July in Mumena Village...

     Zambia is below the equator so the month of July is cool. In fact, temperatures can come close to freezing. July is also in the midst of dry season. Nothing is really green any more except for the trees that keep their leaves. 

     This month is also time of harvest. Maize is grown by most subsistence farmers. By now the corn in the fields is dry and the farmers harvest by hand. They will hire ox carts to transport the maize to their homes or to a place that stores maize. Once the maize is harvested and brought to its location, the maize cobs are either beaten with a club to remove the kernels or the kernels are removed by hand.

     I like this time of year. It is still warm during the day, guaranteed no rain, and it is breezy. I love seeing the elephant grass swaying in the wind. Peaceful. 

 

 

 Village children who visit all of the time

 

 

I don't give the children things. I don't want them to think I give handouts, but chalk is what I will give to the children. They practice writing on the cement slab of my outdoor kitchen

 

 

My to-do list

 

 

Transporting soil from old garden beds to create new beds in my garden in front of my house.

 

 

 I made this shelf which will serve as my workbench for my tree nursery. I built it into a tree.

 

 

 Children helped hold my bike while I loaded fired bricks from a kiln onto my bike for transport back to my house. I was able to fit six bricks on my bike.

 

 My brick patio. I added two more rows since this pic. I placed a layer of river stone underneath. Before rain season I will either have a shelter built to protect the bricks or cement over the bricks.

 

My walkway which I will fill in with gravel. I am looking outside my doorway.

 

 

Letting my hair grow. By the end of two years my hair should have grown a foot long!

 

This is my water source. It is about 50 meters away from my hut. I fill two 20 liter jerry cans two or three times per day and carry them to my hut. I don't mind doing this at all. I am learning how to conserve water.

More pics...

 Compound near my site

 Termite mounds that look like head stones and are almost as hard as a rocks. They are only found in a certain type of soil so they aren't found everywhere..

 Abandoned beehive by beekeeper and bees.

 Sankton cutting bamboo.

 Carrying the bamboo.

 Epiphyte: Plant that lives on another plant, but doesn't necessarily hurt its host. Thrilled to see these and looking forward to identifying.

 The first of three of my community maps I drew up at a community meeting.

 Nshima is eaten by some three times per day. It is made from ground corn mixed with water. The nshima is eaten with 'relish', or anything that accompanies it such as chicken, or in-season vegetables. It is eaten with the hands.

 Children eating nshima for breakfast.

Pesky chickens trying to get at the cornmeal.

Zam-definition II

Zam-line: while waiting in line at a store one must stand right behind the person in front of you, even breating down his or her neck or other people with think you aren't in line and will cut in front of you.

In Zambia people don't have the same sense of personal space as we do in the States. My first experience standing in line at a checkout I was standing about one foot behind the person in front of me. Well, a person cut in front of me without saying anything to me. I was amazed. I didn't say anything because I remembered it mentioned there is not a personal space bubble like what I'm used to back home. Now when I stand in line at the store I am almost touching the person in front of me.

Zam-definition I

Zam-tan: a msungu (white person) tan that appears to have a movie start tan until they take take off their kitenge (wrap) or trousers, tee-shirt, and Teva sandals and everything that's covered up is unsightly pale.

The word 'msungu' is used by Zambians meaning white person. It is not an offensive word even though it sounds like one.

A kitenge is a wrap worn as a full-length skirt worn by women. Zambians traditionally wear kitenges and the material comes in multiple designs. They can be very fashionable. Kitanges have over a hundred uses, such as a sling to carry their babies, a head wrap, towel, apron, a head cushion when women carry heavy loads on their heads, and a cloth to sit on the ground which is necessary because traditionally at gatherings men sit on stools or chairs while women sit on the ground or floor.

Not only do women in Zambia cover their legs and shoulders, but men cover their legs, too, with trousers. Men rarely expose their legs.

The word 'pants' is used when referring to underwear.

Zambians dress conservatively, though in the cities men and women tend to be more liberal with dress.

One of the things I appreciate about Zambian society is breastfeeding is socially accepted and it is common to see women breastfeed their babies in public.

It is offensive for women to expose armpit hair. If a woman doesn't shave her armpits she has to cover up.

                                                        Those aren't my feet, btw.

Community Entry...the beginning of my new life in Zambia

     I am in my second month of community entry and I am the only Peace Corps Volunteer in my village. Community entry in the Peace Corps is the first three months at site which allows Peace Corps Volunteers to settle into their home, become familiar with the surroundings and meet people in the community.

     My first two weeks of community entry were the most difficult because I felt like I had lost my identity. I didn't have my friends to help confirm who I am. I didn't have them there to laugh with, talk with or cry and complain with. I had to learn how to do this on my own. There really isn't anyone to turn to in those instances.

