Thursday, December 9, 2010

Air Con and Music Videos are Amazing

Hi Friends!

Sorry that it’s been so long since my last post but technology is always a problem here in Zambia. Now that we have high-speed internet in Chipata we have managed to crash the computer and of course internet does require power. But luckily today I have internet, power and a computer!

I'm currently in Chipata assisting with training on HIV/AIDS for PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). I went through this training in March and now I'm helping train a group of agriculture and education volunteers and their Zambian counterparts. I'm enjoying passing on my knowledge and the experiences I've had in the village with these topics. Our house is also closed due to an outbreak of scabies, just a few people but we don't want to risk it, so I'm staying at a very nice guesthouse with a/c and tv. It’s been a long time since I've slept in air conditioning.

This last week the rains finally began. I, of course, ended up biking home from Katete in the pouring rain but managed to wait out the rest of it in the election office. I did have some plastic bags with me so none of the packages I had just picked up were damaged. Unfortunately my roof needs some repair work so I'm dealing with some leaks but keeping the bed dry with the tarp. As long as my bed is dry I can handle just about everything. Along with the rains come the flying termites, which we fry and eat, but are mostly annoying. They swarm the lights and often fly into your face especially when you are wearing a headlamp. Or fly in your face when the power goes out and you have a let computer screen as just happened to me.
In November two of my good PCV friends here had a wedding in the village. I had never been to a village wedding so it was really interesting to see plus to get to have a big celebration with all our friends here. The night before the wedding they had to walk from their homes in the village, so her from his hut and he from his host family’s hut, and meet in the middle. Then there is a lot of dancing and they enter their own home for the first time. The next day there is a ceremony in the village filled with dancing and speeches, also a long presentation of presents. They tried to make us all stand up and introduce ourselves but we managed to get out of that which probably saved us hours of the ceremony. The evening was spent eating and dancing so much like a wedding in America. I had a lot of fun and is great to share that time with my friends.
Since hot season has just ended with the rains I haven’t had that many programs. Mostly I’ve been continuing VCT with a program in my own village just last Friday where we had just over 50 people come for testing! The other day I was at my clinic and a couple who I tested earlier in the early came back in for their second test, which is recommended after 3 months since the test we use cannot detect new HIV infections, which was very exciting for me that they listened and choose to get tested again. It is always nice to feel like what you are teaching is actually sinking in.
I had another great moment when I finally got home from being sick in October and I ran into my mentor from GLOW. While I was gone she held meetings with all the teachers, the PTA, and even the first meeting with the girls interested in joining our GLOW club. A lot of our work is capacity building so hopefully the programs we create are sustainable and having meeting without me present is a great start. The schools are now on break for the month of December but when the new term begins in January, we will have a GLOW club at our school.
For Thanksgiving we all came into Chipata for the holiday. I ran the dinner with two other PCVs. We managed to have all the Thanksgiving favorites including the miracle of pumpkin pie even through pumpkins are not of season. A dinner even included a turkey from Wilmer, Minnesota so I had a little bit of home here in Zambia. But really it was a nice day to spend with my friends and think about all the things we are thankful for.
Happy Holidays!
Love,
Allie

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Another October

Hi Friends!

Sorry its been so long since my last post but the internet was out last time I was in town and I've been pretty busy. I just returned from my mid-term conference in Lusaka which was mostly filled with doctor and dentist appointments but really a good chance to see all the people I came into country with. It was great to hear all their work stories and challenges to help keep myself grounded that its not just me who can't seem to get things going sometimes. Mostly it was just a lot of fun to hang out with them all and remember when we were young and naive trainees. Its amazing how much everyone has grown and changed over the last year. I also managed to see a movie and enjoy food with seasoning, two of my favorite Lusaka activities, but as always by the time we left I was tired of the expensive city.

