New adventure...new fun

Well I guess it is about time for a little update. For those of you who don't know I was lucky enough to be selected as a Global Health Corps Fellow. This means that I am off on another adventure.  Its an opportunity that I am so grateful to have been given.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is an organization that trains young leaders in public health. The goal is health equity for all. I am lucky enough to be part of the 128 fellows selected from all over the world. The way GHC works is that it pairs a national and an international fellow together at a variety of organizations in six different countries around the world (If you really want to learn more about it you can check out ghcorps.org). The fellows are placed at large organizations such as Clinton Health Access Initiative and Partners in Health, as well as small organizations, like mine, Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project.

First GHC brings all of the fellows to Yale for a 2 week training. It is a great opportunity to meet fellows that won't be in your country placement. It is a bit intimidating because people have such impressive resumes. There are amazing speakers that come to speak and wellness information on how to keep yourself from getting burned out. There is so much to learn from your colleagues it is amazing. However, I think my favorite part was getting to know the international folk and introduce them to our culture whether that be the food or the funny sayings we have. One of the activities we did was have a scavenger hunt in New York City. Some pictures below.

Charles and Joan in NYC (both are with me in Uganda)

My group in New York City

A group of us who are going to Uganda

 

Now, however, I have reached Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project in Kambuaga, Kanungu (their website is nyakaschool.org). It is a small village in the south western part of Uganda. It is in a beautiful hilly location, full of pastures for cow grazing and lots of banana plantations. There is no market, there are a few shops, and electricity and running water is far and few between. The challenges that I face here are similar to the ones that I faced in Peace Corps. Where do I buy my vegetables from? How quickly can I learn the local language so that I can communicate with everyone? Will people ever stop calling me mzungu? (mzungu is the word for white person and comes with all sorts of connotations such as being rich, maybe not being as culturally sensitive etc..) Will I ever blend in? What exactly am I doing here? What is my job? How do I fill my free time? To name a few.

Esther my co-fellow and I at the Nyaka School sign

 

But Kambuga just like Nyansonso has so many bright spots and so much to offer. As I get used to my neighbors and the people here they get used to me I can see the joy and happiness that is here. I am so excited to be making these relationships. I was given a local name meaning gift, just a small affirmation of the beginning of my integration into the community. The pineapples are amazing! The food is not bad at all. Children are children and always bring me joy. There is so much that I am going to learn here and I can't wait to discover more.

 

The view from our front porch.  The red roof is the clinic.

So I suppose a little bit about what I am supposed to potentially be doing. My official title is Health Programs Associate. So briefly, what I will be doing, as I understand so far, is working with the clinic staff and doing capacity building, such as teaching them basic computer skills and more information about different health topics and ways to best educate about these. I will also be trying to improve the procedures and reporting at the clinic. I also have the privilege of working with the grandmother project, assisting with health education and in any other way that I can be useful. I think i will have to spend a bit of time trying to figure out how my skills will best fit into the organization so that I can make the greatest impact.

Today I had the privilege of meeting with a group of grandmothers who came thinking that just a lecture was happening. I introduced my self and asked them if they had questions we ended up talking about eye health and cervical and uterine cancer. There was the normal business of meetings...little did they know that they were going to get a big 120 liter water collecting barrel. The wells and places to collect water is far from where they stay so now they will be able to collect rain water.

The joy and happiness when they realized that everyone was going to go home with this barrel was infectious! I feel so privileged to be a part of it. There was dancing and singing and hugs and handshakes. I was even given some groundnuts (like peanuts) from one of the grandmothers. Something so simple as a barrel can make a huge difference in the life of these grannies. This joy is why I am here and doing what I am doing. I know it is natural to question why I chose to move to a place that is completely foregin and having to go through some of the uncomfortableness that comes along with that. Believe me, I definitely question, but moments like this remind me how lucky I am for this experience. I hope that I can give those grannies a fraction of the joy that they have given me today!

The joy and happiness when they realized that everyone was going to go home with this barrel was infectious! I feel so privileged to be a part of it. There was dancing and singing and hugs and handshakes. I was even given some groundnuts (like peanuts) from one of the grandmothers. Something so simple as a barrel can make a huge difference in the life of these grannies. This joy is why I am here and doing what I am doing. I know it is natural to question why I chose to do what I do, and believe me that definitely happens, but moments like this remind me how lucky I am for this experience. I hope that I can give those grannies a fraction of the joy that they have given me today!

