Momentum!

It has been a long time since my last post, as I have been so busy in the village.  The work has been exhausting, yet incredibly fulfilling.  As I get further and further into my service, it becomes increasingly difficult to describe the ups and downs of daily life.  My village is home, my host family has become an extension of my American family, and my house is feeling as close to "home" as possible for living in a mud hut.  I sit with my host brother and the guys shelling beans, handwash my clothes and make my fire in no time, and paint sunflowers on my new house.

The first exciting news is that our handpump is finished!  It took so much work and coordination, but we did it... thanks to a donation from close friends of two of my professors at UCLA, who happened to be in Zambia and visited my village.  I am beyond grateful for their generosity, and as I sat down with my host sister (with whom I had been tirelessly going door to door to try and raise money to fix our water source) and told her the news, we both teared up.  We did it!  My hands are newly calloused from fetching water by myself again, but every time I pump the water into my containers, I feel happy and proud.

I have been working with a few new communities recently, and the momentum in my village work has sped up tremendously.  I had called a community development meeting for all surrounding villages three different times, and only one man showed up.  By the third meeting, I told this man that I wanted to visit his village, because he was the only one showing commitment.  I visited his village a few days later, met his headman, and we called a meeting right there with 6 men and 6 women sitting under a big mango tree.  There was a funeral going on at the time, which usually means all business as usual is called off for up to a week, but the headman respected my visit and took a couple hours out of the gathering for our meeting.  I will be going back after provincial meetings and PEPFAR training (this and next week), for they will have already called a village meeting to discuss their top priorities and proposed projects for the future.

The most exciting new project has been in Ndondi village, an hour and a half bike ride each way, up and down huge hills.  But the hills are beautiful (especially because most of our province is flat), and listening to my music (a mixture of pump up jams like 90s pop, John Mellencamp, and 50 Cent) helps keep me going.  I was invited to this community by a man who is friends with my host family, and I met with him at the tiny Ndondi health post.  This three-roomed health post serves a community of 2,800 villagers, with one nurse and a number of community health workers.  One room serves as both a delivery room and an HIV counseling and testing room, so when mothers come in to give birth, patients who want to get an HIV test must be turned away.  After holding multiple successful meetings at the clinic, and after feeling so inspired by this hard-working community, I decided to propose a grant to help Ndondi build a two-room extension onto their health post.  The village is elated, because this extension has been in the works for over a year, but funding has yet to be provided by the government.

One room will serve as a mother's shelter, for expectant mothers and their families to wait before and after giving birth.  Hopefully this shelter will decrease maternal and new-born mortality, for mothers will be able to travel the far distances from their villages in the hills to the clinic up to two weeks before giving birth.  Patients will be attended to by trained medical staff instead of giving birth at home, thus allowing any emergencies or complications to be identified before it is too late to reach a hospital or a larger health clinic with a doctor.   The second, smaller room will be used for VCT (Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing).  Hopefully more villagers will come for VCT, for they will not have to worry about getting turned away because there is no private space for testing.

I have been working non-stop with our newly created project committee (clinic staff and passionate community members and leaders) to complete the grant for our health post extension.  When our grant is approved, I will provide a link for family and friends to donate through the Peace Corps website.  With support from family and friends, we can raise funds quickly and get our project underway before hot and rainy season!  Sending love to you all, more updates to come.  

Namibian Adventures

I just returned from Namibia, and though my pictures speak for themself, I will update as best I can!  The journey was LONG, 20 hours each way on a bus from Livingstone to Windhoek.  Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, is an incredibly clean, calm, friendly city.  Namibia has one of the smallest populations in the world, because it is mostly barren but beautiful desert. The country gained independence in 1990, so the German influence is very strong in the cities and towns.  The effects of colonialism are deeply felt but difficult to grasp, as Windhoek and Swakopmund seemed to be run by large German businesses, in addition to the diamond and oil mining industries.  Poverty exists mostly on the outskirts of these small cities, as there is little water available far outside these cities.