After MTC I went with a few friends to Lake Malawi for a few days of relaxation before heading back to the village. Lake Malawi is beautiful and it reminded me why I prefer freshwater to saltwater as we could swim longer and didn't feel salty afterwords. We even got to take a boat ride to see fish eagles feed, go cliff driving ( I didn't go for reasons I will explain), and hit a nice sandy beach. Sadly I ended up pretty sick due to a parasite/bacterial problem in my intestine so I spent a lot of time in bed. The place we stayed was on a cliff I had to hike it up and down to get to the bathroom so when I was out of bed I lacked a lot of energy but luckily for the most part sitting by a lake doesn't require much energy. I'm doing much better now and just spending a few days in Chipata to make sure I'm 100 percent before heading back to site.

At site I've been busy holding Voluntary Testing and Counseling (VCT) events in various villages in my catchment. I've been going out with two trained health volunteers and conducting these day long clinics. So far they've been very popular with us turning people away each time either due to time or because we are out of tests. Unfortunately we ran out of tests before we could finish and then I had to leave for MTC but hopefully we will be picking up again once I return. In just three days we've tested 144 people, all the tests we had, which is great because normally in a month maybe 10-12 people are usually tested in my area. Our next challenge will be to try and increase the number of men coming for VCT and the number of couples attending together.

One of the hardest parts of my job has been being in the room when a person is told that they are positive. I don't do any of the counseling myself, mostly I just do our register, but its still tough. From what I've seen people seem to handle it pretty well and take it in stride which I guess is both part of the Zambian culture of not crying and from living with HIV/AIDS all around you. The worst is telling mothers that their children are positive; there are so many measures that can help prevent mother to child transmission and I feel that somehow these children were let down by the system, it breaks my heart. But no matter how hard it is to see a positive result, I know that its much better for them to know so that they can take care of themselves and get the help they need.

On an entirely different note, at the end of August I went to the annual Chewa ( the tribe I live with ) or Kulamba Festival. Its held the last weekend in August each year and all the Chiefs attend plus the Presidents of Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi, since the Chewa tribe is found in all three countries. The ceremony included a lot of people talking and the giving of gifts to the Paramount Chief (ie the head Chief) including two mattresses which we found really funny. But the best part was all the dancing first it was a lot of different groups, mainly women but then we got to see the traditional dancing, nyao. My village has nyao dancers but they mostly use mud and mealie-meal sacks to make costumes, these guys had masks and really cool outfits made from chitenje. One guy even climbed up a pole and danced on it, very impressive.

I also got a big dose of culture when my own village held its Chinamwali ceremony, the initiation ceremony for girls. At the time I was hosting four new volunteers, for second site visit, who are going to Eastern so they got to see it too. The girls are taught to dance for a month by being locked in a house and trained. I got to attend a couple of their training sessions which was mostly just the other women in my village dancing for them as a demonstration, they made me dance too but I'm terrible so mostly it was a lot of laughing. The actual ceremony took place one afternoon and began with the girls doing all the lessons they learned then going through some strange role plays and ending up very muddy, which once they washed off symbolized the fact that they are now women. The dancing is very cool but its hard to see something that is teaching women to be submissive to men. I strongly believe that there is a place for Chinamwali but that it needs to be modified to encourage the empowerment of women.

Arianna and Denise were there with me for hosting, and to go to the festival, but also because we celebrated Denise's birthday. Our celebration included watching Glee on an i-pod in my bed and making a cake with hot chocolate on my brazier, who said we weren't talented. It was nice to have them spend some time at my site ans to have people to talk to when the trainees went to language class each day. It was really interesting to listen to the language class to realize how much I actually know and how little of formal nyanja I actually use anymore.

But now its October and way too hot for me. I'm finding myself wishing for the rains even through my roof needs a little work before they come. But right now I am drinking a lot of water, limiting my biking and just avoiding the sun. At least its my last hot season....time sure does fly.

Well that's all I've got for now, I'll try to be better with updates but technology remains a challenge in Zambia. Take care and enjoy the fall colors for me!

Love,
Allie

Sunday, August 15, 2010

GLOW!