Boston Strong

Its times like these that make me appreciate being a New Englander.  It is also times like these that make it difficult being away.

I am so proud to say "wicked", to sometimes forget to pronounce my R's, to say "frappe" and not "milk shake", to have been candle pin bowling, to eat real maple syrup just to name a few. 

This past week I was at a boys empowerment camp where cell phone network was spotty, and internet on your cell phone was a rarety.  Hearing about the boston marathon bombings was one of the most difficult things to process.  It was Marathon Monday, Patriots day for gods sake.  I was in disbeleif.  What was even more difficult is I knew friends that were running in the marathon, and I assumed that many people I know would go and watch.  Only hearing tidbits of information was difficult, not being in New England to go through this difficult time was even worse.  I wanted to be able to stay updated on what was happening,  I wanted to know who did this, but most of all, I wanted to know how my friends were.  I was really thankful for Dan Rowe and Amy doing their best to inform me of what was going on.  Feeling connected to the events helped me to feel apart of the effort and sense of community happening in Boston and New England. One of the hardest things about Peace Corps is being so far away both in location and from people you love.  Events like that which happened on April 15th, 2013 make these distances feel even greater.

I am glad that things are settling down and at least the events the day of the marathon have been figured out a bit.  I am proud at the way we have responded to these events.  Boston is a great city, New England is full of amazing people its unfortunate that this is the way that the world had to be reminded of this.

Hate doesnt solve anything, and type casting wont improve secutiry.  We must remember that the few dont represent the whole.  Lets set an example and not fight hate with hate.  Remeber love more than hate.

Boston I am thinking of you and wishing I could be there.


BOSTON STRONG!

When it rains, it pours?

Recently, I have been super busy in my village with my women's club, my girls club (for girls in grade 7,8 and 9) my boys club (grades 7,8 and 9), checking in on the soya farmers, getting my rabbit program up and running, and starting the nutrition rehabilitation program.  It seems as though when I have alot of things to do there is no time to even wash my clothes.

It has been nice to be busy, now that farming season is over people have a bit of free time.  I also feel like the village is slowly beginning to realize what a Peace Corps Volunteer does and how to use them.  Its exciting, but a bit disappointing that I have less than 6 months living with these people...which is a whole different can of worms.  I am excited for the next volunteer to come, I think that the success there will begin pretty much off the bat.

With my girls and boys clubs I had them think about their future and what they wanted to be doing in 10 years, something that isn't done enough here.  With that we then came up with obstacles that may get in the way of reaching their goals such as HIV, money, witch craft, drought, boyfriends/girlfriends, babies and more.  From there we discuss different topics every week to help combat these barriers.  It is really interesting the different topics that each group wants to talk about and the different knowledge level on these topics.  HIV, the boys had a much better grasp of, but business the girls had a better grasp. 

For some other things going on in the village...i think i will let the pictures do the talking.

Stickers!  Who knew they could be so fun.

More and more children came for stickers

This is kapofu, its a root that can be used to wash your clothes

First you have to smash it then you swirl it around in the water.

Then you wash your clothes like normal

We had indoor residual spraying to help prevent malaria, most villagers didn't have their house sprayed but mine was..thought I could set an example

 I got 4 rabbits (3 females 1 male) to try to help increase the protein intake within the community.  The plan is to breed these rabbits then give a male and a female to anyone who builds their own hutch.  When the villagers breed theirs taking one of the babies to give to someone who is waiting.  I think that I might have a pregnant female right now....we will see at the beginning of April!

Mr. Kibese and Mr. Lupiyah checking out the rabbits

The kids like to come and watch the rabbits

 I started a water fight with plastic bags...it turned into a big village event, resulting in many people soaking wet, including me!

Bamaama helping me make peanut butter for the nutrition program

 While pounding the ground nuts they like to sing songs so that they can keep a steady rhythm



Lukatazho showing how wet he is and making sure I know he has water ready for me



Joseph thought that he escaped the ordeal, but as you can see we got him!

 I have been working with the women's club to teach them sewing and nutrition.  It is great that they call their own meetings and invite me to them.  They are the most successful group that I have helped to start.  They also decided to grow soya beans.  I did a farm visit to their farm.

