So this week I have been visiting schools in my zone. There are 14 altogether and this week I went to 6. This also provided me the opportunity to revisit the paths and roads that led to me getting heinously lost. Come to find out I really wasnt that lost, I was always kind of near where I was trying to be. Now, I have a very good idea of how to get to these 6 schools and I have made maps with landmarks so I will never get lost again (at least in the western part of my catchment area). However, the next two weeks I will be exploring the other areas and visiting the remaining 8 schools. They are not as far away though, so hopefully, they will also be easier to find. Visiting these schools has also made me feel more productive, as I am finally able to do some of the "assessing" that I'm supposed to, in order to figure out what the heck I'm doing in Zambia. I have really been enjoying biking around and visiting these schools. A lot of biking involved but I'm loving it. Why didn't I bike more in Americaland? Today I'm hopefully getting my brand-spankin' new bike which is exciting. It has red and white stripes (yes!) so as if I didn't already stick out (you know, the white skin) now my bike is very showy. All Zam bikes are the same--solid black. At least now I won't be worried someone will steal it, because everyone will know exactly who it belongs to.
I think I have finally solved my bat issue! I had made peace with my bat. After a few nights where he was crapping on my head, I had had enough. I sought help from the village. Right now, I'm stuffing a piece of cloth above my door and he hasn't visited in a few nights. I had named him Malfoy. Hopefullly, I'll never see Malfoy again and he will get the idea that our co-habitation is over. I've kicked him out of the house.
A note on dirt/sand: Dirt is very useful for cleaning! Who knew? If you are having trouble cleaing something like a pot, just use dirt! A village secret. Also, I think I have a permanent layer of dirt on me. The dirt is like the color of clay soil so it kind of looks like I've been using fake tanner. Heheh. Scrubbing is no use. I've made peace with this.
That's all for now, so who's coming to visit me?
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Lost in Africa (hopefully episode 1of 1)
This week I had one of my most traumatic experiences in Zambia so far, other than being sick in April. I got lost in the wilderness while trying to get home from one of the schools in my zone. It was a spazzy day overall on my part because on the way to the school I fell off my bike AGAIN, scraping up the other side of my body just as the right side was starting to look normal. Before you start thinking, “Wow, Caitlin can’t ride a bike,” let me just say that riding on small paths that are filled with sand and rocks and ditches is not as easy as cruising along on pavement. It can be rough, especially because right now its so dry and the sand patches are terrible.
So on the way to the school, which I purposefully went to alone, to see if I could get there on my own, I did not get lost. Halfway, I found a student who was also going to the same school and showed me the rest of the way. However, I must not have been paying very good attention because on the way home, I got very turned around. I had gotten imput from several people on how to get home, but Zambians have a different idea of “directions” I think. From one point to another there are probably a thousand different bush paths to take and depending on where one’s grandma lives or whatever, the directions probably vary from person to person. There is also the language barrier. Since I can only understand the basics, if someone couldn’t speak English, it wasn’t much help. The part of this whole experience was that I left Chikuse school around 4 pm giving myself two hours to get home by dark. It only took an hour to get there, so I thought I would have plenty of time for error. Well, about 5:15 when I found out I was going the completely wrong direction, I began to get worried. Suppressing the rising fear in my stomach, and trying to tell myself this was an adventure, I turned around and asked again for some directions. A woman pointed me to this very small path and said this would take me where I was going. I did not feel good about this tiny path, but off I went. Twenty minutes later I had not seen a single human being, or grass hut never mind the village I was trying to get to. I began thinking I would be sleeping in the bush that night, luckily there would be a lot of moonlight and I still had about half a bottle of water left. I was officially scared since it was about half an hour before dark and because the path had forked a couple times I didn’t even know if I was on the right path anymore. Finally I passed a woman who confirmed I was on the right path and close to the village I was looking for. I went a bit further and found a family where I had them physically walk me to the road. This was a good idea because even though they told me “Its close, just through there” It was actually a 5 minute bike ride away and I wouldn’t have been able to have found it from those vague directions. Twenty minutes later, I arrived at my hut, although these last 20 were pretty much in the dark. It was a very scary experience but all the Zambians that I encountered were very nice and helpful. I knew that if worse came to worse, someone would give me some food and let me sleep on there floor. In fact they would probably think it was really exciting to have the strange white person stay with them. It was only when I didn’t see any villages that I was worried I was really in trouble. When I told my villagers I got lost, they insisted that from now on, I can’t go anywhere by myself. I’m pretty sure I won’t live this one down for the next two years.
