Hello again,
Sorry it has been so long since I’ve updated. Unfortunately the internet is rarely working lately and even today the computer is being super slow and its driving me crazy. Anyway I have been back from Lusaka for about a month now, mostly staying in the village. My cat is still adorable and super friendly and its really nice to have her around to keep me company. Also I now have two other pc volunteers nearby and I just visited the commercial farmers near me this week and its was wonderful. Not only was I spoiled with a hot shower, delicious lasagna, ice cream, cake, and salad, but the company was wonderful and its always nice to talk in English sometimes. The not so good news is that I came home the other day and my family was eating roasted rabbit, Spice, my male. The story keeps changing as to the dogs killing the rabbit, someone poisoning it, or me giving it bad food. But the cage is high so the dogs couldn’t possibly have killed the rabbit unless someone took it out of the cage. I didn’t give it bad food and even if it was poisoned they should have left the rabbit in the cage instead of taking it out and eating it because its not their rabbit, its mine. They were kind enough to offer me a piece of what was left when I returned but I politely declined, said I didn’t believe their stories, said they should have told me the truth and that I was upset that they ate my rabbit. So now I need to figure out how to deal with it because the rabbit was not that expensive but I don’t want them to think they can get away with stuff like this bc that would make the rest of my service living with them horrible. Also I don’t want anything to happen to my other rabbit, Sugar and her baby. The whole point is to breed rabbits to help interested farmers start keeping rabbits. I was going to teach them how to care for rabbits and give them one rabbit which they would them give one of their first litter to another farmer and down the line until everyone had a start. Well, I can’t breed them if my family keeps killing and eating them, and I don’t have money to keep reinvesting in this if I’m just losing money everytime. Its frustrating!
Wonder Gorge: What a nightmare. It took us over 5 hours to get there, all 23 of us volunteers, we got delayed and lost a bit so it was almost dark by the time we arrived. The canter we hired said they had to leave but would be back in days by am. There were wild fires all around us so we took shifts watching all night to make sure our tent area was ok. Then some people decided we should make a fire break around the camp site which I said was a bad idea bc it was dark, very windy, the fires were currently being blown away from us so we would peobably be fine until the morning, we had no water source nearby in case there was a problem, no time to dig a ditch, no tools to dig with, and the people weren’t exactly experienced with dealing with this stuff. (I actually studied controlled burns in college for wildlife conservation). Altogether it was a bad idea but they did it anyway and I couldn’t stop them it did almost burn everyone’s stuff and I’m just glad no one got hurt because basically they were acting really stupid about it. The next day we walked over to a precipice where you could see down into the groge where the two rivers meet. It was pretty but not the best view with the smoke and the fact the most of the vegetation was charred black. WE started hiking down to the river but it was really steep and I kept slipping and sliding and cutting myself and we had to cross another fire and after about an hour and a half I realized we were only half way and I decided it wasn’t worth it just for a river so I headed back with a few others (a lot of people had turned back at the fire and we probably should have to because the second time we crossed it, on the way up, was worse) Anyway it was fun and a good workout and I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t make it down. The next morning I walked out to the precipice again and watched some baboons playing nearby so that was fun. Then we sat around in the heat all day, we had run out of water, and most of the food, and the canter of course was super late. I was so bored I went for a long walk and came back and still had to wait hours until the canter finally came at 16:30 and we got to ATB lodge in Mkushi just in time to eat dinner and go to sleep. I was pretty tired.
Since that trip made me really want a real vacation, and a certain special day in November is coming up I decided to head to south Luwangwa national park for a 3 day safari with another volunteer. I am really looking forward to it and I hope it will be amazing!
That’s all I can think of for now, hopefully it won’t be so long before the next update
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
I know I have just written two blogs but I have about 30min before I leave Lusaka so I thought I would take advantage of the nice free internet thats slower than America but faster than in Mkushi at least.
First for a list of some of my favorite things:
1. ice cream
2. Showers (hot ones are especially nice some days)
3. my ipod (particularly when it's charged)
4. yoghurt
5. cheese
6. chocolate chip muffins
I guess I'm in a pretty good mood today listening to music and enjoying my breakfast of yoghurt and chocolate chip muffins along with the hot shower. (the cheese and icecream were dinner last night)
I went to dinner by myself both nights i was here and I went to see a movie alone last night. I enjoyed the food and the movie, but i will say that doing stuff like that alone is about as lame as it sounds.
