I don’t know how many people are friendly with the song by Death Cab for Cutie “Grapevine Fire’s” (you will be transfered to the YouTube video if you click on the title of today's blog, which is really a link, so look up and click), but I find myself singing it to myself while biking at least once a day. My bike ride to my classes, although only a little over 4km, is what I like to call extreme mountain biking. It’s through two streams, a 2 foot down/up hill gap (mini valley) in the earth and down and then up a big hill or small mountain. See this time of year in Zambia is very windy, dry, all while it is getting warmer each day. It is the time of year that farmers begin to get their fields ready before the rainy season. With these points in mind, along with the fact that no one is really quite sure why, it’s also the time of the year that every house hold in the country loves to burn the grasses around their houses, fields, or anywhere really. Some people say that they do it so in case there really was a fire their houses would be safe. Mud walls + Grass roof + fire = no house (bad news). Others say that the grasses are burned as a kind of fertilizer for the earth, and lastly to find, kill, catch to eat the mice that are in the fields. But alas, as I bike to and from the training center over looking the beautiful countryside that was just burnt or is still smoking; I cannot help but put the images I see to the music that I can most relate to this time.
Little Elishaba was really sick with the flu last week. Just today (Tuesday 8/25) after a full week of not being able to hold anything down (or in (Oh and no diapers are used here, not even the cloth kind, that’s a luxury that can not be afforded. If you are thinking messy, you are right)). As most of you know who are reading this, it’s really scary when a baby’s sick. They can’t tell you what’s wrong, it’s hard to relive them from any pain that they are in, and its hard not to feel helpless when they cannot keep anything down!
But even scarier for me, was the fact that we have been covering Under-5 care the past week, and have been preached to by Peace Corps, how the greatest cause of mortality in U-5 is diarrhea leading to dehydration. Needless to say watching her become weaker and weaker was hard for me. My host parents kept asking me questions about what they should do, or what I thought might be the issue since I am a health volunteer. But I had no idea what to do seeing that I have never had a child before and Bamaayo and Batata have had four. I couldn’t help thinking that I have only babysat for families of four, so it was a bit different, and they knew a bit more about what to do than me. It was also kind of hard not to say or tell them to just give her some children’s Tylenol, which does not exist here. Woops.
I was able to offer dehydration salts, but they had their own, and were in the process of using them. I hate feeling helpless and always try to be as proactive as I can be, so you can assume that this was a hard experience for me, however I couldn’t help looking at it as a valuable learning experience since I am going to be coming across situations like this more times than not in the next few years. There are going to be many times that I am not going to be able to act in the helpful manor I may think best because of a lack of education, clauses in my Peace Corps contract, and the fact that helping one family in a special way in the village would be equivalent to opening Pandora’s box. So since this story has a happy ending, and I am still in training, I am taking this baby sickness as a good thing; because it is one thing to be told that I must be hands off as a volunteer, or feeling helpless at times, but a totally different thing to experience it.
Did you know that I am a hair dresser? Me either, but I am now the July 2009 RAP/CHIP intake official go to hair cutter. Today marked my fourth successful hair cut (I am getting better with each one)! I have given one girl with hair the length to her mid-back a smashing fo-hawk (mini Mohawk), another girl with shoulder length hair a peter-pan-ish hair cut, a boring dude hair cut to a dude, and a cute angled bobb to another girl with shoulder length hair. Please don’t worry, each person asked for the style they received, there have been no tears, and I have gotten many requests to other people’s hair once we get back from out second site visit. Oh and I found out that I am going to Central Prov! Bordering the Northern Prov, and the DRC. See you all in a week!
Never has making a little kid throw up made me so happy.
Not the first line you were expecting, was it? And for the record, I don’t think I have ever made any little kids throw up before. Tonight I made dinner for my host family. I wanted to make something that was true blood American through and through. I also wanted to do something that a PVT had never made before, that meant that pizza was out or “Peter” as my host mom and dad so endearingly call it. However, it had to be easy enough so that I could make it over a wood fire, so no oven, used no more than one pot/pan. Lastly it had to be something we could eat with our hands since my family owns two forks, two spoons, one butter knife, and one sharp cutting knife. The answer to what to make may be obvious to some; sadly it took me almost two weeks to think it up.