Everything is much less expensive in Namibia as compared to Lusaka (though prices in the village are of course next to nothing), so I was able to buy fresh produce and funky accessories like a new yellow hat and yellow sunglasses for cheap!  We rented a vehicle in Windhoek and drove for a day in the desert to Sossusvlei, where we camped and awoke at sunrise to climb part-way up the second largest sand dune in Namibia called "Big Mama."  We hiked to petrified trees, saw the largest sand dune in Namibia ("Big Daddy"), drove past giraffe, kudu, ostrich, warthogs, baboons, and feasted our eyes on glorious canyons and mountains.  We then drove to Swakopmund, a touristy coastal town where the desert meets the ocean.  I hadn't realized how much I missed the ocean.  The weather was chilly at night but scorching during the day, the sunsets were absolutely unreal, and the trip all in all was magical.  My friends and I had a few scary experiences driving in the desert (I will spare the details, we are all totally safe!), as is transportation in Africa.  Now it's back to work in the village!

Be Free

Every day has been filled with stories, fulfilling work, and hilarious times in the village.  As for work, we had our first Muzoka HIV/AIDS Support Group meeting on Friday.  I was exhausted from being at the clinic all day, but when the 8 members of a previously formed support group (who dissolved due to disorganized leadership) sat with me under a tree to tell me their stories and their ideas for Income Generating Projects, I felt immediately re-energized that day.  There were at least 3 times as many group members in the previous group, so as our weekly meetings continue, we expect to get many more to re-join.  However, having 8 committed members show up to a first meeting was a huge success.  These individuals were so comfortable speaking about their status, personal and community reactions to their status (including both discrimination and acceptance), and their frustration with the long distances they have to travel in order to get their ARVs.  ARVs may be "free" in Zambia, but transport is expensive and time-consuming.  We discussed collective income generating projects, and decided we would begin a community garden for the members to both eat nutritious vegetables, and sell these vegetables in the market.  Next week we will choose a site for the garden, and elect members to various positions for the group.  Our first meeting truly inspired me, and each group member was so ready to begin our project.  We also would like to form dramas to sensitize the community on HIV/AIDS and safer sexual practices.  The group members, who are all over 40 years old, told me it would not be a problem to show up next week with skit ideas.  They were excited and began discussing costumes and drums to accompany the skits.  I hope to eventually combine this support group and my Anti-AIDS club at the school in our community dramas, culminating in a Village Health Day carnival.  I have also had quite a few villagers come to me to learn English.  They sit on my veranda and bring schoolbooks to read together.  Some are kids, some adults, some young adults who want to find jobs.  I don't really find it to be "work," I just enjoy teaching. 

I needed some alone time on Sunday, so I decided to go on a bike ride in the opposite direction of the route to the clinic.  I found gorgeous rolling hills (which gave my legs a good burn) and a peaceful, quiet path to ride when I need to get away.  I blasted my ipod as I admired the beautiful green untouched hills.  In a few months the green will begin turning brown as the Earth dries and makes Zambia look more like a savannah. 

My friends in the village are beginning to come to me as their friend, not just as a foreigner.  They tell me about their family problems, their struggles.  They laugh with me as they ask me why I am a 23 year old single women living alone without children (although the only "alone" time I have is at night when I get to read under my mosquito net).  They also laugh as I try my hardest to speak Tonga (and I laugh at my attempts as well).  I painted the words "Be Free!" on the outside of my hut, and they have really understood that my door is open.  This village is becoming my home, and I fall in love with it more and more every day.  It is challenging, exhausting, and I miss friends and family back home.  I miss people showing up to meetings on time, I miss abundant fruits and vegetables that I can buy at the grocery store, instead of waiting to see what is available during the season at the market.  I miss the ease of American transport.  But I am grateful, and I try to soak my spirit in the beauty of life in rural Zambia.

So Busy, So Happy!