Hey Friends,

Well after 6 months of planning Camp GLOW has finally come and gone. Overall I would say it was a big success. It seemed that the girls all had a great time and even learned a little which is always nice. For us, the two other PCVs I planned it with and me, it was a long week and tiring week but definately worth it. A lot happened during the week but I'll just cover some of the highlights...

We opened the camp with a bonfire that included the Zambians teaching us a few games and us teaching them the hokey pokey. They seemed to really enjoy it and thought shaking our backsides all around was particularly funny. We did have a few girls homesick that night but by the end of the week they all stayed up late singing to enjoy their last bit of time together. Throughout the week we saw a lot of the girls open up, especailly in their dramas. We also had the girls meet in small groups with PCVs and mentors, and the first day many girls refused to talk and even cried but by the end everyone was sharing and asking questions.

We were also very lucky to have a great group of mentors who had alot of ideas about how to bring GLOW back to their communities. Arianna and I had a special bonding time with them during our sex and sexuality talk when they really opened up to each other about their private lives. It was great to see them come together. They even wrote us a song that they performed at the closing ceremony. It was great to have so many strong female role models for our girls.

We covered a lot of topics throughout the week but one of my favorite sessions was on body image. We started the whole thing off with us going around the room saying our favorite part of the body and one of our amazing mentors was brave enough to say it was her vagina! It was a great moment of embracing being a woman. We ended the session with us all chanting "I'm beautiful," which the girls continued to chant for the rest of the week.

The girls had a blast having three-legged and sack races in our Olympics and got really into making friendship bracelets. We had a lot of fun dancing with them and trying to each them some American games.

Peace Corps was able to get the Permanet Secreatary (she runs all the departments) of Eastern Provience to come and officiate at the closing ceremony. It was so nice for the girls to see a woman who also grew up in the village and who has risen to such a position of power. She seemed to really embrace the idea of GLOW and connect with the girls. Plus we even got press coverage with the camp making the news on the radio and even some print media.

Of course we had a few bumps along the way, mainly with our partners at the YWCA not coming through for us. But it was a learning experience for all of us and hopefully a great starting point for future GLOWs.

Today we read through the evaluations and it was wonderful to see all the things the girls and mentors shared. While a lot of times its hard to see how we are making a difference here in Zambia, I really felt like we made a big one in these girl's lives. Its hard being a girl anywhere in the world, and especially here, but I think that we made it a little easier for these girls if only for a week and hopefully armed them with skills to better their futures.

I just want to end with a big thank-you to all who donated to the project, we couldn't have done without you!

Love,
Allie

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Craziest Year of my Life

Hi Friends!

Well since my last post I celebrated my one-year anniversary of arrriving here in Zambia. In a lot of ways I can't be;ieve thats its already been a year because the time has gone so fast! I feel like just yesterday I was ringing in the New Year and somehow its already August. My friend Denise and I reached the conclusion that the only way tot really categorize that last year of our lives is crazy. I've had a blast and definately learned a lot about myself, my limitations (which are ever decreasing), and Zambia. I just hope that the next year here in Zambia is just as much of an adventure.

My year mark also saw the new intake of health and fisheries volunteers arrive and I had the "honor" of hosting 4 of the new health volunteers for their first dtay in the village. It was a lot of fun but my village is a little intense sometimes so we had a few extra special moments. The first night about 20 kids surrounded their tents as they were trying to go to bed but they soon learned that if you try to talk to the kids they will never leave. They got to experience drawing water (and we used a lot of water), shulking corn, and one of them even made peanut butter by hand. The last night was definately the most special as about 200 people from my village gathered in my front yard to show us traditional female dancing. Then, of course, they made us do it and after 10 months of saying no I had to dance in front my village. As most of you know I can't dance at all and since this is all very intense hip momnets I mostly looked like a fool but they were all very happy. Site visit went well but it was nice to have my house back to myself again.

My village has been busy getting the last of their cotton to market and now preparing their maize. To get the maize ready they place it in a bag and whack off most of the kernals and then hand remove those that remain. After that they use a winnowing basket to remove hulls and any broked kernals, it takes a long time and they only take about 10 dollars for 50 kg of kernals!

