August 28th Email

The biggest news i have for you all is that i found out my
site. I will be staying in nyasonso village which is located in
the mufumbwe district. It is 7O Km from the mufumbwe boma, the
nearest 'town' with two restaurants and, some shops the post
office etc. But it is in between the boma and provincial
capital. The closest volunteer is 3O km away on the way to the
boma and she is a girl in my intake group that i know well,
leanne. Apparently the village that i am at is the smaller of
the three sites which i am happy about. It is also not far from
the tarmac which will make hitching and getting places
easier. It is supposed to be close to a protected forest. The
rural health center(RHC) is supposed to have been newly upgraded
from a health post so newer facilities. I am the first volunteer
and my water source is a protected well,not the best source but
cleaner than some, less than 1km away. So that is what i
know. On monday i meet my host who is someone from my village
that is supposed to help me be introduced to the community. They
probably can tell me more and hopefully stuff about my living
sitation like if i am on a family compound or not. Just wanted
to share with you before i send it out to everyone.

My host family as i have already said is super nice. I found out
that my mom is a traditional birth attendant i really wish my
kaonde was better or her english was better so that i could ask
her more about it. Maybe in time. When zambian women are giving
birth they are not supposed to make a sound and if they do the
women in the room(only women are allowed in the room) can hit
her and they dont have pain medicine. Pretty crazy. So my mom
was talking about the baby crying then i attempted to say in
kaonde that i would also be crying and that it would be very
painful. The women almost died laughing at this thought. Now
they love to bring up me giving birth to a child. My mom is
convinced that by the time i am thirty i will have many
children. I think she might be jumping ahead a few steps. The
other night i was sitting outside rewritting my language notes
and noticed a big fire. The roof of the kitchen was burning. It
was crazy. It was so big and there is nothing you can do. The
well is a couple minute walk away and there is no way you could
draw enough water. From what i could figure out from my host
parents acting and kaonde is that mary, about six, took a piece
of straw from the kitchen roof, this is common, and stuck it in
the braiser, what people put fire in to cook on, and then lifted
it up and it touched the roof. The roof caught on fire and she
froze and then it was too late to do anything. Everyone came
over to watch it burn and watch the child be beat. The mom
picked a few branches from a shrub and whipped her wicked hard
multiple times. It was really uncomfortable. After someone
stopped her from hitting her mary ran away. Apparently it was
the evening entertainment. Training itself is going well, it is
tedious. Because of my background i know alot of the health
information being given but it is good to hear again. Next week
we have mid terms. Then the week after that we leave for second
site visit where we first visit a health volunteer in our
province then spend a few nights at our future site.

Send good vibes for peaceful elections next month. That is it
for now..sorry about the formating one day i will type this up
on a computer.

August 13th email

This is a copy of an email that was sent on August 13th

So i wanted to give you all an update now that i have been in country for over two weeks. But first i am going to warm you that i am typing
this on my number pad phone. Here are some highlights.I am living with a host family who are all very sweet. They do everything for me like heat up my bath water, cook, do my laundry etc.

Anyway the first night i was here i went to go use the pit latrine and
noticed some ants on the ground. There ants...what is the worst they
can do? It turns out these ants bite. They climbed up my legs up my
shirt and one even made it to my head. Since they bite you have to
individually pick each one off of you and them squish them. It was
quite a welcome to the host family. The next morning my mom swept them
up and burned them. The food here isnt awful. There is very little
variety and everything is drenched in oil and salt. Basically for
breakfast i have bread and peanut butter. They noticed i was only
eating two slices of bread and so they started giving me two of the
thickest pieces of bread. Each slice is equivalent to about three
normal slices. For lunch and dinner there is a combination of oil salt
tomato potato onion rice or nshima with some sort of protein at at
least one meal, egg fried or hard boiled then fried or meat or soya
pieces. I eat it but i am looking forward to cooking for myself. The
language i am learning is kaonde which means that i will be in the
north western province. The group that is going there is very nice. So
i am happy about that. We have four hour language lessons five days a
week which is pretty intense but i just try to keep up with it. Our
training is five and a half days a week so i stay busy. Sundays i dont
know what to do with myself with the whole day off. Other than that i
have internet on my phone so you can send me emails and i will see
them. My phone number here is +26O979688319 which you can call or
text. Skype isnt too expensive. some people have asking about things
to send. Here are a few things i have thought of: food( gum chocolate, dried fruit, sweet things, trail mix, granola bars snacks) pictures music books or magazines if anyone has an old cd walkman lying around it could come in handy but you cant write it on the customs form or else it might get stolen.
Letters are always great. padded envelopes are cheap and get here relatively quick too. I hope you are all doing well. Keep me updated on your life.

Stay well. Ellen