Last Sunday, I went to a ceremony that takes place before a wedding and the purpose is to instruct the bride-to-be on how to take care of her husband. It consisted of about 20 women crammed into a small hut dancing around topless to drumming. One by one, every woman there, stood up, took off there shirt and showed their best dance moves. It was so crazy, you can’t imagine. There were two women playing drums and this is the only context I’ve seen women playing drums in. They were quite good. The rest of the details of this ceremony are not really suitable for the internet but if are truly interested from maybe an anthropological perspective, just ask me some other time. At the end the women made me dance and it was hilarious to see their reactions to my dancing.
Other than that, life in the village is pretty normal. This month there hasn’t been much going on in my schools because they are having various competitions, including sports, science fair, and drama and arts competitions. It is definitely cold season in Zambia. Right now I'm sitting wrapped in a blanket with fleece socks on. Its probably in the 60's outside but I don't know if I'm very good at guessing the temperature and I haven't seen a thermometer in Zambia. Biking at 6:30 in the morning can be especially chilly and I'm usually bundled with gloves. It really doesn't seem like temps in the 60's and 70's would be that bad and its actually really nice when the sun is out. However, taking a bath can be something I sort of dread. The wind is especially painful. It can be really windy here and that's what makes the cold really uncomfortable. Don't worry though, mom, I have plenty of warm clothes here.
Shout-outs for the awesome packages I received from Mamie, Lori and Kathryn and Cortney. They were packed full of wonderful things and needless to say, in the last week I have eaten more than my fair-share of candy. YAY. THANK YOU.
So on the way to the school, which I purposefully went to alone, to see if I could get there on my own, I did not get lost. Halfway, I found a student who was also going to the same school and showed me the rest of the way. However, I must not have been paying very good attention because on the way home, I got very turned around. I had gotten imput from several people on how to get home, but Zambians have a different idea of “directions” I think. From one point to another there are probably a thousand different bush paths to take and depending on where one’s grandma lives or whatever, the directions probably vary from person to person. There is also the language barrier. Since I can only understand the basics, if someone couldn’t speak English, it wasn’t much help. The part of this whole experience was that I left Chikuse school around 4 pm giving myself two hours to get home by dark. It only took an hour to get there, so I thought I would have plenty of time for error. Well, about 5:15 when I found out I was going the completely wrong direction, I began to get worried. Suppressing the rising fear in my stomach, and trying to tell myself this was an adventure, I turned around and asked again for some directions. A woman pointed me to this very small path and said this would take me where I was going. I did not feel good about this tiny path, but off I went. Twenty minutes later I had not seen a single human being, or grass hut never mind the village I was trying to get to. I began thinking I would be sleeping in the bush that night, luckily there would be a lot of moonlight and I still had about half a bottle of water left. I was officially scared since it was about half an hour before dark and because the path had forked a couple times I didn’t even know if I was on the right path anymore. Finally I passed a woman who confirmed I was on the right path and close to the village I was looking for. I went a bit further and found a family where I had them physically walk me to the road. This was a good idea because even though they told me “Its close, just through there” It was actually a 5 minute bike ride away and I wouldn’t have been able to have found it from those vague directions. Twenty minutes later, I arrived at my hut, although these last 20 were pretty much in the dark. It was a very scary experience but all the Zambians that I encountered were very nice and helpful. I knew that if worse came to worse, someone would give me some food and let me sleep on there floor. In fact they would probably think it was really exciting to have the strange white person stay with them. It was only when I didn’t see any villages that I was worried I was really in trouble. When I told my villagers I got lost, they insisted that from now on, I can’t go anywhere by myself. I’m pretty sure I won’t live this one down for the next two years.
