For Future Volunteers...

I’m sitting at the provincial house in Chipata again, waiting for meds to come up from Lusaka so I have some time and some parasites to kill. I’ve been thinking about the new RED intake coming in June a lot since I found out that I will be one of their trainers through their PST. It’s been almost exactly a year now since my intake completed training and swore in as PCVs and I’m realizing how far I’ve actually come. I was going a bit crazy in the process of preparing myself to leave my life for the unknown that is Peace Corps service in a country that nobody has even heard of. No offense, Zambia. I’m hoping that I can help the new intake by writing a bit about my experience and what to expect when you can’t quite fathom the life you signed yourself up for. I wish I’d done a few things very differently.

It was my first time leaving the country and I literally didn’t sleep the whole week before coming. I can’t even describe the emotions I went through during those last few weeks in the states but I guess excited, anxious, hopeful and terrified could sum it up. Watching youtube videos of PCVs in Zambia really helped with the sleepless nights. I think I’ll make one eventually. But I made it through the long, extended goodbyes, the packing (I seriously did an awful job, more on that later) and I watched my dad drive away from the hotel in Philadelphia where staging is held. His last advice to me was to pick one person each day and make them the center of my world, that’s how I could make a difference. I told him to buy a bar. And then I was alone. I think about that moment a lot, it’s one of those memories I’ll probably never forget. If you’re in the new intake, you should get ready for a lot of those.

Meeting the other volunteers in my intake was surreal. We had a facebook group to bond us somewhat beforehand but it was still an experience meeting 35 other young Americans with similar ideals but a world of difference between each of us. In staging there is, of course, last minute paperwork but the sessions mostly involve our feelings and expectations. Hopes, dreams, anxieties, we covered it all. We had 1 night to spend in Philly with our bus to JFK departing at some ungodly hour. Obviously sleep wasn’t an option so we went out in groups to have dinner, drink beers and best of all, sing karaoke. It was a tremendous stress reliever and I highly recommend it. You will never get more drinks paid for than if you talk about leaving for 2 years to serve in Africa and the closer you get to departure, the more true that is. I think my group got an entire bottle of Patron paid for by the end of the night. Honestly, I don’t know why Philadelphians get such a bad rep.

 Here's some of my group on our last night in America.

After our “last” big blowout we caught the bus up to New York, got there quite a bit early and had to sit in the lobby for hours. Some people slept on the floor, some played cards or just talked. I was feeling a strange disconnect from everyone. Like, I knew we were all getting into the same thing and we’d be spending all this time together, yet I was still wrapped up in my own head. It’s a strange thing, saying goodbye to the life you know where you have great friends and family that know everything about you, accept you, where you can predict what’ll happen on any given day… and then leaving it for a life you know nothing about. I felt like everyone else was way more prepared. I was nervous that I wasn’t going to fit in or that I wouldn’t make it through training or that Zambia would be awful. It’s a lot to take in and looking back, I wish I’d just taken more time to prepare myself, both mentally and in the literal sense. I didn’t even know what I had packed (the night before) in my gigantic bag that I couldn’t manage to carry. Even my carry-on bags were awkward. I was off to a poor start. Here’s a good tip for when you pack, think about how you’re going to carry all of your baggage. I had to move mine one by one and I wish my bigger checked bag had wheels. A lot of people had a hiking pack as their carry on and a small backpack worn on the front as their 2^nd carry-on. I was jealous of those people. As an obsessively organized person, I was lost, and I had only myself to blame. But hey, it was a crazy time and we all deal in different ways. This is what all of my baggage amounted to. Imagine lugging all of that around the hotel, airport, etc...

 

I found a great quote not long ago that I chalked up on my porch. “Take it all in, it’s as big as it seems. Count all your blessings, remember your dreams.” I look at it now as a way to remind myself of how huge what I’m doing is when I get lost in the mundane day-to-day of it all but thinking about it then would’ve been a great way to calm myself down through the first hours and days of my new life.

So, we finally got on the flight. I took Tylenol PM and passed out almost the entire time, with meals arriving every time I came to. South African Airline serves really good food. This was the first of many, many meals that was provided for us. Future volunteers, be aware that you will have way too much to eat for the next 3 months and very little time to burn it off. As a general rule, girls gain a good bit of weight during this time and then even more during community entry. Good luck!

We had to steer ourselves through the airport as a very large group. I was one of four group leaders that helped to count heads and try to make things run smoothly. Happily, we all made it through Johannesburg, nothing was stolen, and we finally arrived in Zambia. We were met by a lady on the Peace Corps staff, she greeted us by taking some of our important documents and showing us through the small lobby to where a line of cruisers were waiting to take us and all of our things to the hotel.

We stayed at The Barn Motel and future volunteers, you probably will too. It’s a nice place, much nicer than any of us expected. We were immediately brought into a conference room for a medical session. It was awful. The last thing you want to do at that point is sit and hear about serious things. But you have to. You have sessions the next day too but it wasn’t all bad. The diversity panel was my favorite, where a group of volunteers came to talk about how they cope with their own diversity issues in Zambia. When a village requests a volunteer from the American Peace Corps, they expect their volunteer to be a young, white, stereotypical American. As you may know, not all of us fit that description. You’ll also meet the volunteer leader from each province who will talk about what you can expect from the 6 provinces that Peace Corps serves in. The PCVLs offered to take $100 from each of us that wanted a standard phone, a SIM card and talk time and bring them back from town. The overwhelming majority of my group regretted getting this phone, it’s crap and you can get good phones for just over $100. Most of the intake bought new phones within the next month but I couldn’t rationalize the waste of money. It’s the reason I’m one of the only volunteers without internet in my village. I remember how much I wanted to call home, to let them know I was ok and update them on what was happening but I recommend waiting until you go into Lusaka to get your phone. You’ll go after maybe 2 days in country to get supplies for your first site visit. The cruisers will come to take you to a really nice mall with a grocery store inside, this place literally has everything you could possibly want. And great food. And a movie theater. There are so many possibilities!