In other news: Over the past two weeks it was really windy at my site and small chucks of grass began to blow off my roof. There is still at least a thing layer of grass covering the entire roof but it's a little disconcerting considering the rains will be here very soon, probably mid november. Not to mention my housing committee still hasn't cut grass to make a roof for my cimbusu so I don't think they'll ever repair my roof especially if it looks find. And by the time the rain comes and you discover leaks it's kinda too late because you can't dry grass for the roof when it's raining. After about a week of this I was laying in bed reading and around 21 hours I started hearing the crackling sound of bush fires. Almost everyone practices slash and burn cultivation and aside from burning their fields some people like to burn the area around their house first to create a fire break so that a huge fire doesn't get out of control and burn down their houses. As I laid their reading and listening to the fire I heard it get closer and closer until i could hear it on all sides. I contemplated what I should do- go outside and see if I could keep the fire back, go get help, or just keep reading and hope for the best. I opted for the last idea because I thought if my roof did burn at least they would have to replace it and i could ensure that it was a solid leak free on this time. Also I do have insurance on my things. So i packed a small bag with my valuables and continued reading just waiting for my roof to catch fire. Somehow I accidentally fell asleep which would have been bad in the event of a fire. But when i woke the next morning my hut was still intact and the grass surrounding it but about 2 meters on each sidewas all burnt.
Ok time to go hopefully it will be a good day for transport!
First for a list of some of my favorite things:
1. ice cream
2. Showers (hot ones are especially nice some days)
3. my ipod (particularly when it's charged)
4. yoghurt
5. cheese
6. chocolate chip muffins
I guess I'm in a pretty good mood today listening to music and enjoying my breakfast of yoghurt and chocolate chip muffins along with the hot shower. (the cheese and icecream were dinner last night)
I went to dinner by myself both nights i was here and I went to see a movie alone last night. I enjoyed the food and the movie, but i will say that doing stuff like that alone is about as lame as it sounds.
In other news: Over the past two weeks it was really windy at my site and small chucks of grass began to blow off my roof. There is still at least a thing layer of grass covering the entire roof but it's a little disconcerting considering the rains will be here very soon, probably mid november. Not to mention my housing committee still hasn't cut grass to make a roof for my cimbusu so I don't think they'll ever repair my roof especially if it looks find. And by the time the rain comes and you discover leaks it's kinda too late because you can't dry grass for the roof when it's raining. After about a week of this I was laying in bed reading and around 21 hours I started hearing the crackling sound of bush fires. Almost everyone practices slash and burn cultivation and aside from burning their fields some people like to burn the area around their house first to create a fire break so that a huge fire doesn't get out of control and burn down their houses. As I laid their reading and listening to the fire I heard it get closer and closer until i could hear it on all sides. I contemplated what I should do- go outside and see if I could keep the fire back, go get help, or just keep reading and hope for the best. I opted for the last idea because I thought if my roof did burn at least they would have to replace it and i could ensure that it was a solid leak free on this time. Also I do have insurance on my things. So i packed a small bag with my valuables and continued reading just waiting for my roof to catch fire. Somehow I accidentally fell asleep which would have been bad in the event of a fire. But when i woke the next morning my hut was still intact and the grass surrounding it but about 2 meters on each sidewas all burnt.
Ok time to go hopefully it will be a good day for transport!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
updated wish list
Updated wish list:
1. dried blueberries
2. chocolate chips
3. macaroni and cheese
4. cheezeits
5. brown sugar
6. funfetti cake mix and vanilla frosting for my birthday! (in case you forgot its less than 2 months away and packages sometimes take awhile)
7. chocolate and cream cheese frosting
8. seeds for cumfry, lemon grass, and spinach (just one packet of each)
9. coconut lime verbena moisturizing shampoo and conditioner from bath and body works
10. Of course any chocolate and reeses items are always greatly appreciated
Also Sabsina can now be added to the hall of fame yay!
Another note: it’s generally easier for me to get packages that are sent to the Mkushi address which is PO BOX 840038 Mkushi, Zambia. You can still send something to Lusaka address if you need to but it takes a little longer to get to me. Thanks again to all you wonderful family and friends that have been writing and sending packages!
1. dried blueberries
2. chocolate chips
3. macaroni and cheese
4. cheezeits
5. brown sugar
6. funfetti cake mix and vanilla frosting for my birthday! (in case you forgot its less than 2 months away and packages sometimes take awhile)
7. chocolate and cream cheese frosting
8. seeds for cumfry, lemon grass, and spinach (just one packet of each)
9. coconut lime verbena moisturizing shampoo and conditioner from bath and body works
10. Of course any chocolate and reeses items are always greatly appreciated
Also Sabsina can now be added to the hall of fame yay!
Another note: it’s generally easier for me to get packages that are sent to the Mkushi address which is PO BOX 840038 Mkushi, Zambia. You can still send something to Lusaka address if you need to but it takes a little longer to get to me. Thanks again to all you wonderful family and friends that have been writing and sending packages!
