Happy turkey day everyone! I know it has been a while since my last update and I feel like so much has happened. So I will try my best to update you on my first two months in the village! I guess I will start from the beginning with the first week in Kalaba. Everyone always talks about the dreadful moment after you are dropped off and the cruiser leaves you for the last time, on your own, in the middle of the African bush. However for me it really wasn't so bad, my neighbors and housing committee were there putting finishing touches on my hut and I was given a welcome meal of ubwali ( traditional Zambian dish also known as nshima, basically mashed up maze) as well as chicken(which is the most expensive and respectful food you can give in the village). So the first day wasn't so scary and I was so exhausted from all of the shopping and prepping that I was happy for some peace and quiet. However the first week following that day was a bit of an adjustment. I had to finally learn how to start a brazier much less cook on one, how and where to fetch my water ( our well is broken so when I say I fetch my water I literally mean I am pulling a bucket on a string all the way up the well), as well as all of the other daily chores that come with being a villager! It was a long week and there were definitely times when I had to pinch myself to make sure this was really happening. I was actually living in a mud hut where wall spiders and lizards were my roomates, cooking on a contraption which required me to use charcoal and swing it back and forth like a mad woman just to cook a meal, and speak a tribal african language on a daily basis while living in a village 40 kilometres from any sort of paved road! Like I said, it was an adjustment. However now although it has only been a short two months I am smiling as I type this because all of those crazy things which I thought I would never get used to are the things I have come to love about my village and my life here in Zambia.
So onto the work side of things. Although during our first three months of community entry we aren't technically supposed to be doing "work", all of you who know me know that didn't last too long. After finishing my fourth book in the first three weeks I started getting pretty antsy to say the least. So my counterpart and I started coming up with a schedule of things we thought would be important for me to do while integrating into the community. How the health system is set up in Zambia is that it has to be extremely decentralised to reach all of the people in the rural villages that make up this country. So for example I am lucky that I live very close to my Rural Health Center (RHC). This health center or clinic as most people refer to it is in charge of 14 "zones" which surround it. These zones are basically villages which each have a Neighborhood Health Committee (NHC) who are responsible for the health education and if necessary certain medications and health support in their own villages. These NHC'S are extremely important considering that some of the zones are as far as 30 kilometres from the RHC. With most zambians having no form of transportation, only a lucky few have bicycles, most of these people will never make it to the clinic to deliver babies, get medication for their families or get any other sort if health care. So right now I have been biking to all of my zones and meeting with the NHC's to see what they have been doing. As I found out on my fourth zone visit although my NHC's were formed in the 1980's none of them have ever been trained since then so they have no idea what their actual roles are in the community. Sadly this is a common theme in the village where people have certain titles however are not sure of the responsibilities that go with those titles. So a lot of my job over the next year will be putting a workshop together to train my NHC's so that when the next volunteer comes he or she can start doing larger projects with them. Although this might seem like very basic work it is really the most sustainable thing I can do in my service because once the NHC's are trained they can begin teaching health education to their own communities. From what I have witnessed thus far a huge problem with health in Zambia is lack of education. So if they can teach their own communities how to take better care of their health it could be a massive step in the right direction! I know the abbreviations and the work I am doing can be a little confusing and this is just one of the bigger projects I am trying to accomplish. Smaller ones have included helping out at my clinic, putting together some pamphlets for my clinic with recipes and information for HIV positive mothers, and planning some small programs for World AIDS day which is December 1st! So it's not your typical nine to five job and when people ask me what I do on a day to day basis it's kind of hard to explain because it is constantly changing, but hopefully that gave you a little glimpse into what I am doing. Lots of biking, trying to speak Bemba, and just learning to live in the village is what takes up the majority of my time! All in all I am really loving my life in the village. Currently the rainy season has started and watching the rainstorms roll in every afternoon has started to become my new favorite thing to do! I know it might sound crazy but the sky here is so big and beautiful that you can watch the storms roll in for hours at a time. All in all I am really loving my village, the work I am doing and Zambia as a whole. It's crazy to think I have already been here four months and I only have one month left of my community entry! So thanks to everyone for all of the sweet letters, emails, packages, etc. They really do brighten my day every time I get one. I am missing everyone over thanksgiving and hope you are enjoying time with family and friends during the holiday season! There are so many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving but instead of listing them all I will just give a short list of "firsts" that i am thankful for being able to experience in Zambia.
First time: eating caterpillars (shockingly tasty), being given a live chicken as a gift, naming a baby ( my counterpart asked me to name his new baby girl- I named her Leia after my great aunt Leah and cousin Luke), hitching on the back of a truck with chickens,fish and my fellow Zambians, biking from my village to town- 40km on a dirt road (I have done it 3 times now), running through the bush with African children yelling muzungu muzungu ( White person), actually seeing the thanksgiving turkey be killed ( we did that today in the backyard) and finally being given a Bemba name- Bupe ( pronounced Bu- pay) meaning gift. It is now what everyone in my village calls me and it makes me smile everytime. So lots of love being sent from Zambia back to America! I miss and love everyone tons and again hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Look out for another update after Community Entry is over December 18! lots of love, Bupe
P.S. Pictures will be coming soon! I am so sorry I haven't posted them yet but it takes about 3 hours to download 10 pictures so I promise they are coming soon!