I think there are only 2 nights at The Barn until the first site visit, where you’ll go in groups of 4 to a village where a volunteer is currently serving. They’ll give you a list of groceries to buy from Lusaka that you’ll cook together during your stay. Site visits are all about the meals. You can cook just about anything on a brazier, including cakes and bread. It’s amazing. You’ll be given an allowance to spend and will probably use most of it. Honestly, you don’t get paid a lot during training but fortunately there is not much you’ll need to buy. Your site visits will be with volunteers from my intake so you can talk all about the RED project with some great people. Keep in mind that this will be the only time for the next few months that you have all day to do whatever you like, so enjoy it! And enjoy your time at The Barn. Each intake is unique but as for my own, a lot of us took to the bar that is within the grounds of the motel. There will probably be some volunteers there waiting to meet you, we’re all very excited to meet new people, get some fresh clean faces to look at and welcome you into the greatest extended family you will ever be a part of. I thought I was leaving my social life behind me in America but I was very, very wrong. Also, about the beer… if you keep your expectations really low, it probably won’t be as bad as you thought.

After your site visit they’ll take you back to The Barn for another night where you find out what language you’ll learn, join the group you’ll be learning with and practice some phrases to greet your homestay families. The majority of you will learn “muli shani” or, “how are you?” in Bemba. The lucky ones will learn “muli bwanji” and know from that day on that you will be a part of Eastern Province, the biggest and best province of all. You’ll spend entirely too much time with the people in your language group and you will learn to love them after you get to know them far too well. The trainers are all pretty great and you will make it through, just prepare yourself for some intense and boring language, technical, medical, safety/security and anything-else-that-you-can-possibly-think-of sessions. Your first 3 months are packed with them. Including half days on Saturdays. Oh, and just so you know, somebody in all of the homestay families know English at least fairly well. My mama played a funny joke on me my first night, it was awkward for me and really funny for her. Zambians are hilarious like that.

You’ll get your own house through training, your own bathing structure and your own poop hole, known as the chimbudzi. Your leg muscles will get strong very quickly. This is what the inside of my hut looked like during training. You can lock up the things you brought that you don’t want in your small, temporary house like tents, sleeping bags, etc. Honestly, you don’t need to pack much. You really only need clothing for the first months and whatever hygiene products and electronics that will make you happy. Since I put no effort into my own packing and did literally no research, I made you guys a list of what I wish I’d brought. In a way, this makes me feel like I’m redeeming myself. Otherwise, that concludes what to expect when you first get to Zambia. The training can be rough but enjoy it. Your intake group is your family so soak it up and really get to know everybody. I hope this helped and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Packing list:

Clothing: REDs have it the worst since we always have to look presentable and have a “real” job. Pack a few nice things but nothing you don’t want irreparably damaged. There are plenty of good second hand shops and it’s perfectly acceptable to regularly repeat outfits. Don’t over-pack because you will accumulate a ton of things here.

- 5 decent looking short sleeve and 2 long sleeve shirts

- 5 tank tops

- 2 cardigans, 1 long sleeve, 1 short. ¾ length are nonsense here.

- 2 crappy t-shirts for exercise and 2 long sleeves, maybe waffle shirts or a flannel. It does get cold sometimes.

- 1 hoodie

- 1 light jacket like a blazer/denim/fleece. It’ll be your go-to.

- 2 pairs loose fitting trousers. REI has nice ones with zip-off pant legs.

- leggings are good for biking in skirts and nice for cold season

- bring some jeans and a couple of going-out outfits, you’ll want to look good sometimes!

- 2 bathing suits for vacation and the chance of a swimming pool

- 4 long skirts, must be past the knees. Zambians view thighs as the “gateway” and it’s offensive to see any part of them.

- 2 pairs of flip flops, nothing special. I opted out of chakos and have no regrets- they’re ugly.

- 1 decent pair of shoes for teaching/nice occasions. You can wear open-toe shoes to teach, even Zambians do it.

- shoes for running/hiking.

- long shorts/ ¾ length pants for exercise.

- I brought rain boots and wish I didn’t, they were too big for my bag so I wore them on the plane and have worn them once. It was an awkward regret.

- You won’t regret too much underwear.

- 1 or 2 hats, sunglasses, any cute accessories and jewelry that will make you happy. You’re just as likely to lose these things in America as you are here and honestly, you might miss something. I miss my rings.

- a wrist watch

- I got a compression sack for my clothes and loved it, it works well and gives you a lot of extra room.

Practical ideas: Keep in mind, you can get almost all of this in country. Lusaka is a very modern place, especially where PC brings you, but it’s expensive and some of their merchandise is not very good quality. You probably have a lot of these items lying around. I found a lot at REI but there’s no PC discount so shop wisely. You can also have your loved ones ship some of this to you when you need it, the first 3 months you really don’t need a lot.

- small tent (great for site visits, I got a cheap one from Walmart but nice tents are just nice to have. You’ll probably wish you had one at some point and it’s a good investment.)