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
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
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Lusaka
IST (in service training) has finally come to an end. While it was fun to see the other volunteers from my in-take, it has also been semi stressful. Not to mention two weeks of in tense training and partying will wear you out. I am definitely ready to go back to my nice quiet and calm village life although my departure from the city has been slightly delayed. It turns out that I chipped a crown on my molar which allowed food to get caught in the crevice and cause periodic infections and over time (this has been going on for the past 6 months)it began to cause a cavity in the tooth next to it. Sounds strange and complicated but the point is I needed to have the crown replaced, therefore while all the other volunteers headed out for home/vacations this morning, I went to the dentist and for almost 3 hours of drilling and pounded and other less than fun aspects of the dental procedure. Fortunately that part is all over now and I have a temporary crown in place. If I'm careful it is supposed to last for 2 weeks, at which point I will have to return to Lusaka to have the real crown put in (it has to be made in a lab in South Africa so it will take at least 2 weeks for them to get the impressions, make the crown and ship it back.) You probably don't care to read all this about my dental experience so I will move on, but I was plesaently surprised to find that the dentist is super legit and even better than the dentist that originally put the crown on.
Lusaka actually has all kinds of crazy nice things. Before coming to IST I was reflecting on how traveling in Zambia is like travelling through time because the villages are really isolated, lacking modern technology and the typical lifestyle there is not much diiferent from that of 2000 years ago. Then as you go to the bomas you make your way all the way to the late 1950s/early 1960s. There are cars and bikes but not much else (of course you have to substitute cell phones for land lines). Then when you get to Lusaka its almost like you're in the 1990s which is really exciting if you recently came from AD 100s. You might think I'm exaggerating, but not by much. We were all a little shocked and overwhelmed to be back in Lusaka and my excuse all week was I'm in Lusaka which allowed me to eat all sorts of junk food and spend much more money than I normally do. This week I've had lasagna, a smoothie, a salad, chinese food, indian food, pizza, a burger, and a lot of soft-serve icecream just to name some of the delicious treats available in the capital. Also I went to see a movie for the first time since I left America and the experience alone was fabulous, but the movie was the hangover which is one of the best/funniest movies ever to it was awesome. I stocked up on spices and food supplies to bring back to my site. I went out to Kareoke one night which was really fun and I went to a few clubs which can be fun, but are also pretty sketch at the same time. Yesterday I wandered around two of the main markets and the down-town area with a friend. It was nice to actually see a different part of Lusaka and get an idea of what you can get at the markets and what the average prices are but it was a bit overwhelming with all the people and loud music playing on speakers everywhere. It's been a while since I was at a big and crowded market. As we were walking along one of the streets near the City Market a man grabbed my left shoulder and tried to turn me around to face him- I said "iwe Leka...Fuma" or you stop/let go...go away(iwe means you litterally but its usually used for children almost like calling the person a child is they are and adult). I added the Fuma because he was still touching me after the Leka and I was annoyed. Then another guy (his friend) shoved his hand in my right front pocket and tried to grab my phone/money. (Purse cutting and stealing as well as reaching into purses is a problem so I decided just to bring my phone and a few bills in the very bottom of my front pocket knowing that my jeans are tight enough to make stealing nearly impossible.) I wipped around and slapped him on the shoulder pretty hard grabbed his hand to ensure he didn't have any of the small change from my pocket (I could feel that the phone was still in my pocket and the big bills were under the phone). I don't think I have ever taken out so much anger on a person...excluding family members of course. I yelled at him and his friends in a mixture of Bemba and English which they thought was hilarious and their laughter only fueled my anger. Finally I walked away but it took a few minutes for me to calm down. Not exactly a fun story but stuff happens and you're a really obvious target as one of the only white people to venture into the "sketchier" area of the city.
