I am completely unprepared to post right now, I just had a surprise visit to the PCMO (medical office) to get a nice little cut on my foot looked at. Apparently I need stitches but the doctor doesn't want to close the wound in case of infection since it's on the inside of my foot. But all is well! I just had a little biking incident on a path that was not meant for bikes. Woops.
Since my last post, I have been to my first site visit in Chilobwe, which is in Eastern Province and I had a great time! The cruiser ride took about 7 hours. There is only 1 road in Eastern, it's called the Great East Road. People and animals line the sides of the road, there are many ups and downs around turns and the drivers are insane. It was an interesting ride, I'm glad I don't get car sick. When we got to Chilobwe, my group of 4 was greeted by the children in the village and our host volunteer, Alex. After we settled into Alex's hut and ate some PB&J, the kids swarmed the porch and wanted to dance for us. The villagers drummed on water jugs and sang songs and danced in a big circle with each girl taking turns in the center. It was incredible to watch. One thing led to another and I ended up learning some of their moves and showcasing some of my own. These kids could not stop laughing at me. Then the boys got up and did a warrior dance with sticks in place of spears. I also tried that one, it was not as easy.
We stayed in Chilobwe for 4 days and experienced a lot. We met the chief, spoke with him extensively on his hopes for development and the history of his village and got a general idea of how the village is run. We then went to Alex's school (she is also a RED volunteer) and we met with the head teacher, visited a few classes and got a feel for our future projects. Every class stood to greet us in English. There is obviously a lot of structure and children here are taught from an early age to show respect to their elders. There is not a lot of motivation for students to learn in the rural villages and the resources are extremely limited so teachers face a lot of challenges. It will be interesting to see what I can come up with as far as lesson materials, projects, etc. Alex was a real inspiration. She is starting up a pre-school in her village so there were parents coming to her hut all day to sign their kids up. Alex recruited 4 volunteers from her village to run the preschool so the entire thing is completely sustainable, even after she leaves. She also leads afterschool programs to incorporate football into learning about HIV/AIDS.
I was so excited to see what life is like in the village. We have bathing structures called sambas or bafas (corrupted English words are pretty common) where we take in our buckets and get clean under the open sky. It's very liberating. The chimbudzi is actually not so bad, as long as you check first for snakes and other creepies. I camped out in my tent in Alex's front yard and we cooked all of our meals on a braizer. You can make so much on one of those. We also made peanut butter out of ground nuts! It was honestly the best I have ever had. Village life is slow but so open and welcoming. Everyone is family and you spend all day outside with kids running around and animals are everywhere. I'm planning on getting some pigs to keep in my future yard to entertain me. I can't wait to see my own site and meet my coworkers at whatever school I will be working at! The suspense is ridiculous.
This is a picture of me with some of the kids outside on Alex's front porch. I'm definitely investing in building a front porch if I don't have my own. Look how well I blend in!
So now, I'm living in a village called Mwampikanya and learning Nyanja. My host mom (my amai) is Judith Chongo and she is an incredible woman. If I were prepared, I would have a picture of my hut to post. It's nice, I promise. I sleep under a mosquito net of course and the lighting isn't great but I have tables and shelves and I'm completely organized so it feels homey. I'm learning Nyanja with 2 others from my intake, Maeve and Andrew. We're a special little group, we have a lot of fun even though language classes are 3-4 hours, 5 days a week and 2 hours on Saturdays. We also have either safety/security or technical training for the same amount of time either at a local elementary school or at the farmer's technical institute (FTI) which is 5k from my hut.
My amai has my breakfast ready by the time I'm up at 6-630 and I'm off to school by 715. This morning I had homemade bread, peanut butter and pineapple jam. Sometimes I have jungle oats with pb. The fruit here is unbelievable. I eat lots of mangoes, bananas, apples, and really whatever comes my way. I come home for lunch everyday that we aren't at FTI. We bike everywhere. I'll eat nshima twice a day sometimes. The vegetarian soya is delicious and I have it pretty much everyday. Also lots of beans and veg. I love the food. When I come home amai has my bafa water ready (bathing is my favorite time of day, so fresh and so clean) and then I'm ready for dinner. After dinner I sit and talk with amai for a couple hours, practise my Nyanja and share stories. I taught amai's grandaughters to play war. They're really impressed with my card shuffling skills, no big deal. I also color with them a lot.
I'm really happy here and looking forward to making it through training. Nyanja is beautiful when spoken correctly. Here's a little taste of what I'm learning... "Mwachoma bwanji? Dzina langa ndine Jacqueline. Ine ndine waku America, ndine wodzipeleka". Every letter is pronounced, there is no ph=f sound or silent letters. It's interesting to say the least. Sindikamba chinyanja kwambiri koma ndifuna kuphunzira. I want to learn.
So now, I'm about to get picked up and head back to my hut. I made some friends here who let me online! My foot is fine, really, I just have to take antibiotics and keep it clean and use butterfly stitches. Tomorrow Zambia's football team is in the Africa Cup Finals! Kind of the African Super Bowl for soccer. Pretty big deal here. I'm going to be watching with some of the other volunteers, so I look forward to that!
For now, pitani bwino, tidzaonana.