Last Sunday, I went to a ceremony that takes place before a wedding and the purpose is to instruct the bride-to-be on how to take care of her husband. It consisted of about 20 women crammed into a small hut dancing around topless to drumming. One by one, every woman there, stood up, took off there shirt and showed their best dance moves. It was so crazy, you can’t imagine. There were two women playing drums and this is the only context I’ve seen women playing drums in. They were quite good. The rest of the details of this ceremony are not really suitable for the internet but if are truly interested from maybe an anthropological perspective, just ask me some other time. At the end the women made me dance and it was hilarious to see their reactions to my dancing.
Other than that, life in the village is pretty normal. This month there hasn’t been much going on in my schools because they are having various competitions, including sports, science fair, and drama and arts competitions. It is definitely cold season in Zambia. Right now I'm sitting wrapped in a blanket with fleece socks on. Its probably in the 60's outside but I don't know if I'm very good at guessing the temperature and I haven't seen a thermometer in Zambia. Biking at 6:30 in the morning can be especially chilly and I'm usually bundled with gloves. It really doesn't seem like temps in the 60's and 70's would be that bad and its actually really nice when the sun is out. However, taking a bath can be something I sort of dread. The wind is especially painful. It can be really windy here and that's what makes the cold really uncomfortable. Don't worry though, mom, I have plenty of warm clothes here.
Shout-outs for the awesome packages I received from Mamie, Lori and Kathryn and Cortney. They were packed full of wonderful things and needless to say, in the last week I have eaten more than my fair-share of candy. YAY. THANK YOU.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
A Bike wreck and A Birthday party. AND PICS!
Link to pics put up by dad, ENJOY: http://thegjfam.home.insightbb.com/Zambia2008-2010/Round1-June08
The last couple weeks have been eventful. Last Wednesday I went to an HIV/AIDS workshop for teachers and it was quite interesting until post-lunch I realized I wasnt feeling very well. I decided to leave early knowing I had a 30 minute bike ride home and I was going to be sick soon. Long story short--food poisioning for two days and feeling like crap. My village was so worried about me (since they could hear all the vomitting) it was quite sweet actually. My neighbor offered to sleep on my floor at night in case i had to get up during the night. I survived it only to then wreck my bike the first day after I was feeling better. On my way to town to hopefully pick up packages and veggies and 10K in I crashed....so sad. I had some bad scrapes on my arms and there wouldnt be any way to clean in town and my bike wasn't looking to good so i decided to head back home. I then lied around for another couple days healing my wounds. I was lucky though, and I know that. It could have been much worse.
The next day was my birthday!! Yay! Diana came over and we made the most delicious oatmeal with cranberry cookies EVER. Even by American standards, really good. We basically cooked and ate all day then watched a movie on my iPod. A great Zambian birthday.
I'm in Chipata right now for a meeting where all PCVs in the Province get together and discuss various issues that need to be addressed. Meeting not so painful and followed by a Carnival-themed party. It was a lot of fun to hang out with all the people in the province at once. I'll be back in a couple weeks to do Visa/immigration stuff, so expect more blogging then.
Love,
Caitlin
The last couple weeks have been eventful. Last Wednesday I went to an HIV/AIDS workshop for teachers and it was quite interesting until post-lunch I realized I wasnt feeling very well. I decided to leave early knowing I had a 30 minute bike ride home and I was going to be sick soon. Long story short--food poisioning for two days and feeling like crap. My village was so worried about me (since they could hear all the vomitting) it was quite sweet actually. My neighbor offered to sleep on my floor at night in case i had to get up during the night. I survived it only to then wreck my bike the first day after I was feeling better. On my way to town to hopefully pick up packages and veggies and 10K in I crashed....so sad. I had some bad scrapes on my arms and there wouldnt be any way to clean in town and my bike wasn't looking to good so i decided to head back home. I then lied around for another couple days healing my wounds. I was lucky though, and I know that. It could have been much worse.
The next day was my birthday!! Yay! Diana came over and we made the most delicious oatmeal with cranberry cookies EVER. Even by American standards, really good. We basically cooked and ate all day then watched a movie on my iPod. A great Zambian birthday.