The answer . . . Cheeseburgers! Only my Bamaayo (host mother) had ever heard of them before, and that was after I had explained to her what they were. So I made the exciting 45km trip to Lusaka in order to pick up all that was needed. While at the grocery store I ran into many moral issues such as: do I buy the tide and true condiments that give hamburgers and cheeseburgers there flair and messy awesomeness? While knowing all along that they need to be refrigerated after opening, meaning that they will go bad very fast since we have no such thing to keep them cold, making them a waste of money? Also new foods are scary enough as it is. Why make it harder burdening these poor people with the choice or adding ketchup or mustered? I mean come on, do you remember the first time you had sushi? Frightening. It took me so long to eat my first roll. The issue of if the food would be too rich came across my mind as well; I didn’t want to make anyone sick, thus giving me a bad name as a cook and ruining burgers for them forever! See, we eat the same bland thing every night umbwali (corn meal and water made so thick you can (and do) roll it into a little ball, imprinting your thumb into it, then using it to scoop whatever “relish” you are eating that night (cut up greens or cabbage, with either soya pieces, a kind of salty potato like bush root, or maybe beans) up with it and your thumb). Our two seasonings used are salt and cups of oil. So you can see my concern. Last but not least, they asked for “peter” and I told them no, that I would make it some other weekend, that I wanted them to try something new first. So I was going against what they wanted, making something greasy out of two things the hardly ever eat, red meat and dairy, and to top it off not even giving them the full experience (no condiments and no lettuce or pickles).
As they watched me start to make the burgers I could tell that they were all pretty nervous, and I was too. I was cooking three patties at a time for the nine of us, on a frying pan. I was sitting on a small three legged stool, and each time I flipped a burger I would burn my legs since I was A) using a fork to flip the patties B) the grease was building up in the pan bouncing onto me, and C) I had to startle the frying pan/ fire. Job (10) doesn’t eat meat, so I made him a grilled cheese. Finally, after toasting the buns, adding tomato and onion, they were ready, and I was forced to let my burgers speak for themselves and soon everyone was eating in a content silence. What I consider a sign of a good meal. Sadly I forgot to put out the chips I bought with the burger, but they were a welcomed surprise when they were done eating. Bertha, my 18-year-old cousin, was so excited when she saw them she ran out of the kitchen. Two medium sized bags were gone before I put set them down on the ground.
Next and last stop was dessert, S’mores! I mean come on, who doesn’t love s’mores? Well Mulolo (3) found out that he does not like marshmallows, it was everyone’s first time trying those too. But he loved the chocolate the Tennis Biscuits, which are so amazing! They were my substitute for gram crackers. They are delicious biscuit/ cracker that is honey and coconut flavored, but not over powering. I wish they had them in the states! Well in my mitts of the s’more excitement, and Mulolo probably on his first sugar high, was jumping up and down and giggling. It was the cutest thing . . . until he threw up some of his chocolate. Woops. This made everyone laugh, it was quickly cleaned up; and God love him, Mulolo rallied right back, and continued jumping up and down. All in all I must say that cheeseburger and s’more night was a great success and if it was not so much money, I would make a special dinner every week. But alas, I am living on a volunteer’s salary, so I will only be able to do one other dinner. I’m thinking, “peter”.
Muli Shani!
That is “How are you doing?” in Bemba; the language that I am learning here in Zambia. I suppose saying that I am learning is an understatement, its more accurately being shoved down my throat. I have 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours of language training a day, not to mention I am living with a family who’s first language is Bemba. They are such wonderful people, but more about that in a few minutes!
Well, I have made it to Zambia all right. After being thrown into a group of 42, a few ice breakers, hours of paper work, some flip chart presentations, and of course a few more shots (vaccines, not alcohol); Peace Corps head quarters in DC felt we were finally able to leave and become part of PCZ (Peace Corps Zambia (and I thought that TFA (Teach For America) had a thing for acronyms, they have nothing on Peace Corps or so it feels!)). On my 18.5 hour flight to Jo-burg my new best friend and I really became close, Ambein. I am never going to travel long distances without it ever again!
To be perfectly honest the first few days were all a blur, I was assigned a roommate to stay with the first few nights. She was nice, she is in the other group (there are two groups with in the one big group, myself in CHIP (Community Heath Interactive Partnership) and RAP. I’m not really sure what it stands for but I know that they are working on building fish ponds within their assigned communities (which we don’t know yet) and teaching the people of the community how to keep them up and sell their profits. It’s all about Sustainable Development. This is the first time I am typing these words for this blog, but here is a little warning: It’s not going to be the last. That is our over all, end all job; to create Sustainable Development everywhere we go.
