Some Photos from Zambia

This is my garden, I am incredibly proud of this, probably more proud than anything I've ever done before because it was completely new and I had no idea what I was doing. I actually did research on how to take care of it and did it all by myself (except the planting part my neighbor helped me). I have fallen in love with gardening, especially in the village there is something meditative about it, I love going out there are the end of the day and weeding, watering, fertilizing it. At IST (In Service Training) which I just had in Lusaka I learned about perma gardening and composting (I've been doing some independent research) and I am really excited when I get back to my village to do some more work on it. Currently I am growing tomatoes, green beans and kale. I have been out of the village for over a month now however with illness, vacation, and training, so I am hoping it has not been overtaken by weeds. I am hoping my community will be receptive to sustainable farming techniques that I have learned and hope to teach them



Itala Market, Mkushi BOMA, Central Province, Zambia. This is what we call "old market" in Mkushi, its actually where the Zambians shop. Mkushi BOMA has a lot of commercial farmers (most of who are white, most of who are South African or Zimbabwaean, though some are Zambian) and all of them are wealthy and tend to shop in the wealthier part of Mkushi a.k.a. the most expensive part. This is the part where the common Zambia shops, and where I prefer to shop. It goes far back from the main road, and is a maze that is full of vendors selling everything from fish, vegetables, peanut butter and caterpillars, to termites (also supossed to be quite tasty) and even once I was offered someone's baby for purchase! The first time I went to this market it was about 100 degrees out and swarmed with people and I was trying to buy so many things for my hut, I was incredibly overwhelmed, but now I am not intimidated by it at all. Sometimes the best way to become comfortable with something is to dive into it head first, even if you are pushed.



This is Regina, one of the kids that lives on my compound. She is such a sweet girl and is the mother hen of all the other children. I have tried numerous things to try and get her to go to school and she won't go. One of the biggest problems in the village is getting the kids to go to school. Some places don't even have schools, and after grade 7 students must pay school fees, which are often outside of the family budget. Things become especially tight because most Zambia families, especially in the village, have several children (I feel like 4-6 is average, sometimes more, sometimes less) so sometimes only one child can be sent to school. The parents are also always busy out in the fields so they are rarely there to enforce the children going to school and many parents do not see the benefit of an education, especially for girl children, and particularly in the village. Part of what I want to do in my village is work on budgeting and family planning with the villagers and really stress the importance of education and providing for one's family.


This is my family in Kabeleka, Chongwe District, Lusaka Province. This was the host family I stayed with for 9 weeks during PST (Pre Service Training) To my right is my Bataata, George, and to my right his wife my Bamaayo, Hilda. The three boys are Graveson (the tallest) Keshash, and Mwanza (the baby) James, the oldest son, isn't pictured he was visiting his grandmother during school break. It is so interesting because there are some things that are so incredibly similar, like visiting your grandma on school holiday, to Zambian childhood, yet so much that is drastically different!



This is my house in Fiwila Village. Lizzy and Allie have dubbed it a face house, a Koala Bear face house to be exact so I think it will be taking on that persona. I am working panono panono to get it to feel like home, constantly making adjustments, upgrades, and additions (and subtractions/alterations for that matter) I am going to try and get ahold of some chalkboard paint and paint one side of the house with it so the kids can draw with chalk on it whenever they want...if you are sending me a package, please feel free to include some chalk for the iwe's! (kids)