Muli Shani! Since I just posted a week ago there is not much new to report, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to use internet next so I thought I would take advantage. I had to come to Mpika again this weekend to get my new malaria medicine, but it works out nicely because Becky is having a village party at her place tomorrow with food, music, dancing...should be lots of fun! The past week flew by in my village. It's crazy how time can go both slow and fast at the same time. I chucked the cat...gave it away to the little neighbor boy because it was driving me up the wall. It would not stop meowing and I knew it was time to get rid of it when I would secretly cheer on my puppy when it would attack the cat in the yard. So it's just me and little imbalala now, who is not so little anymore since after I feed her she trots over to the neighbor's house for nshima, which I refuse to make for myself, let alone the dog. Turns out I am absolutely not and will never be a cat person. (Although I might try to burrow one from someone in the village before rainy season to keep away the cats.)
Becky, Kathy, Jeanna, Danielle, and I are all going to the hot springs "near" my place to celebrate the 4th of July! I met with the owner, Mark, who is from the UK and whose brother runs Shiwa house, and I told him we were celebrating independence day. His response was, "celebrating high oil prices, and a bad president, huh?". Haha oh the british...they're just jealous because everyone is always celebrating their freedom from them. :) We are going to camp and grill out, and they even have showers and bathrooms at the campsite! It's the simple things in life...
I went for a run yesterday and at one point I could look out over the whole valley and see the large hill by the road that I have to bike to in order to get to Mpika. My booty hurt just looking at the distance, but the view was amazing...makes me wonder how I ever ran on a treadmill.
I hope you are all enjoying a HOT Minnesota summer! I miss the lakes so much, especially wakeboarding...can't do much of that here. No boat for one, and you'd probably get eaten by crocodiles if you fell in. Happy early 4th of July! Enjoy some extra sparklers for me. What do you think Mark would do if we set off fireworks at the springs? hmm... :)
Miss you all! Much love from zambia. :)
Katie
p.s. I can almost light my brasier without using my firestarters now...baby steps.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
I made the trip back down to Mpika after almost 2 weeks in the village. I love my village, but have come to realize that there are certain telltale signs that I need to get out for a couple days. One of these is when I find myself hiding from villagers in my hut because I just don't want to greet yet another person in Bemba. I also know I need a break when I start have conversations with my pets. I've realized that there are days when I go without speaking any English, and my poor family gets there ears talked off whenever they call :) I am staying with Kathy this weekend, another volunteer who lives about 15k from Mpika. Her sight is gorgeous with an amazing view of the silhouette of the mountains and the lights of Mpika, and she is an awesome cook.
This past week was Child Health Week in Zambia, so every day I went with the clinic staff to different villages in my catchment area to give children 5 and under as well as pregnant mothers immunizations and vitamin supplements. I tried to convince the children that the vitamin A and deworming pills were sweeties, but they weren't really buying it. :) Of course the clinic staff mostly rode the motorcycle to the villages while I followed behind on my bike, but Peace Corps just gave us these sweet new Trek bikes so mine was fun to test out. Of course it makes it a little more difficult to persuade villagers that you are a poor volunteer when Peace Corps shows up in the land cruiser with a shiny new bike and accessories....but I won't complain because I get lots of use out of it. I was planning on attempting the 130k ride to the boma on Friday but after a week of biking for Child Health Week I settled on 30k to the tarmac and then hitched the rest of the way.
So one of the villages in my catchment area that is only about 7k from my village has a legitimate problem with Elephants. They storm their crops and their homes, while the community is pretty much helpless as poaching is punishable by death. The NHC members told me I could come anytime to see the elephants. I might just have to bring my tent and take them up on that. Because even though it's horrible that they are causing such problems, it's not every day in America that you see elephants storming things...
The other Mpika volunteers and I are planning a trip to the hot springs to celebrate the 4th of July! Luckily it sits right next to an African Holiday so we get about 5 days off. A bunch of us are also planning a trip to Lake Malawi right after In-Service training at the end of August. Apparently there is amazing scuba diving there.