I'm in Chipata right now for a meeting where all PCVs in the Province get together and discuss various issues that need to be addressed. Meeting not so painful and followed by a Carnival-themed party. It was a lot of fun to hang out with all the people in the province at once. I'll be back in a couple weeks to do Visa/immigration stuff, so expect more blogging then.
Love,
Caitlin
Friday, May 23, 2008
update:)
Hello friends and fam!
Things are going well still and I have now been staying in my village for just over three weeks. Today I am in at the provincial Peace Corps house in Chipata to get my Visa renewed so I don’t get deported from Zambia. With that taken care of, I’ve been able to buy some groceries, take a shower, and use electricity—all of the things PCVs look forward to when they come to the house. This week was the first time I’ve seen the people in province who were in my training class since being posted three weeks ago, and it’s been great to hear about friends’ experiences thus far.
So my first few weeks in the village have been really great, though I have a few frustrations. In the last blog, I think I mentioned cooking and critters as my problem areas and those remain the same. Luckily, I have invented a couple recipes that I make almost every other night, so I’m not going hungry. The critter situation is definitely something I am learning to live with as best I can. I now have a bat (maybe bats) that live in my house and come out at night to feast on the insects in my house. For some reason, the bat really freaks me out, even though I’m sure it’s harmless. One night when I had to get up to lock my door, he swooped down and was flying around my hut. I was paralyzed with fear in my bed and waited 20 minutes to work up the nerve to emerge from my mosquito net. Afterwards, I scolded myself for being so scared and ridiculous, however, I still don’t really know how to get rid of it. Another problem with the bat is that he seems to roost right over my bed and excrete his waste all over the plastic tarp I have over my bed. I originally put the tarp up to prevent grass and bugs, etc. from falling down onto my bed and head. It has served the dual purpose of preventing bat poo from getting on me.
Another of my frustrations has been how to best occupy and fill my time. I have A LOT of free time in the village and I have found it a bit difficult to feel productive every day. I am so happy that I finally have the time to read so much, but I find that I can only read so much in one day. I have been writing letters and trying to study language as well. I think that interacting with people is going to be the best way to learn the language but this can sometimes be difficult. I’ve decided to start a garden and compost, but I will have to spend a lot of time reading and researching and asking villagers about the best way to go about this. I know virtually nothing about vegetable gardening, but I’m excited to learn something completely new.
I have also been interacting with my schools and the teaching staff to some degree. The community school staff (consisting of three teachers for 200+ students) has been really awesome and they have become my community liaisons in many ways. They walk me around the villages so I can learn where things are and meet the residents. They help me nag the carpenter to hurry up and make my furniture, and they help me bust open my door when the lock breaks and I am locked out of my house. Hehe, whoopsy-daisy.
On Sunday, I attended the Anglican Church in my village then went to a wedding. It was a traditional wedding and it so much fun—by far the most interesting and informative cultural experience I’ve had in Zambia. Basically, everyone in the surrounding villages attended, so it turned out to be a great way to meet people. Plus, they were all excited that the Muzungu (foreigner) was there. For the wedding, there was lots of singing and speeches. It began when the bride and groom came out with their caregivers, those who instruct the husband and wife on their spouse-ly duties. They had a sheet over their heads and sat on a reed mat with bowls in front of each of the 4 people. No one could really see their faces, and in fact, I never did see their faces so I don’t actually know who was getting married. Anyways, the bowls are for the gifts or money that people have come to offer. Various groups came forward to offer their gifts and they usually sang and danced as they did so. Even I offered my kwacha, though I did not sing or dance. There was a master of ceremonies who announced every group that went forward. After I laid down my money-gift, the crowd cheered and was really happy I was participating. After the singing part, there were skits that were meant to instruct the couple on how to be good spouses to each other. I won’t really go into the details because it was a bit lewd (Not sure the ages of people reading this.) Haha. This was followed by various speeches of family members giving advice to the couple. I got a bit bored and tuned out at this point. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I just started entertaining the kiddos who had gathered around me.
