September

I’m back in Lusaka with real internet which is nice although I’m not a huge fan of Lusaka in general! Since the last time I wrote I returned to my village and found out that my rabbit had her babies the night before but they were all dead by the time I arrived- I’m not entirely sure what happened, but the villagers don’t know much about caring for them. I wish I had been there because maybe I could have done something, but it was too late by the time I arrived. I am trying to breed them now hoping she will get pregnant again soon. The night I returned, it was 18, and I was disappointed about the rabbits and tired from transport and hungry so I wanted to just eat dinner and go to sleep. However, someone knocked on my door and handed me what looked like an empty mealie-mealie sack. I automatically said thank you and took it then asked what it was, he said “it’s your cat.” I was confused because I didn’t have a cat although I was planning to get one from a nearby volunteer the next week. Apparently he found out I wanted a cat and he wanted to get rid of a kitten so he gave it to me. In a way it was nice, but I had no food or anything for her and I was so tired that I almost gave her back so I could just get the other one the following week, but she’s adorable and tiny and she was so scared that I had to keep her. Her name is Tigerlily and she is earning her keep, killing the rats and even a blue headed lizard. Plus she’s really friendly and it’s nice to have her around to keep me company. She loves to sit on my lap or follow me around and she sleeps under the sheets curled up right next to me every night. I’m really happy to have a kitten finally!

As far as work is concerned: I have started a permaculture garden to provide delicious fresh food for me and the rabbits and probably more importantly it can be used as a demonstration to teach farmers. I was asked to start teaching a business class but so far no one has showed up. I planted lemon seeds and I got a bunch of seeds from peace corps and my forestry officer so I can start planting those when the rains come.

The first week of September there was a traditional ceremony in Chalata (just near me) to celebrate the Lala tribe (it’s really like a sub tribe of Bemba). People were socializing, drinking, dancing and partying all weekend, but on Saturday morning there was an official ceremony that I went to. Its supposed to be to celebrate the harvest when people return from their fields to the village (cibwelamushi means return to the village)There were 11 different Bemba chiefs that came along with the vice-president of Zambia. It was nice to see them act out the presentation of a small portion of each crop to the chiefs and dance and tell the history of the tribe. Also we all sang the national anthem in Bemba, the Zambian national anthem is actually really pretty, but I had never heard it in Bemba before so that was nice.

Mostly I was staying at site recovering from the Lusaka craziness for the past month, but I did go to the house this past Friday and it was nice to cook and bake and chill. The electricity was off and on the whole time, but it was still really nice. And then a group of us ended up going to visit Kundalila Falls about a 2 hour drive north of Serenje. The falls were beautiful and we saw baboons and it was really nice just to get go somewhere relaxing. The water was freezing and the weather was overcast for the only day in September but I did swim a bit and I had fun climbing up the rocks all around the falls. We camped there over night and altogether it was quite enjoyable.

I think that’s all I have for an update and I put some photos on facebook for those of you that don't have facebook you can use these links: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884386&id=2034306&l=c07db3df14
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2857227&id=2034306&l=d212dc697b