- light, compact sleeping bag

- bike saddle bags. The waterproof clip-on ones are the nicest. Peace Corps gives you a helmet and bike through training and a new bike when you swear in. I have a nice cushy American seat that I got from a volunteer that left, it’s amazing for long rides. Buy one and have it shipped to you.

- head lamp is an absolute must

- rechargeable speakers. Tweaker speakers are a great option.

- 2 good water bottles, nalgene is my preferred brand. Make sure you stuff them with tooth paste or other small things that take up space.

- carabiners, multiple sizes.

- portable first aid kit. PC provides a big one but I like to always be prepared on the go.

- sewing kit with scissors

- duct tape

- quick dry towels

- different sized bags for storage, moving around, etc.

- fitted bed sheets (you’ll probably have a ¾ or a double bed so don’t bring twin size)

- a pocket knife really comes in handy and my leatherman has proven itself useful countless times

- a good can opener. You won’t find one here.

- French press and coffee. Another thing you won’t need during training but could have shipped.

- any food that you can’t live without. Think ranch dressing, hot sauce, candy, etc. Or leave all that behind you and save it for a package that you’ll savor.

- zip lock bags. You can put all of them inside one and they’re perfect for the village. Put your cords and small electronics in and do it early… that’s another regret of mine.

- Diva cup- ladies, I swear by these. I brought 2 since you never know what you’ll drop down the chim. It’s awkward at first but I’ll never go back.

Miscellaneous extras I’m very glad I brought: This was something I really excelled at in my packing. I’m a very random person and it has led me to have the homiest hut of anyone I know. I have also made many, many children very happy.

- my bear, anything that will get you through homesickness

- tapestry/anything compact for decorating

- lighters (you can buy them here but they’re expensive)

- Tylenol pm and tums (calcium is hard to find in the village)

- activities with kids like coloring books, crayons, construction paper, glue, cards, hacky sack, toys, candy, nail polish, whoopee cushions. You’ll be incredibly popular with these items.

- baby wipes (they’re not necessary but sometimes they’re heaven, you’ll find out why!)

- a football, tennis balls, I brought my baseball glove and some balls and now I have a team! Only 1 other person in my intake brought a glove but it was nice to have a catch those first days at The Barn.

- small bottle of laundry soap from REI (good for washing your undies after your bath. Your new mamas do not want to see these items when they wash your clothes during training).

- solar shower bag, it really heats water nicely and you don’t have to put in a ridiculous amount of effort for a hot bath.

- journals, loose paper, index cards, envelopes, good pens and pencils

- address book

- small wallet

- scrapbook, photos to hang up

- pot holders and dish rags

- 2-sided magnified mirror and tweezers. You can still keep up with your appearance. My kids also love the magnified side of my mirror.

- nail clippers. You can’t bring too many, they’re a hot ticket item.

- a good razor and lots of refill packs

- lots of deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, sunscreen, lotion, pumice stone, nail brush (great for feet), hair elastics, clips, etc.

- makeup for special occasions

The electronics I brought and I’m very glad I did:

- laptop. You can keep it locked up through training and keep it at the PC house in your province if you don’t want it in the village. I keep mine in the village and watch movies in bed!

- kindle

- ipods. I brought 2 and broke them both within 6 months but they make life worth living. Keep them in the ziplock bags.

- solio. I know there are way too many options for solar chargers but I just got the basic small solio and it’s all I need but I’m blessed with electricity 3km from my hut. You really only need to charge your phone and ipod, solio is fine for both.

- shortwave radio. I don’t actually use this much and wish I’d saved my money but some people are obsessed with theirs.

- bring extra cords for ipods and such and it will likely help you to make friends!

Peace Corps provides a solar lantern, water filter, med kit, mosquito net, blanket and non-fitted sheets so don’t worry about those things. You also get a huge allowance to move into your new home after you swear in so you can buy all of your furniture, pots and pans, etc. You get to live in your house for a few days towards the end of training before you swear in, so you’ll know what you’re going to want/need. Keep in mind for the things that you’ll want eventually but don’t need in training, it’ll make it easier on your loved ones if you just have an already bought pile ready for when you need it shipped.

Good luck, you have nothing to worry about, and happy packing! I can’t wait to meet all you new REDs in training!

Some Things That I Have Learned… “Understanding is the Best Prevention”

I’m just getting back from a prolonged stay in Chipata town that lasted 12 days. I was going a bit crazy being away from my village for so long but I was asked to come in for a series of project workshops. One was a TEFL Counterpart Workshop where all education volunteers in my province came with an English teacher from their respective school… More on that another time. The first workshop I attended was based entirely on HIV/AIDS and how we can sensitize our communities on prevention, care and treatment. Again, this workshop was designed for a volunteer to bring a counterpart from their community so we could learn and plan together. The program was eye-opening and in my opinion, it truly prepared us to address the crisis of HIV in this country in our own small ways.

In the United States we learn from an early age, I think it was maybe grade 5 for me, about sexual health and everything relating to STIs that we never wanted to know. It came up in health class every other year until graduation, it was a part of the curriculum and whenever HIV was taught, I remember thinking of it as something that was not common and could never happen to me or anyone I knew. In the US, less than 1% of the population is infected with HIV. This statistic is partially skewed if you take into account that the rate is higher in densely populated, urban areas and almost non-existent in more rural areas (i.e. where I come from). Either way, before coming here HIV and AIDS was something that never came up in my day to day life and was something I hardly thought about, which is really sad considering how serious this epidemic is in our world. It is a crisis that we all need to face together.