I have become increasingly annoyed with people staring at me. It's like I am constant entertainment that never gets old for the children. Adults will stare as well. I try to greet the adults in Bemba and usually that helps, but with the children I have started making funny faces back at them and having 'staring contests'. I always win of course :) I have to remind myself daily that I am so different from them and I stand out so much that they can't help but stare. It's like a purple-colored person wandering through America. Even when I see other white people in Mpika I find myself staring at them too! I want to know what they are doing all the way out here...and I'm sure they probably wonder the same about me.
I finally got an official malaria medication switcheroo approved by the Peace Corps Medical Office. I am now taking Doxycycline, which is an antibiotic that I need to take every day the entire time I am here, which clearly isn't good for the body, but I'll take it any day over malaria.
I am becoming a little more clear as to what kind of work I can do in my village. I attended a Neighborhood Health Committee training a couple weeks ago at my Rural Health Center conducted by HCP (Health Communication Partnership), an NGO here in Zambia that basically does my job as a CAHP volunteer except they have money. My NHC's are just getting started so there is plenty of potential for capacity-building which is what I am here to do, and I hope to work with HCP to make the training complete as well as help with monitoring and evaluation. The HCP workers that I met said they have worked well with some Peace Corps volunteers in the past, and they only come to my area quarterly so I can work together with them to fill in any gaps in training as well as work with the NHC's on a more regular basis. That translates to lots of biking for me. :)
Hope all is well back home! Zambians here that follow American politics at all are pumped about Obama! Kathy gave me some Obama stickers I am going to hand out in my village....ya know, with all the people around here voting in November....
I miss you all more than cake. Much love from the Zambian bush!
Katie
This past week was Child Health Week in Zambia, so every day I went with the clinic staff to different villages in my catchment area to give children 5 and under as well as pregnant mothers immunizations and vitamin supplements. I tried to convince the children that the vitamin A and deworming pills were sweeties, but they weren't really buying it. :) Of course the clinic staff mostly rode the motorcycle to the villages while I followed behind on my bike, but Peace Corps just gave us these sweet new Trek bikes so mine was fun to test out. Of course it makes it a little more difficult to persuade villagers that you are a poor volunteer when Peace Corps shows up in the land cruiser with a shiny new bike and accessories....but I won't complain because I get lots of use out of it. I was planning on attempting the 130k ride to the boma on Friday but after a week of biking for Child Health Week I settled on 30k to the tarmac and then hitched the rest of the way.
So one of the villages in my catchment area that is only about 7k from my village has a legitimate problem with Elephants. They storm their crops and their homes, while the community is pretty much helpless as poaching is punishable by death. The NHC members told me I could come anytime to see the elephants. I might just have to bring my tent and take them up on that. Because even though it's horrible that they are causing such problems, it's not every day in America that you see elephants storming things...
The other Mpika volunteers and I are planning a trip to the hot springs to celebrate the 4th of July! Luckily it sits right next to an African Holiday so we get about 5 days off. A bunch of us are also planning a trip to Lake Malawi right after In-Service training at the end of August. Apparently there is amazing scuba diving there.
I have become increasingly annoyed with people staring at me. It's like I am constant entertainment that never gets old for the children. Adults will stare as well. I try to greet the adults in Bemba and usually that helps, but with the children I have started making funny faces back at them and having 'staring contests'. I always win of course :) I have to remind myself daily that I am so different from them and I stand out so much that they can't help but stare. It's like a purple-colored person wandering through America. Even when I see other white people in Mpika I find myself staring at them too! I want to know what they are doing all the way out here...and I'm sure they probably wonder the same about me.
I finally got an official malaria medication switcheroo approved by the Peace Corps Medical Office. I am now taking Doxycycline, which is an antibiotic that I need to take every day the entire time I am here, which clearly isn't good for the body, but I'll take it any day over malaria.
