in a personal shower stall (read space in the backyard with a straw fence) that is also mandated by the Peace Corps for sanitation reasons.
15. Will you have Internet?
12. Will you have electricity?
No. Not in our hut, possibly somewhere in our village, but most likely a good biking distance away from where we will be living. We have bought a solar charger which we plan to use to charge our cell phones that we will buy when we get to Zambia.
13. Will you have a western toilet?
No. Although Peace Corps requires that all volunteers have their own personal pit latrines (fancy for a hole in the ground surrounded by a thatched screen) for sanitation purposes. Do you think they will let Scott and I share one?
14. Will you have running water?
No. We will most likely be fetching our own water from the village well. This might be very near our hut or a kilometer two away. We will treat our own water using a gravity-fed filter and chlorine drops provided by the Peace Corps. We will boil our own water for bathing and take “bucket baths” in a personal shower stall (read space in the backyard with a straw fence) that is also mandated by the Peace Corps for sanitation reasons.
15. Will you have Internet?
Obviously not in our village since there will be no way to power a computer. We will bring a laptop that we will leave at the provincial house of our district. That said, we will probably be able to access it once a month at the most, and the connection speed will be very slow. If need be, we may mail a picture disk to folks back home so they can upload photos to our blog occasionally. During training, internet will be especially limited as we will be on a very tight schedule and will be very infrequently in the larger cities. There is a very small chance that we may be able to get some e-mail through our cell phones, but we’re not counting on that. So, for those of you who like to write REAL letters, snail mail will be the way to go.
16. How do I contact you?
16. How do I contact you?
Our REAL mail address during training will be:
Gina and Scott/PCT
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia
You can also send us an e-mail, but access might be limited. We will have a cell phone and will send you the phone number if you request it when we get there.
17. What is the weather like?
Taken from the Zambia Welcome Book:
The huge valleys of the upper Zambezi and its major
tributaries, including the Kafue and Luangwa rivers, cut into this
plateau. The climate consists of three distinct seasons: a warm,
wet season from November to April; a cool, dry season from
May to August; and a hot, dry season in September and October.
The relatively high altitude tempers the humidity, providing a
generally pleasant climate. The diversity of climatic conditions
also allows for the cultivation of a wide range of crops.
18. Do you plan to come back to the US at all during your visit?
We hope to make it home once, although we don’t yet know if it will be to Washington, Delaware or Colorado. It will most likely depend on what our budget looks like and what is going on with our families.
19. What exactly do you do during your training?
Training is three months of immersion in technical and language skills to prepare us for two years in the field. Gina will complete her health training (CHIP program) in Chipembwe which is several hours from Lusaka, and Scott will complete his fisheries training in Chongwe, 40 minutes by bus from Lusaka. We will train 8-10 hours per day, typically with half the day of language training and half the day of learning how the Peace Corps health and fisheries programs are set up. Training will consist of many site visits of current volunteers so they can show us which programs are successful. We live with host families and participate in cultural activities to help get accustomed to the rural Zambian way of life. The Zambia program officer stated that we will probably get to see each other every two weeks or so in training. We’re not too worried about this separation, as we’ll be pretty much joined at the hip for the following two years.
20. Is Zambia safe?
Zambia is an incredibly friendly and peaceful country, and Gina felt extremely safe traveling there in 2006. That said, like any developing country, there are risks for crimes, and the most common one that occurs to volunteers in Zambia is theft, which happens to about 6% of volunteers according to their data. Peace Corps states that the most important facet is volunteer safety and security, and we will go through extensive training to minimize safety risk.
21. What are the people like?
This might be a better question to answer once we get there, but from traveling there before, they are for the most part extremely friendly and welcoming as well as receptive to volunteers. The rural Zambians belong to various tribes, although tribes enjoy a healthy relationship with one another and there are no warring factions as in other parts of Africa. The majority of Zambians are Christian, and they can sure sing and dance.
22. How will you get around?
As Peace Corps volunteers, we will not be allowed to drive motorized vehicles while in country. We will take local transportation, and because that is often scarce or non-existent in the rural areas, we will probably hitch rides on flatbed trucks or with local NGO’s or missionaries. Peace Corps Zambia issues all of its volunteers mountain bikes (yay!), and we were told we will get them within the first few weeks of training to get around at our training sites as well as our village placement. We plan on bringing some of our bike gear such as panniers.
23. What will you wear?
We’ll likely wear many of the clothes the villagers wear. We’ll probably have some clothes made out of chitenge (printed fabric) at the local tailor. Women especially are supposed to wear skirts or trousers below the knee, so Gina will have some of those made. Zambia has lots of thrift stores of leftover thrift store items from the US, so we will not be at a loss for t-shirts and that kind of stuff.
24. What will you bring with you?
Judging from above, probably not that many clothes as we can get them easily there. We’ll bring stuff like sturdy shoes, sandals, books, and lots of outdoor gear like a tent and bike stuff. We’ll also bring a solar charger to make up for the lack of electricity. We each get an 80 lb. weight limit, so we may also ship ourselves some stuff. And . . . we definitely wouldn’t mind care packages once in awhile from friends and family.
25. Donde esta Zambia?
Please go back to question #1.
LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!!!!!!!
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