I am busier and happier than I have ever been in my entire life!  Since being back in my village, every day has been a whirlwind, always moving.  I have been back for about a week and a half, and already so many things have begun.  Yesterday was probably the most exciting day.  The water pump near my home, which serves about 30 families, has been broken for a year or so.  My family has put so much work into rebuilding my home, and to give back to them, I really want to repair this borehole.  So I spent time finding the man who knows about taking apart and repairing boreholes.  He lives in a nearby village, and goes to the church not far from my home.  On Saturday, I went to the church, but was told he would be arriving late.  I went home to wash clothes and dishes, and when I went back to the church, I found him.  I invited him to our village meeting the next day, a Sunday, at my home to make plans for repairing our water pump.  I didn't want to get my hopes up on Sunday, so I spent the morning tutoring 3 girls in my village, knowing that my plan may not work out.  Things have a way of both happening as planned and not happening as planned in Zambia (usually the latter), and you just have to accept whatever happens.  Make peace with it.  At 15:30 the man arrived, but my village was not at my home.  I called the children to tell my village that they must come on time, as the man to repair our borehole has made a long journey and is at my home.  They quickly organized, and the man with water pump expertise, myself, and 8 men brought our tools to the borehole to begin the job.  The women and children gathered as we took apart our water pump.  It turned out that the only things needing replacement were the bearings, some rubbers, and a nylon nut.  I came to town today to price the items with the coordinator for the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program, and the pricing is even lower than I expected.  For the whole job, it will cost each family less than $2 (or 10 kwacha), equal to one bottle of cooking oil.  To have water for years.  Now, the only hurdle is to call upon these families to put together what they have to repair our water source.  My host brother things it is very, very possible, as "water is life."

Other than that, I have started an Anti-AIDS club at our school, and after teaching the students about HIV/AIDS education, I would like to begin creating dramas with them to sensitize the community on HIV and safe sex practices.  This week, I am also holding our first meetings for my nutrition program at our clinic for the most malnourished children (there are a lot of them at the Under 5 weighings, as we are still in hungry season and nutritious foods are in short supply), and re-starting the HIV/AIDS support group that once existed at our clinic.  I have also been approached by many in my village and in neighboring villages about starting a pre-school, and will hold our first meeting for the pre-school committee in about a week.  It is so much, and I have been running around like crazy, but have also not forgotten to admire the bursting field of sunflowers on my bike-ride to and from the clinic, the intensely beautiful sunsets, or sitting in my new mango tree at the end of the day (which I realized the other day as I was bucket bathing looks exactly like the tree tattoo on my shoulder!).  I also take time to laugh with my friends in the village, A LOT.  Almost every day.  I used to be way more stressed in the village, but meditation amidst the chaos is something I have recently found. I have also been devouring books before I go to sleep, as well as writing tons in my journal.  If you have any books you are finished with and would like to send my way, it would be so greatly appreciated.  Sending so much love back home!

Safe and Staying Positive

I do not want anyone from back home to get too scared, but a few nights ago the house where I was staying with another Peace Corps Response volunteer while waiting for my hut to be finished was robbed.  I heard noises in the living room around one in the morning, but thought they were just my roommate in the bathroom.  Turns out, our house had been broken into.  Luckily it was only my roommate's computer and nothing else.  We were not hurt, and although the computer was a devastating loss (it had many personal files and photos on it), we realized that it may have deterred the robbers from entering our bedrooms.  Peace Corps responded immediately, and we spent the next day at the police station.  I am now back at the Peace Corps house, waiting for my new hut to be finished.  I am set to go to my village on Friday to ensure everything is finished, and then move in on Monday.  My new home, in addition to the packages I just received from family and friends, couldn't come at a better time.

Although there have been some intense happenings thus far in Zambia, I am remaining positive and happy.  I have also received some inspiring e-mails from teachers and mentors of mine recently, which have also brightened my days.  Sending peace and love back home!