Monday, I had a sleepover with my neighbor Diana and another PCV LaShaya who lives in our district. Peace Corps sleepovers are fun and we made a delicious stir-fry and a pumpkin cake. The cake was delicious. We baked it by forming a circle of bricks, two bricks high. We placed coals on the ground, set the pot on the coals then more coals on the lid of the pot. After maybe an hour, the cake was cooked. It was awesome.
Tuesday morning I woke up early to bike to Petauke to meet up with my boss, Mary Lu, the coordinator of Peace Corps Zambia’s Rural Education Development project. We met with the District education officer then headed out to my site. I was happy to get a ride back because I also picked up three packages at the post office. Three awesome packages I might add, from my Dad and Pat, Mom and Zack! THANK YOU! The packages were so great I can’t even describe how happy they made me. Anyway, Mary Lu camped at my site and we cooked one of the only things I can cook. This was also the night, we had to bust open my lock to get into my house and the night they decided to deliver my bed. So with 30 minutes warning I had to rearrange my whole house to accommodate my bed. I’ve been sleeping on the ground since the end of February (with mattress of course) so I have to admit, it was strange to be elevated off the ground. I could a feel a breeze coming in thru the crack of my window and it was a weird sensation.
Next day I hitched into Chipata, getting a ride part of the way from a Zambian Catholic priest. He was super nice and I chatted with him about the Catholic Church in Zambia. Apparently seminary here is 8 years to be a priest. I don’t think its that long in the states. I have to say that I am surprised by how much religion has enabled me to connect with people. I think they are excited that they can relate to me on this level since my country and I are so exotic and strange to them. Even though we don’t talk theology or even the same language they feel like they can identify with me in some way. So far I have been to two churches, Anglican and Reformed Church of Zambia. Most of the Zambians in my village are quite religious. I don’t know if I will continue to attend church services, but they seem to appreciate my willingness to go and pray with them. At the services, they have each given me an English bible to use and make sure I know what verses they are reading from that day, even though they are of course reading it in Nyanja. They introduce me and I have to give a little speech, usually. The Anglican service was so much like a Catholic mass that I could tell what was happening most of the time. I never realized that before.
One last amusing thing that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. Zambians cannot pronounce my name whatsoever. In the village I am Catherine Lungu. I even pretty much introduce myself as Catherine. There’s no point in saying Caitlin because they will either butcher it, look at me confused, or just come out with Catherine. I have made peace with this.
Lastly, thank you for the emails, letters, packages. It is truly so exciting to hear from you at home. I’m sorry if you write to me and I don’t respond but sometimes I can only read email or have limited time on the internet or at my network spot in the village. If I stand about 15 ft in front of a certain tree in my village I can get cell reception and sometimes even enough to check email, but its spotty. So, I love updates from home and I love comments on the blog! Miss you guys!
Love, Caitlin
Things are going well still and I have now been staying in my village for just over three weeks. Today I am in at the provincial Peace Corps house in Chipata to get my Visa renewed so I don’t get deported from Zambia. With that taken care of, I’ve been able to buy some groceries, take a shower, and use electricity—all of the things PCVs look forward to when they come to the house. This week was the first time I’ve seen the people in province who were in my training class since being posted three weeks ago, and it’s been great to hear about friends’ experiences thus far.
So my first few weeks in the village have been really great, though I have a few frustrations. In the last blog, I think I mentioned cooking and critters as my problem areas and those remain the same. Luckily, I have invented a couple recipes that I make almost every other night, so I’m not going hungry. The critter situation is definitely something I am learning to live with as best I can. I now have a bat (maybe bats) that live in my house and come out at night to feast on the insects in my house. For some reason, the bat really freaks me out, even though I’m sure it’s harmless. One night when I had to get up to lock my door, he swooped down and was flying around my hut. I was paralyzed with fear in my bed and waited 20 minutes to work up the nerve to emerge from my mosquito net. Afterwards, I scolded myself for being so scared and ridiculous, however, I still don’t really know how to get rid of it. Another problem with the bat is that he seems to roost right over my bed and excrete his waste all over the plastic tarp I have over my bed. I originally put the tarp up to prevent grass and bugs, etc. from falling down onto my bed and head. It has served the dual purpose of preventing bat poo from getting on me.
