Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Circle of Life

So I am a Tec trainer this week at PST (Pre-Service Training). It is really funny to be back where I started out, but on the other end of things a year later. It’s so nice not to have the stress of learning a language and being tested on it, and the stress of meeting friends is not there. I must say I am enjoying things on this end. Everyone I have met so far has been really outstanding; however I can’t help but want to get back to my village as fast as I can. See I was out the whole month of June, since my mom, dad, and sister, Julie, where here visiting Zambia. My mom, Kay, and I went on a week long trip to Namibia, which was so beautiful and overwhelming for me. It is much more developed than Zambia, and it forced me out of my safety bubble, which Zambia is. I have never felt threatened or in Danger since I have been here, and all or a sudden I am having to be aware of thieves and robbers again. Weird! But on the whole the first leg of the trip with my mom was amazing. Climbing sand dunes that were beautifully sculpted and tall, was a brand new experience and a site unlike anything I have ever seen. We went horse back riding, sand dune ATV-ing, and on a morning cruse boat that allowed us to see and pet seals and pelicans! Also see bottle nosed dolphins! Upon our return to Zambia we met up with the Bobfather and Julie to travel to my site, and stomping grounds in Central Province. After that very eye opening portion of the trip we went up north to Shiwa ngandu a 20th century Victorian manor house in the heart of the bush. It was beautiful and the owners were very hands on and knowledge able. As we left Shiwa, I parted with the fam and drove our rental car back down to Lusaka, it was my first time driving on this trip in a year, and it felt so good, even if it was on the other side of the road. The fam went to Tenna Tenna a safari camp, where if Julie hadn’t already fallen in love with Zambia, it was only heightened. I met up with them when they were done and the 4 of us went to Victoria Falls, which was, gorgeous! We even took a short helicopter ride over the falls to get a different angle. A first for all of us, and nothing that Kay would ever like to do again. This was the end of the trip for Julie and me, Julie going back to the States and me to site for a few days. Bob and Kay on the other hand went to Malawi, they liked it, but I am proud to say, their loyalties were with Zambia! I came back to Lusaka to say goodbye to them on their return. By this time it was July. I was able to do some work during this time, like build and get rabbits for a nutrition and Income Generating Community Activity I am doing, and pass out the surveys I have made for my behavior change workshop.

But now I am out of the village again for over a week, when just over a week ago I hosted a 5 day site visit, with volunteers right off the plane from the States! It was really fun and a great group, but man it was exhausting! I will be hosting the second site visit that they have at the end of the month as well. So needless to say it has been busy and full of responsibility. I am the only person in all of Peace Corps Zambia that is hosting both site visits on top of being a trainer of the week. I hope this means that the Head quarters staff in Lusaka likes me! On this note I must sign off to get some prep done for this afternoon’s sessions on HIV/AIDS in Zambia. I hope to flood my blog this week while I have internet connection, and get everyone as up to date on my life here as possible. Love to you all, and thanks for reading this, even if it is a bit bland!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Jesus, etc.

So I am standing on the street just before dusk, the sun is still sitting pretty; I am looking for a specific cab driver, the only cab driver that goes to where I am headed. I am trying to get into Kabalaka, a small village outside Chalinbana, in Chongwe district (I will get back to why in a bit). A man smelling of stale jilly-jilly sashes, a 4in x 2.5in plastic pouch holding 75ml or almost two ounces of 45% poor cane alcohol. These are given witty names to match their cost of 750 Kwatcha, or about 15 cents per “packet”, like “Double Punch!”, “Officers”, and one of my favorites “Rambo”.
My new friend, tries charming me first by telling me that I am a Mazungu (Ma /zoon/ gue), or a white person, he was really observant. He went on to quickly start revealing to me that I was responsible for killing Jesus Christ. Over and over he kept telling me this, until finally I kindly stated that this was impossible since I was born for the first time, to my knowledge, in 1986. This didn’t satisfy his needs, so then started explaining that all white people are responsible for killing Jesus. This is because there is evidence that the Roman’s were, in fact white, where as it is obvious that Jesus was dark skinned, therefore black. This was a totally new experience for me, never in my life had I experienced a person yelling at me, “You killed Jesus!” over and over while a group of on lookers just laughed. Yes, I had head more then a few times that “Jesus had died for me and my sins”, but never have I been heckled about being the one that killed him! So I guess I am trying to say, is white people bad news, there is another thing our ancestors have done that you have to feel guilty about. My Jewish loves: you are off the hook, at least in Africa, we, yes we, gotcho back!
I guess this blog is called “Jesus, etc.” for a few reasons: I love Wilco. I love this song. I had a recent Jesus story; and this is going to be a random entry that moves all over the place. It has also allowed me to once again think about that “Higher Being” “God” a few times over the past month.

Elishabe was the little girl that I wrote about a little over a year ago; I also posted a naked picture of this little cutie somewhere below! Last Friday morning (17 July) I found out that she died. She had fallen into the family’s water hole. This is not a well, its just a meter wide hole in the ground, about 2 meters deep that is being fed by a natural underground spring or brook. This is so sad for me; this was the baby that I had fallen in love with, whilst falling in love with Zambia, the first baby I had carried on my back with a chitange, the first baby that really peed on me, she helped me become excepted into my home stay family.
In other words. I have been here a year now, and I haven’t lost anyone that I was close to in Zambia, I have been lucky. But this experience has given me a different perspective on things and life. The Mulolo family, is a responsible, loving, and generous family, the fact that Shabe (shay ba) drowned is not the family’s fault it was a total fluke. I went down to visit the family after I heard, and I was never embraced so warmly. Yes, I did bring gifts with me, but the way in which we remembered little Shabe, and supported each other was wonderful and has enriched my experience here no matter how hard it was.

. . . And if you want to be free, be Free. Things I do, and think about.