I am becoming a little more clear as to what kind of work I can do in my village. I attended a Neighborhood Health Committee training a couple weeks ago at my Rural Health Center conducted by HCP (Health Communication Partnership), an NGO here in Zambia that basically does my job as a CAHP volunteer except they have money. My NHC's are just getting started so there is plenty of potential for capacity-building which is what I am here to do, and I hope to work with HCP to make the training complete as well as help with monitoring and evaluation. The HCP workers that I met said they have worked well with some Peace Corps volunteers in the past, and they only come to my area quarterly so I can work together with them to fill in any gaps in training as well as work with the NHC's on a more regular basis. That translates to lots of biking for me. :)
Hope all is well back home! Zambians here that follow American politics at all are pumped about Obama! Kathy gave me some Obama stickers I am going to hand out in my village....ya know, with all the people around here voting in November....
I miss you all more than cake. Much love from the Zambian bush!
Katie
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Mwapoleni bonse! I'm back in Kasama now for Provincial meetings. I got in yesterday and after 2.5 hours on my bike with my tent, sleeping bag, and backpack, then about 4 hours in transport vehicles I just about collapsed after arriving at the Peace Corps house last night. (After my highly-anticipated hot shower and a couple cold beers of course.) A bunch of volunteers were already at the house so it was nice to see people and hang out, and the rest will get in today. Meetings are all day tomorrow, then this weekend a few of us are going to head to Chishimba Falls near kasama to see the waterfalls and camp.
The past couple weeks in my village have gone pretty well. I attended my first under-5 outreach clinic with my counterpart in a village about 36k away from my own last wednesday. My counterpart was pretty upset at the turnout, as he was anticipating more mothers to come. They bring their children for immunizations and vitamin supplements, and babies are weighed as well. Basically it's lots of wailing babies, but they are so adorable! It is also an outreach to the village to provide birth control and also educate on safemotherhood, HIV during pregnancy, family planning, etc. Although I was just an observer at this first clinic, in the future I will participate in the educational component as well as get to weigh some babies (and most likely get peed on). Malnutrition in children is a major issue here in rural Zambia. It was one thing to read and learn about conditions such as marasmus and kwashiorkor during training that produce bleached/lightened hair and swollen bellies in children, but quite another to actually see the effects of malnutrition first-hand. Families here are so large and resources for proper nutrition are not readily available (I even worry about my own nutrition in the village). Under-5 clinics are a great way to reach very rural villages who otherwise would not be able to take their children to the Rural Health Center, and the opportunity for health education is great, but they are ineffective if only a small number of mothers show up. This will be an obstacle I will attempt to tackle as a volunteer here. This three months of community entry time is helping me to see the great number of opportunities there are for me to work with my community and help develop their abilities to reach out to community members and motivate them to take responsibility for their health (since the government of Zambia has delegated that responsibility to them).
Last weekend, Lonnie, a retired peace corps volunteer who drives me to Mpika a lot (I think I mentioned him in an earlier post), wanted to introduce me to the people that run Shiwa house about 30k from where I live. Talk about surreal moments in Zambia. Shiwa is a huge colonial british mansion that was built in the 1800's I believe by a British family that moved to Zambia for development aid. The original owner of the house was actually the first and only white person to receive a government burial from President Kaonde, as he was key in helping Zambia gain their independence from Britain. His decendents now run the house and people fly in from all over the world (in their private jets of course...there is a landing strip on the property) to stay at the house, dropping thousands of dollars in a matter of days. The house is absolutely gorgeous (needless to say my mud hut pales in comparison) and I got to meet and have tea with Charles, the british owner. He even offered me a free stay in the house anytime I would like to stop by! I explained to him where I was living and what I was doing in the village, and he said "call me old-fashioned but I can't believe they allow you girls to live way out here in the villages"...haha. Clearly he thinks I'm hardcore (wink!) He gave me his number, the house number, and his son's number (he's single and in his 20's....I think Lonnie is playing match-maker) in case I get into any trouble in my village and need to get out. In case of emergency they are great people with vehicles who could help me, but let's hope a situation like that never arises (knock on wood). At least it gives me peace of mind.