After Being in country for about 2 days, we were split up into groups of 5 or 6 within our trainee programs and left for our first site visit. We were told that the province that we went to for our first site visit was not going to be where we ended up. I went to Eastern. It was beautiful and wonderful, and gave me a great opportunity to get to know 5 people very well. To be honest, I really didn’t need to know one man so well, but was forced too, since his snoring at night left me no choice but to stare at top of the tent and think about how great I would be, not to mention how much better I would be sleeping, if there was not someone one sleeping bag down from me snoring at a disable level above and beyond a screaming police car. I really wish I was exaggerating right now. I’m not. However, the site visit give me a look into what the next two years are going to hold for me. The kind of house I will be living in, where I will be cooking my meals, how I will be getting my water (a bore hole), where I will bathe (behind a reed fence with a plastic bucket full of water I have warmed up over the fire), where I will be going to the bathroom (a hole about 4.5 inches in dynamiter in a cement hut), and the kind of work I will be doing. And to tell ya’ll the truth. I came back from that site visit more excited and ready to start the next two years then I was building up to my departure.
Dear Prospective Volunteer: Please give this letter to your family and/or friends and
ask them to hold on to it for as long as you are in Zambia.
July 2009
Dear Families and Friends,
Greetings from the Zambia Desk at the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the Peace Corps circle of friendship. We receive many questions from family members and friends about life in Swaziland over the course of the Volunteer’s two years of service, so we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance.
1. Irregular Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia) Mail in Zambia is fairly reliable. Volunteers find they generally receive mail and packages from the United States two to four weeks after it has been sent. The same is true in sending mail from Zambia. Of course, there are exceptional cases in which a letter or a package might arrive within a shorter period or be substantially delayed. Some mail may simply not arrive. We suggest that in your first letters you ask the Volunteer to give an estimate of how long it takes for him/her to receive your letters, and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other. Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.
Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a rewarding experience; however, there will also be times that Volunteers will feel frustrated and they may write home telling of their "war" stories. Letters might describe recent illnesses, frustration with work, lack of resources, information, and infrastructure, etc. While the subject matter may be good reading material, it can often be misinterpreted on the home front. Volunteers have a support network in country, which includes other Peace Corps Volunteers, counterparts and community members at their site, as well as Peace Corps/Zambia staff. The Peace Corps’ highest priority is maintaining the good health and safety of every Volunteer. Peace Corps/Zambia maintains a medical unit with full-time medical officers, who provide for the Volunteers’ primary health care needs. Additional medical services, such as testing and basic treatments, are available in Zambia and in South Africa. If the Volunteer is seriously ill, they will be transported to South Africa or to the United States.
If for some reason your communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member, you may want to contact the Zambia Desk or the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-800-424-8580, extension 1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that a message can be sent to the Volunteer. Use the above number during regular business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern time, Monday through Friday). After hours, or during weekends, the Peace Corps Duty Officer may be reached at (202) 692-1470. Tell the operator your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will call you back.
2. Telephone Calls. Telephone lines in Zambia are fairly reliable. During the pre-service training though, opportunities for the trainees to call the United States will be limited. Most Volunteers purchase cell phones. Volunteers may or may not have residential phones; however, some Volunteers, use public phones, or find that a neighbor or the organization they work with has a phone they are able to use to make and receive calls. They will be able to inform you of telephone numbers where you might reach them once they arrive at their permanent sites.
The Zambia Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Lusaka through phone calls and e-mail. However, these communications are reserved for business only and cannot be used to relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, personal phone calls, or e-mail. Volunteers may have access to e-mail at Internet cafes on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on their location.
3. Sending packages. Parents and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to occasional thefts and customs taxes. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may also use the following address to send letters and/or packages:
Name of Volunteer, PCV
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia
It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more frequently. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets), DHL (an express mail service) does operate in Lusaka. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to the Country Director, c/o U. S. Peace Corps/Zambia, 71A Kabulonga Road, Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia (the phone number for the Peace Corps office in Zambia is 260-21-1260377, as DHL will need this information). If you send the item to the Country Director, no liability can be assumed. For more information about DHL, please call their toll free number, 1-800-CALL-DHL, or visit their web site at www.dhl.com . Other courier services do operate in Lusaka - DHL is only one possibility.
We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member or friend is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland. We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the Zambia Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions. Our phone numbers are 1-800-424-8580, ext. 2333/2334, or locally, 202-692-2333/2334.