As for training, I did learn some helpful information. We talked more about conservation farming, agroforestry, seed multiplication projects, animal husbandry projects, and premiculture gardening. We actually spent the last two days building a permiculture garden which was great. After sitting in classes the whole time it was nice to get out and do physical work especially when we could see the end result as a nicely landscapped garden. It was also somewhat interesting because our LIFE project made a garden and so did the RED rural education development project and there was such a huge different in the approach. They spent more time planning and tryuing to organize whereas we all tried to grab a hoe or rake and start digging. Also they were all dressed up in leggings, running shorts, sports bras, athletic shirts and many expressed concern about getting their clothes dirty. Us LIFE volunteers on the other hand were wearing the same things we wear any other day jeans or comfortable pants with tshirts or tank tops. Some RED volunteers were avoiding work as much as possible but most of the LIFErs were eager to jump in and trying to find work wherever possible (I'm not trying to say anything bad about the RED volunteers I'm just saying you could tell who was in their element for the most part.) Another aspect of the week was a counterpart workshop where we each had a counterpart of our choice come to Lusaka from our village to learn about how to best work with their Peace Corps volunteer to promote development in the village. Ackson came which is nice because he's my friend, but overall those 2 days of the workshop were so stressful! The first day we had to work in a group pf all the volunteers and counterparts from Central Province to determince the biggest issue in our district. It started my each counterpart naming 2 issues from their area, then we picked the 5 most common issues and tried to rank them acording to how much of a problem it is, how important it is to fix it, and how easy it is to fix it. We tried to rank each of these categories on a scale of 1 to 5 but the Zambians couldn't understand the idea of rating and it was really frustrating to try to explain it. After awhile we gave up and just voted on which was more important comparing 2 at a time but even that was problematic. I asked are there many people in your village that are ill? Raise your hand if there are many people in your village that are ill..I got blank stares and no responses. I said "so poor health is not a problem in our area" and eventually they said yes it is a problem, when asked to explain how it is a problem they just stared again. Despite all the rephrasing and translating we were getting no where and we took twice as much time as all the other groups and still didn't manage to finish even half of what we should have. The group work was far too frustrating but the idea of picking a problem and mapping out a potential project to address the problem and going through all the steps of project development and management is good. I will say the the RED group had very talkative and interactive counterparts that probably got more out of the workshop than the LIFE counterparts did. Also the RED volunteers were all dressed very professionally for their workshop whereas us LIFE volunteers thought it was enough to put on a nicer and clean shirt for a change but otherwise still wearing mostly jeans or comfortable pants rather than slacks or skirts.
I think thats all I have for now I am attempting to hitch back tomorrow but I guess now I will be back in the city soon so I should be able to update in 2 weeks if not before then.
If you are interested in reading about other volunteers in Zambia check out this website becuase it has a list of blogs
Peacecorpsjournals.com/zambia
Lusaka actually has all kinds of crazy nice things. Before coming to IST I was reflecting on how traveling in Zambia is like travelling through time because the villages are really isolated, lacking modern technology and the typical lifestyle there is not much diiferent from that of 2000 years ago. Then as you go to the bomas you make your way all the way to the late 1950s/early 1960s. There are cars and bikes but not much else (of course you have to substitute cell phones for land lines). Then when you get to Lusaka its almost like you're in the 1990s which is really exciting if you recently came from AD 100s. You might think I'm exaggerating, but not by much. We were all a little shocked and overwhelmed to be back in Lusaka and my excuse all week was I'm in Lusaka which allowed me to eat all sorts of junk food and spend much more money than I normally do. This week I've had lasagna, a smoothie, a salad, chinese food, indian food, pizza, a burger, and a lot of soft-serve icecream just to name some of the delicious treats available in the capital. Also I went to see a movie for the first time since I left America and the experience alone was fabulous, but the movie was the hangover which is one of the best/funniest movies ever to it was awesome. I stocked up on spices and food supplies to bring back to my site. I went out to Kareoke one night which was really fun and I went to a few clubs which can be fun, but are also pretty sketch at the same time. Yesterday I wandered around two of the main markets and the down-town area with a friend. It was nice to actually see a different part of Lusaka and get an idea of what you can get at the markets and what the average prices are but it was a bit overwhelming with all the people and loud music playing on speakers everywhere. It's been a while since I was at a big and crowded market. As we were walking along one of the streets near the City Market a man grabbed my left shoulder and tried to turn me around to face him- I said "iwe Leka...Fuma" or you stop/let go...go away(iwe means you litterally but its usually used for children almost like calling the person a child is they are and adult). I added the Fuma because he was still touching me after the Leka and I was annoyed. Then another guy (his friend) shoved his hand in my right front pocket and tried to grab my phone/money. (Purse cutting and stealing as well as reaching into purses is a problem so I decided just to bring my phone and a few bills in the very bottom of my front pocket knowing that my jeans are tight enough to make stealing nearly impossible.) I wipped around and slapped him on the shoulder pretty hard grabbed his hand to ensure he didn't have any of the small change from my pocket (I could feel that the phone was still in my pocket and the big bills were under the phone). I don't think I have ever taken out so much anger on a person...excluding family members of course. I yelled at him and his friends in a mixture of Bemba and English which they thought was hilarious and their laughter only fueled my anger. Finally I walked away but it took a few minutes for me to calm down. Not exactly a fun story but stuff happens and you're a really obvious target as one of the only white people to venture into the "sketchier" area of the city.
