PCV: its official.

Well, Friday we had swearing in and I am officially a Peace Corps volunteer. It was very exciting, though my day was a bit subdued because of lingering illness. As of today, I feel almost 100% recovered from my medical nightmare. At swear-in, the Ambassador to Zambia as well as a bunch of other people.

Thursday and Friday night we stayed at a lodge in Lusaka and I only mention it because of the incredible shower that I had. Scalding hot, good pressure and adequately positioned above my head. You may not realize that this was my first real shower in Zambia. And I was beyond thrilled. It was the perfect ending to my day from hell on Thursday, when I had my rash breakout. After two months of a bucket bath, I really can't express how awesome it was to take a real, hot shower.

On Saturday morning, we shipped out to Chipata, the Provincial capital of Eastern Province. Peace Corps has a house in every province for volunteers to use and come and decompress. So we are here for several days while we do necessary shopping, etc. before we get posted in our villages. The house is pretty cool. It has electricity and running water--both of which go out about once a day. We have met some of the other volunteers in the province. The house is honestly about 20% frat house if you know what I mean. A bit dirty, disorganized and chaotic. What did you expect though, it has 30+ peace corps vols using it and we're all dirty hippies, right? JUST KIDDING. stop judging.

okay....well thats about it for now, I might be inspired later in the week.

Trials and Tribs of sick in Africa

So, you may or may not have heard that earlier this week I contracted Malaria. Thats right, the number one killer in Zambia and possibly all of Africa. But don't be alarmed I have good medical care and drugs. I will start at the beginning....

On Sunday night I woke in chills and rigors followed by sweats. The following day, I was quite achy and had a headache. Lisa said, "That sounds like Malaria." The thought crossed my mind but I hadn't seriously considered it. I gradually started to feel worse and called the PCMO for a consult. She told me to go take a quick test at the training office, which I did, and it was negative. However, because of the prophylaxis we take once a week to prevent malaria, tests often come up negative. So because I had such distinctive symptoms I was instructed to start treatment anyway. The treatment lasts three days and is just 4 pills twice a day. By the time I got back to my hut I could barely take the meds I was feeling so bad. For the next two days I basically slept and writhed around in pain in my hot little hut. I really have never felt so bad in my life.

Fast foward to day 4 post-malaria: I should be feeling much better, but the last two days I've had a persisent, immobilizing headache/migraine. I woke with a rash on my arms and chest. Luckily we were coming into the Peace Corps office and I got to see a Med officer face to face. She nearly immediately assessed that I now have tick-borne encephalitis. (Google that if you want). All this the day I move out of my homestay. It was sad to leave my Zam Fam but I really couldn't soak it in because I'm sick. Tomorrow is our big Swear-In ceremony and I also won't be ale to fully appreciate this, which sucks. Gilly (PCMO) says I will feel much better by Saturday. Just wanted to give an update, but I have to go now...

Love you guys and miss you!

CJ

New Zambia Address!

Hey peeps!!
So from now on I will have a new address:
Caitlin Johnson/PCV
Peace Corps
PO Box 560059
Petauke
Zambia

this is effective now, because by the time anything sent now arrives I will be in Petauke. So spread the word! Also, my birthday is May 31, about a month and a half away so now would be a good time to send things:) hehe.

I got my first package yesterday from my mom and it was fabulous!! It had candy, tuna, pictures from the going away party, and other great stuff inside. For some reason all the trainees' packages had accumulated and we all got them on the same day so it was seriously like Christmas in Zambia.

Lisa, Christa and me waiting for our ride to Lusaka...

Picture of Eric (trainee), LaShaya (PCV), me, Rob and Laura, our site visit hosts, and Ryan (trainee) during Second site visit.

Hi! We are getting down to the home stretch of training because two weeks from now I will be posted at my site in Petauke. I am looking forward to the end of training but it will be strange to be away from the 50 other volunteers that I see on a regular basis. Here are some highlights from the last couple weeks:
--The fauna of Africa: One day in language class, my classmate Ryan looked down and started screaming because there was a TARANTULA crawling up MY leg. We had a minor freak out and the tarantula ran away. Apparently they are harmless. However, they look very scary. Also, one day as I was investigating a small bug infestation all over my walls, I found two frogs and and a spider in my hut within the span of 10 seconds. Stressful, but I dealt with it and luckily there has been no more fauna in my hut since then.
--Transport in Zambia is comical, stressful and overwhelming. On our way back from Petauke, we were responsible for getting our own transport back to Lusaka. Up until this point, we had been nicely chauffeured around by snazzy Peace Corps Land cruisers everywhere. So after an unsuccessful attempt at hitchhiking, Ryan, Eric and I decided to take a bus back to Lusaka. It cost us 60,000 kwacha to get a bus (about $15) for a 5 hour ride. The bus was a charter bus like you'd see in America except there were way too many people on it. There were people standing all down the aisle when we boarded so we squeezed in at the front. Eric and Ryan sat on the console next to the driver. The center of gravity for this bus was frightening as we raced down the Great East Road at abou 110 K/hour. This is very fast for a windy, hilly road. After 5 hours squeezed into a half-seat my bum has never hurt so bad in my life. We arrived in Lusaka just in time.

Chitindi village--Here I come!

Thanks for the messages everyone! Right now i am in petauke boma, which is the nearest town to where i will live the next two years. i was at at my site yesterday and the day before and it is beautiful! I was greeted by a group of villagers who SOO excited for me to arrive. It was awesome! My temporary hut is also amazing, but they will soon be building me a bigger, better house, which is hard to imagine. I have the cutest little fenced in yard with a pretty tree and cooking shelter in front. The family on the compound seems really nice, but they don't speak much English. The predominant language of the area is Chinsenga, a dialect of Chinyanja, the language i've been studying for the last month. Its going to be difficult to learn two different languages, but I don't think I'll have any trouble finding someone to tutor me in the village. I have to go now, but I will hopefully get back online on Saturday, and tell more fabulous details.

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

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