Nowhereville, Florida USA
Small town America expanding
and contracting in time with
the seasons as if it were a screaming
heaving child's belly; rising and falling
with each dramatic breath taken.
Spanish moss dripping over each branch
causing a second—lower sky to form
dancing over the beach on a jet blue day.
The moss allows us to use our imaginations
taking us back in time to the days before:
before settelers or technology or problems.
All day long we lie there head to head
staring at the different shapes and lengths
of the moss and watch it dance in the breeze
as we tell each other stories, about the day
that we will leave this small town.
Midnight Walks
waddling slowly, my full belly
leading me down the sand and dust path,
as I rubbed my stomach in a circular motion,
it felt soft, and yet so strong, all while the warm
sun poured over every inch of my body,
soaking through my clothes. Rays burnet
the top of my head, my shoulders,
the back of my calves. Then with a smile,
and filled with content, I feel for the first time
I fit in here in this foreign land. I am African
because of you, my unborn love. You,
kicking inside me, a tiny forming person.
As my eyes slowly open - ten stretched fingers
firmly planted on my stomach -
my heart drops and I realize, you will only
be an image I will never fully conceive,
dreamt up at a time when I felt most free.
And your time within me ended before it began.
Hard to believe I know but this is the last blog entry from
I have really become thankful for all of my friends and people that are in my life while was here. I never realized how lucky and blessed I was to have such wonderful people in my life who are so caring and selfless in the fact that they cared so much about me while I have been over seas. It has meant the world to me especially while I was in a program where I was pared and in many cases forced to be with people whether I liked them or not, and I think a big part of me had to grow up in that aspect. I in no way have ever liked of supported fake people, and no most times when I didn’t like some one I would not pretend, I would try not to be rude but at the same time, I now see that this is not the most mature way of handling things. I have had to get over the “showing” of my feeling for people and do it in a way that I felt comfortable with, ie not being fake, and I think that this was a good lesson for me, and kind of a grown up one. However, as I said before, it made me realize how outstanding all the people in my life are. So thank you to everyone that has supported me while here whether you did it in a way that I could constantly see, or through positive thoughts and feelings, talking about me (positively) in groups, e-mails, Letters (Melissa!), IM’s, ect. So thank you.
I have really enjoyed writing and I want to keep people updated on my
CHEERS! Jeers!
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Yesterday I got an HIV/AIDS test right here on the good old University o f
ARV’s are free here in Botswana so any one that’s CD4 count gets down to a certain number, one that means that they have moved across from HIV to AIDS they get all of their medical for free, yes logically you would say why let it even go there, but they do, and research is being done to make sure that in the future it doesn’t have to go there but for now . . . Anyway I am a little scared that here in Botswana - because of the free ARV’s and the fact that they personally see everyday that this is not as much of a death sentence, that they are not being as careful as they once were, and the pregnancies on campus are definite conformation of this. Oh and how cute these pregnant girls are!!! But that is a totally different subject for a different time, and really doesn’t help that I definitely think that pregnant women and the cutest most beautiful things ever.
Sorry for the anecdote, sometimes I feel like a position while I am writing these, but anyway the comedic relief in the lab room . . . the guy that took my blood had pictures of himself taped to the white walls all over the small room. One in his lab coat posed in front of the needles and rubber gloves, one of him looking dashing in his sunglasses, oh many more. However the best part for me was the music in the background. R. Kelly. People love him here! But not just R. Kelly, it was R. Kelly singing about two girls he just met and was getting to know (yes in the biblical sense) who had “crazy legs” and the effect of two women with “crazy legs” on one man. What an interesting song to have one while testing people for, in this country is mostly a sexually transmitted infection/disease. If just made me laugh. But the waiting outside in the hall with others for 45 minutes did not. That gave me time to think, a lot. On the upside, I um . . . made some friends while waiting, all for the same thing. I was very happy and excited when my results came back, and I was even happier that I had taken the test being able to sit with my peers and understand a little more.
Oh and on this journey of mine . . . I also got my hair did. I feel pictures are necessary to fully understand this wonderful thing, it was quite interesting, it gave me a little bit of a head ach, and those braids were really tight! It was a good thing and a bad, some people didn’t look at me look at me, talk to me, or try to touch me as much, and it stopped me from playing with my hair all the time, which is a horrible habit. Lastly, hair is really hot, and it was getting to the point where I was like, should I shave it all off, do this, that, and I can’t tell you how much cooler I felt, ahh it was nice. However on the other hand some people looked, talked to me, followed me more and it made things just as interesting, but not really in a good way. Also the headaches man the respect I have now for anyone that gets their hair braided. It takes a few days for it to stretch out. I also was getting lots of frizzies, so it started to look bad kind of quickly. But hey I did it, it was only 60p = 10 USD and I will always remember it.