As for training, I did learn some helpful information. We talked more about conservation farming, agroforestry, seed multiplication projects, animal husbandry projects, and premiculture gardening. We actually spent the last two days building a permiculture garden which was great. After sitting in classes the whole time it was nice to get out and do physical work especially when we could see the end result as a nicely landscapped garden. It was also somewhat interesting because our LIFE project made a garden and so did the RED rural education development project and there was such a huge different in the approach. They spent more time planning and tryuing to organize whereas we all tried to grab a hoe or rake and start digging. Also they were all dressed up in leggings, running shorts, sports bras, athletic shirts and many expressed concern about getting their clothes dirty. Us LIFE volunteers on the other hand were wearing the same things we wear any other day jeans or comfortable pants with tshirts or tank tops. Some RED volunteers were avoiding work as much as possible but most of the LIFErs were eager to jump in and trying to find work wherever possible (I'm not trying to say anything bad about the RED volunteers I'm just saying you could tell who was in their element for the most part.) Another aspect of the week was a counterpart workshop where we each had a counterpart of our choice come to Lusaka from our village to learn about how to best work with their Peace Corps volunteer to promote development in the village. Ackson came which is nice because he's my friend, but overall those 2 days of the workshop were so stressful! The first day we had to work in a group pf all the volunteers and counterparts from Central Province to determince the biggest issue in our district. It started my each counterpart naming 2 issues from their area, then we picked the 5 most common issues and tried to rank them acording to how much of a problem it is, how important it is to fix it, and how easy it is to fix it. We tried to rank each of these categories on a scale of 1 to 5 but the Zambians couldn't understand the idea of rating and it was really frustrating to try to explain it. After awhile we gave up and just voted on which was more important comparing 2 at a time but even that was problematic. I asked are there many people in your village that are ill? Raise your hand if there are many people in your village that are ill..I got blank stares and no responses. I said "so poor health is not a problem in our area" and eventually they said yes it is a problem, when asked to explain how it is a problem they just stared again. Despite all the rephrasing and translating we were getting no where and we took twice as much time as all the other groups and still didn't manage to finish even half of what we should have. The group work was far too frustrating but the idea of picking a problem and mapping out a potential project to address the problem and going through all the steps of project development and management is good. I will say the the RED group had very talkative and interactive counterparts that probably got more out of the workshop than the LIFE counterparts did. Also the RED volunteers were all dressed very professionally for their workshop whereas us LIFE volunteers thought it was enough to put on a nicer and clean shirt for a change but otherwise still wearing mostly jeans or comfortable pants rather than slacks or skirts.
I think thats all I have for now I am attempting to hitch back tomorrow but I guess now I will be back in the city soon so I should be able to update in 2 weeks if not before then.
If you are interested in reading about other volunteers in Zambia check out this website becuase it has a list of blogs
Peacecorpsjournals.com/zambia
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Return to Lusaka-land
I just travelled back to Lusaka yesterday for in-service training. Fortunately the Peeace Corps decided to send a bus to collect all the people from northern, luapula, and central provinces and we rode together it was quite disorganized and inefficient but it was much more convenient than hitching. I will say that it seemed a little sketch when they dropped the 2nd half of our group off at a guest house that was locked with absolutely no lights on and no staff anywhere that we could find and the PC driver just drove away leaving us all there. It reminded me of the movie touristas which I recently watched at the PC house and I was just hoping to wake up with at least 1 kidney and most of my liver still inside me-haha don't worry someone eventually turned the power on and let us unto our rooms and I woke feeling fine, in my bed (not a tub f ice) and no scars or other indications of organ harvesting. Already I have had chinese food, doughnuts, icecream, yoghurt, pepsi and several other exciting treats that I can't get in my area. Also I bought some jewlery and enjoyed looking at the craft market and just hanging out today.