I've been finishing up the last of VCT sensitization meetings which I think went really well overall. The next step will be for us to actually go out to the villages and conduct the testing and I hoping to finish up before I go to Lusaka for my mid-term conference in October but of course it all depends on when we can schedule everything.

This year Zambia has been experiencin a outbreak of measles, mainly because it spread from Malawi. But don't worry all PCV's have to reiecve a booster before coming so I still have full antibody protection. Its been interesting for me to see how they respond to the epidemic. The main message, besides an ad campigan, has been to reaccinate all the children under 4 during their recent child health week. Its really frustrating to see an epidemic of a disease that we have a vaccine for and Zambian children are supposed to recieve the vaccine at the age of 9 months. So now Zambia will need to determine what has gone wrong and while the vaccine hasn't been effective. Its made me think a lot about a country's ability to respond, especially in a rural setting and I'm sure that this experience will effect my thinking about epidemics when I go back to school.

Camp GLOW starts on Monday and we are in the final detail and logistics stage. We are here in Chipata getting everything ready and hoping that nothing major goes wrong. After a few budget freak-outs we fianlly have all the transport organized and have faith that all the partipants will make it to the conference center. I just want it to be a really great week for the girls and other partipants but I know that I will be very relieved come the 14. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers next week so that everything goes well! We now have free, high-speed internet at our house in Chipata so I will try to post after the camp to let you all know how it went.

Love,
Allie

Friday, July 9, 2010

Wool Socks in Zambia?

Hi Friends!

First I want to thank all those who donated to Camp GLOW; we were able to raise our full amount! Planning here has been going well and this week we were able to finalize the schedule with the YWCA. While it seems like we have an endless amount of work to do it is all slowly getting done. This week we also did a walk around at our site for the camp and were able to arrange to borrow some sports equipment from the local school. It’s shaping up to a really great week with lots of fun activities and hopefully some educational stuff as well.

Besides all the work we have done for Camp GLOW we did manage to have a nice 4th of July celebration. Quite a few volunteers came up to Chipata and we celebrated by watching the Patriot, eating a lot of food at our BBQ, and holding a badminton tournament (I even made it to the second round). It was a good day with a lot of good food and friends. Not quite like the day at the lake in MN and of course no fireworks but still a lot of fun. The next two days were Zambian holidays so we mostly hung-out and lamented over the fact that shoprite closed at 13.

Things in my village have been going well but it seems with all the work I've been doing for GLOW I just can't seem to spend enough time there. But when I'm there I've been continuing doing sensitization for VCT and hope to start the actual test outreach in the next month. The People Living with HIV support group wants to start a garden to raise money so I am excited to get started on that and can hopefully teach them some of the conversation gardening that I've learned.

Sadly my solar charger was stolen in my village while I there last, but I wasn't the only target as my neighbor's solar torch was also stolen. While it really sucked to get have it stolen, my village really rallied and conducted an investigation and even offered to pay for a new one. My headman has also decided to build me a fence for security but I am mostly excited that it will keep animals out. It was a nice reminder how much my village cares about me and how important they think it is that I am there, even if we can't get a lot of work done.

We are in the middle of winter right now and Zambia can get cold. I mean its not MN cold but I am not really used to that anymore. Here in Chipata its worse because the tin roof and cement are not as insulated as my hut so I've been wearing my long underwear to bed. Makes me miss my electric blanket. I'm not really sure what I'll do when I come home next year in the middle of fall.

In two weeks I am hosting 4 of the new group of volunteers on their first site visit, so first village experience and during their first week in country. Its crazy to think that I've been here for a year already, the time has flown by and apparently the second year goes even faster. A lot has happened in the last year and I think that I've changed a lot too (hopefully for the better). If I had to pinpoint one thing its that I am definitely more patient and much better about just letting things happen now, life in Zambia definitely doesn't have a plan.

Well I guess that's it for now! Hope you are all enjoying summer and all the delicious food of summer!

