So I realized that I didn't post much about my village other than about my family, or anything about my mud hut (pictures to follow hopefully soon!) so I figured I would indulge everyone with TWO blog posts in two days and tell you a little more about the place I now call home.
So I live in Mulomo Village, in Fiwila Mission Catchment Area, in Mkushi District, in Central Province, in Zambia, in Africa. Zambia is divided into 9 Provinces (Central (the best province obviously), Luapula, Northern, Eastern, Western, Northwestern, Southern, Copperbelt and Lusaka. Peace Corps places volunteers currently in Central, Luapula, Northern, Eastern, Northwestern and Lusaka. They have had volunteers in both Copperbelt and Southern in the past. There are none currently but in April they will be placing new volunteers back in Southern Province. Within these 9 provinces (which are equivalent to states in the US) there are 73 districts (I am not going to list all of them, one because I don't know all of them and two while Zambia may be making me a more patient person I am yet to become that patient). My district is Mkushi. Each district has a "BOMA" which is like the capital of each district. In the BOMA there are things like the bank, government offices, chocolate, the post office (a very important place for current PCV's) and other necessities that you can't get in the village. I like about 85-90 k from Mkushi (about 50 miles) on a long bumpy dirt road, however getting out of my village is not as hard as I anticipated. I can get transport Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning to Masansa, which is a "sub-BOMA" that is 30k (a little less than 20 miles) and from there can go all the way to Mkushi. Transport consists usually of riding in a canter, which is like a large flat bed truck that things like fertilizer, maize (corn), and building materials are transported on. \Masansa has everything I need though except for the bank and the post office so usually to get things like peanut butter, bread, talk time, cold soda I can just go there. It is also where my closest PC neighbor lives. I so far try and be in my village for 2 weeks and then out for the weekend. There is a lodge in Mkushi that we are able to stay in (ATB Lodge) that has good food, occasional hot showers, satellite TV, and PCV's have a great report with the staff, so on weekends that we go to the BOMA this is usually where we stay. Mkushi is one of the more rural BOMA's and it is an area where a lot of people pass through but there is not a huge population in the area, at least compared to other BOMA's. I live near the commercial farming block, so I live within a farming community. Most of the commercial farmers are white South Africans, Zambians, and Zimbabweans. A lot of volunteers have friendships with the farmers, I am yet to develop these, but I am still very new and I am so isolated. It does sometimes get hard to be out in the village day after day being so isolated, especially because right now there is very little work I am doing, as I said before I am in community entry so a lot of what I am doing in integrating into my community. I am looking forward to starting to do some work, but probably won't start anything major until February. The reason being that all this week I am in Serenje at the provincial house. On Decemeber 1st-6th I am attending Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). It is a camp that Peace Corps puts on for girls every year through a grant. Two girls from volunteers villages in grade 7 or 8 and one community member attend the camp. There are informational/education sessions and then they will also be participating in fun activities like rock climbing, pottery, and canoeing. Usually volunteers don't have the opportunity to go due to funding, but I will be organizing the camp for next year so I will be attending with my girls. Then there will be Christmas and New Years (me and a bunch of friends from my intake are going to Malawi) and then we will have In-Service Training (IST) for two weeks in January, where we will be learning things like permagardening, composting, and other applicable skills to use in our village. I am really looking forward to this as a lot of the health training that I recieved I won't be using as much of but really want to learn about things like Income Generating Activities and composting. So then come February I will start doing some actual work and starting projects in my village, I am really excited!
I live right next to what I would consider a marsh, there are two in ground water holes that we usually get water from however since we are at the end of dry season right now they are almost out so lately I have been getting my water from faucets in Fiwila. The pipe water down from the mountains and there are various spikets in the main village (Fiwila) where the school, clinic, and church are. Due to the distance needed to drag water from Fiwila and the lack of water in the marsh, last week Paxina and I went out to a small stream the other day and washed our clothes in that. It was definitely a stereotypical Africa moment. I cook outside over charcoal every night and use candles for light. Zambia is also holding a national census this year and it includes foreigners in it, so I got to take two census's this year. It was very different from America's census! For one a person rides their bike out to your house to give you the survey. There are questions like "what mode of transport do you use: walk, bike, donkey, motorbike, car" "what heating method do you use?" (response: blankets and fire) "What type of light source do you have" (answer: candles). It's a whole different world here. But I love it, challenges and struggles included!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Bush Break
I'll start by saying that I sincerely apologize for my lack of blogging or emailing, but as I have been out in the African bush since September 27th my internet access has been extremely limited, so I will just start from the beginning and finish with today... happy reading!