My neighbor next door just had a baby boy, so precious! I had dinner with them the other night, chicken (yummy!) for the special occasion, and I got to hold him all bundled up in about 10 blankets. They gave me some money to buy some baby clothes here in Kasama, so I'm going shopping after I finish with the internet.
The transition to village life has gotten easier with each passing week. It's hard to believe I was posted over a month ago! I went to a soccer game in my village last Sunday, and it was so much fun to watch, they were so good! They even played with kleats and uniforms which is almost unheard of in village games. However, maybe 30 minutes into the game there was a disagreement about a penalty kick was called. The opposing team refused to give up the kick, and pretty soon the entire village was out on the field arguing with eachother. Then the game was over. Everyone just got up and left. I felt as if I was the only one who was surprised by all this. Ha! Something that would never happen in America....but I guess there is a rematch next weekend.
My kitty, puppy, and I are like a happy little family in my mud hut. I talk to them a lot as if they are people...but they keep me company and although I regretted buying them at first because of the maintenance I am glad they are there to greet me when I come home! They didn't get along at all at first, but the other night while I was eating dinner (cold corn from the can because I didn't feel like lighting up my brasier) they were both curled up together on my lap sleeping. I love my puppy, and the cat has it's moments when it isn't completely annoying, but it has killed a couple mice so I let it stick around.
Andrew Jo, the PCVL (peace corps volunteer leader) came to visit my site last week, and since I'm so far out he just spent the night. He was my first company and it was so nice to have someone to talk to in English about concerns, things that are going well, village life, etc. We made a big mexican feast that I would probably never attempt on my own. And the result of his visit is that my village thinks he's my husband...haha. They just can't fathom the fact that I am not married and don't have children. There was one woman at the under-5 clinic who was 22 and already had 4 children. Women my age in Zambia are breastfeeding and working out in the fields....while I am still figuring out exactly what it is I want to do with my life. They say I am like a soldier because I ride my bike and that I am very strong. I tell them that Zambian women are the strongest women I have met. Anyone who can carry 20 liters of water on their head while also carrying a baby on their back (in the hot African sun of course) will beat me any day in a competition of strength.
I hope all is well on the other side of the world. I hear small tidbits about the upcoming election. I'm disappointed I'll miss all the craziness surrounding it all. I just gotta figure out how to vote from here....
Miss you all! Sending you all my love from Zambia.
Katie
The past couple weeks in my village have gone pretty well. I attended my first under-5 outreach clinic with my counterpart in a village about 36k away from my own last wednesday. My counterpart was pretty upset at the turnout, as he was anticipating more mothers to come. They bring their children for immunizations and vitamin supplements, and babies are weighed as well. Basically it's lots of wailing babies, but they are so adorable! It is also an outreach to the village to provide birth control and also educate on safemotherhood, HIV during pregnancy, family planning, etc. Although I was just an observer at this first clinic, in the future I will participate in the educational component as well as get to weigh some babies (and most likely get peed on). Malnutrition in children is a major issue here in rural Zambia. It was one thing to read and learn about conditions such as marasmus and kwashiorkor during training that produce bleached/lightened hair and swollen bellies in children, but quite another to actually see the effects of malnutrition first-hand. Families here are so large and resources for proper nutrition are not readily available (I even worry about my own nutrition in the village). Under-5 clinics are a great way to reach very rural villages who otherwise would not be able to take their children to the Rural Health Center, and the opportunity for health education is great, but they are ineffective if only a small number of mothers show up. This will be an obstacle I will attempt to tackle as a volunteer here. This three months of community entry time is helping me to see the great number of opportunities there are for me to work with my community and help develop their abilities to reach out to community members and motivate them to take responsibility for their health (since the government of Zambia has delegated that responsibility to them).