I’ve assembled some information about the prevalence of HIV and included some hard-to-face truths. I don’t know how important it is to site my sources in a blog format but most of these numbers came from http://aids.gov and from the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey. Please remember how important it is that we all understand what is going on in our world and keep in mind that it is something that needs to be addressed.

From the most recent global statistics, 33.4 million people are now living with HIV/AIDS. Of those infected, 97% are living in low and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. As I’ve seen now in my everyday life, most people who are either living with HIV or who are at risk have little access to prevention, care, and treatment. In other parts of Zambia and throughout the world there is no help at all.  One of the most important things to understand is the impact that HIV has on a country’s development. “The HIV epidemic not only affects the health of individuals, it impacts households, communities, and the development and economic growth of nations. Many of the countries hardest hit by HIV also suffer from other infectious diseases, food insecurity, and other serious problems.” I can’t stress enough how true that is from what I’ve seen and heard during my last year here.

As of 2008, the prevalence of HIV in Zambia was reported at 14.3%. This number came from a nationally representative sample of over 13,500 Zambians.  That’s about one in seven Zambians, ages ranging from 15 to 49, that are known to be HIV positive. There is a huge fluctuation between rural and urban areas; almost one in four people living in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, are known to be infected. A significantly higher percentage of women are known to be HIV positive than men, 16% of women compared to 12% of men in general and 23% of women compared to 16% of men in urban areas. This is largely due to the sexual violence that is common in Zambia. That is a subject all on it’s own, so I’ll save it for another time but the fact is that girls here aged 15-24 are nearly twice as likely to be HIV positive than the boys their age. 

Unfortunately, it’s known that the majority of Zambians have never been tested for HIV although most do know where to get a test. There is a stigma towards it and a general attitude about sexual practice that many Zambians, particularly Zambian men, won’t change. It’s hard to grasp that some of the most common prevention methods are shunned because of how people were raised to think about sex, but with the death of around 89,000 people from AIDS every year and an estimated 630,000 AIDS orphans left behind, more and more Zambians are listening.

The workshop I attended was sponsored by PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), which comes from the American government. The budget that PEPFAR set aside for Zambia alone in 2007 was $216 million for prevention, care and treatment and an additional $25 million to aid in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. I can’t even fathom how much money that really is or where it all goes to but if the trends continue from the previous survey done in 2001-02, we can expect at least a slight decrease in HIV prevalence. The last survey was done in 2007 so we will have updated statistics available this year. It’s an exciting time to be here, to have substantial evidence that our program is either working or needs work.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer living in sub-Saharan Africa, one of my primary goals is to spread knowledge about HIV and AIDS and to promote safe sex and regular testing. Currently my counterpart, Josephine, and I are planning a Voluntary Counseling & Testing (VCT) event for all residents of Chadiza. Josephine has an Anti-AIDS club and I have my Boys & Girls Club so we are working together with our kids to plan and perform dramas at the school, in the market and at the local clinic. These dramas will help to sensitize the community and to promote the event, which will take place at the end of March. (Side note, all Zambians love dramas. They love watching them but more than anything they love performing. If you’ve ever seen a Nigerian film, and I don’t recommend it, you’ll have an understanding of the acting chops out here. Still, it’s a nice way to teach and to learn.) I’m excited to be forming and expanding my own goals as a Peace Corps Volunteer and am very glad to have a deeper understanding of life here.

Even if this is something that does not affect you directly, there is still a lot to be done, whether by spreading knowledge on prevention, aiding in the care of someone who is living HIV positive or contributing to an organization that is providing relief.

http://www.pepfar.gov

http://www.who.int/topics/hiv_aids/en/

http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/hivaids

http://www.kff.org/hivaids/index.cfm

New Beginnings

I’m now back at my school in Chadiza, getting ready for the beginning of Term 1. I arrived back in Eastern Province last week after my latest great adventure. The purpose of this blog is not to go on about my vacations so I’ll only briefly describe my holidays in Tanzania.

To start, I hitched down to Lusaka with a friend from Eastern and we traveled up through Central Province to Northern to meet up with 6 other friends traveling together to Zanzibar, the Spice Islands off the coast of Tanzania and birthplace of the late, great Freddie Mercury. From Northern Province (NoPro as they call it) we got on a train that took us on a 3-day journey to Dar Es Salaam. We arrived on Christmas Eve and spent an incredible Christmas day sightseeing and eating some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had. We then hopped on a ferry to take us to Zanzibar and spent over a week on the island, shopping, eating, lazing around on the beach, celebrating the New Year and overall just enjoying the company of long separated friends. All of us met during training and are part of the same program focusing in rural education.

Since the Education Development (RED) program works directly with Zambian schools, we’re at the mercy of the school calendar as far as travel time goes. School meets from January to early April, May to early August and September to early December. There are month long breaks in April, August and December so pupils can help at home with their family farms. The rains finally came in December, which means no child would be allowed to leave their fields to attend school since it’s time to plant crops. April is for harvest and August is for village repair, rebuilding and overall preparing for the upcoming growing season.

All other PCV programs are free to work and travel at their leisure. There is a lot of freedom in general in Peace Corps, but the RED program has specific goals and a tight deadline. I feel like my dedication to my school can really make or break the futures of my pupils, which is both extremely exciting and absolutely terrifying. During the past term I began taking apart the Ministry of Education (MoE) syllabus and planning for the course of the whole school year. I just found out that I will no longer be following my class from grade 8 to grade 9 but will restart with a new grade 8. Grade 9 is the grade that will determine if pupils know enough to move on to secondary school or if they have to repeat grade 9, otherwise they can opt to drop out.

