OK to start with I have had some issues with my village. Some of them have been occurring off and on since I moved in, but some new ones have sprouted as well. My villagers don’t care about learning new things or working with me and rarely can I get anyone to show up to workshops, even when they are the ones that requested the workshop in the first place. Also, my family constantly begs for food and money, lately they have been starving again so the begging is worse than usual. They actually called Peace Corps and said that I am a bad volunteer and that they want a new one (they didn’t tell PC but they were really upset because I wasn’t there to beg food from when they really needed it.) It has been very difficult on me personally to know that my host family doesn’t want me there and that even the village as a whole doesn’t care whether they have a volunteer or not although they do like to brag that a mzungu lives in their village. In addition to all this I had an unfortunate incident occur on my compound that seriously threatened the safety of my counterpart. After that I have not felt safe staying on that compound and seeing as there is so little work opportunity in the area, PC staff and I have agreed that I should move to a different village. I will be moving about 100km south on the Great North RD so I will be the same distance from Mkushi, just the other direction, much closer to Lusaka, and farther from the PC house in Serenje. I am very excited about this village. I have heard great things about it and I was able to visit last week, I met the host father and two counterparts. Everyone is awesome and they seem excited about havi9ng me there, the house is nice and there are lots of cute little kitties around. I have already packed up al my belongings and left my village, almost for good. I will return to pick my things, and my cat before moving to my new site and at the same time, PC will tell my village that I am moving for good. So far they don’t know. I couldn’t tell them because it’s very likely that they would have stolen as much of my stuff as possible before I left. I am disappointed that I have to move, but the only two really good things about my previous village were the scenery and my counterpart. Overall, I am very excited about my new village and the opportunities for actually starting projects and working with the villagers.

Other news: I went to Lusaka last week to get a swine flu vaccination and I was able to stay with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Eastern Province in Zambia, her husband and son so it was really awesome to visit with them and we had good conversations. Also, I saw Avatar, ate a giant fudge brownie ice cream sundae, pizza, delicious pasta, and so much more. It was a nice relaxing few days. Now I am back in Lusaka already for an appointment tomorrow and then I should be headed home Saturday morning. And by home I mean the house in Serenje because I’m currently semi-homeless. I think the current plan is to move into my new home on Monday or Tuesday of this week, which will be nice.

I can’t even remember the last time that I updated my blog, but that’s all I can think of for updates. The new volunteer intake just arrived this afternoon so they will be in training for the next few months and then sent to site the end of April. We are supposed to get a lot f new volunteers in Central Province so that is exciting and we are all looking forward to meeting them eventually.

Seeing as this has been a fairly serious update, I will leave you with a lighter anecdote of how I made 3 little girls, about 8 years old run away screaming and crying as if they had seen a ghost. I was biking back from Chalata and I saw three young girls walking towards me. As I got even with them, they stopped and began running alongside my bike, the opposite direction than they were actually traveling. I was going a bit slow because it was up a hill and I didn’t mind them “racing” me as children often like to do. Then two girls started reaching out to grab at my bag that was tied onto my bike carrier. At the same time the third girl reached out for the plastic bag of green peppers hanging on my handle bars (so they wouldn’t get smashed) and she hit my gear. I shouted “awe notukwikata” no don’t touch/grab. They giggled and started whispering about me speaking lala (the local dialect of bemba). As soon as they were over that they began grabbing again and this time at my shirt. I had had enough so I slammed on my brakes and they could barely move aside quick enough not to run into the bike. At the same time I shouted AWE!!!!! In a stern tone and after a split second of initial shock, as I was about to drop my bike and chase after them, they all turned and ran like mad in the opposite direction, screaming and crying like they had just seen a ghost. Looking back, it’s pretty pathetic that I made 3 little girls cry like that and the worst part of it is that I don’t feel guilty at all, in fact, I was actually a little impressed with myself. Sometimes I feel like I get a little to mean here and am more willing to yell at people and be harsh. I don’t really like that I seem to be becoming a meaner person, but you have to be harsh with people here or they will just take advantage of you because you are a white foreigner.

On a positive note: I taught my counterpart and another villager about HIV in an impromptu session. They asked me to teach them and I tried to set a date, but they said let’s do it now, and even though I wasn’t prepared, I decided to wing it as much as possible because I know they likelihood of them showing up at another time is very slim. I wasn’t sure where to start so I turned the tables and asked what they already knew about HIV/AIDS and I was able to clear up some misconceptions. Then I asked them what else they wanted to know and basically just answered questions. It was interactive and specific to what they wanted to know so I think it went well. I even taught them about proper condom use and how to demonstrate all these things so they could teach others as well. It was nice to actually teach something and it gave me a little hope because they both say they want to teach children in the school about HIV. They are planning a workshop and have gotten support from the Chalata clinic as well as condoms to distribute to the children. Although, condom use is the most commonly discussed aspect of HIV prevention, we generally encourage the ABC approach (Abstain, Be faithful, and Condomize) so we also had a lengthy discussion on the benefits of abstinence and monogamous relationships. Although these both have serious cultural barriers that make them nearly impossible here, I still encouraged the teachers to encourage students to at least consider them as options because they are more effective at preventing HIV than just relying on condoms while being very promiscuous. Even though I only taught two people, it was very encouraging to me and I do hope those people can pass on the correct information to other people. As small as it may seem, its nice to feel like I am potentially making a difference here.

Finally, I ate a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese for the first time in about one year and it was magical. Special shout out to Sherry and Vince for that!