So on September 24th I swore in as a real Peace Corps Volunteer (from here on out to be referred to as PCV) in Lusaka. We all got super dressed up and had coffee and tea at the house of the US ambassador to Zambia, Mark Storella, and then we were sworn in in a small ceremony followed by some light snacks. After that we enjoyed the rest of the day and night in Lusaka, and Saturday morning packed up the cruisers and headed off to our respective provinces. Since for Central Province we only had four new volunteers, our moving in process went pretty smoothly. That being said, for those provinces who had 12 new volunteers (like Northwestern) I can't even imagine the chaos that must have ensued, because when I say smoothly it was still hectic. We spent Saturday at Shopright, which is a grocery store here, which was a bit of a nightmare. At this point, I was just pulling things off of the shelves hoping that I actually needed them and that I wasn't forgetting anything. I also only had one contact in at this point so I couldn't see that well and it was sweltering in the store. We spent Sunday at the provincial house and were able to rest, do laundry, relax before heading to Mkushi on Monday. On Monday we got the rest of the things we needed for our sites, again hoping desperately that they were things we actually needed and that we weren't forgetting anything crucial. Tuesday morning they packed up the cruiser and off we went, the four of us, Ed, Brooks, Will, and me. I was dropped at my site second. When the cruiser pulled away I was so grateful that we had had second site visit, because I had already been dropped at this house, with complete strangers and watched the cruiser disappear. So it began.
When I first arrived I was overcome with concerns. Would I like my family? Would they like me? Would I have any privacy? How lonely would I be? How would I do without having cell phone service (network)? Would I like my village? What was I going to do with that first 5 minutes after the cruiser left? While there are always things to think about, and it does get lonely at times, and I do get frustrated at times, I love my village, I love my family and there is no where else in the world I would rather be (except sometimes up in Mwinilunga with Jack, or visit California for a few days, especially after the Giants won the World Series!).
I have an amazing family, the Mulomo family, and I feel as if they have brought me into their family as one of their own. I live on a compound with them. There is my bambuya (grandmother). She is probably pushing 80 and tough as nails but at the same time one of the sweetest old ladies. She works as hard as the rest of the young Zambians, cultivating and harvesting her fields, carrying water on her head, doing laundry, cooking for the 8 grandkids that she has one way or another inherited. Then there is Paxina. Without Paxina I think I would have died from loneliness, or hunger, or both. She is my age, speaks really good english has this amazing, sparkling personality and has been someone I can confide in about anything. We cook dinner together every night. For most of the the time I was eating nshima with her, but after gaining about 10 additional pounds I told her that I was no longer eating nshima, however we still cook together and eat together each night. It's very nice because every day I have someone to talk too. There are some days that I just want to hide in my house and not interact with anyone. At first I would really try and fight these days, try and force myself to go interact with people, but my heart wasn't in it. Lately, I have just been allowing myself to have these days, and I find that the more I allow myself to just have the days that I need, I have less of them. She also saved my life (okay so that may be a bit of an overdramatic statement, but not that overdramatic). So a few weeks ago we were laying out under the stars on a reed mat chatting after dinner and suddenly Paxina yelled "Get up Get up Natalia there is a small snake!" (I go by Natalia in my village, it is easier for Zambians to pronounce than Natalie) I of course jumped up, and my other friend Sherine (Paxina's cousin who also lives on the compound with her parents Ba Nighton and Ba Abness and their other children) beat it into two pieces. The school boys that rent a house from bambuya finally came over after hearing us screaming to find the snake already dead, and informed us that it was a baby cobra. I told them they had been useless. We now eat inside. Apparently with the rainy season come the snakes. Cooler weather, but also snakes. I guess it's the trade off.
I also had a black mamba encounter the other day. Someone told me when we first got here that Peace Corps is all about doing what your scared of, and in so many ways this is proving true. Someone else also told me that snakes won't cross open ground. I wish I could remember who, so I could tell them that they lie! I was walking towards my house when this bright green snake shot over open ground past my house. After swallowing my initial fear, I started yelling "Insoka Insoka Insoka" which means snake in Bemba. I grabbed a giant stick and started chasing after it (which I later remembered was a bad idea because mambas will chase you back), I got one good whack at it, it then reared up halfway off the ground...so creepy... and escaped into the bushes. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't get to kill it, it would have made for an even better story!!