Love,
Allie

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Hi Friends,

First, I am going to do a little begging. I want to thank all of you who have already donated but we still need about 2000 dollars. So please if you haven't made a donation consider doing so. We've spent a lot of the last couple days working out some of the details for Camp GLOW and its going to be an amazing experience for these girls. Not only will they gain valuble skills and knowledge on such subjects as assertiveness, communication, peer pressure, and rape and sexual assault but they will also have a lot of fun. We will doing art projects with the girls including making sanitary pads, teaching them dramas, and doing a lot of fun sports and games. We've gotten a lot of support from local businesses but we still need your help to pay for our wonderful facilities. All we need is 200 people to give 10 dollars, or a hundred to give 20! It doesn't take much and it will add up if everyone does their part. So please donate if you can and pass this along to anyone else you know who may be interested in supporting these wonderful young women ( and my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer!)

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-055

The last few days have been very GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) oriented. Thursday and Friday we had a training with our partners at the YWCA to practice, finalize the schedule and figure out a lot of the logistics of the camp. It was lot of fun and we got a lot done but our to do list grows everyday. We spent yesterday trying to cross a few things off the list including getting more donations here in Chipata. Mostly this means we are going shop to shop asking for any donations that they are willing to give. Yesterday was very successful as we were able to raise some money and also got a few needed items donated. Our biggest surprise was from our landlord ( who owns a resturant and butcher) who donated ice cream so that we can have an ice cream party for the girls! Most of these girls have probably never had ice cream, so are very excited. We still have a lot to do but are slowly getting it all done.

Back in my village I've been traveling throughout my catchment conducting sensitization meetings to increase the levels of HIV testing in the area. For the most part things have been going well and people have even requested VCT services. I did have one meeting where only 4 people came and had to be rescheduled but one out of three is not bad at all. Once we have visited all the neighborhoods, we will be returning to conduct the actual testing. Most testing is done at the clinics but since people are reluctent to come in for testing we are going to them! Since most people who are postivie in Zambia don't know their status testing is very important.

Besides all the work that has finally jump-started I have still found time for fun. My friend Denise came to visit before our provincial meetings at the beginning of June. It was fun to show her around my area and introduce her to all the people I tell stories about. My village was very excited to have a visitor, with one little boy yelling "A'zungu A'wiri" or two white people when we came in to the village.

Its cotton harvest time and I've been learning a lot about cotton from my neighbors. This means that many villagers have money in the first time for a long time which is both good and bad. I am not enjoying the fact that men can once more afford alcohol but it is good to see children getting full meals again.

Time is flying by, I can't believe that I've been in Zambia for 11 months! This means that its once again the cold season, which means no rain which is nice but that it can be rather cold in the morning. Good thing I packed my long underwear...

Well I guess thats all for now, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there (especially mine!). Enjoy the beautiful MN summer for me!

Love,
Allie

Friday, May 21, 2010

Grant Time

Hey Friends!

First of all I would like to ask for your help. As you know I, along with other volunteers, have been busy planning a girl's empowerment for 30 girls across Eastern Provence. To fund the camp we have applied for a grant through Peace Corps called the Peace Corps Partnership Grant and now we are asking all of you to be our partners! The camp is going to be a wonderful opportunity for the girls and this grant is a great way for all of you to provide support for my work here in Zambia. We are not asking for big contributions but rather for those you are able to just donate what they can, even donations of 5 dollars add up fast. So thanks in advance for the support!!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-055

Otherwise things have been going well at site. Currently my neighbors have been busy harvesting, particularly their cotton. So right now there aren't a lot of people around but soon we will enter "development season." The time of year that people have time and resources to devote to working with me. My counterpart from PEPFAR and I are planning to travel throughout my catchment to encourage more individuals to go in for HIV testing and condom use.

This last week I went to visit my friend Denise's site which was a lot of fun. Mostly we sat around and ate, visiting other PCVs is a great excuse to cook more elaborate food. We did manage to pound some coffee beans and paint watercolors as well. From there we headed to Chipata to meet another friend's parents. It was nice to be around parents again and they even bought us homemade cookies from America!