Another of my frustrations has been how to best occupy and fill my time. I have A LOT of free time in the village and I have found it a bit difficult to feel productive every day. I am so happy that I finally have the time to read so much, but I find that I can only read so much in one day. I have been writing letters and trying to study language as well. I think that interacting with people is going to be the best way to learn the language but this can sometimes be difficult. I’ve decided to start a garden and compost, but I will have to spend a lot of time reading and researching and asking villagers about the best way to go about this. I know virtually nothing about vegetable gardening, but I’m excited to learn something completely new.
I have also been interacting with my schools and the teaching staff to some degree. The community school staff (consisting of three teachers for 200+ students) has been really awesome and they have become my community liaisons in many ways. They walk me around the villages so I can learn where things are and meet the residents. They help me nag the carpenter to hurry up and make my furniture, and they help me bust open my door when the lock breaks and I am locked out of my house. Hehe, whoopsy-daisy.
On Sunday, I attended the Anglican Church in my village then went to a wedding. It was a traditional wedding and it so much fun—by far the most interesting and informative cultural experience I’ve had in Zambia. Basically, everyone in the surrounding villages attended, so it turned out to be a great way to meet people. Plus, they were all excited that the Muzungu (foreigner) was there. For the wedding, there was lots of singing and speeches. It began when the bride and groom came out with their caregivers, those who instruct the husband and wife on their spouse-ly duties. They had a sheet over their heads and sat on a reed mat with bowls in front of each of the 4 people. No one could really see their faces, and in fact, I never did see their faces so I don’t actually know who was getting married. Anyways, the bowls are for the gifts or money that people have come to offer. Various groups came forward to offer their gifts and they usually sang and danced as they did so. Even I offered my kwacha, though I did not sing or dance. There was a master of ceremonies who announced every group that went forward. After I laid down my money-gift, the crowd cheered and was really happy I was participating. After the singing part, there were skits that were meant to instruct the couple on how to be good spouses to each other. I won’t really go into the details because it was a bit lewd (Not sure the ages of people reading this.) Haha. This was followed by various speeches of family members giving advice to the couple. I got a bit bored and tuned out at this point. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I just started entertaining the kiddos who had gathered around me.
Monday, I had a sleepover with my neighbor Diana and another PCV LaShaya who lives in our district. Peace Corps sleepovers are fun and we made a delicious stir-fry and a pumpkin cake. The cake was delicious. We baked it by forming a circle of bricks, two bricks high. We placed coals on the ground, set the pot on the coals then more coals on the lid of the pot. After maybe an hour, the cake was cooked. It was awesome.
Tuesday morning I woke up early to bike to Petauke to meet up with my boss, Mary Lu, the coordinator of Peace Corps Zambia’s Rural Education Development project. We met with the District education officer then headed out to my site. I was happy to get a ride back because I also picked up three packages at the post office. Three awesome packages I might add, from my Dad and Pat, Mom and Zack! THANK YOU! The packages were so great I can’t even describe how happy they made me. Anyway, Mary Lu camped at my site and we cooked one of the only things I can cook. This was also the night, we had to bust open my lock to get into my house and the night they decided to deliver my bed. So with 30 minutes warning I had to rearrange my whole house to accommodate my bed. I’ve been sleeping on the ground since the end of February (with mattress of course) so I have to admit, it was strange to be elevated off the ground. I could a feel a breeze coming in thru the crack of my window and it was a weird sensation.
Next day I hitched into Chipata, getting a ride part of the way from a Zambian Catholic priest. He was super nice and I chatted with him about the Catholic Church in Zambia. Apparently seminary here is 8 years to be a priest. I don’t think its that long in the states. I have to say that I am surprised by how much religion has enabled me to connect with people. I think they are excited that they can relate to me on this level since my country and I are so exotic and strange to them. Even though we don’t talk theology or even the same language they feel like they can identify with me in some way. So far I have been to two churches, Anglican and Reformed Church of Zambia. Most of the Zambians in my village are quite religious. I don’t know if I will continue to attend church services, but they seem to appreciate my willingness to go and pray with them. At the services, they have each given me an English bible to use and make sure I know what verses they are reading from that day, even though they are of course reading it in Nyanja. They introduce me and I have to give a little speech, usually. The Anglican service was so much like a Catholic mass that I could tell what was happening most of the time. I never realized that before.
