Thursday, January 10, 2013

Changes Changes!

I am currently in Lusaka at IST and have completed my Community Entry... I can't believe how quickly it went by!  I am beyond happy to be with all of the friends I came into country with, and a bit sad that I will not see many of them until midway through my service.  Let's see... I have a new hut being built because the flooding destroyed my hut, so I will be staying with two Peace Corps Response volunteers in Kalomo (a small boma) until my hut is finished.  I want to get back to my village so badly, I miss everyone so much and I miss having a home.  I am, however, excited to decorate my new home... the paintings and collages from my old hut may not make it in the move up the hill to my new hut, but I will make them again.  Impermanence of things, and patience.  I will be hopping around to friends' villages to do nutritious cooking demos, health talks, and will also visit the District Health Office and a number of NGOs in the boma so that I can bring back ideas and resources back to my village in a month (hopefully it won't take much longer than that, but time is elastic here in Zambia). 

My counterpart from my clinic Judy and I have come up with a plan to have a program at our clinic where we take 10 to 15 of the most malnourished children from our Under 5s, have a cooking demo once a week where the mothers each bring an ingredient to a potluck and we will teach the mothers to cook balanced meals for their children, and we will monitor their weight gain.  Once they reach their target weight (which I will collaborate with the nurses to determine), the women and their children will graduate from the program and we will rotate in another child and his/her mother.  I am also hoping to start an HIV/AIDS support group at my clinic.  I am so energized to get back to my village and begin working on these programs.  Love you all!

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