So I have been in community entry, which means I am not allowed to leave my district (Mkushi). I am also not allowed to be doing work. I am just supposed to be getting to know my community, meeting people, trying to understand what they want to work on. One this I have discovered is that they don't really need a health volunteer. While there is always HIV/AIDS education to do, and child nutrition, what people mostly need is business skills, sustainable farming techniques (especially when it comes to pest control & fertilizer), and fish farming... so I won't be doing as much administrative type of health stuff, more teaching and education but that is what I prefer to do anyways. There are other volunteers around me that are trained in the other fields around me so hopefully we can do some collaboration on some projects.
I have made friends in my village and hopefully will be starting on some projects come January/February. I have also tried my hand at gardening. I wouldn't say I have a green thumb, but nothing has died yet, so I find that encouraging. I planted beans (which are doing spectacularly) and my swiss chard and tomatoes are still in their nursery, though I think that the tomatoes are about ready to be transplanted. In February I will try and plant watermelons, zucchini, onions, and carrots. I would love to try some other things like bell peppers, basil, pumpkins, broccoli, peas, kale, and eggplant so if your dying to send your favorite PCV in Africa something, seeds along with chocolate and coffee are always appreciated!! I am still putting the finishing touches on my house, but its almost done. I have a hammock in it, which is where I hide away! I wish I had brought more of my knick-knack things to make me feel a little more at home. Its fun when you visit other volunteers to see what they have done with their houses, everyone has their own personal touches and made it their home. Mine is blue and white so I'm trying to create a bit of a mederiteranian/greek feel to it, not sure if I am going to accomplish this, but I am going to try my hardest!
So this week I am at provincials. Every November and June all the volunteers in every province come to their provincial house and have a province wide meeting. The meeting in November is scheduled to coincide with Thanksgiving, so even though it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here, we will all be working Wednesday and Thursday to have a Thanksgiving feast! It's always a nice break from the village to get out for a few days, visit with other Americans/PCV's, relax, enjoy a cold beer or soda. It's amazing the things you begin to appreciate when your living on the basics. Things like cold coke, cold water, internet access, full cell phone coverage, americans to speak english with, real showers become treats. People have been working hard on the house since it's new and its definitely gaining character and starting to feel more homey.
I somehow found myself recruited to join a group at the church, Girls Friendly Society, or GFS. The general principle is that older girls help out younger girls, like a big sister program. A lot of the girls are between 12 and 18 so I'm hoping they'll want to do some kind of program, or at least feel like they know me and trust me enough to talk to me about any health concerns they may have, especially when it comes to boyfriends. I have to get a uniform. I got in trouble with the priest yesterday because I didn't have my uniform yet. I have never been scolded by a priest and I definitely don't ever want to be again, especially an Anglican priest (think Catholic priest, but married). I had to dance in front of the church by myself (embarrassing) and had to sing but luckily with all the other girls (slightly less embarrassing). It was the second time I had to dance in front of my community. October 24th was Zambian independence day, and there was a celebration in the village, which I was asked to dance with. At least I had someone with me, but I danced to Shakira Wherever Whenever in front of about 250 Zambians, they loved it! And I felt that the community warmed up to me a lot after that, so the embarrassment was well worth it, luckily I love to dance!
You loose a lot of your pride here, I feel mine being chipped at away daily. When you speak Bemba to people, they laugh at you, because they can't believe a white person is attempting to speak Bemba. When you dance they laugh. Sometimes they ask you to sing. Things like maintaining pretty toes and eyebrows become the last thing on your mind. Often I will try and do things myself only to have to ask for help or more often have someone jump in and help me. You also learn to laugh, at yourself and just at life. Day by day I am learning to relax, go with the flow more, and just let it happen as it may. The more and try and control things the less successful I am. I'm not saying I am blissed out yet, but I am trying to go with the flow as much as possible. A few times I have gotten frustrated though and have cried to gotten impatient, but I try and manage as much as possible. Some days are a lot tougher than others, but every day there is this "Oh My God I am in Africa, this is amazing!" moment. I wish I was more artistic and could find a way to draw or paint everything I see. I try and take pictures when I can, but every time I take one I just think "this just isn't capturing what I'm looking at" and while a lot of that can probably be contributed to my novice photography skills and average camera, there is also things that a photograph can't capture. Maybe that is the skill of a talented photographer, to capture the feeling that the picture is meant to convey not just the image.
Since I have internet access there is a good chance I may get another post up this week, and will definitely get pictures up onto facebook. For all of you that read this, become a follower! One it will make me feel better about myself that I have followers and it will notify you whenever I post a blog so that you don't have to stalk my blog only to be disappointed. After December I will probably have a chance about once a month to update my blog. Also feel free to send me letters I love getting mail! My address is:
Natalie Neft, PCV
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 840038
Mkushi
Zambia
Happy Thanksgiving!