     I have become very strong over the past several weeks. But, I have also made some new friends and these new friends are from a different culture from my own. We eat different foods, have different worldviews and beliefs. Zambians have a difficult time comprehending divorce and how a woman can get by on her own. Also, they are perplexed with how I am able to live apart from my children. Zambians have very tights bonds not only with their immediate family, but with extended family members. They find it very odd that I only have two cousins and I have only met them once.

     But Zambians are accepting people. My host family has made it clear to me that I am a part of the family. And I really am. I feel very welcome going over to their house. I  go over almost every evening to eat dinner with them. I feel as though I have known these people all of my life. I come over and plop down on the couch and watch television with them. Yes, they have electricity which I don't have even though I only live about 100 meters away. But, anyway, I like this family and I am growing to love them.

     Once community entry ends I should be well integrated in the community. I will begin my work as a forestry extension agent helping the community members understand how they can improve their farming techniques and improve their lives in many different ways. I will work with people individually and I will hold workshops on malaria prevention and conservation farming. I will be available as a resource to help them acquire seed or obtaining fruit tree seedlings to plant at their homes to help with food security. I may also be able to help guide some of them on how to take on an income generating activity such as bee keeping.

     I hope to make some kind of difference in these people's lives. They already are making a difference in mine. I still have two years ahead of me for so much more exposure to a life that is so different from the one I've lived my whole life. I am very thankful for this experience.I am looking forward to see the kind of person I am yet to become. 

Zambia - Week two of community entry

I am going into week two of community entry. I want to write about it while it's fresh in my mind.  My first night here I was disappointed with my site. I wanted to leave. I had arrived to my site two days earlier than planned, and my hosts weren't prepared for my arrival. The grass was high so I was afraid of snakes, the lock to my door needed to be fixed, and my permanent shower had not been built yet like I was told it would be at my second site visit.

I didn't have enough daylight to unpack my things, so all of my stuff sat in my bedroom all cluttered and unorganized. I went to bed that night, trying to block out the loud music from the bar by the street. I was miserable. I felt like no one cared that I moved to my site. I was disappointed.  That was how I felt at that time. In retrospect it is understandable that I didn't receive a proper greeting upon my arrival because of my unexpected earlier date of moving in.

The next day I felt better. There was a crew of community members, men and women, slashing the tall grass and weeds surrounding my hut. My host attempted to fix my door and reassured me he will improve my temporary bath shelter prior to rebuilding my permanent bath shelter.

My next challenge was walking to the stores and market. I had done this during my second site visit, but I knew I would enter the fish bowl, yet again, while walking past people on the street.  I dressed in my kitenge, short-sleeve shirt, and Tevas. I made my way toward the stores and I was the center of attention. I felt secure. I felt in control. Children came running toward the road yelling msungu (white person) and 'how are yooo!' in their Zambian accents. I greeted everyone along the way with a few claps, and a 'how are you' in Kikaonde. I eventually made it to the store, then off to the market where I purchased tomatoes for dinner that evening.  I did it. Even still, it is difficult walking in public in my village. My being shy and reserved, this is a huge challenge for me.  I am one out of a handful of white people who live in this village of 3,000. This explains my celebrity-like status.

I have met a few people who live near me. I have new neighbors who moved in next door. The husband is a church pastor. I met him and his wife and I was able to use my Kikaonde. They were impressed to say the least. They also have several children, about six or seven, and they all live in a hut the same size as mine.

The children in the community visit my compound often. I call it a compound because it is a space that includes three building structures: kizanza (outdoor kitchen), kimbusu (latrine), and my hut. Oh, and I forgot to mention my temporary bathing shelter which is made up of three 'walls' held up with branches and covered with black plastic.

There is a lot to get used to in this culture. People are always around, they come by to visit on their way to where ever they may be going. I'm never alone unless I lock myself up in my hut which I have done a few times already.

I am as strange to them as they are to me. I know eventually I will blend in, and the feeling of being the 'odd one' will dissipate. This is a tough time for me. Probably the toughest since I arrived in Zambia. But I'm willing to take on this challenge, and I am so glad I'm here in Africa.

I was sworn in today...

     I was sworn in today at the house of the Zambian ambassador today in Lusaka. It has been a fantastic experience. The day started out pouring rain, but when the ceremony ended, the sun came out. The ceremony was followed by a light lunch and we took several photos of one another. Tomorrow I will say my final goodbyes to my fellow volunteers I looked upon as a family for the past three months.
     There are two other volunteers I trained with who will be coming with me up to Northwest Province as well as five other PCVs from the RAP group. The next step is to move into my new hut in Mumena Village. I will spend the next three months fixing up my hut; I will paint my sitting room walls bright yellow, get a garden started, and start searching for a dog. I talk more about the reason I decided to get a dog in a later post.
     The signifigance to the first three months as new Volunteers we are required to stay in our district and get to know the villagers and fix up our huts. Once the three months begin work. I am the only Peace Corps Volunteer in my area. The closest Volunteer to me is 30k away.

   

I will be heading up to Northwest Province with this group to live and work for the next two years.

 

New Peace Corps graduates.