Thursday, July 17, 2008

5 months!

Hello! I am approaching the 5 month mark of living in Zambia and this is very exciting. Just a few weeks left of my Community Entry period and I then I will go to Lusaka for In-Service Training. The last month has flown by as I have been really busy visiting schools and further integrating into my village.

If you read this regularly, you might remember how one of my first realizations in Zambia back in February was that being in Peace Corps meant a lot of time spent on daily living and the technical project side of things more or less was secondary to living in a rural village. This was somewhat reinforced my first 6 weeks in the village when I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing, or even how I was to go about figuring that out. Visiting 15 schools in 4 weeks, however, has inspired me and energized me to focus on Rural Education Development. Many of the schools are in sad shape. At community schools (not directly supported by the government) the classrooms are the equivalent of a shelter or a thatched pavillion with mud benches. Most of the teachers may not have even completed 12th grade. However, these are the most dedicated teachers and their commitment to educating kids makes me want to help them in any way i can, whether that be helping them improve their teaching skills or starting income-generating projects for the schools. So right now, I have a lot of ideas about how I can be useful over the next two years. While I'm sure some of these will not work out and there will be many frustrating challenges to come, I'm looking foward to it. I also decided that because I want to work in international development in the future, I am not going to be one of those PCVs that hangs out in the village for two years and ignores the first goal of PC--To improve the capacity of people in the developing world to help themselves (my own paraphrasing). That is not to say that many volunteers ignore this, in fact, I'm learning more and more of the beneficial contributions PCVs have had on their communities and continue to be inspired.

For example, today I am in Chipata for a LIFE (Linking Income, Food and Environment) training which is being given mostly by other volunteers. Because of rising food and fuel prices and food security issues in general I think we have all become increasingly aware that understanding the way our communities support themselves is crucial to having a positive long-term impact. I, however, have no understanding of farming techniques or challenges. This training has given me a good basis for being able to ask villagers the right questions about the challenges their facing.

In the last week I've tried twice to have a community meeting to explain to surrounding villages why I'm here, what Peace Corps is, etc. Both times, only 3 people showed up. Soooo sad. This was due to some glitches in the headman-dissemination-of- knowledge system. In short, the headmen received notices to tell their villages and they did not do so. I am brainstorming on how to rectify this problem.

It has been quite cold in Zambia the last few days. I've been wearing jeans and sweatshirts all day, which is very unusual. Yesterday I biked for two hours, mostly uphill in a sweatshirt. COLD!

My email situation has currently switched from what it was. I can now check caitlinjohnson31@gmail.com but cannot check cait_the_Great99@yahoo.com. So just FYI.

America seems like a very different and far reality right now. Its hard to describe, but the world I've known for 23 years is hard to conceptualize from a distant rural village in Zambia.

I have become obsessed with both peanuts Peanut Butter. I eat it everyday and its probably (with soya pieces) the bulk of my protein intake. Also, bananas in Zambia are far superior to the bananas we eat in America. And so cheap!! I can get a heap of 5 smallish bananas for the equivalent of 25 cents. Peanut Butter and bananas also happens to equal a great breakfast or lunch.
I'll try to write more later.

Love,
Caitlin