So on September 24th I swore in as a real Peace Corps Volunteer (from here on out to be referred to as PCV) in Lusaka. We all got super dressed up and had coffee and tea at the house of the US ambassador to Zambia, Mark Storella, and then we were sworn in in a small ceremony followed by some light snacks. After that we enjoyed the rest of the day and night in Lusaka, and Saturday morning packed up the cruisers and headed off to our respective provinces. Since for Central Province we only had four new volunteers, our moving in process went pretty smoothly. That being said, for those provinces who had 12 new volunteers (like Northwestern) I can't even imagine the chaos that must have ensued, because when I say smoothly it was still hectic. We spent Saturday at Shopright, which is a grocery store here, which was a bit of a nightmare. At this point, I was just pulling things off of the shelves hoping that I actually needed them and that I wasn't forgetting anything. I also only had one contact in at this point so I couldn't see that well and it was sweltering in the store. We spent Sunday at the provincial house and were able to rest, do laundry, relax before heading to Mkushi on Monday. On Monday we got the rest of the things we needed for our sites, again hoping desperately that they were things we actually needed and that we weren't forgetting anything crucial. Tuesday morning they packed up the cruiser and off we went, the four of us, Ed, Brooks, Will, and me. I was dropped at my site second. When the cruiser pulled away I was so grateful that we had had second site visit, because I had already been dropped at this house, with complete strangers and watched the cruiser disappear. So it began.
When I first arrived I was overcome with concerns. Would I like my family? Would they like me? Would I have any privacy? How lonely would I be? How would I do without having cell phone service (network)? Would I like my village? What was I going to do with that first 5 minutes after the cruiser left? While there are always things to think about, and it does get lonely at times, and I do get frustrated at times, I love my village, I love my family and there is no where else in the world I would rather be (except sometimes up in Mwinilunga with Jack, or visit California for a few days, especially after the Giants won the World Series!).
I have an amazing family, the Mulomo family, and I feel as if they have brought me into their family as one of their own. I live on a compound with them. There is my bambuya (grandmother). She is probably pushing 80 and tough as nails but at the same time one of the sweetest old ladies. She works as hard as the rest of the young Zambians, cultivating and harvesting her fields, carrying water on her head, doing laundry, cooking for the 8 grandkids that she has one way or another inherited. Then there is Paxina. Without Paxina I think I would have died from loneliness, or hunger, or both. She is my age, speaks really good english has this amazing, sparkling personality and has been someone I can confide in about anything. We cook dinner together every night. For most of the the time I was eating nshima with her, but after gaining about 10 additional pounds I told her that I was no longer eating nshima, however we still cook together and eat together each night. It's very nice because every day I have someone to talk too. There are some days that I just want to hide in my house and not interact with anyone. At first I would really try and fight these days, try and force myself to go interact with people, but my heart wasn't in it. Lately, I have just been allowing myself to have these days, and I find that the more I allow myself to just have the days that I need, I have less of them. She also saved my life (okay so that may be a bit of an overdramatic statement, but not that overdramatic). So a few weeks ago we were laying out under the stars on a reed mat chatting after dinner and suddenly Paxina yelled "Get up Get up Natalia there is a small snake!" (I go by Natalia in my village, it is easier for Zambians to pronounce than Natalie) I of course jumped up, and my other friend Sherine (Paxina's cousin who also lives on the compound with her parents Ba Nighton and Ba Abness and their other children) beat it into two pieces. The school boys that rent a house from bambuya finally came over after hearing us screaming to find the snake already dead, and informed us that it was a baby cobra. I told them they had been useless. We now eat inside. Apparently with the rainy season come the snakes. Cooler weather, but also snakes. I guess it's the trade off.
I also had a black mamba encounter the other day. Someone told me when we first got here that Peace Corps is all about doing what your scared of, and in so many ways this is proving true. Someone else also told me that snakes won't cross open ground. I wish I could remember who, so I could tell them that they lie! I was walking towards my house when this bright green snake shot over open ground past my house. After swallowing my initial fear, I started yelling "Insoka Insoka Insoka" which means snake in Bemba. I grabbed a giant stick and started chasing after it (which I later remembered was a bad idea because mambas will chase you back), I got one good whack at it, it then reared up halfway off the ground...so creepy... and escaped into the bushes. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't get to kill it, it would have made for an even better story!!
