Saturday, March 29, 2008

I spend my days under African skies....

Hola! We are in Lusaka today to do some grocery shopping before we go on our second site visit, which is where we get to go stay at our actual site for a few days with another volunteer thats already in the area. The highlight of this week was definitely finding out where our permanent sites and new homes will be. I will be in the Mawanda area of Petuake district in the Eastern Province of Zambia. My village is called Chitindi village and from what I've heard it sounds great. There is another volunteer in the same village who will be 5k from me. This is very rare for PCVs to be placed in the same village, so I'm pretty psyched that I will have someone so close. Apparently, this area really wanted an Education volunteer so hopefully they will be enthusiastic about working with me. There is a government school and clinic 5k away and there is a community school within 1k of me, so I am really excited. My water will come from a borehole(water pump) that is also less than a kil from my house so i feel lucky. This is one of the safest sources of drinking water, although I will probably still boil it then filter it. My site is about 35k from the nearest boma (town) which is Petauke. When I need to get there I will either hitch or I can bike it. Hitching is a really common form of transport for volunteers and its apparently very safe. It saves us from having to spend kwacha on transport. Two other education volunteers in my intake, Eric and Ryan, will also be in my district, as well as one LIFE volunteer (agro-forestry program), so that's pretty cool.

Everything is still going great and I'm not homesick yet. I would say one of the things I'm most grateful I brought is a pack of earplugs and the thing I miss most is a hair-dryer. Other than that I'm adjusting really well. Language is kind of tough because we are just learning so much in a short period. We had a second language exam on Friday and I think I did okay. We are having a big party tonight--an American-style BBQ, complete with roasted goat, sports, and music.

I'm really loving the family I'm with and I admire each of them so much. Life, especially for women in Zambia, is pretty hard. Even the children seem so much more involved in their own care and the care of others, its amazing. My grandma wrote me an email asking if I help take care of the children and the answer is NO! THEY help take care of me, the "muzungo," who can't cook for herself, or do her own laundry. I'm talking, an 11 year old, basically did half my laundry this week, as I looked on and attempted to be helpful. She then instructed me on washing dishes and fetching water. It was humbling. 6-year-old kids tote babies on their back as they help around the house. They do all this, with smiling happy faces and a peaceful nature. All the kids (about 10) on my compound are great.

I'm so upset because I accidentally deleted all the pics I have taken when I was trying to change the settings!! So no pics today, but hopefully when I come back from my site next week I'll be able to post some of where I'll be living for the next TWO YEARS! Ugh, it makes me sick to think about but Dad mentioned they may be recover-able, so we'll see.

If you read this blog, leave me a comment and ask any questions you have or just give me a shout so I know you still remember who I am. Sometimes when I sit down at a computer I have trouble thinking about what details people might want to know.
Zambia is awesome, Peace Corps is awesome. Sometimes I don't believe I'm actually here and that I'm perfectly content living in a developing country. I hope this honeymoon period never ends...haha. I have to go buy food now, so I can eat over the next while I'm camping at my site. Stay in touch! Miss you guys!!
Love,
Cait

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Muli Bwanji!

Yay! Its my first blog entry from Zambia! I'm sorry this is the first opportunity I've had to use the internet, but as you can probably imagine, there isn't exactly wi-fi at every Starbucks. I don't even know where to begin...I've been gone for 3.5 weeks and I've been in Zambia for 3 weeks. So far it is truly awesome and I am so happy to be here. I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I guess I'll try to start from the beginning. The plane ride to Zambia via South Africa was surprisingly not that bad. I was mildly uncomfortable the entire time, but I dozed in and out enough that it went by pretty quickly. When we finally arrived in Zambia it was about 9 pm on Saturday night and we were greeted by a bunch of current Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff. We loaded all our stuff into Land Cruisers and made our way to the government hostel where we stayed for a couple days doing orientation stuff, etc. Then we were taken in small groups to stay for five days with a current PCVolunteer (PCV) for five days. This was to introduce us to life in the bush as well as what our jobs would actually entail. I was in a group with three other people that went to Central Province to stay with a volunteer named Carrie. I think when we first pulled up to her site, we were all a bit in shock. Its one thing to read about how you will be living and another to actually experience it. One of the things that I didn't realized before I left and I realize now, is how much time a volunteer spends on just surviving and living: cooking, doing dishes, drawing water, etc. Carrie had a really nice hut separated into a couple different rooms: kitchen, bedroom, living room. It was probably about 10 ft x 12ft. During this site visit week, I happened to get a pretty bad cold. It was kind of miserable but I knew if I could just tough it out than I would have already faced illness in Africa and survived. I felt a bit sorry for the two people sharing a tent with me though. The program I'm in is RED (Rural Education Development) which consists of helping train teachers as well as monitoring schools and teachers for quality as an arm of the Ministry of Education. With Carrie, we went to her school and saw what she does on a daily basis, met with the head teacher, saw a classroom lesson, etc.

After first site visit, we were transferred to our host families to start the real training process. My host family is really awesome and we are totally bonding. I live with a mother, Catherine, and her three children who are 12, 7, and 3. She is a second wife (polygamy) so my host father is only around about half the week. Another trainee is actually staying with his first wife, so that's fun to compare notes. Haha. I have my own hut, which is pretty sweet. Its about the size of our shed in the backyard. Its quite cozy--a mattress on the floor covered by an industrial strength mosquito net, a stool and a small table. Plus all my crap. Its fun and so far nothing pesky except some spiders which i promptly kill with my shoe. My biggest fear is rats/mice but luckily I haven't had any problems yet. I had a minor anxiety attack the other night over some rustling but it turned out to only be a grasshopper. Close call. I usually get up at about 6:30 am eat breakfast (bread, peanut butter and instant coffee!), head off to language class by 8. Language class is until 12:30 (and a bit excruciating) then a lunch break and technical training from 2-5. Then i make my way back to my hut, take a nice warm bucket bath, eat dinner, chat with the fam (in English mostly) and i'm in my hut ready for bed by 8. I try and stay awake til 9, but sometimes it just ain't happenin'. Training is exhausting!!

Some highlights: We had a medical session exclusively on diarrhea, which was fun. We had a session on bike maintenence, which was quite intimidating. I don't have a bike yet because all my training sessions are nearby, but many trainees have bikes. I will be getting a really nice $800 Trek bike soon, though.

Zambia is beautiful!! I will have to post pictures next time, but the landscape is beautiful, and not at all what I was expecting. It is quite hilly and there are some mountains in the distance. Its very green (this is the end of the rainy season), and most of the area we are in is covered by corn fields! Corn (or maize as its called here) is the primary crop. They raise it for consumption as well as to sell. My family gets their water from pump at the headman's house. We then boil it then filter it to drink and cook with. Bathing water is from a hole out back. There is no electricity where I am, so usually I use candles and/or a kerosene lamp. I know I'm leaving out so much but I hope after training, I will have more consistent internet access. I'm loving it so far, but I miss everyone at home and I would welcome any e-mails or letters. My cell phone gets internet but I can only check my yahoo account not gmail for some reason, so its cait_the_great99@yahoo.com. I hope everythings good at home, keep me updated!!
Love you all!!
Caitlin