Precious 7 months pregnant and still walking an hour to the field and farming

Soya bean weeding

We have started a nutrition rehabilitation program called PS Ishiko, that runs for 12 days and uses locally available foods that the mothers bring to teach women how to better feed and care for their children.  Each day the women prepare a healthy meal for their child, play games with their children and hear a health talk from my counter part.

A mother preparing the food

Sarah eating her porridge

Minata giving a health talk to the women

Exildah washing her hands before eating. A must!

Playing games with the children

A game the children like to play

They set up a high jump in my yard and practiced jumping!



It is difficult thinking about saying goodbye to this place in a few months.  I cant believe how comfortable and like a home it has become for me!

Whistle baby?

So I am having difficulty uploading the pictures on this site but I put them here.  So check them out.  They are a few pictures from my travels in South Africa and then a football match between Zambia and Norway.

A nice break from the village begins with....well I am not sure but this time it began with some delicious soup and chocolate cookies in Solwezi, a delayed bus ride to Ndola then a flight to South Africa.

I decided to visit South Africa for New Years and my birthday.  I wanted to go back to the place that stole a piece of my heart 5 years ago.  The trip was amazing.  However it did start out to a bit of a rocky start.  The bus that I was taking the day of the flight to travel the 4 hours to the airport was held up at the weigh bridge because it was overweight (part of the reason why I prefer hitch hiking).  They made some people get out and get on a different bus, which then proceeded to drop them off a few kilometers down the road and we picked them up again after we had made it out of the weigh bridge.  We also had to reposition people from the back of the bus to the front of the bus so we could get the weight right.  Needless to say after 3 attempts over an hour at the weigh bridge, and what was supposed to be the second bus passing us we finally made it out of the weigh bridge.  And yes I made it to ndola in time to catch my flight.

The flight itself was awesome.  I felt so bwana (a Zambian term used to describe living the high life in comfort and luxury).  I had plenty of leg room, the temperature was great, the seats were clean, no one was sitting in my seat, and I even got fed and got a drink.  I forgot how great airplanes are.  However when we made it to Johannesburg the person who agreed to pick us up from the airport and let us stay at his house bailed on us so we were in a bit of a pickle.  Luckily Leanne and I don't get thrown off by these types of things.  We found a backpackers and stayed there.

In Johannesburg we didn't do very much.  We planned for the rest of the trip and went to the mall for a bit of shopping.  The mall was huge (or I have just been in the village for too long).  There were so many shops and clothing and everything you could ever need.  If I was rich I am pretty sure I would have gone on a shopping spree instead I decided to be practical and get a pair of flip flops because mine were breaking (later in the trip one of the old ones broke and the other was lost in the Indian Ocean) and a hair clip. 

The next day we took a bus to Durban.  The bus ride was just for fellow backpackers and was a nice and fairly comfortable way to see some of the places along the way.  We ended up getting in not to late and took a walk to uShaka's world and the boardwalk along the ocean where we got some seafood for dinner.  The next day we went to the beach!  The water was so warm.  The Indian Ocean is amazing.  That night it was New Years Eve so we walked to a bar along the board walk and danced the night away then took a swim in the Ocean to ring in the new year.

The next morning at 06:00 we had to catch a bus to Port Elizabeth.  The bus took all day but luckily the next day was a night bus to Cape Town so we had a chance to walk around the city and the beach.

The next day when we got into Cape Town we had my friend from Stellenbosch, Louis, waiting to pick us up at the bus station.  It was so great to see him.  It is crazy how long it has been but how easy it is to feel like it was just the other day that I last saw him.  He took us around the city a bit.  We rode the Wheel of Excellence, the local Ferris wheel, and went to Kirstenbosh Gardens.  The next day we took a site seeing tour of the city and went to the top of Table Mountain.

Next we decided to go to Stellenbosch and visit my old home.  It was crazy to see the things that have changed but it was also amazing how well I still knew my way around.  We spent one day going wine tasting and the next meandering around the town visiting some of my favorite places.

When we went back to Cape Town we decided to go visit those crazy Jack Ass penguins.  They have now blocked the beach off so you cant go right next to them or swim in the same water as them but it was still an experience.  And leanne got to touch the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, who would have ever thought that she would be doing it from Africa and not the United States?.

The next day we met up with another of my friends Brownyn and had a birthday lunch which was amazing.  We went to the top of signal hill for an amazing view of the city, Hout Bay to walk along a beach, Camps Bay for drinks and then back to Cape Town for one more drink before bed.