Last weekend, Lonnie, a retired peace corps volunteer who drives me to Mpika a lot (I think I mentioned him in an earlier post), wanted to introduce me to the people that run Shiwa house about 30k from where I live. Talk about surreal moments in Zambia. Shiwa is a huge colonial british mansion that was built in the 1800's I believe by a British family that moved to Zambia for development aid. The original owner of the house was actually the first and only white person to receive a government burial from President Kaonde, as he was key in helping Zambia gain their independence from Britain. His decendents now run the house and people fly in from all over the world (in their private jets of course...there is a landing strip on the property) to stay at the house, dropping thousands of dollars in a matter of days. The house is absolutely gorgeous (needless to say my mud hut pales in comparison) and I got to meet and have tea with Charles, the british owner. He even offered me a free stay in the house anytime I would like to stop by! I explained to him where I was living and what I was doing in the village, and he said "call me old-fashioned but I can't believe they allow you girls to live way out here in the villages"...haha. Clearly he thinks I'm hardcore (wink!) He gave me his number, the house number, and his son's number (he's single and in his 20's....I think Lonnie is playing match-maker) in case I get into any trouble in my village and need to get out. In case of emergency they are great people with vehicles who could help me, but let's hope a situation like that never arises (knock on wood). At least it gives me peace of mind.
My neighbor next door just had a baby boy, so precious! I had dinner with them the other night, chicken (yummy!) for the special occasion, and I got to hold him all bundled up in about 10 blankets. They gave me some money to buy some baby clothes here in Kasama, so I'm going shopping after I finish with the internet.
The transition to village life has gotten easier with each passing week. It's hard to believe I was posted over a month ago! I went to a soccer game in my village last Sunday, and it was so much fun to watch, they were so good! They even played with kleats and uniforms which is almost unheard of in village games. However, maybe 30 minutes into the game there was a disagreement about a penalty kick was called. The opposing team refused to give up the kick, and pretty soon the entire village was out on the field arguing with eachother. Then the game was over. Everyone just got up and left. I felt as if I was the only one who was surprised by all this. Ha! Something that would never happen in America....but I guess there is a rematch next weekend.
My kitty, puppy, and I are like a happy little family in my mud hut. I talk to them a lot as if they are people...but they keep me company and although I regretted buying them at first because of the maintenance I am glad they are there to greet me when I come home! They didn't get along at all at first, but the other night while I was eating dinner (cold corn from the can because I didn't feel like lighting up my brasier) they were both curled up together on my lap sleeping. I love my puppy, and the cat has it's moments when it isn't completely annoying, but it has killed a couple mice so I let it stick around.
Andrew Jo, the PCVL (peace corps volunteer leader) came to visit my site last week, and since I'm so far out he just spent the night. He was my first company and it was so nice to have someone to talk to in English about concerns, things that are going well, village life, etc. We made a big mexican feast that I would probably never attempt on my own. And the result of his visit is that my village thinks he's my husband...haha. They just can't fathom the fact that I am not married and don't have children. There was one woman at the under-5 clinic who was 22 and already had 4 children. Women my age in Zambia are breastfeeding and working out in the fields....while I am still figuring out exactly what it is I want to do with my life. They say I am like a soldier because I ride my bike and that I am very strong. I tell them that Zambian women are the strongest women I have met. Anyone who can carry 20 liters of water on their head while also carrying a baby on their back (in the hot African sun of course) will beat me any day in a competition of strength.
I hope all is well on the other side of the world. I hear small tidbits about the upcoming election. I'm disappointed I'll miss all the craziness surrounding it all. I just gotta figure out how to vote from here....
Miss you all! Sending you all my love from Zambia.
Katie
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