Monday, December 8, 2014

Chipata

It has been challenging to write since saying goodbye to my village a number of months ago.  The day I left Nachibanga is still clear in my mind; waking up before sunrise to pack remaining items into zambags, loading my belongings onto an oxcart to be taken to the big dirt road with my host nieces and nephews tagging along for the ride.  Being picked up by my friend in a canter truck, with Ba Judy and her husband Gladson traveling with me to Choma.  And of course in typical TIA (This Is Africa) fashion, getting stopped by road police for over an hour while all transport was halted for a reason I will never understand.  We did eventually make it to Choma.  Ba Judy had not been to town in over two years, so I decided to give her a little bit of spending money to have a nice meal with her husband before heading back to the village without me.  I gave my hugs, and watched them walk into town.  I felt sad, but I knew the feeling would settle in the months to come when I did not have my village in my daily life to provide me with companionship, challenges, and hilarious experiences that were too numerous to write down.

I visited America for a month, and then moved to Chipata to begin my third-year Peace Corps extension position with USAID/Feed the Future as the program's Field Coordinator.  Chipata is in the Eastern Province, nine hours from Lusaka (due to road construction) and a short distance from the border between Zambia and Malawi.  Chipata acts as a center of trade, commerce, and agricultural activity.  This large town, which is surrounded by mountains that I have hiked on Sunday mornings with new friends, is growing quickly.  My experiences in Chipata have been eye-opening thus far, as this is my first time understanding development issues from an agricultural standpoint.  Deforestation and soil degradation are critical issues impacting farmers across the country, and I am able to go out into the field with the numerous implementing partner organizations to evaluate new practices being promoted to hopefully mitigate the impacts of global climate change.  The increasingly dramatic delays in the onset of the rains (it is already December and the rains have not begun in Eastern and Southern Provinces) in addition to the rapid reduction in forest-cover across the country lend clear evidence to the potentially devastating effects of climate change in many developing countries like Zambia.

As Feed the Future's Field Coordinator, I have been given big and broad responsibilities with little direction on how to achieve results.  I am the only member of USAID's Feed the Future Economic Development team based in Chipata, and I work with partner organizations receiving funding from USAID.  There is a great deal of energy behind changing farming methods and adopting new technologies, and it is quite exciting to be a part of this movement.  It is challenging to be the only staff member of this type based in Chipata, and I make my own schedule based on the activities happening each week.  Some weeks I am out in the field almost every day, traveling along neglected dirt roads to villages and monitoring farmer fields and trainings.  Some weeks I am in meetings and compiling research or updates for the Feed the Future partners.  I am getting into the swing of things, and also realizing that being part of a close-knit team on a day-to-day basis is something I am ready for in the near future.

I will say that it is strange to be a visitor when I am out in the field because my life was based in the village for over two years.  I arrive and leave from field visits in a shiny vehicle, returning to my home with electricity (most of the time) and running water.  I can't make villagers see me in the same way my village saw me, and at times I find myself wanting to say, "Hey, I lived in the village for two years! I don't need a special chair, I can sit on the ground and I will be fine! In fact, I want to sit in the dirt and have your kids play with my hair!"  On one visit, a few young girls sat next to me while their parents were learning about improved farming techniques, and I couldn't resist teaching them the alphabet by writing in the sand.  I miss these little things, and it is difficult to come and go in this way.  All I can do is appreciate the time I had in Nachibanga and know that my values and passions have been more clearly defined during my time in Zambia.  I am learning about the type of work and life I crave, and I feel stronger in my convictions.  


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