Happy New Year!!

Veggies from my garden!



Lake Malawi


Crafty Kiddos in the village--check out those masks!

Its been a long time since I wrote a blog entry, so many apologies. Since my last blog, I’ve spent a lot of time away from my village, nearly all of December, so I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been up to in Zambia.

The first 2.5 weeks of December I was a facilitator at a training put on by an NGO for community school teachers. These teachers had never had any formal teacher training and none had any college, some had not even completed grade 12. It was amazing to see the pride and confidence infused in these teachers because of the new skills they were acquiring. I was thrilled to be a part of this. Topics we covered ranged from record management and using learning aids to lesson planning and gender-awareness. Basic stuff really, but they were so inspired by this opportunity, as was I.

After the training, I left with some friends for my 1^st vacation to Malawi. Lake Malawi is a huge lake that takes up most of the area of the country and a good proportion of the population derive their living from the lake in some way whether its fishing or tourism. Malawi is beautiful, especially on the lake. The northern part of the lake is rockier and cliffs line the lake more frequently than beach. The south has more beaches. We spent some time in both places. Malawi seems more tropical to me than Zambia. It might get more rainfall, but I’m not sure. As a result, they have an amazing selection of fruits, which we were happy to enjoy: pineapples, mangos, bananas and avocados. Transport around the country can be quite difficult but I suppose that’s true for most of Sub-saharan Africa. All in all, it was a nice trip where we did little more than swim, play Scrabble, and eat amazing food.

Back in the village, Rainy season continues. The proliferation of new and interesting, though annoying insects also continues. Zambia is constantly alive with the sounds of various life forms that make their home in the bush surrounding me: snails the size of my fist, hundreds of types of butterflies and moths, frogs, lizards, birds and others. The air is usually thick with humidity, especially following a good rain, reminding me of my ole Kentucky home. Often though, mornings are cool and evenings are much more pleasant than in dry season when I woke up frequently drenched in sweat. The Zambians work tirelessly during rainy season and from sun-up to sun-down and its often just me and Ambuya (85+ granny) hanging out on our respective porches.

One morning on my way to the boma (town), rains began about half way through my ride. I frantically looked for a shelter but happened to be along a stretch of no villages, just fields. So I ran for cover under what looked like a dense patch of trees, hoping it would keep me, my backpack and iPod, and non-water resistant bike seat dry. My choice of spots helped me to avoid about 50% of the rain that was falling, but given that it was a pretty heavy downpour, I still got quite wet. Despite my rain jacket, I sill thought I might never be dry again. I was trying to focus on the beauty of the rain and all the life it brings from beneath my leafy hovel, but it was difficult. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself when I saw Zambians biking by unfazed, some with 2 or3 passengers per bicycle. (One of the true wonders of Zambia is how many people manage to ride on one bike). I was happy they didn’t notice me cowering under the trees. So after about 30 minutes the rain let up (didn’t altogether stop) enough for me to ride on. It drizzled on me for the remainder of the journey and needless to say I was a tad grumpy. By the time I reached town a second downpour had begun and I went straight to the Take-away to buy some chocolate and a Coke and contemplate how much Zambia would benefit from Weather.com. What usually is a 1hr 45min ride was over 3 hours. A repeat of this incident occurred yesterday and my gears were so caked in mud they were barely working. I don’t think I will be doing as much biking for the remainder of rainy season.

I want to thank those of you who write me and have sent packages, most recently, my mom’s Book Clubs, and PEO chapter, the Sawicki Family and the Yurikovs. Thank you so much!! If anyone else would like to send letters or packages my address is

Caitlin Johnson

POBox 560059

Petauke

Zambia

Magazines or books of any variety, dark chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, and Crystal Light drink mixes sustain me. But I love a package full of surprises! Hehe.

Thanks again and I would always love to hear from you!

Happy New Year! Woot Woot Obama!

Love,

Caitlin

Obama Haikus

Obama! They cry

As I ride by on my bike.

They see peace not war.

---------------------------------------

Hope and Change we think.

Policy is a big peak.

What can one man do?

----------------------------------------

They eat once per day.

A season of work, no food.

Their ache. My ache. His?

-----------------------------------------

Hunger in their eyes

Security aint just war

Crisis aint just banks.

------------------------------------------

Black American

Africa sees the future

But the present looms.