In Zambian schools there are end of term exams for grades 7, 9 and 12. I really have my work cut out for me in Chadiza; even though 40% is considered a passing grade for these exams, only about 65-70% of pupils pass the grade 7 exam and 30-35% pass grade 9 each year.  That means that if trends continue, 65% of my former pupils will have the option to either start grade 9 over or stop completely.

If I hadn’t mentioned it before, Chadiza District has reportedly the lowest literacy rates of any district in Zambia. I can’t imagine where my pupils would rank with the rest of the world population. While I try hard to make my English classes fun and interesting, it’s impossible to get 100% attendance and participation rates. Bribing them with sweets for turning in 2 assignments each week has definitely increased the work I receive, but still some pupils are too shy or insecure of their abilities. The exams are all written in English so it’s a huge deal if the kids aren’t getting ahead in my class. This is a photo of the inside of my grade 8 classroom. It was too hard to fit all 48 of them in, so we took it outside.

My goal for this year is to work with my English teaching counterparts to bring the passing rates up to at least 50%. The MoE has specific guidelines in their syllabus that correlate directly to the exams, so teachers are expected to go through it before each term and lay out their schemes of work for each week in the term. In an ideal situation, these schemes are to be reviewed by the Headteacher of each school at the beginning of term. In reality, at least for the teachers that I work with, there isn’t a firm concept of how the required material flows and teachers are only prepared to teach straight from their outdated books, using entirely lecture-based teaching methods along with sample exercises that are given to the pupils but then never reviewed. Since the end of term exams are the only grading system in place, pupils aren’t held accountable for any other work and they know it. Once material is covered it is forgotten and teachers move on to the next topic. This is frustrating because not much can be done to hold the pupils or teachers responsible for their work. Assignments are often ignored because there is no repercussion for a fail or an incomplete. It is possible for me to contact my pupil’s parents, but the education culture is so poor here that the concern over schoolwork would fall on deaf ears. The vast majority of previous generations had to accept their fate as farmers and the majority of their children will end up doing the same thing. In many cases, school is viewed as a distraction from the work that needs to be done to survive.

So, since I'm an extremely organized person with a school that has semi-reliable electricity, I've been working on breaking down the government-issued syllabus into structured lesson plans with teaching ideas that are more pupil-centered. This is great for me because I feel like I'm making something that can be used by teachers for years to come, and I don't have to depend on anybody else to make sure it gets done. That's an incredibly frustrating part of my job, attempting to work with other teachers who see no personal gain in doing extra work. Even mandatory teacher group meetings have about a 50% attendance turnout. 

As for now, I’m just trying to hit the ground running and use this in-between week to prepare for my lessons, after school clubs and other extra-curricular activities that I’m involved in. I appreciate all of the positive energy and feedback I’ve been getting throughout my time here but especially during this holiday season. It isn’t easy to be so far from home this time of year, but knowing what an incredible family and wonderful friends I have both Stateside and in Africa makes everything feel manageable. Wishing everyone a prosperous 2013 and feeling incredible blessed. 

Season's Greetings

Happy holidays to everyone!! I’m just getting back to reality after the trip of a lifetime, my most epic Christmas gift yet. My parents came to visit me, see my home away from home and take me away to the beautiful world of clean feet, exquisite meal options and endless entertainment.

After a rocky start for my Dad, who had to spend an extra day in Addis Ababa due to some technical difficulties, we made it straight down to Chadiza and spent our first night together at the Government Guesthouse. I was formerly under the impression that this was a nice place to stay but after seeing things fresh from my parents’ point of view, I now have a new perspective. I think from now on I’ll ask for a clean set of sheets and a mosquito net. It’s nice to be spoiled every once in a while.

The following morning I had a local friend of mine drive us up to the farm where Mom and Dad met Amai and Atate. What an interesting introduction to make… Amai doesn’t speak a word of English so the intro went something like this, “Mom and Dad, this is Lazarus and Ida Banda, my Zambian parents… Amai, Atate, ndi a Maureen, ndi a Bill, makolo anga waku America.” All of my iwes, my brothers, sisters and extended family, crowded around to meet the folks. When Zambian families visit one another the stay is typically at least 2 weeks or more, so it was hard to explain that we would only be there for 2 days.

Day 1 in the vil, Mom and I walked down to the Boma to find my misplaced phone and meet and greet friends in the market while Dad slept off the Ethiopia debacle. I had arranged for the closest of my PCV friends to join us for a party in the village, so we met them in the shops and doubled back to start preparing for the feast. Originally I had intended for us to walk out to the main village to feast with everybody and watch the traditional Nyau dancers. Atate told me we’d have to wait until the following afternoon for the villagers to be prepared, so the first night only half of the chickens were killed for a more intimate meal with my Zambian family, volunteer family and of course, the two guests of honor. The meal consisted of nsima, chicken, rape, beans, rice, cheese, mango salsa and tortillas (sort of like American nsima). There were 7 from my PCV family, 6 from my Zambian family, my parents and me, spread over 2 reed mats on the freshly swept dirt in front of my house. We ate under the stars by candlelight assisted by my solar lamp. The mango salsa was a hit and my iwes got to try cheese, a rarity in any village. After dinner, dessert was served. I’ve been promising to make brownies for a few weeks now so it was nice to finally deliver. Iwes get impatient when it comes to sweets.