As for village life: I got a lift back from the house instead of biking (after the last blog I wrote). The last week at site I managed to buy two rabbits, a white female named sugar and a speckled gray male named spice. They are adorable and it's really fun to have them around. Sugar is already pregnant and I can't wait to have little baby rabbits, but I hope it won't happen until after I get back in about 2 weeks. Also I took a field trip to a brittish prep school 32km away and it was amazing! I felt like I was back in 3rd grade as the farm manager showed me around the pig pen, chicken house, garden, orchard, tree nursery, dairy house, butchery, athletic fields, dorms and classrooms. I was very impressed because the farm is used to supply most of the food for the student cafeteria and the entire system is very self-sufficient. Also they have some extras that they sell and they use the farms for educational purposes as well. I really enjoyed seeing everything and they fed me a delicious lunch with chicken, but the main purpose was to inquire about their pig keeping. My counterpart and I are hoping to start a pig project sometime over the next year (but we have a lot to do before then) and it was very helpful to get ideas and learn more about dietary needs. Also he offered to host a workshop for a small group of farmers and to sell them at least 3 piglets at some point. We finished cementing the floor in my house and I still have extra to put in my insaka, bathing shelter and cimbusu. Also I requested that the metal maker in my village make the metal parts I need to build an oven so hopefully I can do that when I return. Plus we made bricks that should be dry in a few days and I'm told they will finish the insaka and cimbusu (that were supposed to be finished in April) while I am gone but I'm not sure if I believe that. Also on the horizon: my counterpart and I are hoping to start a poultry project with 50 layer hens and we want to try a garden planting plan that should supposrt all their dietary needs without the expensive supplements and if it works we can encourage other villagers to try it as well; a small vegetable garden so me and my rabiits can have fresh healthy treats; and I hope to collect worms if possible and start a vermiculture project at my site so I can use the compst for a small herb garden. We'll see if/when any of this happens or if it will even work. Overall I'm really wexcited to have so many future plans and goals and to have started at least a few of them (the rabbits and a tree nursery where we planted about 80 jatropha plants. My counterpart, Ackson is coming to Lusaka for a few days of this training so it will be exciting for him to get more information-I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful counterpart and friend (especially because my host/counterpart person from the first 3 months was so horrible!) I will enjoy our time back in a city but I think we have decided not to do a vacation right after this and we will wait for another time. More to come later- probably this week or the next
As for village life: I got a lift back from the house instead of biking (after the last blog I wrote). The last week at site I managed to buy two rabbits, a white female named sugar and a speckled gray male named spice. They are adorable and it's really fun to have them around. Sugar is already pregnant and I can't wait to have little baby rabbits, but I hope it won't happen until after I get back in about 2 weeks. Also I took a field trip to a brittish prep school 32km away and it was amazing! I felt like I was back in 3rd grade as the farm manager showed me around the pig pen, chicken house, garden, orchard, tree nursery, dairy house, butchery, athletic fields, dorms and classrooms. I was very impressed because the farm is used to supply most of the food for the student cafeteria and the entire system is very self-sufficient. Also they have some extras that they sell and they use the farms for educational purposes as well. I really enjoyed seeing everything and they fed me a delicious lunch with chicken, but the main purpose was to inquire about their pig keeping. My counterpart and I are hoping to start a pig project sometime over the next year (but we have a lot to do before then) and it was very helpful to get ideas and learn more about dietary needs. Also he offered to host a workshop for a small group of farmers and to sell them at least 3 piglets at some point. We finished cementing the floor in my house and I still have extra to put in my insaka, bathing shelter and cimbusu. Also I requested that the metal maker in my village make the metal parts I need to build an oven so hopefully I can do that when I return. Plus we made bricks that should be dry in a few days and I'm told they will finish the insaka and cimbusu (that were supposed to be finished in April) while I am gone but I'm not sure if I believe that. Also on the horizon: my counterpart and I are hoping to start a poultry project with 50 layer hens and we want to try a garden planting plan that should supposrt all their dietary needs without the expensive supplements and if it works we can encourage other villagers to try it as well; a small vegetable garden so me and my rabiits can have fresh healthy treats; and I hope to collect worms if possible and start a vermiculture project at my site so I can use the compst for a small herb garden. We'll see if/when any of this happens or if it will even work. Overall I'm really wexcited to have so many future plans and goals and to have started at least a few of them (the rabbits and a tree nursery where we planted about 80 jatropha plants. My counterpart, Ackson is coming to Lusaka for a few days of this training so it will be exciting for him to get more information-I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful counterpart and friend (especially because my host/counterpart person from the first 3 months was so horrible!) I will enjoy our time back in a city but I think we have decided not to do a vacation right after this and we will wait for another time. More to come later- probably this week or the next
Monday, August 3, 2009
biking fun
Dear all,
I last left you after my biking into Mkushi BOMA, well it turns out I have been doing a lot of biking since then. That day we went to visit these small but pretty waterfalls nearby. Cindy and I biked to visit Daphne and Tyson (a married couple of volunteers) the next day and it is only 10km from Cindy’s, but after eating pizza and a delicious salad and enjoying the company of other Americans we decided was were really wanted cake. We probably should have been satisfied from all the other wonderful food but we couldn’t get over the craving for cake so we decided to bike all the way into the BOMA over a sketchy log bridge pretty high over the river, past a mine and a pretty manmade lake and bought the margarine and flour we needed to go bake the vanilla cake which burnt a little but was well worth it. Whenever I go the BOMA I eat so much junk food that I practically make myself sick and you think I would learn my lesson, but no, I still seem to do it every time. All the sugar and fried things, but they are so good! The day after I biked back to my site which is only a 60km ride, but it is a bit more uphill on the way back and unfortunately that day was intensely windy and at some points I was biking as hard as I could and barely going 10km/hour because of the wind. I will say that I regardless of the wind that wore me out it was a nice ride and I’ve decided that I really do like biking especially on the road where I only have to worry about the occasional passing car (and not the mud, rocks, sand, holes etc which are a lot of fun in their own way) and I find it’s wonderful time to think and clear my head and ultimately be alone. You would think that living alone in a small rural village would afford more than enough alone time, but I’m finding that there are always people around walking by greeting you, or children staring at you, not too mention the goats, chickens and dogs pestering you and making a lot of noise. All in all I’m really taking to this biking thing and wondering why I never did it before-also, my parents sent me an odometer/timer/clock/speed detector thing for my bike which makes it even more fun. Back at site I have been reading as usual and I’ve done a bit more work on the rabbit house but it’s still not quite finished. I’m hoping we will finish it soon because I am supposed to go buy the rabbits on Monday August 10th. Also my insaka is supposed to be finished by the 10th and then I’m hoping to use a few of the extra bricks to make an oven if I can have some metal sheets made. Finally, my front room should be cemented on the 14th right before I leave for Lusaka. We’ll see, things are mostly just wait and see around here. I am looking forward to visiting Lusaka, seeing other volunteers from our intake, learning more, stocking up on a few things they don’t sell in Mkushi and then after the training I think I am going to Lake Kariba for a few days with Mary and Cindy. It will be nice to get away and see another part of the country. Despite living here for almost 6 months now, we have seen relatively little because we have been stuck in training and community entry so this mini-vacation should be nice.