Blessings in Disguise

My new hut is almost finished! I should be able to move in by the end of February.  But for now, although traveling to different villages has been exhausting, I've been able to do some incredibly successful programs that I will bring to my village very soon.  I just returned from a friend's village where we had the most successful HIV/AIDS talk!  The group was quite large, about 60 villagers gathered at a rural health post, and the individuals were both male and female and of varying ages.  We first discussed the facts and myths regarding HIV transmission and prevention, and then we discussed "living positively" if you discover you are HIV positive.  We also played a game at the end where I wrote "activities that can transmit HIV" and "activities that cannot transmit HIV" on index cards, and the group had to correctly place the cards into either category.  They were so enthusiastic, and placed each of the cards in the correct category!  We also taught a group of women how to make cheese, and they were so excited to make it for their families, and to possibly sell the cheese by the roadside since it is so inexpensive to make (and nutritious).  I gave a health talk at the cheese-making demonstration, and after one of the women tasted the cheese, she said, "Wow! I already feel my body getting stronger from this cheese!"  The whole day, though it was rainy and gray, made me smile.

I realized, particularly after the HIV talk, that this is the kind of work I want to do for the rest of my life.  Helping to mobilize a village to facilitate in their action and excitement to improve community health makes me so happy, and fills me up.  It makes my soul feel both energized and at peace, knowing I am putting my efforts towards helping villagers improve their own health with just a bit of knowledge and inspiration.  I have so many ideas, and I just hope that 20 more months is enough time to see them through with my village.

Birthday Updates

I'm 23!  Don't feel much different than I did yesterday, yet 22 began what feels like an epic chapter that will continue to be filled with stories of adventure, inspiration, frustration, and beauty.  The past weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.  After IST I moved into a temporary homebase, in Kalomo which is a boma (small town) 40 minutes south of Choma.  Not really diggin the town vibe, I miss the quiet communal feel of the village, so I am traveling from village to village working with other Peace Corps volunteers on various programs.  Just came back from doing a cheese-making demo at my friend's school, which was a success!  Cheese-making, particularly as hungry season begins (in between planting and harvesting time), is a great way to improve food security, especially because at this time the cows are producing lots of milk due to the rains and abundance of grasses for them to eat.  All you need is milk, vinegar or lemon juice, and salt to make village cheese!  The kids really loved our cooking demo.  I spent my birthday evening with this same friend, listening to music and enjoying the clear, starry, moon-filled sky.

All of the Southern volunteers had a giant January birthday party on Saturday.  The theme was mustaches, machetes, mini skirts, and mohawks.  Tons of fun and overwhelming celebration.  Headed to a friend's village before the party to do a malaria prevention talk at the Under 5 clinic.  The sun has been shining the past 2 weeks, so we bathed and swam in his river for almost an entire day.  Got tons of vitamin D, which I have been missing in the rain! Headed to another friend's village today to do an HIV prevention talk in her class, and then doing both cheese-making and HIV education in yet another village next week.  Then to visit a close friend in central province.  Keep moving, that's my current slogan.  I want to teach myself how to make fruit jam this weekend as well, so I can teach villagers how to preserve the abundance of a single fruit before it spoils (for example, now mangoes are falling everywhere, and many rot before they can be eaten).

Saw photos of my new hut... I can't believe how much work Peace Corps staff and my village have put into this new home!  I am expecting to move in at the end of February, and I really cannot wait.  I cannot wait to re-decorate my hut with paintings, wall-hangings, citenges, collages, photographs, etc.  I am also planning a vegetable garden and kitchen compost, hoping to grow kale, lettuce, carrot, onion, and sunflowers.  Hopefully the chicken wire can prevent the goats and cows from eating the vegetables! My new hut is located on top of a hill that overlooks the entire village, as well as the nightly golden sunsets.  I have a mango tree, a bit more privacy, probably better cell service than I had before (which was next to nothing, so anything will be an improvement!), and hopefully a comfortable new home.  Sending so much love to you all back home <3