One last amusing thing that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. Zambians cannot pronounce my name whatsoever. In the village I am Catherine Lungu. I even pretty much introduce myself as Catherine. There’s no point in saying Caitlin because they will either butcher it, look at me confused, or just come out with Catherine. I have made peace with this.
Lastly, thank you for the emails, letters, packages. It is truly so exciting to hear from you at home. I’m sorry if you write to me and I don’t respond but sometimes I can only read email or have limited time on the internet or at my network spot in the village. If I stand about 15 ft in front of a certain tree in my village I can get cell reception and sometimes even enough to check email, but its spotty. So, I love updates from home and I love comments on the blog! Miss you guys!
Love, Caitlin
Monday, May 5, 2008
Village life: week 1
Greetings from Petauke, Zambia!
On Wednesday, I got posted in my village permanently and so far so good. It was slightly emotional, as it usually is for most volunteers. There are so many anxieties, hopes, fears, joys and anticipation that it was a little tough to keep it together as Jeremy (our PCVL for the province) and my friend Eric hugged me goodbye and drove away in the cruiser. But my family nearby came and chatted with me and helped me get settled in a bit for the night. They got me some charcoal so I could start a fire, etc. With all my crap inside in boxes and bags, my hut seems pretty small. I don't have any furniture yet, though it is in the process of being built. I went with a couple villagers the other day to visit the carpenter and make sure things are on track. I feel really disorganized living out of boxes and bags and I don't have any work space to cook, or do dishes, or write a letter so I'm a little frustrated but this is all part of village life. For the most part, my villagers and especially my housing committee seem very motivated and enthusiastic about helping me out and making sure that I have what I need.
The first several days I just hung out around my hut, trying to organize and get adjusted before diving in to community entry. The first three months of service in the village is called Community Entry and we are encouraged by PC to be in the village, making friends and figuring out the basics of living as much as possible. We're technically not to supposed to leave our district except for specific circumstances( i.e. on May 22nd we have to go to the Provincial capital to get our Visas renewed). However, yesterday I biked into the Boma (30 K and somewhat painful) because I neglected to buy any veggies or fruits before being posted. You can only do so much with pasta and sauce packets. Cooking-wise I have been both uninspired and unsuccessful. The headman of my village brought me a bunch of pumpkin, groundnuts(peanuts) and some other type of gourd one day. I attempted to cook the pumpkin but it ended up really over-cooked. I also tried to make some rice to go with it and I added too much water. Apparently I don't even know how to cook rice. Another night I tried to make soup from a packet and add some spices to it, but it wasn't very good. I dumped most of it out. I get by on PBJ, tuna, oatmeal--easy stuff. I've never been an elaborate cooker and it doesn't seem like life in Zambia is going to change that.
My biggest fear in the village so far has been keeping mice and rats away from my hut and my food. I have to keep all of my food tightly packed into plastic bins and buckets. Its common for mice to live in the thatched grass roofs, so I have to make peace with this and try and protect my food. As long as rats stay away, I think I'll be okay.
I have been doing a lot of reading the last few days, so hopefully my time here will give me the chance to do a lot of reading I've been wanting to do. I also have a great book on yoga that I've started reading (Thanks Dr. Logan!) and I plan on using free time to practice yoga. Other than that I'm open to suggestions for new hobbies. Haha. The Community entry period is more about getting acquainted with your village and less about diving into the work-aspect of Peace Corps. By successfully integrating yourself in the first three months, theoretically the next two years will be much more successful because you have a better grasp on the needs of the community.
My nearest PC neighbor is Diana and she is 5k away from me. She has been awesome so far and I feel really lucky that I have a neighbor. The day I got posted she dropped by and brought me some Chocolate(!), EasyMac (!) packs and Crystal light packs(!). Crystal light packs are like trading cards here. PCVs trade the ones they are sent with others, its kind of funny. Diana also biked into the Boma with me yesterday to show me the shortcuts. It took us just over 2 hrs, which is pretty good time for my first time biking it. We stayed the night in Petauke and I'm not really looking foward to biking back this afternoon, as it will be intensely hot. Its supposed to be a much easier ride on the way back though, mostly downhill. My bum is still sore though. Yikes.