The next day was just flights back to Johannesburg, then Lusaka but at the Jo'burg airport I got to see another friend from Stellenbosch for a short time.

It was a great trip over all and a nice break from the village.

Holiday Reflections

I would be lying to you if I said that the holiday season wasn't one of the hardest times to be a Peace Corps Volunteer.  It is one of the few times where within a few months so many things that I love, i am unable to partake in.  There are so many events with family and friends that you miss serving abroad and then hear about the fun times had at these.  There are traditions that are not and cannot be followed.  The normal food  and drinks are not available.  Basically the familiarity and the comfort of the holiday season is gone.   The love that is normally felt is not given and received.  But with all of this said you learn to appreciate things differently and share and receive love in ways that I didn't expect.

First to all of my friends and family back home in America you are amazing.  Your support means the world to me and the fact that even if we don't talk, email, or write all that often, I know that I could call on one of you and you would be there in a heartbeat to support me.

Second to my friends and family in Zambia, thanks so much for welcoming me into your traditions and celebrations and for coming along in this crazy journey.

I thought that I would share a bit of my Christmas experience in the village with you all.  Every time I hear the word Christmas I cringe a little now.  Christmas here doesn't mean what it does in America.  If someone says Christmas to you it means "What are you going to give me because it is 2 weeks before the 25th of December, the 25th of December or 2 weeks after the 25th of December?" (This is the same for the word New Years).  So people just walk by (both me and other Zambians) and say Christmas and are hoping that money will be thrown into their arms.  So instead of money I spent about a week making over 100 friendship bracelets to give you to the 4 families that I am closest within the village.

Christmas morning itself I woke up and mad e pancakes for my host family with the children helping.  They enjoyed them a lot..but this was only the beginning.  As soon as I went to go and fetch my water someone in my family called me over to sit and eat a HUGE bowl of rice and sugar...I was so full but I couldn't say no.  Rice is a huge luxury, rice and sugar that is being decadent.  It was so nice of them to share with me.

On Christmas Eve one of my friends, Minata, invited me to her house on Christmas at 9.  When I arrived I brought some pancakes which were devoured as soon as I arrived.  I then had each one on her compound come and close their eyes then choose a friendship bracelet out of the bag, which was a little overwhelming because people kept wanting more or asking to change but luckily Minata kept things under control.  Then Minata proceeded to bring my inside her house and feed me again (I just ate less than an hour ago!).  She had prepared tea with powdered milk and sugar(very rare and super expensive) just for me no one else was drinking it (i felt a little guilty about that), a big bowl or rice and sugar, 2 buns which she saved just for me instead of selling and butter.  This was a very very extravagant meal and such a kind gesture to prepare this sort of meal and invite me over for it.

Later in the day everyone was at church so I had some alone time to sit and reflect on my time in Zambia.  We even held a women's club meeting that day.  I then just hung around with my family and kids it was very relaxing.  I got to talk to my family in America and I made a huge pot of rice pudding for my family in Zambia. 

It was definitely not my typical Christmas, I would be lying if I didn't say I missed that kind of Christmas, but I was surrounded by people who loved me and got to experience something that I may never experience again.  I felt loved by so many on that day.

Some Pictures

Just some pictures from the village over the last few months.

Camp G.L.O.W.

This past week I was lucky enough to particiapte in a camp for the empowerment of girls called Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World).  It is a week long camp where the girls learn about HIV/AIDs. communication skills, human anatomy, rape and sexual assualt, different income generating activites and so much more.  No boys allowed, unless they are volunteers.The camp is a week long for 2 girls and 1 mentor from each volunteers community.  The goal is that what these girls learn will be taken back and a GLOW club will be created in each community.  IT is a great time for these girls to leave the village and meet people from different areas and a chance to leave their village, some for the first time of their life.

I would have to say the highlight for me was teaching these 6th 7th and 8th grade girls how to use a flush toilet and a shower.  It is something that pushed these girls out of their comfort level.  I wasnt expecting to have to teach anyone this but when would these girls have learned how to use these things in areas without electricity and running water.

Here are some pictures from the camp

The girls trying to untangle themselves from the human knot

Trying to fit all of the teachers and mentors on a wooden circle

passing girls through the spider web as a team building activity

The participants

Doing tounge twisters

The girls from Nyansonso. Bamaama, me, Elgah and Womba

Me and Baamama Lushenka from my village after forcing her to smile for a picture

Elgah working in the classroom