So for the past almost three months I have been in community entry, which means that I am supposed to be integrating into the community, getting my hut feeling like a home and figuring out what the community wants and needs. It also means that I am only allowed to be in my district, like a county, except for thanksgiving and Christmas which is why I have Internet access now. I am not going to talk about anything in any particular order so bare with me.
Thanksgiving:
For Thanksgiving we had provincial meetings which is when everyone in the province comes to the house and we go over different issues and Peace Corps updates etc... It was the first time that I met everyone in my province which was a little overwhelming but nice to do. As for thanksgiving day the two things that made me the most happy was getting to skype with my family and listening to the song "Alice's Restaurant" which at home we do every year. The food was good, there was a lot of it but it did not compare to the food that we have at our celebration at home. I missed meat stuffing and Aunta's cake and Mom's pies...but I was grateful for the fact that I was able to celebrate the holiday with other Americans and we did make the turkey hand drawings, where you trace your hand and make it into a turkey and write what you are grateful for on it (it was my idea). So all in all you can't compare it to a thanksgiving with your family but it was a nice day with my new friends.
Life in the Village:
I am not exactly sure what to say about this...It seems fairly normal and repetitive so I will tell you about a typical day.
I usually wake up around 6:00 but I refuse to get out of bed until close to 7:00. Then I will eat breakfast (oatmeal or granola), wash my dishes, go to the borehole and get water, sweep my house and dump my ashes from cooking the night before on my garden or in my pit latrine. I am usually finished with that by close to 8. From 8:00 to 10:00 I have free time where I play with the kids, weed my garden, take some me time, maybe go for a walk to see who is in the village. Then around 10 I will go to the clinic until 12:00 maybe see 2 patients and just chat with the clinic workers or read. From 12:00 to 14:00 i eat lunch hang around my house, play with the children, read, work in the garden, nothing special. Then if I decide to go back to the clinic i will head there around 14:00 or if I am going to visit people I will leave around 15:00. I like to be home by 17:00 because there is a radio program on called Border Crossings which I like to listen to. I will bath and cook around 18:00. Eat dinner around 19:00 and kill time before bed usually by reading or playing solitaire and have my hut door closed around 20:00 and read for a half hour or so and go to bed.
Right now, however, most people over the age of 7 in my village are in the fields and are there until 15 or so so the young children are just hanging around taking care of themselves. This is so different since they will cook over a fire climb trees, get in fights, the 7 year old are taking care of children who aren't even one. There is no supervision, and I can end up being their entertainment which can be frustrating. Also discipline of children is not consistent and usually includes hitting a child which I dont feel comfortable to. So it can be hard with some of the more difficult children.
Oh I was also given a Kaonde name by the children. It is lukatazho. This means trouble or problem and now I am occasionally being called ba Lukatazho (ba is like Ms. or Mr.) by adults and children. But you see I gave this nickname to one of the children, one of my best friends in the village, and so they were not very creative but I have embraced it.
Giravi a boy a few houses away from me
Lukatazho/Bene and Ronica
Bene, Lozi, Me
Finase
The 2 Lukatahos
The children Dancing
So my community has identified some needs. They think that the biggest problems in the village are no market, no nursery school, not enough fertilizer, body aches for older adults, malaria, upper respiratory infections and eye infections for children, the ability to attain school uniforms as the major problems and no hammermill. A hammermill is used to ground the corn into basically corn flour which they use to make nshima. Nshima is basically like grits of mashed potatos that are in big lumps that stick together sort of. Now if a Zambia does not eat nshima for a meal it means they haven't eaten. So if I was to make my neighbors some food for lunch with rice and veggies and beans and that is all they ate for the meal then they would tell someone that they had not eaten lunch. The closest hammermill is 7kms away in one direction. Could you imagine carrying a 10 lb bag of corn on your head 14km just so you can eat..pretty crazy. So solutions that we are hopefully going to attempt are to start a nursery school, I am hopefully going to begin health talks at the clinic and I am going to talk to the representative to see if it is possible to get a hammermill, there used to be one but it is broken, or talk to an NGO that does this. We will see what projects are actually successful and what are not.
Rainbow
Sunset
My hut:
So I live in a two room hut with a thatch roof that has a few leeks and mud walls. I have a pet. His name is Larry the Lizard, he has a short tail that was bitten off I am assuming and he likes to run into my hut and eat the bugs on my floor but I let him stay. Since it is the rainy season there are many bugs, spiders, ants, insects I have never seen before, termites...it is an adjustment but you learn to pick your battles. I also caught three mice in one day with a mouse trap but haven't seen any since. Anyway below are some picture and a video of my hut
My hut from the road
There are also these really cool flowers that are like upside down... Check it out. When I ask the children what they are they just say Christmas and Happy New Years. So I think that they just come out around this time of year but they are so nice.
Really random but while hitching to Solwezi from my village I was with Ryan and Charlie two friends and we were in the back of a truck and Charlie decided to braid Ryan's beard...look at how beautiful it is. It was a great way to pass the time. Ryan isn't shaving or cutting is hair until the next hot season.
Other than that I am just hanging out trying to stay busy and keep positive. I know that I will begin some neat projects and learn a lot. I hope you all are well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
Nice job on your blog. The children are so cute when they dance. Hope you are well. Think peace.
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