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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