Currently my house has been invaded by ants who have moved in due to the beginning of cold season. I am waging a losing battle against them but I have faith that I will be able to discover their hill and stop in the infestation.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Please consider donating to Camp GLOW, its really going to be a moving experience for these girls and hopefully extend far beyond the week at camp as the girls become Peer Educators. So thanks!!

Love,
Allie

Thursday, April 29, 2010

There's an election going on?

Hey Friends,

Well it hasn't been that long since my last post so this one won't be nearly as epic. I returned home to find that a rat had moved in and was chewing the plastic lid off my oil. I managed to live with it for awhile but the sound it made at rat moving around my house was just too much. I consulted my neighbor and he happily provided a trap. So the rat has been eliminated and I didn't even have to dispose of the body myself. As a side note the Chewa people, my tribe here in Zambia, do eat rats but those caught in the house. There are actually two words in Nyanja for rat, those that live in the house and those that live in the field. And no I have not yet experienced this delicacy.

Work has been about the same, with me spending a lot of time at the clinic trying to keep busy. My counterpart from PEPFAR has a lot of great ideas and we are currently planning sensitization meetings in my area to increase the rates of HIV testing. Its nice to finally have someone fired up about my work and with so many great ideas.

My clinic in-charges daughter is trying to teach herself biology so see can get the credit in the subject and go to nursing school. I have attempted to help her and have been dusting off my basic biology skills. Its been interesting to see the things they focus on, a lot more memorization while my biology education has mostly focused on concepts. I am not sure how much I am helping but I always looking for ways to promote education here in Zambia.

I have also experienced the first flat tire on my bike. Of course this occurred after my pump and patch kit were stolen from my saddle bags in the Boma and before I could replace them. I went to borrow a pump and ended up handing my tire off to a neighbor boy who returned with it nicely fixed for me. Sadly the patch didn't hold but I was able to manage without a bike for a few days before coming to Chipata.

The reason I am updating so soon is because I was called out of site for safety and security. My area recently lost its MP in a road accident and so we are currently experiencing a by-election, today was polling day in fact! Sometimes elections can result in riots so, even through there have been no problems in my area, its PC/Zambia policy to pull volunteers from site. Before heading out on Monday I was able to ascertain that elections mainly consist of people holding rallies, yelling candidates names, and driving around in cantor trucks signing. A but different then the campaigning done in America that's for sure. I did get to see the President's helicopter when he came by spent a few minutes wondering what in the world was going on before someone explained. Helicopters are definitely not of place in rural Zambia.

I have spent the last couple days hanging in Chipata with the new volunteers as they got ready to get posted. It really made me realize how much I have changed since I went to site 7 months ago! I was reminded of how nervous I was those first couple weeks compared with now when I get to site and I am so happy to be home. Its also nice not to be the new kids anymore and have people ask me for advice for a change.

My time in Chipata has been briefly interrupted with a quick trip to Lusaka for medical. I'm apparently developing allergies, most likely to my thatch roof or dust, which has left me with a headache for the last week. I did get a free cruiser down here, saw medical, and am heading back bright and early because I would much rather be in Chipata.

Well I guess that is all for now. Its 8:30 here and past my bedtime!

Love,
Allie

Friday, April 9, 2010

Rain, sex, and sand

Hi Friends!

Sorry that its been so long since my last post but I've been away from the Internet for awhile. I spent the rest of February and the first couple weeks of March just hanging out in the village, over 4 weeks straight, the longest I've ever stayed in one go. Luckily the rain began to slow down which helped keep my sanity. However, not before a small lake complete with lily pads managed to form on the path to my clinic. I managed to fall in the lake but only once before perfecting crossing it on my bike. My pit latrine also became dangerously close to overflowing but hopefully the water level has decreased.

I've been keeping busy at site working at the clinic and attempting to hold meetings. April marks the end of the planting season so things are beginning to start up. Along with that a group of women in the village wants to start weekly cooking lessons with me. Not only will I learn all about Zambian cooking but I can use the time to teach a little about nutrition and pratice my language. Since my "formal" work is still slow I am trying more and more to focus on more informal work by working health into my daily conversations.

