I have now been living at my site for 2 months! The time has been flying by as I have been busy busy with the start of many projects at the school as well as getting acquainted with my new community! In the end of April I became an official Peace Corps Volunteer and moved up to the Northern Province to a village just outside of Kasama "Luyeye."
Luyeye! My new home away from home is what I'd lovingly refer to as an "Urban Village" For those of you (most of you reading) who have never been to a village in a developing country...it may be difficult for you to understand when I say "Urban Village" as most villages are very rural. My village differs from many of my fellow volunteer's placements because it is very close to the Boma (town) Kasama, the Provincial Capitol of Northern.) Luyeye and the surrounding villages are densely populated so the houses are closer together. So... the prevalence of cars, crime, and people who speak English is higher in my village than in the more rural areas. My house is just opposite the main dirt road so there are vehicles passing frequently as opposed to my more rural village during training (where if you heard a car coming it had to be the Peace Corps land cruiser coming!) There are advantages to being so close to town... getting to the grocery store, internet cafe, post office, bank and Provincial House takes about 15-20mins on my bike. Also being so close to town means I get frequent visits from other volunteers who need to come to town (yay friends! and sleepovers!!)
I have already become pretty use to life in the village. Through some "cultural exchange" I've gotten to know some really great people in the village. There are 4 or 5 neighbors I already consider good friends who are always looking out for me. They've been teaching me to make Zambian dishes and I have taught them some American (they absolutely love Pumpkin Bread and Pizza...and of course cookies!!) I also have a posse of "ewais" (meaning children in Bemba) who are always hanging around my place to play with and and love to help me fetch water, fire, etc.
On the work side of things in my first 3 weeks I've visited 15 out of 16 of the schools in my zone reaching 2 that are 50k away on my bike! (Those of you who know how hard the biking has been for me know that this is quite the accomplishment!) From these visits I gathered some connections with teachers and was became aware of many of the issues facing the various schools. Overall it seems the majority are greatly lacking in resources (everything from teachers, infrastructures, to chalk...) One community school I visited was a building made from mud, that consisted of 2 rooms and an incomplete roof, where the children were sitting on rocks in the dirt because there were no tables or chairs.
I am at the Special Needs School in my zone pretty much every day. The kids there are great my sign language is improving greatly. I am trying to start a sponsorship program for the pupils' boarding fees, while doing a fine motor skills/sign language class 3x a week with the grade 2 hearing impaired, organizing teacher training and workshops (first aid training, HIV/aids, and proposal writing for thosweools I mentioned earlier who are lacking resources), I have also been approached about starting an art club! I'm busy, busy I tell you!!
All the while I am trying to work on house improvements... putting plastic on the inside of my room to keep me from getting sick (I have a permanent cold from all the dust and debris!), getting a fence built between me and the road (PRIVACY!?!?), enlisting a friend's grandfather to build be a brick oven in my insaka (outdoor gazebo-like kitchen) and I am also building some shelves!!
So now that I've blabbed on and on after 2 months of silence I must go back home and make some dinner! Hope you are all well! Don't forget to write me and send me all your questions...and don't forget I have access to my email and facebook!
If you are thinking of sending me a pkg I would very much appreciate things like:
pencils, sharpeners, erasers, paper, pens...
My ewais are always asking for these... And I use them as rewards for sweeping my yard when I run out of sweeties!
Much Love! Shalenipo!!
FYI : BLOGS OF MY PCV-BFFLS...
http://www.ricardosamir.blogspot.com/
http://www.lauramartel.blogspot.com/
...Check um out!
(Some pics from training...)
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