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.