One of the most exciting parts has been the start of harvesting. So far my life has been filled with fresh maize ( not as good as sweet corn but still pretty good), boiled peanuts, and pumpkin. I am slowly becoming an expert on removing the hairs from pumpkin leaves. After hungry season its nice to have some fresh food again. I am on the lookout for any good lentil or okra recipes that I can cook on the braizer.

The last week of March I spent in Chipata at an HIV/AIDS workshop. Peace Corps is part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which includes the CDC, USAID, and Health and Human Services. Basically we learned a lot of things that I already knew but we each brought a counterpart from the village and they definitely learned a lot. We did have a lot of fun breaking Zambian social taboos when we listed as many words for sex, vagina, and penis that we could think of. We finished the week by going for VCT (Voluntary, Counseling, and Testing) which was a good experience for us to fully understand what people being tested go through. Besides the workshop we enjoyed our week in Chipata by having a braai and pizza party.

Following PEPFAR I, and 5 others, headed down south to Namibia! It was a great vacation and one of the most beautiful places I've seen. We had some long transport down there not getting into the capital until 3:30 in the morning but people there were very kind. Namibia was a shock coming from Zambia, the gas stations have better selections of food then most stores in Zambia! In Windhoek we went to a real mall complete with a clinque counter and speciality foods store, we were pretty sure that we in America.

From there we rented a car and headed to Swakopmund which is a German resort town on the Atlantic Ocean. It was of course freezing there but the ocean was pretty. Namibia was a German colony and you can definitely tell in the town. We weren't quite sure if we were in Germany, California or the twilight zone. From there we drove up the Skeleton Coast to see a shipwreck and a seal reserve. We literally saw tens of thousands of Cape Fur Seals, however the place had a very distinct smell. We also spent an extreme day on the dunes where we slid down the dunes on waxed boards at up to 60 km/hr. It was a little scary but a lot of fun. But walking back up the dunes was hard, like an extreme stairmaster. In the afternoon we went ATVing on the dunes which gave us great views and a few scary moments as we went up on the edges. There we also met two PC Namibia volunteers and it was a lot of fun to hear the differences and similarities of our experiences.

From there we headed to the desert to see the largest dunes in the world, we got up at the crack of dawn to climb the dunes before it got too hot. It was beautiful to see the changing colors. We picnicked at a gorge and swam in the pooling water to cool off from our hike up the dunes. We camped at a lodge outside the dunes where we saw some great sunsets. We also met some touring singers from South Africa including one the South African Three Tenors who lit our fire and gave us a free cd.

One of the best parts was all the wildlife we saw including oryx, springbok, giraffe, zebra, warthogs, baboons, and even an elephant while driving. Definitely a lot more game then Zambia. We also managed to eat quite a bit of game, and other types, of meat on the trip. Most of us are suffering from meat overload.

Our way home involved over 1000 km in the back of pick-ups which has left me with a sore back but it was all worth it. Now its time to get back to site and work, as I enjoy the end of the rainy season.

Love,
Allie

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Is this still Zambia?

Hi Friends!

Its been a busy month for me here in Zambia. I spent the last two weeks of January in Lusaka for our in-service training (IST). It was a chance for us all to check in and get a little more training now that we had a real idea of our work and lives in Zambia. The transition from quiet, rainy days in the village to long days of seminars(and not getting my 10 hours of sleep) was a little hard but overall the two weeks were a lot of fun and maybe a little educational.

Going from the village to Lusaka was a major transition and had us all wondering if we were still in Zambia. My first afternoon, as I sat having a chocolate milkshake with friends, we all couldn't stop staring. Everything was so bright and people were so well dressed, we definately looked terrible in comparsion. Its amazing to me that there are people in the village will never see Lusaka and those in Lusaka who will never see the village. Its almost like there are two seperate Zambias. Of course there would be very classic Zambian moments like the taxis never having fuel and the power going out, I was even proposed to in the parking lot at the mall, that reminded me that some things are just plain Zambian.