We all stayed up talking into the night, sharing stories and having a good time. The stars out in the village are breathtaking so we laid out on the mats to look up and enjoy the African sky. When it was time to sleep, my parents of course got my bed and the rest of us got the floor. 4 of us snuggled up in my main room, 2 in a tent on my porch and 2 in a tent outside. So cozy. The following morning involved french toast with peanut butter and honey, fresh brewed coffee and continued proof that there are no limits in a mud hut in Africa. Especially with a group of hungry volunteers.

After breakfast, we walked down to my school in the Boma, toured the grounds and met my Headteacher. He let us into the new Room to Read (where my world map mural will be in a few months!) and we hung out in the Resource Center with my best friends from school. The photo on the left is us with my co- English teacher, Ephraim Phiri and my homie Oscar Zulu, fellow teacher and assistant director of the RC. It was incredible to be able to share my everyday life with my family. It really reminded me how strange and wonderful this experience actually is and how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

After seeing my school we walked all through the Boma. It’s about a ten-minute tour that took close to 30 because everybody wanted to meet my parents. I’ve been talking them up for the better part of a month, so everyone came to pass greetings. We bought veg and got a ride with one of my co-teachers up to the main village where the Nyau Festival was to take place. We got there about 3 hours after the appointed time, which I figured would mean we’d be right on time, but the chickens were still alive and the villagers were scattered and unprepared. We waited around for a couple of hours but by late afternoon when still nothing was close to ready, we decided to make the 3km trek back to my hut so we could eat and get out of the African sun. It was disheartening to give up on the event I had been planning with my villagers for the last month or so but it served as a good example of how difficult it is to accomplish anything here. It’s a cultural difference that I’m still learning to accept. At least the village got to enjoy a good feast that day, while we finished up the eggs and bread and packed up my house to leave the following morning.

We left at first light to catch a flight from Chipata to Livingstone. Transport has never been easier, I should throw money at that situation more often. We made it straight to our hotel just before the rains and had a great buffet-style dinner; complete with all the vegetables I’ve been missing for the past 10 months and more. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten the chance to split a bottle of wine with Mom and Dad.

We were on the move the whole 3 and a half days spent at Victoria Falls. We walked to the gorge, explored the sites and then signed up for some adventure. One afternoon we spent riding elephants and the next walking with lions… Mom and Dad were up for anything. Truly the vacation of a lifetime. Victoria Falls (locally named Mosi oa Tunya – The Smoke That Thunders) is absolutely incredible, you can walk along almost the entire width of the falls all the way up to the gorge that separates Zambia from Zimbabwe. Words and photos could never do it justice, it’s a sight to be seen before you die.

As predicted, the trip went too fast but we really packed a lot in for a great week. It was an emotional event for me to have gone almost a year without seeing my parents and then have to say goodbye again. I had never gone more than 

maybe half a semester without seeing them and now it’ll be at least another 17 months until the next time. This holiday season I’m especially thankful for my wonderful family, both American and Zambian, and of course the pack of strays that make up the Peace Corps. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be blessed with all of the incredible people that make up my life. I’m missing everybody Stateside and trying to soak up everything in the short time I get to spend here.

Peace and love everybody, enjoy your families and have a very happy holiday season!

Life These Days...

When I started this blog I had every intention of keeping up with it faithfully. I wanted to document this whole crazy experience for my family and friends to read and share in from home and to have something written down to look back on for years to come. I'll be honest, while I think about writing a new post a lot, my time here at the Peace Corps Chipata house gets sucked up through facebooking, stumbling, emailing, watching television and socializing with other volunteers. Simultaneously. It's a whirlwind here. But I'm beginning to realize how fast my service is going and I'm going to try to do better with writing it all down. It's incredible to have gone through the experience of adjusting to a new culture and a completely new way of living. I'm now confident that I can get used to pretty much anything. I don't feel as if I've changed too much as a person but I do feel a stronger sense of resolve to make the most out of my life and I'm truly getting to know who I am and what I'm capable of.

Having this house to come to four nights out of every month is great for a vacation from village living but in a way it feels as if I'm living a double life. I have my village life where I'm very structured, busy either working, networking or keeping up with my housework and family time, and then I have my Chipata life where I come into a house full of Americans and want to just sit on our big comfy couches and veg out like only an American can. In all honesty, I prefer my village life immensely. Chipata overwhelms me with its bustling streets (which are paved!), stocked stores and supermarkets, selection of food and beverage, not to mention the shenanigans we volunteers sometimes get into. This picture is a typical example of what I'm doing instead of writing this blog. Does it look a little risky? It should. I feel disoriented for at least a day after leaving. I can't imagine how ridiculous it will be readjusting to American life after my service is over.

So, more about life in the village. Most mornings I'm awake by 5:30 and up before 6. I couldn't sleep in if I tried between the roosters crowing and the kids running around screaming. We're finally at the end of hot season. Temperatures apparently have been up to 120* but I can't really say since my thermometer broke. It's possible that the mercury boiled. Freak of nature that I am, I really like hot weather and I have enjoyed the season. I teach Monday-Thursday at different times of the day but I always leave my house by 8 at the latest. On Monday we have morning staff meetings at 6:30 and I have class at 7, which makes Monday my least favorite day since I can't enjoy coffee and breakfast on my front porch. I've been walking the 3km to school everyday, it takes me about 35 minutes and gives me time to think and enjoy the scenery. Here's part of my daily commute..