Currently, I am at the PC house in Serenje with a few other volunteers. I biked in yesterday-I thought it was about 90km according to the signs, but my odometer said it was 113 start to finish (it has been very accurate before, but it seemed to run about 11km per 10km on this trip which would put the ride at around 100km still I’m not really sure) I stopped a little more than half way and had a mid-morning snack and a sprite then kept going. I thought I could do the whole thing in 5 hours and I made really good timing at first but when I got to the last 15-20km I was starting to get tired, I took a 5 minute rest then kept going. Then 10km away I came to a really steep hill and though there was no way I could make it the last 10km. I had to walk halfway up the hill and then a biked a bit on the flat part before coming to another equally steep hill and had to walk at least halfway up that one too. Luckily at the top of that hill is the turn for the BOMA and from there its all downhill. And downhill enough that I coasted the entire way even hitting 65km/hour at one point without pedaling. It took me about 5 hours and 30 minutes of biking plus 15 minutes of walking, 15 minutes of snack time and the second 5 minute break. I was so exhausted but we just hung out yesterday, talking and baking (I made cinnamon rolls, rosemary, basil, oregano bread, no bake cookies, carrot cake, and stir fry which was fun) Today most of the other PCVs are coming for a goodbye gathering-two volunteers just finished their service and are leaving soon. Overall everything is good and the biking and visiting other people has definitely put me in a better frame of mind and I am no longer so frustrated with my village. Also, My District Forestry Officer came to visit me and we had a community meeting to discuss the needs of the community and how we could achieve these and even set vague time frames and tried to give specific people responsibility. It was really good and the first 2 needs were income generating activities and improved crop yields so that’s exciting because those are two things I should be able to help with and I met many important community members that seem willing to work with me. It was inspiring and encouraging and I really needed that. However, his parting words were “now I hope that you are adequately prepared to star your projects, I didn’t want you to have any hindrances, but now I have opened Pandora’s Box for you and you should be able to take it from here, but we are always there if you need more support.” Very nice and helpful but the reference to Greek mythology troubled me a little (if you don’t know there was a box that securely contained all the evils and Pandora’s curiosity led her to open it and unleash the evils on the world forever) it sounded a little too prophetic in a way, but I’m hoping he just mistakenly referenced it incorrectly and that the meeting didn’t symbolically unleash a load of evil into my village haha.
On a side note a Zambian guidebook advertised accommodations in thatched brick chalets that sound wonderful and peaceful for a get-away, but technically our mud huts are thatched and mud bricks so maybe not so wonderful if you think about it-it made us smile.
I guess that’s all the news I have for now, but I should be able to update again within the next 2 weeks. Also I'm pretty sure I'll bike back in a few days and it should be easier because its more downhill, but we'll see also then maybe I can figure out the exact distance in km.