Today is my brother, Dan's birthday--so HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!
Thanks for all the messages when I was sick, I'm much better now, though sick in Zambia is something I am going to try very hard to avoid.
Miss you all!
Love,
Caitlin
On Wednesday, I got posted in my village permanently and so far so good. It was slightly emotional, as it usually is for most volunteers. There are so many anxieties, hopes, fears, joys and anticipation that it was a little tough to keep it together as Jeremy (our PCVL for the province) and my friend Eric hugged me goodbye and drove away in the cruiser. But my family nearby came and chatted with me and helped me get settled in a bit for the night. They got me some charcoal so I could start a fire, etc. With all my crap inside in boxes and bags, my hut seems pretty small. I don't have any furniture yet, though it is in the process of being built. I went with a couple villagers the other day to visit the carpenter and make sure things are on track. I feel really disorganized living out of boxes and bags and I don't have any work space to cook, or do dishes, or write a letter so I'm a little frustrated but this is all part of village life. For the most part, my villagers and especially my housing committee seem very motivated and enthusiastic about helping me out and making sure that I have what I need.
The first several days I just hung out around my hut, trying to organize and get adjusted before diving in to community entry. The first three months of service in the village is called Community Entry and we are encouraged by PC to be in the village, making friends and figuring out the basics of living as much as possible. We're technically not to supposed to leave our district except for specific circumstances( i.e. on May 22nd we have to go to the Provincial capital to get our Visas renewed). However, yesterday I biked into the Boma (30 K and somewhat painful) because I neglected to buy any veggies or fruits before being posted. You can only do so much with pasta and sauce packets. Cooking-wise I have been both uninspired and unsuccessful. The headman of my village brought me a bunch of pumpkin, groundnuts(peanuts) and some other type of gourd one day. I attempted to cook the pumpkin but it ended up really over-cooked. I also tried to make some rice to go with it and I added too much water. Apparently I don't even know how to cook rice. Another night I tried to make soup from a packet and add some spices to it, but it wasn't very good. I dumped most of it out. I get by on PBJ, tuna, oatmeal--easy stuff. I've never been an elaborate cooker and it doesn't seem like life in Zambia is going to change that.
My biggest fear in the village so far has been keeping mice and rats away from my hut and my food. I have to keep all of my food tightly packed into plastic bins and buckets. Its common for mice to live in the thatched grass roofs, so I have to make peace with this and try and protect my food. As long as rats stay away, I think I'll be okay.
I have been doing a lot of reading the last few days, so hopefully my time here will give me the chance to do a lot of reading I've been wanting to do. I also have a great book on yoga that I've started reading (Thanks Dr. Logan!) and I plan on using free time to practice yoga. Other than that I'm open to suggestions for new hobbies. Haha. The Community entry period is more about getting acquainted with your village and less about diving into the work-aspect of Peace Corps. By successfully integrating yourself in the first three months, theoretically the next two years will be much more successful because you have a better grasp on the needs of the community.
My nearest PC neighbor is Diana and she is 5k away from me. She has been awesome so far and I feel really lucky that I have a neighbor. The day I got posted she dropped by and brought me some Chocolate(!), EasyMac (!) packs and Crystal light packs(!). Crystal light packs are like trading cards here. PCVs trade the ones they are sent with others, its kind of funny. Diana also biked into the Boma with me yesterday to show me the shortcuts. It took us just over 2 hrs, which is pretty good time for my first time biking it. We stayed the night in Petauke and I'm not really looking foward to biking back this afternoon, as it will be intensely hot. Its supposed to be a much easier ride on the way back though, mostly downhill. My bum is still sore though. Yikes.
Today is my brother, Dan's birthday--so HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!
Thanks for all the messages when I was sick, I'm much better now, though sick in Zambia is something I am going to try very hard to avoid.
Miss you all!
Love,
Caitlin
Sunday, April 27, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
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
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
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