The best part was of course the food, I have never wanted Chinese and Indian food more in my life. Plus a new ice-cream place opened that has real ice cream not just spft serve! My stomach did not always approve of all that diary and I think we all gained about 10 pounds. I think my body was more then happy to get back to my village diet.

Since getting back to the village I've been assisting with malaria testing and other tasks at my clinic. Luckily we finally have a new clinic incharage in place and things are getting a little less hectic. Its still the height of malaria season and I'm seeing a lot more cases. Fighting malaria is a difficult task since so much of it is about behavior change. Behavior change, as anyone on a diet or trying to quit smoking, is not easy and often takes a long time for results which is hard when so many kids are sick with malaria.

The last few days I, along with two other PCVs, have been meeting with NGOs in Chipata to partner with us on a girl's empowerment camp. Luckily the YWCA was very excited to work with us and they have some great resources. We also found a space to hold the camp, but now its time to figure out the budget. Nsima gets expensive for 70 people. We still have a lot to do but I think that we made a good dent.

Well that is all for now. I hope that is all well and everyone is keeping warm!

Love,
Allie

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Rainy Season and a Holiday Trip

Hi Friends!

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season. I, along with 4 of my friends, took a trip to Vilankulo, Mozambique. It was my first real experience in African travel and it was an adventure. Our way there included a pick-up with over 24 people and ten cases of beer and a 15 hour bus ride. The bus ride was one of the worst experiences of my life, the bus was way overbooked so we had to stand for the entire time and were pushed around my the other passengers. It did not leave us with a favorable first impression of Mozambicians. The bus was also extremely hot whenever it stopped and I ended up being sick because of my malaria medicine, luckily my friend Mike had a ziploc bag. We survived and were saved by a flat tire that enabled us to take a mini-bus the last 60 km. We took mini-buses home to avoid that experience and it was much better.

With that said I had a wonderful time on my trip. Our guesthouse was right across from the beach so we started many days with a morning swim. The Indian Ocean is beautiful and since we were there for a full moon we saw some amazing tides. We were also able to visit Bazarato Archipelago and go snorkeling. Sadly we did not see dugongs, sea cows which are highly endangered, and sea turtles. But we did see an amazing reef with clown fish, a lion fish, puffer fish and lots of parrot fish. It was truly beautiful and wonderful to see a healthy reef. We were also able to spend the night on one of the islands, although we were attacked by crabs in our sleep.

It was interesting to see another country besides Zambia, the most striking thing was how much more infrastructure there was in Mozambique. It was frustrating to once again not know the local language, travelig in Mozambique without knowing Porutgese is hard as many of the waiters and sales people knew limited english. It gave us all a chance to remember our Spainish and be greatful for even limited Nyanja that I know.

Currently its the rainy season and will be for quite awhile. While my neighbors are off that their fields I've been helping test people for malaria at my clinic. My area has a major problem with malaria and some days we have 20-30 people test positive. Seeing children throw-up and have seizures from malaria has given me an even greater drive to do something about it and take my own malaria medicine everyday. Yesterday while I was there we had two child deaths which was not an easy thing to know about. To see the mothers come out and just cry, and then have to walk back home was terrible.

I've attended two funerals since being posted. Funerals in Zambia are a lot different then in the US. Mostly it involves of wailing of loved ones, wailing is the most intense crying that you will ever hear it, I can feel it in my bones. That usually lasts a day and then the body is brought and a eulogy and small sermon is given before the procession to the graveyard. Once the wailing ends almost all signs of outward grief are over.

Well I don't want to end on a sad note...Tomorrow I am off to Lusaka for In-Service Training. A nice 10 workshop to give us a little more knowledge, we are going to do gardening which I am very excited for because I finally got some land to plant a few veggies. However I am most looking forward to seeing a movie or two, eating cheese, ice-cream, and bread, and seeing my friends.

I want to say thanks for all the Christmas and B-day cards, I love mail.

Love,
Allie