I typically love my class even though I only get regular participation from 5 or 6 pupils out of 43. I'll upload photos of them soon and hopefully even a video of us going bananas. It's a song and dance I learned in training to get everyone out of their seats and having fun before or after class. It's just fun for the kids and makes me look a lot cooler than the other teachers. We play a lot of games so I can get everybody participating. I've started getting a much better return on homework and in-class assignments since I started bribing my pupils with sweets. I give 2 assignments each week, 1 in structure and 1 in composition. If they show me that they've tried it's almost automatically a 10/10 and they qualify for the sweet. Unfortunately there is a lot of copying from one another and even from my own example compositions that I write up on the board. When teaching I have to speak extremely slow and ask 1 or 2 pupils to repeat each of my instructions so that everyone is together. That's one thing I say at least 5 times a lesson,"Are we together?" ... Now that we've gone over irregular past tenses I've started saying "Understand?" and everyone yells, "UNDERSTOOD!" Unfortunately I think that they just love shouting it out in class and I'm sure that some pupils don't truly mean it.

I try to make my class as fun as possible. This term is the final term of the year and my first term solo teaching the whole way through, so I've been experimenting with my lesson plans. Each week I teach one structure/vocabulary lesson, one reading comprehension and one composition. That's Monday-Wednesday where I have 120 minute classes each day. On Thursdays I have only one block, which is 40 minutes, so I use it as a game/review day. Reading comprehension is my favorite. There is very little reading retention here since they've really never needed to develop the skill. I spent the first week of class getting the pupils involved in planning the term. I had them vote on what topics they'd be interested and then I found articles relating to each topic to give them for comprehension. So now we have a topic of the week and I plan each composition to relate to the topic and another opportunity to practice the structure and to summarize what they read about. One week our topic was music and I had the pupils do a reading comprehension on the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Penny Lane. We grooved through the lesson and for their composition the next day I had them write me a story about something going on around Penny Lane. They were a bit confused and it could have gone better but we had a lot of fun. That was the week I learned how to give better instructions.

My favorite lesson so far was a group free-write where we wrote a composition together, meshing all of their ideas together and illustrating the story on the blackboard. The story ended up being about a mermaid who meets a handsome merman and falls in love. My grade 8 pupils are between ages 13 and 19... needless to say, there was a large gap in ideas. So as they passed the chalk the story took a lot of different turns. The handsome merman told our main character, Marina, that she was the most beautiful mermaid he had ever seen. Marina's reply was "OH! Thank you. That's nice." I don't know why that tickled me so much, maybe it was the voices they used to act it out, but I couldn't stop laughing all day. That's my go-to reply now for any compliments I receive from my pupils. I had them finish the story on their own and it was my favorite day of grading compositions so far.

The majority of my day is spent at school and in the Resource Center. I'll get to the rest of my job in the next post because this post is long enough already and there are some major frustrations with the other part of my job. Anyways, my school is within the Boma so the shops are just across the road. I pop into Ebenezer's Grocery for lunch with my good friends Alan and Bernard and to shoot the breeze with whoever is around. The Resource Center is practically my home now and my best friend is the assistant director to the center. The photo to the right is of all of us who work together everyday at the center. We get into a lot of deep conversations about any and everything, religion, politics, cultural differences, you name it. Zambians are very traditional, conservative, and the overwhelming majority are Christian. My own views are somewhat less than traditional so I've been very reserved in most conversations. As a volunteer I don't want to step on any toes and get into any trouble. But I feel very free with my friends in the RC and everybody gets involved in our discussions in a truly open and understanding way. I've learned a lot there.

Then I get to the village, which is a complete change of pace. I walk home around 16 hours and spend the rest of daylight with my Zambian family. We sit together outside of the insaka/kitchen hut where the women do all of the cooking and laundry. There is always something to be done. My Atate is the only adult who speaks English so it's a good time to practice my Chewa. Sometimes I eat with the family and sometimes I cook for myself. I've abandoned the brazier for a mentholated spirits make-shift stove. I just throw a match into a can of purple spirits and it burns high for 5-10 minutes. It's easier and faster than the charcoal brazier and I'm lazy. I tend to cook with a lot of spices, which the kids have grown to like but the adults can't accept. I've found that popcorn is always a nice gesture.



To showcase how goofy my family is, I'm including this
photo of my brother Loyd. He's actually one of the pupils in my class. But anyways, one day he runs up in this amazingly American outfit and asks me for my cowboy hat so he can ride his bike to strut around the Boma. For what, only god knows. They get really excited sometimes...

These are my youngest iwes, Alice and Mary. They're also little weirdos. I say that in the most endearing way possible. Their favorite topic of discussion is farting. Everyday without fail, one of them will run up and say "Osashula ku nyumba ya amai Banda!" Which means "Don't fart in amai Banda's house!" (They call me amai Banda, that's the family surname with the word for mother attached.)





So we giggle and then get on with our coloring/ dancing/ whatever activity of the day until I'll throw out an "Alicey... mwashula?" Which translates to "...you've farted?" Gets em every time.


I guess I could say I fit in pretty well around here. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else right now. I feel truly lucky to be where I am and blessed to have a reason to smile and laugh each day.