So I have been in community entry, which means I am not allowed to leave my district (Mkushi). I am also not allowed to be doing work. I am just supposed to be getting to know my community, meeting people, trying to understand what they want to work on. One this I have discovered is that they don't really need a health volunteer. While there is always HIV/AIDS education to do, and child nutrition, what people mostly need is business skills, sustainable farming techniques (especially when it comes to pest control & fertilizer), and fish farming... so I won't be doing as much administrative type of health stuff, more teaching and education but that is what I prefer to do anyways. There are other volunteers around me that are trained in the other fields around me so hopefully we can do some collaboration on some projects.
I have made friends in my village and hopefully will be starting on some projects come January/February. I have also tried my hand at gardening. I wouldn't say I have a green thumb, but nothing has died yet, so I find that encouraging. I planted beans (which are doing spectacularly) and my swiss chard and tomatoes are still in their nursery, though I think that the tomatoes are about ready to be transplanted. In February I will try and plant watermelons, zucchini, onions, and carrots. I would love to try some other things like bell peppers, basil, pumpkins, broccoli, peas, kale, and eggplant so if your dying to send your favorite PCV in Africa something, seeds along with chocolate and coffee are always appreciated!! I am still putting the finishing touches on my house, but its almost done. I have a hammock in it, which is where I hide away! I wish I had brought more of my knick-knack things to make me feel a little more at home. Its fun when you visit other volunteers to see what they have done with their houses, everyone has their own personal touches and made it their home. Mine is blue and white so I'm trying to create a bit of a mederiteranian/greek feel to it, not sure if I am going to accomplish this, but I am going to try my hardest!
So this week I am at provincials. Every November and June all the volunteers in every province come to their provincial house and have a province wide meeting. The meeting in November is scheduled to coincide with Thanksgiving, so even though it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here, we will all be working Wednesday and Thursday to have a Thanksgiving feast! It's always a nice break from the village to get out for a few days, visit with other Americans/PCV's, relax, enjoy a cold beer or soda. It's amazing the things you begin to appreciate when your living on the basics. Things like cold coke, cold water, internet access, full cell phone coverage, americans to speak english with, real showers become treats. People have been working hard on the house since it's new and its definitely gaining character and starting to feel more homey.
I somehow found myself recruited to join a group at the church, Girls Friendly Society, or GFS. The general principle is that older girls help out younger girls, like a big sister program. A lot of the girls are between 12 and 18 so I'm hoping they'll want to do some kind of program, or at least feel like they know me and trust me enough to talk to me about any health concerns they may have, especially when it comes to boyfriends. I have to get a uniform. I got in trouble with the priest yesterday because I didn't have my uniform yet. I have never been scolded by a priest and I definitely don't ever want to be again, especially an Anglican priest (think Catholic priest, but married). I had to dance in front of the church by myself (embarrassing) and had to sing but luckily with all the other girls (slightly less embarrassing). It was the second time I had to dance in front of my community. October 24th was Zambian independence day, and there was a celebration in the village, which I was asked to dance with. At least I had someone with me, but I danced to Shakira Wherever Whenever in front of about 250 Zambians, they loved it! And I felt that the community warmed up to me a lot after that, so the embarrassment was well worth it, luckily I love to dance!
You loose a lot of your pride here, I feel mine being chipped at away daily. When you speak Bemba to people, they laugh at you, because they can't believe a white person is attempting to speak Bemba. When you dance they laugh. Sometimes they ask you to sing. Things like maintaining pretty toes and eyebrows become the last thing on your mind. Often I will try and do things myself only to have to ask for help or more often have someone jump in and help me. You also learn to laugh, at yourself and just at life. Day by day I am learning to relax, go with the flow more, and just let it happen as it may. The more and try and control things the less successful I am. I'm not saying I am blissed out yet, but I am trying to go with the flow as much as possible. A few times I have gotten frustrated though and have cried to gotten impatient, but I try and manage as much as possible. Some days are a lot tougher than others, but every day there is this "Oh My God I am in Africa, this is amazing!" moment. I wish I was more artistic and could find a way to draw or paint everything I see. I try and take pictures when I can, but every time I take one I just think "this just isn't capturing what I'm looking at" and while a lot of that can probably be contributed to my novice photography skills and average camera, there is also things that a photograph can't capture. Maybe that is the skill of a talented photographer, to capture the feeling that the picture is meant to convey not just the image.
Since I have internet access there is a good chance I may get another post up this week, and will definitely get pictures up onto facebook. For all of you that read this, become a follower! One it will make me feel better about myself that I have followers and it will notify you whenever I post a blog so that you don't have to stalk my blog only to be disappointed. After December I will probably have a chance about once a month to update my blog. Also feel free to send me letters I love getting mail! My address is:
Natalie Neft, PCV
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 840038
Mkushi
Zambia
Happy Thanksgiving!
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