It was called a fish tail braid if anyone was wondering.
Oh and today is an important day for all those Dems out there, so keep your fingers crossed!
And lastly I am having a beautiful quilt made and I got to design here in Gabs and I get to see it for the first time (not finished but still) this up coming weekend, I will try to take a picture!
Today, yesterday, and tomorrow, mosquitoes are, were, and will be my mortal enemy. I fight with them all day, but especially at dusk as they bite my feet, back, and arms. When I try to seek refuge in my own postage stamp room, they patiently wait for me within my clothes in my closet until they know that I have crawled into bed. It is then that they emerge and they buzz in and around my ear to let me know that they are there, while I am defenseless in the dark moments of the night. Tricky basterd. See I feel that I have lived in this country long enough to not have to look like I have been overcome with a permanent case of the mumps, measles, small pox, or chicken pox. However, for the past three nights I have had very active fights with one active pest. He has been winning until just recently. While I have been writing this, I can proudly say, “I have taken the punk DOWN!” and he did not leave one drop of blood on my strong hands either as I pulled him off.
Yes, I know what you are thinking: A. Ew!
If you chose D, don’t be embarrassed of yourself, least of all me! This is because I am embarrassed enough for the both of us. Please, don’t think for a second that I like the murderer that I am turning into. I am a little scared of her, yet the worst part of it all is that I have begun to enjoy killing these foes long ago. Even worse, I have started to look forward to the different sound that each one makes as I step on it or smack it to its doom. I know, I know, I preach being a pacifist, I am ageist the death penalty, and as little as five months ago you could have found me walking a spider outside. It’s also true that I study Buddhism, and strongly relate to this religion. But pray tell me . . . how many times are Tibetan monks disturbed a day up in their cave or monastery, way up in the mountains, to ants crawling up there feet and legs biting you every step of the way!? As you may have read in a past post . . . I am now dealing with roaches, and I only know of one way to get rid of them, and that it by killing them, ahh, but if you just knew that satisfying “pOp-ing” sound they make as they get squashed. The sigh that I breathe out after this is a great one, and the only thing that I can think of is, “This is one less roach that will try and crawl in my ear tonight!” And if you are wondering, NO, no roach has ever been caught on my body. However! I have heard stories and if you want to hear them just ask my mom about her early nursing days
Let me just close with this, as I pause to scratch another bug bite, I realize that this whole thing was written because I am sick of feeling like a horse shacking and swatting fly’s off my body, or even near my body. I no longer, if ever, care to see and observe the powdery residue left /loose on the wings of a moth after it is killed, I don’t like being woken up to ANYTHING buzzing in my ear, and I don’t think it is cool to have different kinds of spider bites mixed in with my mosquito bites. So, in conclusion, I am going to need a little vacation from bug on my return to the States, and if you want me to come over, have your exterminator’s receipt out for me to see and confirm upon my arrival to said places. Thank you and I hope that you really enjoy your bug free nights rest, because I rather not think about how many bits of “protein” I will be able to enjoy as I sleep and my body and mouth relax.
Oh and on a much lighter note, if anyone is looking for a good new band, I really like Vampire Weekend. I also know from personal experience that they are on the Jukebox at Shubba’s. I you happen to go there for any reason, play one of there songs and think of me, I will be sure to send you good vibes back. Oh and high fives all around . . . don’t get too excited, but if you want to jump up and down, well that’s understandable . . . Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s new album is coming out in months! My count down has long since started. And NO, “Broadripple Is Burning” did not make it on the new album, and your right, NO, I don’t want to talk about it.
Myth
Today I heard a myth, but
I heard it yesterday too.
It’s been preached to me
since I exited the womb.
The first time I kneeled
in front of your image
I thought I saw your face.
When I would swing,
The wind blowing my hair,
the bounce of the swing
Dropping my stomach
into my legs. I thought
that the drop was your
spirit entering me,
proving that I was special.
Something told me I could
be next to hold you reincarnated within me. But as the years passed, my belly never swelled.
Now I’m forced to stop and think
about you, pondering if you ever were immaculately conceived.
All the stories I heard in school
The homeless man who
screamed on the street
started to make me see you
Just like a made up myth.