I last left you after my biking into Mkushi BOMA, well it turns out I have been doing a lot of biking since then. That day we went to visit these small but pretty waterfalls nearby. Cindy and I biked to visit Daphne and Tyson (a married couple of volunteers) the next day and it is only 10km from Cindy’s, but after eating pizza and a delicious salad and enjoying the company of other Americans we decided was were really wanted cake. We probably should have been satisfied from all the other wonderful food but we couldn’t get over the craving for cake so we decided to bike all the way into the BOMA over a sketchy log bridge pretty high over the river, past a mine and a pretty manmade lake and bought the margarine and flour we needed to go bake the vanilla cake which burnt a little but was well worth it. Whenever I go the BOMA I eat so much junk food that I practically make myself sick and you think I would learn my lesson, but no, I still seem to do it every time. All the sugar and fried things, but they are so good! The day after I biked back to my site which is only a 60km ride, but it is a bit more uphill on the way back and unfortunately that day was intensely windy and at some points I was biking as hard as I could and barely going 10km/hour because of the wind. I will say that I regardless of the wind that wore me out it was a nice ride and I’ve decided that I really do like biking especially on the road where I only have to worry about the occasional passing car (and not the mud, rocks, sand, holes etc which are a lot of fun in their own way) and I find it’s wonderful time to think and clear my head and ultimately be alone. You would think that living alone in a small rural village would afford more than enough alone time, but I’m finding that there are always people around walking by greeting you, or children staring at you, not too mention the goats, chickens and dogs pestering you and making a lot of noise. All in all I’m really taking to this biking thing and wondering why I never did it before-also, my parents sent me an odometer/timer/clock/speed detector thing for my bike which makes it even more fun. Back at site I have been reading as usual and I’ve done a bit more work on the rabbit house but it’s still not quite finished. I’m hoping we will finish it soon because I am supposed to go buy the rabbits on Monday August 10th. Also my insaka is supposed to be finished by the 10th and then I’m hoping to use a few of the extra bricks to make an oven if I can have some metal sheets made. Finally, my front room should be cemented on the 14th right before I leave for Lusaka. We’ll see, things are mostly just wait and see around here. I am looking forward to visiting Lusaka, seeing other volunteers from our intake, learning more, stocking up on a few things they don’t sell in Mkushi and then after the training I think I am going to Lake Kariba for a few days with Mary and Cindy. It will be nice to get away and see another part of the country. Despite living here for almost 6 months now, we have seen relatively little because we have been stuck in training and community entry so this mini-vacation should be nice.
Currently, I am at the PC house in Serenje with a few other volunteers. I biked in yesterday-I thought it was about 90km according to the signs, but my odometer said it was 113 start to finish (it has been very accurate before, but it seemed to run about 11km per 10km on this trip which would put the ride at around 100km still I’m not really sure) I stopped a little more than half way and had a mid-morning snack and a sprite then kept going. I thought I could do the whole thing in 5 hours and I made really good timing at first but when I got to the last 15-20km I was starting to get tired, I took a 5 minute rest then kept going. Then 10km away I came to a really steep hill and though there was no way I could make it the last 10km. I had to walk halfway up the hill and then a biked a bit on the flat part before coming to another equally steep hill and had to walk at least halfway up that one too. Luckily at the top of that hill is the turn for the BOMA and from there its all downhill. And downhill enough that I coasted the entire way even hitting 65km/hour at one point without pedaling. It took me about 5 hours and 30 minutes of biking plus 15 minutes of walking, 15 minutes of snack time and the second 5 minute break. I was so exhausted but we just hung out yesterday, talking and baking (I made cinnamon rolls, rosemary, basil, oregano bread, no bake cookies, carrot cake, and stir fry which was fun) Today most of the other PCVs are coming for a goodbye gathering-two volunteers just finished their service and are leaving soon. Overall everything is good and the biking and visiting other people has definitely put me in a better frame of mind and I am no longer so frustrated with my village. Also, My District Forestry Officer came to visit me and we had a community meeting to discuss the needs of the community and how we could achieve these and even set vague time frames and tried to give specific people responsibility. It was really good and the first 2 needs were income generating activities and improved crop yields so that’s exciting because those are two things I should be able to help with and I met many important community members that seem willing to work with me. It was inspiring and encouraging and I really needed that. However, his parting words were “now I hope that you are adequately prepared to star your projects, I didn’t want you to have any hindrances, but now I have opened Pandora’s Box for you and you should be able to take it from here, but we are always there if you need more support.” Very nice and helpful but the reference to Greek mythology troubled me a little (if you don’t know there was a box that securely contained all the evils and Pandora’s curiosity led her to open it and unleash the evils on the world forever) it sounded a little too prophetic in a way, but I’m hoping he just mistakenly referenced it incorrectly and that the meeting didn’t symbolically unleash a load of evil into my village haha.
On a side note a Zambian guidebook advertised accommodations in thatched brick chalets that sound wonderful and peaceful for a get-away, but technically our mud huts are thatched and mud bricks so maybe not so wonderful if you think about it-it made us smile.
I guess that’s all the news I have for now, but I should be able to update again within the next 2 weeks. Also I'm pretty sure I'll bike back in a few days and it should be easier because its more downhill, but we'll see also then maybe I can figure out the exact distance in km.
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