Hi Friends!
First Happy 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps! Today is the offical 50th anniversary and I'm celebrating by hanging out in Lusaka. Sorry its been so long since my last post but I've been mostly in the village and thus have no internet.
I just got back from a national meeting on GLOW(Girl's Leading Our World), where we discussed what we learned from ourn experiences in the last year conducting camps and passed our knowledge on to the coordinators. It was a bit of a trek, two days travel, to attend what was a one day meeting but I think that I was able to share a lot of really good information and its always nice to see friends from different parts of Zambia.
I've been mostly in the village the last few months trying to avoid the rain, luckily they fixed my roof and no leaks. Since it is rainy season and all my neighbors are at the fields its been very quiet so a lot of my projects are on hiatus. But its been a good time for me to hang out with my nieghbors and assist with the day to day work at my clinic. They are very busy this time of year since the rains also bring malaria.
We've had some heavy rain this year and I have ended up very wet a couple of times. One day after a torrential downpour I needed assistance crossing a very flooded stream with my bike. But both my bike and I made it across just fine with a little help. The rains started out strong but we have also had a drought for the last few weeks which has made my farmers very nervous about the maize crop. But it appears the rains have returned that the maize will be just ok.
The HIV/AIDS support group that I work with just planted a sunflower plot. They can take the sunflower seeds to be pressed into cooking oil. Ideally the money will be used to purcahse bicycles so that they can more easily travel to town to collect their ARVs. My next step with them is to get them to save either seed or money so that they can plant again next year and maybe even expand into food crops as well.
I had a good holiday season but it was not as planned. I had to cancel my vacation to Northern Zambia after one of my very good friends was bitten by a spider. We ended up spending Christmas in Chipata which was very nice and included a lot of baking and even a murder mystery dinner. But things went downhill from there when my friend was medevaced to South Africa after the swelling in her foot wouldn't go down. She is totally fine now and back in the village but it was a tense week for me with her in South.
I'm making up for my lack of Christmas vacation with a trip to Zanzibar in two weeks. My very exciting news is that my mom is coming May 3! I'm so excited and have been busy booking safari and our trip to Victoria Falls. I can't wait for her to come and see my village and meet all my friends here.
The grop of volunteers who arrived int he intake before mine are now getting ready to COS (Close of Service or go home basically). I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I have now been in Zambia for over 19 months and have less then 7 to go! Of course this means I need to start getting serious about grad school as my mom reminded me by talking about fafsa. But its not over yet and I really want to make the most out of the rest of my time here.
Love,
Allie
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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