Osadandaula

I can't believe it's been over 7 months since coming to Zambia. I just spent a week-long vacation in Malawi after two weeks of in-service training (IST) in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. My entire intake group met for IST after 4 months of our individual community entry period, isolated in our own villages across the country. It was great to be back with everyone I came into country with, hearing everyone's stories and seeing their personal changes. We're really a great group of young volunteers who know how to have fun. Since our IST took 2 weeks, Peace Corps put us all up at a nice hotel just north of the city. It was a time for indulging in restaurant food and of course a selection of beverages. Anything is a great change from the village diet of nshima and oily vegetables. Surprisingly enough, most of the girls in Peace Corps tend to gain a good bit of weight during first part of service. Who knew nshima could be comfort food? This is a photo of the group during our frat party/beer olympics. Our order of events for the night began with toga awards, followed by beer pong and flip cup, then a slip and slide tournament and finally, a sling shot competition. I got the sling shot as an 'mbasela' when I bought my first bow and 2 arrows at the Lusaka Sunday market. Mbasela literally translates to super awesome free bonus. You think you're just buying a heap of tomatoes and onions, but what's this? Mbasela cabbage. I'm a monster at deals in the market and I'd say I made out pretty well with my bow and arrow/sling shot deal. So anyway, we divided the teams according to province with the winning prov to bring home the slip and slide. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to conclude the games. 

The training was great but incredibly long. We had sessions from 8 until 17 hours each night with an hour for lunch and 2 tea breaks. I'll try not to complain, it's just hard to concentrate for that long after having so much free time in the village. I'm used to spending my days alone, coming and going as I please, visiting neighbors or exploring the bush paths and of course making moves at the school. So now, all day conferences somehow feel like a trap. Some of the sessions- for instance, coping mechanisms or safety and security- are extremely interesting and I'm happy to participate. My group broke the news to our regional supervisor about the main form of transportation used in Zambia. Most volunteers prefer to hitchhike when traveling. I know it sounds dangerous but to be fair, buses aren't very safe; the main bus line used by Eastern Province recently crashed on the Great East Road and a number of people died.

Each province has exactly one road to travel between districts so if you stand on the side of it long enough, someone will pull over for you and take you in the direction you want to go. It's actually a great way to network because the people who have a car in this country are always the most educated. Often we can get a ministry vehicle to pick us up. On our trip down to Lusaka, my group got a Ministry of Health semi-truck to pick us up and the driver was nice enough to stop on the side of the road so I could run back for my hat that flew off. It's usually a free ride and kind of liberating to hitch but the rides are always awful. Starting from my village, I leave my district on the worst dirt road which is an hour and a half from the tarmac, which connects 8+ hours away from the capital. I'm lucky in Eastern Prov since Lusaka is technically in Eastern but the Great East Road is terrifying. We almost wrecked once going up-country when coming around a turn on a hill with one oncoming mini-bus overtaking another just ahead. As a safety precaution, the government has been putting up a series of speed bumps along the windy hills but the large canter trucks still overturn a lot. It's crazy to see.

These are my good friends Stephen and Andrew playing a friendly game of rummy with me on our hitch down. The wind only took the 8 of spades and 2 of diamonds. All in all, not a bad way to spend the trip down.

Traveling really can be a lot of fun. Zambians love seeing a white woman on the back of a truck, so they'll yell "Muzungu!" from far and near and the little iwes will just come running (iwe is the word volunteers use for kids, literally it's just a less than respectful- "You!"). Kids are my favorite part of the country, always smiling and so excited. It could just be the color of my skin but I know I'd be excited to see me, so I can't blame them. The only annoying part is when I'm riding my bike around bush paths and they chase after me and try to touch me or my hair. Side note, my hair is like a precious treasure to my iwes and my students. One day in class I let everyone come up and touch it or run their fingers through it. I also let my baby sisters brush it when they do something nice for me, for example my sister Eliza sometimes scrubs my kettle or pots with sand to get the scorch marks off from my cooking fire. I used to reward them with sweets but I had a few monkey thieves so I haven't stocked up lately. Besides, getting my hair brushed is a double win for me... An mbasela of sorts.

I'm really excited for the next school term to start in September. The training workshop has given me a lot of ideas and helpful practice for making a plan, implementing a program or teaching a class. It's all in the plan. I don't want to go on about my work right now but it's a fun job and I've been doing a lot. Hopefully my class will start to pick up when I'm teaching by myself and can call all the shots. I have a great schedule with every Friday off. I love my free time, I'll read on my porch all day sometimes or I'll go explore-running around the fields and farms. I have so many great bush paths in between villages and backways through the middle of nowhere. Running has been awesome since I don't have to talk to anyone and I can just get away for a while. I'm also obsessed with my beautiful house. I have the cleanest hut in Peace Corps, I'm sure. Not to say that PCVs are as dirty as they're stereotyped to be...

Truth be told, my hut has been described as Pottery Barn. Not bad, eh?


I'll be heading back to my village tomorrow after I get over this cold I picked up in Malawi. A bunch of us went up to Nkhata Bay after IST. It was so hard to leave! Eastern Province has no significant body of water and I'm a beach girl... It's a rough life, what can I say. The backpackers lodge we stayed at was built right into a cliff with paths leading everywhere. I felt like an elf in Rivendale. I ate the best food and swam every day. I also went cliff jumping and got to see some eagles diving for fish next to the boat I was on. They speak Chichewa in Malawi, very similar to the Chewa I've been learning in Eastern so I had a great time speaking with the locals and of course getting more deals in the market. After 6 days in paradise, I did not want to leave. It was also hard to say goodbye to all of my friends again, I really lucked out with how many incredible people are out here with me. 

This is where I enjoyed my coffee every morning in Nkhata Bay. They have a saying around there,  ''Osadandaula'' - Chewa for Don't Worry.