1 Month Update!

Hello to all of my beautiful family and friends! I have been in Zambia for 1 month, and have reached my first Internet cafe. There is so much to say, but I firstly wanted to tell you all that I am happy and safe and loving life. I am also SO appreciative for all of your love and support, I can feel it all the way across the globe.  Where to start... right now we are in PST (Pre-Service Training), 11 weeks of intense language and technical health training that is exhausting at times, but is getting me so excited to find out my village placement (I find out on Friday of next week) so that I can settle into a community and begin working on community health projects for the next 2 years.  My friends in this group of trainees are absolutely incredible, and if I ever need a hug or any emotional support, I get at least 10 hugs.  My host family is just my Bamaama, and every night we talk freely over dinner about our days, about the differences between life in Zambia and life in America, about our families... I really value our time together, and I am going to miss her so much when I leave training.  On Sundays I also love washing clothes and fetching water with her as the sun sets.

A typical day during training begins as the sun wakes up, I bike to language class in a neighboring village.  I have language training with 3 other volunteers in an nsaka (open hut).  By noon we bike home, have lunch (I taught my Bamaama how to make PB&J), and then bike to our technical training center for health training, or a field trip to a rural health clinic.  By 5:15 I bike home, bathe quickly before the sun sets, write in my journal, have dinner with my Bamaama, and fall asleep around 9:30 or 10 at night inside my little mud hut.

There are so many ups and downs throughout training, but after the first few weeks I have felt so present and balanced here in Zambia. I know I am where I need to be. I feel overwhelmingly grateful for this opportunity to work as a health volunteer in Zambia, so lucky to be alive experiencing another culture, meeting the most amazing people, and maintaining connection to home (so far, phone calls and texting are the only way to do this).  After training we swear in (October 5!) as Peace Corps Volunteers, then 3 months of community entry where we settle into our communities, and then we can begin our work on HIV/AIDS prevention, malaria prevention, and child and maternal health.  I will have a little more internet access after community entry (January), but I can feel all of the love from home when I go to sleep at night and look up at the magnificent sky, of shooting stars and a brilliant moon that trumps the light of my flashlight at times! I love you all so much, I miss you, and I cannot wait for letters from you :)

*(If you need any ideas for packages, here are a few! Granola bars (that won't melt), dried fruit, sweet and salty almonds/nuts, Gatorade/Crystal Light packets (my friend had the raspberry lemonade kind, reminds me of freshly squeezed lemonade!), healthy crackers to snack on, and books!) <3 <3 <3

I Am In ZAMBIA!!!

Hello all, I am in ZAMBIA!!! Currently with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) at a motel under the beautiful starry Zambian sky. It is very cold right now, but perfect weather during the day. We are here for the next few days going over medical, safety, and other details (today we got a rabies shot and tomorrow we get other vaccines we still need) and then on Monday we leave for a 3 night/2 day visit to a current volunteer's site to see what life is like as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We will be getting phones on Saturday, and we are being taken care of SO well by the Peace Corps so nobody worry! We have everything we need to keep ourselves safe and healthy. I love you all so much, and even though internet access will be very limited, I will have a phone very soon. Sending love and light!

Address

Hello beautiful people! Here is my address for Pre-Service Training, from July 18-October 5, 2012:

Ashley Feuchs, Peace Corps Volunteer

US Peace Corps

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka
ZAMBIA

Feel free to send letters, coffee, books, healthy snacks, and your love!

Peace Corps Zambia: Pre-Service Breaths

My invitation came after a morning of laughter, sweet kisses, sunshine, and coffee. After conscious yogic breaths and conga drumming. I opened the package, read and re-read the country assignment and departure date. Confused glances at the words, at my love and support, and then back at the words. Country Assignment: Zambia. Community Health Volunteer. Leaving July 16. I was told Latin America leaving in August. I thought I had more time, and I thought I would be serving in a country closer in distance to my friends and family.  

But this is it, and as the sediments of amalgamated emotions begin to settle at the pit of my soul, I am starting to breathe more easily than I did a week ago when the package came. I have loads upon loads of love and support, and a spirit whose restless aches for an expanding sense of community, humanity, and love have resurfaced yet again. This is it, and I am ready. I am ready to dive into the bottomless sea and the endless starry skies of the beautiful humanity that surrounds me always. I am excited to invite this world into my heart, let it rush in like a wind that some days I will float upon, and some days I will fly against. I am grateful for this opportunity, I am grateful for the communities of family and friends that are already present in my life, and I am grateful for love.